5th of January, 10:15 am, Ichigo Productions' talent studio
"... And now the news. The police have now officially declared Hikaru Kamiki, founder and CEO of Kamiki Productions, as missing. He was last seen over 12 days ago and reported missing shortly after, when he didn't show up to the premiere of his new movie. The police suspect that he was abducted. If you have any information regarding this case, please inform your local police force… Now on to the weather…"
Ruby turned the TV off as the door to the studio opened ever so slightly, and Keiko's head peeked in through the crack with her long black hair falling to the side. "Hello, I'm sorry for letting you wait," she said as the head, followed by the rest of her body, hesitantly entered the room, her posture a deep bow.
"Don't worry ab-" Ruby was interrupted by Miyako, who stood just out of Keiko's field of view.
"If this happens again in the foreseeable future, then you're out," Miyako said.
Keiko was slightly startled by Miyako's harsh tone, but quickly regained her composure and turned towards Miyako, still bowing down. "I just- I'm so sorry."
"Come on, you don't have to bow down. We are all friends here," Ruby said as she stepped over to Keiko, trying to alleviate the tension in the room.
When Ruby saw that Keiko still didn't take even a bit of initiative, seemingly waiting for Miyako to grant her permission, she took one big step over to Keiko and placed her hands on top of her shoulders. She smiled down at her while she gently guided her shoulders back up, straightening Keiko's back. "See? Not that hard," Ruby said as a surge of enthusiasm coursed through her; she had just touched Keiko for the first time, even when it was just her shirt.
All 3 of them, even Mem-Cho, who hadn't said anything yet, jumped when, in a moment of silence, Miyako cleared her throat. "We should get going. We're already behind on the schedule. But first, the important topics. Mem-Cho, do you want to introduce her to the idol world?"
Mem-Cho, who sat on top of a table, pushed herself off of it and strolled over to Keiko. "Alright, let's do the important stuff first, just like the boss ordered. Do you want to go by a stage name like I do, or would you rather want to use your real name like Ruby does?"
Keiko's response shot out of her mouth like a bullet. "I want to go by Keiko, but I would like to keep my family name private."
That's another similarity.
Mama did that too.
Maybe Mama was reincarnated as Keiko.
Keiko is fifteen, and Mom died when I was little…
No, there's no way, stop thinking that, Ruby.
You shouldn't space out on her first day.
Ruby returned to the real world just as Mem-Cho asked her next question. "Okay. Then it will be just Keiko from now on… Are you familiar with how new idols are incorporated into groups?"
"Yes, I am, I will start in the background and watch, learn and adapt until I'll eventually be a full member." A hint of confidence could be heard in Keiko's voice.
"Almost. You would be correct in a bigger group, but we're only 3 people, we can't have anybody trying to hide behind us, we would need to be more people for that to work," Mem-Cho corrected.
"Oh, I'm sorry, I didn't-" All the confidence gone once again.
"Why are you sorry? No need to be sorry for anything. Mem didn't expect you to know the answer anyway," Ruby asked, an actual hint of confusion in her tone.
"Is it because this will be harder than you thought?" Ruby asked when Keiko just looked at her without speaking.
"I don't know if I can do that, though." Keiko's words made Miyako sigh, which earned her a quick, evil glance from Ruby.
"We picked you out of hundreds of contestants. I don't think you can, I know it." Ruby took a few steps towards a door while she gestured to Keiko to follow behind her.
The sunlight greeted the four of them as they entered a small private gym. It was well equipped with a vast selection of equipment, ensuring that nobody ever had to wait.
"Welcome to our top-secret private gym… Ain't it awesome? We got all of this for ourselves. Well, mostly, we still have to share with the other talents of Ichigo Production, but our schedules don't overlap on most days."
Ruby walked around the room, gesturing towards the various tools while talking. "This is where our day begins, usually with about an hour of warm-up and light training to stay in shape."
"We have all kinds of machines in theory, but we don't use most of them, I mean most people wouldn't want a body builder idol," Ruby said as her hand glid along the various expensive looking pieces, "But don't worry, I know it can seem overwhelming at first, but Mem and I will show you what to do."
Ruby turned and looked at Keiko, who had silently followed behind her, "Okay, no questions? Then let's go."
Miyako watched over them from the sideline as the three of them began their workout. Ruby and Mem-Cho patiently went all through the well-lit gym with Keiko and showed her all of their usual routines in good detail.
The time flew by; this, combined with them starting later than usual, left no time for any actual warmup. Unless, of course, they'd want to stay here until 10 pm, and nobody'd want that; thus, they just unanimously agreed to move on to the next step. The vocal training, Mem-Cho, Ruby, and Kana had already reached a point where they could do this part individually and only train together when a show was about to happen, but this was different; Kana was gone, and a new girl took her place. This meant they would have to start basically from scratch, especially since Keiko had never really done this before.
