Idol Star System Generation: Season 1

by R. P. Mor

  Part of the reputation from their school came not only from the high quality and the equally high level of expectations, but also due to the subtle ways by which they forced the students to keep up to their learning schedules, like using Marine Day and the whole weekend that preceded it for field trips. Usually beach trips. Naoko mentioned, to comedic results, that she thought it was abusive to ask students to actually study, but that she was glad about having three leisure days before the exams even though she was a schoolgirl who sometimes resorted to last minute recaps.

  After lunching the group followed Rin to the karaoke parlor she had previously visited along with Naoko. The increase in the number of people made the blond girl once again shy away from the microphone, but Naoko was already aware of how her friend reacted to that situation and invited her to sing along a few songs. It was still disconcerting to her how Rin overreacted on the most casual situations. She acted just like Naoko during an audition if Aratani wasn’t present, only auditions were part of her job and were important competitions. She couldn’t afford to lose too many of them. But Rin acted like that on a karaoke party, fearing others would judge and mock her, even though she clearly wanted to relax and party.

  Every time it was Naoko’s turn she called Rin to sing along. Since there were four girls taking turns to sing and Naoko was just one of them, it took her almost an hour, half of the time they had, to make her understand no one was going to evaluate her performance of mistreat her even if she sang like a squirrel. Naoko proved that by singing one song in the most atrocious, high-pitched and ridiculous way possible, making everyone laugh. The blond girl was afraid of others laughing at her, but since the idol did it herself and the others still liked her just as much Rin loosened up and recovered her cheery nature. From there on the celebration became much better. The two girls were so cheerful their turn was eagerly awaited by the others. Naoko improvised dancing steps her clumsy friend tried to follow, Rin talked about squirrels during the presentation, the pair chose on the catalog songs no one has ever heard before and tried to sing it how the imagined it should be and more.

  Naoko even had the brilliant idea of “singing” one song in a way a deaf person would understand: through mimic. Of course, deaf people used proper gesture language to communicate instead of mimic and, anyway, no one would ever be able to understand what the duet confusingly meant by ludicrously waving their arms to haphazardly try and simulate the words of the lyric. Each girl created gestures of her own without any synchronism, adding to the amusement of the audience. Rin also decided to choose a song in a language they didn’t even know which one was, but since the rhythm of the melody felt a little Arabian they decided to “sing” their gibberish as if they were songstress from old Persia. It looked as cringeworthy as it was hilarious and the spectators laughed the air out of their lungs numerous times.

  While Shiori didn’t sing for the most part, she was amused. Miwa, who took turns with Sayuri and her classmates Mari, as well as with the nonsensical duet, even invited Shiori to sing together but the shy girl politely refused. It was only when Naoko rallied everyone to sing together that Shiori and Rin’s friend Nobuko took part. It was the most convoluted and comical song they heard. From there Shiori even sang once along with Rin while Naoko, who should also be singing, preferred to joke about the images on the screen. Despite the agitated rhythm and frenetic pace of the song, the screen depicted green fields, serene landscapes with trees, birds relaxing on ponds and so on. Shiori and Rin, along with the others, laughed so much they sometimes couldn’t even pronounce the lyrics.

  Rin was awestruck by discovering she had no fears when she was being playful, though she didn’t know why. Maybe because she felt it was harder for a playful person to be rejected, although in that state even if she was, she found it wasn’t such a big deal. That was something for her to think about, but this discovery was surprisingly similar to the one Naoko found when her producer started joking on her first audition to calm her. This alone made the blond girl enthusiastic, despite only Naoko understanding what she meant with that.

  Since Miwa had to take her brother home and Rin had to go to her own private classes the celebration came to an end sooner than the girls wanted. Even then, the 2-5 class president would be free afterwards until 5 p.m., so Naoko decided to extend the commemoration and invited Miwa and Shiori to her dorm once the others were gone. The glasses girl hesitated for a while, but ultimately accepted along with Miwa. The three accompanied the class president to take her younger brother on his school, and the boy was ecstatic to see Naoko again. She and Shiori parted midway to the dorms, with Miwa following suit soon after.

  Naoko hadn’t planned this through and the space on her dorm was very cramped, but her friends found it very cozy. There wasn’t much to do there with people who didn’t like video games, but they somehow found things to do for almost two hours. Miwa and Shiori agreed they’d love to live by themselves like that. Both had siblings and could only dream to have a dorm room all to themselves. Chats about the lovely minibar and kitchen became conversations about what dishes each girl knew how to cook, and Shiori left her friends surprised by numbering a big quantity of types of food she could prepare, even more than the class president.

  Showing her tiny room, Naoko also displayed her friends a few accessories and trinkets with interesting backstories she had, including her dreaded golden earrings. In doing so and while talking about idol stuff, she found the old CDs her mother asked her to bring along to the capital, and without really paying attention to them, handed to her friends to have a look.

  It triggered a conversation about Naoko’s future plans, though the girl had no idea about what she’d like to do for a living. Even if her idol career was successful, she’d still have to retire from it one decade from now tops, she thought, and the girl still had no clear idea about what she’d like to do for a university degree, only that she’d want to do it. Miwa only had a vague idea about what she’d like to study in college too, something related to sciences. But that was as vague as it sounded.

