Dance practice for Minami's debut single, "My Days" had already begun and between that, dance lessons and recording and filming new covers, she'd been insanely busy.
The lessons were boring, Makoto had put her in a beginner's class. All they were doing was going over the basics, which she knew like the back of her hand. She wasn't learning anything and didn't even work up a sweat. It all just felt like one big waste of time and part of her wondered if Makoto hadn't somehow picked up on her relationship Naoto.
Maybe this was just some ruse to fill up her time and keep the two of them apart. Maybe he'd seen her texting him at some point and it raised suspicions, or maybe he heard from someone else or seen them out together. Although they always met in public with Akina present, maybe he somehow picked up on the romantic tension between them.
She shook her head, attempting to free her mind from those kinds of thoughts as anxiety started to creep in. 'Don't think like that Mina, you're overthinking. There's nothing wrong with making sure you're refreshed on your basics…' Of course that's what any professional would say, but it didn't make them any less boring.
Learning the choreography for "My Days" was much more exciting. It was very high energy and bubbly, a perfect match to the song. The choreographer even praised her over how quickly she picked it up. She wanted to tell Makoto 'See? I told you I didn't need the lessons!' but she wasn't willing to be scolded again, or potentially lose her opportunity, and she KNEW he would cut her if she got on his nerves too much.
Bzz! Bzz!
Minami glanced at her phone as she entered the building. They were texts from Naoto. She put her phone away without looking at the messages. He'd been messaging her almost constantly, to which she had yet to find a moment to respond.
[Naoto] "Are you doing okay?"
[Naoto] "Do you want to go out tomorrow?"
[Naoto] "Yes No?"
[Naoto] "Let me know whenever"
[Naoto] "Hope they're not working you too hard haha"
She felt bad that she was ignoring him so much, but she was already at the company and was going to hand in her lyrics for the B-side track of "My Days". She needed to focus on only this right now.
If her lyrics were selected, it would be incredible, she'd really be just like Ri. This release would also be even more important to her. The fact that she would get to directly take part in the creation process was something not everyone got to say.
She bowed and greeted everyone as she walked in and sat at Makoto's desk.
"Yes?" He asked, not looking up from his computer.
"I have my lyrics!" Minami rummaged through her strawberry heart tote bag. She had gone with this bag instead of her favorite plum one to ensure that her lyrics wouldn't get crumpled. After all, she'd hate to present him a page of wrinkled and torn lyrics for her debut single. This was important! This was a life defining moment! She had to make sure everything was as presentable and perfect as possible.
She gently pulled the lyrics out and put them on his desk in front of him. He held his finger up and typed away at his desk. 'Busy, busy man.' She thought.
It took him a few minutes to finish up what he was doing, but when he was done he grabbed the lyrics and looked them over. He grabbed his pen and got up from the desk, "Follow me."
Minami followed him into the recording studio where his keyboard was already set up. He placed the lyrics on the sheet holder and started playing the song, humming along to the vocal melody as he read the lyrics.
He started striking things outs and writing on it, underlining certain words and putting symbols here and there. Then he grabbed it and shoved it back into her hands. "They're good. You did a good job. Let's do a run through of them."
Minami lit up. "Really?! They're good?! We're…..going to use them?" She needed to confirm. She'd hate to get excited thinking they'd really be used and find out later that she was misunderstanding what he was saying.
"Yes, we're going to use them. I've edited them a little though. You know what the marks mean right?"
She started at the page and saw a bunch of swirls, arrows, underlines and squares. "Yeah, I know." Thankfully having worked with him beforehand, she knew exactly what all of these symbols meant and exactly what he was asking by placing them where he did.
So they practiced and practiced, until she had nailed the pitch, key and emotion.
"Have you ever written lyrics before?" he inquired. He thought back to her resume when she applied for a job there, and didn't remember 'lyricist' on there, nor did he remember her listing any credits.
Minami blushed, "I only wrote them as a hobby….but didn't you know I could do lyrics beforehand?" she flashed back to the meeting they'd had where he'd said 'You know how to do lyrics right?' so surely, he already knew?
He hesitated a moment. For some reason, he was drawn to her and felt like he could put faith in her, that she would be successful and bring his company to places his other artists couldn't. "No, I didn't. I just had a hunch." There was this feeling inside him that she could do anything, and he trusted that feeling.
"Well, thank you for giving me the chance to do this. I know that not everyone gets such an opportunity and I'm very grateful!" She bowed and clenched her lyrics sheet, trying not to shed tears of happiness. She was working on not being such a crybaby.
"Would you be interested in writing lyrics in the future?" He tapped on the keyboard to his piano nervously.
Minami's heart sank and she stood straight, "Only writing lyrics?" Was he ending her career right then and there? Was she better off as a lyricist than an idol?
"No. In addition to performing. I think you have a talent for it. I think you could do it for other artists too." He wanted her so bad. With her skills, he wouldn't have to outsource lyricists, they could create such an impressive team, he just needed her on his side.
"I would love to do that! If the opportunity comes up again, I'd really like to. I hope I will be able to deliver quality lyrics like these for other works too."
"Have more confidence in yourself. I believe that you can. You may just be a danger to other idols out there."
Minami tilted her head, "What do you mean a danger to other idols out there?"
He cleared his throat, "Nothing. Let's just practice a few more times."
They continued practicing the song for another hour. Minami wrote numerous notes on her page to the point it almost didn't look like lyrics anymore.
By the time they were going to leave, it was already dark out.
"Let me walk you home, Minami. You don't live too far from here right?"
Minami nodded to confirm, "Mhmm! It's close. Thank you."
"Don't forget, that we're going to have a birthday party for you. Just a heads up, we're going to film it for when you officially debut. We'll do it as a road to, sort of documentary. We're going to start to filming your activities from now on too."
A puzzled look appeared on her face, "What do you mean? Shouldn't we have started with my photoshoot if we were going to do that?"
He shook his head, "No. We want you to look like a relatable girl who just got picked up off the internet. It's not going to look good if people find out you've been under an agency this whole time, and the agency is the one who recorded and edited the covers you put out. This way it looks like we just randomly discovered you online and people will praise you even more."
"Ohhhh….that makes sense." She rolled her shoulders back, feeling uncomfortable with the deception, but he knew better than her, he had been part of the industry for so long already and had much more experience. She shoved her gut feeling aside and told herself, 'He knows what he's doing. Trust him!'
They arrived at her home and he waited for her to let herself in before saying goodbye. About three minutes later, she heard a knock on her door.
She opened it up and to her surprise, saw Naoto standing there with a hoodie pulled over his head. "Naoto?" She moved aside to let him in, "What are you doing here? At this hour?"
"I had to see you okay? It's been too long, I miss you too much."