"Welcome back to Aikatsu Limelight! I'm your lovable host; Idoline!" Hana and her friends sat in their dorm room watching the latest broadcast of the popular show. "Today we'll be highlighting some of the most popular idols from--" she began. There was a momentary pause as a dramatic drumroll lead up to the announcement. "Top Star Academy!" The girls watching cheered with excitement. "Top Star Academy is the most prestigious idol school in Japan and has cultivated some of the most successful idols in recent history. But today, we'll be looking at the first-year students who are already succeeding!" The montage of the academy campus changed to showcase a reel of footage from some of the idol's performances and activities.
"Miyuki, it's you!" Hana pointed out. The reel showed Miyuki's most recent endeavour in becoming a brand ambassador for 'Neon Party'. Footage of her participating in the infamous event known as the 'Neon Party Super Mega Obstacle Course Extravaganza' played.
"Don't show that, I'm still a little sore," Miyuki shouted at the screen while the other girls giggled.
"Miyuki Jorutta is a pop-type idol and is the newest brand representative for 'Neon Party'. Miyuki has been participating in many different idol activities but her most recent performance has captured the hearts of many fans and pushed her into the 67th position on the Aikatsu Ranking, making her the highest ranked first-year in her cohort. The last scene showed Miyuki performing the Special Appeal, 'Glowing Cheer'.
"That was a wonderful stage," Akira commended. Suddenly, the montage transitioned into showcasing Akira herself. The footage showed Akira posing at fashion shows and for magazine covers.
"Coming in at the 68th position is the gorgeous beauty; Akira Toyaku, a sexy-type idol. Akira dazzles her fans with her charm and style whilst also remaining down to earth. She's a radiant beauty."
"I'm really not," Akira blushed out of embarrassment.
"Aww, that's such a compliment though," Tori explained. The girls continued to watch as the show displayed footage of Akira's performance at her brand ambassador debut where she performed 'Stage Girls!' on the 'Glitzy Fashion Stage'. Like Miyuki's montage, the footage ended after showing Akira perform her Special Appeal; 'Spotlight Strut'.
"These two idols are paving the way for their fellow peers, we can't wait to see more," Idoline stated as the segment ended. "That's all for today, tune in next time!" The show's credits rolled as the girls applauded.
"Way to go guys, you were featured," Hana commended.
"Yeah, congratulations," Tori added. Akira and Miyuki blushed at their praise.
"Thanks, but you don't have to be so formal," Akira explained.
"Yeah, we're all working hard to be the very best, it's not just us 'paving the way'," Miyuki stated. Hana and Tori giggled at their friends' rebuttal.
"We know, but you guys are the top students in our cohort and you're neck in neck in the Aikatsu Ranking. It's only natural that you two would be seen as the ones to watch," Tori mentioned. Akira and Miyuki couldn't deny that they were achieving a higher level of success than their other peers, yet still it felt weird for them to be isolated as the two frontrunners.
"I guess you're right," Akira sighed, Miyuki agreed as well.
"But you won't hold onto it for long," Hana exclaimed. "I'm definitely going to get better and I'll catch up!" This made all the girls laugh and forget the tension. They continued chatting away throughout the night, watching some of their senior idol's performances for reference and managed to even study as well. After a couple of hours, the girls said their goodnights and returned to their respective rooms.
"Good night," Tori and Hana said as they returned to their suite, whilst Akira and Miyuki went into theirs. As they crawled into their beds, Akira and Miyuki stared into the darkness.
"Hey Akira?" Miyuki asked in a hushed whisper. "Are you awake?"
"Yeah," Akira responded, equally silent.
"Do you think we're just overthinking this?"
"I don't know, it feels a little strange."
"Yeah," Miyuki yawned.
"Maybe, we should just keep working hard," Akira said as she slowly drifted off to sleep.
"Yeah, maybe..." Miyuki said too, her eyelids getting heavier until finally she and Akira had promptly fallen asleep, their hearts heavy with thoughts.
----
The next morning was a whirlwind for Akira and Miyuki. Instead of going to their normal classes; they were instead instructed to go to the headmaster's office.
"Why do you think the headmaster wanted to see us?" Akira thought.
