Seventeen performers seemed like a lot to Rei as she watched the instructor talk to them about whatever it was. Rei had taken seat in chair in the corner to watch rather than to stand for the three hours of practice time that would go on. What Rei didn't know and wouldn't have expected for some reason was the same music on repeat and loop. For the full three hours as they practiced and Mina corrected and helped the instructor.

Reaching up, she pinched the bridge of her nose half way in during a break. Still fighting off the headache she had earlier in the morning. Lowering her hand she watched Mina move across the room and noted something odd before standing up and walking over to her.

"Aino-san."

"Just call me Minako." Minako smiled up at her as she took a drink from a cold bottle of water.

"...You twisted your ankle, didn't you."

Immediately she saw Minako's smile fall and some color drain from her face. Apparently no one was supposed to notice this and Rei had to guess it didn't happen while rehearsals were going on today. She would have noticed it, so would the others. It was a slight movement but Rei had seen it enough times when at archery practices from standing wrong or moving wrong.

"I don't think anyone else knows, but I also have to assume you don't have it taped up or at least...not properly?" Another assumption to add to the growing list. Mildly annoying but probably a good one at least.

"I taped it up this morning before my workout while you were browsing. I've been avoiding exercises with my feet for the time being and it's why I'm dancing less and instructing more." Clearly Minako was annoyed by it slowing her down.

"Is there a first aid kit here and a private room? No one has to know it happened, but I know how to tape it up so you can still practice the dance since it doesn't look too taxing on your ankle." Normally Rei would leave someone up to their own devices in these situations, but Minako relied on dancing and she really needed the best first impression she could give out on her first day to hopefully keep this job.

"Oh uhm…" Minako glanced around. "I'm sure I could get one but someone might suspect something at that point."

"Tell them I need it. When we entered the building I got a little roughed up pushing people off. Or I can tell them I need it rather and that you'll help me with it?"

"No I can ask. T-thank you." Minako walked around Rei and she watched her for a moment and sighed.

Within ten minutes Minako was back with a kit and they walked into a spare dancing room and Rei had her sit in a chair and take her shoe off, looking at it. A little swollen from walking on it with some bruising. Nothing too awful.

"You should ice it at home and elevate it at night. It will help with the swelling and make it less painful." Digging into the box, she pulled out athlete's tape before undoing what Minako had done and wrapping it properly and carefully. "I hope your gym workout isn't too bad on your foot though."

"No that's fine. Mostly core work this week so I shouldn't do anything such as running or bike riding."

"There." Rei put the kit back together neatly and closed it before standing up. "You should get back to your practice. I imagine it might move better along now that you can move better." Without a word, Rei left with the kit to return it before sitting in her seat again with a sigh.

After a more productive looking hour and a half, mercy was given in that the music stopped. It had no singing, just all audio at the time. Rei was sure she was going to hear it ringing in the back of her head for days to come. And not just because she had to sit through it twice a day. She groaned a little at the thought of sitting through it again later.

Minako was glad to be able to take another break for some lunch. She was thankful for Rei taping her ankle up properly and things had gone a lot smoother and she had been less worried about hurting herself. It was still sore, but less so when walking on it. They would eat lunch at the studio, ordering it in, and then move on to the next item for the day.

"What do you want to eat for lunch, Rei?" Minako looked over at her as everyone else was debating what to get.

"I'm fine."

Boy want to talk about talking to a stubborn wall. She knew Rei had not eaten since her arrival in the morning and it was noon now. If she didn't eat during lunch, it would be dinner before she ate and that worried Minako. It was noon now and dinner wasn't until 7 P.M.

"You should get something, you don't have to pay. It's going to be hours before food is an option again."

"I'm fine, Aino-san." Rei wasn't budging for anything. For food or for just calling her Minako it seemed. Well two could play at this game. Minako ordered in their lunch and got Rei some variety sushi for something not too large, but filling still with some water to drink.

