The iDOLM@STER: Unison Voice

Volume 1 Chapter 17: The Path You Choose

Reina left the break room of the studio long before the afterparty had ended.

Before exiting the building, she took a moment to look at the wall of photos featuring Idol Talk Live's guests over the years. They were arranged chronologically, meaning farther down the hallway and closer to the practice rooms would be where the newer images were. In a week or so, the group picture taken shortly after today's show had ended would be the newest addition to the collection.

Every guest for today was included in the picture, with Ryoma's band on the left, the NeoStars girls in the middle, and another group she hadn't heard of on the right. Kevin Nagisa and today's special guest host kneeled down in the center, smiling.

Reina's hands held onto the straps of her book bag as she looked for an image on the wall with her face on it. It helped that they all included the date of airing, which allowed the golden-haired idol to find the one capturing her last appearance. It was dated half a year ago when she appeared as part of her last production company for the show's Christmas special. She had on a red dress with her hair styled similarly to how she wore it today, although it was slightly shorter back then.

Later down the hall, she found herself again. She was fourteen, once again standing next to Ryoma and the members of his band. When she was with SuperSound, they had her wearing a light-blue idol dress with a big fluffy skirt. Her hair was tied into two low pigtails hanging over her shoulders. It was one of the cuter looks a company had tried to give her, although being reminded of her time there made her want to leave.

On the way out of the building, she completely ignored taking a look at the other two or three times her face was featured in the studio's hallways. She had already changed out of her stage outfit after today's group photo was taken, so there was nothing left for her to stay for.

Her housemaid Chiyoko was waiting for her at the parking lot. She held open the door for Reina to enter the car before entering herself.

"How was your experience today, Miss Reina?" her housemaid asked.

"Abysmal," Reina responded.

"If anything, you looked very composed during your interview."

"I really wanted to perform today," Reina sighed. She looked out of the window as her housemaid left and drove away from the studio. It was already night, but her fellow unit members most likely wouldn't leave until the party was completely over.

She wanted to sing her first image song with 765 Productions for thousands to view and have this performance help establish a new image of herself for the public.

Regrettably, that didn't happen. Instead, she split time with the other idols and didn't even have more than five minutes for herself in the limelight. Then there was the selection for who would represent their unit, which was decided by whoever could raise their hands the fastest and by who knew the most trivia about the company.

The latter was essentially decided by whoever was the biggest fangirl, and Reina lost because she didn't know the song of an idol whose music she didn't listen to.

Even after the setlist was decided, Akari decided to give up her time so Hana could perform. It didn't matter how well the pink-haired crybaby did in the end. The opportunity to shine was equally Reina's, and she hadn't even been given consideration by her fellow unit members if she still wanted to perform or not.

"Are you hungry?" Chiyoko asked her.

"Not particularly, I ate a little during the afterparty," Reina lied. She wanted to change the subject of the conversation. "Was anyone at the studio today? From my family, I mean."