Lost in Translation

Introduction

(BTW, the senbatsu elections of AKB48 stopped in 2018. They will be continued for the sake of the story.)

Ok, here we go!

Hi, my name is Fujihara Honoka, I was born on May 22nd 2010 in Sydney, Australia, to my lovely parents; My Japanese Father Fujihara Ezume, and my Japanese/Australian Mother Fujihara Aika. At the time where the story begins, I am 14 years old and around 5ft 1 (156cm) tall. I was born with my unique Amber-coloured eyes and Jet black hair, which is currently around mid-back in length. I am fluent in Japanese and English thanks to my parents and my living conditions, while I have also learnt Spanish, Mandarin and Cantonese through school. I lived in Australia for 10 years. During those ten years, I discovered a talent and love for music. I learnt Piano, Guitar, drums and flute. I joined the school and regional choirs and attended singing lessons from the age of 5. I learnt how to compose and produce music and write lyrics, while at the same time attempting to maintain high grades. My family is not as strict as your typical Asian family. My father wants me to do well in school but doesn't mind me following my passion for music as long as I maintain high grades.

I have always wanted to be a singer, ever since my father showed me some of his favourite Japanese artists. I began following the Jpop group AKB48 at the age of 4 thanks to my father, while my mother got me into K-pop, mainly SHINee and Brown Eyed Girls who my mother absolutely loved. My mother was a professional dancer for about 27 years before she settled down in Australia, she has taught me a few things, but we don't regularly practice. My father runs a Jewellery company that he started on his own. His brother, my uncle; Fujihara Shota is currently the head of one of the biggest media companies in Japan, the Toei Company.

My father managed to score big in 2020 and decided to move back to Japan to expand his business and have us live closer to our family while I grow up. I decided to Audition for AKB48 in February of 2020 after settling in. I had come across an advertisement for the AKB auditions and had managed to persuade my parents to allow me to audition. The fact that my father was a fan of the group, and they paid their trainees was a large reason why they agreed. And lo and behold, I was accepted. I spent my first year in AKB as a Kenkyuusei. We would spend a lot of time training as Kenkyuusei instead of performing as we were just substitutes for sick or injured members. The training program had changed since Produce 48 occurred in 2018. I watched it and absolutely idolised Sakura, Nako and Hitomi after watching their performances on the show and their concerts, I did manage to go to one with my mother who also enjoyed the show.

At the end of 2020, I managed to get myself promoted to team A due to a couple of members graduating from the group. In the second year, I started performing with Team A. I was very quickly noticed by the public for my unique eye colour and my vocals, which many articles and trainers would describe as smooth, unique, and very well-trained. I would often get complimented for my vocal ability. I am able to sing notes from bass to soprano and can vary my timbre, tone and pitch almost effortlessly now. I am also able to use a large amount of different vocal techniques in my singing and continue to improve daily. I wouldn't say that I am the best dancer, but I definitely improved a lot over the first year thanks to constant training. I also managed to place 6th in the annual Senbatsu election for that year, which came as a big shock, as I had only become a fully active member at the beginning of the year. I then went on to be named Team A's ace the following year and placed third in the Senbatsu election behind both Hitomi and Nako for that year. The Year after that I finally won, Somehow beating both Nako and Hitomi which shocked me and a lot of fans too. At this point, I was recognised as one of the three most popular and influential members of AKB48 alongside my own role models Honda Hitomi and Yabuki Nako. I was feeling great, and living the dream I had wanted for a long time. That is until we reach October of 2024. My fifth year of AKB48 and my fourth Senbatsu election. This is where the story begins.

The election was going on. Everything was seemingly fine. Until we reached to top 15 members. Something started to look off a little bit, but this was only due to the presence of a rookie team K member Minami Takara. The members were being named exactly one position below their predicted outcome. Nako placed fourth and Hitomi placed third, which left us with myself and Takara of all people. The fans were getting rowdy, as no one was expecting her to place so high in her first election. It seemed like most fans didn't even know who she was. Had there been some kind of issue in the vote reading? Or had something really gone bad? The next event is what truly caught everyone off guard. I was announced in the second place position while Takara received the first place. The stadium went silent, and everyone just stared in shock. Takara merely smiled and gave an acceptance speech before sitting down In the first-place seat, like it was natural that she had won.

She was well known amongst AKB48 members due to her arrogant and privileged personality. She walked around like she was the member with the most authority, and was better than everyone else. She would always skip training, announcing that she was already "better than the trainer and didn't need to practice." She insisted that she was the best dancer, and singer, despite many people protesting that Nako, Hitomi and I were all better than her at both. but no one could touch her, as her father, Minami Kenji was a major shareholder and sponsor of the group. Unfortunately, the backlash that she received was vicious. As fans called her out for faking the vote and bribing staff. They also called her out for being untalented and a member of little popularity. As a result, our album release, became the worst-selling album to date, with the MV picking up less than 30,000 views on Youtube. To make matters worse, all of a sudden any attacks against her were silenced, and suddenly I was the one getting attacked. Somehow, rumours had gotten out that I acted spoilt behind closed doors at AKB, and that I would constantly bully the rookies as well as Nako and Hitomi. They also stated that I never actually sang, and lipsynced every time I performed. Thankfully, members of AKB and HKT including Nako and Hitomi came out and dispelled the bullying and personality rumours. However the lipsyncing rumour did not die down, and many people still attacked me for being involved in negative rumours which were constantly being released and not shut down.

I was very quickly called into the CEO's office following the release of the rumours in January of the following year for a meeting with the CEO Yasushi Akimoto.