I did not own Gakuen Alice
Warning: characters may be slightly OOC
Superstars
Chapter 3
This chapter was dedicated to chrisca123456789, thanks for your review!
This chapter will tell you the answer.
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Morning sunlight tenderly slipped through the half-closed blinds and entered a large office. There was an extraordinarily big office desk in front of the gigantic window. Piles of documents were orderly packed and placed in a rack situated on one side of the desk. A desktop was located on the other side, and a laptop was placed in the middle. The laptop user was a raven-hair man, sitting on a black leather high-back executive office chair. His red eyes were focusing on the computer while his ears were listening to the reports made by a man with long dark hair.
"I met Koizumi-san yesterday as requested. He's very interested in our company, and he stated plainly that he wanted his daughter to be our contractual singer," the one who did the talking was Tonouchi Akira, a major executive officer in the Hyuuga Entertainment Limited. He was one of the most important colleagues that helped Natsume with the administrative work. He was nicknamed "Tono" by everyone who worked with him.
Seeing Natsume with his usual pokerfaced look, Tono continued, "Koizumi-san said that if his daughter joined us, he would sponsor any advertisement and music production related to her under one and only one condition."
Natsume still appeared to be indifferent. Tono was used to Natsume's coldness, so he simply moved on, "The only requirement he asked was," Tono paused a while, "You have to be his daughter's manager."
No change in facial expression was seen and no reply was heard again. Natsume kept on typing in his laptop. Tono knew that Natsume was listening while he was working. It was a routine that Tono did almost all the talking when the two of them had a meeting. Natsume would normally give responses at the very end. That was why it was Tono speaking again, "I have to say, Koizumi-san has great sincerity to work with us. The condition he requested was acceptable considering his willingness to sponsor everything related to his daughter. Besides, you're not taking care of any artiste at the moment; you probably have time to be a manager for a singer. I can manage the administrative work as usual, so you don't have to worry about the company."
Tono took a brief breath and went on, "Regarding to the artiste herself, Koizumi Luna was a rising star. The sale of her albums was very satisfactory, and she did have soaring popularity. To be honest, whether all this was real achievement was always obscure. This kind of doubts arose for other artistes coming from rich families as well. I am not good at judging the potentials of artistes. That's your expertise, isn't it?"
No one would ever doubt the power of money. "Sponsoring" might also include vast buying of albums, or hiring fans to reinforce the fame. Tono carried on with his analysis, "Our company did not need any financial support for the time being. But of course, no one will mind having more money, right? It's never guaranteed if we will gain a lot from signing Luna's contract, but I am pretty sure that we won't lose anything."
There was another pause, and Tono's voice was heard one more time, "So, my conclusion is, it is up to you whether you want to take up the manager's job for Koizumi Luna. If yes, I can settle most things ahead for you if you want to. If no, you'd better think of a good excuse and deal with it yourself."
Tono was good at evaluating situations about the pros and cons of different decisions. He was not concise enough in Natsume's eyes, but still tolerable. Long years of cooperation made them good partners for each other. Tono suspected that Koizumi's motive was to give Luna a chance to get close to Natsume. He remembered that Luna showed keen interest in Natsume in a party some time ago. It was nothing special actually, since Natsume was being named the hottest bachelor in the country. He was rich, proficient and handsome. There was a saying that if he were an entertainer, all girls' hearts would be his. Tono could not understand why girls would fall for an expressionless man like Natsume. Oh, by the way, Natsume's smile was claimed to be worth millions. It was rumored that some rich women offered that amount of money just to have him smile at her.
Silence between Tono and Natsume remained in the office. Tono routinely asked for the last time, "So, what's your decision?"
Natsume looked at his watch, stood up and said lazily, "I am meeting someone in ten minutes, see you."
