Chapter 48: Cecil
I stretched my arms and legs after sitting and writing for quite a while and looked at my completed lyrics.
"I think this should be good. I like these lyrics a lot and I think it's perfect for the song. Mikaze-senpai's tips and suggestions were spot on; he's amazing indeed. Maybe I should have him checked these for one last time; he might be able to see something worth improving."
I took my cell phone and was about to type a message to ask where he is.
"Umm...Is it alright for me to message him for this? He might be busy or doing something important..."
I was thinking about that as I stared at my phone. I decided not to message him and look for him the old fashion way; if he's around and not busy then lucky me. I put my cell phone into my pocket, gathered my music sheets and lyrics, and went off to find him. I'm sure everyone is just somewhere around the premises; I'll just have to look around.
I first checked their room and when I knocked several times, no one answered; I guess that even Syo and Natsuki were not here too. I then went to check the lobby but no one was there either. I decided to check outside and to my surprise, everyone was there! There were also some really big flash cards lying around everywhere. There were two unfamiliar faces—there was one man with a scepter and the other man had tanned skin and unfamiliar clothes. I then saw Mikaze-senpai together with Reiji-senpai and Kurosaki-senpai. I went over to them by passing by the side so that I wouldn't interrupt everyone's...game? It looks like a game; I honestly don't know what's going on actually.
"Looks like they're doing something interesting." Reiji-senpai said as he watched what was going on with the Starish members and the two new guys.
Reiji-senpai then noticed that someone was coming towards him, Mikaze-senpai, and Kurosaki-senpai.
"Hm? Hey Ai-chan, is that Kaori-chan running towards me?"
Mikaze-senpai looks over to the direction Reiji-senpai was looking.
"Yes. That's Kaori."
"Oh? Maybe Kaori-chan wants a hug from me?!"
"What the hell are you talking about, Reiji?" Kurosaki-senpai said as he hit Reiji-senpai's head.
Reiji-senpai laughed and the opened his arms as I got nearer. He was getting a bit excited until I passed him and went over to Mikaze-senpai; Kurosaki-senpai laughed at Reiji-senpai.
"What do you need, Kaori?" Mikaze-senpai said.
"I finished the lyrics and revised the melody a little. I wanted you to check it out and see if it was okay."
I handed over the papers to Mikaze-senpai and he took them.
"I'll check these later."
"Okay."
Reiji-senpai then came over to me and hugged me from behind.
"Kaori-chan! Why did you pass right by me without saying hello or at least accept my invitation to hug you!"
I was surprised by the sudden hug from behind and didn't know what to do.
"Ah! R-Re-Reiji-senpai! I-I'm—"
"Reiji, could you stop with your harassment?" Kurosaki-senpai then hit Reiji-senpai's head again.
"Ouch! Be gentle with me, Ranran!"
"Just ignore this clown, Kaoru."
"Eh? Kurosaki-senpai, you know that I'm Kaoru?!"
I was surprised that he knew! How could he have known?
"Yeah. I was quite shocked too when I found out during your graduation performance."
"You were there?!"
"Quartet Night was there in the audience, Kaori-chan! You were amazing in your performance and we were all there too when you revealed your little revelation. Who would have thought that a cutie like you could pass off as a man?"
Kurosaki-senpai hits Reiji-senpai again on the head.
"I agree. I was also intrigued with the way you looked and your talent of changing voices." Mikaze-senpai said.
"Rei-chan?" Otoya said as he noticed us.
Reiji-senpai waves over to him and everyone else. I was curious as to what was everyone doing so I turned to Mikaze-senpai.
"Mikaze-senpai, what are they doing? What's happening here?"
"It's one of the training exercises for people new to the master course."
"A battle between amateurs...he's a perfect match for you guys." Kurosaki-senpai said to Starish.
"Who are those two people?" I asked.
"That over there with a scepter is Camus, a member of Quartet Night and a count from another country. The one over there is Aijima Cecil, a prince of another country and someone that Shining scouted and recruited as a new member of Starish."
"Oh, I see."
I wonder what kind of training exercise is this though?
Syo holds up one of the big cards with a Japanese character written on it.
"Why are we playing cards anyway? Shouldn't we compete by singing?"
Camus-senpai placed his sceptre on his shoulder.
"Everything begins with fundamentals. You are all still too inexperienced to battle with songs!"
He then points at Starish with his scepter.
