Tonight’s concert would forever be written in Hana’s memory. There was a lot that she’d have to write in her diary.

She had that feeling ever since her senior, Kasuga Mirai, made her entrance onto the stage and performed her first song. All of the penlights in the crowd quickly changed into pink to match the middle schooler’s image color as they were all enraptured by her energy on the stage. Hana found herself quickly going with the flow of the audience below and her fellow idols on the balcony, waving her penlight along to one of Mirai’s signature songs, Future Flight.

Her attention kept switching from Mirai’s actual position on the stage to the giant screen at the back of the stage with the Million Star’s face on it. It wasn’t a part of the performance when Hana was at the theater over a year ago, but it felt like a welcome addition. Every few seconds, the angles shown on the screen changed to close-ups and sweeping shots, allowing even those in the back of the theater to see what was going on.

For a traditional theater performance, the screen likely wouldn’t be used. However, this was a concert. If anything, the close-ups and creative overlays were part of the experience. Every eye in the crowd was able to view the top idol shining on the 765 Live Theater stage.

Time ended up passing by faster than expected as Hana enjoyed the experience with Miyako standing next to her. One song turned into two, a few unit songs were shown, and during another solo song, the first two NeoStars appeared.

“Roll up, roll up for the dream express!” a young, twin-tailed girl said. “Step this ride, this way!”

Miyako had been excited throughout the night, but this time she was especially enthusiastic. “It’s Akari-san! She looks so cool!”

“And Tae,” Hana responded.

It felt surreal, seeing two of her closest coworkers sharing the spotlight with one of the Million Stars. Despite the song being a lot more light-hearted than others, and the two being old enough to be the girl’s older sisters, they looked like they were having a blast. Both of them were wearing a metallic-blue vest and white short-sleeved top, with a similar blue and gold skirt. It was a perfect complement that didn’t take too much attention away from the center girl’s more extravagant, butterfly-like dress.

All three girls moved in sync as they danced, with both of the backup dancers able to keep up with the more experienced Million Star’s pace. Hana was worried that Akari would struggle considering how close she arrived at the start of the show, but she didn’t look like she was having any trouble. She wondered how fast Akari took to get ready, although the extra time before any backup dancers showed up was probably helpful in the end.

The next song had two other NeoStars, Otokura Natsumi and Elise Ellingham, dancing. They were two more girls who Hana never really got to speak to, given that they spent the past few weeks in the advanced dancing class together. Natsumi was the youngest girl in the group at 13, which said a lot about the girl’s natural talent. Meanwhile, Elise danced with a composure that fit her mature looks and persona.

Throughout the night, Rocket Star, VIVID Imagination, and Stardust Symphonia ended up being played. Hana watched Tae with Akari, Elise with Akari, Reina with Tae, and more. The order of backup dancers kept rotating, meaning she only saw the same combination twice. Depending on the song, there were either two or four backup dancers.

One song that stood out in particular, was when only Reina and Akari were sharing the stage with a Million Star.

“I won't give up for just one second! Even when things don't go as planned,” Takayama Sayoko sang into her microphone. The penlights in the crowd changed to purple for her, although some people had broken out orange glow sticks that shone even brighter.

This song, Only One Second, was one of the most energetic songs played tonight. The singer, Takayama Sayoko, was putting her heart into her solo. The choreography and lighting reflected that, with dramatic shifts from the spotlight and sweeping arm motions whenever she held a note. Her long, dark hair flowed fervently with her movement, while her red eyes were shining.

The backup dancers only added to the experience. Despite Sayoko being the center, she couldn’t help but look to the sides of the stage as Reina and Akari matched Sayoko’s passion. Neither of them was smiling; rather, they had a laser-focused look on their faces as they performed. While it appeared to be a common look for Reina, it was rare for Hana to see Akari looking so concentrated on her moves.

The pink-haired idol stopped waving her penlight. Instead, all of her attention switched to simply being in awe at her fellow NeoStars on the stage. With Sayoko holding a microphone in her right hand, she was doing a little over half of the amount of choreography as the others. The real dancing was going on behind her.

“If I follow my heart no matter what.”

With no other girls in their way and Sayoko centered on delivering her solo, they seemed to be competing to decide which one of them was better.

“I'll definitely clash with people along the way.”

They were like two knights jousting to see which would claim the admiration of the kingdom, with their performance acting as their weapons. It almost felt disrespectful, to have the backup dancers trying to take attention away, but they were also idols by their own rites.

“That's why I want to convey purely,”

In just under a month, Akari had gone from Hana’s basic dance class to Reina’s advanced one. Now, she was matching up with two girls who had infinitely more experience than her.

Instead of just one, there were now three bright stars who were shining on stage.

“These feelings will give my song wings... I believe it!”

