Ehhhh, I was disturbed when I wrote the above.
Nothing new there...
Anyway, something cute to compensate the mental trauma.
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StutterAnother concert over. A stream of tired yet pumped up girls streamed through the narrow hallways, all giggly and chatty. Adrenaline was in the air, practically electrifying the atmosphere around them. As it always did after a successful concert.
They split, as always, flowing into separate streams heading into adjoining dressing rooms. There never was enough space for 9 girls and all their things in one room, so they had to be placed in separate rooms. Of course, that didn't prevent the girls from migrating into each other's dressing rooms like a flock of ducks in spring, be it to borrow accessories or just to talk nonsense. They
were pretty close knit.
For some reason or other, the same few people always got sorted into the same group. The first time it was assigned, and the next few times as well; until it sort of became more of a habit to just separate themselves that way whenever they had different dressing rooms. Then again, since nothing was stopping them from dropping by the other room, it didn't really change anything.
There were just four in this one room, since they were an uneven number. But it was soon to be an even number, and eventually it would be 4 each to a room. No one there mentioned the fact though, especially since the graduating member was with them.
"Ah that was a great concert!" Reina pumped her fists in the air, stretching with the motion. Koharu was practically bouncing from the excess of adrenaline, but she seemed more subdued than usual. Since this
was her graduation tour, it wasn't so surprising to have her worry surface from underneath her cheerful mask.
"But, Ai-chan did it again, ne?" Aika pointed out with a wink and a grin, nudging said leader in the side before scooting away out of reach. Ai pouted, huffing a little indignantly.
"Well I don't do it on purpose!" But her defensive tone didn't hide the fond smile directed at Aika for having called her "Ai-chan" instead of Takahashi-san. Her little project to brainwash, um,
educate all of Hello! Project to address her informally was finally making some progress.
"Well if you did it on purpose, it wouldn't be called
fumbling with your words." Reina added, high-fiving the youngest member of the group as she did.
"Maybe Ai-chan should just make that her charm point." Koharu piped up, joining in the fun. The yankii and her disciple (?) laughed even harder. Reina spluttered in between fits of laughter.
"At least you'll have an excuse to do it then!"
"Mou..." Ai grumbled, amused yet annoyed at the same time. Turning away from the others, she started removing bits and pieces of her stage costume, while digging around in her bags for her casual clothes.
The conversation moved on swiftly. Reina liked to talk, and Koharu was always loud. Aika had faded back quietly again, only joining in when she felt like it. Ai, as always, kept to herself. Depending on the topic, she could probably join in as well, but she wasn't feeling quite up to it at the moment.
The concert was great, as Reina had put it earlier. Being strict with herself though, Ai knew that she wasn't fully satisfied with it. In addition to having to ward off Sayu's
affectionate attacks (which were fast becoming a regular occurrence), Ai had found herself stumbling over her lines a lot.
That bothered her. Even though she was outwardly serene and quiet, inside she was mentally reviewing all the mistakes she had made, as well as the other dissatisfactory parts. She would probably review it closer after the staff passed her a copy of the recording for today.
All members received their own tapes after performances, stuff that was never available for the public. It allowed them to pick through individual mistakes, review their own performance, and generally see themselves as the crowd perceived them, in order to improve.
What's wrong with me? I just can't get my lines out right. Ai frowned to herself, running her hands through her sodden hair to free the tangles in it. Behind her, Aika slipped out of the room with a sports bag over her shoulder, clearly heading to the showers. The yawn that had punctuated her announcement before leaving clearly told of the youngest girl's exhaustion. Nothing a good shower and rest couldn't cure though. The young recovered fast.
Deciding that what she really needed now was a good shower (since she was really sticky at the moment), Ai picked up her stuff and headed out, pausing only to calm an overly excited Koharu down from all that gesticulating while babbling. Reina caught her eye briefly, a narrow look that seemed oddly speculative before Ai turned away.
Staff members swarmed around the halls doing their usual thing. The girls might have the main part of their jobs done for the day, but for many of the backstage crew, the evening still had a long way to go before being finished. Not being able to help out much, Ai wisely stayed out of their way and nodded her acknowledgement often. She didn't want to seem unappreciative.
Truth to be told though, all these minor gestures were more of a habit than something done out of conscious consideration. One didn't stay in the industry for almost half her life without picking up a few things along the way. It didn't cost her to do those things, and it kept people happy. That was something she had learned from her senpais.
Not in any particular hurry herself, Ai wandered down the corridor at her own pace. There wasn't anything scheduled early next morning, so she didn't have to rush through everything here and head home for another nice long soak in the bathtub before going to bed.
Still lost in her own thoughts, Ai jumped when someone tapped her on the shoulder, letting out a shout bark of surprise. A girly giggle came back in response, and Reina popped out from behind.