"Are we in trouble? What did we do?" Miyuki began to race through all the potential reasons for them to be called into the headmaster's office. "Maybe it's because I went back for dessert even though I didn't eat all of my vegetables last night. Or maybe it's because I lost my phone on a job and we had to spend all day looking for it. Or what if it's about me ruining my summer uniform?"
"Calm down Miyuki, it's probably nothing. And what's wrong with your summer uniform?"
"This is my fifth set," she embarrassingly explained.
"Your FIFTH set?!" Akira asked in shock. "But we've only been wearing them for less than two weeks!"
"I keep forgetting to remove the colours from the whites," Miyuki sighed. Akira let out a defeated exhale.
"You're hopeless," she muttered. Before Miyuki could defend herself, the two girls had arrived at Headmaster Kokomoi's office. The girl's stood outside the large glass doors, taking a deep breath in as they knocked.
"Come in," he called out. As the girls entered, they noticed that their headmaster was not sitting behind his desk or overlooking the school as he normally did. Instead, Shun was in the corner of his office relaxing on one of the white leather couches in front of a glass coffee table. He was drinking what appeared and smelled like peppermint tea, the strong aroma wafting through the room allowing all to breathe easily. "Good morning girls. How are you?" he asked. The girls were about to answer before noticing another person sitting opposite the headmaster.
"Mr. Eiga?" Akira asked, shocked at seeing him again. Hiro Eiga stood up, placing his cup of tea on the table and bowed towards the girls.
"Hello Miss Toyaku, Miss Jorutta. It's wonderful to see you again," he said.
"You too! But what are you doing here?" Miyuki asked. They hadn't seen Hiro since their film won at the 'Summer Film Festival'.
"Mr. Eiga has been very busy since you last worked with him. He's been doing press all over the country, promoting the film and his future projects," the headmaster explained.
"Yes, and it just so happens that one of my future projects has led me to here; Top Star Academy!" he declared. Miyuki and Akira exchanged an expression of confusion, unaware of the enthusiastic director's intentions. Shun, noticing the young idols' confusion explained.
"Mr. Eiga wants to do a feature on Top Star Academy—" he began.
"And I'd like you two to star in it!" Hiro added. There was a moment of silence before Akira and Miyuki arched forward, their eyes and mouths agape.
"What?!" they screamed in unison, any higher pitch and they could have shattered the tea cups. The headmaster cleared his throat as a reminder that the young idols were in the presence of a professional business partner and that they should act appropriately.
"Sorry," Akira apologised, Miyuki bowed alongside her. Hiro waved his hand.
"No need for that, I want the authentic you, the 'real idols' of Top Star Academy!"
"What do you mean by 'real idols'?" Akira asked.
"In the industry, many performers act or behave a certain way in order to appeal to their fanbase. Sometimes, they'll even create a whole new personality!" Akira and Miyuki awed at the way Hiro explained the topic. "Idols are no different; you perform, interact with fans and present yourselves in your own way to boost the general reception of your idol activities. But I want to show what goes on behind the scenes, not the dazzling idols on stage but rather the people that these idols really are." Hiro's eyes sparkled with excitement whilst Akira and Miyuki looked at their headmaster for elaboration.
"Mr. Eiga will be filming you two during your regular routine at Top Star Academy to show fans what their favourite idols are like when they're not performing."
"Oh," the girls exhaled in unison. Hiro reached out and grabbed the girls' hands.
"Please say you'll do it!" He gave them a begging look, reminding them of a puppy begging for food. Shun nodded his head, encouraging the girls. Akira and Miyuki exchanged a final look before accepting the director's offer.
----
The day after they agreed to participate in Hiro's documentary, Akira and Miyuki were briefed on the central premise. A camera crew would follow each of them on a regular school and work day and record the entirety of their actions. There would also be mini interviews conducted by a producer from behind the camera, so the girls would have to be ready to answer any questions. Finally at the end of the day, there would be a performance at the academy to celebrate the day's success.
"Good morning girls," Hiro said as he greeted the two idols outside the dormitory. With Hiro was a crew of staff; a pair of cameramen, a pair of boom mic operators and another director. "This is Yu Hinata, a friend of mine in the directing business," he said referring to the lone man. Yu wore a similar getup to Hiro: black jeans, an oversized graphic tee, and large colourful glasses. "Yu will be following Miyuki with a cameraman and mic operator whilst I will follow Akira with the other pair." The girls nodded and bowed to the team they would be working with.
