Justie: Hello everyone. I'm called Just2Protect, but you all can call me Justie, if you like. So I recently began to watch Uta No Prince-Sama Maji Love 1000% and in all honesty, I liked it so much that it inspired me to write a book. But I'm having some troubles with my confidence as a writer. I'm still only a young woman and haven't had much experience in the world.
So I decided to take what inspired me and what it inspired me to write, and make them into one story to see how you all like the idea of the story. If its well perceived, I might just send it in for publishing. If it's not, then I know not to waste any more time and move on to another project.
Please leave a review with your thoughts or anything that came up at all as you read. So, without further ado, I give you this story!
Its funny how life can seem close to perfect for a split second before its all wrenched away from you. We all know that moment. And so many of us can pick up whatever pieces are left and make it better than before, while others end up on their knees, sobbing and begging for the way their life used to be to return.
The moment my life was wrenched from me was when the black, armored car rolled to a stop in front of me. The windows were tinted so I couldn't see inside. I felt my shoulders drop as a man in a black suit with dark sunglasses and a shaved head stepped out of the car and opened the back door facing me. Inside was a man with somewhat spikey orange hair and bright blue eyes, dressed in a matching black suit.
"Nanami Haruka?" the first man asked. There was no point of hiding it, so I nodded and approached the car.
"I'm Nanami Haruka," I said softly. The man nodded to the man inside the car. I noticed he had a small, silver briefcase at his feet.
"Congratulations Nanami Haruka, you've been selected to become the temporary Home-Maker to Specialty Unit 6. Do you understand what this entails?" the first man asked. I nodded again.
"This means that until a selected time, I will be charged with the responsibility of laundering their clothes, feeding their dogs, cooking their meals and cleaning their living space, correct sir?" I asked. The man inside the car nodded.
"Now, Nanami-san, if you'll just get in the car, then we can be on our way." I slipped into the car and the first man shut it securely behind me, the tinted windows reducing the buildings outside to unrecognizable dark blurs of various shapes. I felt the car lurch as we began to move.
The man beside me reached over and clicked my seatbelt into place before reaching to the briefcase at his feet and opening it.
"Can I see your left wrist please?" he asked, holding his hand out for mine. I gave it to him without a fight, there was no way to escape that bracelet getting onto my wrist, so there was no reason to hurt myself trying to stay away from the bracelet. The man's hands were rough, probably from years of military work, but they were gentle, large and warm.
The gold band slipped over my hand and the charm clicked as it settled under my hand. The charm didn't look like anything special, just a golden rectangle with a 6 engraved on both sides, but inside that charm was a tracer so my every movement could be observed by the military if the need arose for it.
I pulled my hand away and stared out the window at the colorless forms of buildings, trees and people through the darkened glass. I could almost make out my own reflection in the glass; my amber-gold-brown eyes and the strawberry-blonde hair that hung to my jaw, all framed with pale white skin. I reached up and brushed the fingers of my left hand over the reflection.
My heart felt like a lump of lead in my chest at the sight of the gold bracelet in the reflection, signifying my place to the world, my place as a Home-Maker to the military. The military basically controlled your life, even if they didn't have control over every aspect, they had control over how you lived. At twelve, boys were taken from their families and taken to the Academy in the Capital, where they trained until they were 17 for military services. At 17, boys would either be selected for military duty, or turned away. If a boy wasn't chosen, as my father and grandfather hadn't been, they had all the skills needed to build their own lives and get their own jobs, even marry and settle down. But if a boy was selected, he was put into a Unit with five other boys and they trained together as a team, receiving ranks based upon their strengths and weaknesses as a team, establishing an almost pack-like hierarchy. Each Unit was given a girl called a Home-Maker who basically became the wife to all the boys in the Unit.
A Home-Maker could be anyone; from the daughter from a one-night-stand to the daughter of a Five-Star General and it wouldn't make a difference. The second the bracelet was on her wrist, her life revolved around the males in her Unit. Her world became what they allowed, meaning whatever dreams she'd had before were in reach so long as her Unit allowed it. And disobedience was not tolerated. If a Unit was killed in combat, their Home-Maker would be reassigned. If she had children, she'd be allowed to live in her home and raise her children in peace.
But I had a Specialty Unit. I had no idea what that meant. Would they be deployed more often than other boys? Would they have fewer deployments or shorter ones? What did they specialize in, anyway? Would they allow me to follow my dreams and become a composer?
