The perfect career at anything is hard to attain, Because it seems the only way is to leave people wondering. The notorious B.I.G died at the age of 24, making people wonder what if he didn't, still being recognised as one of the greatest rappers of all time. Curt Cubain, died young at the peak of his abilities. The Beatles quit only after 7 years together, at their very best. Michael Jordan retired after winning three in a row at the peak of his basketball ability to play baseball.
But the thing that's different about Michael Jordan compared to the others is that he came back. He had already secured his legacy with three titles as one of the best to ever do it, but then he took the gamble, what if he had come back and they never won, his legacy tarnished. But the world knows that this is not the case. Michael Jordan came back and instead stamped his legacy once more and then retired once again after winning three times. Not only do people question whether he could've gone for eight, but he retired at 36 still one of the best in the world, what if he didn't?
This world follows a different story however. About 2 years ago in the performing arts world the greatest performer disappeared after what is known as the most impactful and dominant year from a performer ever. This happened without any warning signs about her potential disappearance. But this got people wondering who she really is? People searched the web for information before she hit fame, but for some reason nothing came up. Some people speculate that she isn't actually who she is. All that is known is that her name is Mayaki Dancho.
…
"I win!" Says Samarchi as he slaps his hand onto the pile of cards shaking the table. Now he's getting up and making faces at Sid. and Now they're pushing each other, now they are wrestling each other, and now they are punching each other, and now they are stab… wait where did they get knives from?
"I have an assignment due in 10 mins you morons, stop shaking the table" I say with my face fully tensed and my head about 5 cm away from my laptop for complete concentration. It's engineering. Why the hell do I have to do English stuff?
"Your fault" one of them replies, I don't bother looking up.
"Yeh, we're all done."
"Yeh you don't even have a job"
"Lazy bum"
"Why couldn't you get your work done."
This is my life currently, stupid uni work with well friends well annoying friends. We are all studying engineering, with the hopes of a steady income at the end of the road. Well that's what I believe these two guys want. The uni looks good. It's the best in the small town of Kakilande a small city near Kyoto. The university is fairly modern looking, with large five story buildings making up the masses of the university grounds.
"Okay, let's go guys" I say, grabbing my keys. Since we all live close together we take turns in giving each other lifts, well that's the idea but it seems to get lost with these two guys, so I end up taking them.
…
"Also I got to pick up Sanaka from school." I say as we drive along.
"Yeah yeh, all good" obviously just looking down at their phones.
"Hey you're on driving duty tomorrow Sid" ignored again.
"Hey look Tayaki apparently coming back to Kakilande for a bit" Sid says oblivious to prior conversation.
"Well, her parents still live here."
"Or searching for Mayaki Dancho, she always looks bitter when she hears that name, do you think they hated each other?."
"Well getting destroyed by you rival and then for them to disappear without a trace would be unpreferred.
"Yeh i guess, but she deserves it for being a pain in primary school" Samarchi says almost patriotically.
"She wasn't a bad looker"
"if I knew she was gonna end up mega famous, I would have chosen a few different decisions" says Samarchi
"I thought she had a thing for Sabiti at one point"
"If a 'thing' you mean by wanting to kill you then yes" I replied. I wasn't really in many classes throughout the year, but when we were in one she somehow got placed in the seat next to me. She always seemed so dead set on becoming famous or something, that it got to the point of being really annoying.
I didn't really understand the appeal of having people walk up to you in a convenient store and ask for your autograph. She said it was hard to reach the top, I had disagreed and that's how we had made the bet. Did the hatred towards that girl really fuel me to such desperate measures in the past? I shake my head, probably best not to recall too many memories.
"Well apparently the emergence of superstars is putting a threat to the chances of her winning the Pefor award again. "The Perfor award is this complicated award that ranks the artists with the most impact per year. Against each other, can be of any Arts. People trying to win the award are often diverse in multiple areas.
"So, since she's not hundred percent in the winning, they decide to say that she is in a big threat of losing." I say sarcastically
"No, she is not even in the lead."
Now this was quite surprising, after her dominating the last two years. Her not leading is quite surprising.
"Hey slow down, we are in a school zone." Sid yells.
I pull over the car. In front of the school, students are now flocking around the place.
"Man this car attracts too much attention" Sid says looking at the people looking at the car.
"because it's especially odd for such a nice car to be driven by a beginner driver sticker."
"Then why don't we take someone else's car"
"Nah i like the car."
I just shake my head to myself
Finally, after waiting some time, my sister finally arrives. She's 15, I believe I kind of forgot, kids age so fast these days. She has long black hair, a small nose, that's all really, pretty unremarkable at all. However she seems to have a different look from her 'i hate school look', it's like she is pondering something.
"Hey guys, what is that look that my sister is doing?"
Sid looks up for one second before saying.
"A boy"
"Sounds about right."
Couldn't expect serious answers from them. So I'll have to enquire about it myself. She opens up the door with her usual greeting, she sits in the passenger side. Her eyes gave off an enquiry look. She looks like she is about to say something but then hesitates and stops. I give up with the analysis.
"what's up" I say in a monotone voice, with a hint of my 'I caught you' voice so I sound confident. She looks at me with a calculating look, I give back a confident stare, to force her into submission. I think I won.
"Well we were talking about career paths today at school, and I decided I wanted to become an Idol."
"Idol?" Now this was unexpected. I do a lot of quick analysis in my head, there is no plausible scenario that this makes sense. I wonder if she even has been to an Idol event.
My brain seems to be short circuiting with this irregular information, "When, what, why, how " I blurted out, without much thought.
"A boy" Sid replies back ground still looking at his phone.
"Well kind of" What? Is Sid actually right? She spoke in a timid little voice, which does not match her brash normal speech. Does she actually like a boy that much?
"Well a boy said I was too ugly to become an Idol, so I want to quickly reach the top, rub it in his face and then just quit." she says, giving off a bitter look.
First of all, that does not seem like a good reason to randomly pursue some random career path. but I felt struck by an extreme wave of deja vu at the moment but I pushed through. But this type of answer suits my sister's sort of attitude, her motivation for becoming an Idol is low, like does she really think it's that easy without any practice to get into these Idol groups.
"Well you are" Samarchi replies, which she sprays him a dirty look.
