Chapter 12
[A few days later]
I yawned. I must've yawned so wide the corners of my mouth nearly cracked. I tried to shake off this tiredness I was feeling. I got an extra nudge from Yossi who noticed me dozing off. She then kicked my foot indicating me to pay attention to the staff meeting that was in session. I hate it, it's boring me to death. Besides, subleaders don't do anything anyway. I already know what it's all about: dance lessons, recording, radio shows, futsal practice, Haromoni taping, PV taping, TV appearances, more dancing, more singing, more exciting, etc. Just a typical work schedule here in the studio. Nothing starts off the new year like busy busy busy! After the meeting was adjourned (finally!) Yossi and I were walking down the hall toward the lobby. She asks me about something that was discussed in the meeting but I just shrugged my shoulders.
"Weren't you paying attention at all during the meeting?" She frowns at me.
"A few things here and there." I replied apathetically.
Yossi frowns some more. "Come on, help me out a little. I hate this as much as you do."
I started to feel bad. "I'm sorry. It's just, I've been distracted lately."
And that's true, I've been distracted all because of Aya. It's been a week since she disappeared.
"Care to talk about it?" Yossi asks concernedly.
I shook my head. "It's ok."
We reached a large window and peered outside. It's raining but that doesn't deter us from our busy schedules. Yossi offers to get coffee so I agreed and off she went to get some. I stared out the window again, putting my hands inside my hoodie pockets. I felt the angular corner of my cellphone and fiddled with it inside my pocket. The past few days Aya has only texted me little messages saying that she's ok and for me not to worry. However, my replies to her messages would only bounce back to me stating the number cannot be contacted. Aya really made sure no one had any way of finding or contacting her. I don't understand why she had to go those lengths to do that, especially to me. Ever since that man called her on New Years I've been feeling uneasy. But I shook away those thoughts. She wouldn't. She'd never do that to me. But I couldn't help it, I was beginning to feel depressed. I miss her terribly. I suppose it's just the weather but lately I don't know. Just then Yossi returns with two cups of coffee in her hands.
"Thanks." I said, taking one of the cups.
"Ah, depressing, isn't it?" Yossi asks.
For a moment there I thought she read my thoughts until I realized she was talking about the weather. "Oh, yeah." I agreed, sipping my coffee through the hole on the lid. "And I forgot to bring an umbrella."
Yossi chuckles and tells me to follow her away from the gloomy scene. We talked about upcoming futsal practices and games. I was surprised that I was even paying attention this time when half of my mind was still wandering around about Aya. I guess the coffee woke up me a little. As we turned a corner I had bumped into someone nearly spilling my drink.
"Watch it!" I grunted.
"Sumimasen." A familiar raspy voice replied.
I looked up. "Oh, it's you. Umm..."
"Mitsui Aika." She finished for me.
"Oh yes, right." Hmm, that's not going to be a memorable name, I thought.
"Ah, Mitsui." Yossi greets her. "Don't worry about Fujimoto-san, she's just, she's just..."
"It's ok. That's just Fujimoto-san's way of showing affection." Aika manages to make her first joke about me.
Yossi snickers as she pats her on the head. "This kid's funny, huh?" She turns to me and sees me frowning. She points at my face. "Ah, see? I think she likes you, Mitsui."
They both laughed. I rolled my eyes at them. "Anyway," I interrupted. "What are you up to?"
"I was just about to go to dance and singing training." The Momoko clone replies.
"Ah, good." Says leader. "Have you found your way around the studio yet?"
"Hai, Kusumi-san has been showing me around." She replied.
"Wow, Koha-chan's already showing her senpai side huh?"
I rolled my eyes. "Pft. She just showed her around the building, there's freaking directories all over the place anyway."
Yossi glared at me then turns to Aika. "Well, we don't want to hold you up so we'll see you around."
"Hai! Thank you very much." She bows to Yossi then turns to me and bows also.
"Have fun, ne?" I added. Aika nodded and off she went. Yossi turns to me with that look on her face. "What?" I asked.
"You know what." She remarked. "Lighten up, ne? It's just a joke."
"She's annoying me already." I said as I took another sip of my coffee which suddenly felt lukewarm now. I grimaced at the taste and feel and decided it was time to throw it out. We passed by a trash bin where I blindly tossed the still full paper cup of coffee over my shoulder. I heard the hollow metallic clang from the bin and knew without looking that it had landed inside.
