Inside an apartment deep in the upper levels of Ninjago City, Harumi sat at a desk in her room. A green bed behind her, pictures of her hanging out with her friends on the walls, and a number of stuffed animals littered the space. The light framed the girl's face as she focused her efforts on her ninja uniform on the desk.
With a swift flick of her wrist, Harumi brought the needle through the edge of her suit. A small black patch of fabric lay now, covering the hole that she had left there ever since she'd first gotten it. With a deep black thread, she ran the stitches in and out underneath the ouroborus pattern she'd first placed around the hole, leaving the design untouched.
Harumi hummed to herself as she worked. She hummed a small song, one that she'd heard before, but she didn't quite know the words to. A song that made her feel a rush of chills up and down her arms as she worked. A song about maintaining the frozen bonds that one could have with people, to rely on them no matter the situation.
Finally, Harumi leaned down and used her teeth to help pull together and fix the final stitch. When she looked down, there was no longer a hole in her outfit. Instead, the black fabric was completely continuous. The golden ouroborus was still there, now an accent rather than a cover-up. For the first time in her life, the outfit was a complete and continuous whole. As she put her hand against it, a sad smile played on her lips.
"Harumi?" Dareth's voice came from the hall. Harumi, blinking, slowly turned away from the wore a cute, light spring-green dress with small blue flowers patterned around the bottom, swirling ever so slightly when she spun around. Small puffy sleeves clung to her upper arms, and her back have a small dip of skin exposed. Harumi's hair was pulled back into a ponytail, falling down her back as she walked.
"I'm here!" Harumi called out. She adjusted her Borg Watch and her wristband as she hopped out into the hall, "Is that Carn?"
The sound of a horn blaring through the home answered her question. Harumi rolled her eyes and quickly jumped down the hall out into the main living room, seeing Dareth leaning against the counter currently drinking a smoothie.
"Woah, when'd you get that dress, young lady? Did she buy you that one?" Dareth smiled, "You look very nice in it!"
"Thanks, Uncle Dareth," Harumi walked up and gave him a tight hug from the side, "I'm going out with the girls now, alright? We'll be back by tonight."
"You don't have to tell me what you're doing, you know," Dareth chuckled, "You're a young woman now, and you're with your friends."
"Still good for you to know!" Harumi nodded, "Oh, and I sent those lease documents to you, can you look them over for me?"
"You got it!" Dareth struck a pose at her. Harumi gave him one last smile before she quickly rushed out the door, opening it to see their group hovercar right in front of the door. It was tilted towards her, showing Carnelian, Forte and Ren inside. Carn was impatiently tapping her foot in the backseat, while Ren patiently held the wheel.
"Are you ready to go, Harumi?" Ren asked. Harumi climbed into the backseat and put on her seatbelt with a nod. Ren smiled and took off with a light tap of the accelerator. The moment they began moving, Carnelian slid over, without a seatbelt, and quickly pulled Harumi into a kiss.
"W-Woah, what's gotten into you?" Harumi asked, blushing profusely as the kiss ended.
"You look amazing," Carn grinned, "It's not everyday I get to see you out of that ninja suit of yours! I told you, you're made to look cute!"
"I… figured it was time for a change of pace," Harumi nodded, "Besides, isn't this a big event for Forte?"
"Heck yeah it is!" Forte, lacking her normal keytar, played a riff on an air one, "My last album went Platinum in just a month! You know how huge that is for someone like me?!"
"We're aware," Ren chuckled, "Let's just get you there in one piece first. Try not to move too much, I would hate to go down because you couldn't stay still."
Forte rolled her eyes, doing her best to remain still but jittering in her seat. Harumi gently reached out and took Carn's hand, holding it tightly as the four of them went on their way. Carnelian had swapped her normal look for a dress that was a smoldering orange with most of her left leg open and hugging her rather tightly. Just looking at her made Harumi blush hard and Carn wink at her. Ren was far more formal and elegant, with a deep purple gown with sparkling fabric woven into the left side merging into lavender on the right, complete with evening gloves. Forte looked to almost be in some sort of dress-version of her normally chaotic outfit, with clashing colors of deep blue, purple and black interspersed almost geometrically throughout, and one shoulder exposed. Compared to her friends, Harumi almost felt underdressed.