So after hearing all the details. Apparently she is going to try out with her friend in 3 months. Her friend apparently is actually pretty decent, compared to her. Knowing my sister who doesnt compliment people very easily, she is probably quite good. I had heard something about becoming an Idol becoming a lot harder since the emergence of Tayaki and Mayaki. Well Tayaki has seemed to reach God status in Japan, which makes sense considering she kind of represents Japan on the world's performing arts stage. Three time winner of the 'Perfor' award.
…
I sit on my king sized bed. The room is fairly large with an onsweet and a joined onto a random bedroom. The room however has been locked for the last 2 years untouched. I sit staring at it contemplating. Is this just a weird phase by my sister or not. I grab the key and open the door. I can already smell the dust that had set through the last two years. Was it just how I remembered? I don't know, I don't normally pay that much attention.
The room was only filled with boxes. I walked over to the box just to check that the 4 year weird blip of my life was real. Opening it to see womens clothing with a picture on top. A picture that anyone in the world would recognise its participants dressed up in small white dresses, Mayaki, Tayaki, and Hayata.
I sighed to myself it really happened. Only if my hatred towards Tayaki was a bit less would I not have done it. Back then, When I made the bet to become famous, I had quickly realized an issue, 'how do you become famous?' so naturally, well looking back not naturally I followed someone who supposedly did. I pick up a book and walk out. All I can say is that if my sister is planning on joining CX co then she is stuffed. That Director is the worst man you will meet.
…..
We are standing in the middle of a street in the main shopping area. I don't know why Sid and Samarchi are here but they are.
"okay It's time for training"
"Do I need it?"
"Yes, because your friend picked this CX co" I say pointing my finger in my palm with each word.
"Still"
"Okay Sid lay down the facts" Sid nods emotionless like he's been given an important mission.
"Your ugly"
"What?" she gasps
"Your voice kills peoples brain cells, your brother may have been decently of average intelligence without you". I don't know why he added that last part. My sister looks angry, so it's my time to step in.
"However, we have this" I say, pulling out a book without a cover.
"How is that meant to fix all my FLAWS?" she says with squinted eyes, and exaggerating the back part of the sentence.
"I spent the last two days studying and meticulously browsing websites that shouldn't exist, and figured out the perfect way to become successful. Putting it into a training program." First of all, I didn't do any of that. Second of all, from their looks, I don't think I got the reaction I was looking for. They all seemed to be looking at me like I have something wrong in the head.
"How about we try the first lesson, I found this bit of information on the dark web so it's sure to be good" I open up the book as i say this.
"The first lesson is to be able to attract attention, and for people to look at you, and want to ask you out."
"Don't you need to be good looking for that." Samarchi says looking over my shoulder at the page.
"Look, the web site showed the face that will work for good looking people, cute face, an average face, and a handsome face, average people and ugly people" I say looking at the people in the photo doing face.
"Well then tell her how to do the ugly person one"
"No, the one for the good looking person." Sanaka says, obviously trying to ignore Sid and Samarchi's comments. I read out the instructions for the first look for good looking people. It does not suit her. After her face seems to resemble the one in the picture.
"So how do we test it?" she asks, her face still in its position.
"Ask for a guys number" Sid says
"Well if this book is so genius then it should work" Samarchi says skeptically.
"Okay i'll choose that good looking guy" she says walking over confidently to a guy walking by.
"NO WAY HOSAY" we here echo across the street most people look around to see my sister getting flat out rejected. She walks back looking quite defeated, almost enough for me to pit-, no scrap that thought.
"Your book is crap" she says pointing at me. I feel my heart pierced with such a mean allegation.
"Well only until you try the one for the ugly look, can we determine that" Samarchi says, readjusting where his glasses would be if he had them.
"Okay we will try the one for average people"
..
"That didn't work, that was actually worse than the first one." Sid says observantly. Sanaka then proceeds to be rejected for the people with a cute face, an average face, and a handsome face. So reluctantly she makes the ugly person's face. I'm kind of nervous she doesn't look all that much different. Maybe that's because I'm her brother.
"Omg!! she looks,"they say with a shocked expression.
"Nah she's still ugly" they both say in unison.
She eyes them with piercing eyes and walks off to a guy sitting on a bench eating however she's stopped by a different guy, she brushes them off. Then she's stopped by a girl, then a different guy. What is this, they all have their phones out asking for something. Wait, they are taking a selfie with her.
I look at Sid and Samarchi both with one eyebrow raised, baffled beyond reason. Then they look down at the book like it is God's personal diary. How powerful this thing, is what is circling our minds. It's just all the stuff I learnt in the part of my life that did not happen. After shooing away everyone she walks back looking sad, dissatisfied despite the results.
"What's wrong, it worked" I say cheerfully. She looks at me, no maybe not at me but at my soul.
She falls onto her knees and looks up to the sky screaming "THAT THING SAYS I'M UGLY".
I try to comfort her but I'm more focused on how well this book actually worked. From this part onwards I will have to impart the knowledge from this book to my ungrateful sister.
…
However, one flaw is that I still have to do uni work. Even though my sister asked what we were doing today. Since I spent all yesterday copying out that book and testing if it worked, I have piles of uni work.
"Sorry Sanaka, I can't, I have to do Uni work."
"However we can" says Sid and Samarchi in unison walking in the room. Did they spend the night here? I wonder to myself.
" Don't you have Uni work"
"Nah ah. We knew that you would be too useless to help your poor sister so we as natural leaders finished all the semester work yesterday" they say casually. But it's only week 3, that means they did 10 odd weeks of content in a day.
My sister looks at them reluctantly, so do I. Do I have faith in them, no. But it's my sister so she will be fine.
"Okay " she says hesitantly. I hand the book to Sid who eyes it intently. Stroking the cover of the book as he admires it from different angles. I shouldn't have given it to them.
"Bye bye" Samarchi calls out happily as they leave the house. What was the second lesson again I think to myself. Oh yes, it was 'abuse tolerance', yeh probs shouldn't have left that in.
….
"So what's the lesson for today?" Samarchi calls to Sid while driving.
"Did my brother say you could take his car?" Sanaka asks
"Who do you think we are, we don't need permission." Sid replies like it's a dumb question.
"This looks like a good lesson."
"What?" Sanaka and Samarchi ask simultaneously.
