“ 𝑲𝒐𝒕𝒆𝒊 𝒘𝒂𝒏𝒏𝒂 𝒎𝒂𝒌𝒆-𝒖𝒑 𝒕𝒐𝒐 !”
.
𝟏
Thursday.
The day marking the beginning of the respective training camps.
This time, however, Kotei wouldn't get to go to the early morning practice sessions. Because for the one week duration of her brother’s training camp, she's gonna stay with Miwa.
Coincidentally, the big sister got the chance to be a member of the make-up crew for a big shoot in Tokyo, taking place the following week. Her boss permitted Kotei's stay with them. So, it's a nice save.
“ The cab is here. Tobio, please lock everything before leaving the house. And call me when you leave,” Miwa reminded him, putting on her shoes in a hurry. Kageyama was holding a sleeping-Kotei with one arm and handed her the big suitcase with the other.“ The map is on the counter. Don't lose it. You're so bad with directions.”
Kageyama grumbled under his breath before slipping into his slippers and walking outside to open the car door. He placed Kotei in the far corner and moved back to give way to his sister.
“ I wish you luck for the training camp. Please socialize with everyone and behave nicely, okay?” She smiled and pulled him in a quick hug. Tobio made a disgusted face at the affection.“ Don't you dare try to pick a fight with me in front of a stranger.”
She muttered through gritted teeth. Unfortunately, the driver heard it and gave a nervous beep on the horn.“Well, that's all. Bye ! Have fun.”
“ You too.”
Kageyama watched as the car took off. It was four and the sky was still dark. No way he's falling asleep again so he stepped in to make himself a hearty breakfast.
Meanwhile, in the car, Kotei yawned loudly before making a munching noise and finally stirred awake. With sleep still in her tired eyes, she looked up at Miwa who seemed to be typing something on her phone. Her gaze landed on the driver who looked at her through the rear view mirror. Although she didn't know him she waved at him, sloppily, and the old man smiled at her in acknowledgement.
Kids are cute. But not always.
“ Kotei, you're up ?”
She groggily said a ‘ yes ’. Now that she thought back, she missed out on bidding her brother goodbye. All her friends were out of station and she was glad that she could atleast brag a little bit more than usual. Yes, she had been to Tokyo before, during the training camp, but it was not quite right. Tokyo seems like Tokyo when you visit the heart of the city. And technically she's gonna visit a TV station for the first time in her life. That's exciting in itself.
“ Go back to sleep, Ko-chan. It's still too early for you.”
“ Okieee.” She purred and collapsed on Miwa's lap who sighed at her antics. Adjusting herself to give Kotei maximum comfort, she rested her hand on the little one's shoulder and went back to reading on her phone.
𝟐
“ So, we'll be staying here. Uh....am I at the right address?” Miwa double checked the information on her phone and looked up at the lavish, exotic hotel. Kotei cowered behind her legs, her eyes spinning. It's too expensive for her comfort and she felt like she's not on earth anymore.
“ Miwa !” A girl Miwa's age smiled at them as she waved lightly. Her long, black hair with pink highlights was tied up in a messy bun and she seemed to be in her work attire. Her name is Sayuri and is part of the make up crew too.“ We'll be sharing rooms. You should hurry. Nobuyuki-san called me twice.”
“ Oof, that man is such a workaholic,” Miwa grumbled and Sayuri nodded. Her gaze landed on Kotei who further withdrew behind her big sister. Tokyo is scary, she thought.“ Ko-chan, what are you so afraid of ? Come on.”
“ Hey, there. I'm Sayuri. What might your name be ?” The nice-looking-lady crouched in front of her and offered a soft smile.
The kid's face lit up at her kind nature (never go on outlooks). Stepping forward, she introduced herself.“ It's Kotei !”
“ How cute !” Sayuri’s eyes sparkled as she picked the girl up, gushing at her adorable figure.“ For the next few days, we'll be staying together. So let's get along well, okay?”
“ Okay !”
Miwa pulled her suitcase along the sidewalk and slung the other bag round her shoulder.
At the shoot.....
“ Woah ! So big !” Kotei stared in awe.
It was supposed to be an outdoor shoot and the scenery consisted of a huge field, filled with flower beds. The different colours added to the beauty and the photoshoot was scheduled to take place just when the sun touched the horizon. There were many people walking all around them. In a bustle, they hurried to get the set, ready, with the lighting crew and rest.“ Too many people. Kotei's scared.”
It's totally different from the usual gym set up she's used to staying most of the time with her brother.
“ That's Furuta Hiroshi, right ? He's super tall,” Sayuri gasped.“ Oh, wait ! Is his company starving him or something ? He looks so lean.”
Miwa sighed rubbing her temple.“And here comes the critical analyst. Seriously, why are you even here?”