The drive to the event wasn't a very long one. When they arrived, they joined a ring of hovercars around a large building. Said building was built in a series of large bubble-like windows that formed massive floors and venue areas, almost making it look like some strange bottle. Those windows, however, were also flashing screens of the stars the company helped promote and sign, with large speakers built into the walls to cause a different brand of music to play depending on what layer you were on. The group went up to the 300th layer, at which point the bubble glass was showing a recording for Forte's last onstage performance dancing along to her newest single, 'Let's Just Go For It!'
Ren drove them up to a small landing pad, smiling as she hit a button to open the doors, "Olive and Mizuko should be inside already. I'll find a spot to park and join you shortly."
"Awesome!" Forte beamed, "Let's go, girls!"
The moment the three of them stepped out onto the pad, reporters with hovering cameras and microphones set on them. As Ren sped away, Forte grinned and stepped forward into the spotlight of their small flashes and questions, reveling in it. Harumi and Carnelian held hands behind her as Forte began a slow strut into the building.
"How do you feel about your latest album?!" A young woman asked.
"Feels like I just jumped on top of the world!" Forte smirked, "And now I can climb higher!"
"Have you considered collaborations with other artists?" A young man asked in a nasaly voice.
"As I've said, reach out to me, I love to do some collabs," Forte chuckled.
"What would you consider your next step in your career?!" A disparate voice asked.
"Right now? Keep doing what I'm doing. Later? Well… you'll have to wait and see!" Forte answered coyly. Before the sea of questions could come down any harder, two young men dressed in security outfits received the three girls at the door, forcing the reporters to disperse as they officially entered the venue.
"You can do a million one-on-one interviews and they'll never let up!" Forte sighed in exasperation, "Well… I mean, I like answering questions but come on, how'd they even know I'd be there?!"
"You're just lucky you know how to handle them," Carn sighed, "I'm not even allowed to do interviews since I'd 'Put my foot in my mouth' or 'Say something to hurt our public perception!' I mean come on!" Carnelian rubbed her head, "Why does everything you say have to be so calculated?"
"You'll mess up your makeup," Harumi tugged Carn's arm back down, "Ren and Forte are used to dealing with the press, maybe we should take their advice?"
"Well at least they didn't ask us any questions," Carnelian gave Harumi a long side glare, "Let's just get some snacks and enjoy this!"
The two security guards guided the group into a massive room. When Forte had told them about the event, Harumi had imagined it as a sort of massive ballroom, with deep yellow lighting, a set of elegant velvet chairs, and perhaps a small reception area for afterwards. Instead, the three walked into what almost looked like a large dance area. The floor was a deep gray, but from the noise that Carnelian's heels made, it was glass. The walls were slightly curved, with a large bar area to one side and an area of snacks on the other. A small stage was set up opposite the room with a large display wall behind them showing the cover of Forte's latest album: Forte with blue and pink lights flashing under her as she held her keytar up like a weapon of sorts against a deep gray murky background. The people there were dressed similar to the girls, yet the atmosphere felt almost like a rave could break out at any given moment.
"Harumiiiiiiiiiii~!" Mizuko shouted out. The three turned to see their friends standing in front of the bar. Mizuko was sipping on what looked to be a fruity drink, while Olive stood with her arms behind her back beside her. Mizuko was sporting a dress that went even farther into cuteness than Harumi's did, with almost pastel colors, no sleeves, and large straps with hearts on the shoulders. Olive, meanwhile, was dressed in a far more traditional set of purple and white robes, mirroring her mother with her hair (robotic as it was) styled into a traditional ponytail.
"Forte," Olive nodded her head as the three made their way through the crowd, "I wanted to offer you my congratulations before the main ceremony."
"Thanks!" Forte beamed, "Glad to see you here and not cooped up in that academy again!"
