Shape of the Heart – Four-leaf Clover
By Fox McCloude
Disclaimer: The Quintessential Quintuplets and all related characters belong to Haruba Negi. All rights reserved.
Extra: Miku model?
Through the streets, near a certain photographic studio…
Miku wasn't exactly sure how she ended up coming here. Or rather, she didn't know why she agreed to come here in the first place.
The other day, Ichika told them the place Fuutarou's father worked at, specifically a photographic studio, had become short-staffed due to several of the models falling to a sudden flu outbreak. As a result, they were hiring amateur models, as they were having an important campaign, and Fuutarou had asked her for a hand with that. Ichika however was having a tight schedule, so she was unable to go in person, thus asking the rest of them if they were available.
Although Nino found it interesting, she refused almost immediately, as she'd decided to go back to work part time at the Uesugi bakery during that same week (they agreed to lend her the kitchen so she could practice her new recipes). Yotsuba obviously had to go to the volleyball club's practices, so she wasn't available either. Lastly, Itsuki was still working as an assistant in the cram school with Shimoda-san.
Thus, by process of elimination, that left… her. Miku was the only one who really didn't have anything to do, except maybe playing her videogame online, and although she wasn't thrilled by the idea, Ichika convinced her to do this as a favor, as Fuutarou was their friend and his father really needed the help. She finally agreed to it, although she really didn't think she had the looks of a model to work on that world.
"Hmm? Oh, fancy meeting you here."
Upon reaching the studio's entrance, Miku stopped on her tracks. There was another familiar face coming from the opposite direction. Yuusuke Takeda, her friend and rival online, was here too.
"Takeda-san, hey," she greeted timidly. "What are you doing here?"
"I'm doing a favor for Uesugi-kun," he said. "They need some models in this studio, right?"
Well, this was a weird coincidence. In fact, come to think about it, both of them seemed to be running into each other rather frequently. If she didn't know any better, she'd almost think someone was conspiring to bring them together or something like that, although on the other hand, having a familiar face nearby may help her ease the nerves a little.
"What a coincidence, me too," she said. "Well, I just came because all of my sisters are busy."
"You don't seem very enthusiastic," Takeda pointed.
Miku sighed. "It's just… I'm not fit to be a model. Any of them would be better than me at this."
"Why is that?" Takeda asked. "You girls are identical sisters, and all of you are attractive. If any of them could be a model, obviously you can too, isn't that right?"
Miku felt a slight burn in her cheeks. Admittedly, even knowing they were identical, it was very rare that someone would praise her looks like they did the others. Maybe because every time she looked to the mirror, she'd only see a gloomy girl whose expression seemed to be perpetually depressed.
Takeda's compliment however, even if it was just comparing her to her sisters, felt really nice, she had to admit it. And it brought a small smile to her face.
"Well, shall we go in?" the boy suddenly asked, snapping her out of the trance, and both entered the photographic studio's building.
Once inside, they quickly took notice there were about a dozen or so more of aspirants. Most of them were boys and girls around the same age as them, save for a couple who looked like college students. Miku felt a little anxious: how could she compete with them?
She took a look at Takeda. He seemed very relaxed, which wasn't surprising as he was good-looking, and she knew he was popular at school. She wished he could give her some of that confidence he radiated.
After waiting for a few minutes, several assistants and photographers, including Fuutarou's dad, approached them with rather serious expressions.
"Okay, we thank you all for coming. Unfortunately, I'm afraid we don't have enough room for all of you, so we'll take a few photos as a test, and we'll select the best out of them. Of course, all of you will be paid for your trouble."
Upon hearing that, Miku glanced around at the 'competition'. The other girls who'd come, compared to her, were much more expressive, either to manifest nervousness or confidence that they would be picked. She sincerely didn't have many hopes, although trying to look at the bright side, if she was discarded first she would be able to go home and get out of this sooner.
Two female assistants took her and the other girls to a dressing room full of fashionable clothing all over. If Nino were here, she'd probably feel in heaven: these clothes would suit her perfectly.
"These don't go well with me," she whispered.
"Sorry, did you say something?" asked the assistant, as she handed over the clothes to try out.
"No, nothing," she replied curtly. After some internal deliberation, he picked one and went to change, doing her best to not wrinkle it, as it was a loan.
The clothes she picked were simple, very similar to her everyday choices. A white, high-neck sweater, with an elaborate embroidery of vertical lines. The skirt was similar to her school uniform's, albeit black, and she decided to keep her tights on as they matched well with it.