"Isn't there a better way to test our fundamentals?" Tokiya-san asked.
Reiji-senpai then sneaks up on Tokiya-san and elbows him at the back.
"Don't worry about the small stuff, Toki!"
Camus turns to Cecil and asks him, "What's wrong? Have you lost confidence because it's not a contest of songs? You can still turn back now if you want to."
Cecil then smiles at Camus and tells him, "No, I will win. I will win and prove my love for Haruka!"
"What?" Haruka said in confusion.
Syo gets really angry and fired up.
"That jerk!"
"Syo-chan, aren't these cards so big and exciting?" Natsuki said as he held up on card.
"This isn't a game!" Syo said as he's still hot as fire.
"We'll have to give everything we've got." Otoya said.
"It seems that way. Tokiya-san said.
Cecil smiles and puts his fist up. "Bring it on."
Camus turns to Haruka and tells her, "Woman, you will read the cards."
"O-okay."
Camus then hands over a deck of cards to Haruka.
"You're time limit is thirty minutes!"
Camus raises his scepter into the air and shouts, "Begin!"
Haruka takes a card from the deck and reads out loud what is written on it.
"First class recklessness, idols give everything they can!"
All the Starish members then went running towards a card with Syo leading them; not surprising since he's the most athletic one of them all. Syo dives for the card but Cecil suddenly comes out of nowhere and grabs it before Syo could; Cecil is very fast! All of the Starish members were surprised by Cecil.
Cecil turns to them and shows the card. "This is "mu", isn't it?"
"You're kidding me!" Syo says.
"My hiragana is perfect." Cecil said.
Haruka read three more cards and Cecil was able to get the cards for all three of them.
Cecil laid the cards by his feet. "Haha, I did it."
He seemed really proud but I noticed that there was something wrong with the cards; it's kind of sad once you notice.
"What's going on? Is the newbie going to win by himself? " Reiji-senpai says in surprise.
All the Starish members were pretty tired from running around; they're practically out of breath. While everyone was trying to catch their breaths, Masato suddenly walks over to the cards that Cecil got.
"No, wait."
He picked up one of the cards and said, "This is...it's not "i" but "ko"!"
He looked at the other card and noticed something. "This isn't "shi" but "tsu"!"
He looked at the last card and also saw that it was wrong. "This isn't "chi" but "sa"!"
Ren-san went to get the card for "chi" and went over to Masato.
"They look quite similar, don't they?"
Syo angrily points at Cecil. "You jerk! You got all the wrong cards!"
Cecil gets surprised and falls to his hands and knees on the grass.
"What? I am disappointed...I was so confident in my Japanese!"
Cecil then stands up and regains his composure. "I will get the right card this time!"
Reiji-senpai was getting excited and intrigued by the sudden turn of events.
"That was a quick turnaround. An idol has got to be that way."
Syo got fired up and rolled up his jacket sleeves.
"Let's get it on!"
Haruka reads another card out loud. Syo and Cecil compete to find the card with the hiragana character "u".
"Where is it? Where is "u"?!"
Syo looks around but Cecil suddenly spots it hanging on a tree's branch.
"Oh no!" Syo shouts as Cecil runs towards the card.
Cecil gets on the tree branch and everyone stops and looks at him.
"Oh no! He found it!" Otoya said.
Cecil tries to get the card that was hanging on a rope on the branch.
"This one is mine."
Syo becomes pissed and quickly climbs the tree and heads towards Cecil. "Oh no, you don't!"
"Syo-chan!" Natsuki shouted.
Syo jumps from halfway of the trunk to the branch where Cecil stood. This caused the branch to shake and Cecil loses his balance. He looks at the ground and sees the pond beneath the branch.
"W-water?! No!"
Cecil tries to maintain his balance and stay on the branch but falls into the pond anyway.
Masato and Otoya, who were near the pond, ran over to check on Cecil.
"H-help me! Someone, help!" Cecil shouted.
Syo, who was standing on the branch over him, then said, "Your feet should be able to touch the bottom."
Cecil stops panicking and stands up. It turns out that the water was just below knee level...
"What?"
Cecil looks at the level of the water.
Reiji-senpai started laughing out loud at the scene. "That was great! You're awesome, newbie!"
Cecil gets out of the pond and gets down on his knees.
"You're so mean. I can't believe no one tried to save me..."
