“Alright, everyone, three more minutes til we’re live again!”

We need to buy some time until Ryouha is able to go on. It’s simple, one of us needs to go out and do their performance while Miki takes care of Ryouha.

“Three minutes, huh…”

“Hey, where’s Meru?”

“She said she was going to practice somewhere by herself,” Mio said. “She wanted her act to be a surprise.”

“Hm…” I wonder what it is.

Then, the staff came in again.

“Two minutes til we’re live. Is Kitagawa-san ready?”

“Um, we need some more time with her.”

“One of us will go out until she’s ready.”

“Who?”

“Eto…” I looked back at everyone, who seemed to still be preparing. Then, Nagisa raised her hand.

“I’ll go!”

“Okay. I’ll inform the rest of the staff.” He dismissed himself and then Nagisa started heading out to the studio.

“Wait, how did you prepare for your comedy act so quickly?”

“Simple. Comedy is 10% practice and 90% ad-lib.”

“Ad-lib?”

…..

“And we are back! Now is the time everyone’s been waiting for. It’s time to start the talent competition.”

“Today’s contestants are the seven members of Tentomu chu. What kind of performances will they show us today? Minegishi-san, anything you’d like to say?”

“Mm~ well, I definitely know this’ll be interesting.”

“HAHAHAHAHAHA!”

“You can definitely say that, huh?”

“Un. Hehehe.”

“Alright first up is Kita-hm. Oh, sorry, hold on… Um, not Kitagawa-san. Ah, okay. First contestant is Shibuya Nagisa!”

*Applause*

“Howdy everyone! Name’s Shibuya Nagisa, y’all can call me Nagi!”

“NAGIIII!!!”

“Hai. Now, I’m so glad I get to perform for y’all. So, first, I gotta tell you this story. The other day, I ordered some lunch from this real nice ramen store down the street. So, when the delivery guy came, I told him to just set it down while I gave him the money, and he put it on the floor.”

“Hahahahaha!”

“So I told him to put it up higher, cuz I wasn’t gonna eat on the floor. So he put it on top of my head!”

“HAHAHAHAAHAHA!”

“This guy was obviously a newbie. That’s what you’d think, right? Wrong! He’s been working at that joint for 8 years; he’s an old man!”

“HAHAHAHAHAHAAHA!!!”

…..

“Nagi sure is good with comedy.”

I looked back and saw Miki was already hypnotizing Ryouha. Since they didn’t notice me, I went through the routine Nagisa taught me.

“Gimme 100 yen. No? Then gimme 1000 yen.”

I looked and saw a fake samurai sword. I opened it up and held it in my hands.

“You think I would eat rice, correct? I eat bread. Bring me bread!”

No…

“Sorry I scared you~. It’s war!!! It’s war!!!”

No~.

“Want this sword? Gimme 1000 yen. No? Then gimme 10000 yen!”

Ugh… no.

“I’m just not as good as Nagisa.”

“I thought it was funny,” Nana said, as she and Mio were watching me.

“Yeah. If you had samurai makeup on your face, it would’ve been hilarious!”

“Really?”

“Un!”

Hm… I honestly don’t think it’s that funny, though.

“Wake up!” Miki clapped her hands and woke Ryouha from her hypnosis.

“Did it work?”

“Only one way to find out,” Miki got up and opened the door, yelling down the hallway. “Staff-san~!”

“Hai?”

“Ryouha’s ready to go on!”

“Alright, tell her to get ready. She’ll be going on shortly after Shibuya-san.”

“Ryouha-tan, you ready?”

She stood up, looking at the outfit she had planned to wear. A wide smile appeared on her face as a new light kindled in her eyes.

“Yes!”

…..

“And now, next up is Kitagawa Ryouha!”

We all watched from backstage as some old timey music started playing and Ryouha came out in a mime outfit. She looked so cute, and I think the fans like it.

She walked forward, but then “bumped” into an invisible wall. She tried to find a way around it, she even kicked it and “hurt” her foot. She tried one more time to run up, but ended up falling down.

“Hahahahahaha!”

“The audience likes it.”

“Haha, kawaii, Ryouha-tan~.”

She walked over to the other side of the studio, and came back out with a suitcase. However, as she started walking to the end of the studio, the suitcase became stuck in its place.

