Oshi no Ko: What If

Prologue: A Second Chance

"Ruby... Aqua... I love you."

The Tokyo Dome, which is one of Japan's biggest venues for idol concerts, was B-Komachi's and Strawberry Productions's biggest accomplishment that year. With all their efforts pooled in and the number of concerts they held, they were able to earn just enough for the idol group to be able to perform in the biggest and most popular venue in Japan. Although, this was all mostly thanks to the biggest star of B-Komachi, Ai Hoshino.

However, the day of the concert, she was attacked in her home by a deranged fan with a knife, stabbing her in the abdomen. The damage was too great that she only had minutes, seconds even, to live. Despite the excruciating pain she felt, the biggest pain she had to endure was the fact that she was about to leave her children behind without a mother.

Ai weakly squealed in joy as she realized that the words she announced to her kids were nothing more than genuine. "I'm sorry.... it took so long! These words... definitely aren't a lie," she uttered, tears falling from her eyes.

Aqua, the son and oldest twin, felt utterly useless as he was being held by his dying mother. Even though his past life was that of a doctor, Dr. Gorou, there was nothing he could do. What could he even do with his small, weak four-year-old hands?

Move... Dammit! Move, Gorou! What the hell are you doing??! She's gonna die, she's gonna die, she's gonna die! He yelled in his mind. All he could do at that moment was stand there as he could feel Ai's breath growing increasingly slow.

Ai touched his cheek with her bloody palm, her star eyes beginning to fade into a soulless ball of nothing. This is it... I'm s-sorry... my two babies.

"Ai?" Aqua uttered in disbelief. Briefly, Aqua noticed movement from his left peripheral. He gasped and slowly looked away from Ai.

"A... qua?"

"Stay away from her!!" Aqua suddenly yelled.

Ai could see her son's arms spread out, almost as if he was protecting her from something, or rather, someone. She tried to speak but couldn't. Everything hurt as she tried to move. What if the deranged fan returned? Her kids! She tried to make out the voices, but it all seemed like gibberish; all she heard were the muffled voices of Aqua screaming, Ruby crying for an explanation, and an unfamiliar voice. Finally, she mustered all of her strength and slowly raised her head to get a good look at who Aqua was protecting her from.

The person was a man. He was probably around her age, maybe a couple of years older. He was wearing black and white sneakers, black jeans, and a white shirt underneath his black jacket. Ai tried to look at his face when the guy suddenly appeared in front of her, trying to stop the bleeding from her stomach with a bunch of towels. She felt as if her entire body was dropped into a pit of lava as she attempted to muffle a scream. Her breaths became more labored as it started to gradually hurt to take in air. Weakly clenching her fists in pain, she tried to look up once more.

W-why? She thought to herself. It's useless. This can't... be fixed. Why bother? Ai knew that even the paramedics wouldn't be able to fix the damage inflicted by Ryosuke, her attacker. So why was this stranger still trying? Why go so far? She could see the man's mouth moving despite her blurry vision. It's almost as if she was watching a TV show on mute. W-what... is he saying? I... can't hear. Ai said in her head. The noise around her began to muffle more as she was close to passing out. I'm... sorry... for worrying you all.

"...live."

H-huh?

"If you can't live for yourself... if you can't live for your fans..." the voice of the unknown stranger became clearer as Ai looked up and gazed at his eyes. It was as bright as the moon, shining upon her as if she went stargazing, "...then at least, live for your kids!"