  Shiori was the only one who had a plan, more or less: picture-taking was something she could work with for all her life unlike being an idol, and maybe freelancing or working full-time on a mag or something. Her first contract with Naoko’s agency, The Paragon Idol, motivated her to keep her dreams up, though she also had no idea if she’d actually work as a reporter. Her father was a journalist in the past and had many bad things to say about the stressful profession: long work hours, bad payments, constant necessity to keep up to date with everything, a few dangerous situations and so on. To like talking to people and knowing how to do it was a must and another problem for Shiori. On a whole the three still had a few years to decide, so it wasn’t a big deal, but not knowing what to do concerned them, and especially Miwa, the one who brought up the subject. This bugged Naoko for the rest of the day.

  On their way out Naoko introduced Miwa, who apparently liked to tend to plants, to janitor Yamamoto, saying he could always be seen at night gardening, and the two had a brief but excited conversation about the subject. The man was initially flustered that Naoko had noticed him doing that – he said students rarely paid attention to what he did – but was happy to see Miwa liked plants and even had a few potted bonsai and herbs. Yamamoto disliked the art of bonsai, for he said he thought it was a cruelty to trim a tree and prevent it from growing to become what Mother Nature created it to be, but any student who liked gardening had his approval nevertheless and he even spared a few seeds and tips to the visiting girl.

  Naoko was left a little worried by Miwa’s subject on the future, and though she knew it was too much to ask a sixteen year-old girl what she’d expect to be working on ten years from then, the thought didn’t leave her mind. Thinking about what she’d like to do for a living once she retired as an idol seemed ridiculous for someone who’d just started to work but Miwa had a point nevertheless. Her worries didn’t last long, though: like always, Naoko brought one of the m
anga volumes Rin lent her to read on the almost one hour trip to her dojo. The instant she resumed reading the story about a girl working as a stock broker, it piqued her interest on the subject once again. Surely it couldn’t be as easy as a manga made it seem, but there’re people working like that in real life! They probably weren’t teenager billionaires, but still.

  So interested she got, she finished reading the whole volume she’d brought on the way back and started imagining what would it require for her to learn more about operating stocks. It wasn’t anymore a forceful and tense contemplation about what to do in the future, but rather something that looked really interesting and exciting. At least learning about the stock market wouldn’t hurt, even if it was just for her to discover it was far too complex and not very nice in reality. At least she’d know about one job she wouldn’t want to perform. And there was even a chance she found something amusing, challenging and rewarding to do!

  She took mental notes to look for information about stocks on the internet and perhaps even people who could teach her. Not on that day, though: she was exhausted from her training and as soon as she returned home all she thought about was having a shower. Only then she started to organize her room, putting all the trinkets and things she’d shown her friends back to where they belonged.

  Her few CDs had been neatly organized by her friends in a small stack over her futon. Naoko grabbed them and proceeded to arrange each one on a shelf. At first however she stored them seemed good enough since she only wanted to take them out of the way, but one of them caught her attention due to the girls on the cover and their attires. Because of it, Naoko briefly took every CD back and paid more attention to each one, curious to see how idols’ outfits were a decade ago.

  She only had CDs of two bands: Skip/Beat Indigo and Cross Sakura no More. As far as she could tell, those were two of the most famous idol bands back in the days. She vaguely remembered listening to those when she was six or seven years-old, but couldn’t really recall any song. All she reminded was having a pink bunny toy radio that actually worked and that her father presented her one day. She used it to listen to those CDs, but since she was a kid and not a careful one a few of the media had scratches all around. Most of the album covers had seemingly random images on it, only one depicting the actual idols. Still, the other images followed a pattern: all albums of Cross Sakura no More were dark, with black backgrounds, whereas the CDs from Skip/Beat Indigo presented vibrant covers, full of colorful and cheerful vibes, even though the blue, pink and yellow colors were always predominant.

  Every cover of the CDs was in reality a small booklet which could be detached from the hard plastic protection and read. They presented all the lyrics of the songs along with disclaimers, copyright information and so on. A nice addition was that every booklet also presented the pictures of every idol along with a brief text about them. Whereas in Skip/Beat Indigo albums the texts were very tongue-in-cheek and light-hearted, the ones on Cross Sakura no More CDs were more serious and informative, not unlike a brief résumé of the girls. Every booklet also had a poster folded inside, which showed all the idols of the band. Since Skip/Beat Indigo was composed of seven girls and Cross Sakura no More had twelve, it was possible to fit everyone in a photo.

  The pictures were surprisingly artistic and every poster showed the logo of the band. In case of the dark, metal-like one from Cross Sakura no More, the “Cross” was actually not spelled but instead was a big red batsu, a big “X” on the back of the name. Despite the symbol of the band being a sakura, a cherry tree with twelve branches full of black petals instead of pink ones, the huge red X was surprisingly more well-known. She vaguely recalled that the “cross” part of the name of the band was sometimes omitted by people, something that made her upset when she was six or so. She liked both bands so much that she didn’t admit her parents to not say “Cross”. And they had to pronounce it in English, “Cross”, instead of the Japanese “Batsu”, because that was how the name was pronounced during shows aired on television.

  In Japan, batsu was used as a negative symbol in opposition to a circle, or “maru”, whereas on quite a few Western countries the “X” symbol didn’t mean anything or wasn’t as strictly used for wrong things. On some, it could have the meaning of “versus” depending on the context, but overall it was more of a letter than anything else. The Maru and Batsu opposition in Japan was very clear. So much that circles and crosses were used everywhere, from hand gestures to classical video game controller buttons. Maru indicated something was correct, good, positive, acceptable or confirmed whereas Batsu meant the contrary. For this reason, when she was six, Naoko didn’t like when anyone Read the “X Sakura no More” name of that band as “Batsu Sakura no More”. No one could tell her that one of her favorite bands was wrong or something! Looking back, her parents probably disliked to say “Cross” because it sounded exactly the same as the verb “Korosu”, which meant “to kill” in Japanese, but at that time Naoko didn’t think about it.

