"Rejections"
Today, we will introduce Haruka Nanami.
The remarkable composer of STARISH.
She was invited to Saotome's office...
There she walked in... and found Quartet
Night sitting inside, speaking to Saotome.
"Um.. excuse me?"
Haruka shyly speaks.
"Oh, Ms.Nanami. Come in."
Saotome calmly told her.
"Oh, okay."
Haruka walks in gently, Reiji
eyeing on her with a smile.
"Domo, Haruka-chan!"
Reiji greeted her as she
sat down.
"Uh.. d-domo..?"
She hesitatingly greets back.
"This is Quartet Night."
Saotome says.
"Oh.. Starish's mentors, hm?"
Haruka smiles at the thought.
"Hai! I'm Tokiya-kun and Otoya-kun's
mentor! They're really good boys~!"
Reiji happily informed her.
"I see!"
Haruka happily smiles at him.
"Now I'll tell you why I called you all
over here. This is a project to help
promote my dear Quartet Night."
Saotome grins as he speaks.
"A project to promote us? No offense
but, we can do that by ourselves. We
don't need her help. I can guess that's
what you are thinking." Ranmaru
directly speaks with his thoughts.
"Ran-ran! That's so rude!"
Reiji frowns at him.
"Gomenosai, Haruka-chan!"
He apologizes to Haruka.
"Oh no.. it's okay.."
Haruka says.
"We are not actually a group. We most
often work individually. Is it really neccessary
to do this?" Camus questions.
"Groups only make things complicated and difficult.
I've calculated the possibilities of failures and time
that will take to perfect everything. As a group, that
would either take forever or never. It's better to work
by ourselves." Ai suggests as he explains.
"(They sure are rough eh..)"
Haruka comments in her mind.
"Well, Ms.Nanami. I'll give you a chance to convince
one of them to let you become their composer. If you
convince them as a group too, I'll give you AND STARISH
a special reward. Okay?" Saotome cheerfully informed
Haruka, ignoring the negativity of Quartet Night.
"Yes sir! I will do my best.."
Haruka nods as she accepts
the chance given to her.
"Well then, this meeting is dismissed!"
Saotome said as everyone else stood
up from their seats and left the room.
Haruka walks outside behind Quartet Night.
Quartet Night suddenly stops walking as Reiji
turned around and approached her. The rest of
Camus, Ranmaru and Ai looks disinterested.
"Well, Haru-chan! Have you decided which one
of us do you want to compose a song for?"
Reiji happily asks her.
"Uhmm.."
Haruka feels nervous. She feels shy enough
not to look straight in Reiji's eyes. Not being
able to decide yet, she looks at them one by
one as they all returned her gaze with empty ones.
"Well?"
Reiji tilts his head.
"In any case, I am not interested in this."
Ai speaks as he crosses his arms.
"So am I."
Ranmaru says in agreement.
"We can compose our own songs."
Camus reasons.
"You guys!!!"
Reiji yells at them in an angry
yet adorable manner.
"(What do I do..)"
Haruka hesitates. Once again,
she looks at them and the last
one she laid her eyes on was Ai.
"U-Um.. senpai..!"
"Eh?"
Reiji looks at her with confusion.
"Um.."
She walks up to Ai with hesitation.
"Please let me be your composer!"
Haruka loudly says as she bows
with all the respect she has for him.
"How many times do I have to repeat
it until your brain can understand my
statements? I said I'm not interested."
Ai rejects her right away.
"But.. why not..?"
Haruka tries to ask him.
"I strive to make all of my works perfect.
..and I can do that alone, all by myself."
Ai explains himself.
"I'm more interested in working with
Crystal. I get this strange thing... I don't
understand. But whatever, that is none
of your concern now." He speaks almost
as if to himself.
"That.. Crystal Star..? I see.."
Haruka smiles.
"Well then.. R-Reiji-senpai..?"
"I'll gladly accept that!"
Reiji says.
"Yes! Thank you so much!"
Haruka bows down happily.
Later then, she goes off on
her own.
"Ne, ne, Ai-Ai!"
Reiji bugs him.
"What?"
Ai asks.
"Did you just say.. you're interested
in Crystal..? The Crystal Star?"
Reiji gives him an awkward smile.
"That singer who resembles---"
Ranmaru was about to mention
Lily's name however Reiji looked
at him with eyes that almost looked
like as if it were a devil's.
"---nevermind."
"Crystal is a mystery."
Camus comments.
"I believe so too."
Ai agrees with Camus.
"Ehh..?"
Reiji feels curious about
how Ai feels right now.
Is remembering Lily still
possible right now?
Reiji wonders to himself.
Meanwhile...
"I told you.. I'm not cut to be a mentor."
Lily, a.k.a Crystal, calmly tells of Juha, her
new manager.
"But Crystal, they're really eager to have you.
Either as a mentor or their composer, or they
wish to do a collaboration with you."
Juha's grin never wiped off his face.
"Why me?"
She asks.
"Because you ARE Crystal."
A voice spoke as the door opened.
"Huh?"
She turns around to look and
saw 3 boys walking in.
"Oh, here they are."
Juha says.
"Hello, Ms.Crystal."
A man wearing glasses with
cool fashion stood out to her.