Meeting someone? What the? There was no business conference today, and Natsume normally would not have any private meeting during business hours. In general, he would ask Tono to take care of those. It was notorious that Natsume would avoid socializing whenever he could. Tono wondered who was the person Natsume was going to meet. But anyways, Natsume's answer also meant that he would deal with Luna's case himself.
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Before following Natsume to see his guest, the narrator was distracted by loud crazy screams coming from the other edge of the city.
Tons of people were obstructing the pathways and looking at the terminal exit frantically. It seemed that some important people were expected to arrive at the airport. When one saw people holding banners, flowers, presents, and pushing each other to ensure a favorable position, one could deduce that celebrities were the eagerly awaited targets. Security guards worked very hard to maintain the order of these fans, to ensure that they stood behind the fences.
When the gate opened, two figures stood out among their accompaniment. Right away, there were flashes here and there, and squeals everywhere. The two centers of attention moved slowly, walking past the crowd with their hands waving and smiles on their faces. They were obviously acclimated to this kind of circumstances. Fans were crushing each other in order to get a closer view of their favorite stars and to stuff presents into their idols' hands.
Few members of the press were allowed to approach the celebrities, who stopped for a while to allow photo-taking. Reporters started to ask questions.
"Sumire-san, you haven't come back to Japan for five years, do you miss your fans here?"
"Of course I do," the female celebrity having short dark-green hair with curly tips replied politely.
Reporters then started to throw loads of questions to her.
"Do you plan to stay in Japan for future career development?"
"What are you expecting from the first cooperation with Director Narumi?"
"Rumors say that you and Kitsuneme-san are in a relationship?"
Sumire and the wolfy-eye celebrity looked at each other. Both of them remained silent and wore a sly smile. Sumire's assistant, who was standing next to them, said warmly to the reporters, "Thank you for paying attention to Sumire. We're having a press conference tomorrow, and they will answer all your questions that time. Please come!"
A reporter insisted to ask an extra question right away, "Sumire-san, apart from filming, have you got any other plans?"
Sumire, who was in high spirit, turned her head to the video camera and said with assurance, "Besides my work, the main reason I come back to Japan is to take back what I deserve!"
With such, she proudly left the crowd with Kitsuneme in her arms, leaving the people behind in awe.
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Few miles away from the Hyuuga Entertainment Limited office, an interesting sight could be seen. A handsome young man with brown hair was sitting in an outdoor coffee shop. His hand was holding a video camera, and his grayish blue eyes were staring at something. (The narrator was going from the airport to Natsume's location, but unfortunately got sidetracked again.)
Looking intently at something was no big deal; what matter was the person who was doing that. It was the youngest Hyuuga. He was known as another indifferent member in the family, comparable to the infamous Natsume. Following Hyuuga Youichi's gaze, two girls were walking on the opposite side of the street. What caught Youichi's attention was the tall slender girl with dark hair and red eyes. She did not wear any make-up or anything fancy. In fact, her clothes could be described as ragged if one was mean in choosing descriptive adjectives. Her appearance was above average but not drop-dead appealing. The only outstanding feature in her was her height; she was almost six feet tall.
Yet, Youichi found her eye-catching. He did not understand why he had such feelings. Maybe it was about her height? Maybe it was about her shabby outlook? Maybe it was about the way she moved? He failed to figure out the exact reason. (If he were Hotaru, he would probably say something like he saw gold pieces sticking on this girl. Thank God, his eyes were ordinary ones.) All he knew was he felt an urge to present his manager's name-card to a person for the first time in his life. He would like to invite her to be a model.
He immediately left the coffee shop and walked towards the girls. He searched his pockets to find his name-cards, but he could find none. Oh no, he had left the cards in another jacket. Maybe he could make friends with her first? Youichi found it awkward to strike up a conversation with a stranger, because he had never done so. (As you might have guessed, he was usually the one being struck up.) However, he did not want to let go of this girl who grabbed his attention.
