CH: 10 Fateful roster, elevator and phone callsFate... some believe it's a cosmic power that affects every living thing in existence. Others, that it's a pathetic attempt to give a bigger meaning to coincidence.
-My Sister ‘Today just sucked’ Rika thought to herself as she softly rubbed her eye. ‘
Freaking people and their bad aim’ she saw an empty seat and walked as fast as she could to it.
‘Yatta’ she celebrated as the train moved.
“Sheesh” someone next to Rika spoke out loud. “I guess you weren’t faking about the eye thing when you screamed”
“Fujimoto!?!” Rika looked at the girl cycloptically.
“Shhhhiii” she grabbed Rika arm harshly “Shut up, don’t you have any discrestion?”
“Oh, sorry” Rika smiled sheepishly. “What are you doing here? This isn’t your usually train?” Rika whispered.
“No it’s not, I’m going to visit some relatives.”
“oohh” Rika nodded. They sat there in bored silence for a couple of minutes before Rika reattempted conversation. “Sooooo” Rika breathed. “Hows…um… Matsuura-san?”
“She’s fine. Messaged me today while we were filming. She was a little under the weather though” Fujimoto leaned back and closed her eyes. She wished the train would hurry to her destination.
“Under the weather you say” Rika sighed. “It seems everyone is under the weather lately, in some form or other.”
Miki snorted “Yeah, have to agree with you there.”
“Not to complain but lately, life sucks. Ai araba it’s alright… pft right!” Rika rolled her eyes. Miki turned her head and quizzically examined Rika amusingly.
“Someone’s negative today” Miki cocked her eyebrow. “What happened? They ran out of your favorite shade of lip gloss today?” she teased.
“Hah, if it were only that” Rika turned to look at Miki “How about you? Anything to be happy about? Or are you still moping?” Rika teased back.
“Well look at who has nails. Sharpen ones at that” Miki was shocked but impressed to see this side of Rika. She figured that after full days work and getting hit in the eye would probably be enough to bring the genki Rika down. “Well to be honest things are starting to look brighter” she smiled.
“Hmm, interesting” Rika breathed “I guess I’ll just have to blame it on you”
“what?!?” Miki looked at her baffled.
“You stole my happy” Rika smiled.
“Oh God, don’t start. I’ll make them stop the train” Miki shook her head. “The train” Miki shot up and gasped. “shit” she cussed. “I missed my stop” She dropped back down to her seat. “My mothers gonna kill me” she rested her chin on her hand. “Oh well”
“Don’t worry about it, if you call her I’m sure she’ll understand” Rika tried to be helpful.
“It’s okay, I told her I didn’t want to go in the first place. I’ll just pretend I didn’t go on purpose. The question now is what am I going to do” Miki’s eyes darted back and forth. “Ishikawa” Miki slightly tilted her so that she had Rika in her sight.
“Hm?”
“Do you have anything to do tonight?” Miki asked. Rika slowly turned her head.
“No” she said cautiously. “Why?” she asked even more cautiously.
“I have nothing to do for the next five hours, maybe you wanna go eat or something?” Miki asked nonchalantly.
“Suuurreee” Rika still found herself shocked at the sudden request. “Though, wouldn’t you prefer to hang out with Matsuura-san?” Rika questioned.
“Yup, I think I’d prefer to hang out with anyone besides you but beggars and can’t be choosers.” She smiled smugly at a slightly offended Rika.
“If I hadn’t already agreed to go I’d defiantly say no” She huffed.
“Aya is busy tonight, so is Yocchan” Rika tensed at the sound of Yossy’s name coming out of Miki’s mouth.
‘Since when are those to so close?’ she thought to herself.
“Plus I don’t think we’ve ever privately hung out” Miki stated.
“That’s because you don’t like me” Rika said.
“Well, you’re just not my type Ishikawa. I can’t handle you” that comment made Rika laugh.
“Handle me eh? You’re not the first to say that to me…. Doubt you’ll be the last” the train came to halt and ever one jerked back in place. “this is my stop, I hope you don’t mind but I need to pass by my house before we go out” Rika stated.
“Fine by me” Miki and Rika stood up and walked off the train.
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“So you want me to put them all in the team?” Tsunku lifted his gaze from the papers he was organizing.
“yes” Nakazawa nodded.
“I see, and why” he peered at her through is half-mooned glasses.
“Because” she sighed “you know why. I can feed you bullshit but I’m not in the mood to think up of idol benefits of having them all in the same team?” Nakazawa informed.
