Inside the Kiheitai ship…
A few sheets of paper scattered across the table with Bansai tapping the end of his mechanical pencil on one. He already filled half of it earlier but the producer ended up getting stuck in his lyrical thought process, shifting his crossed legs.
Pressing the eraser on his chin, Bansai asked himself, What would flow the most naturally? A few of the ones I can think of don't roll off the tongue very well.
Each concept—both loosely based on real people and his own ideas—brought him to dismiss after reiterating the lyrics in his head. He thought the same after mumbling them under his breath. With so far spending an hour testing the flow of the overall song yet having no luck with the second half, a frown tugged on his features.
When taking his sunglasses off to pinch the bridge of his nose, an image of Michiru occurred in his head. Specifically one involving her smiling at him with her face entirely red.
Loosening said pinch, Bansai thought back on parts of her behavior he rarely, if ever, witnessed her expressing. Upon doing so did he form words while the mental pictures simultaneously ran. Unlike the others, he didn't stop by the time he passed the first half. When reaching the end of the song—or at least what he managed to come up with for a conclusion—Bansai repeated the song outwardly, with the same smooth results as the last.
The corners of his mouth turned into a gradual grin.
It's settled.
The next day…
Inside the public hall…
Arrangements for Tsu's Halloween concert officially began after a while of planning and sketching out the setup. The first part started with a large group constructing a wooden board against a wall to test the measurements. Decorations appearing as spiders, mummies, and others were in the midst of being manually made by the fashion designers, two of which Tsu previously met for her kimono.
The idol, Michiru, and Ichi stood at the center of the stage along with the person leading the aforementioned group. After revealing the sketch to the other three, she turned her focus towards the assistant.
"Do you think this looks too cartoony for the theme?" She pressed the pad of her forefinger on the sheet, on it being a sketch of what Michiru assumed to be artwork of vampires flying towards a castle. Assumed, because of their lack of sharp teeth and all had round eyes with black dots as irises.
Though not denying the drawing appeared humorous, if not satirical, Michiru faced the worker with a smile. "I think this is fitting." She turned to Tsu before asking, "Didn't you say this was the style you wanted since you don't want to make this concert too scary?"
Making a sharp nod, Tsu beamed, "Yep! I'm so happy you agree with me, Michiru-chan!"
After heaving a sigh, the group leader declared as she brought the sketch to herself, "Looks like we've come to an official choice. I'll inform my team." She tilted her body halfway. "Thank you for your input." She soon left the trio, heading for her team.
Ichi faced her daughter, bringing up, "I meant to give this to you right beforehand." Digging her hand behind her collar, the manager pulled out an envelope, written, 'From Tsunpo, To Otsu-dono'.
"Ah, thank you." Tsu accepted the envelope. "I wonder what Tsunpo's written about this time. He told me he's been trying to do something different for the concept so I'm excited to read it. Hair stem pluck!"
Michiru thought while staring in another direction, I wonder what he means by "different". The only explanation I can think of is an entire song devoid of crude lyrics…but knowing him, I really doubt that's the case.
Tsu tore one side of the thin sleeve, wasting no time taking the paper out and unfolding it. She spent a moment or two scanning her irises over what her producer wrote. At the middle mark did the corners of Tsu's lips twisted upwards, a tinge of pink spreading on her cheeks.
"I like this! It really isn't something he writes often, if ever!"
"May I look at it?" Michiru asked. Though it came out in the absence of a second thought, curiosity filled her tone enough for her to disregard the fact.
"Of course! Just don't show it to anybody else; I don't want to spoil it for them." Giggling, the youngster handed her both the paper and envelope, to which Michiru accepted.
"Fair enough." When straightening said paper, Michiru started reading the lyrics in her head.
"One, two, three, cheer up! When I first saw you, you appeared not to have a care in the world. You constantly looked bored out of your mind like you were dead."
Talk about blunt.
Not that it was anything new.
She continued to scan her own focus towards the lines, "When I saw you again, you smiled uncharacteristically. The only reason I recognized you was because of the birth mark on your cleavage. That's when…"
A line break, right below it written, "(Chorus)".
So far, Michiru…actually didn't have a thorough opinion on it. If anything, the lyrics here were the kind she expected.
Still, she went on to read, "…I remember telling you to cheer up! I thought you'd ignore me and remain a statue but you turned out to be real! It brought me to smile too!"
Below the chorus had the second verse.
"On a random night, you confessed to me with a blush and then kissed me!"
She paused her reading for a moment as soon as she finished the line. An image of her doing that to Bansai briefly played, causing confusion to fill her.
It's just a coincidence.
"I felt you up while making out with you and your face turned as red as a tomato."
