DISCLAIMER I DO NOT OWN AIKATSU
Momo's POV
"I can't believe that actually happened. I can't believe Charlotte just agreed for you to perform with Char-chan. This is crazy. You've- we've only been idols for over a month. And we're getting the opportunity just handed to us! Do you think Char-chan would like us? I mean, I spent the day with her as her manager and she's super chill and all but to actually perform with her. I can't breathe. Catch me if I faint." Fumiko rambled on as we were returning to our dorm.
"And yet, despite your lack of the ability to breath, you still are able to speak as you continue to repeat yourself." I unlocked our door moving to my desk.
"Can you blame me? Ever since I saw her first performance I've admired her. This is basically a dream come true!" She flopped backwards onto her bed, grabbing her pillow to hug tightly. She squealed happily kicking her legs wildly.
"Remember that there's still a month left so we need to prepare for it." She threw her pillow directly at the side of my head. I paid no mind as I fixed my hair.
"Ugh you and your preparation. Why can't you let me enjoy my little bit of happiness?" I picked up the pillow off the floor tossing it back to her. She easily caught it putting it back on the bed.
"I can't since we still have work to do. Remember the audition we won today? We have to meet developers in a few days. Please don't forget that."
"Maybe I should take you back to The Butterfly Effect before you start boring me again. Besides I probably know more about video games than you do. I would watch Kyo-nii and Kagura-nee play for hours in competition. Things like that were my childhood. Don't worry about me. Have you even played video games before I took you to the arcade? And don't say online chess or solitaire."
"I'm guessing that you want me to exclude online Sudoku as well?" She rolled her eyes at me.
"You're a lost cause. See. There was reason that I fit the audition type than you." I shrugged my shoulders pulling out one of the magazines on the company.
"Whatever you say. I prefer to say that we just have different taste in our forms of entertainment." I pulled out my Aikatsu phone to arrange my schedule and calendar. "So we have the whole week to prepare for our job. The general process should only take up 2-3 days considering the average timing of develop. However, there is always room for error so our job is to comply when that does occur."
She hummed while scrolling through her phone. "Are you even listening to me? This involves the two of us, you know? I would appreciate it if you at least paid attention."
"I am. It's just, I already know what you're going to say. We need to make a schedule that balances out our school work and training. Then you're going to research more on the company and the makings of games while still thinking about our concert with Char-chan. If problems come up, then we got it. We're an unstoppable duo, don't panic."
"If I didn't already know that you're a hard worker I may have nagged you a lot more." I stated.
"Aww thank you. I take that as a compliment from someone as strict as you. We're already going to blow everyone away at the gaming place. Andddd even more at Char-chan's concert! This job is going to be easy peasy with you by my side." She gave out a happy sigh, pleased with how everything was going.
"Yeah yeah but you're listening to me right? This is the first job that the two of us got so we don't want to have a bad impression. This can also serve as a learning opportunity to learn about the gaming field. Sure, it's not something that most people look for in terms of idols, but it is nice to have a unique experience that others don't."
"And that's why I can trust your brain. Always looking to stick your hand into another idea. Well don't get too worried since I'll be supporting you every step of the way."
"I don't think I can be supporting you every step of the way." I face palmed at Fumiko's line. I lightly grabbed her wrist, dragging her away from staring down the multiple consoles on display.
Already from the first floor of the building we could see multiple games that the company created. It was packed with workers and players alike to test out sample games and systems. Fumiko was practically drooling over it that I was sure that if I wasn't here she would spend the entire day playing. I brought her up to one of the people at the front counter. "Hi, we're Suzukawa Momo and Watanabe Fumiko from Starlight Academy. We're here to help out for the prototype of the new dancing game?"
"Oh, then you'll be heading up to the fifth floor. I'll send the team up there a memo to let them know that you're coming up." They told us. I bowed to them, giving a quick thank you before heading in the direction of the elevators.