“Hahahahahahahaha!”

“Ah, I’ve seen this before in Osaka,” Nagisa said.

“She’s been practicing, huh?”

The bag dropped to the ground and became heavy. She almost couldn’t pick it up, but then it lifted back up on its own and pulled itself to the other side, dragging Ryouha with her.

She came back out with an umbrella, opening it as she felt “rain” coming down. They even added a sound effect to make it believable.

Then, a gust of wind “blew” at her and almost blew away her umbrella. She grabbed it and fought against the wind, but was eventually blown away and fell aback, her umbrella flying away.

“Hahahahahaha!”

“Kitagawa Ryouha, everyone!”

She came back to the dressing room, cheering. “Uwaa~ That felt amazing!”

“You did well, Ryouha-tan.”

“Now, who’s up next?”

“Me,” Miki raised her hand. She put on her golden jacket and grabbed her suitcase. “Lemme show all of you how to put on a show.”

As she left, Miichan came backstage to check up on everyone.

“Hey, what’s up, guys?”

“Miichan!”

“Mako-chan, did you come up with anything?”

“No. I’m still thinking.”

“Souka. I hope you come up with something soon. I know you’ll be good.” She said to me with a smile. Then she looked around and said, “Wait, where’s Meru-chan?”

“She’s practicing somewhere else.”

“She’ll have to go on soon. Let’s hope she comes back.”

“Ah, Miki’s on!”

We looked on the TV and saw Miki walking out, throwing flowers everywhere. She took her hat off and a giant bouquet popped out. She pulled it out and threw it into the audience before her hat flattened.

“Sugoi~”

“Who knew Miki was that good?”

“For my next trick, I will make this strawberry disappear,” she said before setting a single strawberry on a plate. She waved a handkerchief and when she took it away, it was gone.

“Tada! Nishino Magic!”

*Applause*

“Woah…”

She then waved the handkerchief a bit more and it turned into a wand. She twirled it in her palm and then pointed it up. I saw a yellow glow appear and lightning shot up. A dove appeared and flew onto her hand.

“Wah!”

“What the—?!”

“Nishino Magic!”

“Miichan, did she..?”

“If she did, she’s risking revealing our true identities.”

“And finally…”

We all looked and saw Miki was blowing up a giant balloon with a vacuum. She put her head inside it and pulled it down over her.

“*Balloon Tarou?”

“Looks like it.”

She then stuck her head back out and smiled.

“TADA!!! Nishino Magic!!!” She jumped around inside her balloon and left the studio, the audience applauding her.

She came back into the dressing room as they went to commercial, catching her breath.

“Haa~ I think that went well.”

“Miki,” Miichan stared at her with a slightly angered look on her face.

“Um, I should go~” Mio said as she slowly left, probably to get ready for her act. But, I also thought it was to avoid the awkward situation.

“Miki, that magic just now. Did you use your Heart fragment?”

“Uh…”

“Miki!”

“Hey, no one noticed anything. They all thought it was just for show.”

“Still, you need to be careful. If someone finds out we can use magic, it could cause some big trouble for us. We can’t let anyone find out.”

“Fine. I’m sorry. I won’t let it happen again.”

“Promise?”

“Cross my heart.”

“Okay.”

…..

“Okay, everyone, next up on our show is Tomonaga Mio-chan~.”

Mio came out with a small puppet in her hand. It looked like a little boy, in overalls and a small hat on its head.

“Hello, everyone~.”

“Hello~”

“Hai. Um, I am a member of Tentomu chu under Akihabara48, Tomonaga Mio desu~. And this little guy here is named Tsucchi.”

“Hahahaha.”

“Tsucchi?”

“Where’d she come up with that name?”

“He’s an idol of the doll world, right, Tsucchi-chan? ‘Applause~’!”

*Applause*

“We all saw moved, right?”

“It’s probably hard for her. Mio-chan has trouble memorizing stuff like this.”

“Now, I’m going to tell the story of *Momotarou.”

“Ooh~”

“Once upon a time, there was an old couple. One day, while the woman was washing her clothes in the river, I giant peach floated down the river. ‘Floaty~ floaty~!’”

“I can’t tell which is talking when!”

