章 17: Ch 16: Is It Really a Smile Day?

Minami entered through the tinted glass doors of the small white office that was SUN MEDIA. In the main room was the receptionist's desk, with a couch and a very, VERY sad looking plant in the corner. To the left were the guest bathrooms and to the right was the door leading to the rest of the office.

Considering Takanori Makoto had been a big name, the office was hardly anything. There were a few cubicles in the middle of the room, and Makoto's desk was in the very back corner next to the room that led to the recording studio. The opposite side of the room had plain wall where the artist photos were displayed and a makeshift sitting area with two couches which were currently in use by the SUN GIRLS and Smile Days members.

She'd waved at the SUN GIRLS members with a smile, to which they responded with the same response. They'd been friendly with one another in the few times they'd interacted so it was no surprise. Smile Days, however, she'd never seen before in the office. Sometimes she'd even wondered if they had disbanded somewhere along the line.

They were gorgeous though, sitting prim and proper and silently chatting amongst themselves. SUN GIRLS might've been more popular, but Smile Days seemed to have an elite air around them, which made her wonder why Makoto was talking so poorly of them all the time.

Their leader, Miki, glanced over at Minami who smiled big and waved. Miki snarled at her, rolled her eyes and focused her attention back to her groupmates.

Minami was taken aback. Part of her wondered why she was being like, but then the other parts of her started to have an inner argument amongst themselves.

'You took their debut song, duh! I would be mad at you too.'

'Yeah but, it's not like they've been disbanded, Makoto will give them a new song.'

'But the focus is not on them now, now they have to wait even LONGER to officially debut.'

'BUT they already have songs of their own already to work with, so they have way more than I do.'

'OH! Maybe, we should go explain to them and apologize. We're all on the same team here right? We all want SUN MEDIA to succeed.'

She nodded to herself, agreeing with the last statement her own brain had made. Just as she was about to approach Smile Days, one of the male managers came up and greeted her, smiling wide as he did so. "You're wanted in the back," he winked while motioning to Makoto's desk.

Due to his disposition, she assumed she had nothing to worry about, so she confidently waltzed over to Makoto's desk and sat down on one of the cheap, uncomfortable, plastic chairs that sat in front of it. The same one she had sat in during her interview to get a job here in the first place.

She patted the seat as she wiggled around, trying to get comfortable, as if to say 'Hello again my lucky chair.'

He was currently on the phone and typing away at his computer, so she waited patiently for him to finish up. His desk was surprisingly clean, with his desk organizer, pen jar, stapler and other tools all neatly in their place. Even though there were various stacks of papers and documents scattered across the top, they still appeared to be in their own uniform structure. There were some papers jutting out from some of his desk drawers, but she was willing to overlook that, surprised he could keep any sort of organization with the amount of work he was doing at all.

She put her hands in her lap and played with the ribbons that decorated her black and white dress. It was awkward sitting there while everyone else was rushing by with their work. For a moment she thought about getting on her phone and checking her accounts, but she didn't want to come across as rude, or make Makoto feel like he was taking too long, so instead she just continued to play with her ribbons and look around the office.

Her eyes couldn't help but look at the posters of SUN GIRLS and Smile Days'. Soon, her own image would be right up there. She wondered what the cover of 'My Days' would look like. Would it be pretty? Colorful? Popping? Bouncy? Then, she noticed something odd.

Smile Days' images, had still not been changed out. Ayumi, Miki, Kairi, Megumi and Chisato were all staring back at her in poster form in the same poses and outfits as their original profile pictures. They'd released singles since then, and done new profile photos, so why had they not been changed out yet?

She glanced over at the member sitting on the couch and watched them for a while. SUN GIRLS were interacting with staff members, bringing them drinks and chatting with them from time to time, while Smile Days only sat and kept to themselves, ignoring when SUN GIRLS tried to give them drinks as well.

Were the just rude to begin with? Was that why Makoto didn't like them? They were rude? Is that why their new photos were not on the wall? Because he felt like they didn't deserver it? Or maybe…they were rude to everyone else because they were treated poorly. Maybe they were jealous and upset with everyone else who was receiving better treatment than them. Maybe she should try to reach out to them….or ask Makoto what the situation was.

"I've sent you the file and the concept, so please create something that fits it. I'm putting my trust in you." He said before hanging up the phone.

Finally, he turned his attention toward Minami.

"Well, congratulations are in order. Your cover of DELIGHT is doing extremely well and you're pulling great numbers," he wore a giant smile on his face, which accentuated the wrinkles around his eyes, "You were even recognized by the group members themselves. That's not so easy to achieve."

Minami smiled back, her youthful skin a contrast to his, "Thank you. I'm very happy with the result!" a very subtle, light pink hue flushes over her face as she suddenly realized that she was actually gaining quite a lot of attention. It felt like, with each step she took, it was starting to feel more and more real. Now the CEO of an agency was giving her high praises.

"You should be. You did good work, you deserve a pat on the back. Now, I also want to talk to you about the choreography for your song. I want to put you in a dance class to help you gain more experience, because I requested for your choreography to be difficult. People like to see complicated dances now-a-days. I sent the demo to the choreographer to start creating something, so in the meantime you need to learn some skills."

Minami bit her lip awkwardly, "Oh well….I've been dancing since I was young. I don't have a problem learning choreography."

Makoto thought back to the video of her performing as a member of Kissiks and pursed his lips. She definitely had potential and he could see her drive so clearly, but her dancing had been all over the place and looked like she'd just learned it. Although her singing sounded like a completely different person, maybe it was possible that her dancing had improved since then too.

"I would be more comfortable if you took the lessons anyways. There's nothing wrong with continuing to improve is there?" He rested his elbows on the table, and leaned forward, "I'm surprised that you aren't jumping at the chance. I don't give this opportunity to everyone. If you aren't ser-"

"No! No!" she interrupted, "I'm very serious! I will take the lessons!" Her heart pounded, she absolutely could not let this opportunity get away from her. She had to grab it with all her might and hold onto it like her life depended on it, no matter what!

However, part of her was a bit disappointed. She really didn't need the lessons and they would also cut into the free time she had available to spend with Naoto. They'd hardly gotten any alone time since becoming boyfriend and girlfriend and at this point she was honestly wondering what the point of making the commitment was. They'd probably end up breaking up without having done anything at all.

"Good. I will schedule you some with a wonderful dance trainer and the next time I see you, I will give you the dates to put into your planner. Sound good?" He turned toward his computer and started typing away again.

"Yep! Sounds good!" She laughed at bit at the end, nervously of course. She didn't want him to think she wasn't serious, she didn't want to be scolded or end up like Smile Days. She wanted to be the driving force behind this agency, she wanted to be just like Ri, and be number one.

クリエイターの想い
Thalia_Ilace

Dear readers, have you ever had to do something you didn't want to and you felt like was useless before?

When I was younger, I did a performance at school with my friends, but I already knew the choreography....so I skipped out on practices. The staff putting on the performance scolded me and said, "If you miss 3 in a row, we're going to kick you and your team out!" .....

....So I would show up for a practice, skip the next two, and then show up for the one after that, then skip the next two. To my poor friends, I am sorry for stressing you during that time.....

But our performance ended up being fine. ^^;

- Thalia

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