Chapter Text
The Ootori family name was well known across Japan for one particular reason.
Why? Because they were the agency known to make or break idols.
If a group was in the limelight, it was probably because they were under the Ootori’s management.
However, one group in their agency stood out against them all…
Smile Corps.
The leader of the group, Ootori Hinata, just so happened to be the daughter of the CEO, and under the management of her two brothers.
She also happened to be the older sister of a certain girl with a dream.
Ootori Emu.
—
Emu wanted to be an idol just like her big sister!
She loved watching her dazzling figure up on the stage and the way everyone in the audience smiled.
And she loved seeing her sister’s happy smile along with everyone else’s the most!
But… that all changed after her Grandpa passed away…
The news was sudden, and Emu was devastated. But, she knew her Grandpa would want her to keep on smiling for real! So that’s what she continued to do!
Her sister on the other hand… she was smiling but… Emu could tell it wasn’t a real smile.
And apparently detecting fake smiles ran in the Ootori family because it wasn’t too long until her brothers, Shousuke and Keisuke had pulled Hinata aside.
Emu knew she shouldn’t listen in on their conversation, especially since she knew it was all businesses stuff since they were at the agency building and not at home…
But, it had to do with her family! How could she not?
She pressed her ear against the door and strained her hearing to find out what was happening…
“Hinata… your performances have been lackluster lately…”
“Lackluster…? Really? Shousuke! Our Grandfather is gone! He’s the reason I wanted to become an idol in the first place!” Hinata exclaimed, before taking a deep breath and continuing.
“Listen, I can’t do this anymore. I’ve talked it through with the other girls and… I quit.”
Emu slapped her hands over her mouth. Quit?
Keisuke seemed to share the same thoughts as he spoke up. “Quit? You can’t just do that. You’re the whole reason your group is popular,” Keisuke said, and Emu could hear the frown in his voice.
“I’m sorry. My decision has been made,” Hinata said firmly.
“Great, so now we’re at risk of going under for such a stupid reason,” Shousuke grumbled.
“I just can’t smile for real up there if I know he isn’t there to see it,” Hinata said, and she sounded close to tears.
That was it, Emu couldn’t stand by and listen anymore.
She swung open the door and was met with the faces of her shocked siblings.
“I can be an idol! I can start a group… and… and we can make sure your agency doesn’t go down!”
“Emu are you crazy?” Shousuke asked, and Emu vigorously shook her head.
“No! I know I can do it! If… If Hinata can’t do it I can!” Emu said, “You can’t just push Hinata to do it if she doesn’t want too!”
“Do you know how crazy of an idea this is? You don’t even have any experience,” Keisuke said, crossing his arms.
“I’ve seen Hinata preform! I can learn! Please let me do this!” Emu exclaimed.
“Emu, you don’t have to do this…” Hinata said, moving closer to Emu.
“Yes I do! I’ve wanted to become an idol for a long time, and I want to be so bright up there that you can smile for real!” she exclaimed, and her gaze was filled with determination.
She looked eyes with her brothers specifically, and held the eye contact for a good minute.
Keisuke frowned and looked over to Shousuke, quickly whispering something in his ear.
Shousuke let out and sigh, and rolled his eyes.
“… You have three days.”
“Huh?” Emu’s eyes widened in confusion.
Shousuke crossed his arms. “Three days to find two people who are willing to join you. If you want it that bad, you’ll find a way,” he said.
Emu’s eyes lit up and she vigorously nodded. “Shousuke… Keisuke…! Thank you so much! I swear, I’ll find great people!” she grinned, before running out of the room, out of the building, and into the streets.
Emu had a certain talent, and that was finding the spark in people. She needed someone who was good at singing, obviously…
Dancing was always a skill they could work on!
But the most important thing of all was the actual want to make people happy with the work.
Some people just wanted fame, others just wanted money but… a lot of the time Emu found that those people always fell short…
Emu was caught up in her thoughts as she walked down the street. She only had one shot to not mess this up. But the thing was… where was she supposed to find 2 people willing to join her within such short notice…?
She sighed as turned a corner before something caught her attention. It sounded… like singing? Really good singing at that! She slowly followed in an attempt to find the source of the voice.