"Thank you, we'll be in your care." As they were about to head off, a voice called out the two idols.
"Akira! Miyuki! Good morning!" The two girls turned around to see Hana running up to them, Tori trailing behind. Before she could talk with her friends, Hana stopped pointing past them. "What's going on?" The idols turned to see what Hana was pointing out and were shocked to see the crew already in position; filming the interaction with Hiro and Yu silently issuing orders and suggesting camera angles.
"Just ignore us," Hiro said.
"Keep going, as if this were any normal day," Yu added. Akira and Miyuki sighed, turning to address Hana and Tori.
"Today we're filming Mr. Eiga's documentary," Akira explained.
"Oh," Hana said, peering through Akira and Miyuki to see the staff.
"What are you guys doing today?" Miyuki asked, trying to make their conversation seem legitimate and normal.
"Hana and I are heading off to a job; we'll be acting as guest stars in a show about detectives who are assisted by animals," Tori clarified.
"That sounds so fun!" Miyuki awed. Hana smiled at her friend's excitement.
"I know, we'll even get the chance to play with the animals too. I'm so excited." Hana checked her phone and panicked about the time it displayed. "Waah! Tori, we need to hurry, or we'll miss our escort."
"It's your fault we're running late, you spent all morning journaling."
"I couldn't help it, I had an amazing dream and I wanted to remember it." Tori and Hana waved goodbye to their friends as they ran off to meet their escort, continuing to banter about the events of the morning. Akira and Miyuki giggled at their friends' passion and excitement for their idol activities and became pumped up as well.
"Girls, that was great. Could you tell us about your plans for the day?" Hiro asked.
"Well, I have a meet and greet today. I'll be meeting fans and getting to thank them for supporting me," Miyuki answered.
"That's so exciting, I know you'll make the event a lot of fun!" Akira stated. "As for me, I don't have any work scheduled for today, so I'll be attending class as usual and then I'll go practice and train most likely."
"Sounds like we have a fun day in store for both of our idols, then let's be off," Hiro said. With that, Akira and Miyuki high-fived before they and their crew separated to record each of their activities.
----
Akira didn't think being filmed would be a problem, after all she was an idol who performed on stage and was featured in many magazines, yet as she sat in class with a mic hanging above her and Hiro and the cameraman standing right by her teacher, she felt an overwhelming sense of pressure and awkwardness. Whispers began to filter throughout the class.
"What's going on?"
"Why are they filming Akira?"
"Is this for a special?" Before Hiro could explain the situation to ease the young idols' concerns, the classroom teacher interrupted.
"Now girls, as you can see, we are being joined by a crew who will be following and recording Miss Toyaku's activities as an idol and as it so happens, those activities include attending class. Please don't interfere with their work and continue as if today was a normal class." Ms. Akemi spoke clearly and directly, putting her students' minds at ease and giving Akira a moment of relief as their judgement no longer pressured her.
"Thank you, Ms.—" Hiro began but before he could continue, the stalwart teacher interrupted yet again.
"As for you lot, having you in here is a great distraction to the education of my students. The headmaster might be fine with you interfering with my teaching, but I am not, so, If you shall disrupt my lesson in any way shape or form, you will be dismissed! Do I make myself clear?"
"But, Ms.—"
"Do I make myself clear?!" Ms. Akemi stated again, this time with a very strong and bellowing voice. Akira and the other first-years had heard stories of Ms. Akemi's temper. Legend says she once got so angry that fires started erupting all over campus. As she stared Hiro and his team down, her eyes pierced so ferociously that the fires of her wrath may well be more fact then fiction. Afraid to incur her anger, Hiro and his staff conceded.
"Yes, ma'am." With her status cemented, the teacher returned to her lesson, ignoring the crew of professionals. This caused all the students to proactively follow the lesson, afraid to upset their already annoyed teacher. Akira exhaled, knowing that despite her warnings, Hiro and his team would continue to film her. This would be a long day.