A spark stabbed the back of her cranium, but Michiru disregarded it.
"Even when you were obviously shy, you told me to keep going. I kissed you back and you loved it!"
Much to her annoyance, heat crept up her sweaty face the longer it went on.
One more line remained before the chorus again.
"All this time, you were shy and horny at the same time, wanting more! Then…"
Color drained from the assistant's features, mouth and eyebrow twitching with eyes going blank. Michiru couldn't be bothered to finish the rest as she ended up too distracted by her thought process.
There's no doubt about it. Knowing this part is based on me feels…gah, I can't even bring myself to finish my thought!
As she'd unluckily have had a few times already, dampness in her underarms grew along with her legs stiffening.
Tsu, clasping her fingers together before pressing them on her own cheek, spoke up, "It's so romantic, isn't it? I didn't think he'd be interested in something like this. Grumpy squeaky piglet!"
Michiru tightened a smile, eyes shutting as well. "Neither did I. He definitely knows how to write your songs." An impulsive laugh bursted out, only for the woman to cease it no soon after by digging her teeth in her lower lip.
It took an unnecessary amount of willpower for her to not bury her face in her hands and roll on the floor. No, not where everyone around could witness Michiru acting this way, especially while supposed to be working. Even thinking of such a scenario brought her gut to twist.
"Otsu-chan! Otsu-chan!" Two high pitched voices filled their ears, catching their attention. Unsurprisingly, it was the same competitive duo.
Widening her eyes at their tones, Tsu faced them. "What's wrong?"
The woman with the short ponytail pointed a finger at the bespectacled one. "She didn't bring enough fuzzy material for the fake spiders."
"You were the one supposed to order more of it," The other designer pointed out while glaring daggers at her.
"Since when? I thought you were referring to someone else." The ponytailed individual deepened her frown.
In the middle of the two arguing, Tsu said as she held her own chin, "I think we can compromise this."
"Huh? How so?" They inquired in unison.
"I saw some scraps backstage; you can use those. Tone deaf snob!"
"Great!" The one with the ponytail said, hands placed on her hips. She turned to her apparent rival before shooting her a wry smirk. "Now you can stop claiming I needed to order more."
The female wearing glasses opened her mouth to retort, only for Ichi to interject, suggesting towards Tsu and the other duo, "Why don't you three go get the scraps? I need to speak with Michiru-san for a bit."
Michiru asked, not bothering to mask the confusion lacing in her voice, "But don't I have to accompany Otsu-chan?"
"I trust these ladies to hold your place temporarily. They've worked with me for a few years." She turned around before starting off. "This is something I need to speak with you privately."
She faltered her steps behind. "All right."
Tsu waved a hand at her manager as they went the opposite way.
Neither of the women said another word throughout their walk towards wherever Ichi headed for. Actually, Michiru couldn't bring herself to ask the reason for her preferring this over having the conversation with the singer nearby. Wasn't helped by a thick ball of saliva forming in the back of her throat.
Before she knew it, both her and Ichi reached the dressing room. To the latter's relief, said room was empty, though clutters of makeup scattered on the tables and a few parts of the floor. The manager frowned but ignored the sight for now as it wasn't relevant.
By the time the door shut, the rather dead silence broke.
"I'll get straight to the point and I want you to answer me honestly."
"What is it?" Like the last time, it slipped out without Michiru having prior thought. Here, however, she ended up giving her tongue a gentle bite and her posture went rigid.
Folding arms over her chest and narrowing her eyes at the assistant, she inquired with no sign of hesitation, "Did you sleep with Tsunpo?"
Michiru believed to have misheard as she made no response at first. Instead, her mind blanked, convinced all the colors in her vision inverted. A thump filled her ears when reiterating her question.
"Wh-What brings you to ask me this?" She interlaced her fingers in an effort to restrict any shakiness within them.
"I read the lyrics along with you and it wasn't until a moment later in which you showed a strong reaction."
Michiru subconsciously averted her gaze away; though her mouth ajar, she hardly made out anything.
Ichi went on, "And you've informed Otsu and I that you happen to see him in person. Michiru-san, I'd like it if you would answer for clarification based on how you acted back there. I've also noticed you've been staring off into space as of late, specifically after the 'Children Having Fun' concert. Does it have a connection too?"
Sharply breathing, Michiru pondered on this. Bad enough when she strained herself to avoid public attention at the stage, but it meant nothing compared to trying to keep her composure in spite of how sudden this whole discussion felt.
A tiny part in the back of her mind told her to answer with a lie, but she mentally shoved it away with force. This was about Tsunpo, not Bansai. Neither Ichi nor Tsu knew of his personal life nor did they need to.
