It was the day of the performance at the 765 Live Theater.

Hana peeked through the side of the curtains to watch a Million Stars idol start her solo. With the spotlight shining on her, she was shining almost as brightly as the sea of penlights in the crowd. As she moved around, the blue sparkles on her dress twinkled and her white and gold coattails fluttered around her. Her makeup was perfectly done, while her light-brown hair was neatly braided and pinned to the back of her head. Two feathers were attached to a golden hair clip as an accessory. 

For these next few moments, the stage was hers. 

Then after that, it would be Hana’s turn to perform.

She gulped as she stood at the stage’s wings, holding her microphone to her chest. Her heart was beating faster than usual, but she tried her best to calm herself down. There was a slight fear that the microphone would pick up her heartbeat, even if it was turned off at the moment. 

She walked away from the performance and moved farther backstage as she tried to relax. With the current song being a solo, other girls were at a seating area near her in preparation for their songs or to take a break. There was enough light there to read a script, but not so much that those in the audience would notice. The music was still audible where they were, although she was far enough where she could collect her thoughts without the overbearing sound from being next to the speakers.

Today, she was wearing an identical dress to one on stage. Well, identical except for the stones on their left shoulders and wrist bands. Hana’s were pastel green, while the other idol had a dark blue. 

She would have rather had a dress with a unique design, but this still was nice. It had been a long time since Hana had a dress made for her and tailored to fit her body. On the bright side, matching with everyone else gave her a sense of unison that helped welcome Hana to her first performance.

To her right, she heard another pair of boots walking near her. Fukuyama Reina approached, her golden hair swaying freely at her waist, save for the locks tied up at the side of her head and held in place by a feathered hairpin. Like Hana, she had on the same dress, although with icy-blue stones as her accessory.

Hana waved to her. “You did great earlier!”

“I could’ve done better,” Reina responded, smoothing out her dress. “But thank you.”

“I can tell you’ve been practicing. Every move just looked perfect, and your voice sounded so-” 

Reina cut her off. “Shouldn’t you be worried about your own performance?”

There was a monitor near them showing what it looked like on stage. Along with what Hana could hear, she could see the current song was about to come to an end. 

“...right,” she responded.

“Is it your first?”

“I’ve performed before! It just wasn’t with 765.” 

“Well, do your best then. First impressions are everything,” Reina said. It was the most encouragement she had ever given. “You don’t want to make the rest of us look bad.”

“Let's sing!” the girl on stage sang. 

“Love and joy!” the audience yelled back at her.

With the golden-haired idol’s last comment, any warm sentiment was gone. Reina walked away soon after, and Hana headed to her assigned spot where she’d enter the stage once the song was finished. She adjusted her earpiece to make sure it was in all the way.

“Carry it around the world! Echo it around the world!

Hana heard the audience cheering. A nod from a nearby stagehand indicated it was her turn now. The music for her solo song started, which began with a soft piano melody.

“It’s showtime,” her Producer said into her earpiece.

She turned her microphone on and headed towards the stage. All of her practice would come to fruition in these next few moments. 

This was her dream. She was finally able to perform on stage as an idol. She forgot how events had led up to this, but she was grateful to finally be here. 

The crowd gave her applause as she walked up to her mark to stand. The spotlight was brighter than what she was used to, but it felt warm to be under. The glow of the penlights felt reassuring, especially with how they turned green to match her image color.

After four measures passed, Hana lifted her microphone to her mouth. 

Although once she opened her mouth, no sound came out when she tried to sing.

She tried again, this time attempting to force the sound out. Nothing happened except for a strained groan. Seconds felt like minutes as the music track carried on without her. The teleprompter at her below her didn’t even look like it was showing the right lyrics. 

Her feet couldn’t move. Even if she wanted to, she couldn’t run away from the stage. She had to face this mess-up head-on.  

Just as she was about to try again, the spotlight and the music turned off. The wave of penlights in the audience followed soon after. It was quiet enough that people could probably hear her heart beating hard from all the anxiety. 

She looked behind to run away, only to find Reina’s gold stare piercing right through her.

Hana’s voice finally came out, although only enough to be a whisper. “No, not again… it can’t be like this.”

“Hana-san…” a voice said into her ear. “Hey, are you okay?

The pink-haired idol woke up slowly, lifting her head off of someone’s shoulder. Looking up, she saw Akari looking at her, concerned. Her heart was still beating quickly, but she wasn’t at the theater anymore. The two of them were still inside of a train car with not many other people in it. 

“How long was I sleeping?” Hana asked. 

“Only about twenty minutes,” Akari responded. “You looked really tired. I didn’t mind until you started mumbling in your sleep.”

She barely knew Akari outside of school, and even then, they barely talked due to being a year apart. Falling asleep on her felt like an invasion of personal space since they weren’t very close to each other. “I’m so sorry! I was just writing while we were riding and I guess I just fell asleep,” Hana said. 