She looked at the mirror for a few seconds, turning around. She figured it wasn't too bad, so she got out, and the assistant guiding her before smiled pleasantly.
"Oh yes, that looks really good on you. But I feel you're missing something… ah!" And without further words, the woman grabbed a pair of glasses from a nearby shelf, and put them on her. "That's it. Now let's go get your hair done. Please come with me."
Miku complied without protesting, after all, the people in the studio were the expert. She sat with a stylist to get her hair done, choosing a simple hairdo, a side ponytail to complement the glasses and the clothing she picked. After getting some makeup, she was ready for the first photo.
At first it wasn't such a big deal. She just had to stand or sit doing a specific pose as she was pointed out in front of a backdrop. The complication came when she was asked to do some expressions, like smiling or trying to look flirty, as she had difficulties to show her emotions.
When it didn't work, she tried to think about how her sisters would do it. After all, she'd always been the best at imitating them, so when she was suggested to do a flirty expression, she thought about Ichika, and when she was asked to try and look like she was in a bad mood, she thought about Nino. This seemed to work out, as the photographer smiled and gave her a thumbs up as he continued to snap the photos.
'This is much harder than I thought,' she thought. For a job where she just had to stand still and 'look pretty', it could be really overwhelming.
After a rather long shooting of individual photos, she was called in for some group ones. Now, Miku would have to share frame with several other aspirants. She wasn't particularly comfortable in the middle of that small crowd, but she didn't complain at any time, she just did what she was told. To her surprise, she wasn't called out as many times as during the solo shooting, which she took as a good sign.
Finalmente, llegó la parte más difícil: una sesión de fotos por parejas. Ya que había más o menos el mismo número de chicos y chicas entre los aspirantes, los iban a agrupar para hacer fotos "románticas", y Miku no pudo evitar sentirse nerviosa. No porque los chicos fuesen de mala apariencia, pero la idea de estar así de cerca, aunque fuese sólo por un momento y para las fotos, le resultaba un poco incómoda.
Finally, the hardest part came: a photo session in pairs. As they had roughly the same number of boys and girls among the aspirants, they'd be grouped together for 'romantic' photos, and Miku couldn't help but feel nervous. Sure, none of the boys were bad-looking in the least, but the idea of being that close, if only for just a moment and for the photos, made her feel a tad uncomfortable.
As they were trying to reach an agreement of who would go with who, one of the girls began to argue with a boy (apparently her boyfriend) about nothing being wrong about this, since they were just photos and they wouldn't be kissing or anything, and when another tried to mediate between them, they had to be pulled away when they almost got into a catfight. That caused Miku to, involuntarily, look in Takeda's direction, who seemed to be trying to stay at bay of the little spat that had just occurred.
"Hum… Takeda-san?" she said approaching him.
"Hmm? Is something wrong?" the boy asked. She looked away for a moment, but she finally mustered the courage to talk to him.
"Can we… do this one together?"
Of course, she wouldn't insist if he said no, but she'd rather do this with someone she knew, a friend, rather than a complete stranger. Particularly, the one who looked college-aged looked too big and intimidating for her liking, and she'd rather stay close to someone she felt she could trust.
"Sure, no problem," Takeda replied with a smile that brought a huge relief to her.
Fortunately for them, the paired photos weren't that much of a big deal. They weren't forced to do anything more than hold hands, embrace each other slightly, or pose together very close to one another. The only downside was that they took a bit longer to finish, as they'd frequently tell her to try and smile more, look more cheerful or all that. And she got the impression that, at least from Fuutarou's father, they were being given more priority than the others for the photos.
The session lasted for about five hours, and after being thanked and paid for their trouble, Miku exited the studio behind Takeda, who was waiting for his chauffer to pick him up. Supposedly, the ones who'd be picked would appear in a local magazine the next month, and they'd probably be called in again. Miku sincerely didn't care about that, as she only came to do them a favor and didn't think she'd be selected.
"That was… interesanting, wasn't it?" Takeda asked, making her turn to him.
"Hmm… yeah, I guess?" she replied. "Although… it was much harder than I thought."
"Feeling tired?"
"A little," Miku admitted. "I thought I would just have to stand there and look pretty, but… it's really overwhelming."
"I assume you don't want to go through this anymore?" the boy inquired curiously.
