To Sum It Up

Another day after school in Otonokizaka Academy, the student body gathered in their respective clubs for their usual activities. Almost every club were a nexus of bustling activity… well, except for one…

A dreary silence consumed the Idol Research Club and its eight (out of nine) members. Most of them were comfortably seated, but nothing in their faces suggest any sign of comfort. The club president, Yazawa Nico, stood among the seated; her comparably pathetic height stood tall like a giant in that instance.

In short, the atmosphere was likened to an execution ground.

At last, Nico looked at everyone in the clubroom and sighed. She took a glance at the door, before breaking the icy atmosphere with a simple query.

"Where is Kotori?"

"Oh Kotori-chan said she and her mum had to tend to family matters today, so they left immediately after school." That was Honoka's sheepish reply, a much belated one that truly shattered the ice.

"You knew all this time!" yelled Nico.

"You should have said that when you came in," said Maki, the aristocratic girl among the school idol µ's.

"Guess we have to do without Kotori-chan then," quipped Nozomi.

"Ok, settle down everyone!" Nico commanded with a clap of her hands to silence the commotion, "Do anyone know why are we here today?"

Silence fell once more, with some of µ's pondering over Nico's question. A shaking hand belonging to Hanayo raised; in fact her whole body was still shivering from the previous icy atmosphere.

"T-the L-Li-Live yes-yesterday…" the timid girl stuttered, forcing her words out of her lips.

"Yes, Hanayo! We had a Live yesterday in the school auditorium," Nico continued, "after our first song, we interacted with the audience and…"

"What? There was nothing wrong throughout the Live," asked Honoka, ever oblivious to the situation.

That dumb question sent Nico's face flying over towards Honoka's. With Nico's face at close-up, Honoka began to realise the pressure staring down at her literally.

"Where's your tagline?"

"Tagline?"

"Taglines may well be an absolute important aspect of an idol!" cried Hanayo, surprising everyone else, "It is a short simple one-liner that embodies their persona and image as an idol. It marks their presence and ensures that they are remembered well after the performance!"

"In short, a summary of ourselves," Umi followed up.

"Precisely," Nico continued, distancing herself from Honoka, "if we recall the previous day, which of us managed to do a tagline?"

Finishing her sentence, Nico turned her back on her peers and made a quick turn to face them again. The intense almost-demonic look in her vanished, replaced by a cute angelic look that was the ultimate contrast to her true nature.

"Nico nico nii~" And so began Nico's signature pose and words, performed perfectly as always.

"So that's why Nico-chan practices that all the time," Rin was enlightened at last.

"We are not going to do that on stage," Maki protested, "That will be too ridiculous."

"Oh is that so?" Nico's veins popped out at another one of her snarky friend's remarks, thinking it was another attack on her.

"I think what Maki meant is that each of us should have an exclusive tagline that suits each of us," Eli reasoned, "Unlike most idol groups, we are all too different to have a group tagline after all."

"That's not wha…" protested the red-haired girl.

"Eli-chi, you're so clever," Nozomi cut off Maki's protest.

"Okay, we will all make up our taglines!" Honoka was energetic at the prospect of her own tagline, "Fighto da yo!"

"That's so like you, Honoka," Umi pointed out, "but that could be just your line."

"What could be my line?" asked Honoka, oblivious to her childhood friend's earlier statement.

"When you said Fighto da yo," Umi exclaimed, "It screams out your energy and cheerfulness that radiates from you, Honoka. It has to be your tagline!"

"Okay, Umi-chan," Honoka smiled and patted her childhood friend from her back, "what about you, Umi-chan?"

Umi's flustered look that manifests in Honoka-related matters vanished at that innocent question, with a frightened appearance burying itself in hands and shame.

"Please don't, anything but that," she pleaded.

"This side of Umi-chan is cute nya," interjected Rin.

"To be fair, Umi-chan did come up with her tagline," Nozomi explained to the rest of the club, "I saw her doing it in archery practice. It was quite good."

"Umi-chan, why?" exclaimed Honoka.

"Please…" begged Umi, now huddled in a fetal position and her mind drifting off.

Umi imagined herself in front of a large audience, with herself as the star introducing herself to the world. The brightest lights were focused on her and everyone's eyes were glued to her figure. She raised her left hand and pointed out to her beloved audience, with her other hand nocked as though she held a bow. With a broad beaming smile, she cried:

"Love Arrow, shoot!"

"And that's what she says when she fires the arrow," Nozomi explained to everyone of Umi's secret idol training, "She fancies herself as Cupid."

"Nozomi, you have too much free time," Eli added.

"Umi-chan is too cool," Hanayo said.

"That was actually good," Nico admitted, "Was your stage fright that overwhelming?"

"Please, no more of this humiliation…" muttered Umi.

"Okay next is… Rin," Nico snapped her fingers and turned to the cat-like girl, "Give us your best shot to impress us."

"Nya nya nya," Rin meowed as she cupped her fists in paws and scratched the air.

"Passable," Nico judged as she moved on to Hanayo, "And you? Like Nico nii, you aspire to become an idol yourself. You got to have one, right?"

The already nervous Hanayo was breaking apart from Nico's pressure brought too close to her, shivering in absolute fear. The only words that could be remotely suitable for such a scenario would be:

"Somebody save me!"

"Nico, you're scaring Hanayo," Maki pushed aside the annoying twin-tailed third-year.

"Calm down, no one's going to hurt you," Nico said, in an attempt to calm down the timid girl.

"Kayo-chin always says that since childhood," Rin pointed out, "Every time Rin hears that, Rin would know where she is right away."

"We will work with that for now," Nico relented, "Next up is…"

Nozomi raised her hand, eager to reveal her tagline.

