UmiNico 5: Old Memories and Nico
Summary:
Even Umi is excited.
Nico was sure she was mishearing. Or day-dreaming. Or just plain dreaming.
The music sounded exactly like ... but it couldn't be.
Still, she mused, that was probably - no, certainly — her best one. They'd all been fresh out of middle school, after all. And a favorite sweets and pastry store closing down would be a familiar image to their peers. She had put a lot into that one — all the love she had for her family, her yearning for her father, and, yeah, the way sweet things had always comforted her, just like wearing the cardigan her father bought her (that she never seemed to outgrow) did.
The other girls had been amazed — and even assumed Nico might have been dumped in middle school. They immediately saw her as the most mature in the group, even though she looked, honestly, three years younger than the others.
The more she listened, the stronger the similarity became. Could someone — and, whoa, that someone would be Maki, wouldn't it — somehow have found it and be re-working it into a µ's song? And if that was true, however unlikely — how would Nico feel about it? Mostly happy, she decided. Anyway, her part of The Project was still "Go along with everything," after all.
More and more convinced that was what was happening, she opened the door to the roof. What she saw then stopped her in her tracks.
Maybe this is what being drugged feels like? She wondered.
Two girls she'd recognize anywhere were dancing together, and two other girls were in the background, supporting them.
When they saw Nico, they all immediately said, "So! Everyone! All together now!"
And it was so surreal, Nico almost lost her voice. Almost.
But it was going to be a strange day indeed that Nico couldn't squeeze out a "NICO NICO NII!"
Not only did Mimi, Agaha, Rin and Yuzu all respond with their own "Nico Nico-Nii!" but followed it up with "In the whole galaxy?"
Nico couldn't help laughing as she yelled out "Number One!"
Mimi and Agaha, the principal dancers, moved apart, and beckoned Nico to join them in the center.
How on Earth had they done any of this, let alone so much? But Nico wasn't being given time to think. What had Umi said? "You and Maki have a strange disconnect between your minds and bodies, and it makes you oddly clumsy at times."
As Nico fitted herself into place, she let everything go — even thoughts of Umi, who had been uncharacteristically excited that morning after they showered and headed for school — almost like Honoka or Hanayo, impossibly weird for Umi, who must have known about this all alon - no, turn, turn, spin and step. The only way to survive this encounter was to let more than a year and a half disappear, and just be the person she had been then. And above all, Nico, don't think. Nanananana I can't hear you, mind!
Amazingly, it worked. For one thing, she really had trained herself, in just a week and a half, to let go a bit. And of course, everything she'd done with her group, including for "Mou ama-sa wa arimasen" (There is no sweetness anymore) she'd incorporated into her dance choices with µ's, which had added variety, so it made the other girls happy, as well as being easier for Nico.
A flood of competing emotions rushed through her, but she ignored them. Careful not to strain her voice — she'd learned that the hard way thanks to Kotori - she joined the other girls, all four of them, on the chorus, then waited a microsecond to realize she was supposed to sing solo, and did so. Well, she'd written the whole song, that time. Mimi and Yuzu hadn't even written the lyrics. No doubt, Maki could drop right in to Aishiteru Banzai even two years later.
When it was over, the other four girls looked at Nico tentatively. She could indulge her negative emotions, of course. She could even snub them. There was a small, deeply, deeply hurt part of her urging her to do just that. She didn't even give herself time to ponder that before she threw her arms — well, as far as tiny arms like hers would reach — around Agaha and Mimi. Yuzu and Rin (would she have to call her Nitta-san to avoid confusion with the µ's Rin?) joined them. All of them had tears streaming down their faces. So did everyone present from µ's. It was the definition of a tearful reunion.
But Nico now had questions, and they were burning ones.
"How? Why? How?" she spluttered. The four girls who had formed the Idol Research Club with Nico all laughed. "Some things don't change, Nico-chan!" said Mimi.
Agaha continued. "The Why is we wanted to surprise you, of course, but also to see what it was like for you now. So we practiced with three of your members. Wow! No wonder you're competitive! We thought Nico-san was a slave-driver — please pardon my rudeness — but we had no idea until we were under Sonoda-san's instruction what that really meant. But also, we saw how supportive everyone is, so we toughed it out. We wanted to feel better about that time, not bitter, and it worked. As for the How, blame Kousaka, Minami and Sonoda. It was their idea, their invitation, and they trained us all."
At that, one of Nico's two "ghost members" — who had actually helped out a great deal, but not been singing or dancing — spoke up. "I always wondered what dancing was like, and even back-up dancing is terrifically hard," Yuzu said. She normally never had had a hair out of place, as Nico remembered, but now she was disheveled and sweaty. "I quite agree," said Nitta Rin, the other ghost member, and Yuzu's best friend.
Indeed, Nico had recruited two sets of best friends, so she'd always been a bit of a fifth wheel, in addition to having to nag and exhort the others — without delivering much joy at Otonokizaka, where students were surprisingly lackadaisical about appreciating the efforts of the clubs and their fellow students. If you were going to look at it honestly ... but anyway, what a shock. They had to have been practicing a lot, which seemed impossible. And when had Honoka, Umi and Kotori had time to do this? It must have cut heavily into their "date" time, too.
Umi was beaming at Nico, actually. When did Umi beam? It was so rare, it became a precious thing, she discovered. "Nico, that song's lyrics were wonderful. How did you manage it? Were you truly broken up with someone in middle school?"
Nico laughed. "No, no. I mean, first of all, you know how comforting I find sweet things, right? So that explains that part. When I wanted to imagine feelings of love for someone, I of course thought of my family. My mother — so giving, sacrificing everything for us. My siblings — so cute, so helpless, so adorable. And when I wanted to express sadness, and longing, and loss — well, do I have to say what I thought of?"