"I apologize, my studies have kept me there for some time," Olive nodded, "But I made sure I was free for our date later tonight."
"Forts!" Mizuko chirped out, barely able to contain herself as she launched over and carefully wrapped her arms around Forte, "I can't believe it! Platinum already! You're like, you're really making it! I always knew you would, I told everyone you would! I put your music on whenever I go into work, everyone always loves it, I swear!"
"I try to have a broad appeal," Forte winked at her friend, unphased by the hug, "But also not dilute my style. That's why I'll never stop using my trusty keytar!"
"Speaking of this," Olive slowly pulled her arms around from behind her back, "I have completed the modifications you requested of me." The girls looked down to see Olive holding Forte's keytar. The instrument had been repainted a deep blue and pink around the edges and an entire new octave of notes added to it. Despite the added volume, the device looked lighter than before and sported a strap that was now decorated with various stars that shimmered silver as the light passed over them.
"Just in time~!" Forte reached out and grabbed the thing, hefting it up and putting the strap around her shoulder. She ran her hands along it and played around with the position on her shoulder, then grinned and began to play a riff on it. While the device wasn't plugged in, she ran her hand over it in an intricate pattern not even Olive could perfectly replicate. When she finished, she nodded her head and grinned hard at her friend.
"It's literally better than I was hoping for!" Forte nodded, "I knew you'd be the best person to leave it to!"
"Technically, it was the students in my father's academy that helped design the blueprints-" Forte's look made Olive rectify her sentence, "But yes, I am happy to be of help."
"Mhm! Never undervalue yourself," Forte nodded, "Well… hate to run, girls, but I might need to go up on stage here soon. I'm gonna split!"
"Break a leg up there," Carn put her hand on her hip and waved her off. Forte gave her a wink and quickly scampered her way off into the crowd, her new keytar in hand. The other four were left together now to kill time before anything major happened.
"How have you two been?" Olive asked, breaking the silence, "I have not been able to speak with you much as of late."
"My parents are expanding to yet another new location," Carnelian rolled her eyes, "So I've been helping with that. Apparently, I'm a human torch and welding device."
"They still want you to take over the business?" Mizuko asked, "If you need someone to-"
"I am not adding to your insane list of jobs," Carnelian cut her off, "And… I mean, yeah, they are. And I'm not against it. I mean, they worked hard to build it all up. Kinda don't want it all to go to waste. I just don't know how to balance doing all the boring stuff with actually going out and you know, saving the city!"
"Each of us have had experiences with that in the past," Olive pointed out, "Perhaps it would be beneficial to speak to Ren about it. She is the best when it comes to managing a strict schedule while also completing essential protective services for the city."
"Yeah, and get another lecture from her?" Carnelian sighed, "No thanks."
"What about you, Harumi?" Mizuko asked with a happy smile, "Anything exciting?"
"Well…" Harumi paused in thought for a moment, "I, was kinda talking to Uncle Dareth and… I might open up my own Dojo under the old Mojo Dojo brand, you know?"
The girls were silent for a moment. Harumi, suddenly feeling a wave of awkwardness overcome her, quickly looked between them to decipher what they were thinking.
"When you'd start deciding this?!" Carnelian asked suddenly, "That sounds perfect!"
"It is a logical and assuredly successful venture," Olive nodded her head, "Your natural fighting prowess and your Uncle's reputation would satisfy what you require."
"You have to let us help you out!" Mizuko yelped out, "Seriously, completely, you have to! Oh this is great, we can all take shifts there, help you go and set up classes!"
"Girls, it isn't set in stone yet!" Harumi put her hands up, "We might not have enough money to get the lease. I'm not exactly getting paid for being the Green Ninja…" Harumi smiled, "But… I think it'd be something that's good for me. And, Uncle Dareth seems really excited."
"If you need funding, we'll get you funding!" Carnelian wrapped her arm around her lover, "You have to tell Ren and Forte later, they're both going to freak out!"
