On Saturday, Reina started her day three hours later than usual.

After waking up at 11 AM, she went for a run. Thirty minutes later, she came back to her home to eat a late breakfast. 

A familiar, mature voice greeted her as she walked back into her home. “Welcome back, Miss Reina.”

Reina looked up to greet her house’s maid as she took her running shoes off. She steadied her breathing before speaking. “Good morning, Chiyoko-san.”

“Breakfast is ready,” the maid said to her, giving a half bow. Her brown hair was put into a low ponytail hanging over her shoulder. “I made omurice. For a side, there’s fresh fruit that I bought while you were out.”

Reina took off her earbuds and handed them to Chiyoko. Walking to the dining room, she found the dining table set for one person, with a glass of orange juice poured for her. 

“Thank you for the food,” she said. She took her utensils and started eating, silently appreciating the meal that was cooked for her. The eggs had been cooked to a consistent thickness throughout the dish, while the rice was soft and seasoned perfectly.

The blinds were drawn in the dining room, letting the natural morning light flow into the mostly-white area. On one of the walls were four rows of pictures, with each row dedicated to a Fukuyama sibling’s headshots throughout the years. On the third row down, one of her photos from 765 Production’s Supernova photoshoot was recently added.

While she ate, her housemaid stood patiently at the head of the table. “Your bath is being drawn. It should be ready for you by the time you finish eating.”

Reina waited to swallow her bite before responding. “Thank you, Chiyoko-san.” 

“Your father wanted to send his regards to your mini-live this evening.”

“Is it safe to assume he won’t be attending?”

“Unfortunately, he will be very busy today with Miss Aina’s upcoming concert.”

“She hasn’t been coming home as of lately,” Reina said. She finished her omurice, switching her spoon to a fork that was set on the table. She started eating her fruit in slow, savory bites. “Neither has Daiki.” 

“They’re very busy,” Chiyoko said to her. “I’m sure you’ll also be in the near future.”

“As for mother?”

“She is attending a ballet performance for Miss Shiina today, I’m afraid she can not make it in time due to the show being outside of Tokyo.”

“That’s understandable,” Reina said as she finished her plate. “...will you be there?”

The housemaid gave a slight smile. “Of course, Miss Reina.” 

She wiped her mouth with a napkin. She got up to leave the table, leaving her glass of orange juice half-empty. “That will be all then.” 

Reina walked upstairs to her bedroom, which her personal bathroom was connected to. As she opened the door, she noticed the scent of apricots in the air. She closed it quickly to not let the steam escape into her living space. Her running clothes were left outside for Chiyoko to pick up later, while her hair tie and phone were left on the bathroom counter. 

The bath itself easily fit someone twice, or maybe even three times as large as Reina. She got in slowly, wincing as her body reacted naturally to the heat of the water. The top of the bath was murky, with orange and blue swirls throughout it. It was from a type of bath bomb that she only used before a performance, with today being no exception to this rule. Before completely entering, she also applied oil into her hair.  

She sighed once her body was fully immersed. It was a hot summer day, but the feeling from the bath and the water was a different kind of heat. The combination of warmth, fragrance, and nearly being completely submerged in water was calming for her. Thankfully, the outdoor live today would be closer towards sunset than not, making it so that performing would be more bearable compared to if it was during high noon. 

She closed her eyes as she thought of the upcoming performance. It had been four weeks since the Producer’s announcement for the dual mini-live event. This time, there would be eighteen girls performing instead of five, although they would be split between two locations. Additionally, Reina only needed to prepare for four songs instead of eight, but now she would also be singing in them all. 

After four weeks of practice, she was more than ready to perform. The atmosphere in the practice rooms leading up to today slowly became more serious as more girls realized they would be getting their chance to debut. Her advanced dance lessons increased from three girls to seven, while singing went from four to nine. For the group of NeoStars she now practiced with, they too were ready.