“The peach opened and out of it came a healthy baby boy. The old couple took the baby in and named him Momotarou. ‘That was fast!’” That time, she was actually late in making the puppet’s mouth moved.

“This is kinda awkward.”

“Don’t worry. Mio-chan is cute, so I’m sure the fans won’t mind.”

“And then, um…” She looked over and saw her puppet’s eyes were closed. “He fell asleep!”

“Hahahahahahaha!”

The audience applauded her as she finished and came back to the dressing room.

“Ah~ I was so nervous, I kept messing up. Gomen, minna…”

“It’s okay, Mio-chan.”

“You did your best.”

“Thanks…”

“Next up is Tashima-san!”

“Eh? Meru?”

“She’s not back yet.”

I stood up and walked out the door. “I’ll go find her. Nana, you take over until I get back.”

“Wakatta.”

…..

“Okay, um, next up we planned to have Tashima-san come, but it seems like there were some issues, so next is Okada Nana-san!”

Nana came out with a straw blind in front of her. She stopped at the center of the set and lowered the blind, closing it in her hands.

“The next performance you all will be seeing tonight is ‘*Nankin-tama Sudare’. Performing, Okada Nana. I would appreciate everyone’s participation in applause.”

“Ooh~”

“Here we go. Asatte. Asatte. Asatte satte satte satte. Satte wa nankin-tama sudare. Bend it just like this~. And we have a rainbow bridge. Once the rainbow bridge is made in the straw, you can perform dojyo at ease~. Once you bend the dojyo back, we’re back to square one.”

Everyone was clapping while she spoke to the rhythm, bending and twisting the blind in her hands.

“Satte wa nankin-tama sudare. Just bend it this way~. Bend it back this way~.”

She turned around and twisted it more, then held up the blind.

“We have Tokyo Tower~!”

“Ooh~”

*Applause*

“Thank you very much. It’s the 333 meter Tokyo Tower~.”

Miichan and the others were watching backstage, applauding.

“Nice one, Nana.”

“She really practiced, huh?”

Back at the studio…

“This will be the last tama sudare. Just bend it a bit~. Bend it one more time…”

“Ganbatte!” Miki said through the TV.

“Rocket fireworks~!” She threw the straw blind and it shot forward, creating the perfect form of rocket fireworks. She popper a confetti popper and bowed as her performance ended, everyone applauding.

“Sugoi, Nana-chan!”

“Are? What’s this?” Just then, one of the staff handed the host, Sho, a paper. “It seems, the teacher who helped Okada-san practice this performance is giving her an official certificate.”

“EEEEH?”

“Uso!”

“Wow. Thank you.” Nana accepted it with gratitude and bowed once more as she exited the stage.

“Alright, we’re almost done, so don’t change the channel. We’ll be right back!”

…..

“Meru-chan!”

Where is she? Did she already go to perform? I can’t find her anywhere.

I started walking back down the hall, then I saw Rina coming out of her dressing room. She saw me and smiled.

“Mako-chan!”

“Ikoma-chan.”

“Whatcha doing?”

“I’m looking for Meru-chan. Have you seen her?”

“No. Sorry.”

“Souka…”

I took a closer look and saw Rina changed out of her Milk Planet outfit and was now in a Nogizaka uniform.

“Your uniform is so cute.”

“Arigato. Yours is, too.”

“Oh, this isn’t my performance uniform. It’s just my school uniform.”

“Ah, alright. Haha.”

“Haha. I’ve always liked idol’s outfits. They’re always so cool and fancy.”

“You’re an idol fan.”

“Un. I’ve always loved them, ever since I was little. I wanted to be like them, but to shine in my own way as well. Just be myself.”

“That’s nice. Very idol-like.”

Idol-like, huh? Well, I am an idol, after all…

Wait…

“That’s it!” I cheered and hugged Rina, shocking her.

“E-e-eh?! Nani?!”

“Thank you, Ikoma-chan! I finally know what to do!”

“Wha-? What are you—?”

We were both interrupted when we heard loud laughter coming from down the hall.

That’s my dressing room…

“I gotta go. See ya later.”

“Eh? Wait! What did you mean by you know what to do? For what?”

“My performance!”

…..

I got back to the dressing room and saw everyone at the TV, laughing.

“What’s going on?”

