New Girl

## Chapter 1

*Can I do? I take it baby! Can I do? I make it baby!*
*Can I do? I take it baby! Can I do? I make it baby!*

*Sou, itchau no?*
*Oikakenai kedo*
*Kihon da ne mureru no kirai yo*

*Kodoku no setsunasa wakaru hito da kedo*
*Tokidoki kotoba o kawashiatte*
*Otagai no basho de otagai no omoi*
*Takameru each other's day*

Private Wars played from my MP3's alarm, waking me up at 6 in the morning. It was the first day of school, and I was determined to shed the reputation that I had earned in previous schools. Otonokizaka was a new start that I was determined to take. I donned my uniform, tying the blue bow around my slim neck. The bow signalled me as a first year, but the fact that no one knew me was an even bigger indicator. It was the middle of the school year, and I would stick out like a sore thumb.

```
       Trying to push these ominous thoughts aside, I brushed out my fair hair, braiding it into a messy braid, showing off my brown eyes. With any luck, I wouldn't make people hate me on the first day.
       I shoved a piece of toast into my mouth. I grabbed my black shoulder bag and dashed out the front door, hair flying behind.
       I had to walk to school. The walk was half an hour. No one was outside, and when no one was around, I sung. My voice was soft in the chilly air. I loved to sing. I sung for twenty minutes before noticing that there was a red headed girl behind me.

```

Embarrassed, I stopped singing and silently cursed myself.

```
       "I don't know you. Are you new?" The girl said catching up to me. Her bow indicated her as a first year.
       "Uh, yeah. This seems to be a new record. I embarrassed myself before classes even started. I should have stuck to being anti social," I murmured.
       "I-it's fine! I normally do that a lot," she said, trailing off, turning away from me.
       "But I bet that you don't sound like a dying, tone-deaf hippopotamus."
       "Apparently I don't. And you're not actually that bad," the red head muttered. "Have you ever been a school idol?"
       "Nah, at my old schools I was too unpopular to be in one and too anti-social to create one."
       "You should have considered it. You just have the same problem and Hanayo: voice projection."
       "Why are you asking anyways?' I said in a defensive tone.
       "N-no reason!" The girl said, blushing.
       "Are you in a school idol group?" I finally asked. I could tell by the way she stood tall and how her voice was clear that she was idol-material, despite her defensive demeanour, not dissimilar to mine.
        "Yeah," she muttered.
        "That's so cool! Not A-RISE, since you're from Otonokizaka," I said in excitement.
        "Muse," she said.
        "I haven't heard much about Muse. I lived on the opposite side of the country."
        "We aren't as big as A-RISE, but we're growing. I'm Nishikino Maki by the way."
        "Kimura Akiko," I said, shaking Maki's hand.
        "We have a practice after school if you want to stay," Maki mumbled.
        "Sure!" I said exitedly, knowing that if I was in a class with her, my cool, tsundere personality would go down like a stone.
       "And I can introduce you to Rin and Hanayo in class."
       "Really? That'd be awesome!" I said.
       Maki and I chatted on the way to school. She was nice. Her personality was not too dissimilar to mine. She felt like a relatable person.

