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Chapter Three ==
“Well, now that we have that settled why don’t we get straight to the more interesting parts?,” Meetan asked the younger girls sitting before her.
Mariko leaned forward resting both elbows on the table and placed her chin comfortably on clasped hands. She smirked slightly as she looked her sister up and down.
“I think we may have already missed those parts,” she said mock knowingly.
Meetan replied by feigning shock and playfully hitting Atsuko on her arm.
Atsuko was about to set forth on a blush filled round of denial but found herself distracted by Takamina reaching over and rubbing where Meetan’s hand had grazed.
“Are you alright Atsuko? Did it hurt?,” Takamina asked as she ran her hand up and down Atsuko’s arm. “Here let me rub it for you, it’ll feel better soon I promise.”
The actress didn’t answer, instead feeling her breathing quicken just a tiny bit and her heart skip that familiar beat whenever she found herself physically connected to the shorter girl.
Staring at Takamina’s hand touching her, Atsuko wondered once more what the person in front of her really meant to her deep inside. Being drawn so strongly to a person she barely knew was starting to frustrate her but never mind wanting to stay away, she didn’t even know if she had the ability.
In a decisive move, Atsuko stopped the Captain’s hand from its worried stroking and held it comfortably in her own.
“I’m fine Minami, but thank you for worrying about me,” Atsuko said as she smiled and earned herself another cute blush.
“Oh… I … wasn’t really t-that worried you know just,” Takamina tried to say before she gave up and trailed off.
“Well well…” the President said as she nodded approvingly at the unexpected show of affection. “I suppose I should stop teasing before this entire project gets put on hold in favour of wedding planning.”
“I agree,” replied Mariko with a laugh. “It’s only fun when they fight it. I don’t even know how I feel about this touchy feely business.”
“Personally I’d like to watch… though I don’t think they’ll play those games in front of us,” Meetan answered.
Takamina’s embarrassment finally got the best of her and the girl shot up to her feet, not noticing when Atsuko looked at her empty hand and frowned as she immediately missed the warm contact.
She looked at her smiling sister who did nothing but raise a nonchalant eyebrow.
“Onee-chan stop having so much fun! She’s laughing at us!,” Takamina yelled only to follow it up with a whispered; “And… I think she’s talking about perverted things.”
“I don’t see why you feel the need to turn so pink over it Minami, after all the one who’ll be doing those perverted things is you,” Meetan whispered back with a few winks added just for good measure.
“Onee-chan! Make her stop! Now I know she’s talking about perverted things because she said ‘perverted things’ right in her sentence! Why am I the only one who has to deal with these things?”
==
Little did Takamina know that somewhere in the same city, a very good friend was having very similar thoughts...
“Yuko! How many times do I have to tell you to get off me?”
“But Nyannyan!,” Yuko tried to get in as she pouted at the taller girl. “I’m just trying to have skinship with you! Skinship!”
For the millionth time that day Haruna found herself massaging her temples with her fingers.
“Nyannyan why won’t you hold my hand?,” the squirrel said as her attack continued.
“How am I supposed to hold either of your hands when both are busy trying to grope me?,” Haruna replied.
“Maybe if you held one and let me grope with the other…”
“Idiot!”
“I can multi-task well Nyannyan!”
“Back to your kind of normal already? How long do you two plan to keep this up?,” Miichan asked.
Haruna motioned towards the girl and hoped she’d be able to enlist her help in trying to control the crazy that had accumulated around her.
“See! Look, even your friend is getting creeped out by your behavior.”
Unfortunately she soon found out she shouldn’t have gotten her hopes so high with Miichan having arrived with Yuko after all.
“I’m not really… I just wanted to know how long you’re planning on keeping it up so I’m better able to suggest dating spots for you later. You know, just to see how serious you are about each other,” the smirking girl replied.
“Date her yourself!,” Haruna retorted as her annoyance grew.
“Funnily enough I always find myself the planning type rather than the actually dating type.”
“Why am I the only one who has to deal with these things?,” she asked herself.
Taking advantage of the girl while she stood still, Yuko nuzzled even closer.
“I’ll help you deal with anything Nyannyan,” she said.
The line was delivered in such a serious tone that Haruna had to stop her massaging just to look questioningly at the girl.