For those that she didn’t practice with, she worried about how they would affect the performance. She had no way of knowing if the rest of her live group would be able to operate at the same, consistent level. In practice, they seemed adequate, but results from practice were much different than those from performing live. Practice didn’t have the potential pressure of thousands or even tens of thousands of eyes scrutinizing your every move. 

If people couldn’t overcome that pressure, then all of their practice would have been for nothing. To the audience, the only impression made is from a performance they see.

The last performance she had was adequate. There had been a reporter in the crowd, and the press generated by their online article gave the NeoStars a lot of free attention. A part of her worried about her hiatus while transferring from her old company to 765 Productions, but her fears were unfounded. Not only was her individual performance well-received, but she was pleased to see many of her fans had maintained their interest in seeing her live. 

For the sake of advancing her career, she hoped today’s performance would draw in a larger crowd and that it would go as smoothly as a professional production should. 

Someone knocked on the other end of the bathroom door, bringing her out of her deep thought. 

“Miss Reina, it is already 12:15,” she heard Chiyoko say through the door. “You’re going to be late to practice.” 

Reina had either spent nearly half an hour thinking about the performance, or she had fallen asleep while sitting in the bathtub at some point in time. A quick reality check showed her hands shriveled up as she stood up to get out of the tub, while a lot of sweat had accumulated on her forehead. The bathwater was no longer steaming as when she had first entered. 

The knocking came again. “Miss Reina, I’m obligated to open the door for you if you don’t respond soon.”

“I’m almost done,” Reina answered. She pulled the plug for the bath and watched as the water began to drain. A quick shower washed off the hair oil and particles left from the bath bomb. 

She came back into her bedroom wearing a white bathrobe. Chiyoko was waiting at her vanity to dry her hair before she left. On her bed was a sleeping, blue-gray cat she owned since she was seven.

“Did you fall asleep?” Chiyoko asked her. Reina looked at her through the vanity’s reflection as the housemaid sprayed heat protectant into her golden locks.

“I don’t know,” Reina asked. “I was just relaxing and thinking about the concert until you knocked.”

“You’re usually out of the bath earlier than this. Have you been overworking yourself lately?”

“No,” Reina replied, trying not to make a face as Chiyoko started untangling her hair with a barrel brush. The blow dryer was turned on shortly after, held in the older woman’s other hand. “I’ve been practicing as usual. Two times a day. Three if I’m not satisfied.”

“And what about school?”

“School doesn’t matter. I’m passing.”

“I’m afraid you might be overworking yourself before this live. It’s going to be the first impression of your new company as full-on idols.”

“I know,” Reina said. “First impressions mean everything. I need to be ready.” 

“You’re more than ready, Miss Reina.”

It took her another thirty minutes to finish straightening her hair and to choose an outfit to wear once the mini-live was over. She was driven to the office right before 1:00 PM, choosing to go there to practice due to it being closer to today’s location than the theater.

Surprisingly, she was not the first person to arrive. The dark-haired, olive-eyed face of Sonoda Tae greeted her when she entered Practice Room D1. She was in the middle of a dance routine once Reina entered, but stopped when she noticed the blonde’s arrival. 

“Good afternoon,” Tae said to her. She went to get her bottle of water as she turned off the speakers in the room. “Did you fall asleep or something? You’re usually here before I am. ”

“The performance isn’t until 5:00,” Reina responded. “Unless your clocks are off, you’re here early.” 

“If you’re early, you’re on time,” Tae started to say.

“If you’re on time, you’re late,” Reina finished. 

“Looks like we’re both on time,” the tall brunette smirked. “Only a few other girls have shown up, but they’re in D2 and the singing room right now.” 

Reina started stretching once she put her change of clothes down, standing next to Tae. 

“Do you need help?” Tae asked her.

“I’ll be fine,” Reina responded. She sat down, bending forward to reach her toes with her fingertips. Out of the corner of her eye, she saw Tae coming behind her. “I said, I'll be fi-”

She tried not to yelp as the other girl put pressure on her upper back, pushing her hands forward. Her lower back and hamstrings burned as Tae pushed her past her body’s flexible limit.