----
Whilst Akira was struggling with her own filming schedule, Miyuki had encountered her own problems. The meet and greet she was attending was being held by 'Neon Party' as a means of officially welcoming her as a brand ambassador. She didn't expect there to be many people at all, yet to her surprise, a row of fans stretched from the brand headquarters all the way down the street with more people lining up every couple of minutes. Most of these people were Miyuki's fans but a majority of them were people who liked the brand and wanted to meet the newest representative. Miyuki's teacher, Mr. Oji, had given his class a lecture on meet and greets before. He explained that this type of event was crucial in winning the hearts of an idol's fans. She would need to be quick to get through all the people but also take the time to shake their hands, pose for photos, sign autographs and answer questions. This would be no easy task.
"Ok Miyuki, are you ready for your first official meet and greet as a brand ambassador?" Enna Yokina asked. As the creator and Top Designer of 'Neon Party' it was her duty to oversee such an event.
"Yep, I'll do my best Enna!"
"Excellent, although are you sure you'll be able to do it with your crew filming?" Enna looked at Yu's team that were recording every detail of set up and conversation.
"Don't mind us!" he called out.
"Don't worry Enna, I promise today will be a success." With that, Enna called out to the crowd of fans to let them know the event was starting. One by one, fans came up to Miyuki and interacted with her.
"Thank you for coming," she said shaking the hand of a young boy in a football jersey.
"Wait!" Yu called out before the boy could go. "Miyuki could you do that again, we need a better angle." Confused at the director's demand, Miyuki thanked the boy again and shook his hand. "Perfect." This wouldn't have been a problem had it only happened once, but Yu and his team continued to dictate the meet and greet, choreographing the interactions and making Miyuki repeat certain actions. At this rate, the line would never shrink, and fans would have to wait much longer than expected. Miyuki continued to handle the demands of the film crew with the excitement of the fans she would be meeting, but one way or another, this method would lead to disaster.
----
"Now class, who can tell me about the three main stages an idol can perform on?" Ms Akemi asked. Hands including Akira's shot up in an attempt to answer the question. "Yes, you?" Before the idol could speak, Hiro intervened.
"Ms. Akemi, could Akira answer the question please?"
"Excuse me? Mr. Eiga, I made myself perfectly clear."
"Yes, but Akira knows the answer to the question, she had her hand up. And as one of the top idols in her cohort, shouldn't she lead by example?" Despite his distraction, the teacher had to admit that Hiro had a point.
"Sorry, Akira could you answer the question please." Akira looked shocked as the idol Ms. Akemi had originally chosen, slowly sat down, a look of embarrassment on her face.
"Are you sure? But I think Mei was really excited to give her answer." Mei looked down as the students shifted their focus to her, her hair covering her eyes.
"Be that as it may, I now want to hear from you; what is the answer?"
"Live, Dance and Fashion Show; these three are the main stages created by the ASI and all involve an idol performing a song on them. Live stages are where the idol performs the song as normal usually staying in the centre. Dance stages are where the idol performs high energy and intricate choreography. Fashion Show stages involve a long catwalk that the idol struts down as she sings."
"Very good," Ms. Akemi said before continuing on. The class applauded Akira's answer and returned to focus on the lesson but in the corner of her eye, Akira could see Mei slouched over, visibly upset. Deep down Akira knew that her taking Mei's opportunity away was wrong, yet there was nothing she could do now.
----
"Miyuki, is everything alright?" Enna asked, running to gain an understanding of why the line was not shrinking but rather growing longer.
"We're working on it Enna, I promise." Yu's interference had reached a new level as he was running down the line, telling fans how they would interact with Miyuki to ensure a good shot. Meanwhile, the cameraman began asking Miyuki some questions.
"So, how are you feeling today?"
"I'm good, I'm excited to get the opportunity to meet my fans and make some new ones as well." As she was conducting the interview, a little girl came up to Miyuki, her mother holding her hand. "Hello, what's your name?" The little girl seemed excited to meet Miyuki but hid behind her mother's leg out of shyness.
"Sweetie, don't you want to say hello? You said you wanted to meet her," the girl's mother placated. The little girl, who wore her hair in plaited pigtails, similar to Miyuki looked up at the big mic looming over them and the man behind the camera and retreated further back behind her mother.
"It's ok," Miyuki said. "They're not scary at all!" However, Miyuki's attempt at soothing the little girl was ruined when Yu ran up to them.
"Sorry, but this is taking too long, we have many more shots needed. You'll have to come back later," he said. Yu escorted the lady out of line while the girl began to cry, reaching out for Miyuki. Miyuki raised her hand too, wanting to call out and take her time with the girl, but the next person was already waiting to see her, and they were running severely behind schedule.