They stared at each other for a while with the still smirking Miichan looking on from close by.
“So the chase is really on,” she said happily. “But who’s the cat and who’s the mouse?”
“Takamina-san is the mouse!,” Mocchi said from right underneath Miichan’s ear.
“Too close! Way too close, what the heck are you doing so close?,” Miichan said, words firing out of her mouth in rapid succession.
“Sorry,” a nervous Ami said to the much more famous actress as she attempted to hold Mocchi back from Miichan’s ears. “She really loves Takamina-san with all her hear but… she kind of loves earlobes in a more general sense.”
Hearing Haruna growling from nearby, Ami devoted a little more of her efforts to Mocchi controlling and steered the girl away towards some unsuspecting younger members.
Her teammate however had the difficult job actually had to talk to their Ace.
“Umm, Kojiharu-san?,” Akicha began as she approached the older girl carefully. “We should really start with practice…”
Haruna breathed in deeply to make sure she wouldn’t accidentally blow up on the girl and gave Akicha a thankful nod. Without Takamina around, she needed to take responsibility for practice and that meant not letting it go to pieces just because a certain actress was…
Haruna suddenly felt a considerable lack of weight dangling on her and surveyed the area in a panic.
‘If she’s not causing trouble for me whilst being on me, she must be causing trouble for me somewhere else!,’ she thought.
Spotting Miichan in ‘facepalm formation’ in the corner, Haruna followed the girl’s gaze towards the centre mic on stage where a happy squirrel was poised to speak.
‘Oh geez,’ inner Haruna said.
“AHEM AHEM!,” the actress said into the mic. “Hello members of Team A! Let’s all get into formation shall we? It’s time to start practice!”
Noticing that most of the members merely stared at her, most still with that same air of shocked admiration, Yuko felt the need to open with something different.
“In case you were all wondering, it’s ok for me to be here right now even though I’m not a member because I’m dating one!”
A series of shocked murmurs ran through the girls. Dating was very much frowned upon. Dating people in the industry was very very very much frowned upon. Dating people in the industry so openly… well… the members wondered if frowns could go that deep.
“What are you saying squirrel get off that stage!,” Haruna yelled when she’d semi-regained control of her vocal chords.
“And there she is everyone!,” Yuko said as she welcomed the angry Haruna to the stage. “Your Ace and my beautiful Nyannyan, Kojima Haruna!”
“They know who I am Yuko!,” Haruna said wondering if the annoyed tone in her voice would soon become permanent. “They are in Team A, this is the Team A theatre and this is a time to be Team A serious so those who cannot sing and cannot dance should just get the heck off the stage!
The smile was wiped clean off Yuko’s face as she looked into Haruna’s eyes. She recognized the shine of emotion but couldn’t quite guess which ones the girl was feeling strongest.
Haruna on the other hand, though outwardly defiant suddenly felt herself becoming weak and oddly drawn to the girl now that Yuko’s aura had changed so drastically. She frowned and tried to shake the feeling off but the more she tried the closer she felt to understanding Yuko.
‘None of this makes any sense at all,’ she argued in her head.
Miichan pushed herself off the wall she was leaning on and looked on in interest. She’d seen that look in Yuko’s eyes only once before.
It was when she’d first laid eyes on the ‘Best Young Actress of the Year’ award that their respected senpai had won years ago. That very moment Yuko had decided she wanted to one day be bestowed the same honour and the very next year she got her prize.
“What exactly are you aiming for now Yuko?,” Miichan asked.
To her surprise it was a serious Mocchi who answered her.
“The one standing in front of her,” she said. “They’re in love’s simplest moment, just standing together before everything gets complicated.”
Miichan turned her eyes on the girl and nodded in agreement.
“You know you’re a beautiful girl. But I think you’re stunning when you wear those serious eyes. I hope one day you’ll lay them upon someone who can see only you.”
“I’m honestly touched,” replied Mocchi. “But somehow I think I shouldn’t be, sweet words come easily to an actress such as yourself.”
Miichan replaced her smirk as she once again turned her attention towards the stage.
“Our talent runs deeper than just sweet words,” she finished as Yuko took that one step closer to the mic.
