The iDOLM@STER: Unison Voice

Volume 1 Chapter 08: In the Gentle Light

 Hana stood under the spotlight as her song's solo music carried on without her vocals.

Everything until this point had been perfect build-up and execution. She gave herself plenty of practice throughout the past few weeks, staying for extra time after each lesson in an attempt to make sure she had enough preparation for the show. Meanwhile, the song she picked was perfect for her. Daydreaming Bookworm Girl, by Millionstar Nanao Yuriko, not only fit her voice but had lyrics describing a love story.

In theory, it was perfect for someone who was looking for one herself.

She was the first one to get dressed, as today she decided to arrive at the live house early. The first group song went by without any issue, though the last half-hour had consisted of waiting anxiously for her turn to perform. Tonight's center started the solos with a song almost as energetic as her, Akari followed with an upbeat solo, and then Yuki had a slower song matching her cool disposition. After that was a performance from a girl doing an acoustic rendition of a Million Live song, guitar included. The sixth song of the night was performed by Reina, and the senior idol blew the crowd away.

Hana passed by her on the walk to the stage, unable to make eye contact with the golden-haired beauty. The doubt hit her right before she even opened her mouth to sing.

"First impressions are everything," Reina had said to her over a month ago.

How was she supposed to follow up on the performances that came before her?

They were all working towards the same goal, but Hana still felt like she was so behind all of the others. This was her dream to be able to perform in front of people, but what if the audience didn't like her?

A moment of hesitation made her miss her mark. She was used to just restarting the music during practice, but now she had to make the choice to join in mid-verse or hope they would restart it for her.

Unfortunately, the latter never happened, making her miss her entire first verse. Every second that passed after her mark felt even more agonizing. A song she had chosen because she related to it and knew every lyric before even applying to 765 Productions was currently leaving her behind. The light-green penlights in the crowd now looked like they were mocking her rather than supporting her.

This was just like a situation she was in over a year ago. The same feeling of doubt and fear of rejection came rushing at her when she was at her last agency with her former partner, Ichihara Ayaka. Just like last time, the feeling paralyzed her.

Less than a week after their last performance, both of the girls had been dropped from their old company. The president of the company cited his decision due to Hana's lack of overall skill.

Ayaka's reaction when she had been given the news was inconsolable. The girl quickly turned into a sobbing mess, a state wildly unbecoming of someone who was supposed to be the leader of their duo. Hana, on the other hand, gave much less of a reaction. She simply sat in the office chair looking down at her feet, unable to say anything about the circumstances leading up to their departure from each other.

What was she supposed to say? She wasn't even a high school student at the time, but she was still the reason both of their careers took a sudden fall backward. Crying turned into regret, and then suddenly months of work to build bridges and friendships with each other burned away. It had been over a year, but she still didn't have the courage to message Ayaka again to talk about it.

Meeting with her old friend earlier in the week brought back all of those memories to the front of her mind. Hana thought she had gotten over it, but she was terribly mistaken. Now, it was one of the only things she could think about: the fact that a year later, Hana had gotten a lucky break with her career, while the brunette girl was still working hard to reach her dreams.