"How the hell did you do that?" Yossi gawked, looking inside the bin.
I didn't realize I had just done that in front of Yossi. I just shrugged, it was like second nature to me. Yossi then tries to attempt it as well but as I expected, she not only failed but now there's coffee splattered against the wall and on the floor. I cackled loudly, the sound resonating through the blue tinted hallway. I see Yossi cursing under her breath but she ends up laughing along.
"Ah, finally. A positive reaction from you." She smirks.
I stuck out my tongue and continued laughing till my sides began to hurt. Yossi excuses herself to find something or someone to clean up the mess. I told her I'll see her later and went off on my own. I walked further down the many halls of this studio. One could easily get lost here, hence the directories all over the place. It's like a maze sometimes. I kept snickering about the spilled coffee until I heard someone screeched out my name.
"Miki-sama!" It echoed loudly.
I winced. I can recognize that high pitched squeal anywhere. I turned around to face her. Yup, I was right. It was Eri. She seemed overly excited on this rainy day. She was waving something in her hand.
"Guess what?" She says.
"What?" I asked.
"Did you get the memo?"
"What memo?"
"Don't you check your mailbox at the office?"
"No." I answered. I hardly do. And if there's something I should know I just asked the others about it, just like I'm about to do now. "So, what is it?"
Eri flipped over the memo and showed it to me. I came in closer and read it out loud.
"Dear Kamei-san, We are pleased to inform you about your return role as Elizabeth Kyamei on the renewed news segment... Oh, you're back on the news?" I figured that's why she was so excited.
"Yes, but keep reading." She insisted.
I continued to read the memo.
"...on the renewed news segment Hello! Project Channel...blah, blah, blah...You along with Kusumi Koharu-chan, Fujimoto Miki-san and... What? Huh? I'm in this segment too?" I was stunned. Didn't see that one coming. When was the last time I was put into a segment on Hello Morning? The Hawaii thing with Aya years ago, I believe.
"Isn't that great? It's like we can hang out more now!" Eri beamed her smile at me to which I returned to her my own. Fake, of course.
"Great." I grinned through gritted teeth.
She inches a little closer, placing her hand by the side of her mouth. "And now I can just come directly to you for advice instead of calling you.." She whispered even though we were the only ones in the hallway.
"Great." I repeated.
"I can't wait. It's going to be so much fun!" Eri then started practicing her Elizabeth greeting, that weird leaning-your-face-on-a-broken-hand pose.
"Great." I repeated once again. I could almost hear my teeth cracking from clenching them so hard.
I watched Eri disappear down the hall to which I finally relaxed my jaw. It's a bit sore now, but not as sore as I'm gonna be with this segment thing. Great. I'm gonna be surrounded by a bunch of kids (as if I'm not already). Not to mention that one of those kids loves me to death, like a spazzy leech. I can just imagine the sugar induced chaos and annoyingness that will ensue for the next few months. I think I know how Nakazawa-san feels now. Great. I noticed Eri dropped her memo on the floor. I bent down and picked it up. I read down to where my name was mentioned. Commentator, it said by my name. Great. What am I suppose to say?
"Yes, be sure to buy our new album! But don't let the fugly cover art fool ya, the album sounds great!" I ended it with a fake smile.
Great.
Yossi manages to find me again and asks what was wrong. I flashed her the memo. She read it and started laughing.
"Didn't you know? That was one of the things they discussed during the meeting." She mentioned.
"And why didn't you tell me earlier that was going on?"
"You were nodding your head in agreement about it." Yossi recalled then realized. "Now that I think about it, you were more like nodding off, I should say." And started laughing again.
I clenched my teeth again and crumpled the memo in my hand. I don't need this right now. What I need is...Suddenly my cellphone rings inside my pocket. I answered it quickly, ignoring Yossi who was still laughing at me. The voice on the other end softened my mood a bit.
"Hey Tan!" Aya answered, sounding quite chipper.
I looked up at the ceiling and mouthed out "thank you!" This is exactly what I needed.
"Aya? Ayaya, is that you?" Yossi shouted into the receiver. "Are you feeling better yet?" I covered it with my hand and walked away from her.
"Yossi says hi." I said as I turned a corner to lose myself in the maze of hallways.