She gasped when she caught sight of a green haired girl, and quickly backed up, peaking around the corner to listen in…
Emu could see it from the smile on the girl’s face alone. She definitely had the spark
—
Nene had only recently discovered the world of idols, but she was instantly enamored.
The atmosphere, the lights, the way the people on the stage were able to draw everyone in…
From that moment on Nene knew what she wanted for herself.
From that day forward, she would practice in her room everyday day after school. She had the singing down,
Her only problem was that she couldn’t sing in front of others! She had a friend… Rui, who she would sing in front of all the time but…
When he entered middle school they had just… stopped talking.
So as of now, the only person she had was herself. And the park that she used to practice.
She loved singing there because it was tucked off in an alley, and no one seemed to notice it.
Well that was until today, when she was interrupted by loud clapping.
Nene gasped and whipped her head around to be met with a girl who looked around her age.
“Woah! That was amazing! You’re such an amazing singer!” she cheered.
Nene blinked, and slowly backed away. She nodded slowly. “Uh… right, thanks…” she mumbled, instantly closing off.
The girl’s eyes narrowed, and she pursed his lips in thought. “… Have you ever considered becoming an idol?”
Nene’s heart stopped and she looked at the other in confusion. “Becoming… an idol?” she echoed.
“Mhm! I’m starting my own group, and I’m looking for people to join me!” she exclaimed, before closing in on Nene.
“Oh well, I don’t know...” Nene said. This was something she really wanted to do, but how did she even know if this girl was credible?
“It’ll be fun I promise! Here, I can take you over to my agency building, you can see if you want to join in after!”
Nene gave a hesitant nod before Emu grabbed her by the hand.
“H-Hey! Slow down! You haven’t even introduced yourself yet!” Nene exclaimed, and the other girl quickly halted.
“Oh right! I’m Emu! What about you?” the newly named Emu said, tilting her head.
“Kusanagi Nene,” she answered, only now being able to catch her breath.
“Nice to meet you Nene! Now let’s go!”
Nene, in the proceeding 10 minutes, has come to learn that Emu was a whirlwind of a person.
She walked really fast, spoke a lot very fast (Nene was struggling to keep up with the conversation) and was really, really passionate about being an idol.
“Hey… what should be name our group?” Emu asked, momentarily slowing down.
“Huh… I never thought about what I’d name an idol group…” she hummed.
“Ooh! What about, Score Symphony!”
“Uh, I guess I’m fine with it… but why that?”
Emu shrugged. “I don’t know, it just fits!”
“Anyways, we’re here!” Emu exclaimed, finally letting go of her hand.
“Huh? Wait… this is the Ootori Agency!?” Nene exclaimed, looking at her on shock
“Huh? Yeah!” Emu answered, as if it was completely normal to be standing outside the biggest agency in Japan.
“Wha… But how?”
“Oh right! I forgot to mention! My dad is the CEO, so we’ll be working here!”
Nene blinked. That’s seemed like a very big thing to forget to mention…
Nene didn’t even get to speak up before her hand was grabbed once again, and she was dragged into the building.
“Shousuke! Keisuke!” Emu called out running through the halls.
“E-Emu! Wait! Is it really okay for us to be running through here?” Nene asked, trying her best not to crash into anything.
“Mhm! Oh! I think they’re in here!” Emu came to a sudden halt, and flung open the door in front of them.
“Guys! I found someone!” she exclaimed, holding Nene’s hand up.
“Uh, hello…” Nene said, her voice barely above a whisper.
The younger of the two men eyed her skeptically, before looking at Emu.
“… Really?”
Emu frowned and puffed up her cheeks. “It’s okay! Trust me she’s a really good singer and I know we can put on a great performance together!”
“Just don’t forget your time limit,” he sighed and simply walked out, and the other brother following close behind.
Emu shook her head and gave Nene an apologetic smile. “Don’t mind Shousuke, he’ll warm up to you!”
“I hope so… also, he said something about a time limit?” Nene asked worriedly.
