Nico opened the door to the club room. Was it strange, she wondered, to be saddened by the emptiness, yet at the same time, at home within it?

Scant light washed in through the blinds, promptly being joined by that of the computer as she prepared for a new day's research. If she couldn't be an idol herself, then she supposed getting some vicarious joy via building idol expertise was the next best thing.

But those stupid amateurs had been turning that joy sour in her gut as of late. Clearly it was too much to ask to find a blog or source that both covered even the most marginally underground groups, yet wasn't also salivating over, "the rise of the hot new school idol group, μ's". For each headline she felt a twinge, and though she told herself it wasn't bitterness and jealousy, she was still loath to endure it.

Who did they think they were?

They needed better coordination and sharper moves. They needed firmer smiles, even during the most strenuous parts. They needed a better group dynamic and personas to help each member stand out in their own way.

They were a disgrace! How could they call themselves idols if they were more easily looked down upon than up to?

How could they make it when she couldn't?

The leader of the idol research club sighed bitterly and powered down the computer.

It was going to be a long day; if she didn't keep the club open and "active", however, then she would be shut down for being a waste of funds allocated for clubs.

Thinking it better to be at least somewhat productive, she stood and began cleaning up the clutter in her collection of paraphernalia and idol content. Of course, that could last only so long, so next was to work on her skills. Despite the small part of her that burned with jealousy whenever she saw them perform, she wasn't so petty as to trivialize the skills of A-Rise; she was intimately familiar with the dance steps of Private Wars.

"1-2-3-4, 1-2-3-4"

As much as she would have liked to play it cool and say she could manage it without breaking a sweat, she definitely began to feel it as she went back, time after time, redoing, correcting, improving. But it felt good. She could convince herself on some level that when she practiced like this, that she was making progress, steadily moving towards idoldom.

Next were vocal exercises; sure, some idols got by on aura and personality alone, but hell would freeze over before she would disgrace the craft like that. Nico cleared her throat and began doing scales, making sure to push to the far ends of her vocal register. She scowled, ending on her lowest note; voices were coming from outside. Crossing the room and throwing aside the curtains, she found that she had left the window open behind them. She could hear a song drifting down from the roof.

They were practicing again, at the same time as her, no less, and now she had that stupid song: START:DASH, running through her head.

The window slammed shut, the curtains were drawn, and the room of the idol research club was dark and quiet once more.

She knew another suitable song. Not long ago she had heard a beautiful, sad, melody flowing from the music room. Curious, she covertly watched and saw two first years, the newest members of μ's, having some sort of emotional reconciliation. The bespectacled girl stood as enamored as Nico found herself. Playing, the redhead hummed along in haunting accompaniment.

But Nico had caught herself after another moment, pulling away and leaving the two.

That was song she now found tumbling from her lips in sweet, wordless notes. It came naturally; she didn't strain to remember what was coming, despite her limited exposure to it.

For an instant, she almost felt that she, alone, had recreated that magical atmosphere.

"Nicocchi?"

Nico trailed off. Nozomi was standing in the open doorway's crack of light, staring at her.

"Why are you interrupting me?"

"Well, I saw that the lights were out, so I came to see if the place was empty. The student council will have to shut down the Idol Research Club if it's not open often enough to justify funding and the allocation of a club room, you know."

"Yeah, yeah. I know," Nico grumbled, slumping into a chair, her mood thoroughly ruined.

"And I was worried that the our Nico had fallen ill!" Nozomi exclaimed, with one hand over her heart and the other fanning herself in faux-faintness. The other girl simply scowled at her. "Anyway, I did hear your singing once I was close. I guess I just didn't expect to find you here, in the dark...alone."

Her amiable tone had flattened only slightly, but Nico found her classmate staring sadly at her by the end of the statement. She didn't need pity!

"Are you done bothering me yet? I'm trying to conduct club activities here."

"And as the student council Vice President, I'm quite qualified to advise you on all things club related."

"I don't-"

Not letting her get any headway, Nozomi immediately continued, "Have you ever considered merging with another club? Think of it; if you found one with...similar enough interests, the extra members would grant you better priority for booking events and more funding for," she glanced at the wall of idol merchandise, "whatever it is you need."

The, "and you wouldn't have to be alone anymore," went unsaid, important as it was.

Nico furrowed her brow; the suggestion seemed to have come out of the blue, and while it wasn't bad, it didn't strike her as particularly essential either.

"Are you working some sort of angle here, Nozomi?"

