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(ooc: backdated to earlierish in the year)

It had all started with the mysterious object that had shown up in her room.

Well, it wasn’t really that mysterious- Tochi knew what a planisphere was, because she and her sister both had an interest in the stars; the planisphere, though, while neat, Tochi couldn't remember being among her possessions before. The next thing she knew, she had found herself with a sudden change of wardrobe, with a sparkly, starry dress, that she definitely hadn’t been wearing just a few seconds ago.

There were multiple possibilities as to what was going on, even if she couldn’t name any of them at the moment. For Tochi Shimotsuki, however, there was only one real possible conclusion, and it wasn’t ‘magical girl’... though it was still magical in nature.

Her wishes had finally come true.

She was finally an idol.

Sure, it was a little more streamlined than how it usually went down in her dreams- there had been no auditions, and she’d never sent in an application- but that didn’t really matter, really. The fact of the matter was that she was now a magical idol, like the kind in her favorite space idol anime, minus the space and minus the whole dystopian future with the entertainment ban thing… though Tochi hoped she would still get one of those microphone lightsabers eventually.

And maybe also the cool giant mechs. Those seemed like important things to have as a magical space idol, after all.

(‘Aogashima’, though? That didn’t sound like very much like an idol name, let alone the nickname she had picked out for herself.)

In any case, this called for a celebration, of course (a debut idol concert!), but also, ‘Aogashima’ wanted to test out what kind of new space idol powers she had, if any. If she did a little thinking… she was probably a ‘Beginner’ (but not a ‘Pioneer’- okay, maybe she should stop thinking in song titles), so…

Well, there was only one way to find out. Thankfully, nobody was home, especially Morie, which made slipping out of the house unnoticed easier. No doubt, if her elder sister caught her sneaking out, she’d be grilling Tochi as to where she was going (and if she had done her homework), thinking she was trying to skip out on doing her schoolwork again. Honestly, as much as Tochi looked up to her older siblings, her sister was always the least supportive person ever of her idol dreams, calling them ‘unrealistic’, and telling her to think about more practical goals, like finishing high school, for one.

Let’s see her say I’m being unrealistic now! Tochi thought, though the last thing she wanted as of right now was to run into Morie. No, Morie would just ruin all the fun like she usually did, because all she cared about was school, and, and…

But that was enough about overbearing older sisters who didn’t know how to have fun. A few blocks from home was a small playground, which, while likely empty at this time of night, would serve as the perfect place to test her newfound Magical Space Idol powers. It wasn’t exactly the debut concert Tochi had dreamed of, but maybe it was for the best, just in case anything happened, like, perhaps, mystical portals leading to other dimensions.

Well, in the end, she’d just have to make her proper debut as a professional idol later, after she’d posted all about it all over her social media accounts, of course. In the meantime, there was testing to be done, and by testing Tochi meant singing.

And sing she did.

If Tochi had stopped for longer than five seconds to think about it, she might have remembered her sister's warnings, such as don't talk to strangers, don't give out your personal information online... warnings she continuously forgot on a regular basis. As it was, right now, she was finally living out her dream of being an actual idol, or so she thought, anyway.

Having an audience, even if it was only one person, was unexpected, but rather than be startled, Tochi was ecstatic, even if the original purpose of her impromptu concert had been to test out any newfound idol powers rather than to hold a proper debut. The new girl said something about being a 'page of Cosmos', which Tochi didn't fully comprehend, but her pretty hair and cute outfit, plus the fact that they seemed to both be around the same age, led her to an entirely different conclusion than what was really the truth: Cearly, 'Cosmos Page' was the name of their idol unit!

(Or subunit, perhaps.)

Excited, Tochi realized that this was her moment. All those weeks coming up with her idol self-intro, all that practice in front of her mirror, and even getting Morie involved... this was finally the time to put it to work!

"I would love to be friends," she replied, because it wouldn't do any good to make a rival from the start, and then

"Sparkling, shining, glittering, the adorable Princess Tochime is here! First-year student Shimotsuki Tochi, please be nice to me~"

Having pulled off her intro perfectly without any slip-ups, Tochi felt a certain sense of giddiness. She had finally done it.

Dinara's self intro was a little shaky, but it was a start- everyone started somewhere, after all- Tochi was sure she could come up with something stronger over time. But then, maybe this wasn't space idols as much as something closer to Revue Starlight? Or perhaps Bandori? Come to think of it, Dinara had mentioned this 'page of Cosmos' thing twice now, and while she had thought it was some equivalent of kenkyuusei, and the name 'Cosmos' definitely fit her 00 fantasies, it could always have been something else...

"I've been practicing!" Tochi answered, pleased at the compliment, "I've been waiting for this moment for, well, forever, after all. I think yours could have potential, but I could help you with yours, if you want."

Oh but Dinara was asking if she was new at this? Well-

"Um... I think? Well, I've been preparing to be an idol for years now, but I just got recruited today!" she told Dinara, the meaning of the other girl's question going completely over her head, "Is Dinara your stage name, then? I think mine's Aogashima, but I've always wanted to go by Tochime instead. Which do you think sounds cuter?"

Was there something wrong with what Tochi was saying? Dinara seemed confused by everything, but maybe there was some sort of culture clash going on here. Idols weren't as big in the West as they were overseas, after all- or rather, if Tochi remembered her studies right, it was more that they were marketed as 'pop singers', or 'girl/boy bands'... or something like that.

"I'd be happy to tell you everything I know!" she answered cheerfully, "I've been a big fan of idols for as long as I can remember, so I've done a lot of studying up. "

Was this her opportunity to be... an idol mentor? Tochi almost wanted to grasp the other girl’s hands in her own, in a move she’d seen countless times in her shoujo manga and tv shows, but refrained... for now. If Dinara wanted to learn how to be more idol-like, she had definitely come to the right person! Perhaps it was fate that brought Tochi to be recruited like this, to share her knowledge with others.

Now if only Morie could see this- maybe, for once, she’d stop insisting on Tochi focusing on her schoolwork.

Tochi, er, Aogashima, watched as Dinara went from being sparkly and idol-like to being... an ordinary girl? It was a little weird, but it seemed that their idol costumes worked like... like... well, she wasn't sure what the analogy she was looking for was, but cool! That'd certainly come in handy later.

"Um..."

The way she went about it may or may not have been different from how Lottie changed back, but somehow, Tochi managed to follow the other girl's instrutions enough to successfully change out of the sparkly dress she had been wearing, and back to, well, she had always been Tochi, hadn't she? It was a little confusing, but at the suggestion of exchanging numbers, she pulled out her own phone.

"Oh, yes, that'd be great!" Tochi replied, eager to make a new friend, "maybe we could hang out sometime, too? I have tons of concert blu-rays we could watch."

"Anytime after school is great! Sister always insists I should be studying more, but she spends a bunch of time at the library at school anyway, so it's not like she'd know," Tochi cheerfully told Lottie, always one to do the opposite of whatever Morie wanted from her, "Do you like boba? I know of a really great boba place we could go, that's not too far from school... Or you could always just come over to my place when Sis isn't home! Or when she is- she's kinda bossy sometimes, but it's pretty easy to ignore."

Inviting someone you just met over to your place? Sure! Tochi was totally down for that, and if Lottie took her up on that offer at some point, it would make watching past concerts even easier.

"Oh, definitely! I'll put together the perfect playlist, and send it to you when I get home!"

Which, honestly, she was reluctant to do so right away because she knew she'd get the scolding of a lifetime once more, but something something all good things must come to an end or something.