"Abuse tolerance" however unlike last time, Samarchi's face lights up, and Sanaka's mouth drops with depression.
"How do we train that?" Sanaka asks hesitantly, not really wanting to know the answer.
"Enter a singing contest where you play the guitar, about a song about how you hate the audience and the judges." Sid says, smiling maliciously.
…
After performing in a random contest that seems to be held every sunday, yes, the judges hated her scoring her 0, except the fifth who seemed impressed with her performance giving her a 10 out of 10. He was a bit weird, he was wearing a turtleneck with a suit with sunny's that looked like small reading glasses. The crowd booed her and pelted stuff onto the stage throughout the concert as she followed the script attached to the book.
"Honestly i'm impressed you finished the script" Samarchi says disappointedly.
"No need to worry, look, we got hot springs now it says." Sid says positively. However no reply came, Sanaka looked down with her eyes fixed open.
"Do you think she's okay?" Sid says prodding her arm.
"Of course"
"You're right, the book wouldn't have anything wrong in it." Sid says stroking the book.
"But we will do part two of the training tomorrow after school." Samarchi says parking outside of Sabiti's house.
…
My sister walks in through the door. Well I think her body did, maybe not her soul. Even after saying hi she ignored me. I look at the two others, they smile and put a thumbs up. I walk over to the couch which my sister now sits on.
"Are you okay?" I say, expecting to be shouted out over and over again.
As I approach her I hear a low mumble at a speedy rate. As I get closer I can kind of make it out "I will finish this book and bully all those stupid judges to the whole world,"staring transfixed at the ground. Which naturally I turn around to leave. Maybe it's best if she doesn't become an idol, I think to myself, well at least it's not my problem.
…
Sanaka waves goodbye passively aggressively to two other idiots who took her to school late, because they decided to go to the bakery on the way. She spots her friend Hayate who is also late as usual to school. Hayate is what Sanaka knows that people recognize as cute. She is pretty short with nice bangs, brown hair and big innocent eyes.
"How's your practice going?" Hayate calls once they get together. Sanaka shakes as she finishes the words. She hasn't told Hayate the weird practice that they're doing.
"Really good" Sanaka says, as happily as she can make out.
"What you been working on"
Once again Hayate shudders thinking of last night's training. "
"Facial expression"
"Facial expression?"
"Just look at this." Sanaka says confidently walking through the hallways. She's practiced this look for a guess by now she's got it down pat.
As she walks through her eyes fixed ahead she sees all the gazes turn around to her transfixed on her.
A girl runs over to her.
"How did you get that black eye?"
Sanaka drops her mouth, crap she had forced herself to forget about the shoe that was thrown at her during her performance.
"Didn't you see this?" Sanaka says, turning around to face Hayate.
"Oh, that was on the other side of your face."
Sanaka sinks to her knees screaming 'why' in her head.
"How did you get it?" but she had already blacked out.
….
Sanaka sits in class just like any other day. Her friend Hayate is copying off her work. One thing Sanaka is at least good at is academic work. Unlike her brother who somewhat winged his way into an engineering degree, she had some brains. She accidentally catches that stupid boy Connor sitting there with his sparkly black hair, he is the classical boy from a manga or something. Lots of the girls like him unlike Sanaka who hates his guts.
"Are you okay, the math teacher calls."
"E to the power of half T" she replies still giving Connor death stares
"Yes that is correct", the teacher says," double guessing himself. "But you keep looking over near Connor"
Now the teacher has done it, she directs her stare to the teacher. The whole class laughs at her being caught staring at the oh's claimed Connor. Sanaka can't make excuses so she just sits there taking the crap. In Sanakas mind today has just been crap, she has a new person added to her list that needs severe punishment. not to mention training after with the idiots.
….
"So it's about a month until the trial." Sanaka asks absent mindedly
"No, it's in three days"
"What?" Sanaka shouts, regaining intelligent thought. Before seeing her brother's car with the two idiots driving it.
"Okay bye, I gotta practice" she calls out jumping into the car.
"We only have three days." Sanaka says to the Sid driving
"But it says she should be up to lesson 30 by the time you have the trial." Sid says consideringly.
"We will consult the guy who created the book," Says Samarchi, pressing the accelerator.
…
I was sitting there still after 12 hours of straight studying. Eyelids straining to stay open. Until the door barges open. Sanaka ran to me. Then she starts shaking me while trying to catch her breath.
"We only have three days." she says in a semi state of a panic. I smirk on purpose. I already knew this, well the date of the trial had been etched in my head, not for a good reason.
"So " I say, acting coolly.
"I'm not prepared, you idiot." my sister says, shaking me harder. Making it difficult for me to look cool. Looks like I'm gonna have to spill the beans.
"Look, I knew your trial was in three days. That's why I prepare the most essential quick working training things for your first three. All you have to do now is finish off the abuse tolerance training and then we can work on the basics with quick fixes. " I say, closing my laptop and moving out of the way of my sister's arms.
"To the mobile" Sid calls out as I get up.
…
We are sitting down in the car, driving to the next location. I believe it's the hot springs.
"To the Kayan Hot springs," Sid says, looking over the book.
"No, we need to get something beforehand." I say diabolically just to tease my sister. Her face looks scared, her hands seem to be shaking ever so slightly.
"What?" she asks hesitantly.
However, Sid replies this time "Male clothing." his grin now up to his cheek bones.
We arrived at the place, it's not somewhere where we would find ourselves on normal occasions. The shop looks all sparkly and shiny with men that seemed to be dressed up as women. Well you wouldn't be able to tell if someone showed a picture of them. We walk into the shop greeted by rather a ugly lady or a man dressed up as a lady. Actually i think she's just an ugly lady, the others seem to have come to that conclusion too.
"How may I help you"
"She needs to look like a man but still be noticeable as a girl."
"That's quite an odd request." the lady says, looking at Sanaka. "I'll go fetch some stuff"
"Why do I need to kinda look like a guy?" Says Sanaka timidly.
"I'm sorry Sanaka, if you thought the other task was bad then this is a hundred times worse." I say almost sympathetically.
"The aim of this task is for you to sit in a male hotspring, the truth is that everyone will be looking at you. Wondering why she is here. And also the fact is that some of them may just be weirdo's."