"Okay, this is like the most important part," Ruby said, "In the end, we're singers, and if our songs are all over the place, they'd probably throw tomatoes."
"But that's no problem," Mem-Cho chimed in, "Our next show is still quite a while away, I think it was February."
"That's supposed to be far away? It's just 1 month," Keiko responded.
"Oh, you just wait," Ruby smirked, "until then we'll manage to teach you a lot of stuff." Ruby picked up an unplugged microphone.
Ruby and Mem-Cho began to show Keiko what she needed to pay attention to. Neither of them was a teacher, not in this and also not in a past life, so actually making Keiko understand how to keep her voice stabilized, how to move correctly, and more was quite the challenge. Horrible. That was at least what Miyako's face said as she watched the three of them. Ruby and Mem-Cho managed to stay intact with each other, yet Keiko always started too early or too late, and sometimes she also got distracted by the others' voices.
Towards the end of it all, the three of them finally managed to hit some notes at least. Miyako's expression rose faintly as she saw that they actually made great progress after all. "I think it's time for a break," she said as she turned the music off.
"Ahh, finally." Ruby said as she stretched herself, looking up at the clock hanging above the door. "Time for lunch."
Ruby walked over to her bag and pulled a bento box out. "Let's all eat together!" she said, with her box raised. Her voice sounded enthusiastic, momentarily forgetting about everything that unfolded in her life right around her.
Keiko, on the other hand, had her gaze lowered to the floor. "I don't have anything prepared."
Ruby slowly lowered her arms again, her enthusiasm fading as her head turned slightly to the side. "No problem at all, then we could just head to a cafe, we have enough time."
Ruby put the Bento back into her bag.
"That's also not-" Keiko said, but paused…" I don't have any money… I mean with me right now."
Mem-Cho's and Ruby's eyes met for a second, enough to understand what the other thought.
"No problem, we can pay for you," Ruby said.
Keiko remained silent for a moment, her eyes still fixated on the floor. "But the cafes in this area are really expensive… I wouldn't be able to pay it back currently."
The room fell eerily quiet once more; the air around everybody felt heavy as nobody knew how to respond. Just a moment later, Ruby started to pull on Keiko's sleeve, dragging her towards the exit while replying. "That's no problem at all. We planned on inviting you anyway."
They left the studio.
Once they were on the street, Ruby finally stopped pulling on Keiko, who had begun to show less and less resistance. Keiko didn't particularly run ahead and jump in the air, yet quietly trailing behind was sufficient for now. They looked left and right before they crossed the street, once they saw that no cars were coming, aiming for a small and quiet cafe on the other side of the road. They entered and sat down close to the door; only a handful of other guests were in the cafe, all of whom looked like they were elderly people. They barely managed to sit down when the waitress already stood next to them, ready to take their order.
"Pancakes, green tea and a bowl of anmitsu please," Ruby said as she enthusiastically pointed at each item she wanted on the menu while speaking.
"For me Omurice and a melon soda," Mem-Cho said when the waitress turned to her, not pointing.
"Uhm- Uhm, I would just like a black coffee, please," Keiko said as her hands fidgeted with the hem of her skirt.
With that, the waitress looked at each of them for another short moment and left once no one said anything.
"Wait."
The waitress stopped and turned around again.
Ruby knew exactly what was going on here.
"She reconsidered," Ruby said, "she wants the same thing I ordered."
The waitress quickly pulled her machine back out, noting it down before walking away.
"Why?" Keiko's voice was quiet and uncertain, a strong contrast to the confident girl who had performed in front of them days prior.
Ruby was a really good liar; no matter what, it always came just as naturally as breathing. Her deceptive skills were in some departments almost as good as Aqua's, while in some others, they even exceeded his; however, ever since what happened with Aqua, she just couldn't lie anymore. She just sat and looked kind of dumbfounded at Keiko, unable to come up with something convincing.
"We noticed that you look quite frail." Mem-Cho's words rescued Ruby just in time before she would've broken out into a serious sweat. "No offense. But the fans would definitely appreciate it more if you had 5kg more on your rips."
It took just 5 minutes for their food to arrive; Keiko didn't want to show it, but Ruby's curious glances showed the sparkle in her eyes when she looked down at the food. The rest of their practice day passed by in a breeze. Ruby and Mem-Cho supported Keiko to the best of their abilities. Keiko, who initially struggled, became visibly more comfortable with the surroundings as time passed by.
"Keiko, let's spend some time together. Are you free?" Ruby's voice echoed through the silent halls of the facility; the last rays of the short sun had long set.
"Okey, I had no plans for this evening anyways. Are you also coming along, Mem-Cho?" Keiko turned her gaze towards Mem-Cho while she spoke.
"I'm sorry to disappoint, but I have something really important to do. Next time I'll come along too, promised." Mem-Cho turned around and walked a few steps before she stopped and turned around, a smile on her face and her tone softer.
"Also, you can call me Mem, too. Just like Ruby does."