They were both wearing identical school uniforms with a gray blazer and red plaid skirt, although Hana had a green tie compared to Akari’s red. They had gone to the train station immediately after classes ended, meaning there was no time to change clothes. They’d be cutting it close to when Akari was supposed to meet up before the actual show began. 

The last thing she remembered doing before her nap was working on was her diary… which she wasn’t holding anymore. Hana’s eyes went wide as she looked around the train car, not seeing her most prized possession anywhere. Most of the other occupants were minding their own business. No one looked suspicious enough to be a culprit for stealing a random diary.

Akari held up a pastel green book, about the size of a light novel. “You dropped this.” 

It was exactly what Hana was looking for. Some of the edges were worn, and the green button-clasp keeping it closed was crinkled from countless times of locking and unlocking. A few floral stickers decorated the otherwise plain front. 

She sighed in relief. “Thank goodness.” 

“You sure write some interesting stuff. Like a few days ago when you wrote about the Producer and-”

“Stopstopstopstop!” Hana said, almost yelling. She felt some heat rising to her cheeks. “Akari-senpai, please give it back. That’s so embarrassing.” 

“I’m just kidding,” Akari said, sticking her tongue out. She gave Hana her diary back, along with a pink ballpoint pen. “Don’t worry, I didn’t read anything on purpose.” 

Hana gripped her diary tightly as she took it back before putting it into her bag. “I won’t lose this again.” 

“Why are you always carrying your diary around, anyway?”

“I’m always waiting for the perfect romance story to happen. The day I find it, I’m ready to write it down and cherish it forever.” 

“Aren’t you a little young for that?”

“N… no!” Hana put a hand over her chest. “The heart blooms the most when it’s young. Don’t you want to find love, too?”

It was a line from one of the first romance novels she read. It was impossible to relive the experience when she first read her favorite book, but she kept reading to fall in love with new ones. No matter the quality, each book was like finding a new love, every emotion strong yet fleeting. She hoped that when she did find love, it’d last longer than the few hours she spent with each book.

Akari looked at the ceiling of the train car. “I guess I’ve never really had time to think about it.” 

“Akari-senpai, I’m sure you’ll find it one day!” 

“I feel like I should be calling you senpai when we’re not at school,” Akari laughed, looking back at Hana. “You technically have more experience than me when it comes to being an idol.” 

While it was true Hana had been in the industry for two years now, she didn’t think it was enough experience to call her a senpai. “But you’re the one performing today! Your dancing is already so much better than mine.” 

“I’ve heard you sing before. You’re definitely a lot better than me in that sense,” Akari said. She got up as the train stopped. “Lucky for you, you slept through most of the train ride.” 

The two of them left the station, with Hana following her school-senpai, business-kouhai to the theater. She hadn’t been there in over a year, and even then she used her phone to help her show the way. She trusted that Akari would be able to get them to the right place on time. 

It was early June, meaning that summer was starting. The weather was getting warmer, and with the sun currently shining high in the sky, their blazers were less of a necessity to stay warm. The cherry blossoms had long stopped blooming, but now other trees and flowers took their place. 

“I’m glad today we don’t need to practice,” Akari said. “Although I guess having a performance is going to be just as exhausting. Definitely more stressful.” 

“I think you could have saved yourself some energy and not attended the remedial dance lessons.” 

“I just think it’s better to be safe than sorry. First impressions are everything, y’know?” 

It was a line echoed from the Reina in her dream. Hana felt like she probably should take the sentiment more seriously, but her first performance felt like it’d be so far away from now that worrying about it didn’t matter. Even now, she was still so new to the company that she didn’t know when her first performance would be. 

Today would be a preview for the NeoStars, where five of them were selected by their Producer to perform as backup dancers for the Million Stars. Hana’s dancing wasn’t nearly good enough, but Akari was more than ready for the big stage.

As they rounded the corner of a city block, Hana saw outlines of big red letters at the top of a large building. The closer they came towards it, the fewer buildings covered the view. The streets started getting more crowded as more people also seemed to be walking in their direction.

When they were close enough, Hana knew they’d arrived. 

“765 LIVE THEATER,” stood on top of the roof in large red letters. A large billboard on the front of the theater displayed a stylized white butterfly against a yellow background. 

They finally arrived. In just under half an hour, it would be showtime.

Hana started walking towards the crowd waiting at the entrance before Akari stopped her. “We’re part of 765 now! Let’s go through the side.”

“Oh, right!” Hana responded. They headed towards the side of the theater, where a brown-haired girl with a curly side-ponytail greeted them. A big strand of hair stuck out from the top of her head. 

“Watanabe-san, you’re here!” she said. She didn’t sound like she was from Tokyo, although half of her sentence was mumbled from being in the middle of eating a donut. “Who’s your friend?” 

Hana bowed. “Kanagawa Hana, nice to meet you. I started with NeoStars last month.”