"Why aren't you nervous?" I let go of her not finding the need to continuing dragging her everywhere.
"Why are you nervous? Just yesterday you were excited to come here."
"I'm not nervous. I'm absolutely bubbling with excitement! This place is lot cooler than I thought it would be. Like they have all the new games here. Kyo-nii has been practically begging our parents to buy him the new Super Crush Bros. game since it was announced and they have it right there for people to walk in to trial test it on the new Rii console released only a few months ago. Like, yeah, they made it but still! Kagura-nee will faint once she hears about this. How aren't you intimated by all of this?"
"Because I'm not particularly interested in gaming? I thought that we already established this before?" I pushed the elevator's button having it open right away. We both stepped in hitting for floor 5 like told. "Just focus, we're here to work not play."
"Why can't we do both?" The doors opened up. Fumiko was the first to step out, eager to get started. She was practically a baby animal waiting for a treat. I followed her out looking around the floor. It gave off the impression of being a floor more devoted to the testing of products as there wasn't anything visible but long hallways. Most likely there was a collection of rooms spread out for privacy and space consideration.
"I assume that you two are the idols from Starlight?" One worker approached us. I reeled Fumiko back so that she had somewhat a professional look to her. She stumbled a bit, pulling it off as bowing to the worker.
They looked at me with a bewildered look in their eyes. It was almost like asking me if this was actually the person that they would be working with. I gave weak smile pulling her to my side. "That would be us. I apologize for my partner's behavior; I can vouch on her behalf that she's not too childish when working."
The worker gave her a quick scan over, both gesturing for us to follow. Fumiko looked at me not understanding the tension that she created. We followed the worker to one of the rooms. It was dark for the most part with quite a few head lights above us that you were either in the dark section or the extremely illuminated parts. We set down our bags on one of the tables so that they wouldn't get in the way. The worker led us to one person sitting in front of the long row of monitors.
"Sir, the test models are here." The main person took off their headphone set and stood up.
"Ah yea, the ones that won the audition. Well I'm honoured to be working with such remarkable students." He walked over to us shaking our hands individually. I put on a polite, professional smile while shaking his hand giving a small introduction to myself. Fumiko doing the same.
"Well time is money." He grabbed two packages wrapped in plastic for us. "These are your Mo-Cap suits. I assume that you already reviewed the dance for today so you guys can get changed and we'll get started. Please show them to the change room."
The worker, once more, took us to another location where we could change into the new suits. I tied my hair in a small ponytail so that it wouldn't get too messed up with the headband given. Once the both of had changed we went back to the studio. We had to wait a little while they set up a few things.
"This was not really what I was expecting." Fumiko told me looking down at the black outfit with the strange white balls stuck on.
"Mo-cap suits, also known as motion capture suits, are used to make easier, more realistic moving animations. Once we stand in front of the green screen over there, our bodies would be displayed to represent the game characters. These balls are meant for positioning and light infraction."
"You know quite a bit." The developer came up to us.
"Only the basics. There is a limit to what you can find online and experiencing it in person." He nodded.
"That is very much true. So, we're all set on our side and the both of you are in the suits. If you could both head over to the green screen, we'll get started. Please stand on the black taped x on the floor for calibration." We both nodded moving to his direction. Fumiko stood to my right on the other x that was there. Noticing that there were four x's I moved so that one was in between us.
The developer looked up from the monitor to me. "Thank you." He quickly mentioned. Most likely there was meant to be four players setting so there should be some space between all the characters that couldn't fit in the studio for a trail one like this. Even if I didn't move they, probably, would have would have told one of us to.
"Alright, can you two raise your right hand and check on this screen that it matches from your perspective." He pointed to the one screen facing us. On it was one blue and one purple silhouettes with a white, grid background. We both raised our right arms seeing that the movement was being recorded.
"Woah, that's so cool." She dropped her arm to raise her left arm and repeat. I was about to tell her to stop when the developer cleared his throat loudly. She put her arms by her side, getting back on track. "Sorry."