Ever since I was small, I'd been in love with music. My Gran had loved to play piano alongside me, listen to her old records, and just listen to the radio. When I was almost ten, I heard one certain song come on over the radio that sparked something inside me and as if a dam inside me had been broken, music seemed to consume me. I preferred to play the piano as opposed to run around with the girls from my school, I preferred to just listen to the music and perform for Gran as opposed to looking through the returning boys from the Academy and throw myself at them.
I realized with a start that the men in this car wasn't going to let me say good-bye to Gran. I turned to the man beside me and he raised an eyebrow at me. I saw the pin on his lapel displaying the Twin Stars, meaning he was a Second-Class General. He had a Home-Maker as well. He wouldn't understand, likely.
"What is it?" he asked. I shook my head and turned my back to him, pulling my knees up to my chest. I bit my lip to keep from crying. I was not going to let these people see me cry for any reason.
Gran had been the only family I'd known for most of my life. When I was two, my father and grandfather had died in a construction accident. My mother couldn't bear the idea of living without my father and died when I was three. Gran took me in after that, soothing every fever, putting up with every tantrum, sitting through hours upon hours of homework from school, teaching me to play piano and love music. And they weren't going to let me say good-bye. I highly doubted they'd even leave a notice on the front step.
I was so swept up in my thoughts, I almost didn't notice when the car came to a stop. I backed away from the door as it was opened for me, revealing the lower part of someone wearing a yellow sweater, jeans and kitten heels. I could also see the ends of strawberry-blonde hair hanging at the hips of the person and a brown purse off the shoulder. I moved out of the car and looked up into a pair of bright blue eyes as the person, a woman it seemed, signed off on a clipboard of papers, likely my transportation papers that verified I'd arrived and was now under this woman's care.
She smiled at me and extended a hand to me.
"Nanami Haruka, correct?" I nodded, and shook the hand offered to me. "I'm Tsukimiya Ringo, but you and the other girls can call me Ringo-sensei. Nice to meet you." I smiled.
"You as well," I said softly. Ringo-sensei dug around in her bag a little.
"You're one of the first ones here," she said as she pulled out a piece of folded-up wax paper and handed it to me. "You're going to be put into a pair with Shibuya Tomochika over there." Ringo-sensei pointed at a red-haired girl dressed in a purple top and deep-blue skinny jeans. "Now, you two just need to show your bracelets to the cashiers in the stores and your bill will be covered, alright?"
"What exactly are we doing?" I asked.
"You're shopping for new clothes, Haruka-chan. You'll also need to get a nice formal outfit together this afternoon before you go meet your Unit." I nodded and headed over to Shibuya Tomochika. The girl looked me over with a pair of beautiful violet eyes, smiled and extended her hand.
"Hi, I'm Shibuya Tomochika," she said. I took her hand and she shook our hands so hard I was almost knocked off balance.
"I'm Nanami Haruka, I hope we get along well today, Shibuya-san," I offered. She gave me a look as if she were asking "What's wrong with you?"
"You can call me Tomo-chan, alright? And in return, can I all you Haruka?" I nodded and Tomo-chan took hold of my right wrist and lead me inside a massive grey building with some walls being made out of glass. She pulled me into the first store we saw and we began looking through the tops. "Honestly, even when he was standing right in front of me, I couldn't tell Ringo-sensei was really a man, how about you?" I jumped at that.
"Ringo-sensei is a guy?!" I half-asked, half-screamed. Tomo-chan looked at me as if I had grown a second head.
"You didn't know? Don't you have a television?"
"We had a television set, but no service. So my Gran and I watched tapes of old soap operas and stuff like that, or played piano or listened to the radio," I explained. Tomo-chan nodded.
"So you have any music artists you like?" she asked.
"Um...Well...I like listening to music by HAYATO..." Tomo-chan gave me that wide-eyed look again.
"HAYATO? As in the guy who got busted for a half kilo of coke in his pocket last week?" I raised an eyebrow.
"I never heard he had drug problems," I said as I selected a pretty pink blouse.
"He doesn't just have drug issues. He's also got some drinking problems and when his girlfriend, Sirena, made her cancer public, he'd beat on her while he was high or drunk. She started posting pictures of high places. The last picture she posted was of the concrete under her tenth story balcony with a caption that read 'I wonder how much it would hurt...' and no one has seen her since. She's posted nothing, hasn't been seen by the media or the public in almost a year." I bit my lip a little.
