The girl named after Love Song is but a bunny, oh yes, a bunny; energetic, fast, cute, and way too in love to slow down for even a second.
She ignorantly stands in front of a wolf in sheep's clothing, still prancing about and fidgeting with her beige ears on top of the wolf's head.
Though annoying and betrothed to death, the wolf lets her live… for she is entertainment for not only him, but the many people that listen to her purring melodies.
After the Subway, I had walked the rest of the way to my producer's office, taking the elevator to the fourth to top floor, watching the buttons glean an irritating orange.
With a ding, the doors had slid open and revealed the hallway decorated with wooden tiled walls.
Three down to the left. I told myself as I paced to a door with the number one hundred and twelve on it.
The shiny black door clicked open as my hand twisted the knob. I looked inside and only saw two people; the fidgety, beige-haired girl known as Aika Hämäläinen… and the fairly frustrated looking Haijo Hamada.
I didn't know if it was just my imagination or not, but Haijo had a cloud hovering over his head, drizzling chunky rain onto his hair with little zaps of lightning here and there.
He's pissed.
Hooking my neck with her right arm and yanking me forward, the beige-haired girl called out, "Well well well! Look who's fashionably late as ever!" Though we were the same height, I still submitted to her putting me into a headlock.
"Let go of him, Aika." Haijo sternly ordered the beige-haired girl, readjusting his glasses with a flicker. Aika let me go and I rubbed my neck from the burns she had nearly given me.
"A whole hour and a half late?" Haijo questioned with a raised eyebrow. The cloud above his head only grumbled with more thunder, flushing out a rain that was somewhat denser than before. I felt the slight sensation of goosebumps rattle through my skin as his glare shot pins and needles at me.
"S-Sorry. I missed my train and had to wait for the next one. It was all just a big mess." I apologized, trying to avoid looking at that irritated glare Haijo stared me down with.
"Hmmm," Aika hummed as her head poked near mine. Her faded blue eyes closely scanned mine, skeptically picking apart clues in my expression.
"He's not lying!" The girl exclaimed next to my ear.
Though Aika might be a phenomenon of a popstar, she was still obnoxiously loud and naive as hell. She always had that look to her though; of complete and utter daydream.
She was a worse daydreamer than I was sometimes. She would yelp as an idea popped up into her head, then proceed to pull out her phone and write it all down. To put it into other words, she was a devotee to music; an obsessor over the melody.
Aika was known throughout the world like me. But unlike me, she enjoyed the glamorous lifestyle of living in a huge mansion, running amok through clubs, and performing concert after concert after concert. She was more of a popstar than I could ever be.
I took my place at the oval glass table and scooted in my wheeled chair. Haijo seemed as pissed off as ever.
"Zero…" He said in a tone full of impeded anger. "You are twenty years old! You can't just keep on going about being late like this!"
Before I could even get a word out, Aika had jumped in her chair. Her feet heaved a kick against the ground, sending her seat flying into mine. Our chairs clacked together as the rolling sound of wheels came to a stop.
"Exactly, Haijo! He's a twenty year old." Aika fought back for me. Though the beige-haired girl wasn't rather intimidating, her persistent confidence got her voice across in arguments like these.
"If he was a regular old Joe of a twenty year old, he would be late to every class of college!" Aika tried to make her point, waving her hands about like she was trying to swat a fly in the madness of her attention span.
"He's not though. Zero is a popstar who needs to be ON TIME to very important meetings." Haijo argued back, his tone growing dull and quiet as he went on. "You of all people should know that."
They reminded me of two parents fighting over what was best for their child. Which would make me… sadly, their child. It made me shudder just thinking about it.
"Ha! Haha! Hahaha! Joke's on you! Before I had you as my agent I never went to any of my dumb meetings!" Aika retaliated as she mockingly pointed her finger at Haijo. The girl maniacally laughed as if she had committed some kind of archaic crime against humanity.
Aika honestly scared me sometimes. She was all over the place, unable to sit in one spot without talking or fidgeting a bout. She either had to be poking me, writing down something, or twiddling her fingers and feet to be able to even partly focus on one subject.