The developer didn't look at her just returning to his work. He mumbled to a near by worker on what to do next. Fumiko looked to me with a nervous posture as if telling me that she knew that she, sort of, messed up. I waved my hand a little telling her to brush it aside.
"Okay, seems like everything is working fine. Though I request that you refrain from moving too excessively since the system may glitch." Fumiko remained sill, not wanting to cause any more problems. He gave a sigh, taking a seat. "Let's run it from the top. First song first. You girls ready?"
"Yes!" The two of us responded. I got into the starting position making sure that I didn't move too far from the labelled x but not too close to my partner. I quickly ran through the routine in my head, reminding myself of all the steps.
We waited a little for the music to come on. "Oh!"
The music was cut off when Fumiko suddenly exclaimed. I looked to her wondering what was wrong. She quickly looked to me, then bowing to the workers. "Um I'm sorry. I was just surprised by the lights. It threw me off a little. I'll be more prepared this time."
It took me a moment to realize that she was referring the lights on the suit. I guess since I never got a chance to tell her the mechanics of the Mo-Cap suits, them lighting up would have distracted anyone. Especially considering that they were all over the body, them lighting up wouldn't be something people would first expect. Unfortunately, since recording had already started when she cried out the suits would have caught the movement that was unnecessary for the game. It wasn't that big of a deal since it was at the beginning but it would defiantly was not something that the workers would want to putting up with at the start of the process.
"It's fine. Scrape this copy so that we don't need to review it later." I could hear the workers typing on the computers. I assume that they managed to delete this trial as per his instructions since they gave him the okay. "We're going to try this another time. Ready?"
I noticed the strain in his voice, not failing to see how he was directly asking Fumiko instead of me. I felt bad on my part since it was partially on me to inform her of everything that she would have to be aware of. I should have known that using the Mo-Cap suits for the first time would lead to some surprises. Maybe once we got a chance to take a break I could teach her a bit more.
Luck, however, was not on Fumiko's side since we a long enough break didn't come. Of course, they did give us some time between the fifth and sixth song for some water and rest but during that time the developer wanted to teach us a bit more about the working process. Actually, it was more on teaching me. Since I had more general knowledge on the computers than she did, they had generated a particular interest in me. And I was not in the position nor was one to turn down the offer. Coding was similar to applying and combining basic formulas to a multi-step problem, that they had only increased my interest in such.
Though I couldn't get rid of the bothersome feeling of Fumiko resting by the side. I had already warned her that the first impression was important as idols. So far that wasn't looking good on her part and we both knew it. She looked as if a weight was placed on her shoulders with having to make up for her lacking aspects.
That's how the first day ended. We still had to go back tomorrow, after the workers looked over today's trails. Though we had to redo small parts on the spot, there was always little things that machines picked up better than the human eyes could see at first glance. That's why we were allowed to go back for the day. Rest up and smooth out the rough edges later.
"I felt so useless today. I thought that it would have been funner." Fumiko aimlessly poked at her food.
"A. That's not a word. B. You're not useless. and C. The developer is only strict because it's sensitive work we're dealing with."
"The sensitive work that you understand. Come on Momo, we all saw that they preferred you to me. They would have offered you a position at their company if you weren't an idol. Even when you were trying to describe everything to me in the car, I fully blanked out. I can't keep up with you."
"They're not expecting you keep up with the mechanics. They just expected the test model to be more professional. Keep in mind that you know their brand name in the industry. That makes them a well known company. They can't really afford to mess up. You finished today without any major problems. Now you know what to expect for tomorrow, and for future jobs. That's the main lesson to take out of today." She sighed, not completely satisfied with my answer.
I knew Fumiko's type. She may seem brash and foolish at the start but she takes her work seriously. The only problem that she has is not taking the right route. Like with her debut, she wanted the biggest type of entrance that she overworked herself. With being Char's manager, she only wanted to see the behind the scenes that she didn't look at the possibility that there was more to it than just going on shows and performing. Today, she excitedly wanted to be in a video game, forgetting that this was a business at work. All adding up to her state now.