“Please, stop pushing so much,” Reina tried to say through the pain. She sighed once Tae loosened the assault on her back.

“Oh, sorry. I just assumed you’d be more flexible.”

Reina moved her back into an upright position. She looked at Tae through the mirror, trying not to glare at her. “What made you think that?” 

“With how many years you’ve been an idol, I assumed you’d be more flexible than I am,” Tae tried to reason. “How many has it been now, seven?”

“Eight,” Reina responded. “Joining the industry was my ninth birthday present.” 

“Oh,” Tae said. She sounded surprised. “I got new shoes.”

Reina kept stretching, although this time without the kind help of someone else.

“You should’ve been there on Thursday,” Tae said to her. “After we finished passing out flyers at the butterfly cafe.”

“I must have been practicing,” Reina responded. Once she was done stretching her arms, she grabbed her phone and earbuds. 

“Ah, I should have known,” Tae said. She went to start her dance music again, but stopped to look at Reina.  “Do you need me to put my earbuds in for practicing?”

“That shouldn’t be a problem,” Reina said. She started the routine for her first group song, a Million Stars piece called Welcome!!. 

“I know that one,” Tae said. “Can I join you? My group is opening with that song, too.”
“Which part are you doing?” Reina asked, still going through the song’s moves.

“I’m in group B.”

“Group A.”

“Perfect! That means we can practice our singing parts, too.”

“If you insist,” Reina said. She took her earbuds out, putting them in her bag with her phone.

Tae started playing the song’s instrumental over the room’s speakers. She stood next to Reina as the music started. Both of them moved in unison as a synthesizer began the song, their right hands slowly coming down. The next move consisted of raising the same hand towards the sky, index fingers pointed up in the No. 1 hand symbol.

They practiced the song again, and then another group song twice before Tae went to eat lunch. For the rest of her practice hour, Reina practiced her solo to excruciating detail, alternating between a focus on only her singing, only on her dancing, and then combining both. Thankfully, no one ended up interrupting her throughout her time practicing.

At 2:30 PM, Tae and the office’s assistant split up to drive the two different groups of girls in the office to today’s venue. Akari and another girl, Miyagi Nari, went with her and the assistant, although she didn’t do much talking during the ride to the venue. Today they would be performing in a nearby live house, while the other group would be doing the same on the other side of the city. Harumi Kyoshi, the assistant, led them through the staff entrance into the backstage. 

An acoustic guitar faintly played from one of the rooms backstage. A few girls, also already wearing their costumes, were standing to the side as they practiced their songs before the performance started. Other girls who weren’t participating were walking back and forth with equipment, all wearing black 765 shirts. 

“You have until 4:45 to be ready backstage for the huddle,” Harumi explained to her and the others. “Until then, your Producer said to prepare how you want. She trusts that you’ll know if you’re ready.”

“Harumi-san,” one of the Million Stars that were working approached him. “All of the sound equipment is in check. We’re good to do our final soundcheck.”

“Thank you Tokoro-san. Let’s start checking everything off of our list,” Harumi said. The Million Star nodded and walked off away from behind the standing and sitting sections of the venue, where the sound booth was. After, the assistant turned to look at Reina. “Do you need anything, Fukuyama-san?”

“Yes,” she responded. There was still some time before she needed to get ready for the show.  “I came to ask if all of the audio files I requested are in place.”

“No worries, Fukuyama-san,” the assistant said. He had on a sweater vest over his button-up, although he wasn’t wearing a tie to go with it. A pair of glasses covered his blue eyes, while in the dim light of the live house, his red hair almost looked brown. “Everything is in order for your solo tonight.” 

“I am also curious as to what your prior experience was before joining the company. Despite being our assistant, I rarely see you in the office.” 

“You could have asked me in the car.”

“I didn’t know where to start. But now, I’m assuming your specialty is sound?”

“I’m interning at the moment, with a focus on becoming a sound technician. I was hired to help out on the technical side of lives,” Harumi explained, moving some of the dials back and forth until he found levels that he liked. "I’ve run soundboards before, but none as... expensive as this one. They’re all the same, though. These ones just give us more options." 

