Here's Chapter 2!!! Are the updates fast enough?
This one's a little longer than chapter 1. Here you will meet the main characters and their personalities (kind of)
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Chapter 2 “Kameha, you’re hurting my hand.”
“Gome.”
The two friends were in the elevator of Down-Front Agency. Eri was to attend the meeting at Room 905 to be introduced to High-Queen and their staff. She was bobbing up and down while tapping her feet restlessly, much to Risa’s annoyance. Her grasp on Risa’s hand loosened a little bit but it was still firm enough that Risa couldn’t slip out of Eri’s clutches.
“Eri, you’ll be fine,” Risa reassured the nervous girl. “Sure, you’re new but they must have picked you because they like you, right? So don’t be such a nervous wreck and relax.”
“Okay, I’ll try,” Eri croaked.
“… Kameha, my hand.”
“Gome.”
The elevator door slid open and Eri started to shake as if she was in the North Pole. Risa just rolled her eyes and smiled at her friend, and led her out of the elevator and into the hallway. They walked for a while until the two girls reached Room 905.
“Ready?” Risa asked energetically.
“Not at all,” Eri answered, gulping.
“Great! Let’s go in!” Risa reached for the door handle and stopped when her hands hit the cold metal, making a face.
“Kameha, my hands.”
“Gome.”
The brunette finally opened the door to reveal a large room with a very long table and rows of chairs. In there was about ten people, two of them standing out like shining stars in the night sky. They all looked up when the door opened. The man seated at the center stood up and offered his hand to Eri.
“You must Kamei Eri-san. I am Tsunku, the producer,” the man said, smiling.
“Yes, I’m Kamei Eri.” The fashion expert smiled her beautiful smile, seemingly at ease. Risa let out a breath of relief, which attracted the man’s attention to her.
“And… may I ask who this is?”
“Oh, um, she’s my friend. She wanted to see what the DFA building was like, so I brought her along. Is it a problem?”
“Well, of course not. But I prefer if she waits outside the room during the meeting. I’d like to keep everything that goes on “behind-the-scenes” about High-Queen and the staff to be a top-secret, you see.”
That made Risa’s memories click. She was here to support Eri but also to get herself noticed! She started to scan the room and immediately picked out the two beautiful idols, seating by the table. The smaller girl had her curly highlighted brown hair partially tied up with a ribbon around it. Her eyes flickered towards Risa and Eri, then flickered back to her nails, which caught Risa in a startle because she was expecting Tanaka Reina to give off a smile or a wave with her usual “Yappii!” personality. But now, she seemed completely uninterested in the entire situation going on in front of her and her eyes were so cold. “
Maybe she really is a Yankii…” Risa thought.
The song writer then started to focus on the older girl next to her. After all, she was the leader. Takahashi Ai had her hair loose and slightly wavy and was wearing a white t-shirt with a blue denim jacket. When Risa decided to try to get her attention, she was surprised to find that the singer was already looking at her… no, she was
staring at her. Her eyes were opened wide and her mouth slightly ajar… an expression of shock or astonishment. Risa immediately got drawn into her eyes and couldn’t help but stare back…
“Risa, you’ll have to wait outside, I’m sorry.” A high-pitched voice cut off Risa’s thoughts.
“What, huh?”
“I said you’ll have to stay outside. Wait for me, okay?”
“Oh, okay.” As the door closed, Risa tried to lean in and catch a glimpse of the singer again, and found that the girl was still staring at her with a surprised expression. Finally, the door closed and Risa found herself staring at the dark wood as if she still could see those deep brown eyes.
“
Why was she looking at me like that?” Risa wondered. “
I guess I kind of got caught up in the staring thing too but...” Her cheeks suddenly started to feel hot as Risa imagined those deep brown eyes again.
** ** **
Eri quickly scanned the people in the room. They all seemed friendly enough. She suddenly felt really calm and belonging.
“Everyone, this is Kamei Eri-san. She’ll be working with all of you as High-Queen’s fashion coordinator since Tsuji-san retired to have a normal family life,” Tsunku stated.
“Kamei Eri desu. Yoroshiku onegaishimasu,” Eri greeted, bowing at a 90 degrees angle. The various other staff members started to get up to shake Eri’s hand; the make-up artist, the hair stylist, the nail artist… all the staff members relating to High-Queen’s appearance stood up to greet their new co-worker. But the most important girls didn’t stand up.
“Takahashi, Tanaka! Aren’t you going to greet your new fashion coordinator?” Tsunku said in a firm voice.
Reina lifted her head to look at Eri. There was nothing but coldness in Reina’s eyes, which made Eri shiver again.
“I hope you’re not as loud as Tsuji-san,” Reina warned. “Yoroshiku.”
