NicoTori Omaki: A-RISE Mini-concert and Nico

Summary:

Catching up with Nico, Tsubasa, Anju and Erena in the week leading up to "Chrysanthemum."


IF she was being honest with herself, Kira Tsubasa wasn't sure she wasn't a little bit mad at Nico-nii right now. So it was extra-nice of her and the rest to be helping Nico like this.

And that probably went double for Kotori, of course. And maybe Honoka a bit. After all, she'd implied that the original idea was for Kotori to snatch up Nico for a while while she was on the rebound. But also present was a card-carrying member of what Otonokizaka called the "Idiot Trio." Discussing another idiot.

Honoka had "joked" that she and the other Mu's girls should date Nico too, so by the time they were done, she'd be all over Maki. And Kotori, the weirdo, had called that a good idea. And Umi had betrayed her reputation for being stern by immediately capitulating. And Nico, of all people, had been talked into it by Kotori. Note to self: don't go up against Kotori when she's on a mission.

The problem was, Tsubasa couldn't get too mad. Unfortunately for her peace of mind, she understood everyone involved, and their reasons for going along. It was a weird, weird combination of romantic and cynical. First, Umi, Kotori and Honoka had to resolve their feelings. Nico had to decide if she could love anyone but Maki (she didn't think so). Honoka and Tsubasa, who had both noticed a strong mutual attraction, had to decide if they could and would act on it. And Kotori, the devil-girl, had said something else that was driving a lot of this, and making all the girls involved feel insecure. No wonder the rumor mill coming out of Otonokizaka was that Nishikino Maki was quietly so furious that she wasn't even speaking to Kotori. Or coming to practices. She'd asked Honoka straight out and she'd said "welllll ... not quite ... but there is a little truth there. Oh, but Kotori-chan and Maki-chan are both very good girls, they're just butting heads right now, I guess is what you say."

Kotori had "observed" that very few high-school sweethearts stayed together, especially in Japan, where graduation was equated with "goodbye, forever!" And doubly so for girl-girl couples. Half of them went for boys after graduation. And she speculated some of that was that you only had one person in your life - nothing to compare them to. And no experience in weathering the storms that came with relationships. But if you had even one relationship before the person you wanted to explore settling down with, even if only for a few years ... and hey, Nico needs to learn she can go on without having Maki at her side, so ...

Tsubasa had a different set of concerns, of course. Her idiot needed to learn to be discreet. Especially since A-RISE had talked her into considering staying an idol. Yukiho wanted to try it, too, so both girls would probably split their time between their duties to the family business and performing (if Yukiho ended up being any good at it; but she had the same genes and upbringing as Honoka, right?). But Honoka was a babe in the woods about anything idol related. Even Hanayo was lecturing her constantly about her behavior nowadays, perhaps moreso than even Umi did.

Tsubasa could, after all, have her pick of attractive, probably discreet girls. She had no idea what made Honoka special. In the best of all possible worlds, at least they'd understand each other, living similar lives. That probably was a big factor for Anju and Erena being happy together. Both of them had dated other people in the past, on the quiet, but Tsubasa had no idea how far they'd gone with them.

Tsubasa was the only virgin, and the third wheel. She had fixated on the first girl that made her feel fluffy inside, and that girl had entanglements and baggage enough to fill both stories of the Homura building.

Okay, to give Kotori her due, she was probably sincere. And her ideas were definitely weird, but they had a grain of truth in them. Usually the relationships that stuck around weren't first time ones. And probably, Tsubasa was the reason they didn't just take turns dating each other in the second-year trio until something settled out. But.

Tsubasa had the impression Honoka was going to be dating Nico after Umi, and taking it to the limit, too. How would Tsubasa feel about that? Unbalanced, for starters. But that line of thinking was drawing her thoughts into Kotori's dark orbit. And here was Nico. Everyone said it, but she was really looking beautiful nowadays. No dark thoughts, Tsubasa!

So, instead, Tsubasa turned on the charm, but also got down to business. Nico had just gotten out of practice for Chrysanthemum, so she was primed on the songs, but not very familiar with the dancing part of "Is This Love?" As she dashed in to the practice area, Anju and Erena teased Nico that she was eager to get home to Kotori "waiting for you in bed, ne?" and Nico blushed so much it made Tsubasa laugh.

"Nico! You know, we will dash through "Sinner Me" - you basically have it, just relax and enjoy it. It was weird for us making a four-girl pattern, but I think we're comfortable. So this practice is basically "Is This Love?" And with that, Tsubasa took Nico's hand and led her confidently to her starting spot. Nico had changed back into her practice clothes, and they jumped right in to "Sinner Me," and whipped through it as predicted. And it seemed to be as fun for Nico as promised.

Weirdly, Anju and Erena teased Nico about Kotori again, causing her to blush profusely. Anju whispered in Tsubasa's ear: "Kotori got cosplay lingerie for both of them and it looks like the school uniforms. She said something about making Nico call her 'sempai.' They're getting kind of kinky, if you ask me. She just told Nico she had a surprise for her."