"Miyuki, we have more questions for you," Yu insisted. The young idol stood there, as fans and the crew barked orders at her, she began to become overwhelmed and wondered how her day had turned out like this.
----
Akira's class had ended, and students began to file out one by one. Ms Akemi had also left, tired of Hiro's yammering and filming during the lesson. The only people left in the class was Hiro's crew, Akira and Mei.
"You ready to go train Akira, we'd love to film you running a lap, maybe you could talk to us about your skin routine," Hiro asked. Akira ignored him, noticing Mei who was normally full of energy, slowly pack her notepad away.
"Mei, wait!" Akira called out, rushing over to her seat. "I'm sorry about today, I didn't mean to take away your chance to speak."
"It's ok Akira, it's like that director said, you're one of the best idols in our grade, we should learn from you." Mei's voice was clearly sad, opting for a general monotone.
"That's not true, I still have so much left to learn."
"But you're doing so well, you're even sitting in a higher position than most third-years, what else do you have to learn?"
"I need to learn to stand up for other people. I let your chance to learn be taken away from you, that wasn't right. I'm sorry. I should have stood up for you."
"Akira..."
"I'm being filmed because they want to show what idols are like when they're not performing but instead of me doing my regular Aikatsu, instead, I've shown them what an idol shouldn't do, I'm so sorry Mei." Akira bowed to her classmate who seemed shocked at her genuine nature.
"Perfect! That was amazing Akira, we can really use that for your segment!" Hiro exclaimed, separating the moment the two idols were sharing. Mei looked at Hiro and began to run a series of events through her head, before coming to a conclusion.
"Oh, I see, you're just being nice to me for your special. I didn't think someone like you would be capable of that," she said, before running out of the room, tears streaming down her face.
"Mei, wait!" Akira called out, but it was too late, the idol was gone.
"Oh, sorry about that Akira, but don't worry, once she sees the finished product, she'll forgive you. We'll make it look so good, she'll feel bad for your character." Akira's eyes widened.
"My character?" she asked in shock.
"Of course, your character. The charming and beautiful idol is just like a normal girl, she has her own problems; this will be an amazing documentary!"
"I'm not a character, I'm a real person!" she said. "That's it, I don't want to participate in this anymore!" Akira picked up her things and stormed out of the classroom, Hiro and his crew in tow.
----
Miyuki's car began to pull back into the academy, Yu and his team were discussing the shots they had taken.
"It's a shame the event got cancelled the way it did, but no matter, we have enough footage to edit so I'd say the day was a success."
"A success?" Miyuki asked as she got out of the car, her voice trembling. "How can we call today a success? Today was to be my chance at meeting fans and sharing with them my excitement for their support but instead you took over and made us do it your way."
"I'm sorry Miyuki," Yu said trying to defend himself. "But these kinds of events are unpredictable, we needed to script it, so we could have the perfect special."
"That's not fair. My event is not your opportunity to meddle with. Because we were taking too long, Enna had to cancel it which upset many of the fans waiting! And the fans I did meet, we were following a strict script that it wasn't authentic. You turned away so many people who were shy or slow away, that's not your call!" she screamed. The commotion Miyuki caused gained the attention of Hana and Tori who had arrived back at campus roughly around the same time. "This special is over, I won't be involved if this is how it's done!" Miyuki ran off into the academy whilst Yu and his crew stood there baffled. Hana and Tori both exchanged a look of concern before separating; Hana followed Miyuki, Tori went to question Yu.
----
Inside the academy grounds, Akira had lost Hiro's team and found herself back in her dorm. She sat on the sofa running her hands through her blonde hair, trying to figure out what to do. Before she could think, Miyuki ran into the room.
"Miyuki?"
"Akira, it was awful!" she said as she ran to her friend, tears stemming down her face. The two idols began to share their tales from their day's exploits and by the time they had caught up, Hana had entered the room to hear the full story.
"I'm so sorry guys," she said, hugging both of her friends deeply. "That's not fair to anyone."
"I just don't want to let the headmaster down, he believes this would be a perfect opportunity for us and for the academy," Akira explained.
