small glitch warning for this chapter, btw
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The following day...
"I should've hired you two as scouts, huh?" Miyako remarked when Aqua and Luna brought MEM-cho into her office. "Popular YouTuber and influencer, MEM. I'm surprised to hear you were interested in being an idol.
"Your YouTube channel has 370,000 subscribers. And you have 638,000 followers on TikTok. It seems you're quite popular online.
"To start, can I ask if you're with an agency?"
"Well, I'm in the streaming business as a sole proprietor," MEM-cho answered. "I currently work with an agency called FARM, but I'm not directly sighed with them - rather, we're business partners.
"Under my agreement with them, it's no problem for me to freely take on jobs."
"Makes sense," Miyako said as she raised her IPad. "So, in this case, Strawberry Productions would be commissioning your services in the idol industry. We have plenty of internet personalities with us, so there'd be no problem making such a contract."
Miyako turned her eyes over to MEM-cho and said, "It feels like a very timely offer... but that look on your face tells me there's something you need to get off your chest."
MEM-cho gulped nervously and dropped her gaze.
"Well, I have a good idea of what it is," Miyako continued, leaning on her arm.
"Your age... You're misrepresenting it, right?"
MEM-cho jerked up, surprised and shocked that Miyako guessed so quickly.
"You can tell?" she asked.
"Yes, your bone structure makes you look quite young, but you can fool me," Miyako answered. "There's no need to be afraid. Claiming to be younger by a few years is common for independent entertainers. It doesn't bother me."
"You really mean that? That's a relief," MEM-cho said, placing a hand on her chest.
"Well? How old are you really?" Miyako proceeded to question.
"Um, well..." MEM-cho stammered, poking her fingers together. "The truth is..."
She leaned in closer to Miyako and started whispering in her ear.
"Uh-huh, uh-huh..."
Suddenly, Miyako's face turned dark in shock and her smile became strained.
"You fudged it big time!" she practically yelled at MEM-cho.
"I am deeply sorry!" MEM-cho apologized, looking distressed.
"Your claimed age is 18, which means..." Miyako said while counting off her fingers. "You've got some nerves of steel, huh?"
"Please stop counting!" MEM-cho begged.
"How many years did you subtract? Three or so?" Aqua asked as MEM-cho sank to her knees in front of him and Luna.
She turned away from them. "...Double that," she whispered.
"You totally misrepresented it!" both Aqua and Luna yelled.
"So, that makes you 24?" Luna questioned.
"Twenty-four... was my age, until this spring," MEM-cho answered, rocking from side to side.
"So you're 25," Aqua said bluntly.
"At this point, it's no use to downplay it," Luna added. "So at 25 you went on the show claiming to be a high schooler... That's mental toughness gone too far."
"I had my reasons!" MEM-cho protested, looking down at her lap. "I... always dreamed of being an idol.
"But, I had a single mother and two younger brothers, and I thought it'd be best if I went out and got a job. But, my mom said... 'Don't worry about that and follow your dream! I'll do my best too, okay?'
"After that, I started to apply for auditions, and I even made it to the final screening at a major agency.
"But, in my third year of high school... my mom overworked herself and ended up in the hospital. The family needed money, you see... So, I temporarily withdrew from school and worked various part-time jobs.
"That enabled me to send my younger brothers to college, and our mom got better too.
"But, I had turned 23 by that point. And in this world, they start treating you like an old lady when you reach 20. All the auditions stipulate they only accept girls who are no older than 20. When I was finally in a position to pursue my dream, I was no longer of the age where that was possible."
Aqua, Luna and Miyako listened as MEM-cho rehashed her story for them. "With that path closed, I channeled my passion into streaming," she continued. "I was still on temporary leave from high school, so I positioned myself as 'a high school girl - parentheses lol -' and it went over better than expected.
"I gained a crazy number of subscribers! And soon, I'd gone too far to turn back!"
Turning away from them and flopping over on the floor, she mumbled, "I kept that up for another two years... which brings us to the present.
"It's hopeless, after all, isn't it? I'm fudging my age by seven years... It'll cause trouble if I'm found out, won't it? As if a 25-year-old could ever be an idol..."
"That's not true!" a new voice chimed in as MEM-cho felt someone put their hand on her shoulder. She turned around to come face to face with a pair of pink starlit eyes.