For this song, Akari’s dancing had changed. She usually just went along with the flow of the music, but now, she was commanding it, using it to amplify her own dancing. Her passion was only matched by Reina’s seriousness.

“Just one second is the future, I don't want to spend it moping!”

The song began its final verse with the girls on stage pointing a finger at the sky. The end of their fight was approaching.

“I decided upon this wholeheartedly, so I'll definitely do it,”

If only they hadn’t been giving their all for this entire song. Akari looked like she was starting to slow down.

“To that gorgeous place with the most amazing sights,”

She was still doing all of her moves on time, but her execution was looking less polished. She wasn’t messing up on what she was doing, but she was just running out of energy to do it.

“I'll go catch that exciting moment!”

The crowd cheered as the lyrics finished. They still had the instrumental before the end of the song, but energy stayed high as the crowd yelled “Hai!” repeatedly as the guitar solo played. Akari stayed in the fight, visibly looking like she was giving it her all as the seconds ticked down.

With the last chord played, all three girls stood next to each other. Sayoko stood in the middle, smiling confidently. A single right hand was outstretched by all of them, index fingers pointed upwards.

From this distance, Hana couldn’t tell if Akari was shaking or not, but she did her best to stay composed. Reina seemed unfazed by the dance, her face simply looking as determined as ever.

The spotlight turned off. Hana exhaled as she processed that performance. Fukuyama Reina was the real deal. The golden-haired idol was in the business for nearly half her life, but she still practiced more than almost everyone in the Supernova project. It was clear the practice paid off judging from this performance. Reina never even got to sing, and she was already leaving an impression.

She was brought back by the crowd’s deafening cheer all around her. It was one of the loudest tonight.

“That was amazing!” a girl behind her said.

“They really looked like they were trying to prove something,” another girl replied.

“I need to practice even harder…” a third said.

She apparently wasn’t the only one who noticed this performance stood out more than the rest.

“That was like a boss fight,” Miyako said next to her. Looking at the younger girl under the glow of their penlights, Hana saw she was awestruck. No doubt, she had a similar look on her own face earlier.

She grabbed her diary that was placed over her armrest, writing down the name of the last song with her penlight giving her vision. As she looked at the setlist for tonight, she was left with the impression that the songs shared a common theme. Praline, Aisle, Catch My Dream, Raise the Flag… they all talked about chasing dreams, having determination and starting something new.

It made Hana hopeful that one day, she’d be singing about those things too.

The lights in the entire theater came up, and the main red curtains were closed. What remained of the stage was a strip of wood, where a trio of Million Stars was standing. The stones in their shoulders and wristbands were each pink, blue, and yellow, and the group included Mirai from the very first song. From what Hana knew, the three of them were part of a unit called Signal.

“Everyone, are you enjoying tonight?” the girl in the middle yelled to the crowd. Her question was met with cheers from the ground floor and balcony alike.

“Are you excited?” the short-haired blonde of the group yelled. An even louder cheer replied to her.

“Thank you for coming today,” the girl on the right side said. She had long black hair that was tied up in the back. “As you all have seen, today we had some special guests.”

“Let’s introduce them!” Mirai said. She looked behind her. “Supernova-sans, come out please!!”

The three moved to the right of the stage, and coming out of the side of the curtain were the five NeoStars who were dancing tonight. They each held microphones and towels, although Akari was also holding a half-full water bottle.

“Let’s start with Elli-san!” Tsubasa said.

Without a spotlight, Elise simply took a step forward to present herself. Not only was she tied to be the tallest in the group, but she was also the only foreigner. Her strawberry-blonde hair and green eyes stood out with her pale skin, although she still looked healthy and beautiful, filling our her outfit better than the others.

“Hello, my name is Elise Ellingham,” she said in slow, but perfect English. “Did you all like my dancing?”

The crowd took a second to realize she switched to speaking Japanese at the end, but cheered after.

“That makes me happy! I hope I can do more for 765 in the future!” Elise said, bowing. She stepped back, looking over to the Million Stars who were leading the introductions.

“Next is Natsumi-chan!” Mirai said.

The youngest girl in the NeoStars group was standing between Elise and Tae. While she was average height, being in between two girls who were both 168 cm made her look tiny. She didn’t seem to mind. Instead, she straightened out her dark purple hair and took a step forward.

“My name is Otokura Natsumi,” she said, bowing. “I want to learn more about being an idol, please support me.”

After that line, quietly stepped back.

“Sonoda-san,” the dark-haired Million Star said. Tae stepped forward, looking down to make sure she didn’t accidentally walk off the stage.

“This is all like a dream come true. My name is Sonoda Tae, nice to meet you!” Tae bowed. “I can barely believe it. I didn’t think I could actually be an idol, I still don’t, but thank you for giving me a chance!”

