For their practice outfits, it's the same as in the anime.

A/N at the end ;

Chapter 2 - Nico's Training

The day after, Umi summoned the two girls and their managers to her office. She had a wide smile on her face as soon they walked in. She allowed all four of them to sit down, then she began to speak. "Girls, good news! I just heard back from Channel 4, and they want you to appear on their Christmas Eve special! But, there's one other thing..." Umi chuckled lightly before continuing on. "You see, they want you two to perform together at the end of the show after KotoHono. Even if you didn't, I'm sure they'd still let you appear, but I think this would be a good thing for you two. I already have the song, you two need to practice it. It's the 21st though, so you only have three days...but I believe you two can do it! Here's the song." she said, handing each girl including the managers a piece of paper with the lyrics to a song called Diamond Princess no Yuutsu.

"Umi, it's a nice song and all, but can we really learn this in three days?" Nico said, a worried look apparent on her face.

"I can." Maki said quickly, a smirk on her face. "Did you know I had to learn Aishiteru Banzai in a day for my debut concert? Three days is nothing to me. But, if it's too much for you..." she looked into Nico's eyes.

"W-what?! Of course I can! I'll memorize these lyrics and sing them perfectly in no time." she smirked. It faded within a few seconds. "But...but..." she looked down at her lap.

Eli looked at Nico, concerned. "What is it, Nico?" she asked, placing a hand on her back and rubbing it slowly and gently.

The raven-haired girl slowly looked up, and it was obvious tears were forming in her eyes. "I-I didn't want to say it, but...I have to if I want to perform without embarrassing myself! The truth is, I'm..." she paused. "I'm terrible at dancing! I'm great at singing, but I'm terrible at dancing! I knew I would fail as an idol, but I really wanted to be one! All I've done so far is mimicked popular idols' dancing, but even with all the step-by-step videos, I'm absolutely horrible at dancing!"

Maki wanted to laugh. She really wanted to laugh. Her cheeks puffed out and she covered her mouth as she tried to hold it in. She wants to be an idol, but she can't even dance, Maki thought, that's really pathetic! After a few moments, she just couldn't hold it in anymore and she began to laugh extremely hard. "Ni...Nico..." she said in between laughs. "wants to be an idol but she can't dance! That's the definition of pathetic right there! And...and...you can't even do it right with step-by-step videos! That just adds onto the stupidness!" she laughed so hard, her stomach began to hurt and tears were beginning to come out. Everyone in the room just stared at her. When Nico had had enough, she stood up and walked over to Maki. Maki stopped for a second and held in her laughter best she could, but she still had a wide grin on her face. "W-what is it?"

Nico crossed her arms. "I don't know why you're laughing! If we go on stage together and I dance the way I do now, it's not just gonna ruin my reputation, but the both of us!" she gave a toothy smirk and bent over so she was face-level with the sitting Maki. "So if you don't want to be embarrassed and get your reputation ruined, you better help me..."

"Damn it..." the redhead muttered. Nico was right. If they went on stage together, Maki would look like a fool. She stood up. "Fine, then. We're going to train! However, we need the dance. Umi?"

"Yes. The choreographer is on her way. You guys should change into your practice outfits." the two girls nodded and left the room to change.

Nozomi and Eli watched them leave, then looked at each other. They both began to chuckle. "Are they really going to be okay?" Eli wasn't really expecting an answer.

"Who knows?"

The choreographer was standing in Muse Agency's practice room, waiting for the two girls. She was a brunette and had golden brown eyes. The two girls couldn't help but notice how similar she noticed to Minami Kotori. "Hello, girls." she said with a smile. "I'm Choreographer Minami, please just call me Minami-san."

"W-wait...you're Kotori's mother?!" Maki said, surprised.

"Yep. I choreograph all of KotoHono's dances too." her smile dropped. "However, my daughter can tell you that I'm a very tough choreographer. If you don't do a move perfectly, then I'm not letting you leave this practice room. Now, I suggest you stretch before dancing."

Both Nico and Maki went to the corner of the room to stretch. As they were stretching their legs, Nico leaned in and whispered, "Maki, I'm scared. She won't let us make even the slightest mistake, and with my dancing I'm going to make a ton of mistakes." she looked into Maki's eyes, a worried look on her face. Maki was almost beginning to feel bad for her, but her pride wouldn't let her comfort her. The redhead stood up and crossed her arms.

"Listen, Nico. I don't care if you don't learn the dance by Christmas Eve. That either means I would perform alone, or we don't perform at all. Even though there would only be a chance the first one would happen, I still want to take that chance. So if you think you can't do it, it's fine with me. In a solo performance, everyone would be looking at me alone, and not you and me." she twirled a strand of her crimson locks. "If you don't want that to happen, you better learn how to dance soon. Also, I'm finished stretching and ready to begin learning the dance, so hurry up, would you?" she walked to the middle of the room.