"It's MEM-cho! In the flesh! So cute!" Ruby squealed as she clasped MEM-cho's hand.
"Ruby..." Luna sighed, smiling at her sister's antics.
"I've been listening in," cut in Kana, who was standing in the doorway.
"Arima," Aqua greeted her.
"I, too, was hounded about my age... so I can sympathize a bit," Kana said as tears started to roll down her face.
"Seems like more than just a bit," Aqua said blankly.
"Once I reached 5th grade or so, my child-actor agency gave me the axe," Kana sobbed, rubbing her tears. "It really makes me sick!"
"Yeah..." MEM-cho said point blank.
"Miyako-san!" Kana exclaimed.
"Hey, I never said I was against her joining up," Miyako said, turning her head. "Luna and Ruby, how do you two feel?"
"I'm all for it!" Ruby said immediately, standing up beside Luna, who also nodded in agreement. "Age has got nothing to do with being an idol! After all, there's no stopping someone's longing!"
"That's right!" Luna added. "If you have dreams within your reach, you better grasp the opportunity!"
Ruby held out her hand for MEM-cho as Luna continued, "We're giving you a chance to achieve your dream, MEM!
"Welcome to B Komachi!"
"Aw, thank you!" MEM-cho said as she took Ruby's hand.
"There goes my sisters glossing over things again..." Aqua said quietly with a small smile on his face. Then he turned to Kana and said, "Arima, Please look after Ruby, Luna, and MEM."
"Can't! Don't act all friendly with me," Kana said, glaring at him darkly. "Go make cozy with Akane Kurokawa. You womanizing house steward."
Turning away from him, she added, "I'll take care of this group without being told."
Then she walked over to the other three and kneeled beside them. Placing her hands over theirs, she said, "C'mon, let's go out to eat."
"Yeah, let's go!" Ruby exclaimed.
"What's with you kids? You're so welcoming..." MEM-cho sobbed.
And just like that, MEM-cho joined our group.
The new B Komachi got its official start.
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"Aww... Love Now's already over," Minami sighed before turning to Ruby. "Hey, hey, how'd ya feel havin' your big bro kiss on the show?"
"How did I feel?" Ruby repeated, looking like she wanted to die.
"Could you imagine anything besides super mixed feelings?"
"Yeah, I bet," Minami agreed.
"It was five times as awkward as when that kiss scene on that siblings TV series aired," Ruby lamented, flopping over on her desk.
"Yikes!" Minami exclaimed. "I bet ya will eventually meet Akane-chan in person, huh? I mean, she is your brother's girlfriend."
(I almost wrote boyfriend helppp- but aqumelt is a cute ship in my opinion)
"Girlfriend..." Ruby repeated.
...
But...
Aqua's feelings toward Akane... are surely...
"Are you talking about Love Now?" A new voice chimed in. Ruby and Minami turned around to see Frill standing behind them.
"Um, yeah," Ruby confirmed.
"Oh, you know the show, Shiranui-san," Minami said.
"I know some people in the cast, after all," Frill said. "It was entertaining."
"You don't need to be so considerate..." Ruby told her before trailing off.
"It was full of hot guys and beautiful girls..." Frill continued without mind. "A real feast for the eyes."
"Feast for the eyes?!"
"So even top stars say that kinda stuff..." Minami remarked.
"No one hates good-looking people, right?" Frill asked coolly, turning to look at her. "It truly was easy on the eyes. I feel like my vision improved by 0.5 or so."
"She's funny!"
"Personally, I enjoyed seeing MEM-cho acting like a maiden," Frill said, turning around and crossing her arms. "Had I been one of the male cast members, I totally would've pinned her down. I was thinking, 'Fire yourself up and win that girl over.'"
Ruby and Minami put their heads together. "Shiranui-san is cool as a cucumber on TV, but I guess this is how she is in private..." Ruby whispered.
"I hear it's actually totally a thing," Minami told her. "It's hard for funny girls to get popular 'cause guys'll see 'em as rivals before catchin' feelings for 'em, so they won't joke around while they're usin' their pristine image as a sellin' point."
"How dreadful..."
"It might be in part because I know Aqua-san personally, but he really made my heart race," Frill continued. "I bet everyone feels that way."
"'Big Brother' Aqua... seems to be quite popular with the general-ed girls," Minami told them.
