Chapter 30: Paparazzi
Ema tapped her foot against the leg of her chair as she stared at lines for the next episode. She was at a café indulging in some ice cream as she mentally rehearsed her lines. Now that Veeto had found Princess Neena and Zeeto again in the anime, there was no reason for Ema not to practice with both twins again. No reason except Ema's hurt feelings, anyway.
She didn't know how to interact with Azusa now, though she knew that was her own fault. Azusa was responsible for the awkwardness before, and now it was her. But how was she supposed to react? Was she supposed to be okay with Azusa being ornery with her because of something else in his life when he hadn't been ornery with anyone else?
Maybe he didn't really consider her a friend and only spent time with her because Ema and Tsubaki were close. Ema had always been closer with Tsubaki than Azusa. It hurt to think that, but maybe that was the case. Regardless, she wasn't in the mood to practice lines with Azusa and Tsubaki, so she'd claimed she had too much homework to practice with them tonight and would be studying at the library. She felt bad about her lie, but she felt much more relieved that she wasn't currently shut up in a room with Azusa.
"You look familiar," a voice close to Ema said. She looked up to see a guy in his late twenties smiling brightly at her.
Almost unconsciously, Ema gathered her things closer to her. "I don't think I know you." The only men in Japan above high school age that she knew were those among the Asahina brothers.
He laughed. "No, no, we haven't met before. That wasn't what I meant, just that your face looked familiar. Are you by chance Ema Hinata, the daughter of Rintaro Hinata?"
Ema paused, not wanting to answer. This was the first time someone had identified her as Rintaro's daughter since she'd moved back to Japan.
"I thought so," the guy said, flashing his bright smile again. He'd apparently taken Ema's silence as an affirmation. "I recognized you from some of the episodes of your father's show that you've been in. Do you mind if I take a seat?"
"Actually—" Ema began, looking down at the lines she needed to go over.
"Great, thanks," he said, interrupting Ema. She stared at him in surprise over how rude and forward he was being. He took out a notepad and pen.
"I'm a journalist," he explained. "And when I saw you, the daughter of the famous Rintaro Hinata, I simply couldn't pass up the opportunity to speak with you."
Ema withheld a sigh as she shoved her lines into her backpack. She had half a mind to walk out of the café without another word to the guy, but was worried that might reflect poorly on her father. She'd had plenty of people ask her questions about him before, she'd just hoped to avoid doing so in Japan. Maybe there was a polite way to extract herself from the conversation. "I'm not really involved with anything my dad's doing right now," she explained. "If you're wanting to know more about what where he is or where he's going next, you'll have to contact the studio."
"Oh, I know," the reporter said, leaning forward. Suddenly, his bright smile didn't look so bright. The edges were too curved and his eyes had changed. He looked more like a shark now. "I didn't come over here to ask about your dad's current whereabouts. I wanted to ask what it's like for your father to place his career before you and leave you behind."
He held his pen over his notepad like he actually expected Ema to respond, but she was too stunned to say anything.
"Well?" He asked, raising his eyebrows. "I'm not the only one who's noticed that you're no longer in any episodes of your father's show. People want to know what happened. Was it just too much of a burden to have you along? Or did he feel like you were holding him back?"
Ema's face flushed in humiliation and anger at the man's words.
"What happened is that some idiot writing for a trash magazine is trying to pass himself off as a real journalist."
Ema jumped, shocked to hear Fuuto's voice. She had to stare at him for several seconds before she actually believed he was there, but he stood next to where the journalist sat, his arms crossed as he stared down at the man.
The journalist looked Fuuto up and down, appearing unimpressed. He must not have recognized Fuuto, though maybe it was the sunglasses and hat he was wearing. "I don't know what you're talking about."
"Sure, you do," Fuuto said. "You're one of the writers for that magazine that likes to print conspiracy theories and lies. If you want to call yourself a journalist, you have to write an article with real facts. Not that you know what those look like. Now why don't you leave the nice lady alone?"
The journalist stood up, his cheeks flushing. "What would you know about it?"
"I know because you're wrong about this situation, as usual. This girl isn't Ema Hinata, she's Ema Asahina, my sister. You surprised her because you know her first name. She was too shocked to do anything after that. She's not real good at responding to things on the fly. Besides, it's creepy for some old guy to come up to a teenage girl and know her name. Maybe you should think about that next time."
The man started sputtering, but looked hugely embarrassed as Fuuto grabbed Ema's backpack, took her arm, and led her away.
Ema was still stunned as Fuuto pulled her outside and down the street. She wasn't entirely convinced she wasn't in a very vivid dream.
"Well?" Fuuto said. "Aren't you going to thank me?"
With that, Ema realized this probably wasn't a dream.
"What if the journalist had recognized you?" Ema asked. "Your reputation of always being polite could have been ruined, or you might have started a rumor about us dating, or about your secret sister no one knows about." Ema was pretty sure no one knew anything about the family of the famed Fuuto Asakara. There was a reason Fuuto used a fake last name as an idol.