"I…" Her nails dug in her knuckles while Michiru took a few small, quiet breaths. In the midst of it, heat crawled over her face and chest to the point of becoming unbearable.
She couldn't let that get in the way, though. Ichi expected a response; staying silent wasn't going to be the solution.
With one more deep breath, Michiru answered at last, still refusing to give eye contact towards the other woman, "I did."
She wanted to say more but instead shifted her gaze to her slippers while clenching her hand until her knuckles started turning white.
Another moment of stillness passed before the manager heaved a soft sigh.
"Michiru-san, I didn't bring you here to humiliate you. I didn't even want to ask this initially, but your reactions have been too apparent for me to ignore. I felt the need to do it before anyone else did."
It was then Michiru's focus instantly darted towards Ichi. "What do you mean?"
"Are you aware of some past scandals involving the music industry?"
"I…I am."
"Well, some of them were either made up or exaggerated. Unfortunately, it didn't stop certain people from sneaking photos of them, creating tons of misunderstandings and leading a couple of idols and producers to lose their careers. I don't want the same thing happening to Otsu or Tsunpo."
Her gut sank. Wasn't something she desired to face, but Michiru didn't want to make any excuses. As much as she hated hearing of said scandals, whether accurate or not, it didn't mean she'd completely ignore them when what Ichi pointed out was true. Practically impossible and even somewhat unwise to do such a thing.
"I understand, Terakado-san," Was the only response she managed to speak out, albeit weakly, as her eyes nearly shut.
"But don't think I'm disregarding you. I know you'd never intentionally try to do any harm. You're passionate about your work and you're well with Otsu, despite how socially awkward you are."
Michiru's shoulders shifted at the last part. "I don't have a rebuttal for that."
"Do you remember your first day when Otsu asked if you've never received gifts and you couldn't answer?"
In spite of her shifting the topic by a recollection, Michiru answered, "Yes."
"I could tell right away you got uncomfortable. I'm not going to ask the details of why you didn't answer her then as it isn't relevant to this conversation, but what I will say is you need to work on your behavior. If Otsu were to go through with recording these lyrics and somebody else witnessed you acting this way, it's likely they could get suspicious like I did. However, if you're caught by the wrong person…well, you can probably guess what would happen then."
"Right." At this point, Michiru couldn't raise her voice more than a murmur. "I'm sorry."
"There isn't any need for you to apologize; I'm not telling you to stop seeing him." A temporary pause. "Do you love him?"
Such as the last question, the assistant sensed her body burning, but she pressed herself to take no notice of it.
"Yes."
"I see. Don't worry, I won't tell anyone about this. I'm just giving you a warning, both for the music industry and your sake."
An involuntary quiet gasp escaped Michiru's barely parted lips. With a clear throat, she requested, "May I be alone to clear my head? This is so much to take in."
"Very well. Please return soon."
She received a short nod in response. Ichi stepped past her, soon exiting the dressing room.
Michiru's legs gradually went light, trembling until they gave out, hitting the ground. Where could she start with contemplating on this? The thought of someone sneaking and snapping photos to bring unwanted drama? People attempting to invade the private life of Tsunpo or hers?
Her mind ended up blanking. When recollecting her being advised in a similar fashion by Bansai, her legs remained glued to the floor.
The only thought running mentally being the mentioned man, both himself and his alias.
She couldn't tell anyone of Bansai. She couldn't tell anyone of Tsunpo; even with Tsu and Ichi, Michiru wouldn't be able to be the slightest bit specific without this huge risk.
It should've been simple to keep both identities secretive.
Yet it somehow ended in her being more conflicted than it should've been, leading her to take deep breaths.
I don't believe I can clear my head.
Later…
The rest of the work day involved Michiru averting her focus from her earlier conversation with the manager after deciding to wait until she'd have the time to relax. Easy to do so, certainly not, but the woman handled herself throughout the day without Tsu or anybody else questioning.
Standing next to the wall in an otherwise empty hallway, Ichi held the cell phone beside her ear.
"Tsunpo, I've already talked about this towards Otsu, but we will not be using these lyrics. I believe it's…too daring. I see. Well, I'm glad you understand. All right, have a good night."
She shut her phone, eventually running internal visuals of Michiru, from her first day of becoming an assistant to be precise. Ichi expected her to be nervous then yet found it less than normal for the younger woman to visibly quiver at her daughter's inquiry.
Although reflecting on her physical tenseness from then, Ichi brought her fingers underneath her glasses to rub her eyes. A low sigh eased past her lips.
"Probably best not to bring this up to her for the time being. One question was more than enough."
To be continued…