"It appears a number of performing arts girls have taken an interest in him, too," Frill filled them in. "Well, he's officially in a relationship, so they'll all probably just watch and wait for now."
"Speaking of which, I think my sister has also attracted quite a portion of the male population in this school..." Ruby said despairingly. "This morning she was telling me how some random person gave her some flowers the other day. I knew she had always been fairly popular with the boys but it seems to have skyrocketed recently."
"Can't really blame them, she does have a beautiful face and smile," Frill remarks. "Make sure you tell her that, okay?"
"Uh, sure..."
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On the other side of the campus, Aqua sat on a bench reading a book named "In-Depth Guide to the Internet Sea Slug" while Luna leaned on the back of the bench and read over his shoulder.
"Could you sit down?" Aqua grumbled. "Stop sticking your behind out, especially with that short skirt. People are staring."
Luna straightened herself. "Overprotective much..." she sighed as she walked around to the front of the bench and sat down next to him. Aqua secretly glared at the group of males clustered not too far away.
A group of girls have also gathered a couple feet away as well. Kana passed by behind them, stopped and watched the Hoshino siblings for a second, then walked away.
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Love Now actually drew a lot of attention, and it likely ended up as a big show in terms of how it'll impact my brother and sister's futures.
And it had a sizable effect on B Komachi, too.
With the addition of MEM-cho, we were able to make videos for our channel that really looked the part.
"Wow, we have 10,000 subscribers!" Ruby exclaimed in awe.
"Well, I used my channel to draw viewers over," MEM-cho said with a hand on her chin. "It'd be embarrassing if we didn't get this many, you know?"
"It kinda... feels like we're official now!" Ruby said, her eyes sparkling.
"What else would we be?" Kana asked, walking over to them.
"There still isn't much on our channel other than self-introduction videos," Luna reminded them. "We should try to get a music video out soon."
"How are we doing on the music front, anyway?" MEM-cho asked.
"It seems the president has asked some artists she knows for help," Kana replied. "But we can't do anything until the music is finished, right? That's still some way off. Let's just take it easy for now."
"Not a chance!" MEM-cho said as she plucked the book out of Kana's hands. "Have you forgotten that we're B Komachi?
"And B Komachi has all the B Komachi songs, right?"
"Oh, that's right!" Ruby realized. "It's no problem for us to use any of the old songs!"
"Exactly," MEM-cho said, holding out her hand.
Ruby excitedly grabbed her hand and started shaking it. "You're a genius, MEM-cho!" she shrieked happily.
"Tch, they've realized..." Kana said behind her back.
"You just wanted to stall being an idol, isn't it, Kana-senpai?" Luna whispered, raising an eyebrow.
"N-no!" Kana denied.
"Starting now, we'll do as much as we can!" MEM-cho continued. "If we dillydally, I'll be 30ish before I know it!"
"Self-burn!" Ruby commented.
"The first duty of idols! It is the pride of idols and yet also the most exhausting aspect!" MEM-cho lectured.
"The choreography of dances, which begins now!"
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At the dance studio...
The four girls practiced with CDs in the dance studio for the rest of the afternoon. Ruby learned the quickest and got most of the routines down real fast, while Luna and MEM-cho were pretty decent. Meanwhile, Kana got the hang of it a bit slower, but it was progress nonetheless.
After they went through several routines, the four of them took a break. Luna sat in a corner of the room, drinking her water and wiping sweat off her forehead.
Phew, that was so tiring, she thought. I wonder how Ruby does this. That just further proves she's amazing at dancing.
As she watched Ruby and MEM-cho chat in the middle of the room, she caught a glimpse of her reflection in the mirror.
But instead of blonde hair, she saw purple.
The reflection staring back at her wasn't herself.
It was Ai.
Luna jolted back slightly, horror and guilt seeping into her limbs as Ai smiled brightly at her. She was dressed in her idol outfit, hugging her knees with her eyes shining like the first star of the night.
Then she heard it. Her mother's voice in her head as the mirror reflection began to speak.
"I know you'll be just like me one day, Luna."
Ai's reflection smiled at her one last time before her eyes turned black, the stars in her eyes fizzling out.
Finally, the mirror reflection faded, leaving Luna to stare at her own once again. She pressed her hand on the glass as her eyes became dark.
"Why... does this feel like an omen of my fate...?"
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well anyway
hallucinations i suppose