Author POV
It's been a few month since Ai returned to work and B-Komachi's popularity boost...has yet to come.
"My salary this month is barely 200,000 yen..." Ai said looking solemnly at her payment. The entertainment industry is not as easy as it seems...!
"Ugh... our company's pay is so low... c'mon, we placed third in oricon with our single last time! Aren't you guys taking too much?" She complained to president wife.
"We're not like those big companies that can do everything from production to advertisement by themselves. We're only a small one. And you should already know that we don't get much out of it. Why is it bothering you now?" Miyako reply still focusing on her job.
"I realised that the world is all about money."
"Ah, that's not a good thing to realise"
Ai look at the babies for a while. She pick Astra and raised him up. Astra immediately laugh while clapping his hand. Ai smile.
"You see, I want these kids to go to school, do extracurricular activities and give them as many opportunities and options as possible. In order for that to happen, I need to sell more, and make a bunch of money... If things stay like this, I won't be able to make them happy." Ai want nothing but the best for her children. Her smiled drop thinking that she might could not give what they deserve. As if understanding her secret heart, Astra put his small hand on both Ai's cheek and laugh. She smiled fondly at the gesture.
"ありがとう、Astra" She whispered softly as she bring him closer to her face. Miyako stop her finger to look at the mother and the son interaction. To be honest, she pitied them. With an unknown father, the three of them was left to a single mother who is busy as an young idol with a small salary. Miyako close her laptop and sat besides them.
"Well... we can't do much right now... We're not getting any commercial gigs, there's also no movie job offers... Plus big companies tend to... You know... maybe you should probably start by not eating expensive ice cream.." She cut herself and try to make mood less gloomy.
Ai sigh. She rubbed her and Astra's nose together before kissing him on the cheek. Astra was putted down and replaced by her backpack. Again she sigh, refusing to leave the baby even if she she had to. Also to think about her career right now...
"well, off I go to my lessons...be good kids..." She give a small peck on each of their forehead before taking her leave.
After Ai left for daily practice, Ruby pull out her pacifier and ask "Wait, isn't an idol's salary like one million yen per month?"
"Of course not"
"It's not?!" She shocked hearing the news. She thought they make a lot of money in a month.
"Royalties and TV performance fees are split equally amongst members...If merch doesn't sell during their concerts, they'll be at a deficit. And costumes are also deducted from their salaries. There's only a handful of idols who make one million per month." Aqua explained to his sister.
"What?! That's so unfair, the world must be rotten if money doesn't go to those working the hardest!!" She's angry. How can the world treat her mom like this?! "Oh! I have an Idea!!"
"You do?" Aqua raise his eyebrows.
"Let's get all her fans to offer their kidneys and we can just sell those..." She said darkly with a creepy smile.
"Your thoughts are also pretty darn rotten. Stop trying to start up a cult for profits as if this were a post-apocalypse period." Aqua immediately cut off Ruby's thought... how can she thought this kind of thing... scary...what kind of person is she before this?!
Ai can sing, dance and she's super pretty. She takes voice training lessons day and night. She work so hard... and B-Komachi is yet to be popular or anything...
Thinking about the unfairness both of them glare at Miyako.
"Hey manager! Why won't our Ai get more job offers?!"
"Shitty management! Hit up some more people would you?!" The twins start to complain and lash out to the manager. Astra just looking at them in confusion. Why does his siblings is shouting? Are they hungry?
She sigh. It has become more harder after she know they can talk. They keep complaining over ever and give her orders. But patient is a must with kid...
"Even if you say that... Idol groups are basically a bunch of people, fighting to win a single job offer. We sell, as a group, we've always have. But competing against lone individuals as group is quite... difficult, you know?" She explained calmly.
"There are idols who wanted to go solo but couldn't get a job on their own and had take on part-time jobs at expensive restaurants in Roppongi, or even girls who end up as hostesses in Minato." She continued. They were stunned by the sudden fact.
"I didn't know that..." Ruby said. "Tokyo sure is a scary place" Aqua whispered quietly. In his first life, he lived at different state with an opposite environment. To know this was kinda shocking.
"I know Ai is amazing. But that's only within the 'idol' category. In the entertainment world, you need something that will make you stand out alone. She needs to be able to get job offers not because 'she's someone from B-Komachi', but because they want Ai herself to take the job." The moment turned to silent. Astra stared at them. His smile has turned upside down to match with the gloomy air.
Astra pull Aqua cloth to get his attention. "What is it Astra? Do you wanna play?" Aqua ask his little brother. Astra crawl towards them and pull them into a pile of cuddling toddlers. Both of them blinked rapidly still surprise by the sudden hug. Astra whined and rubbed his head with both of theirs. Ruby smiled and return the hug.
"Even though Astra can't speak. It feel like he can understand how we feel"she said while looking at him fondly. Aqua nodded. He raise his head to pat the lil brother. "It's okay Astra... we're not sad anymore..."
Miyako smile looking at three little Hoshino. She doesn't really understand how come two baby can speak while the other one is a...baby? But... who cares? Her job is to take care of them. No question ask. She might as well be more grateful now that she is the president wife.
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"And today, we have 3 members from B-Komachi!!"
