[Generification/Transformation]

"Alas, this is where the show has to end..."

Such words left the mouth of overdramatic idol Ranko Kanzaki as she stared down at a single photo she had kept on her person. Just recently, she had been informed of the decision to move her to another agency, and as such, she wasn't going to be working with a lot of her friends that were able to tolerate her... special grasp on the topic of conversation.

She had been assured that she was going to have a greater opportunity to stand out and shine brightly under the new agency, one entirely for solo idols, but she was still... scared? Nervous? She couldn't properly articulate it, but she knew that she wasn't entirely on board.

That's why she was happy when she was approached by two of her fellow idols. Shibuya Rin and Kamiya Nao. They offered to take a picture with her, so she had something to remember them all by. Just looking down at the picture of the three of them together now brought a small pang of sadness to her weary and devilish heart...

"My companions, my most trusted allies..." The silver-haired girl muttered as she bit her lip, breaking character. "I'm going to miss my friends so much." The wound left by the transfer was very visible, but she had to remain strong. She cleared her throat before nodding to herself.

She wasn't going to lie down like any common individual! She was the great Ranko Kanzaki! Mistress of the dark and emblem of evil, she was going to show the world that THEY were the ones not ready for her. That's right!

While the girl continued to sink into her usual delusions, she noticed a little letter laying on her table. No doubt left there by her new agency and her natural curiosity beckoned her to open it to discover what was inside.

"A message? To me? What deems this way of communicating with the great Ranko acceptable? I'll have to show them my magic when they show up in person, they've truly earned my ire!" Ranko furiously shouted as she kept up her character while reading through the letter, not noticing a slight smell from the paper. Sweet, yet not overpowering...

'Dear Ranko Kanzaki. I am Atlas Grimwald, your new manager. You've been pinched from your position at 346 productions to serve as the brightest new star for my agency. I trust that your outstanding talents at making yourself stand tall will be very useful in your new solo career.

Furthermore, together with this letter, I have attached a little gift. If you smell this letter a little closer, you can pick up on a scent. This is the scent of a brand new type of perfume that my company is trying to advertise. By all means, have a few whiffs. I know that it will compliment your act.

Kind regards
Atlas Grimwald'

The letter was formal, and it definitely smelled of something once Ranko put her nose closer to the paper... yet she had never heard of a person with such a western name before. It felt off reading his words too, as it felt as if he was trying to sell her on some sort of product. Still, he was her new manager, so he did have her best intentions in mind.

"Hmph. The maggot will have to apologize to my face directly once he arrives, maybe then I'll humor whatever plans he has for my devilish domain."  The girl muttered to herself as her overly dramatic roleplaying didn't stop. Even as she took another instinctual whiff of the smell that the paper gave off.

It was a nice smell. Faintly made of different sweet flowers, and enough to make Ranko's eyes briefly dim as she just... got absorbed in the sensation of sniffing the paper. It was actually kind of nice to lose herself in such a manner. She didn't need to think of anything, just keep focusing on the act of smelling.

Her jaw grew lax as her lips quivered. Something started to course through her as her eyes slowly returned to normal... well, beyond normal. She had previously been wearing contacts to give her eyes a more standout color, but it seemed as if they had vanished after she started having smells of the paper to the point where a pair of blue irises peered straight ahead at the paper.

She didn't realize it yet, but the smell had a transformative effect on her. An effect that would gradually grind away at her unique aspects. Sure, they were great for attention-grabbing, but Atlas was looking for outright sales. And a more generic idol was exactly what he needed, so Ranko was going to change to ensure that he had the perfect girl for that task.

"Oh my..." The idol's words were already losing their overdramatic edge. Her azure blue eyes peered at the words on the letter again as her heart went aflutter. "This gift of his... It's wonderful. I wish he could give me more, it really would enhance my act." The chime to her words would be alien if the girl of the past had said them, but now they were a natural fit for her changed persona.

Changes that weren't limited to her eyes and her mind. No, the rest of her body had to follow swift. Otherwise, she would still stand out on stage if she was put among a group of her fellow idols. She wasn't allowed to stand out amidst a whole.

First came her hair. Formerly long and silver, to compliment her fantastical persona, it slowly sunk back into her scalp. As it withdrew, the ends, in turn, shifted in color, gaining a bit of fullness in the process. The fuller strands of hair turned brown, the most generic type of hair color around and the kind that would still draw eyes towards her if she stood on stage alone.