But the spiritually inclined girl just responded with an impenetrable smile, "Sometimes I just wanna be helpful, is that so strange? Anyway, I really should be going back to the council room." But then she cast her eyes to the floor in an act of uncharacteristic shyness and quickly added, "You have a beautiful singing voice, by the way."

She was long gone when Nico finished processing all her final remarks.

"Thanks, Nozomi."

"Something wrong, Nozomi?" Eli had stopped going through the club requests and was looking at her.

"Just wishing that I could get all my homework out of the way early, for once." Of course, in reality she was contemplating how to coerce Nico into joining μ's.

Fate worked in mysterious ways, as she had learned from years of interpreting tarot card predictions. She didn't know exactly what would happen if she could complete μ's with nine members, but she strongly suspected that it had to do with their mutual desire to save the school. With the student council indisposed on the chairwoman's orders, she thought this was her best bet for the time being.

"We're almost done, then we can power through the homework together, if you want," Eli offered with a smile.

"Oh, I'd never turn down private lessons from Elicchi."

"N-Nozomi!"

She didn't want to ruin the good mood by letting slip her actual thoughts, so a white lie was fine too, she supposed. Eli was still opposed to μ's; she and Nico were the most stubborn among the potential members. For this reason, Nozomi knew she would have to soften Nico up before convincing her.

This disguise is too hot.

The more logical part of her mind was telling her what a poor idea this was. She had stalked the group of girls across town, to their practice site. Watching them secretly from the safety of the shrine, Nico quietly indulged her spite.

What was the point of such irredeemable amateurs working so hard? It wasn't as though they had any real potential to build on.

For the time being, the bitter part of her consumed that which was disappointed with her behavior. After a moment, it had taken hold in her and propelled her body away from the shrine and around the far side of the building it stood beside. She peered around the corner; they were still practicing hard, unaware of her. "Hard work alone isn't enough!" she wanted to scream; she had discovered that first hand.

"Honoka, did you see someone over there?"

Perhaps they weren't as unaware of her as she had thought.

"...Right there, around the corner."

There were muted footsteps approaching her, no doubt those of that idiot leader. Nico, restraining panic, rapidly looked for an escape.

She was certain that she wouldn't be able to run and round the opposite corner before the blue eyed girl arrived, and there were no convenient hiding spots around. This was the back of the building so the doors would likely be locked, too. What to do? Pulling at her coat in frustration, she made a snap decision.

With a swift motion of the leg, she sent Honoka falling to the pavement, much to her immediate regret. Not only had it looked painful, but it had also all but destroyed any chance for-

What, exactly?

Was she to calmly convince them that they would fail? Did she really think that she had come here for any reason other than to feed that bitter jealousy?

"You...you had better disband!"

That hadn't made her feel any better. She knew, even as she retreated back to the shrine in a rush, that this was unhealthy.

She slumped against a pillar, discreetly watching them wrap up as she stripped off her overcoat. "Just look away," she told herself to no avail. If anything, she was feeling worse now than before. A bit of guilt mingled with more than a little embarrassment and that unpleasant, biting feeling she got whenever she had to look at those stupid, smiling faces. The last of the three was that which dredged up images of her first year and asked, "why couldn't that Nico make it? She put everything she had into it."

Eventually, the girls left. Nico buried her face in her palms. She was alone again.

After a few moments, she heard a sweeping and was roused. She could see the back of a certain purple-haired someone in another part of the shrine, cleaning up. Oh, of course, Nozomi worked as shrine maiden here. It occurred to her that she had never actually come here and seen her classmate, despite that lingering knowledge.

Nico began crossing towards her. Come to think of it, weren't there places in a shrine she wasn't supposed to be in? Oh well. She needed to talk with someone right now and take her mind off things.

The two of them were more acquaintances than anything, but she was still feeling rather warm to the shrine maiden in light of her compliments during their last conversation. Before Nico could get close enough to engage her first, Nozomi looked back and spotted her.

"Oh my, I'm gonna get scared if you approach me with a frown like that, Nicocchi," she said, with a cocked eyebrow.

Come to think of it, who gave cutesy nicknames to people they were hardly friends with? Nico shook her head; she was here get rid of the frown, not that she would admit to something like that.

Nozomi was still staring at her, a smile tugging at her lips.

"Listen, I know I would make a great partner-in-crime since I work here, but I'm not gonna help you spy on μ's."

Nico sputtered, "I was not spying on them!"

"What's got you in such a bad mood then?"

Nico bit her lip; if she had been seen watching them it would seem ridiculous to deny their involvement entirely. At the same time, she certainly didn't want to come out and admit to something like that. Then again, Nozomi had probably already realized that she was trying to think of an excuse due to her extended silence. Really, she decided, trying to lie outright wouldn't do any good.