"How is this going to help me with my performance?"
"Think about it. The gaze of all those people will be a hundred times worse than the judges gaze you won't even know they're there." I think I may have terrified my sister. Luckily the person arrives with different outfits. After trying all of them. Some of them were quite weird, but the lady seemed weird so that was kind of expected.
The car ride there seemed tense. In fact, somehow, Sanaka was emitting an aura so strong that it felt like I was about to be going in the hot spring in her position myself. I guess like a good brother I had to help her, actually this was all part of the book's plan, a two in one lesson.
"Here is some advice from the book" I say, snatching it from Sid who seemed desperate to keep it. She nods stiffly, but still looks like this is the ray of her hope.
"The most common way to get over stage fright is by imagining people naked. Well that's easy because they will be" i look over to her, that seemed to have a worse effect on her mood.
"The main thing to conquer this is confidence, someone like Messi would be able to go into a girls' change room unfazed, because he is Messi and he has Messi's ego. Which you are fairly good at already. Tayaki when we were growing up thought she was the greatest person to ever touch foot on the planet. All you have to do is be egotistical" I look over she looks slightly less 'i'm going to die' state.
"You already did the music concert, you already prepared enough, just keep thinking how much better you are than everyone else because none of them are as smart as you, it will be fine." I say as we arrive. After a bit of push and shove we send her into the springs looking somewhat like a man.
"That was some good advice," Sid says, making a crying face.
"What a good brother, sending his sister into being tortured." Samarchi did not need to add that.
….
Sanaka is already shivering, yet she hasn't even taken off her large jumper, so far no one can tell. She could still pull out, but she knew with only three days there wasn't much choice. She knew the lessons were effective, from the first one, whatever research her brother did it was golden. But did she even care about becoming an Idol that much. Not really, she kind of just wanted to pass the entrance exam and then quit.
However, she kept thinking 'How would Hayate feel?' if she really did just quit straight away. Before she had realized it she was already at the changing room door. She braced herself 'just be confident', she opens the door. 'God this is the worst sight I have ever seen', is one of her many thoughts. Even though she walks through and starts getting changed. She takes off her baggy clothes, revealing her boys clothes that don't do well to hide that she is a girl.
she already feels stares from other people behind her she tries to ignore them. She can already feel her legs becoming wobbly as she takes each step, her hands have started shaking. She quickly gets to the hot spring in terms of hiding. But she quickly realizes her mistake. She walks into the large open spa room filled with heaps of men. A good half turn giving her a sidewards glare. She quickly gets in. her heart is racing to a point that it's hurting, she wonders if she's having a heart attack. She can feel gazes from around. Looking up she even sees a couple of people from her school, and Connor. What if they found out? She would be doomed to not go back to school again.
Her eyes were shut now, and she thought back to her brother's words. Just be confident, he was right. She spent a solid few minutes thinking about how much better she was than everyone else. She now looks up, like look at that man, 'look at that weird chin', and 'he's probably dumber than rock', 'that guy looks like a neanderthal'. She even locks eyes with people staring at them making them feel intimidated even though she's completely out of her domain. Would she even care if they found out, yes yes she would, she decides. Before she sinks back into a depressing state again even with the glares still there she picks them off one by one making sure they become too nervous to look back. And then she locks eyes with a peculiar man. He looks recognisable, from somewhere, for some reason she feels almost sick. He looks back at her with a warm smile, and nods approvingly. He must be a weird pervert she met before from somewhere. She walks out defeated, people look, but she is beyond caring wanting to leave that weird guy. But she knows that if it wasn't for the pervert she would have won, she doesn't this feeling, it's quite an odd situation she came out of so she can understand why.
….
Sabiti Pov
We sit in the car waiting. I'm wondering if I should bail her out. But Sid and Samarchi help me remain strong. After a bit, Sid and Samarchi started to wane from the confidence they had before. We decided to go in, but as we stepped out of the car, there was my sister. Walking out without any of the male stuff on, just wearing a baggy t-shirt with her swimmers underneath. Her eyelids were slightly droopy. She looked annoyed but calm.
"Where going to die" Sid Says shielding himself from being seen by her. Yeh it does seem that could be the case.
"Doesn't she look a bit like Mayaki Dancho?" Samarchi Says, intrigued, My lips seem to smile. I expected if she achieved her tasks and conquered the mission that she would be confident, or exude a different attitude. As it would be expected to conquer something so humiliating, so horrible. But this is uncalled for. If you were a photographer you would think she was a famous actor or something like that. You would think that she was a veteran in the business. It is said that Mayaki Dancho's super power was her iconic look that stole the confidence away from her enemies. This look may not be of the same caliber but it's a start.
"Hello" she says, snapping back into her usual state.
"W-w-what happened," sid called for behind the door still hiding.
"I conquered them all," she says, smiling. Conquered them, what does she mean like she beat them up. Well whatever she did seemed worked, so I do not question it.
"Okay let's go get Burritos." I say sitting in the driver's seat. Everyone seems to nod, well I still can't see Sid so I don't know.
….
Next morning I have Uni work due but I have more important things. I wonder how lucky she is to have such a good older brother like me.
"She can't sing"
"Agreed" all in unison except Sanaka.
"What does the book say?" I ask Sid.
"Create a weird drink, it should be green and warm. And wrap a warm towel around her neck" Sid says, sounding slightly confused.
"That's obviously what my research found was the most effective. "
"How is a drink going to change my singing drastically, and the boiling water towel?" Sanaka says sitting down while the others prepare the required stuff.
"Look this won't make u a good singer it will make u average, these are what the usual finishing touches to a singer is, but since three days we are skipping the basics."
"So how do they help?"
"I don't know" I lie, I don't want to get into unnecessary detail. The drink has weird stuff that makes you relaxed, and clears everything because it tastes so bad, I won't mention that. The towel wrapped around your neck, makes you hopefully relax your vocal cords or something. Basically trying to replicate the shower experience in terms of singing.
They come back with a bucket with a warm towel and the worst looking drink ever. Seeming very enthusiastic.
"Here you are, drink up."
"What's in it," she asks, looking at the weird green drink with a lot of wariness.
However they shake their head, warning that she doesn't want to know what's in it. She wraps the drenched towel around her neck and drinks it, eyes going wide with the disgusting taste. but she finishes it nonetheless.
