Work Text:
“Minori is clearly a gay, whyd they let her perform w them shes literally embarrassing all our oshis????? shes spreading propaganda”
Minori’s been staring at the comment for hours, between bouts of sleepiness and fading consciousness. She can’t sleep on her consciousness, not when she feels responsible for viewing every comment her group’s fans have. Good or bad. It’s the job of an idol to spread hope, but it feels as though she’s been doing the exact opposite.
From the fandom spaces she was in for idol groups, everyone seemed acceptant of the possibility of their idols being lesbians, and in fact, frequently wrote fan works with that premise. Minori can’t help but wish their fans were the same. Was there no way for her to encourage that sort of fanbase?
All she’s capable of doing is disappointing those who wanted to cheer for More More Jump’s more capable group members. She’s being an attention hog, sucking out the magic that’s meant to come with an idol group. There’s no more mystical mist surrounding Haruka, because she’s right besides a stumbling beginner.
Ah, this is uncharacteristic of her to think. She needs to focus.
Minori tosses the phone aside, brushing negative thoughts away to instead focus on her better tomorrow. She won’t be able to be energetic for tomorrow’s stream if she doesn’t sleep– what has she been doing?! Spending hours moping like this does nothing.
With a newfound smile on her face, she shuts her eyes and drifts off to sleep, her viewer’s negative opinions still fresh on her mind.
˚₊‧꒰ა 𓂋 ໒꒱ ‧₊˚
"She's quite a boring idol, isn't she..? whys haru associating with such untalented people"
"Maybe she'd be better off as like an influencer lol"
"wwwwwww minorin sucks at the choreo .. airi is kinda slow too but even she knows what to do"
Minori stops her dancing mid way through, gazing at the comments with a slowed reaction. Her breath hitches nervously, scanning over the replies and chuckling out of a loss for any other reaction. "Haha, thanks for the feedback..!"
Airi notices the hesitation on Minori's face as she stares at the stream feedback, instantly scowling. She has to keep up her idol persona for the camera, she knows she has to, but how dare these supposed fans of theirs treat her friend so poorly?
"ENOUGH!" Airi says, jolting both Haruka and Shizuku, who've already been staring at the two of them in worry. "I never want to hear any of you talk like that in the comment section again!"
For a second, Airi registers that she's being impulsive, but she buries those feelings away in favor of speaking louder. "Imagine how we would have felt if we were made fun of as beginner idols-- that's right, then there'd be no Haruka or Shizuku or Airi to be a fan of in the first place! If you're going to follow More More Jump, then get in line!"
Haruka interrupts Airi with a hesitant smile, trying to prevent her from causing any more chaos. "No, she's just phrasing herself a bit harsh. What she means to say is--"
"I fully mean what I'm saying! I won't put up with the bullcrap expectations anymore, and I won't let Minori suffer from them either." She replies swiftly, preventing any remedy to the situation.
Haruka purses her lips in annoyance, but decides to act civil, not wanting to start an argument on camera. "Hehe, I guess I understand what she's saying..! But, let's continue practicing, no?"
Minori’s gone silent through the whole altercation, an uncharacteristically neutral expression on her face. She made her friends- her crushes fight over her. As if she couldn’t be any more of a nuisance.
But she can’t afford to overthink, not when they have to practice yet another choreo, so she readies her wobbly knees to work properly, a small tear escaping her.
˚₊‧꒰ა 𓂋 ໒꒱ ‧₊˚
Shizuku sits beside her on the school roof after they stop recording, offering her some miso soup from her bottle. “Maybe if you drink some, you’ll rehydrate..!”
She rejects the bottle, pushing it back towards Shizuku. “Hah, no thanks. But thank you for the offer!” Minori looks away, cradling her legs as she sits up against the fence. The other two seem to have taken notice of her, but she chooses to ignore their concerned expressions. She doesn’t want to bother them.
“You know..” Airi starts. “I warned you about this before. Oshi culture is a bitch. They’ll force you into a box and you perform to the best of your ability, until you just snap.”
