#the best part is that i was only briefly mortified and not completely disabled by shame and self-loathing so that was cool

[spikebit]

the other night i spotted my friend standing at the bar and excitedly ran up and started (gently) pummeling him in the arm and then IT WAS NOT MY FRIEND :') CASUALLY ASSAULTED A RANDOM STRANGER!!! he was very cool about it though and now he is also my friend!! social anxiety who...

[yohanes-magic-circle]

Digital Disguise: Chapter 1

(Impatient? Don’t like reading fics on Tumblr? The whole thing is up on AO3 now. I hope you enjoy it!)

The School Idol Club room at Uranohoshi High School was rarely ever a dull place, but it was extremely lively this afternoon. The level of excitement in the room could hardly have increased, as eight of Aqours' members were crammed around a laptop – the only absentee being Mari, who had no way to avoid a meeting about school administration with her father. She’d desperately tried to get out of it too, as today was the day that the details of the upcoming regional Love Live preliminary performance were released, and nobody could wait to find out when and where they’d be performing.

As Kanan read out the information on the website, the girls felt pretty good about things. They had the better part of two months to prepare, and the venue was in Hamamatsu, which wasn’t too far away. There was just one more unexpected detail, though. “Even though our fans will be in the venue on the day, the show will be streaming online too,” explained Kanan. “So as well as considering the live audience, we'll need to think about how we look on camera.”

“Okay, I've got some ideas that will make sure our outfits really stand out on screen,” replied You, who began feverishly sketching out plans with Ruby watching attentively. Riko stayed quiet, lost in thought as she tried to figure out what kind of song would work best for the setting, and Kanan moved out to begin preparations for the afternoon's practice. However, one member of the group wasn't quite on the same page as everyone else.

“Streamin'… is that like the YouTube we put our videos on?” inquired Hanamaru.

The question shouldn't have come as a surprise – everyone in Aqours was already aware of the first year's lack of experience with technology – but Yoshiko couldn't help briefly furrowing her brows, before she snapped straight back into character. “You don't know? Heh heh heh, mortals can be so ignorant of the treasures they possess! By the power of-”

“You're on the right track,” Dia interrupted, unwilling to let Yoshiko confuse matters with her dramatics. The self-styled fallen angel might have taken exception to that, had it been anyone but the student council president. She sank back into her chair with a pout as her upperclassman resumed her explanation. “Sometimes it's on YouTube, but it can be on lots of other sites too. Our performance will be shown on the Love Live website, at the same time as we're on stage. It's like live television, just on the internet.”

Hanamaru was practically glowing at the prospect. “Mirai, zura! That's amazing! Ain't that a lot of money to spend, though?”

“Eeeh? Anyone with a phone can do a stream, Zuramaru,” Yoshiko responded. “Even the great Yohane uses them to commune with her little demons!”

Dia’s neutral expression quickly became a frown. “I do hope you're not doing anything to bring Aqours or the school into disrepute, Yoshiko-chan,”

“I would never, and it's Yo-ha-ne! Yohane!” The raised pitch of her indignant retort made it plain to everyone in the room that Yoshiko was rattled, despite her best efforts to play it cool.

“It was an expression of concern, not an accusation.”

The back and forth between Yoshiko and Dia washed right over Hanamaru, who was far more interested in what she'd just heard from her classmate. “What do you do in the stream, Yoshiko-chan?”

“It's so cool! She tells everyone about angels and demons and stuff, there's all these candles, and she performs rituals and even talks to all the people in the chat,” came the reply, from Chika rather than the target of Hanamaru's curiosity. “I watched a show once, but… to be honest, the only bit I really got was the fortune telling,” she added with a goofy smile.

“Y-you did?” stammered Yoshiko, completely taken aback by this sudden revelation. “Well, ahem, I hope you were able to feel a little more devotion to me as a little demon!”

“Yeah, when we tried the fallen angel theme before the third years joined – remember, Ruby showed us in the club room that time? The way you did it looked amazing and I wanted us to try it as a group, but I didn't know much about it, so I googled some of the things you said and ended up finding your Yohane channel.” The channel hadn't been hard to find, as the name was pretty unique among streamers – on the other hand, it was sheer luck that she'd found it so quickly. Having been mortified at her club friends finding a video, Yoshiko soon disabled archiving for her account. “Even though I didn't understand much of it, everyone watching really seemed to love the show. I knew we had to recruit you no matter what because even though it wasn't right for Aqours in the end, you really make it shine. Watching Yohane that night made a huge impression on me.”

“Of course it did! No human can resist the devilish charms of Yohane,” the first year yelled triumphantly. While she'd never admit it, Yoshiko was actually pretty proud of her sideline in streaming. She'd built a considerable audience, and it was having those little demons hanging on her every word that made it so hard to leave her Yohane facade behind, despite her best efforts. The fact that it had actually impressed Chika felt pretty good – most of the other members of Aqours didn't take Yohane particularly seriously.

Before anyone had the chance to burst Yoshiko's bubble, Kanan reappeared in the doorway and beckoned everyone out to start their warm-ups. The assembled members of Aqours followed in a semi-orderly fashion, with the exception of Hanamaru, who was just a bit spaced out and still staring at the laptop. She finally snapped out of it after Ruby popped her head back into the club room and hurried her out for practice, but even as she followed her friend up to the roof, she couldn't help contemplating the possibilities of the computer. As much she found those fallen angel fantasies funny, and even though Yoshiko seemed concerned that any of her fellow idols were watching her, Hanamaru often wondered how far they'd go without anyone to rein them in. Plus, Chika made the streaming show sound pretty amazing. What would it be like to get a closer look into Yohane's world?

As she opened the door and spotted Yoshiko striking another one of her effortlessly cool poses, Hanamaru made up her mind – she was definitely going to find out.