Merchandise and Christmas

Short Christmas one-shot for LL.
LL is ending and am I finally coming to terms with it?

Comedy/friendship/hinted romance.
Choppy flow.

"What, no way!" Honoka pressed her face against the glass display, disappointed at the sight. It was Christmas and the former members of μ's had decided to go out for lunch, just the nine of them. They had happened to walk past a shop that usually had framed posters, an assortment of keychains,cards,hand towels, and various merchandise of each character of sub-unit. Due to their busy schedules, most of them had not seen their own merchandise.

"No way indeed!" Nico jumped and shivered with glee. "I can't believe it, all my merchandise is sold out!" She winked at Maki, who raised an eyebrow.

"Hah?!" Maki took a step back as Nico pointed a finger at her.

"That means that I, Nico-nii, is more popular than you, Maki-chan!"

"Ueh!? What even is this comparison? I don't get it!" Maki reached for her hair, but Rin launched herself at Maki's back

"That's not true, nya! Maki-chan's merchandise is also almost gone too! She's the most popular among the first years!" Rin hugged Maki, and Hanayo nodded.

"T-that's right! But to show my own support for all of us, I bought merchandise of us as well!" She proudly showed off her bag, which was adorned with badges. The smiling faces greeted 8 pairs of curious eyes.

"Honoka-chan, aren't you glad? You managed to see merchandise of yourself!" Kotori smiled at the excited ginger-haired girl, who was scrutinizing the badge.

"Uwah! I look pretty nice here! Umi-chan too!" Honoka grinned at the embarrassed Umi, who was held in place by Kotori.

"That's right, Umi-chan's dashing smile must have garnered quite a few supporters too!" Kotori pulled Umi closer to her.

"T-t-that's not true at all!"

"Kayo-chin!" Rin glomped the idol fan, who blushed and kept her balance while replying with her friend's name.

"I didn't see my badge!" Nico huffed, and Maki scoffed.

"Maybe they decided to cut costs and not produce yours."

Nico glared at Maki, who had once again started to twirl her hair.

"N-now now, let's just take it easy. It's Christmas after all." Eli tried to stop tweedledee and tweedledum, and Nozomi's hand movements behind her did the trick, and all other members started to calm down from their slight excitement.

"I can't believe it though, we disbanded, but they still made merchandise of us 6 months after that." Eli wondered.

"It is indeed amazing. I guess Love Live did not just have an impact on us, but on others as well." Umi nodded, staring into the distance.

Kotori hid her blush at Umi's serious look, and hummed. "Eh, Kotori thinks it's wonderful to have fans who support us even after this."

"Well, this is kinda strange though, to have cleared out every single thing available. Honoka-chan and Nicocchi must have some sort of crazed fan." Nozomi teased, and Nico rolled her eyes.

"Or maybe they're just extremely dedicated." Maki piped in, and Nozomi grinned.

"It's rare to hear you speak about this, Maki-chan."

"W-well, I just felt that we should give our fans a chance." She sighed. "It isn't an easy path for them either. To have supported us through our ups and downs, from our first proper live, when Honoka fell sick, when we got into Love Live once again. We even made it all the way to New York."

The rest nodded, and Honoka spoke up.

"We should be thankful to our fans. We would not have gotten anywhere without them. And even though μ's has been disbanded, it was and will definitely have been one of the best times of my life!" She turned around, now standing ahead of the others, grinning brightly as she laughed.

It was a nostalgic feeling for the other eight – to have Honoka in front once again, dazzling and bright enough to be that one star to light a path for them throughout this long journey. And although the light flickered, it never went out. Indeed, Honoka was worthy to be their leader.

"It was definitely a fantastic experience that will stay with me." Umi added, quickening her footsteps.

"Mm! Being a school idol, making friends with everyone, Kotori will never forget anything!" Kotori joined the duo.

"It was tiring, but it was fun! Thank you all!" Hanayo squeaked out, and rubbed her eyes before Rin grabbed her and ran forward.

"Rin enjoyed meeting everyone! Rin loves μ's, Rin loves everyone, nya!"

"Rin, you're making me teary." Maki scowled, and smiled. "Who would have thought that that weird senior who was spying on me in the music room would have been the leader of a school idol group? And who would have known that she would have brought 9 of us together like this?" She looked back at Nico, smiled, and waited for the third year to catch up with her.

"It couldn't be done without the amazing Nico-nii's cute power! Joking, we all did it together. I'm so proud of all of you." Nico covered her face, "See, this is stupid, now I'm being stupid in public! This isn't what an idol should do! It's all your fault, Maki-chan!"

"My-!" Maki shook her head and pulled Nico to the front to join Honoka and the rest.

"It's us then, Elicchi. It was truly spiritual, how μ's came about. Fate brought us together, and we built upon the bonds that were destined between us. This friendship is something I will treasure, and surely will never let go. Even if we might be far apart, I won't ever forget all of you." She took a step forward, and extended a hand to Eli.

The quarter Russian chuckled. "Mou, Nozomi. You have stolen my lines." The other 7 giggled and sobbed, and Eli continued, "We might all go our separate ways, but the ties we created during practice, during preparations for live shows, during camps and pillow fights-" Umi blushed. "-They can't be severed so easily." She kept pace with the rest now.

"Geez, you guys…" Honoka brushed her tears away. "We're all right, we will always have each other in our hearts, so there's nothing to fear. We'll always be here, even though Love Live is over, even though we are no longer school idols. We'll still support each other."

"Yeah!" Rin cheered, and Hanayo clapped beside her. "As expected of the leader!"

"Good job, Honoka." Umi and Eli raised their thumbs.

As they all patted Honoka's back, their feet brought them forward.

9 people walked on, taking a new path in the city they had not explored yet.

There was nothing to fear, for they had each other.

"I wonder what happened to all of Honoka-chan's merchandise." Kotori mused, and Umi shook her head.

"I have absolutely no idea. Perhaps they were purchased as Christmas gifts."

"Merry Christmas, Erena, Anju!" Tsubasa cheered, and dumped a few UNWRAPPED gifts onto the table.

"Tsubasa, are these…" Erena nearly fainted from the number of goods on the table.

"That's right, Honoka-chan is simply great, so I bought all her badges, her deka straps, her solo album, her hand towels, her card stickers, her post cards! I bought all the store had to offer, so I ended up getting duplicates! I'm giving you the 11th duplicate onwards! I'll keep 10 of each kind for myself, so don't worry about my share."

"T-ten of each kind?" Erena gawked, her face red with anger, before she passed out and collapsed onto Anju.

"Oh dear. Tsubasa, you might have gone overboard this Christmas."

"Nonsense! I set someone as my benchmark for sanity this year! All should be fine!"

Anju tilted her head to the side. "And who might that someone be?"

At home, Nishikino Maki dove into her bed, sinking into the feel of the many pillows and plushies of Nico. Her walls were adorned with posters and wall scrolls, and corkboards with straps and badges littered the shelves, where figurines shared the space. Her room was almost entirely pink, and she closed the door behind her immediately. No one should ever know of this room, apart from her butler and helpers.

She sighed, and wondered if she should ask Hanayo for that badge.

"And I thought I had pre-ordered everything as well…"

AN: Rin spends her money on ramen and she and Pana are probably sensible enough not to do what Maki does. Eli and Nozomi don't need merch or dakimakuras when they have the real person there.
Don't be Tsubasa or Maki this Christmas, spend wisely.
Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year! Or if you don't celebrate Christmas, Happy Holidays!