Author Notes/
Disclaimer: I do not own Starish or anything from the Uta Pri world. Any songs used here will receive credit to their artists.
Chapter 10
Shou spent a lot of his free time with Siren after that day, much to her displeasure. Until then she had never realized exactly how loud fans could scream, or how petty high school girls could be. Not all side effects of being Shou's friend were terrible though. For example, Halloween was pretty fun.
As far back as she could remember Siren had gone trick or treating every year for a little extra food. She had come to hate the holiday and the rude people who would answer their doors and refuse her candy because she wasn't wearing a costume or the bigger kids who would steal her pillow case of candy when it got even slightly full.
This year she actually had fun though. The school had a costume party but since everyone was supposed to dress up no one knew who the members of Starish would be so Shou took the first advantage he had to sneak away to put his regular clothes on and then up to Siren's dorm.
With no small amount of complaining he had dragged his friend to the Starish dorm and plopped her in front of their giant plasma T.V while he went to grab some popcorn and a selection of scary movies.
Siren, it turns out, was easily frightened and she would jump, scream, or in the worst cases grab onto Shou at each twist. Shou seemed unaffected and in fact after watching The Ring informed his companion rather cheerfully, "The Japanese version is way better."
But despite being scared out of her ever loving mind, Siren had a good time and for perhaps the first time was glad it was just her and Shou in the room. She had agreed to show him emotions, but that did not extend to the rest of Starish, so jumping and screaming and clinging were out of the question around the others.
Then a rumor hit the school over the Halloween weekend.
"Did you hear that six girls will be awarded a prize for their work next week?"
"Six girls?"
"Yeah….I wonder if it's a date with Starish."
"Yeah right, that would be totally wicked!"
"Why only the girls?"
"I don't but only the girls with the top marks get a prize."
"We can't let Siren win!"
"Her composer this week better do something this time!"
"Don't worry, we have a plan."
"I just hope she is paired with a guy."
"Yeah, or that Haruka girl."
"Yeah she doesn't need a prize."
"I'll get her on board with us."
"You better!"
"...And now they are plotting against you!" Nanami explained in a rush to the white haired girl beside her.
"Ah, great!" Shou groused on her other side. "And the prize would be great for Siren's career!"
"I don't intend to lose, even if the prize is not announced. You say it will be good for my career, so I will win. As for the composers' plan you speak of, if I am not paired with you, well, I will just have to figure out what they really have planned for me. You say it's to write a second song that I won't have heard in a completely different style? Quite a few of the composers in our class are rather predictable with their melodies. I will have to hope I get one of them." She was saying as they walked swiftly down the hall.
It was a little troubling hearing that the composers of the school had banded against her for the next week, especially since it had somehow leaked that the top six female idols or composers of any class would receive a prize. No one knew what the prize was, though the members of Starish seemed to have a hint of an idea. That alone, compounded with the fact that Shou said it would be good for her career left Siren with little speculation and a strong urge to pull out all the stops.
They got to the S class door early and milled around with the rest of the students there before the bell. Ittoki and Tokiya sidled their ways over to Nanami and Shou, gracing Siren with a hearty hello and a tolerant nod each. As the door opened Nanami held Siren back, much to the pop idols' confusion as she waved them into class.
"I'll find out what type of music the composer chosen for you this week really has planned for you! Unfortunately I don't think I can do more. I'll uncover that much though." The red head said with a grin.
"Why?" Siren didn't sound the confusion she felt, but Haruka seemed to understand because her smile grew gentler as she responded.
"Because you are Shou's friend. Which makes you my friend, though I suppose that could be a problem for you too. Ichinose-san explained to me why you don't want debuted friends. But I feel that friends help a person grow…they don't hinder. So, um, well…I consider you a friend. Let's take care of each other, Siren." And after Nanami gave her little speech and went into the classroom, Siren was struck dumb in place till the bell rang and more students began to rush down the hall.
"She's lost her mind." Siren muttered as she slowly moved to the door. "Being friends because someone else considers me a friend. Oh well, she seems nice enough."
"Now class!" Marie Santana was the Idol in charge of teaching S Class. She was a firm but joyful woman whose contralto voice had belted out three number one hits and she had been a star in two movies. Both with impressive box office sales. "As you may have heard, this week the top six females in the idol or composer course anywhere from here in S Class all the way down to D Class will be awarded a secret prize for their efforts. That being said I know you all will do your best. The theme for this week is 'an experience you have gone through in this school!' We are doing a random pairing again this week so everyone please line up. Composers will be on the left side of the room and idols on the right please. Good, good. Now I am going to borrow Shou's hat and pass it around the left side first, then I will fill it back up and go to the right."
Siren watched coolly as the hat made its rounds through the S Class composers. Each strip had half a word and each word was a different color. Drawing a piece of paper from Shou's hat as it went around, without any of the shrieking of 'Oh my god I touched Shou's hat' or sniffing the air as it passed that some of the other girls were partaking in, Siren looked at what seemed to be half an O and a P in orange on the blue slip.
"Now," Miss Marie began once she returned the short idol's hat to its owner, "your partner will have your matching paper and the word you create will be the style you are to work with this week. So get to it and have fun."
