Thanks again for all the comments and for just reading! Lol, I'm basically just writing this as I go along with just certain characters stuck in a certain situation... I suppose if anything what I think of most when writing about Berryz are teen dramas... lol... Anyway, it appears a bit of plot has actually taken shape in this chapter. I hope you enjoy!Chapter 2Miyabi almost jogged after she jumped off the bus and headed with the rest of the girls toward the backstage entrance of Saitama Super Arena. The day was finally here… She was excited, but for some reason didn’t feel as exhilarated as she thought she would. This
was their biggest concert ever, after all.
“It feels like every other concert I’ve been to…” Yurina said from behind her, apparently echoing her thoughts. Apparently she wasn’t the only one thinking that too, as some of the other girls nodded in agreement. Chinami yawned.
It was still fairly early – they arrived at the arena even before noon for a bit of practice. Apparently she didn’t sleep too well last night either. Well, at least Miyabi eventually slept well. Quite well… She tried to catch the eyes of one of the other girls, but she was just excitedly looking around at the sights of the arena. Miyabi decided to do the same, but there really wasn’t much to see. They were in a tightly cordoned off unloading area into the back stage. She could hear screaming fans beyond, and imagined that all the publicity they were getting caused security to be extra tight. For a moment she felt in awe that all this effort was being put in because of them… just herself and her friends.
Well, some closer than others. Momoko came up to Miyabi as her eyes lingered on Saki a moment. “At least you’re a well-dressed dog today,” the girl whispered to where likely only she could hear. “Still, you should be more cautious…” The other girl glanced over at Saki as well for a moment before slowly parting from Miyabi’s ear. Miyabi looked down, blushing slightly. She honestly had no clue
what the girl was talking about.
After walking just a few more steps with her head down, she heard girls in front of her start to giggle and chant
“Yoroshiku onegaishimasu!!” one after the other. Her attention suddenly caught, she looked up to see the expected camera pointed toward them, and she was about to walk into its path. She mentally berated herself for a split second. She almost missed it!
“Yoroshiku onegaishimasu!!!” she crowed, jumping into its view and flashing peace signs. “We’re at Saitama Super Arena! Yay!!!”
Yurina and Risako squeezed in around her and flashed the signs themselves. “Yay!” They cheered in unison. Risako turned to look at the two beside her.
“You know,” Risako said eagerly. “I heard that I’m the youngest girl ever to perform here! Isn’t that so exciting! I must be so awesome.” She then adopted one of her faraway looks and stared at something beyond both them and the camera.
“Uh huh,” Yurina quipped. “I dunno if I’d bet on that. You see… Risako…? Risako!”
Risako snapped out of whatever world she had found herself in and looked at the slightly older girl with wide eyes. “What? Oh. Does my hair look all right?” she asked, primping her baby-like curls slightly.
“Hey you,” Miyabi said, poking her in the stomach. “Did you notice? The camera’s still here… and you’re acting like an idiot!”
Risako stared at Miyabi with a slight blush after the poke. When she was called an idiot though, her mouth turned down in one of her cute pouty looks before realizing the rest Miyabi told her. Then, she turned back to the camera and her pouty look changed slightly into a smile – though still keeping the ineffable poutiness – and tilted her head slightly. She didn’t say a word though, just stared back into the camera while existing in the world that apparently only the two of them shared.
Ineffable. Miyabi liked that word. She didn’t really know what it meant, but she heard it in some musical play that she can’t remember anything other than it being the cutest thing ever. Still it was cool.
Effable. Ineffable.Suddenly, all three of them felt themselves pulled forward toward the doors again. They all stumbled, though amazingly Yurina gained her composure quickest. For being so tall and gangly and looking well… just so unsophisticated and not fluid when she moved, she showed surprising agility. Sometimes. Of course, she was nothing like Miyabi herself.
“All right you three camera hogs. There will be a dozen more inside I’m sure. Anyway, we need to get in there already! First rehearsal starts in fifteen minutes!” The three girls all whined at their captain, standing there looking at them with fists on her hips like a little pixie. A cute pixie too, Miyabi added inside her own head. Maasa and Momoko stood at her sides. Apparently they were responsible for dragging the reluctant three away from their dearest friend of all. Then Miyabi caught something from the corner of her eye beyond the three girls facing them. Chinami walked straight into a wall a meter to the side of the door and fell flat on her back spread-eagled as if she was trying to do a snow angel on the pavement. She heard herself giggle, but she wasn’t the only one. The girls to either side of her joined in with snickers of their own. Captain turned around and sighed when she saw the prostrate girl.
“Toku...
san!” she barked, walking up right to the girl and looking down into her face. Miyabi walked a few steps closer as well and could see that the girl’s eyes were still open, but she looked in a daze as if she had no clue where she was. “I know you like walls, but it would be a lot easier if you just used the door over there.” She pointed to emphasize the
there she meant.
“It attacked me out of nowhere,” she said in a faint voice. “I was just walking along and…” Her eyes began moving to the left and right. “…and…” Without further warning, she lurched up and grabbed onto Saki’s legs, causing their owner to sway back and forth trying desperately to keep her balance. “Oh Captain, my Captain!
IT’S COMING FOR MEEE!!!” The girl almost looked as if she was going to cry.
Saki crossed both her hands on top of the girls head and tried to push her down, but to no avail. The girl had quite a death grip going there. Miyabi was impressed. She looked over at Risako, who caught her glance and rolled her eyes.
“The only… urghh… thing that’s coming for you is my boot if you keep this up…” She tried pulling her foot up out of the girl’s grasp, but it only resulted in her boot staying in one spot as her foot slid up inside it.
“Looks like your boot has deserted you there, Captain,” said a grinning Yurina, her hand by her mouth trying to stifle more giggles.