"Nozomi power injection! Okay, here!" The spiritual girl gestured a wide embrace, as though to bless her audience.

"Wow, just like a true priestess!" exclaimed Honoka.

"Appropriate for Nozomi," Maki approved.

"I thought it would be washi washi~" Nico mocked while groping the air with her hands.

"Nico-chi, I can give you exclusive blessing for your pitiful bust if you wish," Nozomi shot back, now grinning most inappropriately.

"Never mind, forget what I just said," Nico relented to the busty spiritual girl's comeback, turning to Maki instead, "what about you, Maki?"

"I already told you! I will not be doing this!" she protested, her face now matching her shade of red.

"Eli-chi, I want to hear yours too," Nozomi interrupted.

"Please… I don't stand out as much as the rest," Eli confessed, "Other than my position as Student Council President, nothing really stands out about me."

"Eli-chi, don't be humble," Nozomi interjected, "You are the last one to not stand out."

"Nyah, Eli-chan is the peak of womanhood!" Rin added, "Every girl wants to be Eli-chan's onee-sama."

"Well, it is true that µ's popularity rose since you joined us," Umi continued, having recovered from her lapse of shame.

"Maki-chan, since we have already come up with ours, it won't be fair if you don't try this," Hanayo reasoned her fellow first-year.

"Maki-chan has so many good points about her," Honoka joined in the brainstorming, "She is the heiress to a hospital, super-rich, aspires to be a doctor and plays the piano…"

"C'mon Maki, just say a cutesy line and it will be over with no one hurt," Nico demanded.

As the other members pressured Maki and Eli for their taglines, Nozomi retreated to her Tarot cards and shuffled them neatly. She took the top card of the deck and placed it facedown on the table.

"If the two are too shy, let the Goddess of Fate decide for you," Nozomi suggested.

No one was willing to object such a flippant suggestion, since they were getting nowhere anyway. Nozomi flipped open the card and revealed the card's design as a wheel – Major Arcana X: The Wheel of Fortune. Nozomi smiled cunningly at the two cool-headed girls.

"The cards have spoken. I shall choose your taglines," Nozomi declared, "Now, be at the mercy of a goddess."

Nozomi's comment might seem outright threatening to normal people, but she was talking to Ayase Eli and Nishikino Maki after all. The former knew Nozomi since they were entered Otonokizaka and long used to her friend's antics, while the latter was the group sceptic and few things could stir the cool-headed Maki.

The same could not be said of the others, who were cowering in fear despite the comment in no way directed towards them. Imagination ran wild as they attempted to comprehend Nozomi's occult-laden mind.

"Oh Eli-chi, what could be a good tagline for you?" wondered Nozomi, smiling and grinning ear to ear, "Eli-chi, you must promise to use it on our next Live."

"If it is within reason," answered her friend.

"From now on, you shall be… Universe No. 1 Idol." That was Nozomi's judgment; inviting odd looks from everyone else.

"What?" asked Eli.

"Hey, that's my title." Nico was staring at the spiritual girl with murderous intent.

"Just kidding~ Eli-chi's tagline is destined for her," Nozomi laughed, "Cool and cute Elichika."

"Elichika…" Eli repeated, her face blushing to resemble Maki's hair colour, "Nozomi!"

"Cool nya!" cried Rin.

"Cute…" Honoka repeated Nozomi's words.

"Isn't Nico the cutest?" protested Nico.

"Why?" asked Umi.

"It is perfect for Eli-chi," Nozomi explained, "She is the coolest member of µ's and I have seen cute side so many times. She is the only one who can be cool and cute at the same time."

"Ha, I haven't been called Elichika since I was a kid," Eli sighed, "It's awkward to use it at this age."

"Eli-chi will always be a child at heart," Nozomi smiled and patted her best friend's shoulder, "But we still have Maki-chan's fate awaiting her."

The terse Maki stared coldly at Nozomi, as if her stare could ward off someone like Nozomi who had arranged the nine members of µ's to be in the same school idol group.

"Maki-chan, such a troublesome child you are…" Nozomi quipped, "But you are ultimately a child after all… sorry, not as childlike as someone~"

"Hey, Nico is the same year as you!" Nico roared, "But I have a tagline for Maki."

With that, Nico turned her back and twirled to face her friends again. While they expected another "Nico nico nii~" again, it was something similar yet different. In any case, it was just plain bizarre.

"Maki maki ma~ though I say mean things, I am actually nice~"

"What…" Maki was practicing quivering in humiliation and anger at the underdeveloped third-year.

"Nico-chan, that is just weird," Rin called out.

"True, while Nico-chan's name is a homonym for smile, Maki-chan's name is in kanji and means True Princess," Umi assessed, "It just couldn't work out."

"Oh Nico-chi, please don't name your future kids," Nozomi joked, "But since Maki-chan is so cute, her tagline will be…"

After a second of silence, Nozomi's lips moved.

"Cute Maki-chan."

"Must I use it?" Maki asked, now trying to hide her blushing face in her hands – to no avail.

"Why not?" Nozomi continued, "You look the cutest when you're embarrassed."

"Okay, then we can move on to practice our choreography?" Umi was eager to move on to more pressing matters.

"Umi-chan, what about Kotori-chan?" asked Honoka.

"That will not be necessary. My cards have spoken," Nozomi interjected, holding another Tarot card in her hand – Major Arcana IV: The Emperor, "Kotori-chan is good as she is. In fact, only she does not need a tagline."

My first Love Live fanfic, this was inspired by the seiyuu's actual taglines used during their Lives. This fanfic serves as the in-universe explanation for their respective taglines. Throughout this fanfic, all eight taglines have made their appearances. Only Kotori (or Aya Uchida) did not use an actual tagline.