“I see,” Reina responded. “Admittedly, all I’ve ever done is perform.”

 "For example, check this out," Harumi pressed one of the larger buttons on the board, a rectangular one lit up in blue. Nothing happened. He hit it again, and then another two times. 

"Stage to control, please stop touchin' the hallway lights," a voice said through his walkie talkie. "Mirai just tripped." 

Harumi's eyes went wide. He hit the button once more, before writing a note in his notebook. "Let's not touch that one again.”

“Why did you pick 765?” Reina asked him. “You seem out of your element.”

“I needed an internship to graduate. This was the only place that offered,” the assistant admitted. “But I like it here. It’s paid, I’m getting experience with high-quality equipment, working with a growing division feels rewarding.”

Reina nodded. Harumi kept working on the equipment while they talked, picking his walkie talkie. “What about you, Fukuyama-san? This is your seventh company now.”

“I quit the last one,” Reina responded. “It wasn’t letting me advance fast enough.”

“We’re essentially starting fresh now. You could have picked a lot of places that would let your first performance be thousands rather than hundreds.”

“You know a lot about me.” 

“I get access to everyone’s files when I help schedule. Since we’ve been starting slow, I’ve had a lot of time to read.” 

“I know how successful 765’s girls have become. I’m here because I’m confident the same can happen to me. I want to get to the top more than anyone here, and I’m more than willing to work for it.”

“I see,” Harumi responded. After a few seconds, he had another question for her. “Fukuyama-san, is there anyone you’re working so hard for?”

“Yes.”

“Do you think they’re going to be here tonight?”

“...No,” Reina responded, trying to not hesitate. She wanted to leave the conversation at that, so she started walking away to the dressing room. “I’m going to get dressed. Make sure everything is in order before the show, Harumi-san.” 

She spent the next hour getting into her outfit, which consisted of a light purple top, a light-purple and white skirt, and a white jacket with sleeves reaching her elbows. A white bow was fixed to her collar, with a golden 12-pointed star in the center. Golden accents added a regal look to the outfit, from the top of her shoulders to the lining of her skirt, to her belt buckle, and even to the buttons on her jacket. A translucent lilac train trailed behind her skirt, stopping just below the back of her kneecaps and adding more dimension to her outfit.

Meanwhile, the designer incorporated her image color, an icy-blue, into her shoelaces and the horizontal stripes on her otherwise golden cuffs. Akari and Nari, in comparison, respectively had red mahogany and Japanese indigo-colored accents throughout their outfits. 

Reina had been told that Lilac Nebula was the name of this outfit. She felt satisfied wearing it since it felt much more befitting for an idol to wear than the backup dancer’s counterpart for Lumiere Papillon she wore less than a month ago. Not only that, but this was an outfit made for the NeoStars, and only them. 

“This is our first official performance as the Supernova Project,” Harumi said at the huddle before the performance. The crowd slowly filling in the audience could be heard as the nine NeoStars girls singing tonight stood backstage. “Although we can’t have done this without the Million Stars helping us along the way.”

Six of the twelve Supernova girls who weren’t quite prepared enough to perform tonight were standing behind the rest, watching as the company’s assistant gave his words. Another handful of Million Stars girls watched on with them. All of the workers wore the same black 765 shirts. Looking around the circle, Reina was surrounded by girls all wearing the same outfit, with a spectrum of colors accenting all of their boots. Many of them stood uneasy before their first performance, feet shuffling around and faces nervous.

“While your Producer is at the other venue, she did want to say that she knows how hard you’ve all been working for tonight,” Harumi continued. “I’ve only been here at the company as long as you have, but I’m happy to say that I look forward to seeing where all of you will be in a year.”

“Let’s all do our best,” Akari said. She stood opposite Reina's position in the circle.