Once the food arrived, everyone worked on dividing it out to whom got what and one of the girls asked who got the sushi, Minako pointed at Rei who looked almost offended as it was sat in front of her. Minako couldn't keep the smirk off of her face as Rei glared down at the food before taking her own miso soup and tatsukon. She was starving and savored the taste of the miso soup after stirring it up and starting to eat, relaxed during the time.

Fifteen minutes in she glanced over at Rei and her face almost fell when she saw that Rei hadn't even touched her food. There was no way she was this stubborn, until she realized Rei had her phone out and was apparently sending an email out that looked long before finally pressing send. Part of her wanted to ask, but she recalled Rei saying she was there to work. She knew this mean work and private life were meant to be seperate. All things considered, Rei finally caved and started to eat quietly and it made Minako feel better.

She hadn't been sure what Rei ate or liked and maybe she should have asked about allergies before hand. But the woman was being so stubborn it was ridiculous. Minako would have felt bad if everyone else ate and Rei didn't. Not to mention it would still be hours before dinner.

Once lunch was finally done it was the less fun part of her day: the gym.

Rei had made sure to thank Minako for the lunch, though she felt bad she didn't even pay for it nor want it. She felt her headache ease off with the food in her system and felt like she could handle things better without a chance of losing her temper. What she didn't look forward to was leaving the studio again with the people outside. Thankfully it had been more toned down this time and Minako even gave a wave to the crowd, but no one reached out towards her or tried to get an autograph.

Rei sighed to herself as they sat in the car, blocking out the screams and taking the sunglasses off. She figured they would still be waiting there for when they returned later for the second set of rehearsals.

"Good to see you both alive and well." Haruka turned around to grin at them before passing something back to Rei. "Natsuna asked me to give you this stuff when I picked you up. Don't ask me what it is or why, I only know about one thing in the stack because I looked."

"Haruka!" Minako seemed offended. "You shouldn't look through other people's items."

"It was an article! Come on, I wasn't gonna dig if it was personal, give me some credit."

"It's fine, Aino-san."

"Minako."

Ignoring her, she flipped the article open and almost groaned in defeat. That probably explained people being more respectful when they left. A news report was out with a photo of her holding the arm of the girl trying to reach out to grab Minako with Rei staring her down through the sunglasses. It talked about how serious her new bodyguard was and some rumors about Ace being gone or if it was temporary until her badge clipped to her jacket was mentioned. Well maybe this was a good thing.

"Wow, first day and already online." Rei looked over to see Minako on her phone looking at different articles about it. It scared her that she would be found out. Immediately she grabbed her badge to stare at it.

"Aino-san."

"Minako."

"Why does my badge say 'Reiko?'"

"Well I do get my photo taken a lot and you will be present a lot and if I slapped your actual name on it like the rest they would know about the shrine. So I came up with a nickname in place of it."

Letting out a shaky sigh, Rei let the badge go and pinched the bridge of her nose as the car started to move. This was the most stressful day of her life, she swore to it.

Next she picked up the small, but fairly thick book up and opened it and was mortified. It was the copy of Minako's schedule she had requested and if the current month was any indication of her future, she was doomed. There was no day off for three solid weeks. The schedule did a lot of repeating until the day off, though some ran shorter than others did. But still...how was she supposed to get any work done on the shrine proper in this time? Which raised another question.

"...Aino-san, when do you provide paychecks out?"

"Minako. And weekly. Your first one will be a little shorter than usual because it's only 4 days. I thought you wanted it to go to the shrine?"

"I do. But I needed to be sure when I could get supplies for the shrine itself is all." Rei ran her hand through her hair before letting it fall in her lap and then closed the schedule book and slid it into her jacket on the inside pocket.

"Shrine?" Haruka looked back at them through the rearview mirror. "Minako, did you hire a priestess as your bodyguard?"

"Sort of! Well she used to be one." Minako grinned as she playfully leaned against Rei who stiffened up. "Then she did archery for a while before security work."

"Archery?"

"You know for someone who is on their phone during the time I'm busy when you aren't flirting with the women, you don't read much on all the other sports." Minako scoffed. "Look into it while we're in the gym. Actually Rei, you can stay in the car for this. It's a private gym so no worries."

