Lanie Lowell

A couple years before the war at Yumenosaki, there was a famous pair of child idols, brother and sister. Their names were Aikawa Ryuko and Raika. Their youthful but energetic voices made them popular with kids and parents alike, especially within their age group. Raika was known for his high energy and ability to get any crowd pumped up, while Ryuko entranced the crowd with her precise dances and bright smile.

Their climb to stardom was destroyed unceremoniously when their house caught fire. The exact source was never determined, though police believed it was an accident, perhaps sparked by an overheating electrical component. The family was in the house at the time; the parents and Raika escaped safely but when they stepped outside Ryuko was nowhere to be found. Raika ran back inside as his parents yelled for him to stop, stay behind, wait for the firefighters to rescue his sister.

Inside, the smoke made it almost impossible to see, but Raika followed his sister’s voice. When he finally found her, she was trapped under a bookshelf, her pajamas set alight by the flames. The bookshelf was heavy, but Raika lifted it just enough for Ryuko to squirm out. She put out her clothes and clung to her brother as long as she needed to escape with him.

Ryuko was rushed to the hospital in critical condition, with the flames cradled so close to her body. Raika tried to go back to training but found that he couldn’t sing—he inhaled too much smoke in the fire.
Meanwhile, the online reaction to the news was mixed. Many expressed condolences, disappointment, shared their memories of lives and wished for a speedy recovery. But the messages that affected Ryuko the most were much, much, worse.

”So, does this finally mean we’ll get to see Raika as solo?” “Who cares about Ryuko, she only brings the performance down.” “Why did Raika-san try to rescue that girl anyway, he should have just stayed outside and left her!” “I hope she dies soon, she’s always taking the spotlight from our dear Raika.”

Five years later, Raika’s voice had fully recovered, and he was contacted by the president of his and Ryuko’s former agency, Rhythm Link. Hearing of his recovery, the agency offered him a position as a unit leader, despite the fact that he never enrolled in Yumenosaki, hoping that his former popularity would boost the company’s profits and help them expand. He accepted, and set out to form a unit. Ryuko wanted to follow him, but she feared that the world wouldn’t accept “Ryuko” again. Instead, she dyed her hair a bright blue, and enrolled as a male American foreign-exchange student under the name Lanie Lowell.

However, despite her best efforts, Lanie couldn’t hide for long from the one person who knew her the most: her own brother. Though she used makeup to hide her scarred face and covered her body in long clothing, little bits of discontinuity and slipped masks added up until Raika confronted her, expelled her from the unit, and told her to go home. In his mind, this was for her safety; in her mind, this was his way of cutting all ties with her.

While Raika was forming his group, one of the original KISS|KILL members suffered an injury that temporarily kept her off-stage. (It was a completely ridiculous accident and the teasing has never stopped from her unitmates since.) KISS|KILL is a unit whose performances are choreographed specifically for five members, and they really do not work with less, so just continuing lives as normal was impossible. Toshiaki had to find a professional, and fast.

To Toshiaki, it seemed like Lanie was a godsend—an idol desperate for a unit meeting a unit desperate for another idol. His anxiety was occasionally a problem, especially when it came to KISS|KILL’s uniforms—Toshiaki completely understood why an up-and-coming idol would not want to show any flaws, but he tried his best to convince him that they would serve as an asset to his image. And he was overall very private, always retreating to his room immediately after practice. But he was effective, and meshed well with the rest of the unit, so Toshiaki didn’t care.

Koishi reasoned the new guy was trans, just like her, so she didn’t try to press him to expose himself in a way he was uncomfortable with. Kizashi was disappointed that their new friend was not very social, but appreciated him anyway. Ikuma was just glad to have someone in the unit shorter than him.