"I don't know what to say Fumiko. You are not going to change in a day's worth of time nor should you. Just take it easy. You can do the job perfectly fine without all the extra details. You learned the dance faster than I could, not to mention that you are able to work on twelve songs in one day. That's not easy. You could only keep up because you worked hard. Don't belittle yourself over a few mistakes."
Her eyes didn't meet mine. She only looked at her food getting cold. I wasn't use to this kind of situation of comforting someone. The most I did was talking to Shouta when he was having his little nervous blurbs. I never had the experience of cheering someone up. I couldn't find the right words together that would fit to help her.
"We'll be in care today as well." The two of us, already in our suits, bowed to the workers. The majority of them gave us nods in agreence, the others not hearing us as they were still reviewing the system for any problems. There wasn't going to be a lot to do today as things were running quite smoothly. We only had four songs left on the list, the rest would be left up to the company to design.
Fumiko was doing a bit better than yesterday as we came early enough so that she could play a few of the games downstairs. I think she took the most enjoyment in beating me in those character battle games. In my defense, she did not let me review the instructions beforehand as it 'ruins the fun'. The whole time was just me pressing random buttons in hopes of landing a hit. Long story short, I didn't win a single round.
It was enough to lift her spirits though. That's all I was really aiming for. Since I couldn't talk her out of it yesterday, gaming was the reliever for her when she started to doubt her matching the image.
"Likewise. We all know the schedule for today. Everything is good to go?" We and the workers confirmed the statement. "Then play the music."
We performed the dances as per instruction finishing quite cleanly. There was only one song that we had to repeat the ending for left on the list since they wanted to have multiple copies to be able to piece together. This made it more efficient than having us go over the entire song a bunch of times. We had a short break in between so that they can review one more time that that's all they wanted to complete.
I took out my Aikatsu phone seeing the little notification of a missed call. I took a sip of water as the call was ringing through. "Hello? Momo-san?"
"Hey, I saw that you called me a little while ago. Weren't you suppose to be at the studio today?"
"Yeah I still am. I just needed your help on something. It won't take long, I promise." I plugged in one of my ears so that I could hear Shouta a bit better.
"It seems that whenever you have a separation promotion from you, you always need my advice. Ah well. Go ahead." I dropped my head a little, trying to block the other noises around me. It didn't help that he was in a quiet studio with a soft speaking voice. My head shot up when I heard someone yelling.
I failed to witness how but the developer and workers were panicking with a nearby shell shocked Fumiko. I took a second to quickly ramble my answer to Shouta, hanging up on him once I got it out. I stuffed my phone back into my bag, going over to the mess. "What is happening here?"
Fumiko looked at me with pleading eyes. The developer rubbed his temple, taking deep breathes. "Watanabe-san had accidentally leaned on monitor system, unknowingly bumping her leg against the power cord, pulling it out of the outlet. All the computers were turned off and we're trying to see the damage now."
"I'm so sorry. It was not in my intention." She whispered.
"I understand that..." The developer dropped his hand, looking back at the computer screens coming back online. "Just... Please do not touch anything."
She nodded, biting her lip. I walked over to the systems scanning everything over. "So is everything okay?"
One of the workers gave out a breath of relief. "Yes. Luckily we constantly save and update a back-drive every time something is done. We would have to redo a few of the editing but all the records are still here."
"Great. Let's do this quickly before anything else goes wrong." The developer spoke with no energy left. We remained quiet as we performed the song and though her dancing wasn't effected, as a friend I could tell that she could have done a lot better.
"That's a wrap for today. Thank you both for your hard work these two days." We both bowed but Fumiko remained quiet.
"Thank you for the privilege of participating with everything. And I'm sorry on the behalf of both of us. I shouldn't have been on my phone in the first place. It was unprofessional of me to be distracted. Neither of us meant any harm."