"I-I was just about finished when you started saying all that random stuff! Hmph!" the new idol stood up and joined Maki in the middle of the room. I can't believe I expected her to comfort me, Nico thought, but I guess it's my fault for being stupid. Choreographer Minami walked over to them, and their lesson began.

Nico fell, turned and twirled when she wasn't supposed to, stepped on Maki's feet, almost tripped Maki, and many other things. When the choreographer had had enough of it, she sighed. "You girls, take a break. I need to figure out how to handle it. I don't know how long I'll be gone, so practice to ensure we don't waste time." Both Nico and Maki knew it was Nico's dancing ability. The choreographer headed for the door and exited the room, leaving the two girls in the room alone. Nico immediately went to the corner of the room and sat down, panting loudly and resting her hands on both knees. They'd both been dancing for the same amount of time, two hours, but Maki barely worked up a sweat. She just went over to her bag, got out a bottle of water, and began to drink just so she could stay hydrated. Nico looked at Maki weirdly. She knew she had been doing this for a long time, but she didn't even look like she was tired. How is that even possible?, Nico thought. She was even more puzzled when Maki began to walk over to her. What does she want now?, she thought.

"N-Nico...I would like to go on stage by myself, but...I can't stand to see you dance like that. I know showbiz is hard, and this performance on Channel 4 would do you a lot of good and get you more fans...so..." she bent over and stretched out her hand, waiting for Nico to take it. "I-I'll help you, okay? Now, hurry up before I change my mind about this, o-okay?" Maki was looking anywhere in the room but at Nico, and her face was a shade of pink.

Shocked by Maki's actions, the idol sitting on the ground didn't know how to react at first. Slowly, she stretched out her own hand and placed it in Maki's, standing up and not letting go. Her hand felt nice, soft, and warm. When Maki finally looked at Nico, they just stared at each other for a few moments. Then, they finally realized what position their hands were in. Quickly, they both jerked their hands back at the same time, looking at each other angrily. "Why'd you hold my hand for so long?! You're supposed to let go as soon as you stand up!" Maki snapped.

Nico crossed her arms. "You didn't let go either, so this is your fault too, idiot!" she snapped back. "Forget about this, let's go and practice so I can do it better when Minami-san gets back!"

"Whatever!" Both girls walked to the middle of the room, and Maki turned to Nico. "You got it wrong from the first step, but I don't think Minami-san noticed. You're supposed to outstretch your leg to the right and use your toes for balance, but you're just stepping out."

"I-I am?" Their practice session began.

Choreographer Minami returned about an hour after they started practicing, and she sighed as soon as she entered the room because she still hadn't thought about how to help Nico. Her sigh wasn't heard over the sound of the off vocal for Diamond Princess no Yuutsu. She looked at Nico and Maki dancing in the middle of the room. They were both singing and dancing with wide smiles, and Nico wasn't making any mistakes at all. Plus, the two girls were perfectly in sync. Her shocked look left her place, and she smiled as she leaned against the wall watching the girls. When the song was over, they hit the ending pose perfectly, smiles still on their faces. Choreographer Minami clapped loudly, making the girls look over at the door. "Minami-san..." they said in unison.

The choreographer walked over to Nico and Maki, still clapping quietly. "Good job, girls. Maki, you taught her well, apparently. You guys were perfectly in sync as well. You two are the perfect partners!"

The two girls were both about to thank the lady for her kind words, but then they realized what the last thing she said was. Their smiles left their faces and they were replaced with angry ones. "We are not the perfect partners!" they said loudly in unison.

Nico pointed at Maki. "Perfect partners, with her? Half of the practice session was just her barking at me until I got it right! Plus, she's so, so, so annoying! She's anything but the Scarlet Princess fans see her as!"

"Same with her! That Nico Nico Ni act is all fake, and she gives me anything BUT happiness and smiles!" Maki pointed at Nico.

The two girls' bickering just made Minami laugh. "Haha, you two really are the perfect partners. After all, you two are close enough to argue."

"Close enough to argue...?" both girls muttered. Then, they both shook their heads.

"Whatever you say, girls!" she replied with a chuckle. "Anyways, I'll go tell Umi that you too have already mastered the dance. It's only been three hours too, you two are amazing!"

Nico and Maki couldn't help but look at each other and smile. "We did good, didn't we?" Nico chuckled. Maki replied with the nod of her head.

"We really did."

December 24th quickly arrived, and it was time for the Christmas Eve special at 3pm. The special would last three hours, so they wouldn't be out of there until around 6pm. They were there at 2 though, getting ready for their appearance since their interview was the first part of the special. They both sat in chairs while sitting still, as the makeup artists applied makeup to their faces. When they were done, it was around 2:45 so they still had fifteen minutes. Nico came up with the idea of practicing the song one last time before going on stage, so she and Maki went to a room of the TV studio and began to practice. About halfway through the dance, Nico turned her foot out the wrong way and fell to the ground. Usually she would just get back up, but Maki was concerned since she stayed on the floor looking down. She bent down. "A-are you okay Nico?"