Fuuto snorted. "First, I've worn this disguise plenty of times and no one has figured out who I am. Second, didn't you hear what I said in there? That guy wasn't a journalist. He's a writer for a gossip magazine. And don't think too much of my interfering. I just happened to be walking by and really don't like that guy." He paused. "I know how annoying people like that can be. I've had to deal with enough of them."
"Well, thank you," Ema said, meaning it. Who knew Fuuto could actually do something nice?
Fuuto slowed his quick pace and finally let go of Ema's arm. She hadn't realized he'd still been holding it.
"You didn't buy anything that guy said about your dad, right?" Fuuto asked. "He wanted you with him. You're the one who decided you wanted to live in Japan."
"Right," Ema said quietly. While what Fuuto said was true, there had been plenty of people through the years who'd expressed their opinion that Ema was holding her dad's career back. It made the words of the gossip reporter hurt more. And her father had contacted her so little since she'd moved to Japan. It wasn't uncommon with him traveling around so much. They were on different schedules and he often didn't have access to phones or the internet…but it still hurt.
"What were you doing around there?" Ema asked to change the subject.
Fuuto shrugged. "I had a magazine interview today that was canceled, so I decided to walk around. What were you doing there? These days it seems like you're either doing homework with Yusuke, or practicing lines with Tsubaki and Azusa."
Ema shrugged awkwardly, not wanting to answer the question. Then, a crazy thought occurred to her. "Tsubaki and Azusa had to work later today, so I decided to go over my lines by myself somewhere a little quieter than at home." It was true that Tsubaki and Azusa would work a little later that day, but they would still be home in plenty of time for the three of them to practice together. "Since you have time right now, why don't you run lines with me while I practice? You can be Tsubaki's and Azusa's characters."
Fuuto gave her a disbelieving look over his sunglasses. "Seriously?"
"Why not?" She challenged. "It's a form of acting isn't? It's not in the same form that you want to do, but it's still an opportunity for you to practice acting. Your voice and tone are important parts of acting. And, a lot of big name actors in the United States do both types of acting."
Fuuto stopped walking to stare at her. Then, to her surprise, he shrugged and said, "Eh, why not."
~.~
"I think that's enough for today," Ema said, falling back on Fuuto's bed. She'd initially been uncomfortable when Fuuto had taken them to his room to rehearse, but he'd been nothing but professional in helping her, so she'd been able to relax after a while. "Thanks for helping me."
"That's two times I've helped you today, you know," Fuuto warned her. "I'm going to call those favors in one day."
"No, it's not," Ema argued. "The first time you helped me, but since you want to be an actor, this was an exercise for you to practice your skills. That means I helped you, so we're even." She smiled pleasantly at Fuuto.
He looked stunned before shaking his head, a small smile on his face. "Fine, we'll call us even. This time."
Fuuto tossed the script Ema had given him onto the bed next to her. "The plot of your anime is stupid and sappy, but you're pretty good. I was watching your face for part of it, and I think maybe you should think about trying out for real acting some time."
Ema studied Fuuto's face, trying to gauge if he was being sarcastic, but he sounded serious. His voice often had an almost melodic quality when he was setting Ema up to insult her, and it hadn't this time.
"Um, thanks, but I'm not sure a career that would put me in the spotlight is for me. I kind of fell into doing this anime with Tsubaki and Azusa."
She gathered up both scripts and was about to leave when something occurred to her. At the beach house, Fuuto had made what could be considered a conciliatory gesture and she had shot him down. Based on today, it looked like Fuuto might have been sincere in the way he'd treated her. She winced remembering the way she'd responded.
"Is something wrong?" Fuuto asked.
Ema sighed. "Kind of. I'm used to you being a jerk." Fuuto gave Ema an irritated look, but she shrugged unrepentantly. "It's true. Anyway, you were nice at the beach house and I wasn't so nice back. I wanted to apologize for that. It's just…" Why did Ema feel the need to explain to Fuuto why she'd been so upset at him? She didn't owe him an explanation. Nor did he need to know what had happened in Ema's past. Still, if she genuinely wanted to be friends with and get along with all the Asahinas…
"You reminded me of a guy I dated who was a jerk. He was so arrogant he believed he could not only get any girl to date him, but could get away with dating several girls at a time." She shrugged again, uncomfortable. "When you suddenly went from rude to nice, it reminded me of him, that's all. But I'm sorry for how I treated you."
Fuuto frowned at Ema. "I've got an ego, I'll grant you that, but any guy who does something like that is pathetic. If you really want something, whether it's a job or a girl or whatever, you need to reach out with your might and take it. If you're so pathetic and wishy washy that you can't decide what you want, including which girl you want to be with, you don't deserve to be with anyone."
"That…is an interesting perspective," Ema said. She wasn't quite certain what Fuuto meant, but she was pleased he didn't approve of what Carlos had done. She didn't know Fuuto well enough to know what he would have thought of a guy cheating on his girlfriend.
"Well, I'd better go help with dinner," Ema said. "Thanks again for your help." She hoped she and Fuuto would along better from now on.
