Chapter Text
“Mia, wake up! You’ve got the first day of your new middle school!” a voice yelled at her from downstairs. Shoot, the first day of middle school already?
“I’m up, Mom!” Mia called back to her mom. The middle school third-year quickly got dressed in her new uniform and ran downstairs. She grabbed a piece of toast, pressed a kiss onto her little sister, Shuuka's cheek, threw on her shoes, and ran out. “I’m leaving!” she loudly announced as she left, barely hearing her mom and sister’s response to take care as she ran through the streets.
Mia was so focused on getting to school, she didn’t notice a car about to pass through the crosswalk she was about to run through when she was forced backward with a jolt. “Oof!” she exclaimed, almost dropping her toast, before noticing the car racing through where she was just a moment ago.
“Are you okay?” a voice behind her asked. Mia turned around and looked slightly up at a girl in the same middle school uniform with mid-back-length, auburn hair, and her concerned eyes matching her hair.
“I am, thanks to you,” Mia said, bowing down gratefully to the girl.
“I’m just glad you didn’t get hurt. Happy lucky! I’m Tenrai Aira,” Aira said, introducing herself once they crossed the road safely.
“Hanazono Mia!” Mia said in turn. The two made small talk as they walked to school together, easily becoming fast friends.
“Nee, Mia, what class do you have this year?” Aira asked her as they reached the school campus.
“I’m in 3-C with Nakamura-sensei,” Mia recited, barely remembering her teacher’s name.
“You’re with me! At least you’ll have it a bit easier for homeroom, Nakamura-sensei is super easy-going,” Aira advised with a whisper.
“That’s nice to know, I just moved from Yokohama,” Mia said.
“Really? There’s a store I love going to in Yokohama, Pri- Ack!” Aira cut herself off, tripping over herself and hitting her nose-first on the concrete in front of her. She sat up and rubbed her bruising nose. “Ah, itatatataiii.”
“Aira, are you okay?” Mia asked, concerned for the girl.
“I’m okay, I’m just a klutz,” Aira slightly laughed off with a wave of her hand. She continued to nurse her nose as they walked into the school, removing their outdoor shoes and putting on pairs appropriate for indoors. “Mia, do you know where you’re going?” Aira asked her.
Mia unsurely pointed in a random direction to guess, “This way?” Aira laughed, taking Mia’s hand and going in the opposite direction to show her the correct way.
“Our class is over here,” Aira corrected, showing her the door to their homeroom. “Oh, she’s here. I’ll introduce you to last year’s class president, she’s great at helping students acclimate and stuff!” Aira said, taking notice of a shorter girl with pale-pink hair in a short bob and pulling Mia over to her. “Naru!” the taller girl called out, catching the girl in question’s attention.
“Aira, did you have a good vacation?” Naru asked before noticing Mia. “Ah, you must be the newest addition to our class! Welcome to our school, I’m Niji Naru!” she said with a polite bow.
“Nice to meet you, I’m Hanazono Mia!” she bowed back.
“She moved here from Yokohama!” Aira excitedly added, hearts in her eyes.
“You did?” Naru asked Mia for confirmation, hearts growing in her eyes as well. With an awkward nod, Naru and Aira jumped in place. “Aira and I have some favorite stores we love to go to over there. My favorite is De-”
“In your seats, class!” an authoritative voice announced, Aira and Naru quickly went to their seats while Mia went to the front for her proper introduction to the rest of her classmates. “We have a new student this year, please introduce yourself,” the teacher asked, everyone, looking at Mia.
“Nice to meet you. I’m Hanazono Mia, and I just moved here from Yokohama,” Mia said with a small bow.
“Excellent, Mia; I’m your homeroom teacher, Nakamura. You can have that empty seat on the right,” Nakamura-sensei said, gesturing over to the empty seat, two desks behind Naru. “This is your final year of middle school, so this year is going to be all about preparing you for your dreams and futures!” Nakamura excitedly explained to the class.
“Sensei, that just means more tests!” a student called out, getting a laugh from the majority of the class.