When it was Akari’s turn, she took a moment to speak to finish her water.

“My name is Watanabe Akari,” she said. “It’s nice to neet you- I mean meet- aaaah”

She covered her face with her free hand. Tae looked over at her, saying, “I think you should have practiced your introduction more.”

The crowd laughed, leaving Akari looking a little more flustered. It was one of the only times where Hana had seen this from her, but with such a large crowd, it wasn’t surprising to see.

“It’s okay, I mess up all the time!” Mirai said to her. She turned to the crowd. “Everyone, did you like her performance with Sayoko-chan? Weren’t she and Reina-chan cool?”

A lot of cheering came after she asked that. Akari seemed to take all it in as encouragement. “Anyways, thank you for watching! I want to make more people as excited as tonight!”

She stepped back, leaving Reina as the last one to introduce herself. Hana leaned a little closer to the stage in trepidation as to what the older girl would say. In their last conversation, Reina mentioned she wasn’t planning on staying at 765 Productions for very long. Surely, she wouldn’t say something like that to the entire crowd.

“Fukuyama Reina, thank you for watching me,” she said. Surprisingly, a decent number of people in the crowd had already changed their lights to a light blue. “If you have seen me before, thank you for following me to this new stage. I hope you can keep supporting me.”

Reina finished her introduction with a bow, and to cheers from the audience. Hana wasn’t used to seeing the NeoStar act so polite.

“And there’s another person we want to introduce,” Mirai said. She looked over to someone standing offstage. “Producer-saaaan!”

Instead of the male Producer who was there the day that she auditioned, Hana’s Producer walked out onto the stage. She was a young woman in either her ‘20s or ’30s and was wearing a dark red pantsuit. Reina lent her microphone to her.

“Hello everyone, I am the newest Producer for 765 Productions,” she said. “I’m sure that not many of you have heard of it due to the recent press surrounding the All-Stars world tour, but I was hired to lead the company’s newest project, Supernova.”

She gestured to the 5 girls on stage. “The backup dancers who just introduced themselves are just a fraction of the new girls we’ve hired to the company. Coincidentally, the rest are here with you today.”

“Curtains please!” Mirai yelled, pointing offstage with her free hand.

The curtains pulled back quickly, and suddenly Hana had to put her hand in front of her face to block out a bright light. Squinting past her hand, she saw that the view on the stage’s giant screen now changed. On the screen behind her Producer, there was a view of every girl on the balcony. Around thirty wide-eyed girls were staring back at the camera. There were various mixed reactions of surprise, excitement, and pride across the balcony.

“Everyone, please welcome the newest branch of 765 Productions, the NeoStars!” her Producer said.

The crowd cheered. Hana felt like she had just done a performance despite not having prepared at all. She pinched herself, suddenly feeling a little self-conscious about going to the theater today wearing her drab school uniform. If she knew that she was going to be on the big screen, she might have worn something a little cuter and maybe with more flowers on it.

She thought back to the sneaky Osakan girl who had led her to the balcony in the first place. The same one who had also gifted everyone a penlight, and presumably led all of the other Supernova girls to gather for this moment.

“The Million Stars are amazing,” she said out loud.

Once the applause died down, Hana’s Producer and the other five NeoStars had left the stage. Only the three girls from Signal remained.

“Before I first became an idol,” Mirai started to say. “I always appreciated how much they shined on the stage. That’s why when I became one, I wanted to do the best that I could so that I could shine too!”

“It was such a big dream, and once I joined, it felt so far away. I didn’t know that there was so much more to being an idol; so many friends, so much fun, and a lot of struggles. I still need help with my homework sometimes,” Mirai admitted. “But! My dream is here, this stage, with everyone and my friends here!”

The crowd cheered. Hana felt her heart swelling with giddiness.

“I’m so excited to work with all of you in the future! I want to see everyone shine, that’s what being an idol is!” Mirai continued.

“This concert isn’t over! We wanted to sing this song to all of you in Supernova,” she turned to the girl on her left. “Tsubasa!”

“Ok!” the blonde responded.

“Shizuka-chan!”

“Ready!”

“Our next song!” Mirai said.

All three of them raised their microphones to their mouths, saying the next line together. “Because I Wish For a Tomorrow With You!”

The lights dimmed across the theater, leaving only three spotlights illuminating each of the girls. A gentle piano melody started playing before they started singing.

“What each and every eye wishes for,” their voices were in unison. “It is always, the same kind of dream!”

Hana found herself cheering along with the crowd, whose penlight colors were now split between pink, blue, and yellow.

Without a doubt, she would always remember this concert. Despite the hard path that would lie ahead of her, tonight would always remind her of why she wanted to be an idol. She wanted to inspire people and fill them with love, just like the performances that she saw tonight.

She just had to do something about her stage fright.