"Ok, fine. I was watching them, but why wouldn't I, leader of the Idol Research Club, be interested in seeing our school's own idols?"

"Were they so bad it was upsetting to watch, then?"

She was actually getting a little bit close with that. But Nico wasn't about to spill her guts to Nozomi, of all people; she could do without the inevitable ribbing that would follow.

"...Something like that, yeah."

Strangely, there was no irritatingly knowing smile in response, nor was there a giggle at her expense, or a teasing remark. Instead, Nozomi looked at her with that oddly serious look for the second time.

"You could teach them, then."

"What? Where's this coming from, all of the sudden?" Nico retorted, still on guard.

"For all their dedication, they still need someone to help them improve."

"I'm not interested in teaming up with them."

She had thought that talking to Nozomi would help her to get her mind off of them, but that clearly wasn't turning out to be the case, and she was just about ready to end the conversation.

"It could be your second chance as a school idol!"

Now that caught the red eyed girl off guard. She wasn't ready to face her deeper desires like that, and to even think that Nozomi knew, and remembered that absolutely humiliating failure...

"S-so what if didn't make it back then? Joining that band of unprofessional morons isn't gonna do me any good! If my last group couldn't keep up, then I'll just make it on my own, I don't need anyone else!"

Again, Nozomi didn't seem surprised or taken aback, just saddened.

"Nicocchi..."

Nico turned and marched away.

Nozomi was also following them today.

The cards, combined with a little detective work of her own had revealed to her that μ's was going out to eat, unknowingly taking Nico with them. She watched them round a corner up ahead, and she was sure her classmate was nearby too, even if she hadn't revealed herself yet.

The shrine maiden stopped across the street from the fast-food chain and watched the aspiring idol group take the stairs up. At least the rain had let up enough that staking out wouldn't be a pain. Several minutes later, a poorly disguised Nico came slinking from some undiscovered corner and followed them.

Now, how to convince her to ease up on them?

Well, her stalking and fighting with them certainly wasn't doing any good, Nozomi thought. At least not in an uncontrolled environment like this one. Perhaps after this she would work from the side of μ's as well, so that they might be able to convince their stubborn upperclassmen.

After what Nozomi felt was the right amount of waiting, she followed the others inside. Sure enough, Nico was eavesdropping, ear pressed to the divider between her table and theirs.

"That's right! I forgot, we can form a club now that we have six people!" Honoka exclaimed.

"How the hell can you just forget something that important?!" Nico shouted over the divider, apparently unable to contain herself.

And it looks like she's about to blow her cover.

"Who was that?"

Nozomi approached her classmate with a too-wide smile, "Ah, excuse me ma'am, but would you care to step outside with me for a moment?"

Nico spun, looking just about ready to tell someone off before seeing who it was. Then, sensing the frailty of her cover as Honoka moved to look over the divider, sputtered, "Oh, erm, of course, yeah."

She had one foot out the door, with Nozomi right behind her when Honoka spied them.

"Hi Nozomi!"

"Afternoon, girls!" the shrine maiden replied with a wave as she ushered Nico down the stairs.

The pair stopped just down the street, one catching her breath and the other watching the looming clouds.

"Nice stealth there," Nozomi said, eyeing up Nico's disguise with a smirk, "Miss Bond."

"Sorry. I guess I'm just too weak to handle that lax idiot's blabbering."

"And what would you have done if you were strong? What was the genius plan there?"

On a base level, it was just to harass them, really. But the question still gave the smaller girl pause; what did she actually want to accomplish?

"Well, I was..."

Of course she didn't really expect to break them up with petty insults. She already knew the reason on some level or another, she just didn't want to admit it for pride's sake.

Nozomi was looking at her expectantly, and with preemptive disappointment.

And I would be too, were I about to watch myself try to say this.

Because she was just jealous. Bitter and angry and jealous, and unable to hold herself back when she saw them succeeding where she had failed. She stared at her shoes, brow heavy with shame, unwilling to look Nozomi in the eye.

"I...I j-just-"

"It's hard, isn't it Nicocchi?"

Nico looked up to find Nozomi with eyes now downcast.

"Being honest, that is," she amended. "I know a girl who has trouble being honest with herself," then the shrine maiden finally found the strength to look up once more, "and let's just say that I'm extremely familiar with one who has trouble being honest with others."

The smaller girl stared, entirely unprepared for this new Nozomi. For once, there was no joking or trading remarks between them, and the shrine maiden was gazing at her with a faraway expression, as though watching a familiar scene play out overtop of theirs.