```

"Hey! Maki!" A girl yelled across the hallway. Her orange hair was short and can down in a bob.

```
       "Maki," a second girl said, jogging to catch up with her friend. Her brown hair reached her shoulders. She was quieter, so I assumed that she was Hanayo.
       "Are you new?" The first girl asked me.
       "Yeah. I'm Kimura Akiko," I said.
       "I'm Rin, and this is Kayo-chin," Rin said.
       "Hi Rin-san, Hanayo-san," I greeted, trying to act friendly.
       "Hello Akiko-san," Hanayo said, bowing.
       "Don't bow, it makes me feel to important, or eske I feel like I should be ordering you to get me a sandwich," I told Hanayo, making the three girls giggle.
       "Hanayooooooooo!" A girl with brown hair said, sliding up to Hanayo. She was a second year.
       "What is it Honoka?" Hanayo asked.
       "Printemps needs to do a run through of Pure Girls Project for the next concert. Wait, who's she?" Honoka asked, turning around to face me.
       "I'm Kimura Akiko," I said for the third time today.
       "I met her walking here," Maki told her brunette friend.
       "You managed to talk to Maki? Either you're really talented or Maki's finally talking to other people," Honoka said.
       "I talk to other people!" Maki said defiantly.
       "Honoka? Honoka?" A girl called. Her hair was brown, but longer than Honoka and Hanayo's.
       "Over here Kotori!" Hanayo called back.
       "I finished with the designs for the next concert. Will these do?" Kotori asked, handing Honoka a sketchbook.
       "It looks really pretty!" Honoka exclaimed, clapping her hands.
       "Thanks. What do you think Hanayo? Maki? Rin?" Kotori asked.
       "Awesome!"
       "Nice."
       "Ooh!"
       "Show it to Akiko-san!" Rin said.
       "I'm Akiko," I said before Kotori even asked her question.
       "I invited her to watch our practice today," Maki spoke up.
       "Wear your gym strip," Honoka said.
       "We do a lot of running," Rin said.
       "And dancing," squeaked Hanayo.
       "And stretching," added Maki.
       "And push-ups," Kotori said.
       "And falling," Honoka pouted.
       "Mainly just you, Honoka," Maki smiled.
       "Hey!" Honoka interjected.
       "Umi, come over here!" Kotori shouted over to her black haired friend who was approaching us.
       "Meet Akiko-san! She's coming to our practice after school," Rin said.
       "Hello Akiko-san," Umi greeted.
       "Hi Umi-senpai," I said.
       "Wrong!" Honoka said, pretending to act stern, but looking more comical than anything.
       "What's wrong Honoka-senpai? Umi-senpai, Kotori-senpai, do you know what she's talking about?" I asked.
       "Wrong! Wrong! Wrong!" Honoka said again.
       "Probably about our 'no senpai' rule that we have in Muse," Umi said.
       "But I'm not in Muse," I said.
       "But you're a friend of Muse!" Honoka said in an overly cheery voice.
       "I-I am?" I said.
       "I had the same reaction at first," Maki said. "Honoka can be overly friendly."
       "We've got to get going," Umi said, pulling Honoka away.
       "You can meet Eri, Nozomi, and Nico at lunch!" Honoka called to me.
       "You must be pretty cool," Maki said. "Like a puppy or little kid, Honoka is a great judge of character."
       "C'mon, we have to get to math!" Rin said, grabbing me by my wrist to pull me off to our first class.

```

"Did you know that I met Honoka when she watched me singing Aishteru Banzai? She heard me, came to the music room, pressed her face against the window, started clapping, then asked me if I wanted to be an idol," Maki said as we went to meet the other idols.

```
       "That sounds like her," I said. Surprisingly, Maki and I had quickly become friends.
       "You joined at the same time as Rin and I," Hanayo told Maki. "I still feel guilty for making both of you join."
       "It turned out to be really fun," Rin said.
       "Don't feel guilty, it was our own choice," Maki said.
       "Akiko! Come meet Eri and Nozomi and Nico!" Honoka yelled at me. They were sitting under a tree with another blond, and two girls with black hair.
       "So this is her," the girl with shorter black hair said.
       "Yeah, this is me," I said, not liking her tone.
       "I'm Ayase Eri, this is Toujou Nozomi, and that was Yazawa Nico," the blond girl - Eri - said.
       "Eli-chi is the student council president, and our choreographer," Nozomi told me. "I'm the vice-president."
       "It's nice to meet you Nozomi-senpai, Eri-senpai, Nico-senpai," I greeted.
       "I already told you this morning!" Honoka said. "No 'senpai' allowed!"
       "She's now a friend of Muse. According to Honoka, at least," Umi said to the bewildered third years.
       "Hm," Nico said disapprovingly.
       "She's coming to our practice," Kotori said.
       "Interesting. Normally only members of Muse are allowed at practice," Eri said.
       "But you can't just watch, or else..." Nozomi said flexing her fingers and looking surprisingly terrifying. The other girls recoiled, especially Nico.
       "Join in, or she'll... Well, you don't want to know," Umi whispered to me.
       "Thanks for the advice," I said.
       The nine members of Muse were nice, but many of them had interesting, uh, quirks.
       "So you read fortunes?" I asked Nozomi.
       "A bit," Nozomi smiled. "I'll read yours if you want."
       "Sure," I said as Nozomi laid out her tarot cards. After examining them for a moment, she came to a conclusion.
       "Good things can come if you let them, but if you choose to accept them, it won't be easy," Nozomi said, looking at me.
       "Cool," Honoka said from behind my left shoulder.
       "Interesting. Normally Nozomi's fortunes are simpler than that," Umi said.
       "It sounds really neat," Rin said, coming behind my other shoulder.
       "I hope it isn't too hard though, Akiko-san," Hanayo said worriedly.
       "It'll be fine Hanayo-san. I can take it," I said feigning confidence.
       "Still..." Maki frowned.
       "You sound so brave Akiko-san!" Honoka said, tackling me with a hug so that I landed flat on my back.
       "H-Honoka-san!" I said indignantly.
       "We need to organize the final line up for the concert," Eri said, bring back a more serious matter.
       "I can help with that. I just need to watch Muse's videos when I get home," I said, trying to help out, rather than be a nuisance after the kindness that they were showing me.
       "That would be wonderful Akiko-san!" Honoka said eagerly. "Cuz everyone's really busy."
       "I'm working on the melody for a new song," Maki said.
       "I have a ballet recital coming up, so I can't choreograph much," Eri said.
       "Since Eri's busy I'm working a bit on the choreography," Umi added.
       "I'm working on sewing the outfits," Kotori piped up.
       "I'm helping Kotori with the designs," Nico said.
       "Hanayo and I are working on posters," Rin said.
       "I'm working on reserving a place to preform," Nozomi contributed.
       "What about you, Honoka?" I asked.
       "I'm sleeping," Honoka said lazily.
       "Wow Honoka. Just, wow," I said.