"That is disgusting." she says sticking her tongue out.
"Now wait thirty seconds," Sid says, ignoring her.
After a long thirty seconds go by, we turn on the karaoke machine and play one of the CX co songs. She starts her singing after wrapping the towel around her neck. I wouldn't say she's good, but it definitely made a difference. Sid and Samarchi seem impressed.
"Now remember how this feels, or you will be drinking this drink everytime you sing" I say before she finishes the song. I suspect that she will be drinking this drink a lot over the following years.
We give her a round of applause with nice comments after.
"That wasn't complete ear rape"
"My ears aren't ringing."
"You could be regarded as a good singer, in a universe where all people are deaf"
She met them with acknowledgement, and took on our feedback. While she beat us up.
….
"Lesson 2," I say after recovering from Sanaka
"Dancing. Also this is going to be the final lesson before your entrance test." I say to the others who are sitting on the couch.
"Our last lesson we have two more days" my sister asks.
"Because this one is going to take time. Unless you can secretly dance." I say doubtfully, making sure she here's my tone.
"Of course I can" she says confidently, but seen through by everyone as being lies. Dancing is the hardest one to fake being good at, is what I have recognised. This is what I'm worried about, she needs to have talent and dedication to complete this.
"Okay well I won't be measuring, the machine will. I say as I go out and bring the wheel in through from the garage a very large item.
"Ta da " I say impressed with myself.
"What is it?" they say in unison. Oh it's in a box I realize. Rip off all the packaging. Revealing.
"Dance dance revolution" I say proud of myself. They look all baffled. The machine is big with two sides so two people can play, with left right forward back pads you step on so the machine recognises your dancing. The machine has big letters saying dance dance revolution on it With 'newly created hardcore' written underneath it. I chose since I'm so good I need to be able to have a challenge.
"You know that's not dancing, right?" they all say.
"It's in the book"
"Oh yeah what a genius Idea." Sid and Samarchi say in unison, stroking the book. That book has earned too much credit. Have they forgotten I created the book?
"What so I just have to dance on this thing" Sanaka says as she inspect the machine.
"Yes till you get a perfect score" I say absent mindedly.
"A perfect score. Isn't that quite hard"
"Not really, I say getting on the machine, just watch."
Well that did not turn out well. I haven't been on one of these for years. I got a score that the machine asked if I was an old man.
"Just getting warmed up" I say, rethinking. Just gotta get into the vibe, 2 and half years ago. I step onto the machine again, like I was getting on the stage again, yeh I remember having that piece of shit beside me.
"What the hell?" They looked at me gaped as I walked off after nailing a perfect score.
"Yeh I know I'm pretty good". I say smiling savoring in their faces. But then their faces change from shocked to smug.
"So this is what you did for those three years you were away. Was being an arcade junky" they both say laughing. Well its better they believe that.
"Anyway you have two days, I was say that you probably should start practicing now." I say leaving, I need to do some studying.
"Dibs " Samarchi and Sid call as they jump on. But are stopped by a weird instinct telling them that if they get on their life would be in danger.
…
I was studying and then I heard the doorbell. Who could this be? I walk to the stair before looking through the looking through thing. I can't see anything I realize thanks to Samarchi and Sid breaking the light by swinging a bat at it. However the person doesn't look very tall, so I should be able to fight them off if it comes to it. I open the door
"Hataya!?" I say as I open the door. Those big eyes being small bangs, however her knows and cheeks are slightly different than I remember. Maybe I didn't pay that much attention.
"What, no It's me Hayate" well even their names are similar, also I Haven't actually seen Hayate before so, not my fault.
"Oh sorry, you look similar to her." I say letting her in.
"Well thanks I guess. Wow, I didn't realize Sanaka lives in such a big house." she says admiringly, staring around at the interior.
"Well I guess I will show you to Sanaka," I say walking through to the living room. When I open the door it's dark except for the dance dance revolution game. There slumped over the side bar was Sanaka asleep. Disappointing of her, to have already called it quits. Sid and Samarchi are asleep but we don't care about them. As I walk closer however I notice something odd. The large 'game over' in red is not on the right side of the machine. No this can't be. I calculate the percent chance of this happening and what it means. Does my sister have talent?
"She got a perfect score?" Hayate says it before me. Yes it seems I underestimated my sister. This kind of makes me feel bad, all that practice I did in the past went to waste.
I walk over to Sanaka, shaking her awake. She wakes up startled.
"Crap, I need to get the perfect score." she says in a state of panic, rather ignoring her friend or not noticing her.
"Look, you already got it." Hayate says excitedly. However my sister points over to Sid who is currently lying upside down on the couch asleep.
"I still haven't cracked 15% correctly." she says angrily. Okay my thinking from she has talent, to zero talent has been seen as apparent. And on the other hand, Sid may have potential as a dancer after all.
"Oh hi Hayate" Sanaka says finally realizing her friend is here. "Why are you here?"
"I thought we could do some practice."
So thoughtful, I don't know how my sister got herself such a nice friend.
"Well I will leave you guys." I say heading out
…
Sanaka pov
"Well I need to get a perfect score on this" Sanaka says, eyeing down the machine with hatred.
"Why, you know this doesn't make you a better dancer."
"It's what the book says." She says, turning around to start the machine.
"I don't know my brother studied everything ever created in two days and created a book that will apparently turn you into the best Idol ever." Hayate looked at Sanaka with an expression that seemed of skepticism, and concern for her friend.
"I don't know about that, what does your brother know?"
"Everything apparently. Now get on, I still need to get this perfect score."
After that, they fought each other constantly over the whole night, Sanaka not winning a single match. Sabiti would occasionally bring them food and water, so that they would not die.
…
We stood there staring, their moves looked pretty identical except Sanaka was on 45 percent accuracy while Hayate was on 97 percent. Well those minor differences do make a lot of difference i guess.
"Man, your sister's ability to always score so badly, is pretty impressive," Sid says while examining, which me and Samarchi nodded in agreement.
"Knock, knock"
"Who would be that?" I ask
"It's your house you idiot, how would we know?" Sid and Samarchi say in unison.
