Five hundred more people to go, I thought.
Just when I neared the end of the line, more people miraculously popped up behind the ever-growing throng of giggling girls, middle-aged women, and condescending male "models".
I couldn't wait for the interview/fiancée search/moola-making to be over. There were three sections to the trials. At the first station, contestants were lined up for a personal photo shoot (courtesy of genius photographer Uchiha Itachi), and after that they'd walk down the length of the Great Hall/ Main Entrance to our mansion and get interviewed by my parents. Finally, if the person was a young female, they were told to enter a sound-proof, video-surveillance room to talk to me. The last stage was so I could "get to know your fiancée more personally, Sasuke dear".
About 1,000 people signed up for the talent search. More than I could count arrived at the door. Some were the real deal, actual models looking for a better-paying job. Others were there on dares, or things of the sort, and some of the girls were such airheads, I can't even describe the disgusted feeling I got when they talked.
There was one girl; her name was Karin something-or-other. She was number 134 or so in line.
There was no doubt about it. With one glance, I could tell that Karin-san was a veteran to the art of modeling. Her makeup was done flawlessly, so it almost looked like a natural part of her defined face. She had a sort of angular air about her, like her tongue would be sharper than her glare, or something poetic like that.
Karin-san was wearing a sophisticated, tannish beige dress that was draped elegantly over her figure that was none too revealing, yet hugged her curves snugly. Her strikingly auburn hair was pin straight and held back with two black bobby pins in such a way that it offset the dress's shimmery, flowy texture.
I was careful not to spend too long casting an eye over her outfit. She was starting to smirk slyly, noticing my approval of her in the general sense.
Wordlessly, I gestured for her to sit down.
Karin-san sat down with a smile that would have made any ordinary guy's day. But I was no ordinary guy. I'd learned not to become attracted to pretty rich girls, because chances are they'd always have some ulterior motive in mind. Her gorgeous face was lost in my sea of thoughts.
I quickly scanned the clipboard I was holding for the questions I was supposed to ask all the competitors. Oh. There it was.
I looked up from the sheet of paper, my face expressionless.
"So…Karin-san. What made you decide to try out as a model for Haru?" That was the first question my parents had determined for me. So it was all standard procedure.
Then Karin-san opened her mouth and began to talk. I've hated her ever since.
"Oh my gosh, Sasuke-kun! Did you see all those pathetic girls waiting in line just so they could see you?! They're so pitiful! I think they should all, like, leave. They don't even deserve to talk to you. Of course, I am perfectly qualified to converse with you. After all, I used to be a model at that useless company called Yukino. I swear, they never paid me the amount of money they promised they would. What kind of company is that?"
So this isn't like all the romantic clichés where I absolutely abhor the girl that isn't meant for me because of her voice, or her clinginess, or anything like that. She had a perfectly normal voice, though I am inclined to believe that it was a little too husky and seductive for her to not have had lots of practice manipulating it.
It was just the way she talked that really irked me. Her holier-than-thou attitude only made me want to puke. Somewhere in the back of my mind, I had thought, nobody has the right to talk about someone in that way. Nobody is perfect, so none of us have the right to judge someone like that.
Besides, every hero needs a strong sense of justice.
Not that I was particularly annoyed at the time. It was only in retrospect that this occurred to me.
Karin-san continued her monologue, oblivious to the fact that I was paying no attention whatsoever.
"So one day I was just finishing up with this photo shoot for Nike when I happened to see that poster you guys had up around town, the one announcing the interviews. One of the guys I was working with saw it too, and was totally like, 'Why don't you try out? You complain enough about our company.' That got me thinking, and I realized that maybe I should just quit my job and go work for you guys. After all, I'm sure Haru pays much better than Yukino.
"Plus, I immediately saw your sweet smiling face on that poster, and just knew that you would want me here. I heard this rumor that whoever gets picked from this competition has a chance to become your fiancée."
I grunted noncommittally in reply to this tidbit. The servants and workers at Haru gossiped entirely too much.
There were no words I could say to express my feelings for this particular topic, because by then I'd already had to force down several waves of nausea coming from my general stomach area.
Karin-san saw my "sweet smiling face"? Yeah, right. What kind of deluded world did she live in? I never smiled in my photos. Never. Itachi was against it, saying that my slightly scowling, emotionless facade was "better for the ladies".
Like I cared.
I was desperate to end this conversation, and to get Karin-san as far away from me as I could. So I took one more look down onto the clipboard, blanched at the numerous questions still left on the page, and decided to wing it all and make up my own to ask Karin-san. I scribbled it below the rest of the questions, so my parents would have a reference later.
"Karin-san, may I ask, what do you hope to gain by becoming a model for Haru Company?"
She tossed her carefully arranged hair and laugh-giggled in that annoying way that girls who are full of themselves do.
"Money, of course. That's what makes the world go round, isn't it? And I definitely want to be a little more famous. It would help to get noticed by some talent scouts, you know, maybe get a small part in a movie, or a commercial," She answered resolutely.
The sick part is that Karin-san said this with absolutely no corruption in her voice at all, like the world was actually like that. It wasn't that she was defiled by society or anything. Karin-san just didn't know what life was like without these things. She was never taught otherwise.
I noted Karin-san's answer down on the clipboard, and nodded.
"Alright, thank you for your cooperation, Karin-san. We'll get back to you about this." I ended my short message with a note of finality, just like my tutor taught me, so the client would be clear that I'd dismissed them.
Karin-san got it, but before she up and left, she shot me a drop-dead gorgeous smile.
"I hope I can see you again, Sasuke-kun," She simpered before walking—strutting away.
I groaned. Nine hundred more to go.