Storming into set 11-C, Nozomi saw the ashen-haired girl and clenched her fists, ready to take a fist full of the squeaky-voiced girl's hair and drag her into Eli's office. Nico grabbed her hand, staring right into her turquoise eyes. Hanayo and Rin were already there, Honoka following in after Nico and Nozomi. Shrugging Nico away, Nozomi retained her composure.

Honoka ignored Nozomi's hushed swear words and Nico's soothing whispers, tapping Kotori's shoulder. Her past rival shuddered at her touch, turning around quickly, maintaining a closed off stance.

"Kotori? Are you okay?"

"What does it matter to you?!"

"What does it matter?" Nozomi interjected, "How about waiting days for a shoot? Four mornings that I could've been doing something else, that I could've been getting paid."

"Nozomi, calm down, please..." Nico pleaded. The photographers and assistants started getting anxious, one of them choosing to sneak out of the room.

"K-Kotori? What happened?" Hanayo asked, her voice cracking.

"Leave me alone, loli. That's who I work with: lolis, sluts, and a drug addict!"

"Say it again!" Rin yelled, Hanayo grabbing her arms.

Honoka grabbed onto Kotori's arm, making her push Honoka hard. Landing on the hard floor, Honoka barely kept her head from hitting the marble. Nico came between the pair of rivals, Hanayo keeping Rin away from Kotori.

"Watch what you're doing, you could've hurt her!" Nico exclaimed.

Kotori scowled, "Why do you care? Don't you realize what you're in for, sugarbaby?"

"E-Excuse me?" Nico asked.

"How can you accuse her of being the same as you?" Honoka asked, standing up.

"And the same as you?" Kotori said, "Of course, at least we aren't drug addicts!"

Rin finally broke free from Hanayo's arms, grabbing Kotori's hair and pulling at it hard. In response, Kotori punched Rin's nose, causing the more athletic girl to step back, holding her nose. Nozomi stepped up, shrugging Nico and Honoka off, grabbing onto Kotori's arm. When she tried to pull away, Nozomi dug her nails into Kotori's skin, drawing blood. In a vain effort to fight back, Kotori got ahold of one of Nozomi's low pigtails, pulling on her dark purple strands. Nico and Honoka ran up to the aggressive pair of girls; Nico tried to loosen Kotori's grip on Nozomi's hair, Honoka tried to keep Nozomi from digging her nails deeper into Kotori's arm.

"Stop this at once!" Umi commanded, pushing the two apart, causing all four to stumble back. Kotori was left with a clump of Nozomi's hair in her hand, blood dripping from her arm and onto the floor, Nozomi's hand covered in her blood. Maki ran over to Rin, her degrees in medicine coming in handy.

The redhead looked back at Umi, "Broken nose."

Umi rolled her eyes, "I can understand the high tensions, but we are professionals. We aren't in a soap opera, a TV drama, some tacky romance novel, a dramatic piece of fan-fiction. Now we have three people out of the shoot, that's almost half the models."

"T-Three?" Nozomi asked.

"You two are on probation," Umi pointed at Nozomi and Kotori, then glared at Kotori, "and you and Rin are injured. You're a fool if you don't think we won't look through surveillance records."

"Come on, Rin, let's get you fixed up," Maki comforted.

"B-By nose..." Rin said, her speech garbled from her injury.

Hanayo started to walk with the pair, before Maki stopped her, "You have responsibilities, Hanayo, stay here. I'll bring you to the hospital later, okay?" Maki whispered the last part, Hanayo nodding slightly.

Hanayo, Nico, and Honoka watched as Rin was helped out, Kotori and Nozomi following Umi out. They stood there, assistants bringing the dresses over. Stripping down, they managed to stuff themselves into tight corsets, then into large, puffy dresses.

