Hold On, pt1

# This Might Be Love!

## Chapter 2 - Hold On, pt1

    The last few months have been a whirlwind of activity. First we debuted, which took a lot of hard, exhausting work. Then we expanded our group, which took more work. Then we all debuted again with our new members, which meant relearning everything from scratch, which was the most exhausting work yet. Then there were the television appearances, interviews, all the concerts, getting my fan club officially set up with the legal department, extra practices with Kazue and Megumi for **Aurora✧Alice**, making sure Chiyo gets to school everyday and helping manage her and Momo's fanpages on top of my own…

    I've never been more tired in my life.

    Not that it's been at all bad other than that. I've never been happier than I am now that I'm an idol. I've never had as many wonderful friends before - especially ones who are so good at keeping out of trouble - and I've never had a roommate who was my best friend. Even if she can be a lot of work. But it's worth it, because I've never had someone that made me feel so… needed.

    "We should get dressed soon."

    "Dressed? What's wrong with what we have on?"

    "Nothing. It's just been a while since we got to go out and I figured it'd be fun to dress up. But now that I say it, it does sound like a lot of work…"

    "I d-don't know if I have anything nice that's clean. I don't know if I even have anything nice…" Chiyo started wringing her pillow in her lap. It was my fault. I should have known better than to spring something like that on her. Chiyo doesn't always take surprises well, and even though it was a very small surprise, I still should have known there was a chance it would worry her. That's why I have to be careful about what I say to her. Not with everything. Most of the time we talk about videogames, manga, or idol stuff, and that's always great. But sometimes there are other things I want to say - like when I watch her wake up first thing in the morning, or when she wakes me up because she's having a hard time sleeping from a bad dream, or really anytime I hold her hand to calm her down. But I can't say them, because if I do, and she doesn't want to hear them… who would take care of Chiyo then?

    Answering my unspoken question, Momo nudged her blue plastic ball into Chiyo's leg. Chiyo smiled and twisted off the lid, scooping up the little ball of peach fuzz and nuzzling her gently. There are really three people who can make Chiyo feel better when she's down and they are, in order, Momo, myself, and then the rest of our groupmates. Some people may be jealous that they don't take first place on their best friend's list, but I can't think that way, because this way I get to watch sometimes as her face lights up and all her nervousness melts away.

    And, I'm still her best human friend…

    "Let's just wear what we have on. It's just an open mic night."

    "What if the other girls dress all fancy?"

    "Anette will for sure. Probably Erika too. But they always dress like that so it won't seem unusual. We'll be fine like this."

    "O-Ok…"

    "Chiyo, it'll be ok. I promise. Do you want some more chocolate?"

    "It'll spoil our dinner… buuut…" Chiyo reached into the box between us on the bed and picked out a squarish confection, popping it whole into her mouth. From the way she chewed it was probably a caramel, one of her favorites, and she smiled as she savored it.

    Valentine's Day is all about chocolate. It's also, I suppose, about hearts and flowers and love, but the chocolate is really the standout part that everyone can enjoy. Flowers are pretty, but that's all they are, and they wilt in a day or two. Not everyone is at a place in their life where they think about things like love, and if you're one of those people I suppose hearts are just another shape like stars or sunflowers. But everyone loves chocolate. The tradition is for girls to give chocolates to boys today, but the majority of the girls in the dorm go to all-girls schools, and the dorm itself is exclusively girls, so unless you have a boyfriend or a lot of male friends - which isn't exactly common for idols - today you only have two options: skip the holiday entirely, or exchange chocolates with your girl friends. Or, if you don't want to worry about it, you can just buy the biggest box of chocolates you can afford and share it with your roommate, and invite her out with a group of friends, and sing the song you've been writing especially for her for months at open mic night…