“ I'm just too observant.”
“ Yeah, right.”
A well dressed man who looked like a film star himself strutted towards the pair with a stoic face. His white locks almost covered his eyes and he fixed his glasses before glancing at Kotei from the corner of his eyes.
“ Nobuyuki-san ! Looking good as usual—”
“ Shut up.”
“ Geez, just trying to break the ice,” she whispered to Miwa who smiled nervously and the male glared at her.
“ Don't take this too lightly. Kageyama, you're in charge of a.......miss Haiba,” he read through his notes,“ Sayuri, you'll be there for Miss Sheila. Now, quick. Get to work if you wanna continue as a make-up artist for one more hour.”
“ Hello. Kotei says hi,” she introduced herself in a small voice feeling like she ought to introduce herself.
“ Nobuyuki Shirota. Pleasure.” To her shock, the older male introduced himself in a rather friendly but formal way and nodded, acknowledging her presence. Well, he's fond of children. Why you ask ? Because he's a father of twins, himself.“ Your sister, Kageyama?”
“ Ah, yes. She'll stay with me.”
“ Just don't cause any trouble for the others.”
“ Of course not.”
“ Smile, Nobuyuki-san, okay ? It's...”
“....”
“ Okay, okay, I'll smile for you, in your stead,” Sayuri grinned, flashing him a mischievous smile which he totally ignored.
...
“ Oh my god, I'm Haiba Alisa. Okay, so I'm super nervous right now. Yesterday, I was walking home from college when this gentlman approached me out of nowhere and offered me to be his ‘next fashion diva’ ! Like man give me a break ! I didn't even get the chance to refuse and now I'm here—ugh I'm ranting, right ? Please don't mind me.”
“ Uh...nice to meet you, too ?”
“ Tall,” Kotei muttered looking up at the beautiful lady. She was Snow White’s literal manifestation. And her eyes reminded her of a certain someone but she couldn't remember who.
“ Yes, I'm tall ! Well, I'm tall because...uh...um...just because I'm tall.” The smile dropped from her face as she bowed down in embarassment.“ Sorry ! Even I don't know what I'm saying !”
“ Calm down. For now just sit here, okay ? Relax. You'll do just fine,” Miwa sat her down on the chair by her shoulders. They were in the black van. Taking a seat in front of the mirror, she was nervous to meet her own gaze. Instead she stared at her folded hands.“ Take a deep breath.”
Kotei climbed up the chair beside her and stared at the nervous girl.
Alisa met her gaze.“ I'm a klutz, aren't I ?”
“ Kluz ?”
She sighed. Even her brother is better than this.
“ You'll do fine, miss,” Kotei said in an encouraging voice, patting her hand on her shoulder.
“ You think so ?”
“ Eh ? Kotei can't say for sure. But Kotei has a gut feeling.”
“ Wow, it's so reassuring when a kid says that,” Alisa flushed up. A realisation struck her and she gasped loudly.“ Omo ! I went on introducing myself but I never asked for your names ! That's so rude of me! Please forgive me !”
“ Kotei says hello !”
“ Your name is Kotei ? That's wonderful. I'm Alisa—oh wait, I already introduced myself once ! How embarassing !”
“ You really should try to relax. We're all friends here, okay ? So take it easy.” Miwa added before introducing herself in a light manner.
“ You're so sweet ! Thank you for understanding me,” the girl sighed before facing the mirror and found Kotei smiling at her. It made her less nervous and she smiled back.
Eventually, the nervous girl was able to collect herself and was in her cheery mood again. Kotei fidgeted with the eyeshadow kit, curiousity filling her eyes.“ Kotei wanna make-up too !”
“ You're too small for that,” Miwa stated, applying the blush on Alisa’s cheekbones.
“ Really ?” Kotei asked leaning on the counter, her cheeks puffed out, completely bummed out.
“ Ah, my friend is here !” Alisa suddenly got up and Miwa moved the brush at the right time so that it didn't stain her face. The former realising her mistake bowed down in apology,“I'm so sorry ! I really am a nuisance!”
“ No, no, it's okay. Don't call yourself a nuisance.”
“ You really are kind, Kageyama-san.”
“ Miwa is fine.”
Alisa quickly excused herself and got out of the van. Walking towards the side, she saw a familiar silhouette who waved her hand from afar. Two buff men seemingly prevented her from stepping further.
“ She's with me,” Alisa beamed brightly and the duo, dazed with her beautiful smile, sidestepped to give her way. The former, a girl of shorter height, with thick bushy hair and in a peach coloured sweater with black leggings, gave the two men a triumphant look before strutting towards Alisa. The bright girl, a second year student of Nekoma Junior High, waved at the older girl.
“ I brought the cheerleading squad with me !”
“ Really ? Wow !”