Minori shakes her head no. “Don’t worry about me, Airi! I’ll never give up hope, you know me. Let’s just keep trying, everyone! More and more!”
She looks up to Haruka, who’s now sat down in front of her. Her eyebrows are furrowed, with a somber gaze that makes Minori shiver. “Minori. Your hope is inspiring, and you’re the reason we decided to become idols again, but we need to be realistic. Apart from planning for our streams, we have to figure out a way to boost your reputation.”
That makes something light up in Minori. She knows how to boost her reputation– how to boost all their reputations. Not only that, but how to fix the problem she was facing about their negative fans. “Lesbians.” She murmurs, breathless.
All three of her friends stop. “Sorry, what are you talking about?” Airi remarks. “I don’t like girls!”
Shizuku wilts. “Awh, you don’t..? But I wanted to-”
“You wanted to do what?”
“Nevermind!” Shizuku replies swiftly.
Minori nods excitedly. They’re already getting the hang of it. “You see? Just like that! Just act like lesbians, and we’ll gain fans like crazy!” They'll also lose fans like the comment she saw from last night, but she chooses not to mention it.
Haruka tilts her head in confusion. “Says who? My company never caught onto this trend..”
How have idol industries not realized how popular yuri is yet? There are ship arts all over the internet of various members, even fanfiction. If people just leaned into that a bit more, they’d realize they struck gold.
“Listen.” Minori starts. “There are so many different idol groups I got into just because there were clips online posted of two members acting in love! It’s the appeal, it’s called yuri baiting. We have to do it to gain popularity!”
The three of them nod seriously to what Minori is saying, though Shizuku seems a bit more enthusiastic. “Acting like a lesbian? That sounds easy enough..”
Airi stammers. “Isn’t that because you are one?”
“Hm? Whatever do you mean?”
“... Never-mind.” Airi mutters. “But isn’t this totally out of character for us? Especially for Haruka and Shizuku! Those two already cultivated idol images for themselves.”
Minori shakes her head in disagreement. “That’s somewhat the appeal! The idea that these pretty idol girls have a secret side to themselves, that they find that they can only show around women..” She trails off. “So passionate!”
Though it’s a bit suspicious just how into the idea Minori is, Haruka can’t deny that this seems feasible. And if it’ll truly raise their popularity ratings, like Minori says, then it’s worth a shot.
“Alright.” Says Haruka, albeit hesitant. “If you really believe that it’s for the best, then I’ll do it, and I’m sure everyone here agrees.” Airi splutters, but Haruka interrupts her. “Everyone here agrees, no?”
Airi sighs, getting the memo that it’s better to give Minori what she wants. “Yeah, yeah, yuri-baiting. Whatever.”
˚₊‧꒰ა 𓂋 ໒꒱ ‧₊˚
“Hello everyone~!” Airi greets the camera, waving cheerfully. “I’m sorry about what I said during yesterday’s stream.. It was uncalled for!” Just as she was instructed to, she apologizes to the audience, despite the fact that she doesn’t feel a shred of guilt. They were talking bad about Minori, some kind of fans!
“wwww idols that can't handle criticism”
“Go back to asrun haruka you’re ruining their reputation”
This time, Airi isn’t fazed by the comments, and continues with the script. “I mean, I just felt so protective of Minori because..!” Cue the flustered idol blush. “She’s such a pretty girl, and someone so special to me, you know? Her lips are so soft looking..”
The chat blows up, comments speeding past the screen at such a pace that neither of the four can even read and reply to them accordingly. This might just go all according to plan.
Minori gasps, running up to Airi to hug her from behind, nuzzling her head up against the crook of the other girl’s neck. “Airi! You’re so sweet, thank you thank you for worrying about me!”
To be honest, this actually feels quite nice for Airi, despite the fact that she was expecting to feel uncomfortable. Minori smells of flowery perfume and the peaches they shared earlier. She’s like her little lucky clover.
Wait, what the fuck kind of gay thought was that?
