The Kid and IPerhaps, Reina mused, the only good thing about this whole affair was the opportunity to spite Sayu with something she couldn't have.
It was
almost worth the annoyance of gaining a second shadow half the time whenever she was out for work. To be fair, her new 'stalker' was quiet and unobtrusive -- her manager got in the way more than the girl did. Though, she would have preferred for the brat to walk a little less quietly. It made her nervous to never know exactly where she was going to pop up.
Reina had not known of Sayu's interest in her protege until
after the fact, of course. As matter of course, she paid little attention to what her dear cousin did on her own time. Thus it had been with complete surprise when the poison-tongued bunny barged in with all the subtlety of a typhoon and proceeded to mow down everything in her way -- particularly poor, hapless, Moriya for her part in masterminding Riho's apprenticeship to Reina.
For that matter, Reina wondered how chubby Sasaki had managed to avoid Hurricane Michishige. The man had an uncanny instinct for avoiding trouble. Couple that with a total lack of ambition, and you have a person happily entrenched in middle management with no prospects for furtherment. To each their own, Reina supposed. Not that she would be satisfied with being anything but the best.
"Otsukaresama!" Reina favored the staff around her with a practised smile. Years on the job made the response automatic. Out of the corner of her eye, she spotted her newly acquired shadow lurking by the production crew. The little group seemed to be huddling over a bunch of monitors, and Reina made an exasperated noise before heading over to collect the brat. She might not like having to babysit the girl, but she
did take her responsibilities seriously.
Drifting closer, Reina -- who was totally not sneaking -- wandered over with every intention of grabbing the kid by the collar and dragging her away. Nicely, of course. She didn't need to be seen to bully children in public. Bad for her reputation, you see.
"So what do you think of Tanaka-san? I hear you've been shadowing her." Crew Member A, as Reina mentally dubbed, asked a very quiet Riho. Reina, who had been on the verge on emerging from the shadows to snare her apprentice, decided to stay there for a little while longer to observe the situation. Curiosity, you see, was ever a fault of hers.
"She's very good at what she does. I feel like I can learn a lot just by watching her." A careful, diplomatic answer if there was one. Reina gave the kid points for control, plus a few bonus ones for not showing a shred of emotion on her face. A poker face like that couldn't be taught, at least not easily. There was hope yet for the younger generation.
"That woman's always so standoffish though. I hear she has a fearsome temper," commented Crew Member B, who was editing the raw video they had taken earlier during the shoot.
"Really?" Riho was the picture of innocence. Reina silently applauded the act, while privately scheming how to discreetly get those idiots slandering her fired.
"Tanaka-san might look scary, but she's actually quite a nice person. She often worries about me." Riho followed up with the most sincere expression Reina had ever seen. Not bad for a damn brat, she admitted, though she wondered how deluded the girl could possibly be to interpret her worry as concern for her wellbeing. If anything, Reina just didn't want the kid fouling up on her watch and messing everything up. That did not equate as being nice. She was only nice to people she liked, and the brat had a long way to go to get there.
Though it was certainly no trouble pretending to be nice. The impression got her places, allowed her leverage with people she had no interest in, but had to flatter in order to get things done. Reina had little illusions about people, particular people in her line of work. She used them as ruthlessly as they would no doubt use her to advance themselves.
Yes, even that little kid she was supposed to be mentoring. It was no more than a residual instinct, but she felt the threat the girl represented. She was not getting any younger, and she knew that eventually someone younger and fresher would supersede her.
No doubt Sayu felt the same threat from younger stars, judging from how beautifully she denigrated them on national television for entertainment purposes. Reina knew her cousin well enough to tell when she really meant her insults, and there had definitely been more than a little truth in the things Sayu had been spouting on TV. Regardless of how ingeniously she dressed up her words, Reina recognized the genuine venom behind Sayu's lines.
We are family, after all. The thought was bitter on her lips. Reina was more straightforward in comparison. Her dislike was obvious, but she could endeavour to be polite for her own purposes. What she had no need for, she discarded. It was the only way not to get hurt by a world full of selfish pursuits.