“I thought we spoke about this already” Tsunku shook his head disapprovingly.
“And I thought I told you what it thought about that” Yuko gave him a first class Yuko yankii glare.
Tsunku dropped everything that was in his hands and rubbed the back of his head “Let's come to some sort of agreement. If you convince Maki to do it I'll leave you incharge of the roster” Tsunku proposed.
"You are such a typical businessman" Yuko flipped out her cell phone, looked through her directory and called Goto.
“Ah Moshi Moshi?” she said through the Mic. “Yes it’s me” she smiled and looked at Tsunku triumphantly. “I’m fine fine. Goto I’m calling you to ask you a favor.” Tsunku looked at her suspiciously. “We’re going to have a futsal team and I want you in it. You think we can make this happen?” Yuko had a serious face for a few second before she broke out in a satisfying giggle.”Great! Okay, well I have to go now but I’ll call you later so we can chat for a bit. Ja nee~” and she clicked.
“I’ll announce the team the moment you give me the a roster” Tsunku went back to organizing his papers. Yuko stood up with a smile that couldn’t’ be wiped off. As she turned to leave Tsunku motioned to her once more.
“You can put whoever you want, but be warned if they suck they’re getting kicked off the team.”
“Lets do this then, I’ll give you a list of who I want in it and you just find a way to fit them in.”
“Being lazy I see” Tsunku laughed. He opened the left drawer of his desk and took a single sheet of paper. “these are the girls that have already volunteered for the idea of H!P futsal team.” Yuko walked back to his desk and took the sheet of paper.
“You were going to make me work twice as hard for nothing” she scanned over the paper.
“Pretty much, but then I remembered how you are that you might make things go slower. So before you delay me anymore I advised myself to show you the sheet. They play their first game in two and a half weeks at the upcoming sports fest this November."
“Good” the familiar evil grin reemerged on Yuko’s face. “Everyone I want is here except for three. Fujimoto, Ogawa and Goto.”
“You already convinced Goto” Tsunku said in slight disbelief at how easy it was for Nakazawa to do so.
“Yes I did… well I’m off to go talk to Ogawa. As the Americans say Tsunku…adios” and she finally walked out of his office. She walked into elevator and took advantage of solidarity and called back Goto. “told you” she laughed
“How do you know him so well?” Goto voiced in awe.
“Many years of working closely with him, now that I’m moving forward as planned… by the end of this week the bet should definitely be on.”
“Great, can’t wait to win” Goto exclaimed.
“hah, don’t know what makes you so sure you’ll win Maki but we’ll see”
“Speaking of the bet, do the others know that I know?” Goto asked.
“No they don’t. But if they ask I don’t plan on lying.” Yuko answered.
“hmm… wonder how they’d react” Maki thought out loud.
“Not sure, but I know how a certain lil first gen would react” Yuko teased
“She’d be really upset” Maki sighed
“Well you can’t blame Nacchi for being upset at anything Maki related”
“You just depressed me, I think I’m going to hang up now”
“Do what you want, I just called to thank you once more” Yuko explained.
“Before I go, who’s betting that I’ll win?”
“Kei is” Yuko answered.
“Out of all of them I have the best better” Maki smiled inwardly. “Alright, I’m leaving now. Ill talk to you later then”
“Ok, ja nee~” Yuko gave her salutation and hung up. As if by fate when the elevator reached the floor Yuko was aiming for the doors routinely opened and Abe Natsumi stood outside of them.
“Yuu-chan” Abe smiled at the happy coincidence.
“Nacchi” Yuko smiled back. “Going up?”
“Yes, you too?” Nacchin asked.
“No, actually leaving”
“oh” Nacchin nodded. Suddenly they heard footsteps running towards them.
“NACCHIN MATTE” Nono screamed as she rammed into her sempai.
"NONO!?!" The eldest of the H!P yankii's screeched. "How many times child! HOW MANY TIMES" Yuko was trying her hardest to not blow up… well at least not that much "Nono, do me a favor" She said through gritted teeth "If you plan on running make sure it's not in front of me and if you plan on crashing with someone because you can't control the breaks of your body make sure it's not in front of me either" She violently exhaled and walked right out of the elevator, turning right as she hit the fork in the hallway.
"Don't cry" Abe patted the girl on the back
"I-I-I" she gasped through each repetition "didn't mean to run" she finally let out.
"S'okay" Abe nodded. She hugged the girl and walked her into the open elevator. "Okay, now that we're alone, tell me what you wanted to tell me" at the sound of this Nono immediately remembered what she wanted to talk about with Abe.