As her hair continued to drag itself upward until it was neatly shaped into a bob cut, the rest of her body had to follow suit. Underneath her usual black dress laid a body with just too much curvature. That kind of body shape wasn't allowed in this business, so those curves had to sink inward just as well. At the same time, her rear and bosom gained a bit of firmness, to make what was there pop a little more.

Once the body had regressed in regards to fine curvature, then came her attire itself. She wasn't allowed to wear clothes that would evoke the imagery of a gothic lolita enthusiast. Instead, the frills on her outfit were removed as her enormous dress was turned into a much simpler one. The skirt shrunk significantly until it just barely covered up her bottom, and the top's sleeves were significantly streamlined until there was nothing left but long white cloth clinging to her arms.

Ranko took another whiff of the letter as she started sighing pleasantly, sending a few shocks throughout her dainty brain. "What a fool I've been..." She muttered as the corruptive fragrance worked a little more on her mind. Thoughts of how embarrassing she had been on stage before quickly filled her head, prompting her to giggle at her own faults and flaws. "Thinking that kind of acting was anywhere near acceptable. I'm happy that my fans enjoyed it, but I have to reinvent myself... Wait..."

The fragrance continued to fill her head with the images of smiles, and so the young girl smiled. "Of course! My fans might have shown me pity before with their smiles... But now, I have to show them that it's okay to smile. My songs will make everyone smile, that's the kind of idol I want to be!" Her thoughts, ambitions, wants and needs. They were all being boiled down to the simplest and most easily digestible by the common enthusiast. Even if she lost her unique appeal, her goal of making people smile would draw people to her that much easier.

"Oh, I'll just have to thank Mister Grimwald for not just the perfume, but the help I needed for my direction under him. I... I couldn't be happier." A tear slowly ran down her cheek as the fragrance finished its job. The pause was the last thing left of the former unique girl, washed out by her new watered-down personality.

Her eye caught a glimpse of the picture laying on the table, prompting her to pick it up with a nostalgic smile. "Rin. Nao. Watch over me from now on. I hope you'll see that growing up like this... well, it helped me. Maybe someday, you two will as well." The 'matured' generic girl chimed as she folded the picture up before sliding it into one of her pockets.

It was time for her to show the world her smile. It was time for the world to smile with her!

---

Ever since Ranko moved agencies to straight-up work under the Atlas brand, her friends felt that she became so distant. Instead of picking up the phone and answering with something cryptic and almost fantastical, now she plainly answered with a cheerful chime.

Only as two of her friends, Nao and Rin, met her in person once more, did they realize just how drastically she had changed from the time they saw her off. The brown hair, the tender clothes, and general air made her look much more like an ordinary girl, kinda like their other friend Uzuki...

"You... You are Ranko, right? You're not trying to trick us or anything by putting on a fake voice or something, right?" Nao asked her changed friend as the three of them sat down for a little drink at the local café, prompting the former grey-haired girl to giggle in response.

Ranko smiled from ear to ear. "Of course I'm Ranko, Nao. Why wouldn't I be?" She replied with such a soft voice compared to the brash and 'mystical' one she had before, sending shivers down the more emotional of the two brunettes' spine while the stoic one merely stared ahead.

Rin took a sip of her iced tea before pulling a little photo out of her pocket. A photo of the three of them when they saw the former 'chuunibyou' off. "I've heard of changing styles, but it's only been half a year, Ranko. Care to explain why, if you really are her?" The cool idol was skeptical of the generic-looking girl's admittance, but she was more willing than Nao to accept the facts.

"Oh, that photo. You've still kept it around!" The happy idol dug through her pocket before pulling out another copy of the same photo, shocking both of her friends. "Oh, I've cherished our moments together lots, but... I had to move on, you know? There was something more important than acting like a child still..."

Nao twitched, fuming as she couldn't believe her overreacting and overly verbose friend had turned into such a sweetheart. It was unnatural! Unbelievable! She wanted to speak, but she just couldn't as she planted her head on the table, stewing in her anger.

The cool-eyed and long-haired brunette took a further sip from her iced tea, pocketing her picture once again. "You didn't answer the other question, but... What ended up making you act less like you?"

Ranko winked a little as she stood up, reaching her arms outward as she used the remnants of her previously bombastic behavior. "To make people smile when I sing, Rin! I know you two can make them smile too if you'd just join me. I'd love to work together with both of you again."

Something about the way she delivered her message caused the thought of working with the genericized idol to bounce around in both girls' heads, their eyes turning a brief dull pink as a result. Nao remained silent, refusing to lift her head while Rin took the initiative, with a surprising amount of enthusiasm and interest in her voice.

"What did you say your new agency was called..?"