"Everything worked out in the end. We might have to set back the release date because of the delay in editing but we'll manage. Watanabe-san, I hope you take this as a lesson to watch more of your surroundings."
"Yes sir." She replied solemnly. "I'm sorry that I caused a panic. I was so distracted by the moving silhouettes on the screen. Like, I grew up playing these types of games that I finally got to watch it up close. Then I saw that one of the workers were layering the two other players over ours and I got so memorized. It was so basic and complex at the same time that I didn't even realize that I was getting close enough to mess everything up."
"Well thank you for your kind words." I tilted my head a little.
"Wait, they were layering the other players earlier?" I asked.
"Yes, I guess so. We're always trying to cut down on time that we're on different steps for different songs. That must have been one of the close to completed songs since the other two players had came in earlier than you guys." I turned to Fumiko.
"Fumiko can you describe what was on the screen?" She was shrugged her shoulders.
"Um all the players were different solid colours, they were dancing but it was on mute. They were only silhouettes so I can't tell you much."
"And yet you said that it was basic." They two looked at each other, not seeing where I was going with everything.
"I proffer a proposition." The developer looked me dead in the eyes with confusion. Fumiko gave me the x signal. "I mean; I want to offer an idea."
He looked at us, questioning what just happen. "Okay? Let's hear it out."
"The original plan was to have us here as gaming models. Now that we've completed our role I think it would be a good idea to listen to Fumiko's ideas on gaming design." She lightly jabbed my side. She leaned into my ear.
"What are you doing? I was ready to get out of here and sink myself into despair." I placed my hand on her shoulder, pushing her closer to the developer.
"Fumiko is a fan of not only this company but others as well. And one thing she may not have shown much over the past two days was that she's a people person. She knows exactly what people want and what makes them happy. Just now I looked at a few of the previews and found no problem with them because I have no idea what to expect from video games. Fumiko, however, found them to be basic. What game would be fun if it was basic?" I took out some of the notes on their company from my bag.
"Five years in the making and this company has focused on console gaming. Meaning character battles and adventure formatted story lines. Dancing games like this have been gaining popularity that the company decided to join the wave, with no background information. We can choreograph the best dance routines possible but if there was nothing but bodies to copy on a screen, the consumers will not be interested beyond the advertisement. It's common for companies to get an input from an outside source and Fumiko is in the perfect mindset to be that person for your purposes."
Fumiko didn't say anything, as the developer stood there. He glanced back at the workers cutting the dance parts together.
"What do you think would make it less 'basic'?" He finally said. Fumiko's eyes practically budged out of her sockets at his question.
"Uh well um for one thing. If it's going to be mulit-player I would want a setting where I could see my individual points instead of a group one. That way if I play with my siblings or friends it raises the competition and that makes us want to play longer in order to win. Then putting a bit more difference on the characters instead of just having the basic body image and colours cuz' I can't tell whose who in the long run."
He nodded along. "That can take months to work on and figure out... But I think that would be doable."
Fumiko quickly grabbed hold of me, squeezing my arm a bit tighter than I would have liked. "Seriously?! Like you're not just pranking me? You're actually considering that?"
He cracked a smile for her. The first one that she saw from him since we started. "Of course I am. I know a good idea when I hear it. I can't be certain that it'll happen but it'll defiantly be put under consideration. Thank you for your work, Watanabe-san."
I managed to pull her off my arm, chuckling at her. "See it's like you said, you better fit this than I do."
Trivia: The reason why this chapter took so long to write was that I was half way writing it when I decided to change the entire plot. Originally, Momo and Fumiko were going to get into a fight as Fumiko was too laid back while Momo was too serious. But then I realized that it was kind of too earlier for them to be fighting and I couldn't work it into the gaming aspect of the chapter. In the end it turned into their personalities making the developer almost causing a riff in how they work. Thank you for waiting for this chapter (University is boring)