Reminisce ~ Love Live! (College AU)

Chapter 1: Welcome to a New Chapter in Your Life - It's all Downhill from Here

Nozomi wasn't a morning person. She never has been, really.

The whole act of having to force yourself to wake up at whatever time when you could simply just lay back down and keep restoring your energy for later just seemed wrong to her.

But as her ears were suddenly flooded with a loud beeping sound, her senses automatically heightened, setting off a sequence of familiar uneasiness in her stomach and she knew she couldn't just ignore it.

Nozomi pried her eyes open, with a strong sense of difficulty and took a few moments to regain her vision while peering over at her clock which was blaring furiously at her, begging her to wake up.

She was tempted to let her inner nap-loving fiend take hold of the reigns and tell the clock exactly where it could shove its noises, yet she resisted. It probably wouldn't be the best possible start to the day by getting into an argument with an electronic alarm clock at the crack of dawn.

Recently Nozomi had required no use of her alarm's insistent wailing but today was different. Today she was beginning the next chapter of her life, which was also known as college education.

It felt like only a second ago she was walking down the aisle of the auditorium with Eli right by her side at her graduation ceremony and now she was about to embark on her first day of college.

In response to said occasion, Nozomi felt overcome by feelings of fear and curiosity - but primarily fear.

Curiosity for how the entire experience would go, where she would end up at the end and who she could meet along the way. The possibilities of what could happen stretched her imagination further than normal.

But also there was the fear that lingered in the gaps of her curiosity. The uncertainty of the day ahead and what it could mean for her time on the entire course had plagued on her mind ever since she made her final decision regarding college but now they were even more at the forefront of her thoughts as the day had arrived.

How she acted, who the people were and what they were like would all play a huge part in her future so she prayed that things would go well.

Finally having stored up the energy she needed, she flung out her hand to silence her alarm - letting her apartment ring out into its familiar deafening silence, her fingers lingering over the button before she managed to draw them back and hide them from any further exposure back underneath the warm covers.

Rolling her body over to face the other side, the digits on the clock glared at her, reading 6:00am - the glowing light almost burning said numbers into her retinas. If only she could set the clock back a few hours and pretend she wouldn't be late for anything.

Facing away from the silent alarm clock, she peered out of the window by her bedside and saw that the sun had barely even risen - the sky a dull dark greyish colour. It was already enough proof to Nozomi that it was way too early for her. She had always been a big lover of naps and sleeping but when the education board decided that students should have to wake up at ridiculous times, she found it rather got in the way of them.

She supposed she had better get up if she had any hopes of getting ready and preparing herself for the day ahead.

With a loud huff, she pushed the covers away from her body, bunching them up in a corner on her bed and began to slip out of bed, letting her feet find their place on her carpeted bedroom floor before wandering into the bathroom to begin her latest quest of having her morning freshen up with the gentle buzzing of the bathroom light filling in the silences.

It was almost like a reminder to her that she was alone again. Just like back when she was younger.

Nico had chosen to go to a more performing arts based college slightly further away from the area in order to take a special course involving idols - where many talented youngsters attended with hopes of official going pro upon leaving.