"No it's fine, I'll-"

"Stay in the car." That time Minako sounded very firm in her choice. That was the sound of her first real order from her boss. She glanced up at Haruka who was smirking and rolled her eyes.

Once they arrived, Rei insisted she at least get Minako inside and then she returned to the car, looking over the schedule once more.

"HINO REI?"

Rei almost jumped out of her skin as she looked up at Haruka who was staring at her like she was some freak of nature suddenly.

"You're the nationally ranked archer who destroyed men in the field! Top of Japan, even!" Haruka was almost yelling in the excitement and Rei had to hold back the sigh. "Why in the hell would you ever need to work security after that?"

"Because unlike most competitions, archery doesn't give out a lot of funding, especially if you don't have a sponsor."

That seemed to surprise Haruka. "Wait no sponsor? How come?"

"Personal reasons." Rei wouldn't admit that her Father had tried to sponsor her himself but she refused and made it where no one would sponsor her so she had to fight her way into the field alone.

Haruka made some noise in response as she glanced between the photo on her phone and Rei several times. "That suit was smart. Really makes a difference if you don't want anyone to know who you are. I try to stay hidden as well since I'm a race car driver in the other spare time."

"It seems like most of Aino-san's workers aren't known from what I can tell. Just as much as she is rather picky with whom she hires."

"Very. She made he take her on a track and show my driving skills before she would hire me. Also, Aino-san? She lets you get away with that lot."

"She's my boss, not my friend, not my acquaintance." Rei glanced over to see Minako headed back to the car and she noted how tired the woman was before she got in and sat down with a sigh. It was the thirty minute break time now.

"Man that was killer on my arms." She watched as Minako rotated her arms before leaning against the door.

"...Haruka."

"Yes?" Haruka looked back at Rei, a bit surprised.

"Can we stay here? It's break time and I fear driving would waste that time. Aino-san, you should rest, take a nap."

"Minako. And it's fine."

Rei suddenly opened her door and got out, moving to the front and sitting next to Haruka without a word and both of them stared at her. "Haruka, do not drive until her break time is up. Or rather until 5 minutes are left. That's enough time to get back to the studio." Without another word, Rei pulled her phone out to read an email.

Haruka turned to look back at Minako who looked dumbfounded. "Well uh...you heard'er. Nap up?"

What shocked Haruka even more was that Minako hesitated before actually laying down, the exhaustion finally showing before she fell asleep a few short minutes later. Haruka looked at Rei again.

"How did you know she was that tired?"

"Based on the copy of her schedule, with no day off planned till three weeks out, I would guess she's been going for quite some time. And I would also guess that despite her schedule stating she returns to her office or hotel by 8:30, she continues work, especially if the location is her office. Meaning she's up by around 6 A.M. and sleeping an average of six hours." Rei listed off her own assumptions as though it was nothing to realize.

"Oh uh...yeah I guess." Haruka looked back at Minako again who was out hard. "Are you going to wake her?"

"When the time is appropriate, she will be woken up. Until then, don't move the car because she will think we're going to the studio and wake up immediately and be ready to go."

The rest of the time was spent in silence before Rei suddenly got out of the car, startling Haruka at the sharp movement and watched her open the back door and shake Minako's shoulders who groggily sat up and Rei moved back to sitting in the back. "Drive to the studio. She has five minutes time to wake up proper."

Well that explained the five minute gap. Haruka followed the orders and drove towards the studio.

"Go to the backside."

"It's locked?"

"It's not. If the crowds saw her like this it would raise questions."

"What do I look like!?" Minako panicked and opened a mirror from her back. Hair sticking up a little, bags under her eyes, she didn't look fully alert nor ready to face a crowd. Rei was right and she groaned as they moved to the back and inside without a word, Rei locking the door. "How did you know it was unlocked?"

"I asked one of the dancers to unlock it about three minutes ago. That way when we got back, it was easier to get in and out. Just asked that they do it before we left for the gym is all." Rei lead her into the room where everyone was waiting and she sighed as she sat down. Right, 4 hours of hearing the music loop.