  All of these reasons made the already dark-looking band seem like bad news, but even though the twelve girls were always clad in black the songs had no bad language or anything. Naoko just didn’t understand anything they said, but Naoko recalled her father and mother approved the lyrics, though reticently, and so she imagined there couldn’t be anything too extreme there.

  The only album to feature the idols on the cover was one of Skip/Beat Indigo. Taking a closer look at that image, the seven girls wore intricate sky-blue dresses that even a decade after would still be perfectly acceptable for idols to wear. Naoko was surprised to discover that, but even this paled in comparison to the wonderment that struck her when she finally took a moment to observe the women in question. The one on the center had an amazing blond hair, long and straight. The color was so bright it looked like gold, or rather, a light shade of it.

  While Naoko had no recollections of the songs or the faces of those people, that straight, gorgeous golden hair sparked a few long-forgotten memories. She imprecisely recalled that beautiful and cheery show on a band shell on a sunlit park that she watched on her TV when she was young. The one that she also remembered when Aratani exhibited a song of Umeko during the beginning of her career. Naoko had a few fragmented remembrances of an idol with a stunning hair that sparkled like gold under the sun while she danced. It even made her want to be blond when she was a kid. She couldn’t remember any other idol, but that blond one remained on her memory.

  Dumbfound, she started her computer to play that CD while she closely observed its booklet. On the first and second pages not dedicated to disclaimers and summary there were pictures of the girls along with their names, a few useless info and a few texts. To her surprise, one of the seven names was Ogasawara Umeko, side by side to an energetic-looking, happy girl with voluminous, shiny and pretty, wavy brown hair. On that booklet it said she was the newest addition to the Skip/Beat Indigo band and was seventeen. The oldest one, being twenty-five years-old, was that blond idol, though she hardly looked like more than eighteen. According to the CD her name was Kifune Risa. Her text merely stated useless data like their blood types and the things she liked, as everyone else – apparently AB- Risa loved shrimps. On the other hand, B+ Umeko preferred chocolates.

  When Naoko opened the poster, she had the strongest sensation of nostalgia she’d felt in a long time. The seven girls, smiling and close together, were shown in a picture. It had an upbeat feel to it, like good friends hanging around together. Naoko had recollections of herself looking at that poster before. Spreading it on the living room floor to appreciate it, dreaming of having close friends like that one day. The way the idols were portrayed, it was like they had so much fun together that it could pass for a friends-only costume party instead of an idol band.

  True to what she imagined one of the songs of that CD was the same Aratani had presented her, the one with soloes of all the girls, where Umeko’s voice at the beginning of her career sounded so funny. Kifune Risa’s dulcet v
oice was certainly the most impressive of all at that time, though she was twenty-five back then. If it was possible to put that Risa side by side with the twenty-five years-old Umeko that Naoko heard on the live show she watched with her producer it’d be a tough call, though Naoko believed Umeko was better by a hair. Then again, Risa had most likely retired nine years before. Supposing she had a ten years career, she had started working as an idol almost two decades before, so Naoko had no idea how was the training idols had at that time. She wanted to bet probably not as good as the classes and lessons from a decade or two after, so it was possible Risa’s voice could’ve been even better than Umeko’s if she had at that time the training available on current days. That would’ve been fabulous. Though Naoko could be wrong, since she had no idea when Risa started to work as an idol.

  Curious about it, she looked for information about Risa on the internet. Surprisingly it wasn’t hard to find. As she soon discovered right on the first article she read, the blond girl was one of the most well-known idols of her time and had worked on the most successful bands there was back then. The “Black and Golden Idol”, as she was called, had many phases on her career and was regarded to have described a full loop, going from a carefree and childish nature to a more sober, acidic and dark one, and finishing it as a cheerful idol on a more mature version of how she started.

  She began working on that trade when she was fourteen and retired a few days after turning twenty-six. A few years later critics would say she was an idol ahead of her time just like her mentor. Her mentor, an older idol who was regarded as a genius on her profession, was apparently an eccentric woman called Misawa Tomoko, known as the creator of something called “Stances”. Stances were used by many idols decades after, and if Naoko wasn’t wrong her dancing instructor had mentioned Stances once, saying it was such an advanced technique, and that it leaned heavily on the psychology of the idol rather than on her dancing skills, that she’d not teach her that.

  According to the text, Risa had parted ways with the already innovative Misawa Tomoko’s Stance school and opted for a freestyle approach to dancing and singing. It was criticized at that time, but numerous fans loved her for it, saying she always looked genuine like no one else. Critics eventually came to admire her for her honesty. While she was considered a caring, positive and easygoing person, Risa’s career was full of episodes where her frankness and courage to stand by her beliefs put her in trouble but also earned her the admiration of others. Four of the most famous incidents surrounding her were her rupture with her mentor; the announcement that she had a boyfriend, back in a time no idol did that; a scandal started when she revealed a list of five unscrupulous, fake producers who either had schemes to trick girls into paying them large sums of money for nothing or, even worse, enslaved them by contracts into semi-licit businesses that had nothing to do with the stages; and her fight, along with eleven other idols, against dangerous politics and an episodic sharp increase in documented rape cases.