"Oh that's my cousin" said Hayate running over to the door. " I invited her to help Sanaka"
What a nice friend, we all think in unison, undeservingly for Sanaka, we think that too. She opens the door to a girl about our height. She must be like a supermodel is what we think. I think I might've heard one of those guys do some prayer. Wait a second that's.
"Cya, is that you" I say before realizing I probably shouldn't draw attention to knowing her. The girl looks surprised. When I was in the time I dont mention, I hung out a bit with Hataya, and met with Cya. she wasn't what I would call a compassionate big sister. She used to give her sister a lot of crap. I would often have to be the peacekeeper. The parents were nice, but I was scared that they knew more than I wanted.
"Yes, well she is decently famous." Hayate says before Cya can talk.
"Yes well most people do not know my personal name" she says thinkingly. Crap now I need to create a fake reason.
"Well I'm a big fan of you and your sister, Hataya.", they give me a surprised look again, Oh crap most people don't know that either.
"Well." before either of them speak, Sanaka interrupts.
"So you are Hataya's cousin also" Hayate nods.
"So that's why you looked similar." I say, proud of my abilities to notice similarities in people.
"Cya does not look alike at all" Sid and Samarchi say in unison.
"However, I think Sanaka really needs your help. She still hasn't cracked 50." I say to stop me being investigated or a long drawn out conversation.
Sanaka steps of the machine all ready for action. I'm honestly impressed like she hasn't slept the whole night, really. And then she face plants, well maybe she did need some sleep in the end.
So now it's just me, Sid, Samarchi, and Cya. I feel bad for having these two idiots to talk to, however she seems to not mind having some real dead brain dead conversations. Well that was one of her less nice hobbies of toying with nobodies, making them feel all special and then ripping their heart.
I tried to warn them but they didn't seem to care. So I watched patiently until they got their hearts ripped from them. I knew how she worked. She would slowly let them get more emotional in their conversation then crush them in one blow, it seemed it was reaching that climax. Their relationship seemed closer and closer until.
"So you knew Mayaki didn't you?" Sid asks. What? No, I wanted them to get crushed, And then they steered it in a new direction. Was it dumb luck, or were they toying with her the whole time instead. I have to close my mouth using my hand.
"Yes the famous Mayaki Dancho, she did spend a little time at my house" Cya seems pissed off. But then she almost looks sad, I don't know women's emotions well so I can't be quoted.
"Was she a maniac?" Sid asks all excitedly. Maniac? When was that the first impression or thing to ask about when it came to Mayaki.
"Well she was a pain in the ass, always getting involved with me and my sister's relationship" What? Mayaki was always saving your ass, you idiot.
"And as a performer she was meh." Okay I'm out of here.
I look down at my phone, well it is that day anyway I guess.
"Want any food. I'm heading out" I ask, walking out the front door.
…
Cya Pov
"Mediocre?" Sid questions.
"People always think of her like a God, it honestly pisses me off. When we first met she was just an innocent girl that really didn't know much, but she changed. It was only until I saw her in action did I realize what she had became. Remember that movie I starred in one with, Mayaki about the fashion industry." She waits for Sid and Samarchi to nod.
"She was seen as a mediocre actor before that performance. So naturally I thought that it would ruin my movie. Even though I was fairly well known at the point of filming, I hadn't actually solidified my position in the industry. She was odd. Every time we would film, her acting skills would improve, her eyes would look more demonic and she would look more like her character. Her performance somehow seemed to compel me to act better, her eyes and action would immerse my body in what it would feel like in real life. She was challenging me I thought, telling me not to lose to an idol in acting. But the scene that resonates with me the most was the last final scene. I always get praised for that scene how scared I looked when I was held against that wall and how everytime I looked at her my character looked traumatized like I the scenario was real" they both just seemed to nod in agreement.
"But it wasn't an act, I was scared of Mayaki. That scene where she stabs herself with a knife through the hand. Well it turned out she had stabbed herself through the hand. I thought it was fake till I saw it up close. But even doing such a psychotic act, It's not like I can say she is just a blind maniac. She did it because she knew how it was going to turn the movie into a grammy performance. how that one scene shaped the whole performance. I don't know but she foresaw it all, doing something so crazy for the sake of my career. So is she God? No, but she could be the devil."
Both the boys look blown away.
"Just kidding, but she did do a really good job" she looked down at her hands, she wished that what she said was false, but it wasn't, Mayaki Dancho was a psycho human.
"Few, I was shocked" Samarchi says, looking at the ground. "For someone to be so weird."
…
I Woke up in the morning of the day of the trial, which is after school, however I don't think she's going to school today. For some reason everyone is asleep around the living room, even Cya remained. Well I guess that's Sanaka's ability, to unite people to help her incompetence. I walk over to the machine. The machine is now glowing blue, wasn't it green before? The machine spells out Perfection in Blue Words. I smile to myself. After I learnt how bad she was, I wasn't really confident in her abilities. I wonder how long she played for, so I opened up the statistics. It says that she has played 37 hours. And wait, Wait a second..
…
"Wake up sleepy head" I say to my sister as I poke her with a stick to get up. Which I have found to be most effective for her. For Samarchi it's water, for Sid it's a bowling ball to the head, but I'm currently questioning that as he does not look like he's going to be moving anytime soon. And Cya she's already left. With Hayate, because I guess she probably does need to get her stuff and get ready.
"We need to go" I say, after she finally shows some form of life.
…
Sanaka sits in the rehearsal room, it's a fairly large plain room. This is one of the training grounds of the CX co apparently according to Hayate who's next to her. Sanaka apparently didn't realize that CX co was this big of a deal. like yeah, it may be a career path but it is quite an odd one, like why don't these people just do more work in school. However she feels like her reasoning to talk has gone as she has just skipped three days of school. She watches her friend put on a cute outfit. However Sabiti recommended her to wear a plain outfit as it would apparently stand out to the other people, which she doesn't really understand.
She hears multiple conversations around, there's one with shortish black hair saying how she's practiced for the last 12 months for this. This was now making her feel a little more unprepared than she wanted to feel. She wondered if Hayate had practiced this much. Hayate actually was looking really nervous. She realized they had all been focusing on her rather than Hayate, so she felt slightly bad.