"No, not really."
"That would be a shame," he said. "Despite what you said… I still believe you'd make a good model."
"Don't joke," she replied, not buying it.
"I'm serious," Takeda insisted, much to her surprise. "You may not see it, but when you were being taken the photos, you projected a… how could I say it? Mysterious image, maybe? Yeah, mysterious may be the word I'm looking for."
"Mysterious?" Miku repeated.
"Yes. I told you before, you and your sisters are all attractive, right? But each one of you has her own personal charm. Maybe being mysterious is yours."
Now that caught her off-guard. She'd always thought of herself as a 'gloomy' girl, so she'd never thought anyone would describe her positively. If she didn't know Takeda was a very honest guy, she'd think he was just pulling her leg and trying to make her feel better.
Although nothing could have prepared her for the words that followed.
"Though if you ask me, you should smile more, you know? You have a lovely smile."
That comment stopped her dead in her tracks. Again, she didn't smile much, and it was because she didn't have many reasons to. This time, she did it out of need, and she never thought it was a big deal, but even so she was surprised he'd taken notice.
"Something wrong?"
"Huh? N-no, nothing." She turned around, to hide the fact that her face was burning hot-red. "W-well, I have to go now. Nice to see you."
"Same here. See you at school!"
After waving each other goodbye, they parted ways. In hindsight, and despite how overwhelming the photoshoot was for her, it wasn't too bad. Maybe because having him close helped her feel much safer, even if she wasn't sure why.
And there was what he said to her. She didn't get compliments for her appearance often, unlike her sisters, maybe because they were more extroverted, but Takeda's words, about how being identical quintuplets it was natural that all of them would be seen as attractive, caught her for a loop despite how obvious it should have been.
'Why am I so happy about that?' she wondered, and suddenly stopped in front of a closed shop window.
She'd returned to her usual hairdo, her bangs falling between her eyes and covering them slightly. She pushed it aside to make her face more visible, and for the first time in perhaps forever, she felt the girl on the reflection didn't look back at her with a gloomy and depressed demeanor.
"…you should smile more…"
Takeda's words echoed in her head. She placed her fingers on the lip corners to force herself to smile, and much to her surprise, she liked what she saw. Maybe the boy was right after all.
A message alert on her phone snapped her out of the trance. It was Nino telling her to hurry back home, as they were waiting for her to start the dinner. She texted back that she was on her way, and headed for the bus stop.
As she walked over the crosswalk, another person passed by her in the opposite direction. It was an older man, with a bald head and a thick white beard covering all the lower half of the face. When they crossed and he grazed her, she felt like a cold current of air blowing on her back, and for a brief instant, she could have sworn the man turned to look at her. But it was so brief it may have been just her imagination.
The man she crossed by continued his way and vanished around a corner, as fast as he'd appeared. He didn't turn to see her afterwards, but she couldn't help but keep looking at him until he disappeared from sight. She immediately sat to wait for the bus, although she couldn't shake that weird feeling she got.
She was unsure what it was, but she didn't like it one bit. It was like, after he was gone, she felt a huge relief she couldn't explain.
To be continued…
Author's notes:
Okay, this chapter's been finished for a while, but I wanted to make a breakthrough on the next ones before publishing. However, as I told in the previous one, classes have gotten pretty heavy lately, so my writing time is once again reduced, so I'll better tell you that, if I get delayed on the next one, it'll be because I'm busy with schoolwork. Hope you understand.
Outside of that, I think it was about time to give Miku an extra chapter of her own. I've mentioned before that, despite being my favorite quint, I find her hard to write due to how shy and withdrawn she is, but I think between this chapter and the oneshot I posted a short while ago I've managed to get the hang of her, so that'll make things easier for me. The other thing was that, just like in canon, I wanted to put her on track so she gains some self-confidence, just with a different career choice. Since Miku has always been very insecure about her appearance, I figured that trying her luck in modelling would be a good way to bring her out of the shell, though the hard part was to set up the circumstances to get her in it (thank the visual novel for giving me the idea to start). And of course, it also gives me a chance to bring her and Takeda closer, so that's two birds with one stone. Lastly, maybe you guys are tired of seeing the old geezer at the end, but obviously that'll have its purpose in due time. I'll do my best to make it worth it when the moment comes.
Anyway, that's it for now. Thanks for the reviews to Jay. Raya and TheMist33. Until next time, sayonara!