  That last part got Naoko’s attention more than anything. It was awfully familiar, and true to her hunch, when she searched about the Black December Days incident Aratani had told her about, Kifune Risa’s name was in the list. She was one of the so-called Dark Angels, the twelve idols who had started the movement fourteen years before, back when Risa was almost twenty. The “angel” designation was common back then when referring to idols, and the dark part alluded to the black schoolgirl-like outfits of the original members.

  Naoko’s jaw dropped even more when she discovered the band that promoted Black December Days was actually called Cross Sakura no More. At the time of the incident the girls weren’t formally part of an idol group. Despite having a red X on its logo which was read as “Cross”, it had the same meaning as the batsu that Naoko was so adamant about when her parents mentioned, back in her childhood. It symbolized an opposition or a command to stop something that was wrong – the things the twelve idols fought against back then. The real logo of the band, however, was limited to the black sakura. According to the texts Naoko found, the sakura trees, a symbol of spring and of childhood, had black petals on the emblem to represent the tainted or destroyed lives of people, especially young ones, back then. More specifically, it alluded to a single victim: a schoolgirl who was raped and murdered, prompting her schoolmates to protest wearing black. This act inspired the “Dark Angels” idols and the sole producer who believed in them, Nagai Seiji, to promote the first show, so that victim became a symbol that encompassed every person who was molested at that time.

  The text mentioned the Cross Sakura no More band existed for the next four years, though all the idols were also part of other bands. It happened because Cross Sakura no More shows only occurred three times a year, following a school-like calendar: once during spring break, another during summer break and the last one happening on the Sunday after December eighth. Still, not all of the Dark Angels attended to every show, and the band was eventually discontinued. It even received a spiritual successor, a band called Eclipse Day Stars, with two of the twelve Dark Angels along with ten new girls. At that time, though, the blond idol Risa was already part of the Skip/Beat Indigo band.

  Naoko immediately opened all the booklets of the Cross Sakura no More albums she had. Among the twelve members there were two blond girls, though one had an almost caramel-like hair. Risa was there, though she looked even younger and had a serious face. Her hair, at that time, was also shorter, a little past her shoulders. On one poster Naoko could see Risa, along with the other eleven Dark Angels, wearing the signature pitch-black schoolgirl uniform and dark makeups. They all arranged themselves around a stairway of a school, a few standing, others sitting on the steps and two on the handrails. They all acted much more seriously, to the point where only one smiled.

  Curiously, those CDs of that dark band were all from a time when Naoko was two, three or four years-old. She couldn’t recall, but she imagined their parents would never buy her albums of that band at that age. She also didn’t recall listening to those until she was around six. Playing one, she finally understood, a decade later, the meanings of those songs that back in her childhood just sounded cool, albeit impossible to decipher. The rhythm was heavy, full of thumping beats and screaming electric guitars mixed with a few traditional instruments like flutes. It was spine-chilling, and the lyrics made heavy use of critics and metaphors.

  One song in particular, one of the most famous of the band, was called “Cherry Popping Night”. At that time Naoko took the lyric for its face value and innocently believed it talked about a cherry that didn’t want to be popped and asked for help, but ultimately was captured and burst while the other fruits did nothing to protect her. And it was quite a “happy” song too: the girls sang it like they told a child a bedtime story, full of merry voices and even laughs. Understanding they were being very sarcastic and getting the true meaning of it made Naoko blush, reminding she used to naively sing it around her parents. Hearing it when she was capable of understanding the connotation of it, it was not only the opposite of a happy song, but was also incredibly disturbing.

  Even fourteen years after that lyric, along with all the others, was still powerful and shocking. If it was done on the present it’d still be an avant-garde and risky endeavor. That band was something else. It was no wonder Aratani said those idols broke many taboos with what they did: even now Naoko couldn’t imagine herself singing an acid song full of criticism, with cynical child-like voices and acting, with a lyric that versed about sexual harassment and impunity. And to do so when everyone wanted to pretend nothing wrong was happening, all the while facing warmongering politicians, including the Minister of Defense… Those twelve girls and their producer were really treading on thin ice back then.

  Inspecting the CDs, Naoko eventually found a small tag on the Cross Sakura no More albums she had with the name “Fuchigami Momoko” on them. Her eyes gradually shone with understanding as fragmented memories surfaced. Momoko, the older sister of Masahir
o, was and eight years older than Naoko. She also loved idols and was the girl who fell on a scam that made Naoko so wary of idol agencies. When the Black December Days occurred Naoko was only two, but Momoko was already ten. All those CDs were hers. She lent them to Naoko when she was six, one day when the kid, visiting Masahiro, heard the songs coming from the teenager’s room. Momoko, who at that time was fourteen and loved idols, was so pleased that Naoko liked it that she lent her a few CDs that were never returned. Naoko liked the songs, but liked Risa’s hair even more. She finally fell in love with the blond idol’s hair when she saw her, already around twenty-four or twenty-five and a member of Skip/Beat Indigo, singing on the TV. From there her parents bought her Skip/Beat Indigo CDs, which were albums full of cheerful and upbeat songs. Recovering those memories, Naoko took a moment to think about how ironic was that Momoko was both the person who introduced her to idol songs and who unwillingly made her fearful of the idol industry.

  To think Umeko was once a member of the same band as a legendary idol such as Risa was awe-inspiring. If at a given time Risa was the oldest member and Umeko was the youngest she had probably learned a lot with her senpai. Naoko couldn’t even imagine how awesome it’d be to work alongside an amazing person such as Risa. While the Skip/Beat Indigo’s booklet texts mentioned nothing useful about her, her brief biography on the Cross Sakura no More booklets included many fights she had prior to Black December Days. Usually she fought for animal rights, curiously: be it to stop the whale hunting that endangered species or against the production of clothes using pelts of imperiled animals or furs of those that were small and, thus, required numerous sacrifices to create a single article, like minks.