“Holy shit lesbians”
“i know what you are”
Shizuku smiles at herself at the success of Minori’s plan, right off the bat. Perhaps they should ramp up the heat? She makes her way over to the hugging girls with a strut, grabbing Airi by the hand to drag her away from Minori. “But Airi.. I want you all to myself! Why’s all the attention for Minori?”
“EH?!” Airi stammers. “Shizuku?! This wasn’t a part of the plan, what are you..”
Shizuku pouts. “There’s no ‘plan' in life, my dear! Have you forgotten how close we are?” She sneaks a glance at the camera, chuckling innocently right for the viewers to see. Hopefully this makes the audience members excited.
Airi wants to push her off– after all, such a position is embarrassing, but she knows full well that this is just improv on Shizuku’s part and that the other girl doesn’t really mean it, so she resigns herself to the part of the flustered maiden. “Shizuku..!” She gasps dramatically.
And before Minori can speak, Haruka shows up right behind her and scoops her into her arms, Minori’s copper hair flowing over her chest. “Right, and I’d rather Airi not come too near Minori either..”
“...” Minori pauses, her face going pale with realization. She is currently being held by Haruka. Haruka Kiritani. Not just that, but she’s being held for the entire world to behold, as far as she knows. Will they keep this livestream up for future viewing or not?!
Then, her current position registers again, and she screams. “AAAAAAA-! H-H-H’ruk… Haruk.. Haruka is holding me? Me? Minori.. Is me. Minori held by Haruka. Me. H-HAh.” Maybe this wasn’t the best idea after all. Minori’s heart can’t take it anymore.
Haruka pets her hair for a few seconds, before eventually letting her go. “Alright everyone! Well, enough time spent to appreciate each other. Why don’t we get to practice? We need to finish the Love Trial choreo!” They chose the most flirtatious choreographies for this particular stream for a reason.
Shizuku sits up, holding Airi’s hand. “And afterwards we perform Romeo and Cinderella, correct? Eheh, I’m excited, Airi!”
Something in Airi feels like this might work against their favor. “Haha, yeah..”
˚₊‧꒰ა 𓂋 ໒꒱ ‧₊˚
“There seems to be some new ‘hasha tags’ regarding More More Jump trending!” Shizuku exclaims, showing her phone to the rest of the group. “It took me forever to figure out how to open the social media tag to ones related to us, but it was worthwhile!”
Airi sighs out, “They’re called hashtags” before checking her phone. “EEEEEHH? WHAT THE HELL IS THIS?!”
Minori and Haruka both rush to check the commotion, blinking in slight surprise.
#MOREMORELESBIANS #HOMOJUMP #POLYJUMP #HARUHAREM
“What’s a haruharem?” Shizuku mutters.
Minori giggles awkwardly, not sure if she wants to explain this. “It’s a play on words, combining Haruka and Harem..” Airi groans, though both Shizuku and Haruka tilt their heads in confusion.
“And what’s a harem?” Haruka interrupts curiously.
“Um.” Minori flaps her hands anxiously before snatching the phone. “How about we just look at the posts, instead of the hashtags themselves? I mean, it seems like the plan worked..?”
@mmjlesbos
Minori looks like she’s about to faint while bein held by haruka omfggg i hate them they ruined my life [attached image]
Shizuku deflates. “They said we ruined their life! I am so so sorry to whoever this is, we need to make an apology instantly!”
Poor Shizuku is so chronically offline, and Haruka seems to be the same, Minori doesn’t even know where to start when explaining half of these posts to her. Luckily, Airi’s already begun explaining that it’s sarcasm, so Minori can continue scrolling through posts.
“We gained a lot of new fans from this..” Minori giggles. “I’m so glad!” She isn’t sure if this was the best demographic to attract, but maybe it’s for the best that their popularity increased, regardless of the means.
Haruka looks just as cheerful. “This means it’s a good idea to cuddle you on stream from now on, then. I’ll keep it in mind to be as clingy to you as possible without breaking my image!”
…
Minori deflates with the realization that she’s going to have her patience tested on live camera on a daily basis. That’s just what being an idol entails, it seems.