Tuesday, June? 14?, 2011
One mystery goes, another arrives, Nikki-chan!
Niko finally broke down and asked Kokoro why Niko was on that train. Kokoro was very flustered.
"You were checking on a performing arts college, Onee-chan," she finally said.
So Niko is just like Eli, I guess. Planning ahead three years. But why wouldn't Niko remember anything about it? It must have been sudden, but still. There are definitely gaps in Niko's memories. Maybe Niko will dream about it.
But the other mystery that arose: Niko thought she had heard of Talent Star-Ball. They aren't considered sleazy or fly-by-night or anything. They represent and broker everyone - idols, producers and directors and session musicians and actors and actresses and singers and dancers alike. They tend to sell packages and are very powerful in the entertainment world. They seem like the last agency that would ever target new young idols for something fraudulent. Maybe they have suddenly fallen on hard times, but if so, that should be in the variety papers and web sites.
The ghost in the music room was Nishikino-sempai. Nozomi told me. "I bet you were disappointed it wasn't a cute little ghost to haunt Niko's bed at night, but then happy it was Maki-chan?" When did Nozomi talk like that, and to me? Is Niko acting like a girl-lover the way Maki and Nozomi do? Maybe Niko has to watch where she looks and her expressions. Niko was asking Nozomi about the Idol Research Club, and Nozomi said Ah-chan and Mim-chan had already left Otanokizaka and were just back to talk to their last homeroom teacher about school matters and recommendations. That's why she was as surprised as me to see them there. She said Nitta-san and Sera-san had left much earlier. Nikki-chan, did you think Niko was just going to sit in seiza and contemplate her mysteries?
Writing in you again, Niko can't sleep
"You thought you were so smart with your letter, did you?"
That was a voice Niko heard in a dream. Somehow, somehow, it made Niko so frightened she can't sleep now. I feel like Niko is almost remembering something she dreamed about before she woke up in the hospital. But Niko is too doki-doki to sleep now.
Nikki-chan, Niko practiced English once by doing poems in a way Eli taught her when she came over where Nozomi and Niko were going over their notes from English class. That's the only class Niko had with Nozomi. I wonder if Niko will go back into it. Anyway, Eli showed us how to do it. It's a lot like a song. Niko will write for practice and to take her mind off her bad dream.
When Niko was a little child
The grownups said she was a doll
And let her run a little wild
Because she was so cute and small
And Niko liked to spin and wiggle
And strut and wink and grin and giggle
And like a fairy princess dance
For any crowd or time or chance
But dolls find little time remaining
You pull the string but no one talks
You leave her broken in the box
You close the lid without explaining
The light and comfort go away
To wait a never-coming day.