"Really?" I asked Aika. I was a bit surprised she hadn't. For someone of her stature, you would think she had sat through hundreds of meetings. My popularity had been fast growing but not as fast as Aika's. She was one of the queens of pop in no time at all, making it to the top forty in a matter of months. Her springy energeticness made her the perfect performer and her looks didn't lie.
With eyes as cloudy and blue as the hazy sky, they could easily pull in any unsuspecting person. Her naturally wavy hair was thick and seemed almost bigger than she was with its natural curliness. Her skin was flawless yet honestly normal, like pristine, un-smeared vanilla pudding.
She wore a black choker with what seemed to be a link for a leash on the front of it. Another thing she wor wase a baggy, plain, long sleeved t-shirt with the image of a cat with its "fingers" up on it. The dark piece of clothing was too big for her and resulted in only the tips of black-nailed fingers being seen at the end of the sleeves.
Her blue, ripped shorts complimented her long, high heeled boots with laces almost running all the way up to her knees. Even though Aika had her mane of hair put up in a ponytail, it still exploded with thick puffiness, resulting in crowding aside the parts she missed.
Heck, Aika could cut off her ponytail and still have a fine amount of hair from all she missed putting up. In a funny way, I felt bad for the elastics that were put in her hair.
The few times I had encountered Aika, her elastics would POP and her hair would POOF with it. It was like a chemical reaction of hair as it all just blasted out of her hairbands' grasp, seeming to grow in an instant as the elastic snapped. It startled me from time to time but I felt like I would see it coming now.
"Yeah!" Aika had finally answered my question. "I would never show up to my meetings! I was too busy. You know, write write write sing revise date write revise write sing sing sing sing write write sing revise sing sing write sing write sing revise date sing date write sing!" Aika went on and on, bouncing her head back and forth with each word she said.
Haijo let out a controlled yet frustrated sigh as he tried to regain control of the situation from Aika's clutches.
"Aika, why don't you go get some coffee?" Haijo interested the girl with the idea, trying his best to give her a warm smile. Aika plainly waved her head no like a lifeless doll with a tiny, innocent smile imprinted on its face. Haijo sighed again, knowing he was dealing with mere children at this point.
Why would he introduce the idea of coffee to someone like Aika?
That seemed like pure madness. She was already hyper enough as it was, we didn't need turbo Aika blabbering up a storm.
"Well, since we're all here… minus the album cover artists, editors, and Bits, we should get started… or rather finish up Zero's loose ends." Haijo grumbled, eyeing me up and down with disgruntled, brown eyes.
Bits was here?
Bits was another popstar who was like me, not liking to show his face in the public's eye.
Only Aika, Haijo, a few others, and I had seen his actual face. That's what I should've done since the beginning; wear a mask.
My life could've been a lot easier and less traumatic if I was smart enough to wear a mask like Bits.
"Why was Bits here?" I asked. Without a second's hesitation, Haijo had "answered"
"Nevermind that." He excused with a simple wave of his hand while scuffling through the paperwork in front of himself. Aika leaned over and whispered into my ear with a cupped hand; "He wanted to say hi and ask you some questions in person."
"Zero, have you finished those last three songs yet?" Haijo asked me while shaking the papers into an orderly pile.
I could feel hesitation swelling up in my chest as my mouth seemed sewn shut, not letting me tell him the answer. But like before; Aika had jumped in.
"We haven't recorded the song we've been working on. But after we go out, get some nachos, and head to my place, probably watch a funny movie, then talk for a little while, then want cake so we will go out and get cake, then come back, then eat the cake, then we will start to sing the song." Aika somewhat answered for me as she numbered the tasks on her fingers, daydreaming with each finger that went up. She seemed to love the idea of me spending time with her and showing her attention. It profoundly mesmerized the both of us. Mostly because of the fact that I wasn't fun nor was I very talkative.
On the other hand, I did love singing with Aika. She was so passionate that it made my own voice seem like I was merely breathing into a microphone. But time after time, Aika would get all jumpy and "sparkly", in her words, whenever I was around her.
"And the two other songs are in progress…" I whispered in a hushed tone that sounded more like wind passing by a window.