Emu gave a nervous laugh and looked to the side. “Right… that was something else I forgot to mention. I only have three days to find two other members. But I already found you so we only need one more member!” Emu cheered
Nene raised a brow, before letting out a sigh.
“There days… how are we supposed to find someone that quickly…?” Nene mumbled to herself
“Hehe, you hold auditions of course!”
—
Shinonome Ena wanted to become an idol more than anything else.
She loved the way everyone could have their eyes on stage, smiling at whoever was up there… and she wanted that for herself.
She remembers always practicing her singing and dancing out in the living room, only to be shut down by her father.
“Becoming an idol? Really, you should just pick something else… do you know how hard it is to make it in that industry?”
But Ena wasn’t going to let simple words like that tear her down.
So she recorded some videos, sent them into groups and agencies, and… got rejected. Multiple times, actually.
Apparently it was the same reason for all of them.
She just wasn’t experienced enough, her technique wasn’t precise enough, her dances and singing was too out there.
And her father would say the same thing after each disappointing message.
“What have I been telling you? You clearly aren’t fit for this…”
And every time Ena heard those words out of his mouth she got more and more upset.
There was no way she was going to let her father be right. She had to prove to him that if she tried hard enough, her hard work would be noticed!
She had the drive and passion, she knew she was good at singing and dancing, so why wasn’t she being accepted? Just because she was a little too unique for their tastes? Ena wanted to laugh in their faces…
Failure was not a pill Shinonome Ena was going to swallow, so despite all her rejections, she never once gave up, and continued to surf the web for different opportunities.
It was during one of these web surfs where she scrolled through different agencies that were currently holding in-person auditions, when one suddenly caught her eye.
“New idol group Score Symphony… and they’re repped by the Ootori Agency?!” Ena gasped. It had been forever since they had put out any auditions, and they were like… ultra famous!
If she got accepted into this group then she could…
With a found determination, Ena found herself signing up for this audition, that was just two days away.
This was her biggest chance yet, and she wasn’t going to waste it.
—
Going through every person that showed up for the audition was exhausting, but they had to pull through! They only had one day to get through them all!
Luckily for them, after each person went, they’d have a 5 minute break. During one of these 5 minute breaks, the topic of the leader of the group came up.
“Nene… I think you should be the main girl of our group!” Emu exclaimed.
“Huh? Why me…?”
“Well you’re great at singing for starters! And you have the sort of looks that draw everyone in! Seriously when I heard you for the first time I was taken away!”
“I can barely sing in front of people…” Nene frowned, and Emu grabbed her hand.
“It’s okay! I’m sure if you practice a ton you’ll be able to sing without any worries!” Emu exclaimed.
Nene gave her a small smile and nodded. “Alright. Thank you Emu,” she said. Emu grinned and called out.
“Next person please!”
This performance, as all of the ones before, was really good… but nothing stuck out to Emu or Nene.
Unfortunately, they had to send out yet another girl.
“Hm… all these people are super good but… none of them have that spark, you know? Man, and this is our last person…” Emu said, sliding down her seat.
“It’s okay, I’m sure they’re just saying the best for last, right?” Nene said with a smile in an attempt to make a joke. At this, Emu shot Nene a grin.
“I guess you’re right… Okay! You can call in the last person now!” Emu called out, and the door was suddenly opened.
A girl with short brown hair walked in the room and smiled at them politely.
“My name is Shinonome Ena! Thank you for having me today!” she exclaimed with a short bow.
“Hi there! Why do you want to become an idol?” Emu asked, tapping on the clipboard with the pen she was holding.
“I want to be able to be on stage, and see everyone’s smiling faces. This is something I’m really passionate about,” Ena said. She shut her eyes and inhaled sharply, before opening them once again, her gaze filled with determination.
“And I want to prove that this is something I can do!”
Emu’s eyes widened, and she looked over to Nene with a grin. Nene returned it with a smile of her own.
“Alright! Thank you! Please show us what you can do!” Emu exclaimed.
What followed was honestly a stunning performance. Ena was great at both singing and dancing, and most of all she had that spark Emu was looking for!
And a quick discussion between herself and Nene, the answer they had came up with was easy.
“Ena… we like you! You’re in! Welcome to Score Symphony!”