"Nacchi" Nono began "Where's the emergency stop of the elevator?" she smiled as innocently as she could and attempted to make her eyes glisten.
"Oh well if you pull that little door there you'll spot a big red button that says 'emergency sto – NONO WHAT DID YOU DO?" the elevator abruptly haulted. Nono closed the door and stared at Abe point blank.
"What's this?" she said in a low voice, pushing the paper into Abe's face. The feeling of something cold and slimy crawled slowly but surely up Abe's back.
"Th-That is-Where did you get that from" Abe tried to pull off the innocent act.
"Don't try and be cute" Nono smiled "I know everything there is about being cute"
"Nono, I have no idea what that is" she changed her strategy, she's going with serious Abe now.
"Oh you don't" Nono looked convinced, that made Abe sigh with relief inwardly "Cause' is looks like the elder sisters like to do more than drinking when they go out" Nono tricked Abe "To be more specific it looks like a bet and somehow if revolves around Yossy, Gocchin, Miki-chan, Rika and Mako-chan. You even have notes that talk about Ayaya and Ayaka-san"
They had been found out and not by the best candidate either. Nacchi was at a loss for words and couldn't muster up enough logical thinking to say something back at her kohai. Nono's phone began to ring…
"You there, okay. Is it empty?" Nono asked the mysterious person on the phone "Fine, did you secure the private room then?... You did! Good, we'll be there in a moment or two" she hung up the phone, walked up to the tiny door and pressed the green button that apparently got everything moving again. Suddenly the elevator doors slid away from each other and a standing Aibon was revealed to be waiting for them both.
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"You got dressed up" Miki looked up at Rika, who was wearing a pink long sleeve shirt and a jean mini skirt with pink sneakers on. She actually looked cute but Miki would never admit that.
"Where exactly are you girls planning on going?" Rika's Mother asked.
"I'm not sure, Fujimoto-san just invited me and I said yes" Rika shrugged. Rika's mother turn to look at Miki expectantly.
"Um… I was planning to go… eat some… Yakiniku" that was the only thing that could pop into her head at that moment. '
I need to lay off of the korean meat'
"Well, have fun and don't say out to late" Rika's mom sat on the couch and turned on the T.V. The girls said their good byes and walked out the door.
"We're not going to eat Yakiniku, you know?" Miki stated.
"Yeah, I figured" Rika laughed "So where are we going?"
"There's this place near Tokyo Tower. It's a 24 hour café, they have these great cakes there that I think you'll like"
"You think I'm too dressed up for it then?" Rika stopped and turned. Miki examined her closely and put on a disgusted face. "What!?! Is it that bad?" Rika was getting worried "That's it!" she declared "I need to go back home and change" She began to walk back home and Miki ran in front of her.
"I'm joking!" she managed to blurt out in between her fits of laughter. She extended her arms and caught Ishikawa in them. Immediately the laughing stopped. They both were struck by surprise at their current positions. Miki was literally hugging Rika and smiling to boot. They quickly stepped away from each other.
"Soo" Rika cleared her voice "do I look bad or not?" she pouted. Miki looked back at the latter and laughed once more.
"No" she finally said "You look… " Miki was internally battling with her evil and good side on whether she should compliment or tease, they came to a compromise. "How your fans would expect you to look" it seemed to work because Rika produced a smile.
"Iku?" Rika grabbed Miki's hand.
"Iku" Miki nodded and ripped her hand away from Rika's grasp. "Just don't grab my hand" Miki gave a small glare. Rika cutely saluted. The night continued beautifully and they both had unexpectedly enjoyed themselves very much.
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*knock knock knock*
"Who is it?" Mako asked from
"You're owner" Yuko joked from door.
"Nakazawa-sempai" Mako-chan turned to look at her. "So nice to see you"
"We just filmed a news segment yesterday" Yuko looked confused.
"Yeah but that was work, you have to see me. This outside of work, that means you want to see me." Mako looked happy with that thought. Yuko feeling a little guilty walked up to the kid and ruffled up her hair abit.
"Well, I'm here for business." And she crushed little Mako's fantasy. "I was asked by tsunku to round up people he's considered to be good players for the futsal team he's making."
"Oh" Mako pouted. "and what's that got to do with me?"
"Well, I'm here to beg you to join the team, except I won't do any begging" Nakazawa grinned.
"I'm not joining" Mako said flatly. Yuko's eyes widen, she wasn't used to hearing no. Especially from a junior.