"Tanaka-san?" Reina managed to not jump out of her skin, though she started visibly, her knuckles white on the tripod behind which she had been sheltering. Her scowl seemed only magnified by her ever-present sunglasses --- which was partially why she wore them to begin with.
"What?"
Damn that kid and her incredible ability to appear out of nowhere. Did she secretly have ninja skills? Never mind that the kid so often looked like a kitten, she often slipped around as quietly as a great cat on the prowl. Again, she ignored the obvious irony, since she had herself been accused of the same thing, once upon a time. Although she never actually sneaked as blatantly as the damn brat did.
"Moriya-san was looking for you." Riho, looking even smaller in her huge jacket, seemed to disappear beneath the fur trim of the collar. It was rare for Reina to be able to look down on people, literally speaking, and she relished being able to do so for once as she replied coolly.
"I'll be along. The woman acts like my mother." She paused, thinking over the statement, then amended. "No, like my nanny."
Her mother was a right force of nature. If anyone scared Reina, it was, without a doubt, the woman who bore her.
"Moriya-san can be a little...severe." Riho agreed after a moment's thought, watching Reina with curious eyes. Reina stared back, letting her shades slip off a little to expose the fact. Riho did not even flinch, but merely observed.
"You look tired, Tanaka-san."
Reina scoffed at that. Of course she looked tired. She had been up half the night filming for a movie, then had to wake up early for a meeting, and then now she was dragging around a whelp for a CM shooting. It helped that she had a few days off the next week, but next week couldn't come quickly enough. Being busy was a good thing though. It meant she was still in demand.
That was the reality of show business. You either worked yourself to death on fame, or starved to death without. It was thrilling, exhausting, fulfilling, and absolutely empty. But Reina had decided long ago that she would be famous, and by sheer dint of effort had reached this stage. She would not allow anything to discourage or pull her down, not even herself.
Perhaps that was why this girl, this Riho, got on her nerves so much. So much self assurance, the absolute conviction that she was exactly where she wanted to be, and the determination to rise to the very top --- all these things were familiar to Reina herself. She admired the spirit of youth, and despised it for its naivety. Yet, there was something about this girl, who did not shirk hard work and always observed so diligently at her side. This girl might just make it, given the right opportunities, Reina admitted to herself grudgingly. She was even kind of cute, and that definitely helped.
"Um, this is for you." Reina blinked once, twice, as her hands automatically received the shy offering from the kid. She tried to figure out what she had missed that Riho said prior, but found that she could remember nothing. "Mama said I should get you something, since I've been in your care for a while..." Riho fidgeted nervously and looked down at her shoes --- nice shoes that they were too, Reina observed offhandedly. Converse, always so timeless in design.
Reina looked into the neat package. Chocolate. Homemade too, it seemed. But more importantly, it was chocolate! Reina almost hugged the girl on impulse. She even managed to restrain the delighted squeak by disguising it as a cough.
"Thank you." She could get to like this kid. In this distance, she finally spotted a frantic Moriya who was all but turning over tables to look for her. Making a quick gesture at Riho to follow, Reina started over, but not without first sneaking a piece of the homemade chocolate to test the flavor.
A part of her had been anticipating something not so well made, some flaw to that otherwise flawless image that Wonderbrat was so effortlessly presenting. Unfortunately, that was not to be the case.
It was...good. Not as rich or sweet as the expensive chocolates that Reina so often bought for herself, but there was something nostalgic in that homey, down-to-earth taste. It made her feel better, even with the severe lack of sleep and irritation with the incompetent people she was forced to deal with on a daily basis.
Yeah, she could definitely grow to like this girl. Provided there was more chocolate. Yes.
Tanaka Reina was quite a simple girl, really. Too bad so few people realized this. Perhaps that was a good thing. No one needed to know that Tanaka-sama had a fatal weakness for chocolate. It was idol-like to have a sweet tooth, but to know the extent of her addiction...
Even better, this chocolate had
matcha flavoring.
Yup, she definitely liked the kid now.
=============================================================
This was difficult to write. Lol. I think I'm woefully out of practice. Sigh.
Topic: 私のアホ家族(My Stupid Family)[24/6 - Chapter 25: A Series of Unfortunate Events] (Read 93604 times)