“Happy day! Good boy! Charming girl! Go yeah! 3, 2, 1 Go! Oki Doki Yeah!”
The lights in the recording studio slowly turned brighter and Risa could see the three others in the room more clearly. Saki and Chisato grinned back at her shyly while her youngest teammate and admirer, Aika hurried to pack up her song sheets amidst the ruffling of papers.
“Nigakii-san, can I share a cab home with you?”
Smiling at the younger, Risa nodded her head kindly and reached out to pat her head. She had always known that Aika had a soft spot for her and the girl didn’t make a secret of how much she adored her senpai. From the first day she was officially conferred the title of Morning Musume member, she had told interview cameras how much she wanted to meet Risa. To her, this senpai had the warmest smile, kindest actions and most sensitive soul.
“Sure, there’s no need to rush. Take your time, I’ll wait for you outside.”
The bright smile that lit up on Aika’s face told her that little gesture was enough to make the young girl’s whole week. She watched for a little while as Aika concentrated on putting her papers back in numerical order. Being a hard worker who was constantly neat and structured in all ways, Risa could guess what came next. True enough, whipping out a light pink plastic folder with little hearts on it out of her bag, Aika arranged the papers in a tight stack before carefully slotting them in.
In the hallway outside the room, Risa stuck one hand into her rather large bag and felt around for her cell phone. It was a daily routine, to check the device for messages or missed calls after a session of work. Many of the other members in the extensive Hello! Project family had commented on her love for big bags and often advised her to switch to a smaller one. Be it to lessen the weight that had to be carried around or simply to shorten the time she needed to find things from it. However, Risa liked big bags. They provided her with a sense of security and was handy to dump in everything she needed, or not, quickly. Finally locating the said object, she read the mail that had been received some minutes ago. It was from her manager.
Please proceed to the cultural hall after the recording session. You have to take over Kamei-san for the evening show with Takahashi-san.
“Eh, isn’t that recording Sayumin, Kamei-chan and Ai-chan’s work?”
Pressing the voice call back button, she heard the familiar ringing tone and waited for the other end to pick up. At this moment, the two C-ute members walked past and gave her a goodbye wave. Raising her hand, she returned the action with a smile as the phone line connected.
“Moshi-moshi, manager-san? Why am I taking over the evening cultural show?”
-----
“Hey, how are you feeling?”
Her eyes slowly fluttered open, and she recognized immediately the face of the shadowy figure crouched down in front of her. Sitting on the same sofa that she was lying on, the body of the other girl was near, so close that she could feel the reassuring warmth that was radiating off her.
“Mmmm, my stomach hurts.”
“Awwww, poor Kamei.”
Leaning down further, she hugged her kouhai gently and pressed her cheek on the turtle girl’s slightly chubby ones in a bid to comfort her. She knew the girl liked to be hugged and babied. Especially now that she was feeling sick, a concerned and supportive presence was better medication than any prescription.
Snuggling closer to her, Eri let out a contented sigh and enjoyed being held in this position. She had always like the feeling of being embraced. But she only derived pleasure from it if the action was presented by a select few.
The comfortable tranquility was broken a few minutes later when the older girl suddenly remembered her upcoming duty. Pushing herself off the sofa, she noticed the closed eyes of the ill teenager and assumed she had fallen asleep. Making her way across the dressing room, she headed for the way out when she abruptly stopped in her tracks. Pulling open one metal door of a row of lockers situated near the exit, she took out a gray jacket and turned back to lay the warm garment over the sleeping figure. Sweeping the bangs away from her face, she murmured in a low voice.
“Have a good rest Kamei-chan. I’ll see you later.”
Unbeknownst to her, the sleeping girl wasn’t in that deep a slumber, and she could feel all that went on from the laying of the coat to her senpai’s warm touch. As she stood up to leave the room once more, the image of her retreating back was deeply implanted into Eri’s hazy mind.
“Gaki-san…”
-----
There was still a little time before recording for the segment of the cultural event started proper. As staff members and technical crew busied about trying to take care of last minute situations and emergencies, two young ladies sat in mental folding chairs at the side of the hall, awaiting further instructions.
“Ah, it’s been some a while since we had time alone.”
Smiling at her companion sitting beside her, she watched as the older girl flipped through the pages of yet another novel. She appeared to be deep in thought, devouring every word of the thick paperback. So much so that she didn’t seem to have heard the words of her lonely friend.
“Ai-chan?”
She tried again, hoping against hope that maybe for once, her frequently busy fellow gokkie member had time to pay some attention to her.
“What is it Gaki-san?”
“I was just saying that it’s rare for us to have time together, without the rest.”
Nodding absentmindedly, Ai turned a page and continued reading, barely registering what was being said. She only got this novel yesterday and already she could not bear to put it down. She was thankful there was this free interval in between shooting to catch up on it.
“How was recording with Sayumin?”