"My Gran would change the station if the news came on. She and I hated that kind of stuff..." I said. Tomo-chan nodded.
"It all is rather depressing," she admitted as she picked up a shirt and smiled. "But no more of this depressing talk! We've got an entire mall to crawl through before we go get our dresses for this evening! So let's move it!" I chuckled and we began moving faster through the stores, picking up different clothes, jewelry, shoes and accessories.
Every few stores, one of our drivers would appear to take our bags to the car and eventually, Tomo-chan and I went to the food court to get some lunch. We kept chatting about random things that came to our minds, even what we could've become if we weren't Home-Makers. Tomo-chan admitted she wanted to become an idol, maybe more focused on acting as opposed to singing. I gave her hand a gentle squeeze before she shrugged.
"Well, this is our lot in life. The best thing we can do is grin and work with it to get what we want." I couldn't help but smile at her determination.
Suddenly, something cold hit the back of my head and something warm hit the back of my neck. I jumped up in an instant and snapped around. Tomo-chan jumped to her feet and grabbed a bunch of napkins from the dispenser as she tried to clean nacho cheese and meat bits off my back and the chocolate shake out of my hair.
"So sorry!" called a girl as she ran up towards us. She had black hair cut pixie-style and bright brown eyes and was dressed in a tan dress with a brown belt around her waist. Her legs were decked with black tights and brown ankle-boots. "So sorry about that. I tripped and my food went flying!" she panted as she stopped in front of me. I grabbed some napkins and began helping Tomo-chan with the clean-up.
"Don't worry, there's no real harm," I said with a smile. "I'm Nanami Haruka." I extended and hand to the girl. She smiled at me and placed her hand in mine.
"Ishino Aika," she said with a quick shake. I heard the clink of a charm on a bracelet and looked down. Wrapped around Aika's wrist was a silver bracelet with a blank charm. I almost bit my lip. A blank charm meant that the girl wearing it had been recruited to be given to a Unit who's Home-Maker had either gotten too old, permanently handicapped or had died. "Are you really alright?" She smiled and something inside me twisted, probably at the feeling of the shake still making its way down my back.
"Yes, I'm fine," I assured.
"Alright then, sorry again," Aika said before she left to get more food.
"If you see her again, be cautious," Tomo-chan said as she wiped at the last of the cleanable stuff from my hair and back.
"Tomo-chan?"
"There's just something not right about her, alright?" I nodded and sat down again.
"I'll be careful, I promise Tomo-chan." Tomo-chan sat down with her lunch just as Ringo-sensei began walking around, looking for any girls with our bracelets. When he came to our table, he stared at me in horror, not that I could blame him. I must've looked like I'd slept in a garbage bin.
"Haruka-chan, what in the world happened?!" he asked.
"Um…just had a little accident," I said with a little chuckle. Ringo-sensei looked at Tomo-chan and she nodded her agreement. Ringo-sensei pulled a pen from his bag and scribbled on a napkin.
"You two will go here when you're done. He's up on the fourth floor and he'll help you girls get your dresses together as well as a few other dresses you'll need." Tomo-chan and I nodded and Ringo-sensei left us to ourselves.
After that, Tomo-chan and I were rather quiet. We both knew what would happen after this last store; we'd be taken to our separate cars and driven to meet with our Units. Tomo-chan tried making a cheerful conversation but even her good acting couldn't hide the anxiety and sadness I could feel from her.
We finished our meal and went up to the store. The sign above the door read "Pierre's' in curvy blue letters. The inside had white walls and white tile floors. Whatever wasn't white was either chrome, glass or an off-white color.
A young woman dressed in the loudest neon-orange dress I'd ever seen stood at the entrance. She had on blue knee-high stilettos, bright blue lipstick and her blonde hair had been teased so much that her hair looked as if she'd stuck her finger in an electrical socket.
"Can I help you ladies?" she asked. Tomo-chan lifted her wrist to show her bracelet and the woman's eyes went wide. "Please have a seat. I'll go get Pierre." Tomo-chan and I sat down and Tomo-chan was quick to pick up a magazine. On the cover was the picture of a young man with somewhat messy black hair dressed in jeans and a black hoodie, struggling against an officer. Black sunglasses hung off the tip of his nose, showing deep blue eyes. Underneath it in big, yellow letter was "BUSTED AGAIN! Is this HAYATO's last chance? What he said to officers. How he got out of jail time."