Then the sounds of chattering and laughter came from behind them; the member of μ's were returning. Loath as she was to lose the moment, Nico muttered a goodbye and an apology before leaving her classmate to them.

Eli stared Honoka down.

"The idol research club?"

"Yes, it only has one member, though," Nozomi added.

"But don't you need five for a club?"

"To form one, yes, but there's no rule on how many members are needed to keep it alive."

Eli cleared her throat to redirect the conversation.

"In any case, there's a limited number of students, and a very limited amount of funding, so we're trying to prevent the creation of superfluous clubs. As long as another idol-centric clubs exists, we can't authorize you."

"But-"

"This decision is final."

"However..." Nozomi piped up from beside the president, "if you really want to continue, you could try getting in touch with the president of the idol research club."

"Nozomi!" Eli hissed.

"What?" the shrine maiden replied in a faux-innocent voice, "There shouldn't be any problem with the merging of two clubs, right?"

The blonde simply shook her head as the members of μ's were provided with the relevant papers and information, then shuffled out the door.

"Why did you have to do that, Nozomi?"

The girl in question had gone to watch the leaving students and falling leaves by the window, as she often did.

"Elicchi, we're the student council. We're supposed to regulate the student body and ensure that everyone gets the most from their time at Otonokizaka. If we refuse to help them, or even get in the way when they're trying their hardest, are we really doing our jobs?"

Eli smiled faintly at that; it was unusual, yet welcome, to see this more mature side of Nozomi.

"Sometimes people need to be let down gently before they cause harm, Nozomi."

The vice-president turned from the window to look back at her partner.

"But I know they won't, Eli. It's not in the cards for them to."

She wanted to scream in frustration.

Some part of Nico, for the longest time, had thought of her club room as her sanctuary. She wouldn't abide by pests and intruders, she told herself. Yet they were here now, fawning over her collection, poking, prodding, investigating, testing her patience. Rancor was burning in her throat; she longed for them to just vanish, or even to do so herself.

"We want to merge-"

"Absolutely not!"

Why did they have to approach her with this humiliating proposal as well? Wasn't walking over the broken pieces of her aspiration enough?

"You don't have to disband or anything. We just need a space to practice sometimes."

"You just want to use my room right under my nose while I watch you take all the glory! And just look at you!" Nico shouted, her clenched fists trembling, "You're amateurs, disgraces to the title of 'idol'! Why would I sacrifice my space to support a group too stupid to even make idol personae?"

How could she support a group that reminded her of what she had so longed to, and failed at, becoming?

"Now get out!"

"She was really mad at us, Nozomi! I thought you said she was gonna come around!"

The girl in question put her hands on Honoka's shoulders, "She will. I think she just needs a little push."

"What do you mean?"

Nozomi looked around at the school idols and simply replied, "Girls, follow me."

"And what would you have done if you were strong?"

Nico was resting her head in her hands, Nozomi's words echoing through it. That was supposed to be it; she had told herself that this bad blood was only doing her harm, that she would apologize to μ's when next she saw them.

But she had been too weak, and now she found herself sitting alone in the darkness of the club room again.

The computer was sitting in standby, neglected, and she couldn't bring herself to plunge into practice just yet.

Suddenly, the emptiness of the room was no longer familiar to her; she was but a mote of dust in its cold, unwelcoming expanse.

She had drawn the curtains even tighter than usual, wanting to avoid seeing the buzzing crowds and leaving only the phantom glow which could penetrate through. The dark had bled all the vibrance from her wall of memorabilia, and Nico, likewise, was cast in gray. Usually she alone could keep the room bustling, but now the silence reigned, broken only by her faint shifting and sighs. After of a few minutes, the sound of her nails trailing across the table joined them.

Hell, who was she kidding? Nozomi was right, she thought; being honest was difficult, inwardly and outwardly. Nico hadn't been able to tell μ's she wanted to join because she had refused to admit it to herself. For each piece of acrimony she had spit at them, she found twice that building in her chest, choking her. Now, swallowing her ego to and apologizing had proven too much, let alone explaining her humiliating personal failures and desire to join the people she had done so much to alienate. To know that she was her own saboteur made the string of failure so, so much more painful.

"I really did blow my second chance, huh?"

It was so clear, so simple to see now that choking out a few sentences could have fixed things that it made her want to laugh, even as her eyes prickled with tears.

Nico stood slowly, looking out over the room, the thick layer of dust on all the other chairs, the austerity of everything unused. Even if it was just one person, the Idol Research Club was still ostensibly in session, she supposed.