"You
still have that manly scream..." Ai stuck her tongue out reflexively, slapping Reina on the shoulder for scaring her.
"So, what's up?" The younger girl fell into step with the leader, the two walking on in a comfortable atmosphere.
"Nothing really..." Ai deflected the question with her usual air, but was pinned back with another straightforward question from the blunt girl next to her.
"Really? You don't always get that funny look in your eye unless something's really bothering you."
Ai smiled wryly at that. Reina was always far more observant than anyone gave her credit for. Then again, for whatever reason, Reina had somehow always been able to tell when Ai was feeling irritable. Coupled with her distressing tendency to get to the point, the two girls had more than once gotten into shouting matches and/or gushy heart-to-heart talks in the past.
"Nothing you have to worry abet...I mean, about." Ai pouted at her own mistake again. She did tend to stumble over her words even in private...
Reina gave her another knowing look, but didn't press further, at least not directly. Just when Ai was thinking that she had gotten off the hook, Reina said quite casually.
"Gaki-san covered for you again earlier, didn't she?"
Ai stiffened slightly, a movement so minute that it would be otherwise unnoticeable, but not for Reina. That and Ai's forehead also wrinkled slightly at the thought, her nose scrunching up.
"Ha! I knew it bothered you!" Reina declared triumphantly. Ai puffed out her cheeks, exhaling slowly as they returned to normal size. "It doesn't!"
"Oh really?" Reina continued on with a flippant tone. "So you don't mind that Gaki-san gets more of the closing lines to every single group MC, that she covers for you when you slip up, and is acting more like a leader than you in public..."
"Shut up!" Ai snapped without thinking, then slapped one hand over her mouth. Reina didn't seem affected by the outburst. Instead, she seemed rather smug about it.
"See, I told you it bothers you!"
"It doesn't!" Ai insisted stubbornly. "I was just...upset about messing up my own lines, that's all."
"That's not all there is to it, and you know it." Reina prodded her accusingly in the shoulder. "Don't think I don't know how you really think,
leader."
"Don't just go around assuming you know everything about me!" Ai snapped back hotly, stopping in the middle of the hallway, hands on her hips. "This is my problem, it has nothing to do with Risa!"
"Of course it has nothing to do with
Risa." Reina rolled her eyes. "But it has everything to do with how
subleader is doing everything for you, and you hate it." Reina gave Ai a piercing look.
"Don't lie to me, we all know how seriously you take this whole leader business."
Ai snorted. "Says the one who so desperately wanted to be leader herself."
Reina smirked. "That's
my problem, Ai-chan. And we're talking about you here, so don't change the subject."
"Urk." Reina shot her another smug look.
"You can't win with me, not when I'm right."
Ai muttered mutinously for a few moments. "Can't we just drop this?"
"No." At Ai's death glare, Reina went on.
"Look, I'm trying to help here. Let's get this out of your system
before you really have an epic fight with our beloved subleader. God knows that went
really well the last time you guys yelled at each other and refused to talk for a week."
Ai chewed on her lower lip sulkily, before giving in grudgingly. "Fine, I have a problem. So what?"
"Deal with it." As always, Reina's advice was brutally to the point. "So you fumble over your words, why let it bother you? I don't bother, and I mess up my intonation all the time."
"You do it on purpose sometimes!" Ai argued, and Reina grinned.
"Ya, and it's purty fun~" Despite herself, Ai laughed. Reina smiled, her softer side showing through on her face.
"Don't be so serious, Ai-chan. Just go with the flow. The fans don't mind it when you make little mistakes like that. I actually think they rather like it." Reina deadpanned at the end.
Ai smiled faintly. "Perhaps..."
"And as for Gaki-san, don't feel like she's taking over your share of the work. She's doing her job, you're doing yours. Remember, you da Leader!" Reina deliberately exaggerated the last bit, prompting another giggle from Ai.
"Thanks, Rei."
"No tru'ble!" Reina gave her a thumbs up, and they grinned at each other, before bursting out in laughter.
"Ai-chan! Tanakacchi! What's so funny?"
Speak of the devil, and she shall appear. Risa came up from behind, smiling broadly. Reina swiftly mimicked Ai's Fukui-ben as an answer, earning her another slap from the leader and a loud guffaw from the subleader.
As they headed towards the showers, Ai caught Reina's eye again. This time she smiled in thanks, letting Reina know her gratitude for that little pep talk. The answering glance carried little more than a shrug, letting her know that she would do that anytime.
Her smile was honest this time. It was good to have friends.
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Cute friendship fic, with a blink-and-you-miss-it TakaGaki in the background.
Topic: Estrea's Sandbox [6/4 - Treat] (Read 240468 times)