In only a few moments, I heard something crash loudly from inside the store.
"Where are zey?!" someone began to yell. I turned to Tomo-chan and she smiled reassuringly. "Where are zeze lovely ladiez? I absolutely must- AH!" I almost screamed too. The man that walked in was dressed in a white fur coat so massive that I couldn't see any of his other clothes, aside from his white leather shoes. He also wore a black fedora with a leopard-print band just above the brim with a large peacock feather sticking out of the back.
Tomo-chan stood up and I followed her example.
"Are you Pierre?" she asked. The man came closer and kissed the back of Tomo-chan's hand and mine.
"Indeed I am, mademoiselle," he said with a smile. Then he took some of my hair in between his fingers and looked at it scrupulously. "But, cher, what kind of look were you going for 'ere? Are we going for ze 'I-just-crawled-from-ze-dumpster' look, I zink no. Anastasia!"
"Yes sir?" A young woman with brown hair pulled back in a bun with fierce blue eyes dressed in a black dress, black heels and a red cardigan stepped forward.
"Please help zis girl. I will handle zis one myself!" Anastasia come up and led me back into the store. She washed out my hair and sat me up before I was really able to look her in the eye, even if it was only through the mirror.
"Are you nervous?" she asked. I shrugged as she combed out my hair. "Don't be alright? I'm certain the military will protect you just as well as anyone could." I nodded again. "What's your name dear?"
"Nanami Haruka," I said. Anastasia nodded with a warm smile as she clipped my hair up.
"Well, Haruka-chan, you can call me Anne, alright? Pierre's just eccentric by nature." I nodded but stopped moving when Anne pulled out a pair of scissors and began clipping at the ends of my hair.
"What are you doing?" I asked.
"You have some split ends here. I'm just clipping them off is all. Would like to highlight your hair?"
"No, ma'am," I said. She nodded.
"Do you wear make-up Haruka-chan?" Anne asked. I bit my lip a little. I know most girls my age wore make-up but when I had first asked my Gran about it, she'd said that make-up causes more zits and I dropped the matter, only ever wearing lipstick when I had to go to a formal event.
"No ma'am," I said. Anne nodded and finished clipping my hair. "My Gran says it causes more zits than it covers up."
"Well, if it's not washed off properly, but we can give you some supplies to help with that, alright?" I nodded as she pulled me out of the chair and lead me to a table surrounded by so many drawers full of different-colored pallets I couldn't begin to count them.
Anne made quick work of my make-up before handing me a mirror. I gasped audibly. My eyes were lined with black that feathered towards my eyebrow and my lids were dusted with pale pink. A faint blush was dusted onto my cheeks and my lips were painted pink as well.
"Do you like it?" I nodded as I handed the mirror back to Anne. She put it in front of me and made me look at it again. "Haruka-chan, make-up is supposed to enhance your natural beauty, understand? You already had a beautiful face and fantastic eyes, what we did just made them stand out a little more, alright?" I nodded and Anne led me to another table where she worked on my nails and painted them a pale pink color that reminded me of sakura blossoms.
Then she led me to a curtained off room where she took my measurements and had me try on a number of expensive-looking dresses until she settled on a pink dress that stopped just short of my knees and had only one strap that went over my shoulder. The strap had a ruffle so it covered a little more skin but I was still a little self-conscious. The skirt frilled out a bit and I was fine with that, but the amount of leg exposed still made me uncomfortable.
Anne put a pair of red heels designed like sandals in front of me and I slipped my toes in. Anne brushed at my dress and hair, trying to fix up anything she could to make me look even a little bit better. But eventually, she sighed and smiled at me before giving me a little hug.
"A bit of advise: relax and smile. And show them the real Nanami Haruka, not some timid little girl afraid of her own shadow."
"I'm not afraid of my shadow," I pointed out. Anne laughed a little and pulled me away.
"Just be yourself and trust your gut." I nodded and she hugged me one last time before handing me a bag with a make-up kit, some hair-care supplies, a few things to wash my face and the clothes and shoes I'd arrived in. Anne gave me one last hug before leading me out the door. Outside was the orange-haired man who'd put the bracelet on me and Tomo-chan's driver. She was likely still inside the store.
"Nanami-san, we need to leave," my driver said. I looked back at the store but I couldn't see Tomo-chan anywhere. I sighed and followed the man to the elevator quietly. The doors were closing when I heard Tomo-chan yell my name and I looked up only to see her hand waving good-bye as the doors shut.