  Judging from the texts many of the other Dark Angels had their own battles too: humanitarian assistance to victims of the sequence of natural disasters that struck the country during that time, support to foundations that researched diseases or helped people suffering from malnourishment around the world, fights for environmental protection, feminist movements and so on. About seven of them were already involved in other battles in the past. No wonder they decided to act during that crisis.

  All of that reminded Naoko of Megumi. She wondered if the girl who looked after homeless people would do the same as those twelve idols if she had the chance. Still, after so many discoveries and recollections Naoko needed some time to chill. She carefully organized those old CDs on an easy to access shelf, since they were not a pile of unwanted things anymore. They were surprisingly important for the history of the idol industry and also very nostalgic, bringing her back to the scenic and exciting Shimabara she lived in during her childhood.

  Once she was done arranging her CDs, she texted Megumi to ask her how her practice was going and if she had already overcome her fears. The answer, however, only arrived on the following morning. Even before that, while Naoko was going to bed, she received a brief message stating:

  “Good evening, Naoko-Chan. Aratani here. Got called about a small-sized invitational show for you! Naoko-Chan won’t believe it! It’ll be tomorrow, Friday, starting at eight p.m. Sorry for telling you just now, I just received it myself. Practice your eight songs, you’ll be performing every single one! Is it possible for you and Shiori-San to be in the office tomorrow by six thirty?”

  Her producer seemed a little too enthusiastic about a small show like he said it himself, but since it was an invitational gig, maybe it meant Rin’s father had really talked to his boss. She felt a little bad for doubting that man she didn’t even know, but the news made Naoko happy.

  On Friday morning Megumi replied her messages saying she was getting more anxious about the show by each passing day, though she was also starting to get the hang of presenting herself to a crowd. At first she was almost unable to sing and dance, but it had gradually changed. She told she had learned about her fears of appearing to be superior to the others, and at first it seemed to work. She was at ease presenting herself to the homeless people by reminding herself that being on a stage didn’t make anyone better than the others. But her fears eventually took another form that she still wasn’t aware of, and last night she had nightmares that kept her awaken. She had already sent the documents to Aratani, but was worried about being once again taken by fright during the audition.

  That essentially nullified the good news Naoko had received the previous night and she couldn’t stop thinking about Megumi. So much that she almost forgot to ask Shiori to come with her to the agency later that day. Naoko’s mind was so full of thoughts that when Rin radiantly called her from across the racetracks Naoko was startled. The blond girl excitedly told her that her father had managed to convince his higher-ups to schedule a show on a company party later that day, and the girl was ecstatic with the opportunity to watch Naoko perform. She’d even skip private classes that day just for the show, so she was exultant. It dispelled Naoko’s concerns, though only for a while. Rin noticed her friend looked a bit disheartened and, losing a little of her joyous behavior commented hesitantly:

  “Naoko-Chan doesn’t seem content. Did Rin-Chan do something wrong about the show?”

  Naoko immediately denied it, and apologized:

  “What? No! That’s not it! I’m sorry for looking down, it has nothing to do with the show! I’m thankful for it and I’m looking forward to it! Producer-San mentioned it’ll start by eight p.m. and I’ll be there! Oh, and Shiori-Chan will come too, to take pictures, so we’ll all meet there! Thanks, Rin-Chan!”

  “But if it’s not a problem with the show, does Naoko-Chan have other problems?” Rin asked, looking concerned. Naoko explained:

  “No, I don’t have any problems… It’s Megumi-San. You know, the idol I mentioned that helps homeless people. She sent me a few messages about how were her practices going. And… well, take a look yourself.”

  Naoko handed her cellphone to her friend and Rin read the message thread. By the time she finished doing so the Athletics club coach called everyone to begin the activities, so the two only resumed their conversation once the training was over. Going back to the locker room, Rin worriedly stated:

  “I was thinking about Megumi-San during the whole training. I want Megumi-San to overcome her fears so she can become a famous idol and help people! I like Megumi-San since Naoko-Chan told me about her!” Looking a little down, she added, “If only Rin knew what nightmare Megumi-San was having, she could try to help her too by interpreting it…”

  When Naoko remembered her friend was able to read between the lines of dreams she turned her surprised face to Rin as quick as lightning.

  “That’s it! Rin-Chan, do you think you could decipher her nightmare like you did to my dream?! Would that help her?!”

  “I could try!” Rin excitedly answered, flapping her arms on the side of her body in excitement like a cute penguin or something, “Rin is not the one who deciphers the dreams, she merely helps the dreamer understand it herself, but if Rin could speak to Megumi-San, maybe we could interpret it together. Rin used to interpret her own nightmares for a long time, and nightmares usually bear urgent information. It’d probably inform Megumi-San about what her Unconscious mind is trying to tell her!”

  The two girls eagerly tried to find some way of talking to Megumi. It’d be a pain to talk through text messages, and since Rin had to ask numerous questions and hear the answers it was better if they could chat personally. As such Naoko texted Megumi about the idea the two had, explaining about Rin and her ability to interpret dreams, and proposed a talk between the two of them. As usual, Megumi’s phone was probably turned off because she didn’t answer immediately and the two girls were left even more worried. Rin suggested Naoko to tell Megumi to call on Rin’s phone whenever she could, especially at night when the girl was free, and Naoko promptly texted it to the idol along with the blond girl’s phone number. She also mentioned the two would be on the same place after eight p.m. due to a show, so if Megumi called any one of them, provided Naoko wasn’t on the stage at the time, they could join t
he conversation.