“Yes, it’ll be more work than the previous 2 years, but it’s worth it. Because it’s for your dreams, right?” the teacher said with a smirk as the class reluctantly agreed. “So throughout the year, I want you to think of what your future will be. In fact, that’s what your first assignment of the year will be,” Nakamura stated, turning around with chalk in her hand, on the board she wrote, ‘Dear My Future.’ “Write a letter to your future self and ask them anything you want,” Nakamura explained as she passed out papers to the front of each row.
Dear My Future. Why does that sound so familiar? Dear My Future…
“Akiramekaketeita yume ga kanau shunkan. Youkoso! Dear My Future.” Mia jolted at the random song that came to mind. Though it wasn’t a song she was sure she had heard before, she also felt an instant connection to the melody and lyrics. Throughout the rest of the day, the melody played through her mind, unconsciously humming the song during all of the lessons.
“Mia, that’s a pretty song you’re humming. What is it?” Aira asked, taking Mia back to reality, where lunch had just started. She pulled an unused chair from nearby and put it next to Mia’s desk, settling into the chair and pulling out her lunch.
“It’s funny, I don’t actually know,” Mia said with a confused chuckle.
“Sing it for us, maybe we might know?” Naru suggested, pulling up her own chair next to Aira’s.
Mia had nothing to lose, so she took in a breath and softly sang out the only part of the mysterious song that played in her head. Looking down, she forced her hands to stop moving from doing whatever dance they were trying to do.
“Akiramekaketeita yume ga kanau shunkan. Youkoso, Dear My Future,” and although that was the only part playing in Mia’s head, her mouth and voice continued, moving muscle memory of some kind.
“Mada minu mirai no watashi e, ‘
Tatoe tsubasa oreta toshite mo.
Namida no kazu tsuyoku nareru kara mou ichido tachi agareru yo.’ ‘
Donna toki demo nakama ga iru koto wasurenaide ite,’” Mia stopped there, not knowing those words or how her heart seemed to know those words. In the moment of silence, she looked back up to Naru and Aira, who stared at her.
Quickly noticing her stares, they were snapped out of whatever trance held them. They quietly applauded her with awe in their eyes.
“I’ve never heard of that song, but the lyrics were really pretty and cute!” Naru said, Aira nodding along, who also noticed something flying in through the window.
“Mia, look! It’s a Prism Ticket!” Aira said, pointing at the small magical paper floating down in front of Mia. Mia reached out and grabbed the shiny ticket, seeing her in a glittering red and black outfit. “I wonder why yours took so long to get to you. Don’t they come much younger?” Aira questioned aloud. Naru and Mia shrugged, not really knowing how it all works. Prism tickets, the key to entering PriPara, land of idols.
“Have you guys been to PriPara before?” Mia asked the two girls in front of her. Both girls shook their heads, although they seemed very excited for Mia.
“We have PriTickets, but my dad doesn’t want me to go there, he’s too over-protective and doesn’t like the thought of me growing up so much,” Aira explained, a nervous chuckle following.
“I have an afterschool job, assisting a store manager, and don’t have a lot of time to go to PriPara,” Naru added. “But you should check it out!” she added, Aira nodding along.
“PriPara will make you feel Happy Lucky!” “Happy-naru!” the two pink-haired girls cheered.
“Maybe,” Mia said before lunch was over and the other girls had to go back to their seats. The rest of the day, Mia’s song continued to play on loop and the girl thought about the world of Idols. Idols… I wonder if there’s a number one. If there is, I’ll become it. Mia is number one!
At the end of school, Mia caught up with AIra and Naru while the two were finishing packing up their things. “Aira! Naru! Wait a moment!” Mia called out to them, the two turning back to the girl who was quickly making their way toward them. “I’ll go, but only if you two come with me!” Mia conditioned.
The two looked at each other, not actually interacting together often, but not unwilling to hang out more.
“Okay,” the two shrugged.
“I know but it would be- wait, yes?” Mia confirmed, not actually thinking the two would agree so easily.
“Sure, I’ll have to go look for my ticket, somewhere in my room, but it’ll be easy to find,” Aira said.
“And I’ll get a day off from my boss, that’ll be easy,” Naru added. “Let’s go this weekend,” she offered, Aira easily agreeing. Mia was lost at how easy it was to get the other two to come with her.
