Day 6: The Fashion Show

Sora was pacing around nervously in the atelier. She knew everything was alright and going great, but she couldn't help but feel anxious. She was staring at her own kimono designs and smiled proudly. They took her a lot of work, but it was definitely worth it.
"Your kimonos are amazing." Kira said with admiration as she stopped beside her business partner. "It's going to be a great fashion show."
"I hope so." She sighed and looked down for a moment. "But I'm still not convinced with them."
"Why not? They are incredible and beautiful."
"I don't know... I just don't think they are good enough to be in a fashion show."
"You're a perfectionist woman." Kira said with a smile. "I've noticed that since high school."
"Well, yeah. I need to be especially right now because it's our first fashion show ever since we set up our atelier. And you trusted me to do all the designs when yours are just as amazing."
"The world deserves to see your creations. I have no doubt soon enough you're gonna be attending to all of these important fashion shows all over the world."
"We are." Sora corrected her. "I don't like it when you dim your talent to praise mine. You can do it without putting yours down. And also, next time we're going to show your creations."
"That sounds fair to me."
"I'm surprised to see how you can stay calm with this. I'm freaking out so much. What if they don't like my designs?"
"You don't really believe that, do you?"
"Actually, I do. I think it's quite possible."
"But that doesn't mean they are bad or anything. It's just that they didn't particularly like them for whatever reasons. Besides, you've done fashion shows in university before."
"That's true, but they were only for the Fashion students and not specialists like this time. We were pretty much on the same boat."
"Then just pretend they are Fashion students."
"I guess I can do that."
"Great." Kira smiled happily. "Believe in yourself, Sora. You're ready for this."
"Thank you for having faith in me, Kira." Sora smiled back. "It means a lot to me."
"You don't need to thank me. I have no doubt you'd do the same for me. We're in this together, don't forget it."
"I won't, I promise."

.

Sora was sitting in her living room watching TV, but she was barely paying attention to what was on. She couldn't stop thinking about her first fashion show since she graduated from college and was getting nervous again. The event was only a few days away, but her anxiety was already getting the best of her. She really wished Piyomon was there with her, she would be so excited and proud of her partner at that moment. A pain crossed her heart at the thought that Piyomon wasn't going to witness one of the most important moments in her life and tears started falling from her eyes at the same time she reached for an ice-cream pot on her table and Yamato opened the door and walked in.
"Hey, baby." He said with a smile while he looked at her from the kitchen. He moved his focus to a bag in front of him in the kitchen and took a pot out of it. "I brought pizza and soda."
Yamato sat down beside her after putting the new ice-cream pot on the table. Then he pulled her towards him and hugged her tight without saying a word.
"Didn't you have to study for a really important test next week?"
"I do. I brought my bag to study here, but that can wait a little. Someone needs some comforting right now."
Sora couldn't help but smile against his green shirt. "How did you even know I was having an anxiety attack?"
"It wasn't that hard to tell, actually. It always happens when you're under a lot of pressure in anticipation of a huge moment in your life." He handed her the ice-cream pot. "So I stopped by the supermarket to get you some dessert. I thought maybe you'd want some."
"You're the sweetest." She sat up straight and looked at his deep blue eyes. "Thank you so much."
"You don't need to thank me." He stroked her arm softly. "I don't like seeing you so anxious, though I think it's inevitable."
"I didn't want to cause you trouble."
"Don't be silly, you could never cause me trouble. I wanted to come to stay with you tonight." Yamato glanced over to the empty ice-cream pot near Sora. "And looks like I came just in the right time."
"Yeah, I was thinking about Piyomon and how I wish she was here right now. She would be so excited to see everything taking place." Sora cleaned the tears in the corner of her eyes. "She probably would be more anxious than me."
"I have no doubt about it." He laughed. "I wish I could bring her back to you, but I'm sure she'll be around for the other ones. We'll find a way to change it. She did ask me one thing though."
"What is it?"
"She asked me to take good care of you." Yamato stood up and grabbed her hand, pulling her up.
"Is that so?" She wrapped her arms around his waist and looked up at him.
"Absolutely. And I said I would, that she didn't have to worry about it at all."
"And I can already say you kept your promise."
"Of course. You should know by now I never break my promises."
"Oh I don't know it." She stood on her toes and kissed him on the lips briefly. "Thank you for taking such good care of me."
"You're welcome. By the way, that's not even half of you deserve."
"You keep this up and I'll be the most spoiled person alive."
"Would that be so terrible?"
"You tell me. You'd be the one to deal with this side of me. I should warn I could be very annoying sometimes."
"I'm starting to think it would." He couldn't help but laugh. "I'll try to spoil you less then."
"That would be very wise, yeah."
"Come on." He intertwined his fingers with hers and took her to the kitchen. "Let's go eat before the pizza gets cold."