“Assistant-san, can I do it?” 18-year-old Otokura Kyoko asked to the right of Reina. After the example that the girl’s younger sister Natsumi showed a month ago, she improved incredibly quickly. It was enough to allow her to be the leader today, making her the center for tonight’s group performances. “I want to do the call!”

Reina didn’t mind. She wasn’t much of the leader type. If her individual performance was good enough, then the attention would be on her, anyway.

Harumi stepped away from the center of the circle. “Be my guest.”

“Everyone, hands in the middle. After we finish, raise a finger to the sky. The goal is top idol!” Kyoko said, putting her hand in the center of the group. Eight quickly followed her example. “765, fighting!”

“Oh!” the rest called out. Kyoko’s right hand pointed to the sky, and everyone else joined her until nine hands aimed for the top.

“Five minutes until showtime,” a Million Star with a curled side-ponytail said to the group. “Get ready for position before the lights start comin’ up!”

Reina took a deep breath. Years of performance taught her how to get over her nerves, although that didn’t stop her from feeling them before a performance. She went to move into position behind the curtain, placing her feet together as other girls started getting into line across from her. 

A few minutes later, the curtains were pulled open. Reina was met with the sight of hundreds of multicolored penlights in the crowd lighting up the darkness. At least fifty of them were the same icy blue as her shoelaces. 

The lights turned on the stage as the music began. Welcome!!, the same song she practiced earlier with Tae, started playing. Inside another live house on another side of the city, the dark-haired girl would be doing the same performance. Here, in the CFM Live House, nine girls moved in unison as hands raised upwards slowly, index fingers pointed up to the top. 

It was time for their first performance to begin. All of their hard work led up to this first song, and as the crowd called out their cheers in response, Reina knew that it would pay off. 

The applause four minutes later affirmed all of this.

Reina moved to her right as she exited the stage and another song started. For this mini-live, the next nine songs would be solos performed by each girl.

“Suki suki, da-i-suki!” Kyoko sang. “These feelings I have will never stop!” 

She was the last one remaining on stage after the last song ended. As the center for tonight, she was the one chosen to start off the solo songs. The energetic girl picked a song that was just as fast-paced as her, and the crowd reacted accordingly as she sang to them and the penlights switched to a solid red color.

Reina practiced her dance for the next few songs until it was her time to perform. Four more girls went before it was her turn, and she re-entered the stage after a girl carrying an acoustic guitar took her bow. 

Several hits of a drum accompanied a piano. She stood in the center of the stage as she was covered in darkness, waiting for her cue. Her left hand gripped her microphone as she switched it on.

A blast of sound marked the time for a spotlight to come onto her. She extended her right hand outwards. Every move after was done precisely, consigned to muscle memory after hours of practice. All of her actions had to be done perfectly, with as little margin of error as possible. She stared forward past the audience as she kept going, the sea of penlights only an afterthought to her performance. 

Her right hand moved in an arc across her side as the first few measures of the song ended, finishing the instrumental by closing her fist above her head and then bringing it back to her microphone hand. 

“Even though nothing now has ever changed. Why am I, then still feeling so painful?”

Reina’s worst aspect was her voice. 

“I tried raising my headphone volume… My chest hurts.”

She knew that, so she spent more time practicing her singing than anything else. 

(For no reason now I’m feeling so lonely)

She heard her own voice reverberate back at her and into the crowd. In preparation for the live, Harumi had helped her record her voice so that she wouldn’t need to use the backup lines of the original singer, Tokoro Megumi.

She picked the song because it was both vocally challenging and felt like it would be a good song to perform for herself. She also knew that the audience’s first impression of her for this concert mattered, so her singing was what she spent the most time practicing. Since she was the only one on stage, all eyes would be on her. The lack of backup dancers meant every one of her actions would be scrutinized even more. 

“I have so many words that I can not give you. I've always been here at a standstill.”

By the second verse, she had already captured the crowd’s attention. She needed to keep her performance up through the chorus to keep them interested. 

“I can't lose the distance to smile at you yet…”

(can't move)

Her body moved with a precision only coming from hours of practice. Every one of her words was enunciated perfectly, while her tone stayed consistently strong. 