Knowing something was about to happen, Haruna also stepped closer, wanting to make her life just that little bit easier should she have to knock the thing off the stage should Yuko decide to say something ridiculously embarrassing.
Because most of her thoughts were similarly inclined, she was almost shocked to realize Yuko had something completely different planned as soon as she heard the beautiful unaccompanied voice stroke her ears.
==
Meanwhile…When Meetan and Mariko had finally had enough of teasing their now tomato coloured counterparts, the older girls decided to give them a break in what could be called a rather strange way… by finally giving them work to do.
“Your scripts,” Mariko stated simply as she handed Atsuko and Takamina a thin collection of pages.
The younger girls looked down at their hands before both turning quizzical looks towards their elders. Takamina wondered if this was a current industry norm but had her suspicions confirmed as soon as she heard Atsuko’s voice.
“You’re giving it to us by scenes?,” Atsuko questioned. “Why? Wouldn’t it be easier to…”
She would have continued but a look and a slight headshake from Meetan stopped her immediately. The President was still her devil may care expressions but something seemed different with her aura.
“You’re already a talented actress Atsuko,” Mariko replied as she looked into the silent girl’s eyes. “You wouldn’t be here if I didn’t believe that. But I don’t want this to be just a regular project or just a regular character to you. I want you to live it, devote yourself to it. So much so that when your work is presented to audiences they’ll breathe the essence of your emotion.”
Atsuko was able to hold Mariko’s gaze even though she was extremely taken aback by the surprising intensity of her reply. Takamina beside her remained quiet, also taking in her sister’s words and both girls tried to grip their pages a little lighter, knowing that nothing could protect them from their damp palms.
“I’m not trying to intimidate either of you,” Mariko continued as she tried to offer a friendlier smile. “But I think it’s better to state all of this now, while we’re standing
at the beginning.”
The four stared at each other for a long moment before Meetan clapped her hands with finality and replaced the grin on her face.
“Now now, I’m sure you two would like to get back to playing love birds during your alone time so why don’t you go off and read the work of two very talented writers.”
Takamina was hit with another surge of emotion as her younger sisters were mentioned. ‘She’s right,’ the Captain thought. ‘This is their work. But if I can do this right… we can make it ours too… together.’
She let her eyes fall on the increasingly determined Atsuko who let her expression convey her reply to both Meetan and Mariko who continued from where her sentence left off.
“Accept their words. Pour in as much of yourself into this that you’ll be proud… and you’ll right to scream out that their pens bled onto paper just so they could offer these characters to you and you could offer them to the world.”
In response Takamina gave a respectful bow to both older girls, wordlessly took Atsuko’s hand and walked her through the roof door.
==
As soon as she heard it close, Meetan greeted Mariko with one of her rather rare serious expressions.
“When I agreed to this project, I agreed with all my heart. We both know that sincerity is lacking in our profession but you…your intentions touched me like no other.” she began before giving off a hesitant sigh. “But are you really sure you can ask this of your sister?”
“This is the only way it can be. I’m asking this of her because I trust that she can make it through. I trust that they can make it through.”
Meetan nodded though a little apprehension was still apparent.
“We’ve both been in this business for a very long time Mariko but even we can’t anticipate everything. We can’t even anticipate half of what tomorrow can throw at us.”
“Such is life. All we have to do is learn how to live through it together.”
==
Atsuko, still feeling a little uncertain in her own head let Takamina lead her down the stairs and into the nearest elevator.
As soon as the door re-opened however, she surprised the shorter girl by sprinting straight out of the building. Though she wanted to scream after her, Takamina found her lungs didn’t have the capacity. It already took every ounce of oxygen and stamina she had to even be able to keep up with the girl.
“Atsuko! Where… what… why are we always running?,” she asked when Atsuko had finally stopped at a nearby park.
Her legs burning, the shorter girl collapsed on one of the nearby benches, Atsuko dropping right next to her so that their arms were touching.
If it was anyone else Minami would have probably pushed them away for fear of additional body heat, but once again she found herself comforted by Atsuko.
“Let’s stop,” Atsuko replied simply.
“Yes… let’s… so much running,” Takamina said, still trying to catch her breath.
Atsuko remained silent for a while when she felt Takamina’s arm nudge her own.