“ No, just kidding !” She bursted out in laughter and Alisa pouted following behind the former.
𝟑
“ Let me introduce myself. I am Yamamoto Akane and I'm a respected Nekoma Junior High student. ”
Miwa smiled, acknowledging her presence and got back to doing Alisa’s make-up.“ Kageyama Miwa. Nice to meet you.”
“ Yamamoto...,” Kotei muttered to herself, remembering someone she knows. She shrugged deciding it was a very common last name.
“ No, call me Akane. A-K-A-N-E. Okay ?”
Kotei nodded slowly.
“ Okay, good. I prepared a dance for you,” Akane said putting down her bag on the stool and taking her place at the centre.
“ Yay, go !” Alisa cheered her up.
“ Go !” Kotei yelled too although she had no idea what was happening.
“ Go,” Akane brought up her right hand and, “go,” next brought up her left hand and keeping them perpendicular to each other, brought one leg up to fold her knee and bend sideways,“ Alisa-chan !”
“..”
“...”
“...”
“ Done.”
“ That's it ?!”
“ I didn't get the time to prepare the whole thing so I showed you the demo...hahahaha !”
“ That's so mean, Akane-chan ! I thought you came to cheer me on !” Alisa whined, shaking the petite girl back and forth by her shoulders while Kotei tried to do the pose that Akane did earlier.“ And what's more, it's copied ! It's from an anime, isn't it ?”
“ Ah ?” Akane looked mildly impressed that the older could tell.“You caught me...,” and began laughing, merrily. The former went on with her tantrums and Kotei was still trying to do the pose.
[Keyword : jjk ending song pose.]
Miwa sweatdropped.
...
“ Are you done ?”
“ Yup.” Miwa met with Sayuri on the fields. The crew was all set to go but they seemed to be waiting for someone. The former raised her brows up in question so Sayuri explained further.
“ Someone's running late. Hashibe Sakura. You know, the one ?”
“ Oh, I remember.” They shared knowing looks before chuckling.
On the sideline, stood Furuta Hiroshi surrounded by three to four people, dressed in a simple white shirt and black trousers, his hair styled, neatly. He's shooting for the promotion of his next big drama and along with that the promotion of a certain brand. Alisa would be solely promoting for the brand. Besides Hiroshi, the male lead, the female lead, Hashibe Sakura, will also be present. Their photoshoot will gain the priority while Alisa and Sheila (if you remember) would fill in after they leave, for the solo shoots.
“ It's not my problem if they call me on such a short notice. I'm a busy person,” a strict voice erupted from behind them and both Miwa and Sayuri looked back at the same time.
Hashibe Sakura.
In all her glory.
In a full red-suited attire, her pink hair cascaded down her left shoulder and black converse almost kneeded into the soft ground below, as she stomped her way across. Having difficulty to walk, she still maintained her posture acting as professional as ever. She had her shades on and seemed to be in a heated argument with her manager.
Kotei, who was walking along with Alisa and Akane towards Miwa and Sayuri couldn't handle her excitement and ran ahead to join her big sister, accidentally coming in Sakura’s way. The latter stopped in her track and pulled down her sunglasses to give her an intimidating look. Kotei looked up at her in confusion.
Sparing her one last look of disgust the woman pushed past her, Kotei almost losing her balance in the process if not for Alisa who held her back quickly. The manager didn't bother to apologise for her and strutted behind her in a hurry.
“ Miwa-nee !” Kotei wrapped her tiny arms around the big sister who picked her up, patting her shoulder. In a complaining tone, she pointed at Miss Hashibe at a distance,“ that pink-haired lady pushed Kotei !”
“ Don't point at people, Ko-chan.”
“ Now would you look at that attitude ? How is she still in the line ?” Akane grumbled as Alisa tried to calm her down.
“ Good morning, Miss Hashibe,” Hiroshi went on to greet his colleague in a polite manner but instead received a glare from the latter. He gulped, nervously and pulled his hand back. Why am I always surrounded by intimidating people, he thought sulking in the corner. Twenty years in his acting-career, he's yet to get used to this strict environment.
They watched Nobuyuki motion the female lead inside a tent and Sayuri sighed.“ Thank god, we're not the one to handle her.”
Miwa nodded in agreement.
“ Right ? She looks so hard to deal with,” Alisa commented.
“ I didn't mean it that way,” Sayuri chuckled.
“ Sayuri would've said some offensive things to Miss Hashibe which might or might not make her lose this job,” Miwa agreed as the latter pulled a face.
“ Like you're one to talk, Miwa. I bet you would've broken her nose or something.”
“ Now, now, I'm not that mean,” she said her voice dropping into an icy tone and Kotei wanted to get out of her grasp because the few times Miwa got mad, it was like living hell for both her and her brother.