“Look at what Meru’s doing!”

I looked on the TV and was surprised to see Meru was dancing on stage with a large, black moustache on her.

“What the—?!”

“It’s called the ‘*Hige Dance’,” Miichan explained. “No wonder she kept it secret. It’s the craziest one yet! Hahaha!”

She took a sword in her hand and gave one of the hosts a grapefruit, silently asking them to throw it.

“Is she gonna..?”

“Yup.”

When he threw the grapefruit, she tried to stab it, but she ended up missing.

She then proceeded to give the other host a grapefruit and try again. But again, she failed, and with one grapefruit left, she needed to pull it off.

She gave the grapefruit to none other than Nogizaka’s leader, Sakurai-san.

“Wha-?”

“Meru-chan…”

The girl simply looked at the fruit and scoffed, throwing it behind her. But, surprisingly, Meru was able to catch it onto the sword.

“WOOOOAH!!!”

*Applause*

“Eh?! M-maji.. ka?”

Meru danced off the stage as the audience applauded for her, Sakurai-san still standing in shock.

“She sure showed Reika.” Miichan laughed as she sat down. “That’ll make us even, then.”

“Even?”

“She pulled a prank on me on the last variety show we both starred in. I still didn’t know how she got ALL that mustard into one cream puff.”

“That was her?”

“Dang, that must be brutal.”

“Nah~! Just a friendly rivalry. Besides, Reika isn’t as high and mighty as she seems. She just acts cool for the camera, but I’ve seen her flaws.”

“So, it’s just a friendly rivalry.”

“Yeah, plus Akihabara48 and Nogizaka have collaborated many times before. Ikoma-chan works under our label, too, so she often got to participate with us.”

“Really?”

“Un! The same is like that for a member in our Nagoya division. You know her best as one of the aces, and a star actress in Nagoya, Matsui Rena.”

“Ah~ that’s right. She did participate in Nogizaka activities, didn’t she?”

“Same for Ikoma-chan, nee.”

“We’re all good friends. The idol world is just friendly competition.”

“I thought you said it was serious business.”

She stuck out her tongue and we all laughed. Looks like things were alright.

“Kojima-san, it’s time for you to go on!”

…..

“And our last contestant of the night is Kojima Mako!”

I heard the audience cheered as I walked out on stage, wearing a very idol-like outfit I borrowed from one of the wardrobe staff.

“Hello, everyone~”

“MAKO-CHAAAAAN!!!”

“Whooo! Mako~!”

“Eto…” I took a deep breath and calmed myself. This was a bigger audience than the café. “The thing is… I don’t really have any special talents. But, I think that just being myself is enough, so this is the best I can do.”

“Ganbare~”

“I’ll start basic, go slowly… and I’m sure, maybe, I’ll be a dazzling star. And that I’ll be a big idol by just being myself. That, right now, is my dream.”

I couldn’t stop smiling. And the crowd cheering, I could tell they understood what I said.

Then, the music started…

Nantetatte Idol~

Nantetatte Idol~

Now the crowd was getting excited. And I felt my heart pounding. It was great. This is what I wanted. This is my performance.

Akai KONBA-CHIBURU kara
DOA wo akezu ni tobiarite
MINI no SUKA-TO hirari de otokonokotachi no
Shizen wo kugizuke

Kuroi SANGURASU kaeketemo
PURAIBASHI wo kakuemo
Chottokurai wa dareka ni souyo watashi dato
Kizukanakucha iya iya~

Koi wo suru ni wa surukedo
SUKYANDARU nara NO THANK YOU
IME-JI ga taisetsu yo
Kiyoku tadashiku utsukushiku~

Nantetatte Idol~
Watashi wa Idol

Nantetatte Idol~
Suteki na Idol~

Idol wa yamerarenai~

Nantetatte Idol~
Nantetatte Idol~
Nantetatte Idol~
Nantetatte Idol~

“MAKO-CHAAAAAN!!!”

“Sasuga Kojimako!!!”

“Smile Power KITAAAAAA!!!”

Everyone was giving me a Mako chant as the song ended. It was the first time it’s ever happened. I smiled and bowed down one last time…

Then, something strange happened…

The sound suddenly disappeared.