"And all they filmed was us being the worst kind of idols. We still have to perform as well and I don't think I can sing with a happy heart feeling the way I do," Miyuki added. As they continued, the door slowly swung open. "Hmm?"
"Then let's show them what real idols are like!" It was Tori with Shun and Setsuna behind her.
"Tori? Headmaster Kokomoi and Ms Yasoku?" Hana asked confused, sharing her expression with Akira and Miyuki.
"Miss Utamai told me about what happened," Shun said.
"I talked to that director with Miyuki and saw Mr. Eiga looking for Akira and talked with him too. After hearing what happened, I went to the headmaster," Tori chimed in.
"I'm sorry you two went through this, had I known this was how the filming would have turned out, I never would have suggested it. I am sorry." Akira and Miyuki looked at the headmaster who was now bowing in a form of apology.
"Enough of that now headmaster, can't you see these sweeties are still confused why we're all here?" Setsuna added.
"Right. I talked with Mr. Eiga and Mr. Hinata and they are sorry for the way they have behaved. They are so used to directing actors who are portraying characters that they forgot that they were filming real people, real human interaction."
"So, Tori-sweetie came up with an idea to salvage the mess that was today," Setsuna mentioned.
"If we want to show what idols are like then it should be idols who are responsible for the filming and presentation." There was another knock on the door. Tori opened it to reveal a bunch of first-years holding film equipment and boom mics.
"Mei!" Akira said shocked, seeing the young idol holding one of the academy cameras.
"Sorry for how I reacted Akira, I know it wasn't your fault, but Tori told me everything and we want to help."
"Everyone..." Akira and Miyuki muttered as they felt everyone's support, tears began to form in their faces.
"No time for tears, we have work to do!" Hana shouted. She got the girls up and together with everyone in the room, sharing their excitement, they cheered: AIKATSU!
----
Everyone worked frantically to remedy the filming process. Whilst Hana conducted interviews with Akira and Miyuki, Tori worked with Setsuna and the headmaster to get all the people from Miyuki's meet and greet and Akira's following to the academy for the concert. Feeling sorry for the way they had behaved, Hiro and Yu along with their crew assisted with transport also interviewing fans about their favourite idols and why they love Aikatsu. Meanwhile, the other first years who were roped into helping spread details of the special concert all over IdolStar to the point where fans were refreshing the page to check to see if the live was available to stream.
As fans of Miyuki and Akira piled into the academy, the girls took turns escorting people to the performance hall, shaking hands, posing for photos and answering any questions. When Miyuki took a crowd, she was more than happy to see the little girl from before, now thrilled with energy to see Miyuki perform live, holding her hand as they walked to the hall.
By the time it was ready for the two girls to perform, the hall was full, IdolStar had more than a couple thousand people waiting to livestream and the friends that had helped them prepare were giving them their final good lucks before the performance.
"Good luck guys," Tori said.
"Have a great stage!" Hana added. As Akira and Miyuki walked towards the dressing room, they spotted Hiro and Yu as well as their team giving them a gentle smile of encouragement. The girls knew there was no ill will or bad intentions and smiled back, letting the actions of today fall to the past.
They stood before the dressing room doors, examining the coords they had chosen to perform in.
Akira chose the 'Purple Glitter Coord,' a sexy-type coord and her school dress. Like all the other school coords, the skirt and shoes were the same design, but the top was entirely different. The 'Purple Glitter Top' was a sparkly purple corset with a magenta ribbon on the left. The top half of the corset was the standard sparkly purple, matching the colour of Akira's bow whilst the lower half was white. To top the corset off, a thick white zipper lined the chest. Two long elbow length white gloves were also part of the top with purple and magenta bangles worn around the wrist. The rest of the coord was a combination of purple, white with magenta accents.
Miyuki's coord was the'Yellow Glitter Coord,' a pop-type ensemble. The 'Yellow Glitter Top' was a tank top that was yellow with a thick strip of white, in the middle of the chest was a lime green ribbon. The sleeves were small yellow ruffles. Two fingerless white gloves with small lime green ribbons were also displayed. The rest of this coord was a combination of yellow, white and lime green accents.
The girls smiled at each other before preparing to perform.
"Akira Toyaku; radiant and ready!"
"Miyuki Jorutta; cheering for you!"