The random pairing led Siren to a young man with a YOLO necklace and teased hair. His school uniform was sloppy and fit two sizes too loose and he was leering at her like he won a prize himself. Siren was strongly reminded of what Haruka had told her about the composers plotting against her and had to fight back a grimace. On top of that their paper read out 'pop' which wasn't a style that Siren felt strong at, she was alright with pop, but not stellar.
Just breathe, she reminded herself while taking her own advice immediately.
Shou looked over from the nervous looking guy he was paired with this week, letting his eyes easily and naturally direct themselves to Siren's bright white hair. Standing in front of her he saw the young man she was partnered with and felt the intense urge to punch the smug, almost derogatory look on the kids face.
I hope everything turns out ok. He thought to himself before looking down at the completed slip of paper in green and black that read 'punk'.
Thursday, recording day, came quickly for Siren even though she had done three times the work. Nanami had informed her that the boy she was paired with would be double writing a country song for the white haired songstress. Siren had never even heard a country song in her life, so she had to download and listen to song after song in an attempt to assimilate her style into something resembling that of a country singer while still sounding 'pop' enough to get a good grade.
"Just a reminder this week's assignment was to base your song on an experience you have had while in this school. That song, Miss Carola was drivel that had nothing to do with anything. Let's see who is next. Ah, Siren, can you show them how this sort of assignment is done?"
"Yes ma'am." Siren softly said before heading into the sound booth.
"Let's see what you gave her to work with Mr. Lamba." And the country type tune flowed through the speakers while the students all chuckled and high fived. "I thought this week was supposed to be pop."
"She can adapt." Ken said with a shrug.
"You mean she hasn't heard the track?" The teacher asked appalled.
"Nope, I guess we could give her a run through…" Ken was jesting as Siren opened her mouth and began to sing to the track. "Or not. No redoes right?" The class was laughing, but after a few seconds shut up in horror as they listened to Siren's voice masterfully weave through the track.
You, with your voice like nails on a chalkboard
Calling me out when I'm wounded.
You, pickin' on the weaker man.
Well you can take me down,
With just one single blow.
But you don't know, what you don't know,
A girl in the back of the room shrieked in frustration at the girl singing so effortlessly.
You, with your switching sides,
And your walk by lies and your humiliation
You, have pointed out my flaws again,
As if I don't already see them.
I walk with my head down,
Trying to block you out cause I'll never impress you
I just wanna feel okay again.
"You were supposed to make it impossible for her to win!" Another girl bitched. Siren was breaking for a musical interlude and Shou could have sworn he saw a grin on her face.
And I can see you years from now in a bar,
Talking over a football game,
With that same big loud opinion but,
Nobody's listening,
Washed up and ranting about the same old bitter things,
Drunk and grumbling on about how I can't sing.
But all you are is mean,
All you are is mean.
And a liar, and pathetic, and alone in life,
And mean, and mean, and mean, and mean
It was almost possible to hear the girls behind him grinding their teeth, and Shou had to wonder if they knew what was at stake.
Why you gotta be so mean?
The booth was completely quiet as was the recording room. Siren slipped her headphones off and walked out of the booth.
As soon as she entered the recording room, the boy who had tried to trick her rounded on her. "How did you know the track? Did you sneak into my room?"
"I didn't need to." Siren informed him soft as ever. "Your style is predictable, that is all."
"Why were you trying to trick Siren?" Miss Santana asked in a dangerous voice that caused some of the students to back up to the walls.
"Um, Santana-sensei? It wasn't just Lamba-san." Nanami said in her quiet way. "All the composers had a plan to ruin Siren for this week's competition. They thought I was in league and Lamba-san told me what type of music he would be using, so I told Siren, but I didn't know what he put together. That was her figuring out his style and habits."
"I see…" Miss Santana looked at the other composers; the other girls in that class were looking murderously at Siren while the boys looked just as angrily at Haruka. "The song was sung in a more pop flavor so I am going to grad it as a success, but to be honest I am beyond impressed with you Siren. You never heard that track?"
"Not once, it's really a shame, I expected it to sound like that and it did." Siren answered in her monotone way.
"That is a shame. Hardly S Class material. Or A Class for that matter. I will be recommending the composer be sent to B Class from now on till he can learn variety. I would recommend that none of the female composers be taken into consideration for the prize, but Principal Saotome would just say that greedy manipulative wenches are part of the industry." Marie said with a shrug. "But know that if you act this way out there you will be losing a lot of sponsors and deals and business. It is not attractive, and stars are paid to be attractive."
Class went smoothly after that, though in a much more subdued manner. The next day, Siren went to look at the grade board and was pleased to find her name at the top again.
"That really was impressive, Lady." Jinguji said as he walked up beside her. "You really never heard that track?"
"Never. He just had too many limits he placed on himself, the notes he used, the tempos he never used, and the key he wrote in. Put that all together and that song was pretty much what you would get if you strip it down to those elements." Siren told him blandly.
"Well you will be chosen for the prize, so take my advice? Don't let Shou choose you." And with that vague advice he walked off, probably in search of fan girls.
Songs Used:
Mean by Taylor Swift