"Tell me what now?" Ren asked. The girls turned to see Ren striding her way confidently through the crowd and over towards them, "Good evening to you both, Olive, Mizuko."
"Good evening," Olive nodded, "It is good to see you as well, Ren."
"Harumi was just telling us about the Dojo she wants to open up!" Mizuko eagerly told their new arrival, "She wants to run one like Dareth!"
"Ah, that might explain why Dareth was asking me about doing promotional work in the near future," Ren chuckled, "That sounds like a perfect fit for you, Harumi. I didn't know that you were interested in teaching."
"I think it'd be good for me," Harumi smiled, "For a long time, I've just gone with being the Green Ninja and not much else. I know it won't be that much, but teaching people helps give everything that I've learned purpose. I think after everything that's happened… I want to try to live life like the rest of you girls do."
"That a jab at your girlfriend?" Carnelian asked with a sideways glare.
"What?" Harumi blinked, "No! I mean, I just meant that-"
"I'm kidding," Carnelian clasped Harumi's hand, "You know for a fact I'll support you in what you do. 'Specially when it makes as much sense as this does."
Harumi opened her mouth to respond, but in that moment the screen display behind the stage shifted to a large, real-time feed of the actual stage to those in the back. Realizing what was happening, the girls quickly killed their conversation and moved towards the front of the room, standing near the front of the crowd.
"Are you ready for this?" Carnelian whispered in Harumi's ear, "Forte, not the Dojo."
"I think I am," Harumi gulped, "I… owe her a lot of favors."
Carnelian, rather than responding, turned her attention towards the stage. The floor under them began to glow a light shade of blue, then white, black and pink. The colors changed between the tiles in a random pattern until they steadily began to come together in a rough approximation of Forte's massive head of pink hair and outfit. The lights fixed into place under them just as a woman in a formal suit strode up onto the stage with a click of her heels.
"Thank you all for coming tonight," The woman began, "When I first met Forte four years ago, I knew that she was a rising star waiting to happen. The first meeting we had, she declared she intended to smash through every record, then proceeded to smash the table by trying to stand on it," The woman gave the room time to laugh.
"I told her that it would be hard work for her to get this far, and I'll never forget what she told me," The woman smiled, "She said working for every single person that hears your music is the truest way to gain fans. Despite how hard it's been to get to this point, Forte has never given up on her original dream. I told her that as long as she kept that thought, she'd be able to do things no other star could. And today, she's now the youngest star in her scene to reach this milestone. I wanted to be the one to personally tell each of you how incredibly special Forte is, and thank you all for being here tonight."
The room broke out into a round of applause. As they did, the woman turned and nodded, letting Forte walk up on stage. The girl strode along with her keytar on her shoulder, one hand supporting it and the other waving to the crowd. Carnelian let out a loud cheer for her as Forte made her way up onto the stage.
"Hey there!" Forte beamed at the mic, "You know, I was originally planning to go solo and do my entire career by myself. I thought I could get all my gigs and record deals and digital distribution all on my own. That was, until I met my wonderful agent Keelie here," Forte waved her hand at the woman that had just spoken, "I couldn't have done this without her. I'm not just saying that, either. I don't think I could have gotten this far handling all this on my own. So let's make sure we give her a good round of applause!" The room erupted into another loud sound of claps, with Harumi in particular giving a deep one. Keelie humbly bowed her head.
"I know right now is when someone normally comes up and presents me with the actual platinum album cover," Forte nodded, "But! I thought that we might do something a little different here." Harumi stiffened up with nerves. The rest of the room murmured in confusion. At the same time, Keelie turned to see Forte and gave her a nod.
"Many of you might remember one of my first major breakout hits was a certain little song called 'In My Element.' I still think that one was one of my best," Forte smiled, "But then I got the chance to perform it on stage with some very special people in my life. I'm sure each of you know what I'm talking about," Forte gathered nods from around the room, "After a long talk with both Keelie here and my producers, I've made a decision!"