The two girls raced into the dressing room, setting their Aikatsu cards and entering the glittery dimension where the cards materialised the outfits onto their bodies. Finally, they stuck a pose before entering portals of light that took them to the newly materialised stage.
The stage that materialised was the 'Pastel Sky Stage', a magnificent stage of pastel coloured pillars, a sparkly endless sky and was the set used when performing the song 'Aikatsu Dreams!' The crowd now made up of fans and digital streamers cheered loudly as the two idols appeared and posed, ready to perform. The music began, and the two idols smiled as they sang and danced.
'Woah-oh-oh, woah-oh, Dreaming,
Woah-oh-oh, woah-oh, Aiaktsu Dreams!
Woah-oh-oh, woah-oh, Dreaming,
Woah-oh, chasing my Aikatsu DREAMS!
(Akira)
I remember when I opened my eyes,
From that dream, so vividly;
I filled my heart with all of my energy,
Knowing that one day they will come true!
(Miyuki)
Even though waking up can be so unfair,
I won't forget the promise I made then;
Never giving up, a smile on my face,
I greet the world and embrace the brand-new day.
As they sang with excitement, the two idols projected their sparkling Idol Auras. Akira became surrounded by glimmering amethysts and shone with a purple glow whilst Miyuki summoned multicoloured confetti that rained down around her whilst she sparkled with a yellow glow. Both girls continued to dance and smile, happy to be performing for an adoring crowd.
(Akira)
But there are times when the world gets me down,
I feel alone, no hope to continue on:
(Miyuki)
Yet I know that there's a light up ahead,
I'll race to it, my heart ignites,
The song I'll sing brings all my dreams to the light!
So, here I am on the stage!
(Akira)
Never thought it could happen, but here I am!
Oh-woah
I'll sing the song in my heart!
(Miyuki)
In my brand new coord, how I just adore it!
(Akira)
I knew that if I never gave up back then,
One day all of,
My dreams will come true!
(Miyuki)
I'll pass them onto you!
Then together, forever:
Our Aikatsu Dreams begin!'
As the song began to finish both girls used all their energy they had mustered up to perform their Special Appeals. Akira found herself in a sparkly purple dimension where an elegant purple spade formed above her. She blew a kiss towards it which resulted in a spiral of purple glitter trailing up to it until finally the spade exploded into smaller versions of itself and Akira struck a final pose, winking as she blew another kiss. This was the sexy-type appeal 'Sexy Shine'. Once Akira's appeal had ended, Miyuki began hers. She was in a shiny yellow dimension where a large yellow club appeared before her. Miyuki jumped up towards it, small yellow clubs appearing as platforms to launch herself off of. Finally, she leapt towards the larger club, piercing it and shattering it into many smaller variations of itself. Her final pose had her basking in the raining yellow clubs as she smiled excitingly. This appeal was called 'Pop Shine' a normal pop-type appeal. With their Special Appeals done, the two girls finished the song before striking their final poses.
'Woah-oh-oh, woah-oh, Dreaming,
Woah-oh-oh, woah-oh, Aiaktsu Dreams!
Woah-oh-oh, woah-oh, Dreaming,
Woah-oh, chasing my Aikatsu DREAMS!'
The crowd cheered as the stage illusion vanished and the girls returned to wearing their normal summer uniforms. They bowed to the audience and thanked them for showing up before inviting their friends, teachers and Hiro and Yu's team onto the stage to bow as well. Hiro and Yu promised to edit the footage the idols recorded and vowed that their documentary would be shown to everyone, showing just how amazing idols really are.
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"That one there, see?" the old woman pointed out. The lady sat with a much younger girl as they watched the livestream of the performance, pausing it as all of Akira and Miyuki's friends came up on stage.
"That's your granddaughter?"
"Yes, why do you want to know?"
"Ma'am, my name is Saaya Hazukashi and I want to know more about Hana Tachibana, I have something I'd like to give her. As a way to say thank you." The old woman smiled before pouring the young girl some tea, happy to talk about her granddaughter.
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Next Chapter Synopsis:
Chapter 10: A New Dream Blooms
"Hana gets 'off time' from the academy and decides to head back home to see her family. This time away lets her reflect. She likes being an idol but feels like she is missing something. What is she lacking? Once home, everyone starts acting weird and she reads a message in a journal telling her to 'come to where your dreams began coming true'. Could this be the answer she is looking for?"