Well, this was certainly updated faster than my usual stories. Joys of being on holiday I suppose. Anyway, hope you enjoy the latest chapter!
Smile for You Chapter 2: The Beaters
"We're out of ramen."
Those were the first words Eiji Nochizawa heard as he yanked open the half rusted door to the old dilapidated camper van that served as his home.
"Huh?"
"We're. Out. Of. Ramen."
Eiji's eyes crawled at a painfully slow pace towards the origin of the voice. He knew what he would find at the source, yet still found himself suppressing the urge to groan when he found a short blonde haired young woman sitting on the floor in the back of the camper next to the couch, surrounded by a cocoon of blankets. She was dressed in no more than a plain t-shirt and old shorts, and was using her fingers to scoop out the last remaining traces of flavoring from a long empty ramen noodle cup.
"...Are you serious?"
"Mmhm." The blonde girl mumbled as she carelessly tossed the empty container in the corner, where a small collection of noodle cup carcasses lay like some sort of disgusting snack food graveyard, "Kii-boy and I just ate the last of it."
"Correction; Nezumi ate the last of it. I just told her it was a bad idea." Another young man with short black hair mumbled from the other side of the camper van, where he sat lounging on the bed resting above the drivers seat, fiddling with his phone.
"So?-..."
"So we're out of food." The blonde haired girl, Nezumi, shrugged.
"Yeah, I get that, thanks." Eiji grumbled, "But now what?"
"Whaddya mean 'now what'? We starve in a few days, that's what." She replied with an overly dramatic whine while rubbing at her grumbling stomach. A stomach which had eaten nothing but ramen in the last week.
"A few days?! I'm sorry, did Kazuto or I eat the last of the food?!" Eiji snapped, slamming the camper's door behind him, "We haven't eaten since Sunday! Try tomorrow!"
"Hey! I gotta get enough nutrients!" Nezumi hissed, pulling herself to her feet, "I'm the brains of this whole operation!"
"What operation?! We're three idiots living out of a van!" Eiji found himself nearly yelling before he caught himself, taking a few moments to absorb the respite of silence before mumbling; "Where the hell do you even put it all?..."
"Like she said-... Her ego." Kazuto interjected.
"Yeah, ha ha ha, look at the computer geek eatin' ramen. Let's all laugh like idiots as we die of starvation."
"We?"
"Whatever..."
With their latest spat finished, Nezumi lazily flopped back into her blanket cocoon, reaching around for a moment before producing a relatively old looking tablet.
"What're you doing?"
"I wanna check out the MBC Aftershow before we die at least..." Nezumi said as her fingers danced around the screen of the tablet with such grace and speed that even if Eiji tried he was relatively sure he wouldn't be able to keep up with her movements with the unaided eye alone.
"MBC?"
"Moonlit Black Cats?" Nezumi clarified, "Their biggest concert of the season was today. I wanna watch the aftershow."
"Why? You barely give a damn about music."
"Yeah. But have you ever seen them?! That Asuna one is hot!" Nezumi exclaimed as she continued to type away furiously, "I mean none of them are bad on the eyes though, even Sachi. She's like the cool mysterious type, and then there's the lead-..."
"Okay, we get it." Eiji rolled his eyes. Despite being the only female of the group, he had no doubt Nezumi was the most hormonally driven of the trio, "But how are you even watching? We don't have internet."
"You're right. We don't."
Eiji paused, raising an eyebrow as he strolled over to the couch, throwing himself onto it with little care, "...You still leaching WiFi from the coffee place?"
"You still takin' showers at the local fast food joint?" Nezumi shot back without even bothering to glance back at the young man, continuing to tap away on her tablet like a madwoman.
"Yeah. Aren't you?"
"..." Nezumi was silent.
"...When did you last shower?!"
"Shhh! It's startin'!"
True to her word, a moment later the tablet's screen sprung to life, displaying the ever so recognizable form of the Moonlit Black Cats' headlining member and face of the group.
Yuna Shigemura.
Even after dancing and singing like a madwoman for what had no doubt been hours judging by the rate at which her chest was rising and falling, even Eiji had to admit that she had something of an otherworldly beauty.