```

We met in the club room, bedecked in our gym clothes. I wore black athletic leggings, and a loose shirt that barely hung on my shoulders. It had a black quarter note on a bright blue fabric. Straps of a white undershirt could be seen.

```
       "Yay! You came Akiko-san!" Honoka said.
       "Yes, why wouldn't I? I've never seen idols preform live, and being at a practice is pretty sweet," I admitted, letting my love of idols show through.
       "Maybe you can-" Honoka started, before Umi slapped her hand over the brunette's mouth, muffling her next words. Out of the corner of my eye, I saw Nozomi give a knowing smile.
       "Akiko, just so you know, our warm up is five laps around the school yard - which is about 3km total - followed by 20 push-ups, 50 sit ups, and stretching," Eri said. I was okay with strength, but not endurance.
       "Let's get going!" Umi said, as we all ran out of the club room.
       Eri was cruel. I tried to keep up with Rin, who seemed the most athletic, but I did not like running. Maki was surprisingly fast, so I was in the back with Kotori, Hanayo, and Honoka. There was no break between push-ups and running. As soon as the idols reached the top floor of the school, they dropped down to do the rest of the warm up. I took pride in my strength as I powered through the push-ups, but that didn't stop sweat from beading on my brow. The stretches that Eri did were rough, but to my amazement, I managed to not pull any muscles.
       "I think that we should do some classics in the concert. Maybe Bokura no Live Kimi ni to Life, since that was our first single. Music S.T.A.R.T. won't be finished in time," Honoka said.
       "We should do Start Dash, since that was the first song that was ever preformed," Umi said.
       "How many songs can you preform?" I asked the group.
       "It's in a month, so it'll be late November. I was thinking the 23rd. Maybe in a park. There's an outdoor theatre that I was thinking of," Nozomi said. "Since it's outside, it'll be chilly. If we do it in the afternoon, it'll be a bit warmer. Maybe we could make it last an hour at most. We should some sub-groups to preform too."
       "Sounds good," I said. I would have to look up a ton of Muse songs when I got home.
       "Let's practice Bokura no Live Kimi ni to Life. Maybe Akiko-san can learn it too!" Honoka said happily.
       "Me?" I said, astounded that school idols were including me in their practice.
       "Is there another Akiko here?" Umi said.
       "Who knows?" I said, standing up. It looks like Otonokizaka would be much better than my old school.

```

An hour later, I had learnt the dance. I was learning Honoka's part. It was tricky, but everyone was so supportive. It was really fun. They had taught me most of the lyrics too. I could now dance and sing to Bokura no Live Kimi ni to Life with Honoka. It was really fun to know what the life of a school idol was like.

```
       "Akiko-san, I never knew you were so good!" Honoka said, making me look down in modesty.
       "You're actually pretty good," Umi said.
       "Really good!" Hanayo said, with a look of admiration in her eyes, which made me feel incredibly self conscious.
       "Akiko-san should-" Honoka was cut off by Umi's hand again.
       "Come with us to get some ramen," Umi said, trying to act casual. "It's almost dinner."
       "Please?" Hanayo said, giving me puppy dog eyes.
       "I guess a bit of ramen would be good," I said. Ramen was my favourite. This was turning out to be the best day ever!
       "Yay!" Honoka and Hanayo cheered at the same time.
       "Let's get our stuff from the club room first," Eri said, leading the way down the stairs.
       We grabbed our bags before going to the ramen restaurant. I was having so much fun, laughing, talking, and occasionally bursting into song with the nine members of Muse. To be friends with idols? This was what I had dreamed for. Maybe I wasn't just the new girl at Otonokizaka Academy.

```