"I don't think so...my ankle hurts really badly. I know I twisted it the wrong way, but I didn't expect it to be that bad!" Nico held her ankle in pain, tears forming in her eyes. "Ow...ow..."

The door of the room swung open, a person part of the crew entering. "Girls, showtime is in five min- what's wrong?" he walked over to Nico.

Maki spoke for Nico, who was apparently in too much pain to do it. "You see, we were practicing in here, and then about halfway in Nico fell. That's why her ankle is in so much pain."

The worker nodded, and then pressed a button on the side of the headphones with a mic he wore on his head. "We need a medic in room A134. Thank you." he let go of the button and looked at Nico. "Help will be here soon." Weakly, Nico nodded.

About a minute later, the door bust open, Umi, Eli, Nozomi, and KotoHono rushing in, two medics coming in after the ladies. Umi and Eli immediately joined Nico's side on the floor. "Nico, you're gonna be fine, okay?! We just need someone to look at the problem!" Umi exclaimed. Eli nodded in agreement. Nozomi and KotoHono looked worried too, but they didn't say anything. Though she didn't show it, Maki was most likely the most worried out of them.

The medics both looked at Nico's ankle, touching it gently. "Tell me if this hurts, okay?" one of the women said, Nico nodding in response. She tapped it lightly, making Nico jump and yell "Ow!" The women stood up and looked at Umi. "She'll be fine, but there's no way she can perform. She'll probably need some crutches, she can't walk with that ankle."

Umi sighed. "We should probably reschedule the interview, too. We need people to pay attention to the making up, not Nico's ankle." she looked at Maki. "Maki, you can always go on stage alone."

Maki looked at Nico, then at Umi, then back at Nico. "I'm sorry Nico, but I think I'm going to perform..." she stood up and looked at Umi. "I'll do it."

The blue-haired woman nodded. "Okay. The performance is at 5:30, and the Christmas Eve special just started, so you still have some time."

"Okay." Soon, the entire room cleared out except for Maki. They'd taken Nico to put a cast on her foot and give her some crutches. Maki wanted to go with her, but she lied and said she wanted to practice more. She could tell Nico was upset by her decision to perform alone, and she didn't want to face her. She sighed and sat down in the middle of the practice room, looking at her legs. What was she going to do? Then, it hit her. She looked up from her legs, and had a wide smile on her face. "T-that's it! It's perfect, absolutely perfect!" she slowly stood up. "No one has to know what I'm doing...that'll make it an even bigger surprise!" Maki's plans of performing were now gone, and a new plan was forming in her mind.

Time passed quickly, and KotoHono had just finished performing. They blew kisses and waved goodbye to their fans, before running off to backstage. There, Maki had been in her costume for Diamond Princess no Yuutsu costume for a while now, and her makeup was just touched up. "Showtime soon, Maki!" she heard someone call. Nico sat near the corner of the room, on a couch with a TV in front of it where all the performances could be viewed. Maki walked over to Nico.

"Hey, Nico." she bent down in front of the couch, her back visible to Nico instead of her front side. "Get on. I have an idea."

"W-what?! I can't be on your back the entire performance!" she quickly protested.

"I'm not stupid, idiot! I'm not doing that! Just get on!" Nico was hesitant, but slowly she grabbed on to Maki's back and she was lifted up.

The door opened. "Maki-san, it's showti-" the person was shocked. "What are you doing?!"

"Doing what I have to do." Maki walked right past the person with Nico on her back.

Nico was starting to get nervous. "Oi, Maki, what are you planning to do...?" she didn't receive an answer, and she then realized they were already walking on stage.

Maki took a deep breath, then began to speak into the mic attached to her ear. "Hello, everyone. I will not lie, when Nico broke her ankle, I was planning on performing myself. But, then I decided against it. The main plan was to have Nico and Maki perform together, not to have Maki perform. Also, I couldn't let myself. Nico would be hurt, and she's way too important to me." she paused, gulped, and then spoke again. "I WON'T GO ON STAGE WITHOUT MY GIRLFRIEND!" Everything went silent.

Even Umi was shocked. When Nozomi and Eli looked at her, she shook her head. "I told her to build up the relationship, remember? I didn't know she would do this!"

With the announcement, it was time for their fake relationship to begin.

Hello! I'm not gonna lie, I rushed this to ensure it was uploaded on Christmas Eve, so if you see any mistakes don't hesitate to tell me. I won't be updating tomorrow since tomorrow is Christmas, so Merry Christmas, Happy Hanukkah, and Happy Holidays! I'll try to upload sometime later this week or next week.