DIVA - Aketa Mikoto

1 - "fish"
>narration from a part of the little mermaid: "under the water, the princess sparkled brightly, and with her beautiful singing, she captured the hearts of the fishes."
>mikoto meets an acquaintance at work
>they ask her what's her business there, mikoto says she's there for work, then straight to practice after that
>her acquaintance goes "oh, i knew it! you practice in-between jobs and you don't rest at all, so you're like a fish that will die if you're not in motion", then leaves because they have to go somewhere
>P arrives shortly after and sees mikoto deep in thought
>mikoto asks P: "what if i took a break from practicing... if i stopped trying to become an idol, what do you think would happen?"
>P says he'll get worried and find out what happened to her first
>mikoto continues, "hypothetically speaking, if i do stop, what do you think i should do?"
>choices appear: "a trainer, i guess", "maybe an actress?", "a producer!"

"fish" - "a trainer, i guess"
>P suggests she becomes a dance instructor because her skills would be a waste if she doesn't make use of it
>mikoto worries because she thinks she's not that good in teaching
>she can figure out what her student can or cannot do, but she can't figure out what exactly they don't know about so she can teach it to them
>mikoto teases P and says "how about i give it a try by teaching you?"

   - in i'm very very sorry, SHHis was in a dance lesson and their instructor suggested that mikoto should teach nichika how to dance since she's skilled enough to do so, but it didn't work out well because she was too abstract in her teaching. that scenario ended with mikoto giving up on teaching, and she learned to match nichika's pace instead to be in sync with her. this was where mikoto started switching to counting in japanese whenever she's practicing with a partner because mikoto counts in english and nichika counts in japanese. basically, this was the moment she started recognizing nichika as "her partner"
	- being a trainer/dance instructor was also suggested to her by someone before, as she mentioned in her morning commu 10

"fish" - "maybe an actress?"
>P says being an actress would probably fit mikoto since she her actress role gig went well (scenario from CONTRAIL), and even if she doesn't become an idol, she seems like someone who will stay in the entertainment industry in some way; but above all, being on a stage fits mikoto the best
>mikoto says she loves being on stage too, and thinks that being an idol and an actress might be in the same vein in that way (both "onstage")

"fish" - "a producer!"
>P tells her that she can be a producer that can raise a good idol
>mikoto thinks it'll be very hard for her to give the same effort as P who always supports and helps her out
>P says that mikoto has seen how idols shine from a closer perspective, so mikoto might have the knack for the job
>she thanks P for about her in that way

2 - "not fish"
>narration from a part of the little mermaid: "in exchange for the ability to walk on land, the mermaid lost her beautiful singing voice."
>mikoto is sleeping in her room and wakes up from a nightmare
>when she went to her vocal training, she wasn't in top condition so her trainer told her to rest
>she goes to P and asks if the lesson room is open; P tries to convince her to get some rest but she insists that its just her throat that feels off, and she can still dance
>P insists that she should rest for the whole day, or rather until her throat gets better, so no practice for her
>mikoto remembers what her acquaintance told her the other day and says "i can't rest for that long."
>she gets stressed because if she can't practice everyday, she has no guarantee that what she can do now can still be possible for tomorrow
   	- (今できることが明日もできることは限らない, a line she has always been saying since WING whenever P begs her to rest)
   	- in GRAD, mikoto opened up that she fears not practicing everyday because when she was learning the piano as a kid, she was taught that if she doesn't practice for a day, she'll lose 3 days of progress, so she to make sure that she can still do the things that she can now in the future, she needs to practice every single day
>P tells her that she gets mikoto's sentiments, and knows that she's very serious when it comes to work, but tells her to remember that "just being in motion isn't equivalent to working," and that "learning how to rest is also a part of the job"
>internal monologue of mikoto asking herself what would happen to her if she's not in motion
>"i want to keep on working, but if you tell me that resting is also a part of the job, then i have no idea what to do."
>choices appear: "i'll listen to whatever you have to say", "for today's lesson...", "i'll sing a song for you!"

"not fish" - "i'll listen to whatever you have to say"
>P tells mikoto that supporting her is his job, but mikoto points out that P doesn't rest that much either
>she just returns what he said earlier and tells him to take a break because resting is also a part of his job

"not fish" - "for today's lesson..."
>P goes insane and tells her that he'll do the dance lessons for her
>long pause and he says he just thought of doing it for her while mikoto takes a rest
>mikoto apologizes for making P worry about her and thanks him, then teases him and asks if they should go to the practice room so he can start dancing
>P: "wait no, that was just a joke!"
>M: "oh... that's a bit disappointing"

"not fish" - "i'll sing a song for you!"
>P tells her that he'll sing a song so mikoto can rate it, that way mikoto can still do something related to singing while she rests
>mikoto says that'll be a bit hard because she's not used to evaluating other people, but she does want to hear P sing because she wants to find out how he'll put feelings into singing