She didn't have the energy to dance at the moment, so vocals it was. First, scales, like always. There was the barest waver in her voice, and she tried not to interrupt the notes with her sniffling. Perhaps this empty room needn't be her companion for the day; she could fill it with her voice. So she sang.

"All the stones I've thrown, they come back twice as strong."

She hated how soft her voice was, but it was all she could manage for the moment.

"And all the stones you've thrown, they come from your highest throne."

If Nico closed her eyes, she could almost convince herself that she was in the music room, creating the same moment she had seen not long ago.

Of course, she was still alone in her room, painful as it was to see.

"Pass them on to me below, they remind me that nothing lasts."

Her voice had wavered there, and she was trembling ever so slightly. No longer did she mentally berate herself over the mistake; she was almost beginning to wonder if she had a future that justified fretting over it.

"Nothing..."

A moment passed.

"Nicocchi?"

Nico trailed off. Nozomi was standing in the open doorway's crack of light, staring at her.

"I guess I must be interrupting you again, sorry," she continued delicately, trying not to break the mood.

The smaller girl turned away, sitting on the edge of the table and muttering, "It's fine."

Nozomi took a step closer, noting the icy behavior.

"Nicocchi?" she asked softly.

Nico simply stared out, looking drained.

"Nico, what's wrong?"

"You were right, you know. You were right about being honest."

In an instant, Nozomi understood what was happening. Feeling the tension between them settling, she closed the distance and sat beside Nico.

"Let me tell you a story," the shrine maiden took a deep breath, looking off and putting together the words. "A girl, one I know very well, had grown up in a difficult situation. Her parents' work meant that she never stayed in one place for long; a different home and a different school after no more than a year each time. After much of this, the girl began to lie to fit in; she was content to be quickly and shallowly acquainted so it wouldn't hurt when she had to leave. Eventually she was able to move out and start over for the final time. At that high school, she met another liar, a girl who told herself that she was content to be alone, that she would never need help. She felt a kinship with that other girl, and after much trying, realized that she wouldn't be drawn out of her shell if there was no commitment."

Nico was watching her closely now, piecing together the message.

"In the end, all it took was some honesty to bring them together, and they've been precious to each other since."

"I see. Well, I'm glad it worked out for them."

Nico's expression hadn't changed.

"But it's too late for me."

"Nico?"

"I said it's too late! Can't you see?" Nico shouted, holding back tears once more, "I already ruined it! I just wanted a second chance, but by the time I admitted to myself that I wanted to join them, I already made them hate me! I fucked it all up, Nozomi. It's over."

The taller girl simply hushed her and intertwined her fingers with Nico's own, letting the moment hang as she ran her thumb gently over the back of her hand. It was, strangely enough, an almost motherly gesture, Nico thought as her breathing slowed again.

"You give yourself too much credit, Nico; it's not too late just yet," Nozomi said with a ghost of a smile.

"And how do you know?" Nico spat, feeling that this was neither the time nor the place for the mysterious act.

"Girls!"

Nico sat there, dumbfounded, as the door to her club room swung open fully to reveal μ's.

"Y-you've been there the whole time?" she sputtered.

Umi marched up and bowed saying, "We apologize for eavesdropping, and for any bad blood between us-"

"And we want you to teach us!" Honoka exclaimed.

"You...you really want me to join?" Nico asked, feeling now that she might cry for a completely different reason. Then she looked to Nozomi, "And you, you went to the trouble of arranging this for me?"

Nozomi laughed and squeezed her hand as though she had asked the silliest question in the world, "Of course a friend is worth the trouble!"

"Well, I accept your offer. But you'd better be damn sure that I'll hold this group to Nico-high standards!"

Nico looked at Nozomi and the members of μ's, laughing together and smiling at her.

Her room was finally full.

A friend, huh?

That sounded pretty nice, she thought.

A/N: Nico/Nozomi is a dynamic I wish had gotten more exploration outside of jokes in the anime. The way the two of them in particular ended up crying and hugging when the first and second years revealed that μ's wouldn't continue stuck out, and that, along with Nozomi implying that she had been watching Nico throughout her first two years, and understood her well suggested to me that they do have somewhat of a deeper friendship than we actually got to see.

These two chapters are all I have planned, but looking at the story now, it could potentially be expanded into something of an alternate origin story for μ's, with the members joining in new ways. At this point however, that remains as a simple possibility, since I'm not sure who I want, what I want them to sing, and who I want to convince them. That would also create the problem of having to start telling it out of chronological order, as I already skipped over the second years and Rin.