"Ah, they think I'm sick huh?" Aya figured. "Anyway, how are you? What are you doing?"
Miserable, I said in my head but I answered, "Nothing much, just work. How you doing?"
"Great." She answered.
My mood dropped again. "Great? I don't want to hear that word anymore." When I noticed no one was following me I stopped where I was and leaned against a vending machine by the nearest wall.
"Why, what's wrong?"
"Besides you not being here, I am now in a segment with two crazy kids!"
"Aww, that sounds cool."
"It's Eri and Koharu."
"Oh." Aya laughs.
"I bet you're a part of this aren't you? What have I done wrong Aya? Why must I suffer so much?" I'm so flustered right now I just felt like putting the blame on someone or something or anything!
"Hey, I didn't do anything! But it seems like things got exciting since I've been away."
"Exciting? More like insane!"
"And you should be happy, try something new and different for once." Aya tries to turn it into something positive. "Stop being a lazyass and a frumpy homebody."
I gawked, "I can't believe you said that to me."
She snickers. "Oh yes! Things seem to be working out with this proposal of mine. They're interested."
"Oh yeah? Whose ass did you have to kiss to make that happen?"
"TAN!" She screeched, "Can you be serious for a minute?"
Yeah, I know that was stupid to say. "Sorry." I apologized. Suddenly something triggered my memory from a few nights ago. Now I was serious. "Aya, is there something you wanted to tell me?"
"Hmm, I missed you?" She says playfully.
"How about this guy who's calling you?" I said straight forward.
"Guy? What guy?"
"You know, this Toji guy or someone."
"Toji? I don't know any Toji. What happened, someone called my phone?"
"Yes, and he wanted to invite you to a party back on New Years."
"Oh. Tan, are you upset or something? Is that what's been bugging you?"
"I've been upset since you disappeared but if you don't tell me what's going on then I'll be more upset."
"Tan." Aya says firmly. "Come on. Do you honestly think I'd be doing something behind your back like that?"
"Well," I started. "The way things have been going, I-"
"TAN!" She yelled. It was so loud that it was almost audible in the empty hallway. "I can't believe you'd think that about me. See? This is exactly why I didn't want anyone contacting me,-"
"Even me?" I interrupted.
"Especially you! Because I know you would jump into stupid conclusions when I am not doing anything wrong. I get calls every freaking day, Tan. It can't be helped. Can't I just be alone for awhile? Is that too much to ask for? I don't need this stress, I have enough as it is."
Was she mad at me? Yes, she is mad at me, I realized. The only thing I never wanted to do to Aya and I just did. I didn't realize just how much Aya was going through. Maybe I was being selfish for wanting her around me all the time. I should've been more considerate. My lip started to quiver. "Aya, I'm sor-"
"No, I'm sorry, Tan." She beat me to it. "I didn't mean to yell. I just, that made me upset, that's all. Can't believe you'd think that."
"I'm sorry. I can't help it." I explained. "You disappearing like that, calling from hotels, and men calling you."
"Yes, I know that sounds wrong but the truth is that I'm away because I'm trying get my career going again. And this is the way I'm going to do it. Besides, you know I don't give out my number like that."
"I'm sorry."
"Stop apologizing. You sound so pitiful." She said then let out a giggle. "That's not my Miki."
She's right, I'm not like this but for her I'd let my guard down anytime. Only she can do that to me. I started lighten up now.
"So," I started. "Everything's ok then?"
"Yes, Tan. As soon as this thing goes through I'll be back soon." She answered.
"You will?"
"Of course! Gah, I'm so missing you right now, you just don't know." She giggles.
I smiled. I was glad to hear that. "Me too."
"Just be patient, keep up with your own work, and behave." She emphasized the last part.
I made a smugged face. "Of course."
"Fix your face." Aya said and my smugged look disappeared. She giggles again. "All right, I'll call again."
"Un."
We exchanged "love you's" and kisses then hung up. I was relieved. Now I don't have to worry about these strange men calling Aya. Yet I was curious about this last guy that called. He really seemed antsy to contact Aya, having to find her number out from another source. I wonder who he is, if I even know him. I need to find out where he lives, what he does, and, and...tell him to stop calling Aya! Geez, I sound like a creeper.
Topic: April no Aho [Chapter 16 - 3/4] (Read 49230 times)