Curlers were put into Nico's hair while she was helped into her dress. It had three tiers, the top tier the same medium pink as the bodice, which was divided and buttoned with gold, and an intricate banded pattern was at the bottom of the top tier. The next tier was light pink, bearing a floral pattern and a slightly darker pink lace at the edge. The two tiers split at Nico's right, revealing ruffled layers of the final and pure white tier. At the bottom of Nico's back rested a large, dark pink bow that was the same color as the sparkly rose resting at Nico's chest, right in the middle of another bow. Straps kept the massive dress on the small girl's shoulders, white fur coming across the tops of Nico's arms and in behind the bow. After doing light makeup and pulling her curled hair into pigtails, the assistants put perfectly fitting, dark pink gloves on her small hands and a pink hat on her head, several roses around the brim.

Hanayo's hair was left alone, her corset pulled tight over her busty chest and slightly chubby abdomen. Her dark green dress, unlike Nico, had four tiers, the top tier gathered to the front and draped elegantly. The next tier was ruffled and pastel green in color, an even lighter green creating a floral pattern upon it, the edge decorated with white ruffles and gold trim. The white ruffles of the trim blended in slightly with the next layer, which was simply white with a frilly edge, followed by the last layer, colored light green with a pattern of green and yellow flowers. Above the bodice was a light yellow-green shall covered in a layer of white fur, a bow in the middle that was a green version of Nico's. To top it off, she was given sheer, black, sparkly gloves with ruffled white wrists, a necklace with flowers, and a headband covered in green flowers that tied below her chin.

Honoka was the last to get dressed, all of her orange hair pulled into a side ponytail and put into a single, large curler while she got into her dress. It was much different than Hanayo's or Nico's, featuring a white top with long, gathered sleeves and a ruffled, light orange neckline, dark orange straps coming out from underneath it, and a dark orange bow with a light pink rose in the center. From that was a dark orange corset and skirt that split in the center, a large bow in the back and a slightly smaller bow in the front with long tails. Underneath that was a creamy orange layer that gathered at the sides, fastened by gold beads, covered in a pattern of red, orange, and pink flowers. The tiers below alternated between white and pale yellow. The hairdresser released her hair, placing a headband similar to Hanayo's on Honoka's head, covered yellow, pink, and purple flowers, pristine white gloves placed on her hands, her and Nico being given fans.

"Ready, ladies?" the photographer, Akemi, asked. She was well known in the photography world, recently hired by Promise as they expanded more.

Nico, Honoka, and Hanayo nodded, slowly moving to the set. All three of them grumbled, wondering how women in the Victorian era lived without smartphones, pants, internet, and tampons.

The set was grand, looking like a ballroom. It was practically made of gold, a large chandelier hanging down, a stark contrast to the dark blue, night sky background beyond it. The floor was polished to a gleaming shine, the material made to look like marble.

Akemi glanced at a piece of paper, "Okay, so, just dance!"

"I don't think you want us to dance, Miss Kikuchi. We're girls of the 21st century," Nico warned.

"Yeah, a dance like this would require, like, a tango or something!" Honoka explained.

"A tango is Spanish, not English..." Hanayo corrected.

"Haven't the three of you seen enough movies to look like you're dancing something classy?" Akemi asked, glaring at them over her glasses, "Just make it theatrical!"

The three sighed, clearly unable to get out of dancing. Deciding to go slightly against Akemi's, perhaps even the gallery's, wishes, they all held hands, leaning back slightly, and spun in a circle. Giggling, their dresses fluttered around their feet, the ruffles bouncing and catching the light of the chandelier above. Akemi moved around, taking as many shots as possible of the little dance, clearly the most active photographer in the building.

Honoka departed from the circle, Nico and Hanayo beginning to dance as traditionally as possible. Feigning the Waltz, Honoka clapped gently against her fan to keep the idol loving duo on rhythm. Akemi continued to take pictures, now on her knees, while Nico spun Hanayo around, the ruffles on their large, Victorian dresses brushing past each other.

Once Hanayo was in Nico's arms again, they danced a little longer before Nico twirled Hanayo into Honoka's arms, the athletic and princely girl catching Hanayo in her right arm, the pair bending low. The assistants clapped and slightly fangirled, Akemi taking lots of pictures.

"Okay, we need a group shot next!"

"Got it!"