"Are you feeling all good?" Hayate asks, smiling. Obviously, she was putting on a brave face smile. But it was comforting nonetheless. There was one girl who stood out to Sanaka as being a selfish idiot. She was a slim blonde girl with two ponytails. Her whole demeanor seemed to annoy Sanaka, but she decided not to focus on her.
After a bit of waiting around they were addressed by a woman with a high ponytail, and a very stern face. She basically told them the routine of the Trial. They basically are just going to do a dance routine together where they will learn how to do a simple dance you have to do that well. Then they give you a singing test, and then an interview in front of the judges.
They first separated into different groups because obviously not everyone could be on the stage at the same time. Hayate had fortunately been selected into her own group. However, dancing was what she was most nervous of, she had only just been able to achieve a perfect score. Did it even translate directly to dancing? She had also pondered that question. What did her brother really know about becoming an Idol? He isn't one, and was never one. They went into a small room and learnt the basic dance, no one really struggled to remember the dance. She also decided she needed to give credit to her brother. It was as her brother had predicted, he had said the most important thing of the Dance is to make the simple dance look emotional.
After a while they were moved onto the stage near the back right of the dance, she recalled that Sabiti said positioning didn't really matter, because all positioning had perks. As they walked onto the stage, The lights were straight up blinding. Looking around she could see the other contestants shaking with nerves, but for some reason she didn't really feel that intimidated by the large crowd. Seemingly felt as if something like this was natural, she knew that she wasn't gonna be booed or have boots thrown at her. However Sanaka had noticed Hayate to be shaking, she wish she could've comforted her but the time wasn't now. She looks out at the stands, there was a surprising amount of people. She looks around at the judges and notices the weird pervert guy from the spa. But then he had the black sunny glasses and turtleneck. She had recognised him for the judge at the show she did. All of a sudden she felt a bit less composed. Questions of self doubt flooded her head at this moment, 'Was her lack of skill going to show here?'
…
Crap I'm back, is my first thought as I walk through the door into the large facility. Apparently anyone is allowed to come and watch. There are quite a lot of parents, and some scouts obviously looking to spot a future star. This is one of the sitting stages, honestly quite rare compared to the usual for CX co.
"Wow it's quite big". Oh yeah, they also came too, and it seems also Cya came. She is now walking over to us. We say hello as she walks to us, I expect her to take a seat next to me but instead she walks over to the other side to sit next to Sid. Now I feel hard done by that, Sid even gives me a smirk.
"Do you think she will do well?" Cya says, looking at Sanaka.
"I don't know, she wasn't that good at dancing." Sid says bringing out a box of popcorn from somewhere.
Before any more conversation the dance starts, they show the girls a real basic dance which not a single person seems to have made any errors yet. The two girls at the front spot seem good, they're smiles seem oddly professional. Hayate seemed nervous to begin with but as the dancing got underway she seemed to ease up.
"It looks like it's a showdown between those four," Cya says, smiling. "A rather welcomed, but unexpected performance so far by Sanaka" she adds. The others nod in agreement.
"You disagree?" she asks, pointing directly to me.
"You guys saw her performance on the Dance Dance revolution. Didn't it look almost the same as Hayate's?" they seem to somewhat nod in agreement. " Well it wasn't, because it got to a point when her performance had surpassed Hayate's. It was only after I checked the statistics did I realize." I pause so then they ask what for special effects.
"What ?" Samarchi reluctantly asks, knowing what I was doing.
"She was on hardcore the whole time." the others look at me with confusion.
"You mean she beat hardcore mode?"
I nod back. Was her dancing skills beautiful, no, but it is precise and fast, which some people seem to lack. However as i say this about the Dance, something seems to change. like the winds changing randomly for a sail ship.
The nerves seemed to have worn off no doubt by now, which now seems to have created a new wave. This is not what I had Imagined from a bunch of unorganized rookies. The whole group is shifting with an uncontrollable wind atmosphere, something you see and feel when performing with a well cohorted group. this isn't the level of a rookie performance. I don't understand the jump in abilities, all of these people could be considered near regulars if they were back four years ago. By the time the concert ended there was no clear standout. Sanaka was holding on, but if it went too far it could've blown her over.
So It seemed that it was best that it ended sooner or later, how much more intense could that get is something I'm still pondering. The others seemed to have the same thought process. It was now time for singing, not something that I am particularly confident in, well she does have the drink.
We watch as all the multiple groups perform the exact same dance. There are a few that as a professional catch my eye as being good. But no doubt that the person in the center for the first round was the best. I even thought that she was Tayaki for a second when she started performing, well they do look pretty similar. Tayaki does have a younger sister I believe, but I didn't really pay attention. Well i don't think Tayaki would have to try out to get into CX, actually thinking about the director's prior actions, maybe he would make her do it again.
After a while we got the individual singing. Having to sing in front of the crowd by yourself seems a bit cruel. Back in the day half the people cracked under the pressure, I guess it tested if you had the guts. But so far not a single person has made a mistake. Hayate goes on holding one of our mugs, well I guess they made some for her, I wonder if she has tasted it. She gulps it down with a surprised look obviously surprised how disgusting a drink could be.
The audition is basically a random CX song which you get given the words for. She is actually really good. I would definitely rank her so far as the second or third best, it looks like no doubt that she will be selected. Shortly after a few more Sanaka walks out without holding a disgusting mug of the drink.
…
Sanaka can't help but feel the intense surroundings, all these people all were desperate to get in. while she was more of a 'I can just quit after If i get selected' type performance. Hayate looked really nervous. I guess having a cousin being the best CX co Idol ever is something to be nervous about.
"You nervous?" she asks Hayate montonely.
"Do I look it?" she replies, looking up and jittering. Sanaka nods.
"Why aren't you" Sanaka didn't know if she could just credit it to the wacky training that they had seemed to go through, and she was somewhat nervous. It's never fun performing in front of a crowd by yourself.
"I have this drink that makes you good at singing," she says, pulling out a mug from her bag.
"I have a spare one in my bag so you can take this one,"
Sanaka thinks of how she is such a kind person, sacrificing her whole CX Idol dreams for this girl.
"Thankyou." Hayate says looking thankful but also skeptical.
"The book" she says smiling. They both laugh at the book's weird ways of becoming better. After a while people slowly wean out, almost seemingly like a death sentence to be called. Hayate is finally called, they both give each other a look of confidence as they leave.