  The girl had little time to think about it since right after the Athletics club training she had a two hour rehearsal. After, rushing back to her dorm the girl took a bath and rested for a bit before getting ready to depart. She stored two of her classic CDs on her purse, one from Skip/Beat Indigo and another from the Cross Sakura no More band, so she could show them to her producer and talk about all the new things she had discovered about Umeko and the Black December Days. Or, rather, about discovering she unknowingly had a few CDs about all those things they had talked about before.

  Naoko met Shiori in front of the train station and the two made their way to Aratani’s office. Shiori, despite still being introverted and listening more than she speaking, wasn’t as shy anymore around her and looked very excited about being together with her friend on another show. The girl still wore formal and boring clothes, though. Very plain and uninteresting. Naoko urged Shiori to go shopping with her as soon as possible and her friend agreed, reluctantly but also gratefully.

  As the two arrived in front of the small building where the agency was located Shiori praised the nice, luminous signboard over the windows of the uppermost floor. Its neon lines shone bright at the beginning of the evening. The timid girl almost fainted climbing the steep stairs while holding the heavy handbag she used to carry her camera, though, and when she arrived at the office, was taken aback by the amount of furniture and boxes, shelves and things that cramped the space. Though she was polite enough not to say anything, Aratani, already wearing his fancy and flaming-decaled suit, could read her shocked face from miles away.

  As Naoko “greeted” him by demanding an elevator in place of those stairs again, he promptly apologized while standing up behind his desk:

  “Ah, Naoko-Chan! Shiori-San! Please, come in. I’m sorry for the mess, it’s still the first month of operation of this agency and there are a lot of objects from the owner of the room I rent that are still scattered here. Inconveniently, I might add. Though this was a good first month for business, and as such I’ll rent some space in a warehouse and have everything stored away as soon as the Golden Week is over. Then we’ll have a presentable office. I apologize for the inconvenience until then.”

  “It’s… fine…” Shiori replied in pauses, hard to say if it was because of the large stairs or the shock. Aratani, though cool as always, looked very excited and invited the two to take a sit by his desk. “Do you girls want some tea or water before we start? Please feel free to say so.”

  Though both refused, Aratani noticed Shiori could use some water and politely insisted. Once the pale, dizzy girl had drink and recovered from the strenuous exercise, the man said with a cool smile:

  “Well, Naoko-Chan, I don’t even know where to begin. I’m flabbergasted.”

  “You look chill as ever,” the girl joked, and the man replied on equal footing, “That’s my flabbergasted face, can’t you tell? See, Shiori-Chan, I’ll have to briefly talk to Naoko-Chan about some business-related things, but since you’re friend please feel free to stay and I’ll…”

  The glasses girl promptly stood up, humbly excusing herself:

  “No, please! I don’t want to disturb Aratani-San and Naoko-Chan’s business conversation in any way! I’ll just wait outside, don’t worry!”

  Though Aratani didn’t want to sound like he was expelling her, he was thankful for the girl’s thoughtful attitude. He mentioned it’d only take a few minutes and handed her the freelance photographer’s hiring contract for her to read, even though it was the same as before. The girl was surprised to the point of seeming horrified when she looked at it while going out of the room. Blushing heavily, the girl indecisively and slightly raised the hand holding the contract, as if she was talking to a teacher in school. Shiori stuttered

  “I-I’m s-sorry to interrupt! But… A-Aratani-San! H-here is… written s-sixty thousand Yen?!”

  The man, raising his eyes nodded.

  “Shiori-San’s hourly payment is twenty thousand, right? The show will have two hours and a half in total, but since every professional only work with full hours and charges thirty minutes as a full price, you’ll be hired for three hours. Is it okay?”

  Before the stunned girl could reply, Naoko worriedly broke in the conversation:

  “Two hours and a half?! I hope I’m not the only one singing there! I only have eight songs ready, it takes twenty five minutes max!”

  “Well, more like two hours and forty two minutes, according to the schedule. But don’t worry,” Aratani reassured her, “Despite the contractual name of the event being “Yano Naoko’s Invitational Exhibition” there’re four other idols auditioned for the gig. And not any idol! I’ll go over the details in a second, but essentially they required every girl to have ten songs ready to perform. Since you’re being invited, they made an exception for you. You’ll only perform the eight songs I told them you could, though it’ll be good when we have at least ten songs to perform, for situations like this.”

  Though Naoko was placated, Shiori looked even more distressed by hearing it, protesting in a whispering, reluctant voice:

  “B-but if Naoko-Chan is only going to present herself for twenty-five minutes, I… I can’t take a three hour payment, Aratani-San! It’d be unfair with you and Naoko-Chan!”

  Trying to pacify both girls as if juggling the conversations, the man calmly retorted:

  “I appreciate your concern, but I expect you can take a few extra photos of Naoko-Chan alongside her friend, ah… Rin-San, is it? Rin-San’s father was the man who managed to make this show happen, so if we can take a few snaps along with him it’d be amazing. And, to be fair, I prefer to pay you for all the time you spend with us. It’s a private show of a company, I only managed to get you in because I signed Shiori-Chan as part of my staff. Even if it was an open gig with tickets being sold, you’d not have to buy one. As such, I am contractually bound to you. If you stay with us for almost three hours and I only pay you for one hour, you could sue me for…” Stopping for a moment, he rephrased his explanation, “I’m not insinuating Shiori-Chan would do such a thing, but you could sue me for underpaying you. It’s your right to do so.”