At that, she was surprised by a cough.
"When did Nicocchi write that, again?" Nozomi asked, with a hint in her voice of having a point to make.
Nico vaguely remembered, and was assisted by the others in pinpointing which of their performances it was written for.
"Forgive me, Nicocchi! I had no idea I broke your heart so," Nozomi said, dramatically.
Realizing what she was getting at, Nico turned to the four visitors. "Mimi and Agaha, I would bet you two practiced kissing. Same for you two, Rin and Yuzu. Probably in middle school."
Both sets of girls looked embarrassed, but didn't answer. "It's no big deal. Anyway, that's what the titty-monster here is hinting at. We were practicing kissing — already in high school and still unkissed as we were — and she stopped when she met our cool and clever student council president. Maybe there's like one percent of that in there — it was the closest thing to dating I'd ever had — but I think she's deluding herself that it's more than that."
When Nozomi shook her head, Nico countered "Yes you are, you silly shrine maiden." Everyone laughed. Nozomi started to say something, then thought better of it.
Yuzu, who had always been obsessive over dating and such, caught on quickly. "Toujou-san, if you are wondering if we've heard the rumors, we have. It's pretty clear that our former leader is no longer inexperienced in dating. At first, she told us idols wouldn't be allowed to date, you know. When I said, 'well, glad I'll never be one, then,' she changed it to 'be discreet and don't get caught.' I guess, since there're no photos out there of her kissing someone in public, she's still sticking to that."
Nico turned bright red, which set off another bout of general laughter.
Now Mimi coughed. "Nico-nii, if it's alright with you, your group invited us to perform at the send-off concert in the auditorium. Just one song, though we have to have, according to Koizumi-san, a backup song for an encore."
Nico nodded. For some reason, her eyes had teared up again.
They had a joint practice, just to give the idol-bu girls a taste of what it was like. The two former ghost members would periodically give up and rest, but Agaha and Mimi stuck it out. At the end, they just saluted Nico and told her "you've found your people, captain."
Ironically, given the song they'd performed, the whole group decided to go have sweets at the parfait place Eli and Nozomi frequented on their not-dates. A little time was allocated for them to all give themselves a little scrubbing with paper towels, soap and water in the bathroom, so they wouldn't smell embarrassingly bad for the jaunt.
As they left, Nico looked over at Honoka. As she did so, the genki girl winked at her. As she'd suspected, this had been Honoka's idea originally. Only she would think of reconciliation with her past and her discarded friends as the next step for Nico. She owed Honoka a lot for that.
It wasn't much, but Nico ostentatiously bought Honoka a big dessert that had nothing in common with manju and absolutely no adzuki beans anywhere near it. And because she was learning, she just as ostentatiously did the same for Umi, though in her case she didn't avoid manju on the side.
"You see how it is, Nozomi?" Kotori teased. "The ones she discarded are out of sight, out of sweets! Current and prospective girlfriends, on the other hand ..." The four idol research girls looked a little confused. Surely, Nico wasn't dating four of the Muse girls this year? Or wait, five, if you counted the rumored Nishikino Maki, who was conspicuously absent. Wait. That meant the "messy breakup with Nico" rumor was probably true, too.
They all turned and looked at Nico with new eyes, and that girl almost choked on her parfait. Her comrades in µ's treacherously laughed at her discomfort.
Since the cat was partly out of the bag, Nico didn't object — well, visibly — when Umi took her hand, helped her to her feet, and waved goodbye to the rest, still holding Nico's hand in hers. It still felt like she was in a dreamlike state. Because they'd gone for sweets, they went to Nico's house instead of archery practice. Nico would have to continue to confuse her siblings, unfortunately. She gave them the same story she had with Kotori, emphasizing that her and Maki weren't fighting — at least this time she could say that without feeling guilty. Regardless of her mother's feelings about all this — which Nico was afraid to ask about — she again ran interference for Nico when she and Umi retired to Nico's bed. Having to be somewhat quiet didn't ruin their lovemaking, which was very slow and tender. Nico did pepper Umi with questions, keeping them up later than they normally would stay up. Umi had her own questions, for that matter. Bringing Nico's two worlds together had given her so much to sort out, Nico decided it would take a few days to get her balance again. At least this had definitely taken her mind off of Maki for an evening.
Maki didn't know why she'd wandered by the door to the roof — was she regressing to the days before she joined µ's? Was she that pathetic? It took a while, but she recognized a song she'd seen Nico dancing to in a video. Were µ's doing Nico's old group's songs now? Why? Was it ethical? She vaguely remembered that Nico had mostly written the music, and two other girls had written the lyrics. Had they gone to them for permission? But then she heard some new voices. With a shudder, she jumped to the correct conclusion. µ's was literally letting Nico's old group — the one that had crushed her and her hopes and dreams — practice with them! It was completely outrageous!
She had to rush to the music room to compose herself. She probably felt more lonely and stressed out now than ever. All the good that performing with µ's had done for her was being wiped away. She had vaguely realized it, but she confronted one fact, squarely. None of this was anything she could discuss with her parents, even her mother.
But who, then? Maki had kept to herself, keeping up her studies. It had taken a lot to let Rin and Hanayo in, to be honest. Her social life had boiled down to µ's, and somehow she wasn't the hermetically sealed, tough loner she'd been when she started school. She needed to talk to someone before all of this ate away at her.
At the sweet shop, shortly after Nico and Umi left, Eli got a text. It was from Maki, and it was to the point. Eli blew out a puff of air and looked at it again.
"Eli, I don't want to interrupt you tonight, but can we meet to talk, tomorrow? I'm not doing that well."