After a while she is called and walks onto stage, nervous she notices the stare's of everyone in the audience at her, but oddly their gazes feel light. She knows that they don't mean much, unlike previously they aren't looking at her because she's in the wrong change room. She sings her voice. She knows that her voice isn't nice, it's probably the same as when they first practiced singing. Would the drink have saved her from her inevitable fate of being kicked out? Her brother did all that studying just for her to fail in the end. Actually wait a second, he just wanted to torcher me.
Did she ever want to really become an Idol? but she can't help but think of Mayaki Dancho. Her aura seemed to have ingrained itself into these people. She almost wishes that she could see Mayaki Dancho live once, to see that look of 'I am better than you in every conceivable way'.
Maybe if I can dominate against Hataya the girl meant to own CX co and all the monsters in CX then maybe I can reach that status. She wonders why she all of a sudden feels like she is propelled forward. Did her voice become better in the last few lines of the song or was it just everyone's imagination, did that look she gave faroff resembles Mayaki Dancho's signature look.
"That's all i needed to see" whispers the old turtle neck man with the shades.
…
"How did it go?" Hayate says as she walks down the stage.
"Fairly crap." Sanaka says, smiling slightly, It was how it was meant to be.
"Did the drink not help."
"Turns out I forgot to bring mine."
"B-b-b-but the, I'm sorry" she says bowing her head.
"Nah no need" it was true that this wasn't her passion or anything. Now it's all that is to wait to see if Hayate is selected into the competition.
After a while, The stern looking women walked out into the crowd, calling all the people who got their numbers called to stay for an interview. People got called out one after another, lots of them hugging their friends as they got selected.
"Number 243 and that will be, oh actually 244" well it was a shame that she was not selected. However Hayate seemed to be smiling at Sanaka, 'well you don't have to gloat' Sanaka thinks.
"We did it" she says smiling
"What?" Sanaka says, looking down at my number. She looks down to see that she is number 244.
"I passed?" Sanaka didn't understand how she had been selected, wasn't her singing bad? But the thing she was most surprised about was why does she feel so happy?
All the people who failed, left looking miserable. Showing the bare remains of the people who got selected.
"Okay number 87 come on up. When you see the person before you leave, you can come in."
Hayate had left and came to the interview, looking happy, it must not be that bad.
She was navigating her way through the corridors. Most people would assume they were lost at this point but she assumed that she was not lost.
A door nearly opened into her face and she had to move at the last second to avoid being hit. Out of the room came a smallish woman. With resemblance to Hayate.
Wait a second, this was Hataya. She looked cute but she looked emotionless, she seemed to be bored of Sanaka's very existence. Sanaka felt like she was being strangled, and couldn't help but to be quiet when she met those cold black eyes.
"Sorry, " she said as she turned around the other way. Sanaka couldn't understand the intent, it was said in a sweet voice yet she felt like she was not even worth talking to. All she could do was look at her back. It had only just dawned on her, Hataya was drenched with sweat, her body looked dead, how intense had her practice been.
"There you are, we've been looking for" the stern woman said, making Sanaka jump.
"Sorry i got lost."
"It was a straight line." the woman says walking away, which Sanaka quickly got up and followed, her mind still transfixed on the person named Hataya. She could see why people seemed to fear Mayaki, if this was one of her rivals. She smiles internally, what if she could beat someone like that, conqueror the way she did at the spa but to someone like that. Surely she would be untouchable at that point. The woman guides her out onto the stage, the crowd now swindled down to no one, it seems her brother wasn't even there. She stands in front of the microphone..
"Congratulations to making it here. This is Ms Sanaka Sclar is it not" A young man says on the right of the panel, he has fairly frizzy hair.
"Yes that is me" she said, giving off a little smile to ease her nerves.
"Good good, we would like to ask you a few questions before you start here." she nods for them to continue.
"Who is your favorite Idol."
"Well the person I would wanna be the most is Mayaki Dancho." she said it without much hesitation. She almost thought of saying Hataya, because of what she had just experienced, but she doesn't really wanna be Hayate, she wants to stand above it. But then the ability of Mayaki was to be able to bring someone like Hataya to her knees, but yet again she doesn't even know anything about this so-called Mayaki. It was a weird thought of her becoming an Idol, in a world that she never really paid any attention to. None of the judges took that much note, probably thinking that she was all of the same, fame hunter. It was only the weird sunglasses guy that smiled.
The interview came and went without any hitches. Hayate was waiting outside for her. They both seemed very excited, Sanaka thought that she could finally relax. That was far from true however, everything was about to become a lot harder. They both left quickly as they felt a mysterious aura that someone was watching them.
…
A man with a turtle neck jumper with weird sunglass glasses, sits at his desk at the top of the tall stadium, he looks over at the two girls standing there chatting. He adjusts the sunny glasses, and looks up at the wall. The wall shows the different teams of each of the 10 groups. People care about Team 1 the most, which everyone recognises, because even with the other stars there's no doubt that Hayate is the biggest Idol in the world. He looks outside again where the girls had once been standing, he sucks in and breathes out his cigar smiling.
"So the calm has finally ended. Why this direction? There is no doubt that the Gods of this world want to steer the storm towards the most destructive route there is. 5 years ago did the start of the tornado form when those three idiots arrived not knowing what the future held for them joined CX co, changing up the Idol industry forever. and now their relatives arrive to bring them down, how fate is so wonderful. And how funny He really thought I wouldn't recognise my own training method."the man smiles reminiscing on those days, each word getting louder .
"Sayaki is honestly just a more skillful version of her sister. Hayate is just a more well rounded version of Hataya. But would I say Mayaki and Sanaka are the same? I don't know she's not motivated, yet she has those same eyes. Her skills are far superior even though average. It honestly makes me wonder why I chose that idiot all those years ago. Unskillfull, completely clueless of what CX was, and she was a man. Yet he held a driving force behind him. Was it like the wind formed around him like he was the I of the storm?" the man gulps
"Absent for the last two years and then your sister decides to enter that route, at the same time Hataya's cousin, and Tayaki's sister decide to try out. It baffles me, how kind has fate been to allow me to watch this sickening, hazardous tornado unfold on my very front doorstep." The man now seems in a maniacal laugh.
"Koff koff"
"Crap, shouldn't test these lungs."