Forte shot her arm out. Seeing her cue, Harumi, Carnelian, Ren and Mizuko began to walk forward from a shocked crowd. As they moved to get up onstage, Harumi felt her breath picking up and her heart began to hammer inside of her chest. Carnelian smirked towards the crowd, while Ren gave a respectful nod and placed her hands in front of her. While Mizuko sparked on her feet, Forte smirked and held her hand out.
"So, to celebrate this huge achievement, I'm officially debuting a new single with Five Element Time!" Forte exclaimed. All at once, the room lit up in a massive bout of shock and confusion. As the room broke out in a confused murmur, Harumi felt a massive sense of worry thrum through her. Carnelian brushed her hand to keep her still.
"We're very eager and excited to begin," Ren said, "We are looking forward to this opportunity to work with Forte."
"Totally~!" Mizuko chirped out, "It's so much fun up on stage, can't wait to do it again!"
"It's no big deal," Carnelian cocked her hips, "Let's see how much they like it."
"I'm, ready to help out!" Harumi got out with a nervous gulp, "And to sing with Forte!"
Forte, nodding to each of their remarks, grinned, "We make our live debut in two weeks at the brand-new East Ninjago Statidum1" Forte nodded, "Let's celebrate this huge achievement by pushing even further into stardom!"
The room quickly broke out into a large round of applause. As Forte looked over the girls, Harumi fought to keep herself looking calm and collected. As the five of them stood there on stage, all Harumi could think about was the next time she'd be up here, and what would come right after.
"Whew!" Forte grinned, "Now wasn't that a huge success?!"
The six girls all stood around a massive snack table, each of them going after some different food. Harumi worked her way through a small plate of cheese, while Carnelian was eagerly digging into small sandwiches. Ren had forgone any food and simply now was downing a deep red wine, while Mizuko had piled up everything from fruit to cake on her plate and worked it down steadily. Forte was lazily working on a few spring rolls, and Olive had just finished one of the cake slices that Mizuko had yet to touch.
"I think it went rather well," Ren nodded, "The crowd was far more receptive than I imagined."
"It's because they all know me, and anyone who knows me knows Five Element Time!" Forte chuckled, "You know how famous that performance was?! And the follow up, I think we nearly broke the seats with everyone squeezed into them!"
"When you become famous for helping save Ninjago," Olive looked at Harumi, "It draws a rather large crowd," The android turned to Harumi, "I am still surprised you agreed to this."
Harumi worked her way through her plate of food with a small blush, "I, uhm, figured that it would be good for me, you know? I put Forte through a lot, and I've been putting off doing it again for awhile, so… why not?"
"That's the spirit!" Forte beamed, "Keep doing that and soon FET will have one of these for themselves!" Forte held up a large square plaque of her album cover with the Platinum logo on the bottom right hand corner. From the hooks on the back, it was clear it would go up on the wall in this building for certain.
"I'm looking forward to this," Carnelian chuckled, "We still need more practice first, though."
"It's pretty difficult, but I'm sure we can do it!" Mizuko nodded, "But can we really drum up an audience like this in just two weeks?"
"Leave that to the marketing machine," Forte chuckled, "I'll make sure to promote it all I can! I've turned around entire crowds in a few days, two weeks is more than enough!"
"Mhm," Ren smiled, "Well. Perhaps we should take our leave, then? I believe we have a reservation at the Rooftop Sushi Bar, and I would hate to miss it."
"Sounds good to me," Carnelian nodded, "Everyone else good?"
"Yeah!" Forte grinned, "I'll hand this off then meet you outside!" The girl quickly rushed through the party, giving her necessary greetings on her way to leave.
"I'm not hearing any objections," Carnelian grinned, "Let's hit it!"
Harumi looked around to see her friends around her. Forte returned a few minutes later as they all began to make their way outside. As they walked together, even as her heart thrummed in her chest, she felt a warm smile on her face. Right here, surrounded by her friends, an exciting opportunity on the horizon for her, she knew that she was in her place.
"Let's go, girls," Harumi smiled. Soon enough, the group was on their way, the venue behind them as they drifted off to a night of food, fun, and time spent in the warm glow of each other's friendship.