Beautiful. That was a good word to describe her.
Her shimmering white hair seemed to almost glow as it lay in contrast to her black and red dance costume that itself also seemed as if it originated from another world entirely. It was noticeably skin tight, leaving little doubt as to just how in shape the young woman was, and was made up of a short shoulderless skirt that exposed skin in a multitude of places, along with a pair of boots that seamlessly transferred up into leggings that very nearly reached her hips.
How she wasn't embarrassed to be seen in public like that Eiji just wasn't sure.
"And there's the lead Moonlit Cat now!" An unseen reporter's voice echoed from the tablet, "Miss Yuna, could we get a few words?!"
"Oh, absolutely!" Yuna exclaimed as she turned to someone just out of the camera's view, "You look absolutely gorgeous!"
"We all watched you three on stage tonight; you were like machines! What was it like up there?"
Nezumi snickered at the humorous off guard expression Yuna wore for but a fraction of a second, "Denied."
"Amazing! If you thought we had energy you should've seen what we did!" The white haired girl clapped her hands together, turning her attention to the camera, as if addressing a crowd. "You all were so pumped, we loved it!"
"She recovers quick, I'll give her that..." It was Kazuto who spoke up now, causing Eiji to snap his attention to the black haired boy, who now sat just next to him.
When had he found the energy to drag himself over to watch this? And why hadn't Eiji registered him sitting beside him at all?
Huh, strange.
"Sounds like you had a blast!" The unseen reporter let out laugh that couldn't have sounded more manufactured if a robot had attempted it, "Do you have anything to say to your fans?"
"Only that I hope you all had as much fun as I did tonight, but from what I saw I don't think I'll have to hope too hard!" Yuna giggled.
Eiji found himself cracking a smile. Yuna's bubbly personality was practically overwhelming compared to that reporter.
His thoughts were soon diverted as two new faces appeared on camera, both flanking either side of Yuna.
One was a chestnut haired girl dressed in an almost regal fashion, the stark white and red clothing giving her the look of some form of modern day Templar, minus the skirt she wore of course. And templaric was certainly a way to describe the way the girl carried herself. While she probably stood only a few inches taller than the other two girls, her confident posture and commanding tone certainly gave her a seemingly larger than life presence.
The other was decidedly less bold in terms of both appearance and demeanor. She was the shortest of the three, with dark blue hair that wasn't much longer than Nezumi's, though this girl's was certainly much more well-kempt. Her clothes also reflected her more reserved aura. While she wore a skirt like the other girls, hers was certainly more modest, and instead of patches of exposed skin dotting her outfit here and there like her companions, she instead wore what appeared to be an ornate breastplate of all things.
"A huge thanks from all the Cats for such an amazing show tonight!" The chestnut haired girl was the first to speak, "We were so excited to preform for you all tonight!"
"Oooh, hey Kii-boy. Check out the one in white; that's Asuna!" Nezumi purred lecherously, "See? Told you it'd be worth it!..."
"Whatever you say..." Kazuto sighed, clearly uninterested in entertaining Nezumi's antics.
Unfortunately for him, Nezumi was hardly one to give up when the opportunity to torment Kazuto or Eiji presented itself.
"Oh come on!" She exclaimed, "Don't tell me you wouldn't throttle your rooster to that face!"
"Shut up, Rat!..." Kazuto growled.
"Hey, I don't judge. If you gotta do it, that's the sort of girl you should think abouuu-... Ow! Ow, ow, ow! Uncle, uncle!"
Eiji rolled his eyes as he watched Kazuto yank Nezumi's ear roughly before refocusing on the broadcast, willing himself to ignore the sounds of scuffling beside him.
"Like Sachi here said, we can't wait to come back," It was Yuna speaking again.
Despite holding little to no knowledge of band structure or hierarchy, it was certainly clear to Eiji why the white haired girl was the face of the band.
The other girls spoke as well as anyone could be expected to in their positions, but something about Yuna was certainly different to him. He couldn't quite put his finger on it.