“Okay, yea, Saturday will be okay with me,” Mia confusedly agreed, surprised at Naru’s phone offered to her. She easily understood though, quickly typing in her number and passing it back to the short girl.
“Cool, well, I have to get to my job. See you guys tomorrow. Happy-Naru!” she said, running off towards the train station.
“That was a lot easier than I thought it would be,” Mia had stated, more to herself than to Aira, who was still next to her. The two laughed though, chatting as they walked down the streets. Why do I wanna go with these girl so badly?
“Oi, Mia!” Mia heard from her left. The purple-haired girl turned her head and saw Aira waving for her attention. “Naru said she’d meet us in PriPara. This is the perfect time to show you my favorite store,” Aira said as Mia met up with her.
“Didn’t you say that it’s in Yokohama?” Mia asked her, her hands fidgeting with her ticket.
“The first in the chain, but they just recently opened one up here, in Harajuku!” Aira explained, hearts in her eyes as she thought of the cute clothes and bittersweet dresses from the store. Aira really likes this store… and clothes. Aira really really likes clothes.
The girls walked through the busy streets of Harajuku as Aira led Mia to her favorite store. Pointing out other shops and stores that the auburn girl would recommend.
“Here we are!” Aira exclaimed, jazz-handing to the store of her heart, “Welcome to Prism Stone, the store with the cutest clothes that’ll make any girl feel Happy-Lucky!”
“Or…” Naru’s voice said behind them, “You could shop at Dear Crown, where the clothes are mature and make you feel like a Goddess and Happy-Naru,” she introduced, throwing a hand on her hip and the other in the air to showcase her favorite store.
“I thought you were going to meet us in PriPara?” Mia wondered, looking back and forth between the two stylish stores. Both stores have fashionable clothes.
“To enter PriPara, we can take either store, but the entrances are in completely different areas in PriPara, and I didn’t want anyone to get lost,” Naru explained. “Oh, and since we’re entering Pripara, the boss wants me to promote the brand on the idol side,” she added.
“That’s so cool! I’m sure lots of idols will love the Dear Crown clothes!”
“Aira, are you leaving us for Dear Crown too? Shou is going to be so heartbroken,” a pretty blue-haired girl teased, making Aira blush warm.
“Ah! No, o-of course not Cosmo-sama, I-I would never.”
“Oya, I’m just teasing. I heard you and your friends are going over to Pripara, did your dad finally let you grow a little?”
“He said that so long as I don’t start an idol career, I can go, eh-heh, but we’ll see how long that’ll last before he changes his mind,” Aira explained, before realizing that Naru and Mia were still confused about who she was talking to. “Ah, sorry. Naru, Mia, this is Hojo Cosmo, a fashion designer at Prism Stone. Cosmo-sama, these are my friends, Niji Naru and Hanazona Mia. Mia just got her Pri-ticket this week, so we’re gonna go to Pripara together.”
“Yoroshiku. Come follow me, and I’ll show you how to get started!” Aira must really come here a lot if she even knows the designer here too. “This is Meganee Akai, she’ll fit you with the brand that best matches you and then you’ll scan your ticket to enter Pripara!” Cosmo explained, gesturing to the brunette woman in red glasses next to her.
“I’ll go first. Mia is number one!” Mia announced, full of excitement.
“ Yoroshiku , Mia. Let’s see, your personality and style seems to fit best in… Prism Stone’s brand! Please standby for your friends.”
“ Hai.”
“ Yoroshiku, Naru. Let’s see, your personality and style seems to fit best in… Dear Crown’s brand! Which seems lucky for you! Please wait on standby for Aira.”
“ Un.”
“Welcome back, Aira. Let’s see, your personality and style seems to fit best in,.. Prism Stone! Which, thank goodness, who knows what if Shou found out you fitted with a different brand! Please join your friends to enter Pripara.”
“Actually, Aira, can you stay behind? We need to talk to you about something,” Cosmo asked, gently pulling her to the side while Meganee continued to show Mia and Naru how to scan their tickets.
“Go ahead, I’ll be right behind you guys,” Aira assured. Naru and Mia looked at each other before giving a shrug of reluctance and scanning their tickets. This is going to be so much fun, happy-naru!