"How much longer am I going to be like this?"

Every performance mattered to her, no matter how small or insignificant it felt. She had to keep aiming to be the best that she could be, or else she’d be left in the dust of all the other greedy idols.

“All of the pages that you wrote are stained by small falling raindrops”

 (Let me know, where is the love...?)

For a brief second, she looked back at the crowd. Hundreds of icy-blue penlights filled the audience. She looked away, continuing to focus on herself. 

“Disappear now, Frozen Word.”

The spotlight turned off, leaving her bathed in red light. A finger extended from her mouth towards the audience, and then she raised it upwards. As the chorus ended, the crowd cheered. She turned her back to them as she made an about-face, hair whisking from the turn as she moved to reposition herself on the stage. 

Reina kept up that flow for the rest of the song, building up the mood during each of her verses and bringing it to a climax at the chorus. The guitar solo during the bridge was when she could really show off her dancing, not needing to focus on her vocal control and only needing to show off the results of nearly a decade of dance practice. The only issue was that as much as she didn’t want to admit it, they didn’t feel like her moves to perform. The song had originally been choreographed for Tokoro Megumi, meaning Reina only would be presenting a rendition of this song rather than offering something that truly belonged to her. 

That’s why she had to make this performance her own. Not only by picking a song suiting her lyrically but going out of her way to change the choreography, too. She gave an extra turn after the choruses ended to emphasize her hair, she moved her arms slightly differently during the verses to make a sequence of movements more precise, along with giving other minute upgrades throughout the song that demonstrated what she was able to do. All of this while not skipping a beat or tiring herself out. 

“There are unfinished words, that are always at a standstill. Don't deliver it, yet...”

(I'm going to sleep)

The end of the song was finally here. Four minutes had already passed. She just had to finish strong.

“With you one day it will be fate. I want to be a thought that I can convey to you.”

She didn’t have a particular person she was singing to. Even if she did, they wouldn’t be here for her words to reach them.

“Is it okay to believe me...?”

(I know it, there's love.)

This performance was only for herself to judge, to see if she had improved since her last one. The audience’s reaction would only tell how successful she was. 

“Don’t disappear, frozen word.”

She did the same move as earlier, extending a finger from her mouth to the audience as if sharing a secret with them. Bathed in red, she kept a steady gaze in front of her as the ending of the song added another line after the closing chorus.

“I’m here!”

She put her microphone hand to her side as she slowly raised her other one, finishing her performance with her body half-turned and her free hand covering her face. She kept her breathing at an even rate now that the song was finished. 

The spotlight on her turned off as the music died down. The cheering and applause from the audience were louder for her than at any point before. Reina was satisfied with her performance, and now it was time for the next person. She walked off stage while the crowd’s roar continued, following the blue light a stagehand shined for her to see where she was going. Her head was held high as she walked past Kanagawa Hana, the pink-haired girl now going to take her turn on the stage.

She didn’t pay attention to the other girl’s face. Instead, she walked back offstage to find somewhere to practice for the next two songs. 

Briefly, she went to look at one of the backstage showing what the performance looked like. A few other girls were watching, including Akari and some of the younger NeoStars. A wind chime gently played along with light piano chords as Hana raised the microphone to her mouth.

The music kept playing, but there were no lyrics being sung.

For those watching in the audience, and all of the girls looking at the monitor backstage, the pink-haired idol was simply not singing. Her lips were frozen, words being unable to escape the girl’s mouth as the song carried on without her. 

Reina took in a deep breath and exhaled for just as long. This wasn’t supposed to happen. She should have been singing by now. The mini-live had been going so well up until this point. Two more girls were supposed to sing after this, and then they would finish with their group songs. 

Whether Hana was feeling stage fright, anxiety, or simply forgot her mark to come in, these issues should have been fixed in practice. Since the performance was live, with almost 500 people in attendance, the staff had to do something soon. This show had to go on.

Reina just didn’t know what she should do when somebody else messed up.