Why, oh why did Morie turn out to be a knight, too? Tochi felt like that had been the beginning of the end, as if the constant drama over her dreams of debuting as an idol weren’t already a sign of things to come. At the very least, if Morie had never awakened as a knight, Tochi could have had maybe a tiny bit more credibility to her daydreams of Cosmos Knights being one big sparkly idol group from space… maybe. Well, Morie- Hakodate- served a different senshi princess person, so it wasn’t like it made much difference, perhaps. Actually, maybe the real drama was the fact that Aogashima was going to graduate high school this year, which meant that Hakodate had been nagging her to focus on her future, and her studies to boot.
College, to be honest, wasn’t exactly a bad thing in itself- Aogashima knew that there were theater-related majors she could pursue, if not actual drama schools themselves that she could apply to. The problem was… she didn’t want to graduate! College? What kind of idol anime took place in college? Or, rather, what kind of school idol anime featured college students? Everyone knew after you graduated high school, that was the end of it. Maybe your rival idol group went pro, but Love Live taught her that after graduation, you just. Ceased to be an idol anymore.
(Of course, RL idols were a whole different breed altogether- Yukirin of AKB48 was 30, for one, and then most of the seiyuu of the og Love Live were in their mid 30s now, but that wasn’t the point!)
As Aogashima paced back and forth on the stage of the theater that her Wonder hosted, she wondered if there would ever be any semblance of peace between her and her sister ever again. Kiro, their older brother, didn’t know the full details of what was going on, given he didn’t seem to have an alternate identity, and simply laughed it off when Tochi went to him to whine and complain. He’d tease her a little, about how it was just ‘Rie being Rie’, before going back to fawning over his girlfriend. Mariel, equally, despite being a complete slacker and notorious delinquent of sorts, would tease her, glad that Morie was busy bossing someone else rather than her.
Ahh, it was just so frustrating, so frustrating! Aogashima was just going to have to keep training, and to keep honing her skills, so she could prove to her big sister once and for all that she was meant for the stage. She sighed, and there was a brief flash of a past memory, a vague recollection, that suggested that even the past Aogashima had dealt with something similar, though she couldn’t identify the other girl, exactly…
”I do not understand you, Suzu,” Sasyanomiya had told her sister, frowning, “You are supposed to be a knight, and yet, here you are, building a theater, and teaching others how to… sing? Dance? Just what is it that you are doing here?”
“It’s an academy, sister! Just like the knight academy, only… instead of training knights, I’m training stage girls! I want to train ~performers~, who will make their voices heard across the universe. They will sing, dance, maybe even learn to fight? It’ll be great, just you see!” Suzunomiya told her sister, determined to make this work. Her sister may not have understood now, but all she needed was time, right?
She would absolutely make this work out.
Aogashima shook her head, clearing her thoughts. She’d dwell more on who this Sasyanomiya person was later, other than her past self’s sister. Was she a knight, too? If so, had she reincarnated as well? These were things that in due time, she might delve deeper into, but for the meantime, it occurred to her that she had lost track of time, pacing back and forth on the stage, moping about her problems. Still, it made her feel a little at ease knowing that even her past self had older sibling problems- perhaps it was simply destiny?
It was likely getting late, and while Aogashima didn’t necessarily want to go back home, not right now, she had class in the morning, and she hadn’t exactly brought anything to spend the night with… Still, it felt wrong to leave without utilizing the stage for her own mini concert, even if she had no audience, because where else could she perform without interference other than her own Wonder? Maybe one day, she’d be able to bring a large group of people here, where she could showcase her talent live on stage, but for now, she’d just have to pretend, and imagine an imaginary audience of sorts, filling the dilapidated seats, a full house, all there to watch her sing her heart out on stage.
The stars shining in the night sky lie millions of light years away
Even if deep despair turns them into an infinite darkness
Their truth will be passed on.
Their light’s message is entrusted to the stream of time—
Who will receive it?
People are born and people continue to die
Bodies perish
What resurrects from the ashes is
Passion
For the next generation
Dreams are reincarnation
Over and over
Like deja vu, a distant memory
Just like reincarnation
Even now, I’m unconsciously running somewhere again
How many tears will I shed before I give up?
How many lives will I live until it comes true?
Even without an audience, Aogashima sang passionately, singing her heart out, singing a song that she felt best encapsulated the feelings she was feeling right now. It was from one of the space idol anime she loved a lot, and looked to for inspiration for her vtuber persona’s lore, actually, so it felt awfully fitting to sing here and now, in a way. And… somehow, perhaps her Wonder agreed? Aogashima wasn’t sure how or why, but suddenly, her weapon changed, and, when she grabbed it, so did she:
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