    As I had expected, the coffeehouse was packed with teenagers. Some were clearly here on a romantic rendezvous, the little two-seater tables around the walls of the building full of couples gazing lovey-dovey into each other's eyes or nervously chatting as they glance around the restaurant trying to look like they're cool and collected instead of clearly embarrassed, or engaging in other cliched displays of young love. We had arranged ahead of time to have a small table near the back of the coffeehouse. None of us were likely to draw the sort of attention that would derail the evening  - at least not compared to if we were meeting up with Eimi, Junko, or Dam-Bi - but while it may be possible that I could blend in with the crowd alone, or maybe even with Chiyo on a night like this where everyone's eyes are going to be focused elsewhere, five of the most popular new local idols all at one table has the potential to stand out even to our casual fans. Even if we won't be the only table full of young girls, and even if I recognize more than a couple familiar faces of fellow idols dotted throughout the floor. That's probably part of the appeal for many of the couples coming here tonight. It's an open mic, so anyone can sign up to perform, and nobody is seriously expecting any heavyweights like Eimi Inagawa or Ume Takeuchi to show up, but a small, private Valentine's concert is still worth the cover charge, even if it's just girls like us, Asa Asakura, Aika Uehara, and a few others who, like us, aren't even more than a few months past our debut date.

    Plus they let us in free if we promised to sing at least one song, which means that the night is basically paying for itself…

    "You made it!" Yume, one of our group, jumped up when she saw us approaching the table. She snagged me in one of her bear hugs, squeezing so tightly that my back cracked a little. Yume gives fantastic hugs, but is a terrible cuddler. She moved on to Chiyo, pausing for a moment to ask the usual question. "Momo?"

    "She's at home. She doesn't like being around so many people." At the news Yume squealed, taking it as a go-ahead to squeeze Chiyo as well, free from concern over needing to rein in her strength. For Yume, hanging out with Chiyo was always a win-win situation. Either she gets to play with Momo or she gets to hug Chiyo, and perhaps nobody knows better than me just how fun both of those things are. Chiyo giggled musically, making the room at least twenty percent better.

    "Happy Valentine's Day!" Shouted Erika, immediately followed excitedly by "Joyeuse saint Valentin!" from Anette. We exchanged holiday greetings and joined them at the table, our friends having saved us adjoining seats. As we had predicted earlier, both Anette and Erika were dressed for a night on the town. Either of them could have convincingly stepped right out of a holiday photoshoot - which we would later see Erika in fact had - and were a dazzling sight in dresses of white, pink, and red. Our remaining friend was dressed much more sensibly, her holiday spirit being represented by a plain red sweater and small heart-shaped earrings. It was exactly what I had been expecting and thought nothing of it, though Chiyo noticed and started to fret.

    "Don't worry, Mademoiselle Chiyo! You look très belle - very beautiful like always!" Anette, always positive, tried to reassure our friend.

    "Yeah, you're super cute, Chiyo-chan! If you want you can have my hairpin. I bet you'd look even cuter with a little heart on one of your buns."

    "Oui! And my ribbons! I bet you'd look great wearing them in your hair, and I'll still be très cute!"

    "I have the perfect idea! Come on, Chiyo! Can I do your hair? It'll be real quick and it'll put you in the Valentine's spirit!" Chiyo was up on her feet before she could even say yes or no to Yume's idea, dragged away to the restrooms by the tiny girl's surprising strength.

    "What are you guys performing tonight, Kanon-san? You brought your guitar, are you going to accompany Chiyo on something?"

    "I'm probably going to play something I wrote. I'm not sure what Chiyo has planned… What are you guys singing?"

    "We wanted to do a preview of the song we've been learning lately for Aromatique, but alas Mademoiselle Junko's dance card is completely full this evening. She's très popular with the hommes now that she's a superstar, non?" Anette trailed off a bit at the end of her thought, as she can when the topic of boys comes up.

    "More like with the femmes. But since she's busy, I had the most perfect idea ever. Tonight I'll be playing the role of Miss Junko-sama. Beautiful, slender, and with adorable pink hair. It isn't even a stretch. It's basically just playing myself, but more sultry." Erika's voice steadily lowered as she spoke until she was the spitting image of my second-best friend. It was impressive. Erika's been an actor since she was a child, but even considering that it was uncanny how much she sounded like Junko. She even said something that I could swear I'd heard Junko say almost verbatim, right down to the pangs of jealousy. "I just wish my beloved Rinko-oneesan could have come tonight, but she had plans with someone else."

    It was freaky.

    "We haven't even rehearsed! Erika somehow just knew it already! Isn't that très freaky?"