“If you need an exercise partner you could just tell me honestly,” Takamina said when she’d finally gotten comfortable on the seat, her playful words not betraying the worry she actually felt.
“Let’s not run anymore Minami.”
“Huh?,” the confused Captain questioned. “I’m not the one who’s running… well I guess I am… but only when I’m running after you,” she added cutely.
“This project… what your sister is asking of all of us is much more than I’ve ever given to anything, to anyone in my whole life.”
Takamina nodded.
Though she hadn’t known Atsuko for that long she at least knew that the girl had enough pride to make admitting any kind of weakness uncomfortable for her. But here she was, leaning her weight slightly on Takamina, admitting to feeling unprepared and maybe even a little scared.
“I…”
Takamina was unsure of how to word her reply. There was just so much emotion she wanted to convey that she didn’t know how to offer it all without writing an essay… or some sort of ballad.
The two looked over at each other slowly, once again finding their eyes and lips so close together.
“I can do this,” Takamina whispered. “If it’s with you, then I can do this.”
Atsuko blinked in reply, taking her turn to answer with unsure, nervous silence as Takamina continued.
“I’m not sure what I can really give you,” she said while making a grab for Atsuko’s hand, holding it in both of her own. “So let me offer you everything ok? So with everything in you and with everything in me… maybe you can do this too?”
Atsuko nodded as she blinked back tears.
“Maybe we can do this together,” she replied.
And each mirrored the other’s smile.
==
At the Team A theaterFor the first time since their debut, Team A, arguably the current most popular idol group in Japan had their practice started by someone who wasn’t even a member.
After ushering the girls on stage, spinning a rousing speech about letting love be a motivation, Miichan excused herself in order to give the oddly shocked Haruna and the even more oddly shy squirrel time on their own.
Planning on heading over to the nearest gyoza establishment, the girl had her happy humming interrupted by her ringing cell phone.
“Hello?”
“
Where are you?,” the voice asked without even bothering to send over a greeting.
Miichan clenched her jaw and tried to ignore the instant annoyance she felt as soon as the line reached her ears.
“Hopefully very far away from you,” she replied with her annoyance growing as she heard a carefree laugh accompany the reply.
“
That’s not a very nice thing to say to an old--“
“If you dare say friend I will find out exactly where you are just so I can kick your ass. Friends don’t do what you did to us. Enemies would think twice…”
“Don’t take things so personally Miichan and you don’t need to ‘find out’. I’ll let you know exactly where I am since I’m bored waiting for my new co-actress to arrive. I think you still hang out with her actually…"Miichan shut her phone and shook her head to clear the barrage of unwanted thoughts running through it.
“There’s no way,” she said to herself. “There’s no way she’d go there.”
Slapping herself lightly a few times for preparation’s sake she turned away from her happy food plans and headed off in the opposite direction.
==
At the park….Takamina nodded and brought her script in front of her eyes.
“I think it’s time to see what this is all about don’t you think?”
“Yeah. I think it is,” Atsuko replied as she too looked at hers. “How about a blind read through?,” she asked. “Since we’re in this together after all.”
Minami agreed easily, the familiar blush returning to her cheeks.
Together the two girls read about the characters they were to play. The scene paints a beautiful friendship between two friends and though no love was mentioned explicitly, Atsuko secretly hoped there would be a little development as the project moved forward.
The two girls comfortably read through their parts, enjoying each other’s company just as ‘Nami’ and her ‘Acchan’ did in the piece. However, as it reached a close the writers’ words suddenly began adding a darker hue into the picture.
Nami sat her friend down silently and cupped her cheek smiling as Acchan nuzzled into the familiar hand. Though after seeing Nami’s eyes shining with tears, Acchan couldn’t help but mirror the look exactly in her own.
“Acchan… there’s something I have to tell you,” Nami began hesitantly though they each knew what was about to happen.
“Don’t go,” Acchan whispered, her voice dripping with both pain and a glimmer of hope. “I’ll do anything so just don’t go. Stay here with me.”
“I’m not the one who really gets to be with you,” Nami whispered as she stood up and distanced herself.
“What are you talking about?,” Acchan asked in a panic, feeling Nami drifting so far away from her in every way. “Who else could there be… you and I are best friends!”
Nami laughed painfully to herself.
“I know.”