  “I-I’d never…!” red-faced, Shiori started to deny it vehemently, but Aratani interrupted her with a reassuring voice, “I know you wouldn’t, I trust you. But it’s your right to do so. And I don’t know if Naoko-Chan has told you this before, but I’m a lawyer. I’d be a bad lawyer if I didn’t follow the laws. You’re not cheating us by receiving this payment, I’d be the one cheating you if I didn’t pay you accordingly. Of course, you could leave after the first hour, so I only paid you twenty thousand, but…”

  “I’ll do it!” Shiori immediately accepted, though Aratani kept talking:

  “…but I’m sure Naoko-Chan will prefer to have you along. Unlike other gigs, she’s not allowed to leave after her performance is over, and since she’ll be the first to perform because she’s the one with the lowest idol class there, she’ll be waiting for two hours while the other idols perform. Really, Shiori-Chan, don’t worry, your fee is totally acceptable. Just take a look at your contract to see if it’s okay. It’s the same as before, I just altered the numbers, but still.”

  Once he was sure the shaky and pale Shiori was comfortable on the couch on the corridor staring blankly at the paper, Aratani closed the door and turned a sudden smile to Naoko. While he sat down on his chair again and looked for another contract on the shelves of his desk, he commented:

  “Naoko-Chan, remember when you mentioned your friend’s father would be trying to talk to his boss about inviting you to a show? That she told you about her father’s company having “a few” parties in which “a few” people attended to? That you asked me how much would it cost for a company that you though would have around sixty or seventy employees to hire some idols to entertain them? Well, take a look at this.”

  He handed Naoko a four pages contract, which the girl started to read. Right at the beginning there
was an identification of the contractor, a famous banking corporation. Its logo bore four red rhombuses, a sort of a diamond-shaped figure, concentrically aligned. There were also a few lines in the well-detailed contract she’d not seen in previous documents, though nothing out of the ordinary. That was, until she made to the part of the payment: five million.

  She immediately checked to see if there was a watermark and a logo of the I.S.S.G. on the contract and read it quickly to see if there was anything compromising on it. It was perfectly acceptable, however: she was just being hired to sing and dance eight songs on a specific place and date – for three thousand and two hundred people –, and nothing else. Though trying to look serious, Naoko started laughing. Turning her eyes up to Aratani, who looked just as “flabbergasted” as he mentioned he was (though he really appeared as calm and confident as ever), the girl couldn’t hold her incredulity:

  “What kind of joke is this?”

  The man, smiling coolly, turned back to his computer while agreeing:

  “That was exactly what I thought when I received the contract.”

  “You told me in the messages yesterday it was a small show! How come you say a three thousand and two hundred people audience makes up for a small show?!”

  Looking a little confused, the man explained:

  “But I already told Naoko-Chan about it when I said you needed ten show points to be able to proceed to the next class. Shows range from one to five stars. One star is called a “tiny” gig. Two stars is a “small” one and so on. That’s a small show because there are more than three thousand spectators and less than fifteen thousand. Still, it’s a two star show!” Looking back to his computer, he stated, “So as I was saying, I was surprised by that invitation. Especially because Naoko-Chan had clearly told me her friend said “a few” people. So also I made “a few” researches on my on about the name of the man who signed for the company. Before I go on, answer me a rhetorical question: does Naoko-Chan know the full name of your friend, Rin-San?”

  Naoko took a while to remember Rin’s family name, but ultimately said:

  “Uehara Rin. Why? You said it was a rhetorical question for what reason”

  Nodding, Aratani replied:

  “That’s correct, your friend is called Uehara Rin. She is registered in your fan club website, so I could check her information. Now have a look about what I found about the man who signed for the company, Uehara Akira. One of the names on the last page of the contract you have in your hands, if you care to check.”

  He turned the screen to Naoko. In it there was a list of division managers of a famous banking corporation, and the name of that man figured among it. Seeing Naoko was baffled, her producer facepalmed himself.

  “Do you remember those two hundred or so suit-clad people who mysteriously registered on your fan-page all at once a few weeks ago? I checked out the date at which they subscribed, and they all did so a few hours later, or one or two days after your friend, Rin-San, signed as your fan. I checked some names, and those people in suits are all employees of the biggest banking corporation in Japan, which just so happens to be the company signing this contract. Also, “curiously”, the same company where her father works as a division manager, a position second only to the directors of the corporation. Furthermore, Uehara Akira is, as far as I could get, some sort of financial division manager, meaning he’s the man who accounts for the bank’s profits and expenditures. Thus, he answers for the jobs of more than one hundred thousand people over dozens of countries and, of course, for the core business of a bank. So… yeah. To mistake an idol band’s name for a Russian weapon is one thing, but to be unaware of possibly obvious facts about her own friend is… daunting, to say the least. Congratulations, I’ll award you the trophy of “most clueless person I’ve ever met”, Naoko-Chan. Don’t be humble, you deserve it.”