"Promotion event!!! Mini Live!!! It's one of those where entry tickets are lottery based!! It's my first time seeing mom live on stage!!" Ruby said excitedly while bouncing herself on the stroller. Today, they manage to convince the manager to bring them to see their mom's Live performance. But of course, it is their secret only.
Miyako rubbed her head. How come it turn out like this? At first, they all just having and and now they are here with her job on the line if anyone know this.
"Look, I brought you guys along because you begged for it, but I'm gonna be in trouble if we get caught, okay? So no pushing? No running! No talking! Keep your pacifier in your mouth and stay put!" She look at them sternly and put their pacifier in their mouth. Astra is sitting comfortably in Miyako's hold while sucking his pacifier. Well, the stroller only have two sit so she had to hold another one. Sadly there is no stroller with three sit for them to buy.
Aqua pulled out his pacifier to speak. "She's right. We can't afford to stand out no matter what. We're pretending to be here as a staff's kids, not Ai's. Don't do anything that would make it seem like we have connection with Ai." Aqua remind his sister. He know how Loud and excited she can be when it come to Ai.
Ruby give him a side eye. "You don't have to tell me, I know that. You saw how gloomy mom was, right? I'm here because I'm worried about her. I'm not just here for fun and games." She look down sadly remembering how gloomy Ai look before coming here. The force smile is quite obvious when she returned from practice last night.
The light was turned off. Everyone was bouncing on their place, excited to see their favourite idol performing. Three light were opened to highlight Ai's appearance as the main character. When the performance start, the stage were filled with fans shouting and the red light-stick colour. Ai smiled and give them a wink that manage to give all the fans heart attack.
The way Ai smiles is neither good nor bad, ya know. It's one of those typical pro smiles.
Her minds is full of them. The negative comment and reply. But her body and face are smiling and dancing. Its hard... to keep on lying you know? Lying is tiring too...
'Even if you say that, I am supposed to be a pro'
It's cruel.
She's kinda fake...
Is she?
'That makes no sense whatsoever, aren't you the one asking for an ideal?'
'Staring at my mirror, experimenting. Changes measured in millimetres. How wide my eye should be, the angle of my mouth, they're all calculated. I always make the smile that everyone likes the most...
I'm made up of lies... after all...' She thought. A career made out of lie. A secret that she will take to grave.
She is Hoshino Ai.
Suddenly, a sudden scene capture her mind away from those thought.
Her children....
Meanwhile, everyone is speechless looking at those babies.
"What the heck? What in the world are those babies doing? They're doing those otaku dances!"
"They're surprisingly good at it too!" And now... all the attention goes to them.
Miyako stared at them, with disbelief mix up with betrayal look... ' What about being worried about her?! You guys only here to enjoy this, aren't you?!!' She was speechless! Now they'll definitely get in trouble!
'Shoot! That was on instinct!!' The twins started to sweat with all the attention they got while Astra just happily clap his hand.
"Wow! That's... kinda cool"
Ai was stunned. Without realising, she smile brightly looking at her babies.
'My kids are.... ADORABLE!!<3~'
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As they scroll through Twitter...they could only sweat as they saw the hottest topic on it.
"210k retweets... the video has over million views... I knew baby contestant goes viral pretty easily...but..." Her sentence was cut off as she was dragged out by his own husband. Husband or not, she's done. Miyako turned herself into a mannequin, ready to accept whatever happen to her. No thought... only stress...
Ai continue to scroll and saw some comment her photo.
What's this girl name?
Wait, has Ai always smiled like that? That is a new side of her.
I sense some troublesome otaku baby vibes...
THIS!! THIS IS IT!!
She smirk as she saw the comment. "I see... so this is what you like. Now I know~"
Astra look at her photo and try to touch it.
"Ma-mama...mama..." And with one world, the world goes silenced as if the time has stopped. Ai dropped her phone. She slowly turned toward her youngest son. Ruby looked at him with shock plus happy face while Aqua smirked proudly.
Ai picked up Astra and stared at him. "What? What did you say, Astra?" She look at her expectantly.
"Mama..." He repeated while smiling. Ai's eyes glistening like a starry night. The smile appear again. She stand up and spin him around the air.
"Your first word! It's your first word! You call me mama! Astra you did it! My cute little baby!!!" She smile brightly looking at him and hugged him tightly. He returned back the hug with a happy laugh and repeating the word mama.
Ruby rubbed her nose and looked at Aqua with a smuggled face, "huh! Look at my lil brother. I am the one who teach him!"
Aqua glared as a replied. "What are you talking about? I'm the one who teach him. He take after me. A clever person!"
"Huh?!"
Both of them started to fight on who is better sibling. While Ai keep give small peck around Astra face and the little boy giggle. She smiled looking at him. Sometimes she worried that Astra is a late bloomer. Ruby and Aqua can spoke some words already while Astra still babbling. But at least now.... He can call her mom! She was so happy!
"We need to celebrate this! President! Manager! Astra finally said his first word!" She yelled to them. Today is a quiet a great day.
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Author's note!
Surprise!! Like two chapters in one day. Well, since I have free time, I thought I'll update. Well, I'm still a student and this week is my holiday. So I thought I'll try to update as much as I can. Since I'm schooling at boarding school, it will be hard to update. I'll try to update as much as I can for this week and next week. I hope you enjoy this chapter. Sorry for grammatical error or any typos.
Have a nice day