In the week that had passed since Minami's visit to the SUN MEDIA headquarters, she had done nothing but sit at home.
She hadn't changed out of her pajamas once, she hadn't showered, she skipped out on her dance lessons and stopped singing.
It wasn't that she hadn't tried.
Her dance lesson was the day after she met with Makoto, but as she got up to change and get ready, she just fell to the floor crying. The thought of dancing, and going through a class that she found boring and unnecessary anyways, with people that probably knew all about the issue with Smile Days, had caused her to become too anxious.
Instead, she just canceled all of her lessons for the week. Makoto would probably be mad and scold her, but her mental health couldn't handle it.
She'd tried singing, but her throat was so raw from crying, she just kept cracking and found herself unable to hold a stable note.
After some time, she started feeling frustrated and depressed about it.
'Why won't my body listen…' she'd thought.
So, in the end, she didn't do that either.
'Isn't it better to just focus on my mental health? I need to focus on me right now.' She would think, excusing herself from her responsibilities.
The entire week had just been spent eating junk food and sitting on the floor in the living room watching variety shows or comedic anime. Either that or laying in her bed and crying.
Every-so-often she'd think about the situation and become curious about what new things people were saying about her. It got to the point where she had to turn off her phone to stop herself from checking.
Today, however, her curiosity got the better of her. Except, this time, she wanted to see if it had died down at all.
She powered on her phone and waited for it to boot up.
'BZZ! BZZ!'
There were about a million and one notifications from her accounts.
That wasn't what surprised her though.
She had a text message from an unknown number that had come in yesterday.
[Unknown] No one cares about you. Can't you see it? No one is defending you. Know your place next time. <3
Her body went cold and numb. Who was this and how did they get her number? Was this one of those crazed fans she'd heard so much about? Did Smile Days have one of these crazed fans that was coming after her? If they had managed to get her number….could they also get her address?
Minami's eyes widened and she stared toward her front door.
Could someone find her one day? It was something she'd never thought about before.
She clutched her phone and ran to her room, closing the door behind her and locking it.
Grabbing her blanket, she shoved her desk chair under the knob as an extra security precaution and wrapped herself up.
She pushed her plushie pile in the corner apart and stepped into it, pulling the blanket over her head from the back like a hood and pulling her plushies together as if to create some sort of security team.
Her heart was pounding like crazy. Was she just being paranoid?
With trembling fingers, she typed a response to the unknown number.
[Minami] Who is this? I think you have the wrong number.
Maybe she could throw them off the scent and pretend like it was someone else they were texting, make them think they were mistaken.
'BZZ! BZZ!'
An almost immediate response.
[Unknown] Ishihara Minami, from Sun Media. Address…..
The remainder of the text listed her address and the address of her dance lessons as well as her personal email.
A sharp gasp was the only thing that broke the silence in her room.
Her trembling hand covered her mouth as she read and re-read the message.
Certainly it was a crazed fan. How would they get that information? How would they know she was with Sun Media….
Wait a second….if they knew she was with Sun Media…..then why would they still be defending Smile Days?
[Minami] You have the wrong number, sorry.
They seemed threatening…and if they knew she was from Sun Media and they were still coming after her, then maybe they were just like the Smile Days members who were pissed at her for having taken their song.
[Unknown] I don't. You'll see soon. You've lost.
Her heart pounded and she felt like she was going to throw up. Too afraid to leave her safety nest, she hugged her knees even tighter to her chest, giving up on the idea of grabbing her dust bin.
She immediately started texting Akina.
[Minami] Help! Someone is sending me sc-
Sigh.
She deleted it.
'I'm being so stupid….'
In reality, she had no one.
She thought back to when Naoto had come over.
★ ★ ★
"Don't listen to them Minami. You know you didn't steal it, and your company knows you didn't steal it. Just relax." He said as he cradled her gently in his arms.
"Yeah but I'm scared that this is going to be held against me! Everyone is saying such mean things! All my followers will disappear!"
Naoto scoffed, "So what? What do followers mean? Followers aren't anything. Look at how fake they were anyways. They just abandoned you as soon as something weird happened without even having the facts. What's so good about that? It's useless."
Minami continued to cry and stared up at him as she placed her chin against his chest.
"They ARE important! They're my fans. Of course, they'd leave when there's false evidence and a false narrative!"
"See, Minami, this is the bullshit. You're defending people that completely abandoned you. I bet you wouldn't be crying right now if they had stuck up for you. If they had said, 'This must be fake, Minami wouldn't do that. You're wrong.' And stayed with you. You're crying right now, not because those accusations were made, but because you don't have the support."
His tone was harsh and he'd loosened his embrace.
In that moment, she'd truly felt so alone. Was he leaving her too now?
"That's not true!" Her tears halted and her sadness turned into anger.
He pulled away from her. "I think you're just a user Minami. You didn't used to be like this. See that's all you care about. Fake followers, not the people that ACTUALLY care about you. You spend your time liking and responding to comments by people who ditched you when the going got rough."
Minami's lower lip pouted as he clenched his fists, his expression turning harsh.
"Meanwhile I've ALWAYS been here for you, even through the stuff with Juri and Saki," he clenched his fists, "But you ignore me for MONTHS. Then as soon as you get sad or upset, and you need someone it's 'Naoto~ Please come take care of me~ I'm so sad~' AND WHAT DID I DO?! I showed up."
"THAT'S NOT TRUE!" She screamed.
"BUT ISN'T IT?! I SHOWED UP BECAUSE I CARE ABOUT YOU! YOU'RE JUST USING ME!" He screamed louder, his face turning red.
"I IGNORED YOU BECAUSE YOU WERE IGNORING MY WISHES AND YOU WERE ACTING INSANE!"
"THEN WHAT AM I HERE FOR?!"
They stood in silence for a few moments. The only answer Minami could give was, 'Because I need you,' but she knew she couldn't say that out loud now.
"You ignored me….because I ignored your wishes…..but when did you ever listen to mine? It's all about you all the time. The reason you want to debut is because you're an attention seeker. You used to want to do it because you wanted to reach someone. You really lost your way." He shook his head and left, not turning back, not even for a moment.
★ ★ ★
Thinking back to that situation, she felt so frustrated. Part of what he said was true, looking back. She wasn't thinking about his wishes, and it was true that she'd ignored him and then contacted him for comfort….after all she had been ready to break up with him.
She grabbed one of the smaller plushies from the pile.
"I guess you guys are the only ones left huh? Thanks for being here for me always…I'll give you more attention from now on."
"Of course, Minami! We support you! You're our favorite! We love you so much! Always!" She held the plush up and waved it around while talking in a higher pitched voice, as if it was the plushie saying it to her.
She hugged it tightly to her chest, giving it a comforting snuggle.
'BZZ! BZZ!'
There was a private message from WING again.
This time, there was no link, or reporting on anyone's actions. It was a simple message, "I support you Minami!"
She wiped her tears, a warmth filling her as she re-read the message a few more times. After a few minutes she typed up her response, "Thank you, that means the world to me!"