Similar to Natsume, Youichi did not manage many artistes. Actually, he had only one, and it was his mother. He was fond of video-taping and searching for people who had distinctive charm of their own. He was aware of the fact that some people who looked beautiful might not look as good in photographs or videos, and vice versa. This realization made him become a picky person.
While Youichi was waiting for the light to cross the road, he saw a short man chating with the two girls. The man handed out a name card to them, and then the girls followed him. Youichi had a gut feeling that that man was doing what he planned to do. There was no way he would allow someone to steal his target.
No way!
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An elegant lady with blue wavy hair was drinking a glass of water quietly. Nobara was once worried that Natsume would not meet her, because she made an invitation in a rush yesterday. Natsume knocked on the door before he went into the room to receive his guest. When Nobara saw him entering, she greeted him, "Good morning, Natsume-kun. I am glad that you have time to meet me."
Natsume sat down, glancing at the lady opposite to his seat, "Do you want any drink?"
"Water is fine," replied Nobara courteously.
Nobara appeared to be very shy, she was indeed a strong-minded person. She would do her best to care for those important to her. She was Natsume's fellow student in college, and they worked together to organize Hyuuga Dad's concerts. That was why sincere greetings were heard from Natsume, "So, how are you?"
Nobara responded wearily, "Not so good. Those everlasting scandals were frustrating."
"I bet you should've known the entertainment industry is like this?" Natsume disliked those relentless journalists as well.
"Of course I know. Countless artistes have been destroyed by the reporters' 'cursing pens'," Nobara frowned. Then she moved on, "I won't come here without a reason. I believe you are smart enough to know why I come to meet you."
"Sakura Mikan!" Natsume's alluring voice said the two words sonorously. There was a flash of unnoticeable gentleness in his unfathomable crimson eyes.
"Yes," Nobara nodded. "Her contract with the Boom Limited will end this year. I would like to ask if you are interested to let her join your company as a singer."
It was as expected.
Nobara continued, "Actually, not just contractual singer, I would be grateful if you can be her manager as well."
This request was unanticipated.
"Manager? Why?" Natsume hid his surprise well in his collected tone.
"Frankly speaking, the drop in her popularity was worrying. Mikan is a talented singer, she can achieve more than what she did."
"I'm sure you have ways to get through the hard time," Natsume did not believe that Nobara would give up so easily.
"I want to help, but I can't," Nobara shook her head. She stopped a while and said, "I'm getting married. I'll go to France with Persona, and I have no idea when I will come back."
"Congratulations!" Natsume calmly commented. He concealed his delight and astonishment effectively again.
"Thank you!" Nobara then diverted the conversation back to Mikan, "Here is the information about Mikan." She put some documents and CDs on the desk, and passed them to Natsume. She did not forget to promote Mikan, "When I first heard Mikan in a singing contest, I had a feeling that she was born to be a singer. I am sure you are the perfect person to reach success with her."
Natsume took a brief look at the documents and CDs. He remained silent, as usual. However, his silence was intimidating to those who were trying to impress him. Nobara admitted with a slight trace of timidity, "To be honest, I don't think those CDs reflect Mikan's ability fully. There was limited flexibility and control over her music production in the Boom Limited. That time, I was a bit too impatient to sign a contract with a music company for Mikan."
Newcomers rarely had stance to have their opinions accepted. The company would dominate the decision making process, and the details in the contract would be more favorable to the company than the artiste. It was because the company had to make a riskily huge investment on new stars, in return, they wanted to maximize their authority and shares of any gains whenever possible.
"Your decision was understandable. It's difficult for a new solo singer to have a firm fans' support before finding music companies," Natsume remarked. The more popular the artiste was, the greater the bargaining power. Only until recently, some music companies re-held singing contests again. For Mikan's situation, Natsume believed that the company just did not know how to explore and market her talents.
Nobara kept persuading, "Mikan can sing really well. If you want, I can ask her to sing a live for you, so that you can make the decision."
"No need," he knew how well she could sing.