    "Yeah… very freaky…" Most likely Erika knows it because Yume shared it with her when talking about our ideas for a junior subunit with all five of us. Six if you count Momo. Les Cinq Belles, Anette calls it, though the name is in dispute. Though I wasn't going to actually ask if I'm right, since it's more fun for Anette to think that Erika-chan is some sort of magician who can sing along to songs she's never even heard before.

    As we chatted about school, rehearsals, and the usual things we talk about, a server came by to take our drink order. We ordered two coffees, one "cafe au lait", and two strawberry hot chocolates for the girls who haven't grown into the taste of coffee quite yet. Just before the drinks arrived, our temporarily dislocated friends returned to the table. Yume was beaming, proud as a peacock at her handiwork. Chiyo looked even smaller than normal, both because she looked unsure about Yume's handiwork and because without her buns she lost a great deal of height to her silhouette. Yume had taken Chiyo's hair down and used Anette's ribbons - pale pink with little red hearts trailing through the middle - to fashion it into two low ponytails that split down to either side. Erika's hairpin decorated a spot above Chiyo's right eye, and seeing her like this she was so cute I may have finally understood how she feels when she sees Momo. A verdant Valentine's cupid.

    "Chiyo-chan! You're so cute!"

    "Oui! That's the Valentine's spirit!"

    "I told you that you were super cute!"

    My roommate perked up immediately as the others said the things I was thinking, standing up straight and beaming with pride. She sat back down between myself and Anette, leaning on the table with her elbows as she excitedly joined in on our ongoing conversation.

    "Order whatever you want tonight! I've taken care of our tab so Valentine's is on me! Just call me your extra-cute Valentine's Cherub-chan. Let's have lots of fun tonight!"

    "Erika! You didn't have to do that. We're just happy you're hanging out with us!" Yume hugged our patron who smiled widely. See? Great hugs. All of the girls in Erika's group are older, and already had plans for tonight, and I think Erika was just happy to have friends to celebrate with since she's, in her own words, "too young to even think about my romance arc yet."

    "Erika, you are the absolute best ever!" Anette said excitedly.

    "We can get anything? Even dessert?!" Chiyo's eyes lit up at the thought of all of the delicious treats that were suddenly open to her.

    "Of course! It's Valentine's Day! Consider it your chocolate."

    "Thank you, Erika…" It was very sweet, but it would be really expensive if we all ordered anything we wanted, and that didn't seem entirely fair to her. "That's too generous though. We can't possibly let you pay for everything."

    "Who said I'm paying, Kanon-san? I said I've taken care of it."

    We all exchanged confused glances.

    "What does that mean?" Chiyo asked, a tremble in her voice at the thought of not getting to order something to eat to go with her hot chocolate.

    "It means that for you it's an open mic night, but for me it's a gig! All the drinks and desserts my friends can eat in exchange for hosting the event. Don't take it easy, either. My usual fee could feed the entire restaurant but I really really really really wanted to spend the night with you all!" She pointed at each of us with one of her reallies. "Yume-chan, let go! I need to go get us started…" Erika tried to shake Yume's hug off, but the girl's grip is too much for any of us to overcome on our own, so she had no choice but to endure her friendly embrace until she was done. We could have helped, but I'm pretty sure we were all on board with Erika getting a huge hug for doing this for us.

    Once she could escape, Erika skipped cutely up to the small stage and snagged the microphone. Striking a cute pose she started tonight's ceremony with a boom.

    "Happy Valentine's Day everyooone! Welcome to the most exclusive, fantabulous, romantic get-together in the entire city! I'm Erika-chan, your super-cute cupid, and I'm going to be your host as a ton of talented boys and girls make this a night we'll all never forget!" She paused expertly as members of the audience applauded, cheered, and shouted their love for the little pink-haired pixie. She played them like a piano, moving her attention around the room fluidly and whipping the packed room into a frenzy. "Who's ready to have some fun?! I'm going to get us started off with a song some of you may have heard lately. Me and my best friends Pastel Project debuted it just last week." Another deafening cheer rolled through the room at the mention of our "rivals" - a lot of it coming directly from our table - and she paused again to let it swell and die down. "Alright everyone! Who's ready to fall in love in a *Sakura Snowstorm*?!

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