3 - "swim"
>narration from a part of the little mermaid: "despite losing her voice, the mermaid who finally stepped on land achieved happiness by standing next to her prince."
>mikoto questions the happiness of the mermaid, if she truly became happy just because she was with her prince
>at the office, mikoto is listless
>she asks P if she's similar to a fish, because someone told her before that she seems like one
>she though that being consistent with her lessons and constantly moving around is the key to becoming the idol that she wants to be, so if she doesn't "move", then it will be synonymous to "death"
>M: "if you stop being in motion, eventually your movements will become stiff, and you won't be able to dance well."
>M: "so when you try to sing, your voice will not come out in a beautiful way, and you won't be able to sing well."
>M: "even if i don't die physically, for me, that's just the same as dying as a whole."
>P realizes that forcing mikoto to rest is taking a huge toll on her mentally
>he tries to cheer her up by telling that even if mikoto becomes unable to dance nor sing, he'll still support her, so they should deliberate together about things that could take a toll on mikoto in the future
>choices appear: "alright!", "d-do you dislike my idea?", "just leave it to me!"

"swim" - "alright!"
>P asks mikoto to run together with him because "moving your body is good when you're bothered by a lot of thoughts, and if you think of it as training then you might feel lighter too"
>mikoto laughs at his weird idea and tells him he's like a sports coach
>P says he was quite serious about it, and mikoto knows that he is, so she'll try running like he said

"swim" - "d-do you dislike my idea?"
>mikoto thanks P
>P tells mikoto to rely more on him because its his job to support mikoto so she can work hard for her dreams
>she just says "...i see, i suppose that's true" (そっか、そうなんだね)

"swim" - "just leave it to me!"
>P tells mikoto to trust him out of the spur to cheer her up, but mikoto asks him what he means by that so he's forced to elaborate
>"if ever you get blocked by a wall, then i'll face that wall too. if i break the wall, then mikoto would be able to go on, right?"
>mikoto says "yeah. that may be true, but in that way, i think i won't be able to get personal growth. so we need to overcome it together."

4 - "diva mermaid"
>instead of a narration, mikoto reads the story by herself now: "the litte mermaid wants to chat with the prince so badly. she wanted to walk, sing and dance together with him."
>mikoto is back to practicing
>P brought refreshments for her, but this time, he didn't need to shout to get noticed
>he asks her if she's alright now because she looked like she's still bothered by a lot of things
>mikoto pretty much overcame her condition with willpower; she doesn't want to think of a future where she's not able to work, but if she just took her time resting then everything will end without her being able to achieve her dreams, so she has no choice but to continue singing and moving
>she tells that she doesn't want to end up like the little mermaid, a story she read when she was young, and she has been having dreams about it (hence the narration sequences at the start of the commus)
>M: "didn't that story end with the mermaid turning into foam and disappearing? without being able to achieve the dreams that she wanted to come true..."
>M: "if i'm like a fish, then i'll die if i'm not in motion, and just like the little mermaid, i'll disappear without achieving my dreams..."
>M: "...but i want to make my dreams come true, no matter what."
>P tells her that he doesn't think mikoto is similar to a fish at all, nor she'll end up like the little mermaid
>tells her that mikoto is a "little mermaid that isn't bound by an ending", because she gets tired of things too, and even if she rests her feet and voice won't disappear, if her movements and voice get dull over time, she can just practice again to get it back, so she's a mermaid that sings songs gleefully
>P convinces that even if she doesn't work for a while, she can just practice again, and all of her efforts and her future won't just disappear into foam, and mikoto smiles

True End - "prince is"
>mikoto is on a beach photo shoot. coincidentally, the theme is mermaids
>she said that after their conversation she thought a bit more about the little mermaid
>"for me, the fish are my audience, and the ocean is my stage."
>"so, "who" do you think "my prince" is?"
>"the one so precious, the one little mermaid desired the most... the one i want the most."
>P:"...a mic that will make your voice resonate better, perhaps? no, maybe a stage outfit that will catch the audience's eyes"
>M: "nope. close, but a bit wrong."
>P: "now that i think about it, you can easily just get a mic and a new outfit if you really wanted them. so, what's the correct answer?"
>M: "Idol."
>M: "i think that "my prince" is "the idol that i want to become.""
>M: "since you told me that i'm a little mermaid that sings and dances,"
>M: "then i plan on grabbing "my prince" with my own two hands, no matter what."
>P: "yeah, i'm sure that if its mikoto, you can definitely get "your prince"... your "idol!""
>P: "and if you ever become confused with anything again, let's think about it together."
>M: "yeah, thank you. ...actually, i've been thinking about one more thing."
>M: "for me, "my prince" is "an idol". in that case, then what will Producer be?"
>P: "huh? me?"
>M: "yeah, what will you be to me?"
>P: "hmm, let's see.."
>staff calls mikoto back to the photo shoot before P can answer her
>P ponders on what mikoto said and the true end finishes with him saying "haha, this theme is sure deeper than i thought!"