“ Scary,” Akane and Alisa chorused, stepping back.
...
Finally, the shoot was over. Sakura and Hiroshi were long gone and the team got ready for Alisa’s shoot.
“ So, just give a twirl. Please, don't give that girly twirl but a more professional twirl,” the director explained handing Alisa the handbag which she's gonna promote.
“ A professional twirl ? What's that ?” She had a dumbfounded look on her face.
“ Don't worry. You'll do fine. Go, go, go ! Hurry, there's less time left.”
“ But—”
Not knowing anything, the tall girl was put out in the middle of the field. She stared at the handbag with a blank look. Wait, are they gonna give this to me for free? And a foolish grin adorned her face which the director thought was perfect and clapped twice as the photographer took a few shots from different angles.
“ Mind-blowing ! I knew this girl had talent !” He yelled.
Nobuyuki stared at the scene from a distance, fixing his glasses once more as he clearly read through her thoughts.
Akane was all ready with her banner and her cheer up song but before she could yell out the second line, she was thrown out of the shoot for making too much of a commotion. Miwa and Sayuri thought it was pretty adorable of her when she grumbled under her breath,“ volleyball matches are more fun than these.”
Kotei heard the word volleyball and perked up.“ Nii-chan plays volleyball too.”
“ He does ? My older brother plays it too.” She lit up at the idea and crouched down before Kotei.“ Don't you agree with me too, Kotei ? Volleyball is much more fun than this, right ? I mean what's wrong in cheering on my friend ! It makes absolutely no sense.”
Kotei just stared at her like a I-don’t-know-what-you-are-talking-about-but-I-will-nod-my-head kind of look and moved her head up and down.
“ I think I should get going. It's late. And brother is a big worrywart,” Akane got up, dusting her skirt and gave Miwa a pleasant gaze.“ I think you're the only one who made it interesting for me.”
“ Me ?” Kotei asked with a frown.
“ Kotei too.”
“ Don't mind me. I'm not even here, I'm just a hallucination,” Sayuri commented slipping away and the others chuckled.
“ What's a halo-is-nation ?” Kotei asked.
“ It's when you think there's a donut kept in front of you but in reality it's not there,” Akane explained in not so simple words.
“ Ooohhh,” Kotei stroked her chin in understanding but actually she didn't get any of that.
“ Just tell Alisa-chan I might drop by one more day or so. So I look forward to meeting you again.”
“ Ah, yes, of course,” Miwa stated, confidently but she was having second thoughts on whether they'd let her ‘ruin’ the shoot again.
“ Let's go, Miwa. They'll need a retouch by now.”
“ Bye bye !” Kotei waved at the young girl who mirrored her excitement.
...
“ This bed is so fluffy, Miwa-nee !” Kotei squeaked out in glee, bouncing on it, in their hotel room.
“ Right ?” Miwa grinned, as she scrolled down through her phone, searching for the text message that she had received from Nobuyuki-san earlier. She didn't get the time to see it but now when she saw it, a smile lit up her face.
“ Good work, today.”
—mister grumpy old man.
“ Ooooh, let's call nii-chan!” Kotei smiled and picked up the telephone.
“ I have his number saved. Just call him from here,” Miwa pointed at her phone.
“ Kotei wanna try dialling here,” she said picking up the receiver, excitedly.
“ Okayy.”
The older sat with Kotei on her lap who held the receiver in front of her face. After a few rings, Kageyama finally picked up from the other side and an annoyed grunt was heard from the other side,“ hello ?”
“ Nii-chan !!!”
“...”
Kotei beamed up at Miwa.
“ Kotei ? Is that you ?”
“ Bingo ! Nii-chan, Kotei missed you !”
“ It's not even been twenty four hours since we parted. You're so dramatic.”
“ But Kotei says truth ! Kotei misses nii-chan. Kotei wanna visit nii-chan !”
“ You dare not come here !”
Miwa snatched the receiver from Kotei and said through gritted teeth,“why the hell not, you brat ! Don't tell me you're at some illegal place doing illegal things with the excuse of a training camp !”
“ What ? No ! Where would you even get that idea from ?”
“ I don't know. It's the Ajinomoto gym, right ? We'll drop by tomorrow.”
“ Wha—WHY ?!”
“ To meet our beloved brother,” she smiled sweetly and although he couldn't see her face, he could pretty much tell her expression.
“ Kotei will meet nii-chan tomorrow ! Yay !”
Kageyama could only grumble out his annoyance and Hoshiumi, who was on his way to use the bath, spared him a weird look.“ Okay, fine.”
“ Yess !”
______________________________________
“ 𝑇𝒉𝑎𝑛𝑘𝑠 𝑓𝑜𝑟 𝑟𝑒𝑎𝑑𝑖𝑛𝑔 !!!!”