Was it her outfit? No. No that wasn't it. It was certainly unique, and not something you'd normally wear in the public eye, but aside from sporting some more comparatively playful elements in it's design it wasn't any more special than the outfit that Asuna girl sported.
Was it her naturally unusual appearance? Maybe. After all, how many girls in the world could boast having naturally silvery white hair and ruby red eyes that glittered in the light? Certainly not anyone Eiji could claim to know.
Or perhaps was it just that next to her infectiously positive personality anyone else would appear virtually lifeless in comparison?
"And don't you worry because that'll be real soo-..."
Eiji almost hadn't registered Yuna's little speech had been interrupted until Nezumi threw her arms up and loudly exclaimed; "Woah! Holy crap! Five bucks on the fat dude!"
"Nezumi!"
"Aw! Stupid security!..."
"What's wrong with you?"
"Pfff..."
Eiji's mind barely registered his friends bickering. All he could seem to focus on was the sight of a heavyset man sporting a 'MBC' t-shirt being dragged away on his knees by security as he screamed manically. Possibly something about 'finally getting it', Eiji couldn't be sure.
All he could be sure about was that the sight... Unsettled him, and not to any small degree.
"S-sorry about that everyone! Don't worry, we'll be back in town real soon, you can count on that! But until then, make sure the world can see those Moonlit Smiles!"
With that the image of Yuna on the screen tilted her head visibly and smiled brightly, pointing to her mouth in a not so subtle reference to a crescent moon. The pain in her expression was clear, despite her obvious attempt to conceal it.
That smile was gone a moment later, replaced by a black screen as Nezumi cut off connection the broadcast.
In that screen Eiji was able to see his own expression; and it wasn't happy.
"...And a 'thwap' goes the idea machine..." Nezumi mumbled as she idly slid her tablet back into her blanket cocoon.
"Idea machine? Oh, that thing that's gotten us run outta town before?" Kazuto asked
"Shhh, quiet..." Nezumi shot a hand in Kazuto's direction, pressing her finger against his lips, "The brains of the operation just realized what operation it's runnin'..."
"...Go on?..." Eiji asked.
"Bodyguards!"
"..."
"..."
"...Bodyguards!" Nezumi repeated, throwing her hands into the air.
"You're drunk."
"I'm not drunk!"
"Then you're high."
"I'm not high! Think about it! Bodyguards make a killin'!"
"Yeah, but only because that's exactly what could happen to them on the job." Eiji jabbed his thumb towards Nezumi's tablet, "You saw what just happened there. That Yuna chick just took it to the back of the head. You know we'd have to be the one's getting in the way of that right?"
"Hey! Hey! I'm not sayin' we gotta look for some crazy overseas diplomat protection service! We're in LA!"
"Yeah. LA. I'll bet no one in LA has ever tried to get into the bodyguard buisness before." He replied with an exaggerated eye roll.
"Well okay, all the big stars already got themselves a freakin' army of guys, but you never know, there might be a small time star or two that wouldn't mind beefin' up your resumes a little! What's the worst that could happen?"
"We get blown off as complete amateurs with nothing to show for ourselves besides two half starved drop outs, a girl with an ego problem, and a van that looks like it's about ready to give in for good?"
"And?..."
"Our reputation would be dead in the water before we've even landed our first job." Eiji mumbled as he pulled himself to his feet, shuffling over to the driver's seat.
"Details."
"No! Not details! I don't wanna die of malnutrition!" The brown haired young man exclaimed as he turned back to face the girl.
"Then go land us a job you dweeb!"
"Okay-... Before we start this again..." Kazuto interjected quickly, "Say we even get our foot in the door... What'll we even call ourselves?"
"Already got it covered!" Nezumi shot her fists triumphantly in the air once more, her grin wild and wide, "Look out world, cuz The Beaters are back!"
"You can't be serious..."
"Completely."
"Don't you think that's tempting fate?"
"Not at all."
At that very moment, as if the universe itself decided to test the girl's mettle, the unmistakable sound of hissing hit the group's ears.
"What was that?..." Nezumi mumbled, though a small part of her already knew the unfortunate answer.
"That-... That would be the sound of fate rupturing our tire..."
"Great..."