At first, the three came together with Hanayo at the left, Honoka in the middle, and Nico to the right, displeasing Akemi when Honoka and Nico raised their fans. She went up on set, camera bouncing on her chest, and switched Honoka and Hanayo, positioning Honoka and Nico with their fans open, just slightly in front of their faces. She seemed happy with the pose, and took pictures again.

"Well, it's not what the gallery wanted, exactly, but you three did amazing! I look forward to working with you three again."

"Thank you so much, Miss Kikuchi!"

Meanwhile…

Umi and Eli watched the security footage, Nozomi and Kotori looking at their hands behind the two CEOs. Eli kept arguing that Kotori was the first one to physically start the fight, Umi accusing Nozomi of provoking the ashen-haired girl. In the end, they decided to give equal punishment, agreeing that Rin already received a punishment, of sorts.

"You're both on probation," Umi stated.

"For a month," Eli finished, then looked over to Kotori, "But that's the least of your punishments. Not even calling into work? For a week? No one could reach you, then you come back and start a fight."

"We've got to reorganize the entire schedule now," Umi complained, her voice monotone.

Tears welled up in Kotori's eyes, "I… I was raped..."

Nozomi scoffed, glaring at Kotori, "Are you serious? Are you really trying to get out of this?"

"I told you suspicious people were following me!" Kotori screamed at Umi. Tears were streaming down her cheeks, her fists clenched.

"And that excuses you from calling into work how?" Umi asked, her expression a mix of annoyance and worry.

"We tried to contact you multiple times, you wouldn't answer," Eli added.

"Can I be excused?" Nozomi asked, arms crossed, "I already know my punishment, I get a month to relax and take Nico to work, visit Rin in the hospital."

Eli sighed, "Yes, Nozomi, you can go."

Nozomi quickly got up and left, gently closing the door to Eli's office. The two were left alone with Kotori, who was still crying and sniffling. She pulled a tissue out of the box on the table, blowing her nose and drying her face off.

"Did you report the incident to the police?" Eli asked calmly.

"No, I didn't know who he was. I just… ran away as soon as I could."

"You could've reported a description with the incident," Umi informed, Kotori's shoulders falling, "Now, was any method of birth control used?"

Kotori stayed silent, fiddling with her tissue, causing Eli to sigh, "Not even Plan B?"

"No..."

"God, what, are you pregnant?" Umi asked incredulously. Kotori started crying again.

"Oh my..." Eli mumbled.

"Do you want an abortion? I'll pay," Umi offered.

"E-Excuse me?" Kotori deadpanned, "A-Abortion?"

Eli and Umi exchanged glances, the blonde's gaze returning to Kotori, "It's an option, always an option."

Kotori looked angry, clearly about to say no, when Umi silently left. She said nothing to either of the other two. Eli watched her go, Kotori continued to stare straight ahead with dead eyes. The blonde went over to her, ponytail swaying, and sat down, rubbing Kotori's back in soothing motions.

Promise's retention rates were high for a reason.

After awhile, Kotori stood up and politely bowed, exiting Eli's office quietly. She walked to the elevator, ignorant of all the worried gazes cast in her direction. Patiently waiting for the elevator to arrive on the first floor, her ears were filled with empty, foreboding silence.

Stepping out, she headed out of the building. Spotting Nozomi venting to Nico, Hanayo listening as she waited for Maki's bright red sports car to pull up, Kotori decided to stay inside until the pitch black Prius left the parking lot. Honoka came up beside her, worried.

"Are you okay, Kotori?"

"I think… I've been cut off and fired..." Kotori responding, not even caring or realizing that Honoka was asking the question. Tears streamed down her face as Honoka pulled her into a hug.

It felt good to be hugged.


Fun fact: research has proven that hugs calm you down. They've broken it down scientifically.

I was feeling a little burnt out on this chapter, but it really had to happen, so...

Follow me on tumblr for M rated, original stories: witchieknight on tumblr. I don't know how many people will be interested coming from Promise, but, might as well.

EDIT: An anon said they couldn't find my tumblr. The actual address is witchieknight . tumblr . com without the spaces. Hope this helped!

Thank you for reading Promise!