"What was that?" Haijo asked as he leaned closer towards me, trying to hear the faint sound known as my voice.
"I haven't written them yet." I confessed with a certain guilt embedded into my tone.
As of now, all one could really hear was the wind brushing by the window. In the awkward silence of Aika not knowing how to protect me and Haijo's head practically bursting with lava, I looked at the ground.
My eye's attention was caught by Aika's twiddling feet. They danced amongst the free air and seemed as if they had a mind of their own. Another thing that I had noticed in the short few seconds, Aika had taken off her strappy high heels and was now in stockings while she twiddled her feet around each other, flicking her toes against one another and sometimes repetitively hitting them against the ground before swerving them back up and moving them around each other.
"You what? Zero…" Haijo spat as he removed his glasses and threw them on the counter, pulling on his turtleneck for air while his other hand jabbed his fingers into his eyes with disappointment.
"We need to get these things done. People have been waiting for this one for such a long time. It's supposed to be your biggest debut yet." Haijo went on and on, standing up with clenched teeth and pleading eyes that screamed, "Why the hell."
His obsidian cross earrings dangled as he stood up and slid his right hand down his face, stretching his features down until you could see the warm texture of the insides of his eyelid and the gums of his teeth.
He let go, letting the grotesque feature slip back to normal like outstretched rubber slamming back to its original form. He ruffled his split ends with stress and plucked out a white hair he had spotted from the corner of his eye.
"Two months, Zero. Two months till we have to release your half baked album into the public." Haijo stated as he held out his two fingers in front of me.
Half baked?
"Haijo, it'll be fine." I interjected with a new tone; a tone filled with hoarse superiority and offense.
Yet the tender lines of my vocals remained undisturbed, unbroken by a harsh nor aggressive voice. "The two songs will be the best out of the whole album AND will be done in no time at all." I assured the black-haired man.
Haijo's scuffling and stressed hair pulling came to a stop as he looked at me with stone cold eyes, checking for any insecurity I had about the statement I just made.
"They'll be the best besides the one I'm in, because come on, people… I'm in it." Aika remarked as she shot herself between Haijo and I, interluding the seriousness that our eye contact made. Neither of us said a word to the beige-haired girl as she stayed in front of us, practically standing on the glass table with one leg collapsed on it and the other leg barely balancing on the moving chair.
Aika's eyes blankly stared at the walls while she waited for a reply from either of us. Unfortunately for her, she did not get the attention she oh so dearly wanted. She just laid awkwardly on the table, hands suctioned to moss-green glass with her prints smudging against it. She looked like a puppy that had tried to get onto the dining room table and somewhat succeeded and somewhat failed.
Though the beige-haired popstar was a sensation loved by millions, she was still in the presence of someone with the same status and a producer who has put up with people like her for almost a decade. Haijo had a total of seven clients. First was Aiko Fujiwara, then Kim Jyuun, Bits, me, Aika, and a few others that seemed to be but a blur in my head.
"Fine, Zero. I want those two songs to be the best of the best." Haijo finally agreed as he sat down and put back on his glasses.
"Hm. Funny how you work for me, isn't it?" I remarked with a scoff of a chuckle. Haijo slowly put his hands behind his head and started to spin the chair towards the huge glass window, only allowing Aika and I to see the back of his leather chair.
"Partners in crime, Zero. Partners in crime." Haijo stated as he folded his legs and put them onto a nearby desk. Out of nowhere, Haijo's chair decided to re-level itself and shrink, scaring the black-haired producer out of his relaxed, cool position. He let out a craggly yelp of horror and startlement. His hands jolted out behind his head and shot towards the arm rests with great concern and alertness.
It brought a small smile to my face and a monster snort of a laugh from Aika. The beige-haired girl tried to control her short burst of cackling as she smacked her hand to her mouth. Aika's eyelids shook with squints as her caged laughter tried to escape anywhere but her mouth. Though, I couldn't tell if it was fear, embarrassment, or a mass of giggles hiding behind those shaking eyes of hers.
"Not a word." Haijo commanded, still in the same alert position he was in when his chair fell. "By the way," He added.