.

Sora felt like she was going to pass out any minute. She could hear the noise outside getting louder. People were starting to arrive for the show and a few models hadn't arrived yet. But she was more worried about Mimi not being there yet, since she was the one responsible for their make-up and was going to be the first one to go on stage.
"I can't believe she isn't here. What's taking her so long?"
"She will be arriving any minute, Sora." Hikari looked at her through the mirror of the dressing room and offered her friend a smile. "I'm sure she has a valid for being late."
"I hope so."
"I'm so sorry I'm late." Mimi walked in a hurry carrying a large make-up bag and sat down in a chair nearby.
"Mimi, you were supposed to have arrived like two hours ago!" Sora complained a bit too loud.
"I know, I know. I'm sorry. I got held up in something."
"You could have at least called and told me."
"Sorry, but I'm here now. Where do I start? With Hikari?"
"I have to see if she needs to have her kimono adjusted. You can do Kimi's make-up first."
"Alright." Mimi grabbed her bag again and went towards Takeru's girlfriend.

.

Hikari looked at herself through the mirror and couldn't help but think she looked really pretty in the kimono designed exclusively for her. Sora had really captured her essence and she was absolutely blown away with how it turned. She thought her friend was a really talented stylist and would go really far with it.
"And I think we're done here." Sora took a few steps back to check on the kimono as a whole. She thought this was one of her best ones, and favorite too.
"It's amazing how you could make it the exact type of kimono I would wear." Hikari stepped out of the bench she was standing on. "I feel like I don't ever want to take it off. Thank you so much for letting me stay with it after the show."
"Thank you for agreeing to model for my first fashion show. You and Mimi are truly the best friends I could ever ask for."
"You don't need to thank me, and I'm sure she feels the same way. You've done so much for us already."
"Oh God, I'm gonna cry." Sora turned towards the mirror and checked her make-up. "I was trying so hard not to."
"It's okay to cry." Hikari reassured her. "You've been working so hard to get here and your moment has finally arrived. It's time to enjoy it and be grateful for the opportunity life has given you. I'd say it's only a matter of time until your receive so many requests you're gonna need to hire more people to help you. I surely will order a few more for me soon."
"I would love that." Sora cleaned the tears in the corner of her eyes and smiled softly. "I will forever be grateful for all the support each one of you is giving me. I really don't know how I'm going to pay you back for this."
"You can pay us back by keeping being the amazing person you are. And also by making such beautiful clothes."
Sora's smile turned into a laugh. "I guess I can do that."
"Great. I really have to go get my hair done and my make-up too. It's almost my turn to go on stage."
"Yeah, and I should check on how everything is back at the dressing room."

.

As the two women were heading back to the dressing room, they heard some screaming and nervous footsteps all around the place. Sora began to panic even before she opened the door and walked in. There was a kimono on a mannequin that Kira was trying to fix. There was a large hole on the bottom of it, at the part that would be the thighs.
"What happened?" Sora ran to her business partner to find out what was going on.
"One of the models' kimono got stuck in the chair when she was getting her make-up done and didn't see it. When she stood up this part was ripped off."
"That's a huge hole. We don't have enough time to fix it. The show is about to start." She said desperately. "This is becoming a disaster. We should just cancel everything."
"Take a deep breath, Sora." Kira looked at her for a moment. "She's going to be one of the last ones to go in. We can fix this kimono by then."
"It's gonna look awful, Kira." Sora insisted and started shaking from nervousness. "It's completely different than the pattern we used on it."
"Why don't we go sit down for a moment?" Hikari grabbed her friend by the forearms and took her to the room they were previously. "Mimi, can you get her a glass of water?"
"On it. I'll be right there."

.