Only this time it had some lyrics to it, but Rei could tell it wasn't Minako's singing. It was a stand in, she guessed, for timing purposes on moves. Minako hadn't had a chance to record and if she recalled, she would be in the studio in two days to record the audio properly for this. The concert itself was in two weeks which would explain the twice a day practice sessions as well.

Rei wondered for the time they did practice. She knew that Minako had a full security team, but only one personal bodyguard. Her concerns were how thorough this team was, however. She had to guess that it was hired through a secondary company if anything given she hadn't seen them at Minako's office. Or rather, her company hired them. Though she was a pop idol star with her own office, she had a record label she worked under in the end.

Perhaps she could mention it closer to the date to ask if she would be in charge at the concert or just working with Minako herself. She also felt her headache starting to creep back in and pinched the bridge of her nose once more. There was also the ordeal with her being online and she worried her Father would find it somehow. Not that he could do much of anything, really.

Still, he did come to irritate her more than she would have liked. Asking her to work for him in return for fixing the shrine up. Or a political dinner to make it look like they had some form of a relationship when Rei wanted to pretend he was dead to her. That made it easier in her eyes. He didn't care about her Mother or Grandfather, so why should she pay him the same respects in the long run?

Ugh that wasn't helping her headache in the least. Looking up, she realized things were finishing up and stood up. She had made sure with Natsuna that dinner would take place at the office for today with a plan up her sleeve. She was glad she noted Natsuna's email address because Rei just didn't do texting. If she had it her way, she would have called but Minako was right next to her all day so that was out.

Then it was getting ahold of the second person in her contacts to make sure it could even happen in the first place. Relief came when it was possible and she hoped it would help a lot in the long run, at least for today.

Rei had been so lost in her thoughts she didn't realize they were already back at the office and she got out of the car and opened Minako's door, who seemed surprised to see Rei instead of Haruka who was pouting off to the side. Once they stepped inside, the office immediately smelled like something amazing was cooking.

"What on earth?" Minako was confused as she looked at Rei in concern before Natsuna walked up with a grin.

"Hungry? Food is almost ready."

"I..I thought we were going to order in?"

"We were, but we had a better plan come up. You're gonna love this, trust me. I know your love for curry and rice and you'll love it." Natsuna was excited and Rei let out a little sigh as she stepped around them and towards the kitchen while they chatted it up for a bit.

"I hear you made it a big hit already and it's not even done." Rei leaned against the counter with a small smirk, perhaps the first facial expression she had really shown all day.

"Well they wouldn't leave me alone. That one that looks like you...oh I forgot her name…"

"Come on Makoto, at least remember one name that isn't Minako."

Makoto laughed as she glanced at Rei. "I have to say, I didn't believe you were working for someone like an idol. You like the quiet way too much for that kind of stuff, you know? How was it?"

"Ugh...My face is plastered online already, but my name is hidden and I have sunglasses on in the photo, but they think I'm a very strict bodyguard I guess. They scream so loudly." Rei groaned as she sat on a stool and ran her hand down her face before pushing her hair behind her ear.

"I don't know what you would have thought. How are you gonna be at the shrine and do this anyways?" Makoto sat a plate in front of Rei with a glass of water.

"Should you really feed me first?"

"Friends first, you know. If it weren't for you none of them would be getting this."

Rei sighed as she picked up her spoon and pushed it around a bit. "I don't know, it's a packed schedule. I might have to close it down for a little while. It's not like I'm getting donations with it open and I can't keep workers there as is. Not to mention with the condition it's in, no one is really stopping by, not even for charms for exams."

"Ouch." Makoto grimaced at that as she started to set up more plates for people who were coming in for food, handing it out. "I take your Dad is still at it?"

"Ughhhh." Rei made a noise at that, almost enough to lose her appetite as she started to eat. "Yeah. He won't take no for an answer. I don't even get why he would want me for security reasons, he's a politician. Not someone important."

"Politician's are important, Rei."

"He's not…" Rei mumbled it as she pushed her food around a little more, thankful for a real meal. Makoto's cooking had always been top notch and she was glad she was able to pull her away for a night. "I'll make this up to you, by the way."