  The girl was so staggered she didn’t even slap her producer’s arm for him being ironic. Amazed, Naoko recalled:

  “If Rin is the daughter of… wait, is she rich?! She doesn’t look like it! I swear! I’m not clueless, stupid Produ-San! I’ll introduce you to her today if I can! There was no way I’d know it just by looking at her, and I’m sure you won’t be able to tell she’s rich too! Thought… now that I think about it, that’d explain how she had a piano in her house.” Thinking about it, she added gradually, “And a private piano teacher… Oh, yeah, and… the others, because she also mentioned currently having seven private teachers that explain her things she’d yet to study on school,” She scratched her head. Seeing Aratani stared her with a very unimpressed face, Naoko explained, “But it’s not like all of her teacher teach her things about school! Every year she has one who…” Naoko stopped talking for a moment, once she realized what she was about to say, “…Every year Rin-Chan can choose a subject of her choice to study. Psychology, Philosophy, German, French… But I thought it was just because her family was so strict about her! Like, her father didn’t allow Rin-Chan to come with… Ah, I get it now why her father didn’t allow her to come with us to any show before he know us… So, where was I? German, French… Oh, right! She was also fluent in English, as I could see from the speedrun videos I showed her, but that’s another subject. Erm…” Giving up, the girl nodded, “Okay, Produ-San wins. I’m slightly clueless. I could’ve noticed it sooner if I had stopped to think a little about it… Though I still maintain she doesn’t look remotely like a rich girl…”

  Sighing, Aratani replied:

  “Now that you told me all those things I was going to tease you asking how many people you know that has a piano, speaks German, English and French and has seven private teachers, but I’ll hold of my judgment until I meet your friend. I’d like to remind you that your school was created for the elite, and though certainly not everyone there is rich, many are. Even for a non-rich person, like maybe Shiori-San, her family is still probably making many sacrifices so she can study at such a prestigious institute. This might tell you something about your schoolmates. Anyway, let me explain you about one thing on the show tonight: it’s certainly not a Dark-class idol show. Naoko-Chan will be out of her league there, so don’t feel bad, okay? Judging by the amazing payment I believe the audition was opened for Intermediate League idols. I’ll be very surprised if the biggest banking corporation of the country auditioned for Minor League idols.”

  “What about Major League ones?” Naoko inquired, though Aratani shook his head negatively and explained, “Major League idols seldom accept such invitations. To them a show for three thousand spectators who aren’t even fans is extremely underwhelming. But Intermediate League idols exist for this purpose, I think. Anyway, since it’s technically an Intermediate League show, you’ll probably have access to a private dressing room along with the communal one. Once your presentation is over please refrain from changing back to your everyday clothes until the show is over, a little before eleven p.m., alright? I’ll see if you can hang around, but you’ll probably be required to stay inside the dressing rooms. Maybe it’ll be okay to be right outside it, but close to the door, if you stay close to your friend Rin-San since no one will be crazy to tell the daughter of the man who hired that show that she was breaking small rules. Also, since it’ll be kind of late, I’ll personally drive you and Shiori-Chan back home once it’s over.” He looked back to the door, “Speaking about Shiori-San, can Naoko-Chan please read and sign your contract and call your friend in? I suspect we already made her wait a lot.”

  Turning her face back to the contract, Naoko reread it quickly just to be sure there was nothing wrong and signed it. That alone was already more than what she’d amassed during the entirety of April, so the month of May was already well out of the red right on its second day. When she finally walked to the door and called Shiori, the timid girl looked troubled. Shyly, she called Naoko outside and, preoccupied, apologized in whispers:

  “Ah, Naoko-Chan… I… I’m deeply sorry!” Standing up and bowing, she continued to say in hush sounds, “ I-I
’m… sorry for… for taking so… much money away from your agency! I’m extremely ashamed of being paid so much for essentially working half an hour! I’m sorry! You and Aratani-San are far too generous, I-I can’t accept so much! It… maybe Naoko-Chan or Aratani-San will need it! But I… I… don’t know how to… say it to your producer. Can… Naoko-Chan help me with it?”

  Shocked, Naoko almost laughed. Only then she comprehended just how absurd the situation was. Sixty thousand Yen was really a lot, especially for half an hour of work and two hours idling, but Naoko had also signed a five million Yen contract to do basically the same thing. Of course, eighty-five percent of this amount would be pocketed by her agency, but fifteen percent of it still meant seventy-five grand. Basically, it was paid for her to sing and dance for the same thirty minutes or so. It was such an insane sum that the first thing that came to her mind was that it was too good to be true.

  Something was certainly not right there. Though her contract had nothing odd, she feared about being fooled somehow, and this time it’d not be just her who could fall for a trick, but Shiori too. Still, Aratani sent to Naoko’s e-mail the scanned files of every contract she had signed so far. Though the girl had never paid too much attention to it, that could be used as proof if anything wrong happened, couldn’t it? Aratani knew about laws, so he’d probably not mess it up. It either was a fake pile of documents that meant nothing to him, or the man was as honest as she came to believe.

  While she was worried about Shiori’s payment, she noticed her concerned face was distressing her timid friend even more. Snapping out of her troubled state, Naoko smiled radiantly. Pinching Shiori’s cheeks she reassured her of a few things she wasn’t even sure herself:

  “Aw, don’t look at me with those wide-open eyes! It’s just too tempting to pinch your cute face! Shiori-Chan worries too much! You deserve every bit of money you’re receiving! This is an idol business, for crying out loud! Shiori-Chan is not working at a grocery store, the idol industry involves a lot of money! Also, your photos and whatever videos you can make of me will be the main way people outside shows currently have of knowing me and maybe becoming my fans! It’s very important! Also, more fans means more money to my agency, so it’s not like you’re taking money away from us, your work can easily pay off tenfold in the long run! Don’t worry, Shiori-Chan, my producer knows what he’s doing. Now start smiling because otherwise you’ll make me feel bad and I’ll have a harder time cheering up the audience! I need your support just as much as your photos!”

  Though continuing to look overawed and worried, the small and shy girl forced herself to smile timidly.