Risa remembered seeing Sayumi dash into an awaiting cab outside the building when she first arrived at the cultural hall. The pink bon-bons in her long and black, shampoo commercial worthy hair swished wildly after her. To pose such a question was almost as bad as talking about the weather or asking if someone had eaten. Nevertheless, it didn’t matter to Risa if the subject was shallow or of no importance. She just wanted to have a conversation with Ai-chan. She needed to be reassured that their relationship was safe. That they were still best friends despite the recent nagging feeling in the back of her mind that they have grown apart. Sometimes she wondered if she was solely responsible for the current state of affairs? Did her newfound rapport with Eri somehow drive a wedge between their visibly strained relations?
“We have an upcoming free day, why don’t we…”
“Gaki-san.”
Her tone was cold and slightly exasperated. It didn’t take a genius to know that she was getting irritated. Watching the movement of her hands as she always did, Risa saw them clench tighter at the cover of the book, a sure sign that Ai was trying to conceal her mounting dissatisfaction.
“I’m sorry but could we continue this after work? ”
Nodding back with a thin smile, Risa forced herself to turn away and watch the passing workers instead. The intermittent tugging at her heart got stronger and she knew if her gaze lingered on Ai for another second, she would surely burst into tears. That was a definite big no-no in the crowded central portion of the hall. Such an action would no doubt attract stares and gossip. Especially at a time when Morning Musume was facing intense media scrutiny for Fujimoto’s scandal with a comedian and the evident downward spiral of the group’s popularity and sales.
Risa, get a grip. You can’t lose it now. The team can’t take another hit.
With her eyes closed and repeating those words to herself, Risa didn’t even hear the PA yell for her to get into position. Filming has formally started. Glancing around quickly to regain her bearings, her vision caught sight of Ai standing in the middle of the compound. And the gaze she was giving her shot an extremely cold jolt through Risa’s heart.
-----
“This year, the icebergs in the Artic are melting faster than ever before….”
Focused intently on Ai who was speaking into the camera in a professional manner, Risa marveled at the noticeable change in her within the short period between her appointment from sub to actual leader. From the slightly hesitant and quiet oldest fifth generation member to the self-assured leader of today, Ai’s transformation has been great.
“Wildlife like polar bears are facing extinction and it is up to humans to put a stop…”
Ai’s new hairstyle, the alteration in her tone of voice when she talked in public, and the newfound self-confidence that exuded from her doe-like eyes. Risa wondered where she had been when Ai experienced all these changes. Wasn’t she right there all along, beside Ai and giving her the much-needed boost when she needed it? Or maybe she wasn’t. Perhaps Ai didn’t feel that the remaining member of their cohort had been providing the adequate support. That would explain the chilling look she had received earlier.
Lost in her own thoughts, she almost forgot to follow up on Ai’s section with her own prepared speech. The frantic waving of the PA just managed to capture her attention in time.
“As Ai-chan has said, the poor polar bears really need our help. Aren’t they too cute not too?”
The live program progressed without a hitch and filming was almost due to complete with the director motioning for the last five minutes. By now, a rather large crowd had gathered around to watch the filming proceedings and the noise level got increasingly louder. Making use of her excellent eyesight, Risa scanned the faces of the public standing around in clusters as Ai continued talking about some other species that should be saved in addition to the fluffy white bears. Out of the corner of her eye, Risa became aware of a man dressed in a long white robe and glasses. He was staring intently at Ai and the strange look in his eyes made Risa feel uneasy.
Observing him further, she saw him reach into his coat pocket and pull out a shiny object. What happened next took place like a slow moving black and white film. The man charged towards Ai, banishing the sharp knife maniacally ahead. Instinctively, Risa pushed Ai out of harm’s way. She was going to jump away after her but it was too late. The cold steel sliced into her flesh as the man brutally plunged the weapon into her abdomen.
Screams erupted throughout the venue and people ran frantically in various directions trying to escape the savage and insane criminal. Afraid that he might go on to hurt more people indiscriminately, security personnel hastily ushered members of the public to safety while others chased after the crazed killer.
Crawling over to Risa who was lying several feet away, Ai hands shook when she saw the extent of Risa’s injury. Blood spewed out endlessly and she was growing paler by the second.
“Ga…ki..gaki-san…”
Never in her wildest nightmares did Ai ever think that she would face such a situation. She sat there in a daze, her legs weak as she tried in vain to recover from the shock. The noise died down to a silent drone as Risa’s body started to shut down. She could no longer hear anything and light was fading fast as her eyelids grew heavy. Still, her mind was filled full with thoughts of Ai.
Ai-chan, was she alright?
Struggling to reopen her lead-laden lids and make sure she was safe, Risa reached out weakly to try and find Ai.
“Ai-chan….”
Her voice was feeble, much too soft to be heard over the racket in the hall. But Ai heard her. She was at last convalesced adequately to make sense of what was happening. Stretching out her hand to close the distance between them, the two friends were just about to reach each other when Risa’s hand dropped with a small thud onto the hard floor.
“Gaki-san?”
-----
Most number of posts in a month and all in a day. Ahhhh this will never happen again.
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