"Is This Love" went more smoothly than it could have. Everyone involved was experienced, motivated, and with no time for nonsense. Tsubasa didn't ask about it, but she suddenly remembered someone - probably Nishikino Maki - had told her Nico wanted to go to UTX but wouldn't have been able to afford all the fees, even if she got a scholarship to go there. Apparently, when she heard Otonokizaka was closing soon, Maki had applied to transfer to UTX, and Nico had convinced her to abandon the transfer. It was the second time, in fact: Nico had first met Maki when the girl was just out of middle school, and both were standing in front of UTX. Somehow, Nico had talked her into going to Otonokizaka instead - apparently so she'd have her own composer. That explained part of Nico's initial hostility to Honoka - Nico did all the work of persuading Maki and Honoka reaped the benefits, in her eyes.

But, anyway: If Nico had gone to UTX, would A-RISE be a quartet? They were so tight a unit, it was impossible to imagine, but she guessed it was likely. If only to shut Nico up. If they had excluded her, they'd never hear the end of it.

It took only a couple of takes before "Is This Love?" was down pat for Nico - apparently she was really a quick study at learning songs, and the fact that they built the dance part off of Private Wars and Nico was an A-RISE super fan who'd already memorized it, worked out as planned. So both songs wouldn't seem like identical dances, they'd altered about half of it, but with steps and moves that would be familiar to an A-RISE fan, and Nico had kept up. No wonder Mu's was such strong competition for A-RISE already. They had an impressive standard of excellence if Nico - who claimed to be average for Mu's in terms of dancing - was any indication.

Nico thanked them profusely, but was obviously in a hurry to rush off - "Home to your sweetie?" as Erena sweetly inquired. Then they burst into laughter as Nico turned red again. Nonetheless, she just responded to Anju's "Take care of your body, Nico-chan!" with a "Nico-nico-nii!" so they knew Nico was somewhat back to herself.


"I've been putting up a front for so long, I've forgotten who I am." That was Nico's response when Tsubasa asked how she was. Long silence.

Nico seemed to realize, finally, that that was a little weird. So she added something almost as weird: "I mean, I don't care. I'm just here to dance and have fun. It took me ages to figure this out, but the world is going to do whatever it wants with me, so while I wait ..." she suddenly became aware she was babbling a little. Meanwhile, 'Maybe we should call ourselves the Existential Dancers,' Tsubasa mused to herself.

As it turned out, Maki had apparently been openly cold and hostile to Nico that day. It was also Nico and Kotori's last day together - they'd spent the afternoon making costumes for Mu's, but Kotori had apparently snapped at Nico for feeling guilty about Maki. But as Tsubasa watched her, she shook her head, and suddenly she was all business.

"Thank you for this, Tsubasa," she said, suddenly. "Thank all of you."

Tsubasa assured her it was their pleasure, and it felt like closure after the little dialog where they listed what each Mu's member contributed and didn't come up with much for Nico.

"Oh. yeah. That was kind of tough," was all Nico said.

At any rate, her body language seemed to say, shall we?

People of all ages had gathered, including parents and children. The food stalls were doing a thriving business, which made their vendors cheerful. The mood was very light and vibrant. Several signs had advertised the mini-concert, and it had been on the Otonokizaka bulletin board, the bulletin board of a couple of nearby shops and restaurants. It was on Nico's site, Minalinsky's, A-RISE's. They'd even put it up on the board and the giant marquee at UTX, since it was an A-RISE event.

The sound in the little park was perfect, and it had a very nice stage, well-maintained and clean so you could dance confidently on it. A-RISE didn't do a lot of co-dancing, so it was novel for them, and it was unprecedented for Nico. Their sheer joy in dancing communicated itself to the crowd. When it ended, Nico was in tears, but she was smiling widely as well.

The crowd loved it, and would probably remember Chrysanthemum well, since they'd mentioned it extensively introducing the performance, and again after it was over. Because it was a family crowd, they'd had to talk euphemistically about the play, but for some of the audience, that just made it more interesting. The children probably didn't understand songs in English, fortunately, in the case of "Sinner Me."

It had clouded up a little, but right on cue, while a photographer was taking a picture of the four, a ray of light burst through the scattered clouds and lit them up. The photographer had a hand-printer, and when the clever thing produced a print for Nico, she decided it was an image she would frame and keep forever.

She hugged all the girls, thanked them again, did a full "Nico-nico-nii!" to the crowd - and hurried home to her sweetie.


Notes:

By the way, earlier, when Maki said Nico was heading towards becoming a jaded slut, she used "abazure," not "fushidara na jo" (which you don't say in conversational Japanese) nor "yariman" (which wouldn't have lent itself to reconciliation later, being inappropriately hateful). In case you wondered what was envisioned there. It's often translated as bitch but these words all have a sexual component. Even the loan word "bitch" ("bicchi") means more like "Queen Bee/Alpha Bitch" used in Japanese, and with overtones of using sex to get your way.