Something changed about him in that moment, like he no longer was embarrassed by his chair accident. His chair swiveled ever so slightly so we could see the side of his face. Haijo wore a grin that oozed with slyness. His glasses glinted in the sunlight, veering beaming rays similar to a star gleaming in the nighttime or a diamond that shined ever so brightly.
I could feel the moderately warm air drain of its mellowness and die out from the coldness of my own anticipation and fear. Usually when Haijo used that tone, I was in for a load of trouble.
"I want that song done by tonight." Haijo told us with a grin as wide and robust as an orange slice with a tinge of the devil's smirk in his lips.
"What!?" Aika and I both squealed in unison, looking at each other then back at the menacing chair that gave off super villain vibes.
"Haijo, you can't just say that. We're not kids that you can order around." I told the black-haired man who thought our reaction was more than amusing.
"Yeah! We aren't your little muses who can just command to sing! And I have plans tonight!" Aika hitched on to my side, shooting Haijo's chair a puckered frown with eyes steaming with blazing, foggy blue-ness.
"I wouldn't have to treat you two like children if you didn't act like it. Zero is always late to everything and you don't pay attention to anything, Aika." Haijo stated. Now I knew Haijo had crossed a line when he had said that. Aika may be blunt and oozing with self confidence but some things did in fact hurt her. And it showed.
Her jaw dropped and her eyes were drawn back by surprise and disappointment. Their haze of fog wilted and was as clear as the glassy skies now.
I wanted to yell at Haijo; tell him off and then tell Aika to do whatever she wanted tonight, but there had already been enough contention in the room. I didn't need to add to the already growing pile of arguments.
As if he could feel the glossiness of Aika's eyes, Haijo let out a tsk sound and turned around.
"Look, I'm sorry I said that. You know how stressful these things are. Putting together your guys' projects, songs, and tours is kinda exhausting. So I don't have much room to be nice." Haijo attempted to apologize, only to fall, crash, and burn immediately.
The fog that had resided in Aika's eyes came fuming from her ear and nose from anger. She was not pleased with Haijo's apology and I quite honestly wasn't either.
"Zero," Aika growled as her gaze drilled into Haijo's glasses like burning steel.
"Y-Yeah?" I hesitantly answered, wondering if her blades of a stare would turn to me and cut my cheek. Aika shot out of her seat and made the wheelie chair go flying behind her till it clinked against a fish tank and idly floated by for a split of a second.
"Let's go!" Aika exclaimed as her molten rage and resilience burned like a tree that still stood after being blasted with fire. Haijo was as surprised as I was. He looked at me with wide eyes then back up at the girl who glowed with ambitious commitment.
"Go where..?" I asked with yield. I winced at what the girl might say, and worried that she might misdirect her steamy fiery fog at me.
The beige-haired girl merely grunted and let her legs unlock for a millisecond before snapping them back into place.
"Write a song of course!" She established before looking at Haijo with sass brimming out of her very being. The black-haired man merely sat back with awe and amusement. He didn't look mad or glad or irritated, he just looked like the word, wow.
Though I did approve of Aika's willingness to prove Haijo otherwise, she had blindly walked into the black-haired producer's accidental trap. There was a great sum of time Aika remained paused in her pose, still holding her ground while not taking her eyes off Haijo.
She doesn't know what to do next.
And Haijo had no intention of stopping this show he was ever so blessedly bestowed with. He was taking advantage of Aika's situation and he wouldn't stop it for the world.
But as for my own opinion, Aika was a good person and no one should be stuck in Haijo's venus fly trap of perpetual torture.
"Let's go grab some coffee out in the hall." I told Aika as I stood up and grabbed her stiff arm. I had no intention of giving Aika COFFEE of all things.
"Okay!" She gleefully and thankfully responded, hauling a huge breath out, followed by her shoulders relaxing.
"But this isn't over!" Aika harshly yelled at Haijo with a snarl of a glare while we walked out of his office.
"Bye, Aika." Haijo said as he lazily waved goodbye with a relieved smile on his face.
"Bye." Aika quickly added before rushing out the door as I dragged her with me.