When I looked up, everyone was frozen. Time seemed to have stopped. I thought maybe I was dreaming, or lost in the moment.

But, no. This was really happening.

“Kojima Mako.” I heard a voice echoing.

“Eh?”

“Your awakening shall come soon.”

“My… what? Who are you?”

“Very soon, the *Crystal of Life…”

Crystal of Life? What is that?

I turned around to try and see the person, but I ended up having my eyes covered. I quickly separated the hands from me and saw time had started again, the audience still cheering as if nothing happened.

“Well, the votes are in and the winner of tonight’s talent contest is… Kojima Mako!”

“Kojima-san, congratulations!”

“MAKO!!!! MAKO!!!! MAKO!!!!”

Eh..? What just.. happened?

After filming ended, I went back to the dressing room and was congratulated again by everyone.

“You were awesome out there, Makocchi!”

“We’ll go out somewhere to celebrate! I’ll even buy a big cake!”

“You deserve it, Mako-chan!”

Miichan, everyone…

“Miichan.”

“Hm?”

“Ano… I thought, I heard someone talking to me.”

“Eh?”

“What are you talking about, Mako-chan?”

I can’t tell them. I don’t want them to worry about me. Not while everyone is happy.

“Ah, nevermind. It was probably my imagination.”

“Sou?”

“Un.” I grabbed my bag and started walking out. “Now, let’s go get that cake.”

But then I accidentally ran into someone. I quickly apologized, but then she suddenly got up and left without saying a word.

I could almost see her face… But I did get a glimpse of a necklace she was wearing. It was a blue crystal, which looked almost like one of the Siamese Twins. She got away before I could say anything.

Who is she..?

…..

The next day…

“Kojima Mako is currently one of the biggest female idols to take Tokyo by storm!”

“Isn’t this awesome, Makocchi? You’re famous!”

My name was printed almost everywhere. In the newspapers, on TV… Yup, I’m pretty much a star. I never expected to shine this much.

“You are the biggest thing to happen since this year’s AKB48 sousenkyo! You should be proud of yourself,” Miichan said, patting me on the back.

“Miichan…”

“I’m not surprised, though. I knew you could do it, Mako-chan,” Miki said, hugging me.

“Me too. You’re our leader and ace of Tentomu chu. This kind of attention isn’t strange,” Nana said.

“You really are diligent, Nana.”

“I’m not that diligent.”

“Says you!”

As they laughed, Miichan tapped my shoulder.

“So, what happened the other day? You said you heard someone talking to you?”

“Oh, well… yeah.”

“Mako, don’t be shy. If there’s anything bothering you, you can always tell me.”

“Alright. Well, I can’t remember clearly what happened, but I do remember they were saying something about this thing called the ‘Crystal of Life’…”

“..What?”

“Maybe I was just dreaming…”

“Mako, did you see the person?”

“N-no. I just heard his voice…” Miichan’s gaze became serious as I was talking. “Miichan, do you know something?”

“Mako, that is—”

Just then, someone knocked on the door, making us all looked towards it.

“Hello?” the voice called out. “Anyone here?”

“Hai!” I walked over and opened the door. “Yes? Do you—?”

I met the person’s eyes. She was a young girl, probably a year younger than me. When our gazes met, I felt something tug in my heart. Like I knew her…

Wait, is she..?

I looked at her neck. The necklace was there.

She’s the girl from before..!

“Mako?” she called out my name. “Is that you?”

I looked back, then something clicked. The way her eyes sparkled, her voice, it all came back to me.

“You’re..!”

==================================

Footnotes

*1. Balloon Tarou - A comedy act where a man blows up a giant balloon and gets inside it.

*2. Momotarou - A Japanese folktale that talks about a boy who was born from a peach, and, accompanied by some animals(a dog, monkey, and a pheasant) go to an island to defeat monsters.

*3. Nankin tamasudare(Translation: Nanjing Woven Screen) - A performance where, using a woven screen, can portray many objects while reciting a continuous poetry.

*4. Hige dance(Translation: Moustache dance) - A comedic performance where a person will often where a fake moustache and suit.

*5. Crystal of Life - A treasure that protected Queen Muse and her kingdom. It is said to hold incredible power, and that it could also heal the sick and wounded. It disappeared to Earth somewhere after the Maou attacked.