hmm, I need a group to win Love Live since neither my main group SOUNDSCAPE nor Houkago CLOVER do. does it really matter? they need to at least be there. I kinda want it to be a solo idol, but I can't rly think of a motivation for her. or maybe it's the group that Kanae saw which inspired her to become an idol. but that was in her third junior high year, they've probably disbanded by now, unless they have a former first year keeping it going. ... WAIT

meet Amanogawa Kairi (or, well, a rushed doodle of her), aka what's left of the former school idol group shooting st☆r. they were (and still are) an extremely close group of friends that consisted of one first year, three second years, and two third years when they started two years ago, and was known nation-wide as a powerhouse group. however, in every Love Live they competed in, they placed second in the end.

when the third years graduated, the rest decided to keep the group going until none of them are left, eventually leaving Kairi as the only one. even though she's not working under the group name anymore, she's essentially a one-woman shooting st☆r now, and it's her goal to win Love Live in the group's final year, for the sake of the friends she loves so much. her hairpin, the same one that all the other members have in their respective image colour, is her most treasured possession and she wears it with everything, including her idol outfits.

Kairi is a mature, friendly girl who frequently helps out even her rivals, as she craves a fair competition. she wants to prove to everyone that she can bring shooting st☆r to the top with her own feelings & skill even against strong opponents. other idols consider her to be somewhat of an "everyone's big sister" type, even though her friends from her group still think of her as the baby chick.

however, she deeply dislikes Houkago CLOVER - they rose to fame so quickly with a so-called "bond" that anybody who has ever met them backstage can tell you isn't entirely genuine, and Kairi, as somebody who treasures her own connections to her group so much, is disgusted at the thought of losing to a group like that. additionally, she's one of those idols who are afraid that if professional agencies start involving themselves, the very spirit of school idols is going to be lost and replaced with just another fabricated industry. the only reason she hasn't tried to go public about her concerns yet is that she fears her own reputation will suffer and lock her out of her dream stage for good.

side note, while HC being sponsored is very much known among the people who have seen them with their producers, their management & PR team are very careful to not let that info get out too far. of course, some uninvolved people know it too, but the fans either don't want to believe it or don't care. most other idols have kind of resigned themselves to this Just Being A Thing Now. they're students, after all, what do they have to go against a big company?

shooting st☆r's and by extension Kairi's music style is very space-like. think AZALEA, but she also packs a lot of ballads. she's also done a couple of collabs with other idols ever since she went solo, and her vocal range is amazing due to her background as the daughter of an opera singer who trained her from an early age.

other things ...

• she spends a long time curling & poofing up her hair every morning, as it's considered her charm point
• she's aroace, something her friends joke about a lot since idols aren't supposed to fall in love
• "Amanogawa" means "milky way", which was the inspiration for making the group space-themed when they were just starting out and struggling to find their own voices (though it's written 天川 instead of 天の川)
• even though she works as a solo idol and doesn't let anyone else join her, since in her mind it would lead to the group becoming something other than shooting st☆r, her friends that are still at school help her with organisation, finances, and costume-making
• she is, however, adept at music composition and mixing and has created the songs for shooting st☆r ever since their debut

... and now I have officially talked more about the rivals than the main group