“Then don’t go! Please!”
“When I can… I’ll come back. I promise.”
--
Takamina flipped her pages over, willing for something to be there. Something… it could have been anything but instead all she found was the bright white of the sweat dampened piece of paper. She was about to continue express her frustration to Atsuko but saw that the girl was silently holding her cell phone.
‘She must have gotten a message,’ Takamina thought. ‘Good. I thought that vibrating sound from earlier was my brain threatening to explode.’
While waiting for Atsuko to send a reply and get back to discussing the project with her, Takamina was suddenly surprised when the girl stood up and collected her things.
“I have to go,” Atsuko said absentmindedly.
“What?,” Takamina replied as she failed to think of any other reply.
“I’ll…,” Atsuko began, still hesitantly. “I’ll come back… when I can,” she said before jogging away, her bag cradled in her arms.
==
At a nearby café… As soon as she reached her destination, Atsuko found herself narrowing her eyes at a sexily made up girl with the corners of her mouth upturned in a natural smirk.
“So, I hear you have a new project lined up,” the girl started, her playfully sparkling eyes revealing none of her true intentions.
“I didn’t realize your ears were as busy as your mouth,” Atsuko replied icily.
“When it’s my business, I like to know what’s going on,” the girl said.
Atsuko sighed and watched the girl twirl her hair around her finger comfortably.
“You haven’t changed at all. But not everything will go so easily for you this time. I’m no longer a person you can hurt,” she said, keeping her emotions tightly in check.
Unfortunately the task was getting more and more difficult to bear with the girl before her doing nothing except let her smirk grow as she flicked her hair over her shoulder casually.
“Are you reacting this way because you still have feelings for me?”
“How dare you?!,” Atsuko asked through clenched teeth. “All I’m saying is that you have no right to even pretend to have an interest in my business! It has nothing to do with you!”
As Atsuko assumed would happen, the girl soon grew bored and played her hand early. She watched as a white envelope was pushed towards her on the table.
“This states otherwise. You might be happily under new management but you’re still obligated to fulfill your signed contracts. That said, let me just say how happy I am to be working with you again… Acchan.”
“Why? Why would you do this now?,” Atsuko asked knowing exactly what that contract would ask her to give… what it would ask her to give up.
“I think it’s in my best interest to have someone of your… popularity starring with me in my next movie. It’s just business Acchan.”
“Just as it’s always been with you Tomochin.”
“Don’t be too harsh with your words,” Tomo replied as she leaned on the table and edged her face slowly towards Atsuko. “Do you know why I asked about feelings?”
“I don’t care why you do the things you do. I’ve long since figured out that you are someone I will never understand.”
“Even if that’s the case… the love I feel has still grown stronger.”
To both their surprise the emotion filled line was answered with a sharp slapping sound.
Tomo said nothing of the pain but couldn’t help bringing her fingers up to her slightly bleeding lip.
“So have I,” Atsuko said.
Miichan walked in just in time to witness the critical moment and moved deftly to stand right by Atsuko’s side.
“What took you so long? You missed most of it,” Tomo said as she continued to dab at her lip.
“Apparently not the best part,” Miichan countered, her eyes narrowing as Tomo still managed to reply with a laugh.
“She’s a lot feistier than I remember.”
“You can’t just walk all over her like you did before. Now she’s got her eyes on someone more than a million times better than you.”
Miichan grabbed Atsuko’s hand and made to pull her out of the café knowing that the other girl’s presence was almost poison to her friend.
Seconds before they were out the door, a familiar voice stopped them both.
“Atsuko! If not as your friend, then let me at least warn you as a… long time acquaintance? Work colleague?”
“I’d actually prefer not to have ties with you at all.”
“Even so, I’d still like to be the one to let you know… you’re not the only one with their eyes on that girl.”
Tomo slides the white envelope towards Atsuko’s edge of the table.
“Don’t forget your contract.”
--
Takamina stayed slumped on her seat at the park as the world around her slowly but surely grew darker as day faded and night came to take it’s place.
She sighed as she looked towards the distant path Atsuko had walked down and wondered aloud to herself.
“How can anything begin with a goodbye?”
==
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Topic: For the sake of Our Love [Chapter Three] [6/26] (Read 7860 times)