He then notices a fish beside him that got splashed out when he fell from the branch.
"A fiiiiiissshhhhh!"
Cecil started panicking and screaming and then he ran away.
"I've had enough of this!"
"He's dropping out." Kurosaki-senpai said.
"Seriously? But why?!" Reiji-senpai said.
"Is he scared of fish?" I asked.
Mikaze-senpai looked at the direction where Cecil ran away.
"According to my data, he comes from the desert. He doesn't like water or fish."
"What?! Really?!" Reiji-senpai said in surprise.
Camus-senpai put his scepter on his shoulder. "Hmph. He was nothing but talk."
The game actually lasted for more than thirty minutes and not one of us noticed since we were busy watching Starish and Cecil battle each other over this card game. The sun was starting to set and so everyone called it a day and went back into the dorm. Starish is probably tired from running around and competing with Cecil. I wonder where Cecil ran off to.
"Kaori, I'll message you when I'm done checking your work. Make sure you pay attention to your phone."
"Haha, Okay. I will."
"Eh? What's this? Ai-chan, you have Kaori-chan's number?"
"Yes. I have all of my juniors' numbers."
I started thinking for a while and then I realized, "Actually Reiji-senpai, now that I think about it, both Mikaze-senpai and Kurosaki-senpai have my number."
"What?!"
Reiji-san looks at Kurosaki-senpai.
"You have Kaori-chan's number?! How?!"
"I got her number when we worked together for that collaboration album I told you about when she was working as Kaoru."
"No fair! I want her number too!"
Reiji-senpai looked like a sad little puppy and I felt some pity for him. I don't know why he'd want my number though.
"Well if you really want it I'd give it to you if you want, Reiji-senpai."
Reiji-senpai's eyes sparkled. "Really, Kaori-chan?! Yay! Please call me Rei-chan from now on!" He held my hands and smiled.
Kurosaki-senpai and Mikaze-senpai suddenly grabbed Rei-chan by the collar and dragged him with them as they walked away.
"H-hey! What are you guys doing?! I haven't registered Kaori-chan's number yet!"
"Catch you next time, Kaoru."
"I'll message you after a while. See you later."
"Hey! This is not fair!" Rei-chan said as he tried to escape from the two.
I waved to them as they dragged the squirming Rei-chan away back into the dorm.
I walked around the area before heading back into the dorm; I was stuck in my room for so long that I felt strange for being outdoors. Haha.
So Cecil is Starish's new member and is assigned to Camus-senpai; I hope things will go well for them all. I've got to work hard too so that I won't get left behind! I will do my best always.
*ring ring ring*
Eh? My phone is ringing. I took it out from my pocket and looked at the caller ID. Manager-san was the caller; I answered the call.
"Hello, manager-san?"
"Yamashita-san, I just got another job offer for you but it's for Kaoru; this one is a modelling job for a casual wear collection. You're going to model for a men's magazine called "ManAge". The photo shoot will start two days from now. It's a sudden request from the magazine because one of their models got sick and won't be able to make it to the photo shoot. Are you going to take it?"
"If it's a modelling job, then there's no problem. I'll take it."
"Alright. I'll notify them that you accepted their request. Regarding the script for the drama series, I'll be meeting the producer tonight so you can come to the office tomorrow to pick up the script."
Oh, manager-san won't be at the office later. I should tell Mikaze-senpai not to hurry on checking my work.
"Okay. I might give you the music sheet and lyrics for the ending theme song tomorrow as well."
"You're already done with it? That's amazing and good to know! Thank you for your hard work."
"Yes. Let's both continue to work hard."
The call ended. Looks like I got another job; the offers just keep coming one after the other. I hope that I can handle everything. I should be careful with accepting jobs; I wouldn't want to overload myself.
*growllll*
Ah! I'm hungry. I think I'll go eat at the cafe; maybe this time I'll get their special dinner set! Sigh. Mikaze-senpai, please take your time in checking my work. Let me go and enjoy some food first; I should tell him that. I took out my phone and composed a message.
"Mikaze-senpai, my manager just called and he mentioned that he won't be at the office tonight so I can't submit the song tonight. Please take your time in checking my work. I'll also go to the cafe that Natsuki introduced to us and eat dinner. You can message me to return any time."
I read the message I typed and checked if it had any errors. It was okay so I pressed the send button.
I then continued to walk going towards the cafe to eat.