Saki raised her head and gave them a poisonous look. “I don’t suppose any of you would care to
help your Captain,” she nearly growled through gritted teeth.
“Why would we do that?” Maasa said, innocently blinking her eyelashes. “You look like you have it quite under control.” With that, she sauntered off toward the door, Momoko in tow clearly disapproving of the childishness of the whole exchange. Acting before thinking again, Miyabi grabbed the arms of the two girls beside her and ran off to the door as well, dragging them behind.
As they passed by Maa and Momo, they heard gruff yelling from where they just were. “Hey! You guys can’t just leave me here! If I have to, I’ll come in there after you bare-footed!!”
“Sorry!” Miyabi shouted behind her shoulder before degenerating into the giggling the girls she was dragging fell into again at the same time. Soon, they were safely inside and could barely hear the yells from behind.
“Whew, that was close,” Miyabi said as she released her holds on them and started walking nonchalantly down the hall. Crew workers ran back and forth hardly sparing them glances.
Risako soon came up next to her breathing heavily, followed quickly by Yurina. She supposed they lost the two older girls along the way. She cast a glance the youngest girl’s way. “You’re so out of shape, you know. You’re not gonna die of a heart attack on stage today, are you?”
Risako scrunched up her face in a glare back. “You’re so mean. I’m too young for a heart attack anyway. You’re the one that’s gonna die, you old maid… ouch!!”
Miyabi rubbed her knuckles. Dang that girl’s arm was hard. Of course, she knew exactly what kind of shape Risako was in… “So anyway, do you see any cameras?”
“Nope,” Yurina said, her head swiveling as she scanned the halls. “There sure are a lot of people running around though.” She stopped, and Miyabi and Risako caught the drift and did the same, though Risako was mostly just giving Miyabi pouting glares. “By the way… Do you have any idea where we’re going?”
Miyabi looked around. They’d become so used to their normal concert venues she’d become complacent about finding her way around here, even though the place was unfamiliar. “Um…”
“This way,” Risako said firmly, pulling Miyabi along but leaving Yurina to fend for herself.
“Are you sure?” asked Miyabi as she jumped to keep up.
“Yes,” Risako responded.
“Have you ever been here before?”
“No.”
Miyabi didn’t respond after that. When a spell like this came over Risako, it was best to just go along with her. It defied explanation, but most of the time she ended up being right about whatever the subject was. Miyabi supposed she didn’t really care whether they were going the right way anyway. She looked around at the people rushing around them. There certainly
were a lot of people here. It was interesting that none of them really seemed to be paying them any mind. They were the ones all the commotion was about, after all! She noticed that one man who looked like he was just out of college did glance at them, and she blinked for a second before he passed. Until he saw her looking, was he
frowning at them?
“Here we are,” Risako pronounced suddenly. Miyabi, still distracted by what she had just seen with her face to the side, walked into the girl in front of her and quickly knew nothing but a tangle of arms and legs.
“Yoroshiku onegaishimasu!” she heard a girl chirp cheerily from behind. “I’m Yurina Kumai! The girls on the floor here are Sugaya-san and Natsuyaki-san. You can judge for yourself what they’re doing.” Miyabi scrambled amidst the limbs below her, producing grunts from within them, trying to get up to defend herself. “And here, Natsuyaki-san, who is starting high school this spring, is attempting to molest the girl who is barely even a junior high student…’
Finally gaining her feet, Miyabi jumped up in front of the camera that had appeared out of nowhere and pushed Yurina out of the way. “Don’t listen to Kuma-chan there,” she said, waving her hand in front of her face, “I was doing absolutely nothing of the sort! I am just the innocent yet extremely talented…” She wasn’t able to finish what she was trying to say except with a yelp as the two girls squeezed around her sticking their faces into the camera’s view as well.
“Iya!” she shouted finally, diving out from between them and grabbing the camera from a young man who, once she took it, quickly scampered down the hall. She turned the camera to face her and smiled into it. “As I was saying, I am the… hey!”
The camera was now wrenched from
her grasp and held up above her to where she couldn’t get at it, pointing down at a smiling Kumai. “Miya is our resident lunatic, you see. She goes around molesting young girls and then starts to spout her narcissistic views for the world to see and hear…”
Miyabi reached for the camera again, determined to claim it for good this time, but hands pulled her back and quickly down the hall as Yurina continued with her oblivious monologue.
“Hey…” she started to demand, before she caught a glance of the face of the girl who was shepherding her. Moist eyes greeted her, and she was so stunned for a moment she didn’t know what to say.
“Miya, please stop it. The way you’re acting is so unfair… Why do you have to do this?” The two girls now walked briskly down the hall, toward a destination Miyabi wondered if the other girl even knew.
“Rii-chan, what… are you talking about?”
The other girl looked back forward and down, shaking her head. “And you don’t even know… you had to do it
now…” Miyabi wasn’t sure those two fragments were the same thought. Presently the other girl stopped in front of a door and hesitated a moment.
“Risako, I…”
“Here,” she said, opening the door. Miyabi just stared beyond it. “This is your dressing room. You’d better start getting ready!” With that, she pushed Miyabi into the room and shut the door swiftly behind her.
Miyabi, stunned for the moment, looked around the room. It… had the look of a regular dressing room. She glanced over at the closet and noticed dresses that were the color she was supposed to be wearing tonight. So the girl did know after all… The girl…
Spinning around, she swung the door open and looked desperately either way down the hall, but all she saw was a crewman or two scurrying along his way. She backed once again into the room and slowly shut the door, falling back against it with a sigh until she plopped to the floor. It sure wasn’t getting any easier. She was so confused right now she didn’t even know what to think. She wondered if Kuma-chan was still talking into that camera… This seemed like it would be quite a day.