"What do you mean no?" she asked in the sweetest voice she could produce.
"I'm not really into sports" Mako said matter-of-factly.
"Okay Ogawa…" Yuko's voice return to normal "I'll do you a deal, he wants you in and it's my job to get you in. Join the team for a while and if you don't like it leave. A lot of members are in it… like Konkon, Nono, Goto, Rika, Ayumi, Ayaya ect." She named them all off top of her head.
"Nope, I'm just not interested" Mako was bravely defying.
Yuko realized she had no other alternative "Ogawa, please… please join the team" Yuko begged, that was Mako's cue. She stood up and looked down at Yuko; she warmly smiled.
"I'll join just because you begged" Nakazawa went into shock.
"I… didn't-" Nakazawa's phone rudely interrupted her in mid sentence. "Excuse me" she said. She took out her phone from her back pocket and flipped it open. It was a text message from Abe it stated 'Yu-chan plz come meet me in the 2nd conference room. I need to talk to you ASAP very URGENT'
"Is everything okay?" Mako asked.
"Yeah, something urgent just came up." She stood up from her the chair "Just to confirm, you are in right?"
"Hai~" Mako confirmed. Yuko once again ruffle her hair.
"And if you tell anyone about this you won't have a job to come to anymore, I'll be emailing you your training routine" and Yuko walked out the room.
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"Ano… Ai-chan" Gaki called from her side of the dressing Room
"Nani?" she called back.
"Do you really find it wrong that Yoshizawa-san and Matsuura-san were together?"
"Yes" she said confidently. Gaki was fully dressed now and stepped out from behind the curtain.
"What bothers you so much about it?" Gaki asked. She heard Ai sigh in frustration.
"Is that what's been bothering you" Ai busted out from behind the curtain semi-nude. Gaki gawked at her momentarily but quickly adverted her gaze.
"Ai-chan could you please put on more clothes besides your undergarments?" Gaki ears were reddening.
"What's the big deal we change in front of each other and everyone all the time" Ai placed a hand on her hip.
"Ye-yeah but" Gaki spotted a random yukata laying around "oh thank Kami-sama" she said as she rushed over and grabbed the yukata. "Put this on so we can speak properly" she said still refusing to look at Ai directly. Ai grabbed the yukata and threw it over her shoulder, she walked directly infront of Gaki and grabbed her face.
"Listen Mayuge beam… it's. no. big. Deal." Ai-chan was tired and annoyed and wanted to get things straighten out. "I find the fact of our so-called sempais behaving so disorderly and unprofessional wrong. They should are the example and I don't feel they are successfully making one." Gaki felt a rush of electricity rush up and down her body. She liked this attitude Ai-chan had, so confident and sure of herself.
"So if Yoshizawa-san was not under contract would you still feel the same?" Gaki snapped out of her Ai daze.
"No, not really. Are we fine now?" Ai answered. It wasn't the answer she was looking for but it would have to do.
"One more thing" Gaki grabbed Ai's hands that were still on her face "for the love of Kami-sama put some clothes on woman" Ai finally looked down at herself and became very self conscience. She ran back behind the curtain and apologized several times to Gaki. Though Gaki found that aggressive side Ai very captivating, it was the normal Ai that she had grown to truly love.
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"Yuchan!" Kei said pleasantly.
"Hey Kei" Yuko stepped into the elevator. "Look what I got here" she gave Kei the list.
"You convinced him?" Kei said pleasantly shocked. "What was the catch?" she cocked her eyebrow suspiciously.
"Convince your bet to join the team"
"Sou ka" Kei nodded. The doors of the elevator sprang to life and they both exited the hollow box.
"Where are you due?" Yuko asked at the sudden coincidence.
"Oh Nacchi sent me a text saying she wanted to meet up with me"
"Uso" Yuko said a little to loudly "She texted me too. Must be important" they reached the room and opened the door. "Why is it so dark in he- AHHH" Yuko and Kei screamed as they felt two small hands grab and pull them into the dark room.
"Nani" Kei asked into the darkness. They heard the door get locked and then someone turned on the lights. Yuko took out her small flask from her back pocket and took a swig at the vodka in it, this was to much for her.
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A/n: sorry for the delay guys ^^;; promise i'll never wait this long again. Next chapter is half way done so it'll be up soon
, hope you enjoyed this ch as much as i did
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Topic: Tears, Kisses, Cowards and The Brave (CH: 14 OBSERVATION) (Read 43397 times)