"And you are..?"
Lily raises a brow on him.
"This is HE★VENS. They are the group
that's been requesting for your cooperation."
Juha smiled as he informed Lily.
"My name is Otori Eiichi, the one who will
own you. Beauty and talent like yours are
only fit for winners like me."
He smiles confidently as he speaks to Lily.
"I am Nagi! Mikado Nagi! Nice to meet ya~!"
Nagi introduces himself with such energy.
"...I'm Sumeragi Kira."
He calmly introduces himself.
"They are from Raging Entertainment Group.
The most prominent entertainment agency
in Japan right now. Say, how about a collaboration
with them?" Juha suggests.
"What for?"
Lily asks.
"How ruuude, oneesan~! We're still new but
we're really great and we're definitely the best
y'know!~ You should be greatful that we want
to work with you!" Nagi pouts.
"So simply put, you'll use my popularity to
make their popularity skyrocket and be
famous in an instant? They should strive
hard for it. Success can't be claimed in
a blink of an eye." Lily tries to lecture them.
"But here, now, they have the chance to
claim success in a blink of an eye by
collaborating with you." Juha speaks.
Lily sighs. "...Fine."
"I'll sing with them. But after that,
I will no longer help them. Alright?"
She says.
"GREAT." Juha raises his arm in joy.
"Did you hear that? She accepted."
He smiles at Heavens.
"Yay! That's great, oneesan!"
Nagi jumps in excitement.
"I look forward to working with you,
Crystal." Eiichi gently grabs her hand
as he moves his face closer to hers
and winks at her.
"Oh please, I'm aware of your charm
that is irresistable to ladies, but apparently
it does not work on me." Lily calmly
tells Eiichi.
"Oooh! Eiichi-kun got burned!"
Nagi giggles to himself.
"Oh shut up. You'll be mine before you know it."
Eiichi says so.
"Nagi. Enough with the jokes."
Kira calmly tells him off.
"Alriiiiight~"
Nagi hums.
"How about becoming my composer as well?"
Eiichi proposes another deal aside from doing
a collaboration song with Lily.
"Sorry but, I'll turn that one down. I only
compose for myself." Lily politely
rejects Eiichi.
"But you know, Crystal-neesan~ Eiichi
doesn't give up on something~ If he
wants it, he'll get it! Teehee, he's like
me." Nagi jokingly teases her.
"Let's see what happens then."
Lily fakes a smile as she speaks.
Later then...
"What am I doing?"
Ai asks himself as he
stops typing on his
laptop.
"Senpai!"
Syo calls out to him.
"What?"
Ai turns around and asks him.
"Ai-senpai.. why did you reject
Haruka-chan? She's really
great you know!"
Natsuki interrupted.
"Yeah! Nanami is a great composer!
She's the reason why we became
successful!" Syo nods in agreement
to Natsuki.
"...I don't know."
Ai tells them straight.
"Huh?"
Syo's face was full
of confusion.
"I'm not sure but...
I think I don't want to be with anyone."
Ai stares down to the floor as he speaks
lowly. "In any case, I want you to keep
following your schedules very well. Do
you understand?" He looks back to Syo
and Natsu as he changed the subject
and continued focusing on his laptop.
"Oh.. alright."
Syo says.
"Ne Natsuki.."
He whispers to Natsuki.
"What is it, Syo-chan?"
Natsuki asks.
"Don't you think our senpai
is quite weird..? well, really weird."
Syo whispers to him.
"Ehh? I don't know Syo-chan. Well he
is.. but I think that's only natural of him?"
Natsuki whispers in response.
"I don't know but.. he's really suspicious. -_-"
Syo crosses his arms.
Meanwhile...
"Huh? Ai-kun could possibly remember me?"
Lily strokes her pet cat Lily as she talks to Reiji
through the phone.
"Yes!"
Reiji answers excitedly.
"I know it seems impossible now..
But I think it's not..! Even though
I'm not quite sure how. Why don't
you try to come back to him? Maybe
he can remember. Please Lily-chan,
then I will be happy for the both of you!"
"No. Ai is an... A.I. He was programmed to
forget about my existence. He will never
remember me. He's not a human who just
had a temporary amnesia. Sorry, Reiji-kun.
But please stop trying to get me back together
with him anymore. Besides, I'm busy with my
own life now. I can't bother to love someone whose
life can be put in danger because of me. Bye."
Lily left him no more room for any further conversations.
She cut off the call and drop her phone on her bed.
"What am I doing... really.."
She lies down as she sighs.
"I'm changing.."
She opens her eyes and stares
at the ceilings.
The cat walks up to her and meows.
She smiles at it hopelessly as she speaks.
"Ai-kun forgot about me... but I can never
forget him..." She looks away and hugs
a pillow. "It's just so unfair.." Lily buries her
face on the pillow. "I wish I can forget too.."
Finally, she starts crying.
Eventually, she fell asleep.
Now, she will start working with HE★VENS
while Ai rejected Haruka Nanami and will
only continue being ST★RISH's mentor.
The chances of them meeting once again..
grows bigger and bigger.
Only that they're now aware of it..
Fate will draw them back together.
They will meet again..
But what will happen?
Chapter 28
"Rejections"