"No way, I owe you. You got me my job so this is part of that payment. Just shut up and eat."

Minako had felt bad for eavesdropping into the conversation, she really did. But she was so curious about stoic, silent, serious Hino Rei. So the shrine was in such a condition she couldn't even get someone to visit? That just sounded awful for someone who grew up at the place.

She sighed as she leaned against the wall with a frown. Nevermind she sounded like she was miserable with the job and that made Minako also feel pretty guilty with how excited she had been all day with Rei.

"Minako, aren't you going to eat?" Natsuna was suddenly in front of her, worried. "What's wrong?"

"I think Rei hates this job."

"You've really gotta stop eavesdropping, you know that?"

"I didn't mean to, really. I was going to get a plate and she was talking and she hasn't talked about herself once all day today." Minako sighed again.

"Have you considered that she isn't used to the job yet? Don't judge it on the first day. Did she say she was planning to quit working or anything?"

"No." That much Minako knew. Rei clearly needed the job or else she wouldn't have taken it. And it wasn't like she had totally ignored her questions earlier in the morning either and based on what she knew, Rei was taking the job seriously.

"Then don't stress it, hm? Minako, you have a great ability to grow on people and I think even she will adjust. Your didn't just become popular because you were able to sing, but because you have a team that cares for you as much as you do us. If we weren't so happy, we wouldn't be fighting to keep you top pop idol." Natsuna grinned at her and Minako couldn't help but to smile.

"Okay. I'll give her time and see what she thinks." With that, they moved in for the food and Minako sat down right next to Rei and took a bite. She couldn't believe how delicious it was and she was shocked as she kept eating it, suddenly having an empty plate. "Gods that was...amazing."

"Oh uh..t-thank you." Makoto bowed a little as she moved to start cleaning until Rei stood up.

"I'll clean it up, Makoto. You should head out, you've had a busy day already." Without waiting, Rei pulled her jacket off and folded it, putting it on the back of the chair and then rolling her sleeves up and moving to the sink to run hot water.

Something about that image floored Minako. It pulled away from the serious Rei she had been seeing all day, even while just sitting in a chair. But here she was, sleeves up to the elbow, washing dishes and sending this cook off that Minako didn't even thank properly. She'd have to get her info to send her a personal thank you for everything.

Right now all she could focus on was staring at her bodyguard looking the most normal she had seen her. It almost startled her out of her chair when Rei turned and took her plate without a word to clean it. And they were like that for nearly half an hour, with Minako watching her just wash dishes by hand despite there being a dishwasher. Perhaps because she worked at a shrine she was used to doing it by hand.

"I'll be back at 7 in the morning." Rei dried her hands off and turned to face Minako who suddenly sat up very straight. "I do have a question."

Minako felt her eyebrows raise at that. Rei hadn't asked anything in particular since about the paycheck really. "Yes?"

"There are times where we are stationary, at the studio. Would it be okay if I were to bring a book with me to read in the meantime?"

"Oh! N-no, that's fine with me. Whatever makes you more uhm...comfortable." Minako nodded a little.

"Thank you. Have a good night, Aino-san."

Minako didn't even respond to correct her as Rei left, watching her disappear and then suddenly Natsuna was waving her hand in Minako's face.

"Earth to Minako?"

"Hmm? Something wrong Natsuna?" Minako looked at her finally, blinking a few times. Natsuna suddenly grinned and it worried her.

"Nothing. You should rest up for the night. Everyone has gone home except for me and I'm about to leave. I imagine Hino-san will be very punctual in the morning so you won't be allotted to sleep in."

"Hino-san? Why are you calling her Hino-san? You've been saying Rei all day long. What bites. Why the grin?"

"Nothing, oh boss of mine. Good night."

All Minako could do was wonder as she finally moved upstairs through her off and into her room, brushing her teeth in thought. Rei hadn't quit after day one, so maybe there would be hope of progress in more than one way. After that, she changed clothes and collapsed in bed before groaning and shifting, elevating her ankle like Rei had said and eventually falling asleep, her dreams filled with her new bodyguard.