“Tanaka, I’m glad that you at least act politely in public but I wish you’d be like that in reality as well,” Tsunku said. Reina glared up at Eri as though she didn’t hear her producer, then went back to touching her nails.
“Takahashi, are you okay? Takahashi!”
“Huh? What? Oh, sorry sir… I just spaced out for a moment. I really didn’t get enough sleep last night,” Ai answered, startled. She then composed herself and stood up to offer her hand to Eri. “Nice to meet you. I’m Takahashi Ai. Yoroshiku onegaishimasu.”
“Onegaishimasu,” Eri answered as she took Ai’s hand with a smile. “It’s an honor to be able to work with you, Takahashi-san.”
“No, the honor is all mine. I’ve looked at your designs, and I really like them. Please continue to create beautiful clothes for us, Kamei-san.”
“Now then, I believe you High-Queen girls have a recording scheduled, don’t you?” Tsunku reminded.
“Yes, we’re due at Song Fighter. So if you’ll excuse us… come on, Reina.”
** ** **
The door opened to let out the two idol singers. Risa immediately got up from her crouched position and met eyes with the leader of High-Queen as they walked past her. This time, Ai stared but her face showed no emotions. Risa stared back, completely forgetting her original plan to catch them and to offer them her songs. Only after the “ding” of the elevator was heard, Risa came back to her senses and ran across the hallway, ignoring Eri’s shouts behind her.
“Matte gudasai! Wait!”
But the elevator door closed a second too early for Risa. She started to hit the elevator button over and over to no avail. But she wasn’t about to give up. After all, another chance like this may never come.
She found the emergency stairs and ran down like a mad person, trying not to trip. She could still hear the echoes of Eri’s voice shouting her name, but she didn’t care. This was more than just giving High-Queen her songs. This was about making her dreams come true, about releasing her thoughts and feelings to the world. Feeling rushed, Risa started to skip three steps at a time while keeping balance by holding on to the rails. She had never ran so fast before.
After reaching the first floor, Risa flipped her head this way and that in an attempt to spot the two singers. It wasn’t that hard considering there was a mob of reporters surrounding them and they were the only ones wearing sunglasses indoors. She started to chase after them as the singers stepped outside. When she reached the crowd, Risa pushed and shoved her way through the cameras and the reporters to finally be within hearing distance of High-Queen. But Tanaka Reina was already inside the car as Takahashi Ai was about to get in. Risa shouted in her loudest voice.
“Takahashi Ai-san! Matte gudasai!”
At that moment, Ai stopped for a while, processing the unfamiliar voice in her head. She turned around to face the song writer, despite the cameras flashing all around her; an action she would usually not do. Risa talked fast.
“My name is Niigaki Risa, I’m a song writer, please sing my songs!” She shoved her notebook into Ai’s hands. “Please, at least take a look at them!” She had never felt more stupid in her entire life.
Risa tried to get eye contact but that wasn’t happening because the celebrity was wearing sunglasses. But Ai could still see her eyes, and all the sincerity and determination in them. She smiled a little.
“Okay,” Ai answered in an amused tone.
“Ai.” Her partner’s cold voice rang crystal clear despite the loud commotion.
“I’m coming.” Then, the idol immediately slid into the car, shut the door, and drove away. Risa stood at the same spot to stare at the back of the car as the crowd started to deform around her. Then, she felt a hand on her shoulders along with the sound of unsteady breathing.
“Risa-chan… what… why… you…” Eri huffed.
“I gave her my notebook,” Risa answered in a whisper. “I never planned to give her my entire notebook. My entire life and work is in that notebook. Do you know what this means, Kameha?”
“But I… You… Okay, what?”
“It means this is my first and last chance. If Takahashi Ai doesn’t like my songs, it means she doesn’t like a single thing in that notebook, a single thing in my entire work. And that means… I’m done for. I just risked everything I had on one person.”
** ** **
A pair of long, slender hands slid across the cover of the blue notebook. The owner of the hands smiled a little. She was quite amused. Nothing like this had ever happened before.
“Ai, why did you do that?” the younger girl beside her asked.
“Do what?”
“Listen to her. I know you’re the nice one in our group but I thought you were also the strictly professional one. Professional idols don’t stop in the middle of cameras and flashes to accept an amateur song writer’s request.”
“Well, I’m glad to see you asking me this because it means you’ve taken an interest in something.”
“I’m being serious.”
“I know. When are you not serious?”
“Do you know her?”
“No…” Her hands opened up to the first page in the notebook. The heading read, ‘
Shouganai Yume Oibito’. “At least… I think I don’t.”
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I hope that was a little bit more enjoyable than Chapter 1
There are so many characters that it still takes time for them to develop. More entrances of new characters in Chapter 3 and 4!!!
oh, and feel free to leave critiques on my writing. I take them fairly well...
... and they help me improve