“Yokoyama Nao, nice to meet ya!” the girl responded, smiling. Her purple eyes were warm and inviting. “Is it your first time here?” 

“I’ve seen a performance before, but not before I was hired.”

Nao led the way past the fence and towards the theater’s side entrance. “Welcome to the theater! You’ll love it here!”

The door opened to somewhere far behind the stage, where several other girls were walking around in black t-shirts saying “765” on them. A few of them Hana even recognized from the show she attended.

“I’ll head over to the dressing room,” Akari said. She waved as she walked away. “Enjoy the show!”

“Do your best!” Hana responded.

Nao led her to a hallway outside, taking them upstairs. They passed other girls carrying props, outfits, and boxes. As she was leading Hana throughout the back of the theater, she turned to look at her. “So, whaddya think?”

“Huh?”

“Being an idol, all the practice, knowing you’ll get to perform one day?” 

“It’s like a dream come true,” Hana responded. “I’m practicing really hard, but I want to be up there on stage one day and perform.”

“It’s a lot of fun!” Nao said. “Dancing on stage is really exciting, and doing it with your friends makes it even better!"

“I can’t wait.” 

“Hana-san!” a voice said to her on the other side of the room they entered. Miyako walked up to Hana, wearing a black staff shirt and shorts. With how little she was, the otherwise small shirt was still baggy on her. “You showed up on time!” 

“You’re here too?” Hana asked. “And you’re working?”

“I wanted to get more experience at the theater since I live near here,” Miyako said. “How was your trip here?”

“I fell asleep on the train,” Hana responded sheepishly. “I’m wide awake now, though!”

Nao spoke up. “Miyako-chan, why don’t you take Hana to the balcony and enjoy the show?”

“But I need to help people usher soon,” the younger girl protested.

“It’s okay!” Nao responded. “You’re doin’ really good work! But you should watch your friends and their hard work pullin’ off!”

“Are you sure?” Hana asked. “It looks like it’s your day off.” 

Nao gave a big smile. “Leave it to me! Us Million Stars are your seniors, so sit back and watch what we can do!”

Hana looked over to Miyako, who responded with a nod. “Thank you Nao-san!” they both said. 

“Oh! One last thing,” Nao said. She reached into her bag and gave the two of them wrapped boxes, both around the size of a pencil case. “Open these when the show’s startin’!”

Nao ran off, leaving Hana alone with Miyako. “Let’s sit down!” Miyako said. 

Miyako opened the door to the theater’s balcony. Seating today was mostly empty, except for some faces she recognized from the office. 

On a second look, Hana saw that all of the people on the balcony were from the office. A little under 30 people were there, spread throughout an area that looked like it seated over 200. All of them were girls who she’d spent the past month practicing with and getting to know, and they were now waiting for the show to start along with her.

The only people missing were the five who would soon be performing on stage.

“Everyone’s here?” she asked aloud. She looked at Miyako for some clarification, but she looked similarly confused.

A light green-haired girl walked over. She had on the same work shirt Miyako was wearing. "Did Nao get you two to come in here, too?" 

“Nari-san, what’s going on?” Hana asked.

“It looks like our Million Stars senpais played a trick on us,” she said. “I was asked to come here to work today and help out, but after helping pass out pamphlets, Nao brought me to the balcony and closed the door. “

“Everyone but our Producer and assistant is here…” 

“Thank you for comin’ to the 765 Live Theater today!” a familiar voice said through the speakers. Nao had somehow made it backstage after just taking over Miyako’s job. “The show will begin soon! We would like y’all to turn off your cell phones, and remember that all usage of recordin’ devices is prohibited during the performance. Please enjoy the show!”

“Time to sit down, I guess,” Nari said, walking back to her seat a few rows away.

Soon after, the lights in the theater turned off. Hana heard a rustling of paper, and then a bright blue light started shining to the left of her. 

“A light sword!” Miyako said. She could be barely seen except for the blue glow illuminating her face, although visibility declined once she started waving it around. 

Hana started opening up her gift from Nao. “Penlights…”

In the dark, the only thing they could see was what was illuminated from the electronic glowsticks slowly filling the balcony and the crowd below them. The hue gradually changed from the device’s default blue color to a rainbow of light as people started adjusting them. On a whim, Hana decided to switch hers to purple. 

After a few seconds of murmuring, a single spotlight appeared to light up an empty square in the stage. A young girl, most likely still in middle school, stood alone in the middle of it. 

Her finger was pointed at the sky. She wore the same kind of dress Hana had dreamed about earlier today, although with pink stones in her shoulder and wrist. She had a short ponytail at the side of her head. It was shorter than Nao’s, although she had hers accented by twin feathers on a golden clip.

The crowd was hushed in anticipation, waiting for her next move. 

The idol took a deep breath, raising her microphone to her mouth while her free hand pointed to the sky.

“Here we goooooo!”