"Did you two become friends?" he asked. I nodded and he made a noise to show he understood. "Don't worry. You two will see each other at school."
"School?" The doors opened and he led me out of the mall and towards the car.
"Yes. While the boys are learning to be a team, you girls will learn how to care for them. Of course, you have a Specialty Unit which means you may take a class or two with them."
"How so sir?" I asked.
"Well, you need to learn how to be a calming presence to these boys, which will include a music class, cooking class, and even a class about dog interaction. Your boys will be with you for the last two as they also need to learn how to care for you." I nodded. "Also, being a Specialty Unit means they become famous in order to show just how good at something a person can become through the military. Basically, they're propaganda units."
"So wait…by famous do you mean…"
"They become idols." I bit the inside of my cheek. If my Unit was meant to become idols, then maybe…just maybe…I actually could compose like I'd dreamed of. I'd need permission of course, but still, it was a chance!
I got back into the car and slipped my seatbelt on. The orange-haired man sat down beside me again and smiled.
"You seem excited."
"A little," I admitted. He nodded.
"Well, the members of the Unit you'll be assigned to for this school year are Warrant Officer Class 5 Kurosu Syo, 2nd Lieutenant Ittoki Otoya, 1st Lieutenant Shinomiya Natsuki, Captain Hijirikawa Masato, Lieutenant Colonel Jinjuji Ren, and Colonel Ichinose Tokiya." I nodded and ran through the ranks and names in my head. I'd studied the various pins different ranks earned in school as had every girl in my school, so it would be easy to figure out who was who when I met them.
Eventually, the car rolled up in front of the restaurant and the driver came over to open my door for me. I stepped out and brushed out my dress.
"Have fun," the orange-haired man said as the door was shut and the driver went back to his job. I watched the car leave and squared my shoulders. I went into the restaurant and showed the hostess my bracelet. She led me outside to a pristine, white gazebo on the edge of a small lake where swans were sleeping on the water. Inside was table covered in white cloth with a card displaying the number 6 set on a decorative steel pole that also held a few candles to light the table. The seat was one bench going all around the table, leaving enough space to slide into. It was covered with plush cream cushioning and I almost sank into it when I sat down.
I could almost barely contain my excitement as I waited for Specialty Unit 6 to arrive. Would they like music? Would they even allow me to compose music? All I could do was hope. My nails began to tap out on the table, my fingers moving as if I was really playing the piano back at Gran's house. Fireflies appeared from the grass and crickets began to chirp.
I heard footsteps and turned to see a single figure coming towards me. He was dressed in a black suit with a short hat perched on his head. Over the shiny black bill was a silver eagle. He wore white gloves on his hands.
"Can I help you sir?" I asked as politely as I could. The man removed his hat, revealing messy black hair that almost looked like a deep indigo in the moonlight and deep blue eyes.
"Maybe you can. I'm looking for a young woman. I'm afraid I don't know what she looks like but I was told she'd be out here. Are there any other gazebos around here?" My jaw dropped as recognition clicked. "What is it?" he asked.
"HAYATO-sama?" I said. His eyes instantly went hard as stone and so much colder than ice, that I felt a sudden chill make its way down my spine.
"I'd prefer not being compared to that drunkard of an addict," he snapped as he put his hat back on. Something shimmered on his chest and I looked. His lapel was decorated with a gold bar marked with purple, red, green and blue stripes; Colonel. I gasped.
"Colonel Ichinose Tokiya?" I corrected. "Is that who you are? Colonel Ichinose Tokiya of Specialty Unit 6?" The Colonel raised an eyebrow at me.
"I guess you're the girl I was looking for then?" I moved out from the bench and stood before him.
"I'm Nanami Haruka," I said with a bow. "And I'm sorry about earlier...It's just that, you and HAYATO-sama look alike and you both sound the same."
"I'm his younger twin brother, that's why we look and sound alike. But I'd prefer that never come up in any conversation again."
"I understand sir," I said. He made me look him in the eye.
"The reason there's a hierarchy in this Unit is because we want there to be some people to grant you certain privileges and those who can revoke it as well. But let's get this clear; my orders take priority over all others, understood?" I nodded again and he moved past me to sit down at the table.
Justie: Okay, how is that for a debut chapter? Now remember, leave a review, follow/alert and see you next time. Bye!