"Hey." A soft voice echoed around and through her ears and a pair of arms involved her body and pulled her closer to his. "Are you calmer now?"
"Everything is falling apart." Her tone was nervous again. "I knew it was a mistake to do this."
"It's not a mistake at all. You worked hard for this. You should be proud."
"Yeah, but Mimi arrived late and there was an incident with one of the kimonos too. It's just... ugh." Sora sat up and looked at him. Her eyes went wide when she saw what he was wearing.
"Why are you wearing a kimono?"
"Because I'm going to model for you too."
"Wait, what?!" She asked surprised. "You're going to go up there and show off this dark blue kimono I made for you?"
"That's right." There was a wide smile on his lips when he replied. "I took it with me before I left home. It was my idea since then, so I talked to Kira at some point after I arrived and worked everything out. It was supposed to be a surprise for you, but… as you can see it didn't work out, because I hate seeing you so anxious and nervous and also because I can't really keep my mouth shut."
Sora stood shocked where she was, still trying to absorb everything. She felt like she had been in a rollercoaster of emotions all day. "Wow, I can't believe you actually planned this behind my back."
"I hope you aren't angry at me for this."
"Angry?! Why would I be angry at you? I actually wish you kept quiet about it so I could be surprised."
"Damn it." He rolled his eyes a little frustrated. "I'll do that next time."
"It won't be a surprise anymore, since I'll already be expecting." She laughed and then placed her hand on his cheek. "You are amazing, I feel like such a lucky woman." She reached up and kissed him. "I love you so much."
"I love you too."
"Oh and by the way…" She looked at him with a cheeky grin as she pulled him up by his hand. "I wouldn't mind it if you 'surprisingly' appeared at the end of the fashion show today."

.

Sora was backstage only listening to what was happening outside. She felt more and more relieved each time people clapped and cheered over one of her creations. Maybe they weren't that bad after all. Kira was outside to make the ending speech. Sora was fixing her make-up and checked herself in the mirror to see if her red kimono was alright.
"Thank you so much for coming. It means a lot to us." Kira's voice echoed in the backstage area because of the microphone. "We hope you all enjoyed our first fashion show and our creations for this. Everything was planned with a lot of care and love."
The audience started clapping again and Sora couldn't help but think Kira was a natural entertainer. She felt like her business partner belonged on stage. The models began to walk out of the stage and into the dressing room chatting happily bout their experience. Sora found herself having to agree with both Kira and Yamato: everything turned out to be great.
"Sora?" Hikari called her softly and waved her hand. "Aren't you going to the stage? I think the audience is waiting for you."
"I don't think so." Sora blinked and shook her head. Kira is much better at this than me. I'm sure she will do great at it."
"But it's your creation, you should be there to see everyone's reactions. They absolutely loved it, you can see it in each of their faces."
"Hikari is right, you should be out there." Mimi joined the conversation. "You worked so hard on them and deserve to be recognized and praised for them."
"I don't know. I would feel really embarrassed with it."
"Why? It's your time to shine, you should enjoy it."
"I am, but from here."
Suddenly both girls held Sora's forearms and started pushing her towards the passage that connected the backstage to the stage at the same time Kira said her name in the microphone, asking her to get in there.
"What are you two doing?" The stylist asked desperately as she looked from one woman to another. "Let me go."
"You heard Kira, get out there and receive all the praise and recognition you deserve."
"But…"
"Come on, Sora. They are waiting for you. I can guarantee it will be worth it."
"I…"
"Don't make me ask Yamato to get here to convince you to go outside."
"I don't need Yamato to convince me to do anything." Sora said firmly and a little annoyed. "He knows I hate being pushed into doing things I don't want to. Now can you please let me go?"
"What's going on over here?" Yamato's head popped in for a second and then he walked in. "People can hear you from there."
"Sora doesn't want to go there." Mimi replied after she released her friend's arm and Hikari followed her suit.
"Well, it's her choice. She doesn't really like being the center of the attention and it's totally okay. I'm sure she's hearing everything and is enjoying it just as much."
"Thank you, baby."
"You're welcome." He smiled. "Though I agree with them. Everyone was amazed and blown away but all the kimonos you made."
"Oh no, not you too."
"Please, welcome my business partner and the one who designed all these beautiful kimonos, Sora Takenouchi!"
"Kira, I'm going to kill you!" Sora rolled her eyes and mumbled before smiling and taking Yamato's hand before going on stage at last.