Nobara thought that his negative answer implied rejection. She felt discouraged but she did not give up her persuasion, "Natsume-kun, I… Mikan is a sister to me… I…" Nobara regained her composure and said determinedly, "Please at least give Mikan a chance."
Natsume realized his previous answer was misunderstood, so he said, "Tono should be free now; you can draft the contract with him."
Nobara's eyes were wide-open.
"This is a wedding gift from me," said Natsume with the edges of his lips vaguely curved upwards.
Nobara nodded, uttered a number of thanks gratefully, and left the room. Natsume gathered the documents and CDs from the desk. He did not need to read or hear those at all. For the past four years, the name "Sakura Mikan" secured a place in his mind and heart. The two of them did not have any chance to work together before. They knew the existence of the other, but they did not know each other. Maybe Cupid was getting impatient? It was time for them to get together.
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– The Metropolitan Club of the Tokyo City –
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Hotaru was sitting on a sofa near the reception. She came to the same place the day before as she followed her golden statue. Sadly, she could not meet her then.
That time, when Hotaru stepped out of the elevator, all she could see was a splendid floor with luxurious decorations everywhere: gigantic Murano crystal roof lights and crystal chandeliers on the ceiling, gold gilding on the walls, freshly cut flowers in crystal vases etc. Everything, including all tiny decorative accessories and jewelry embroideries, was there to stimulate patrons' senses by sheer opulence and beauty.
She had heard that this club was a brothel disguised as a "host / hostess club". It also had high membership requirements: it only accepted people with high social status. Hotaru walked to the reception and asked about the tall blonde lady who came before her.
"Oh! You are talking about Ruu-chan, aren't you? He is one of our most beloved hostesses here," a young receptionist replied eagerly.
Wait a minute… "He"? "Hostess"?
"Did you say that the hostess is a 'he'?" Hotaru asked slowly and calmly.
"Oh…" The receptionist realized she had said something wrong, she immediately tried to cover up, "No! It's a 'she'; you've misheard my words…"
Hotaru narrowed her eyes, and glared at the receptionist wordlessly. Though Hotaru did not have Basilisk's eyes, the receptionist found herself petrified under Hotaru's cryptic gaze. She felt that she was an open book in front of Hotaru. She swallowed some saliva into her stomach and stammered quietly to Hotaru's ears, "Em… actually… Ruu-chan is a 'he'… but it's the club's secret, so please don't spread it… okay?"
Looking at the receptionist's pleading eyes, Hotaru spoke apathetically, "I want Ruu-chan to be my hostess."
"Em… Our hostesses serve members only and the club does not accept… new… members… easily……" the receptionist said this line with a descending volume of voice, because she saw a creepy smile appearing on Hotaru's face. Her sixth sense told her that the poker-face was the patron's "normal" expression; hence the horror that smirk gave was too awful for words.
After seconds of silence, the judicious receptionist decided to surrender, "May I ask you to fill in the form please, Miss?"
It turned out Ruu-chan was fully booked that day. The earliest time she, no, he was available was from 8pm to 8:30pm the following day. Therefore, Hotaru was waiting for him on the sofa now. She could not tell that the golden statue was a male, not at all. A beautiful lady-like man, wao, no doubt he had so many gold pieces sticking on him.
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While one female Hyuuga was waiting for someone somewhere, another female member had her eyes glued to the television. She was watching "The Road to Superstar".
The show was jointly organized by a television broadcast company and a music company, the Melodious Music Group. It was a singing competition opened to the general public, and the champion would gain a singer contract with the music company. This kind of contest had not been hold in Japan for the past ten years; as a result, there were lots of people joining the competition, and the show achieved top TV ratings.
Being part of the rival company, Misaki paid close attention to this show. Until the present moment, none of the participants aroused her interest. The show started off with tournaments among the contestants. But this day, in order to further boost the TV show rating, the broadcast company introduced new "challengers" to confront the remaining participants. It was when a soulful male voice from a "challenger" penetrated deeply into her heart.
The voice came from a young man with a tattoo under his left eye. Misaki had a feeling that someone else would be interested in recruiting him too, so she had to act fast.
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"Night is a world lit by itself." It was realistic quotation for cities like Tokyo, thus, not only the Hyuugas were enjoying the night.
Inside a high-class private club, several fashionable youngsters were having an intense competition inside a Billiard room. The tall handsome man who was leaning against a pool table right now was the male lead of the recent scandal, Nendo Ryoga.
Ryoga was wearing a worn leather jacket, dark jeans and short leather boots to highlight his good body shape. Together with his ruffled hair and angular face, he was a stylish masculine man. Sakura Mikan was sitting quietly on the side, as if she was out of place among the others. She had two lowly-tied pigtails that hung down grazing her chest. Even without any make-up or classy clothes, she still looked appealing.
"Yes! Bravo!" Ryoga cheered and held his fists as he won the match with ease.
Mikan immediately gave him a round of applause and an adorable smile. Ryoga put aside the cue stick and sat next to her. He laid his hand on her shoulder possessively, looking very pleased with himself.
"Ryoga, I want to go home now, it's getting late," Mikan pulled Ryoga's jacket lightly and asked in a low voice.
It was 11pm, Ryoga agreed reluctantly, "Okay, I will go home with you." Maybe he could stay at her home as well. He felt better with such a thought.
Mikan took her jacket and left the place with Ryoga. They should not meet each other for the time being, as the media were still extremely curious about their love affair. If the reporters took photographs showing they were together and wrote stories about them, it could be disastrous.
However, Ryoga did not care about those gossips. He considered himself being at the height of his eminence as a pop star, and he would not be affected by those silly scandals. Therefore, he had no intention to avoid dating. Mikan had no choice but keep Nobara in the dark to meet Ryoga.
Ryoga stood behind the main entrance, carefully fix the jacket for Mikan. Mikan lifted up her head and said, "I think we shouldn't meet each other temporarily."
The answer Ryoga gave Mikan was a kiss on her lips. Whenever Ryoga heard something that did not follow his will, he would either walk away or close her mouth with his. Mikan made a sigh in her heart.
Ryoga opened the front door as he said, "I'll go to see if the car has come, wait for me here," Ryoga was about to leave when he spotted three journalists standing not afar.
"Shzt! There were reporters! Get back into the building and leave via its backdoor! I'll block them!"
Mikan's face became pale once she heard the word 'reporters'. She quickly put on her super-thick black glasses as a disguise, and fled into the building. She could faintly hear some conversations behind and some pursuing footsteps.
Oh no! If she got pulled up with, she did not know how to explain to the media or to Nobara.
She sped up to her greatest extent, pushed open the back door forcefully, and ran on the alley towards the main street for her life. She was several feet away from the end of the quiet lane when a manly figure suddenly stepped forward to block her way. The happening was so abrupt that she could not react at all; she simply crushed into the man's embrace.
Mikan steadied herself to take a look at the person who stopped her. She saw a pair of familiar enigmatic ruby eyes. Before her mind could even function, the man pulled her towards him to wrap her inside his coat. He whispered into her ears, "Don't move." Mikan's heart felt an instant centrifugal force when she heard his voice.
He guided their bodies to make a right angle turn, and then rested his head near her shoulder. Within the strong arms of the man, Mikan could smell a fragrance of male perfume mixed with alcohol. This combination was surprisingly soothing. Apart from feeling warm and safe, her ears were ringing with loud heart-beating sounds.
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"This chapter was dedicated to myself – a pathetic writer
who updates when no one is reviewing =v="
I was about to use this dedication at the beginning of the chapter,
but luckily, I saw a new review before I undate... Thank you chrisca123456789!!
It took 7000+ words to have everything set and all characters in play…
Please stop by and leave a review!