little note; should have uploaded yesterday, bronzie beta read it for me but since it was world book day yesterday would have been a better day, also, yes i do have this uploaded on pixiv novels!
It was late at night; mandated bedtime for her as she had to go to school tomorrow, the doctor had approved for her to make her debut, and Tatsu made sure she was trained for this, by sprinkling a lot of lessons throughout the weeks she was here, like dancing and singing. You need to prepare the batter before baking it, that’s what he said. He saw potential in her, she was talented according to him and a quick learner. Reini didn’t have a goal in mind in life, maybe just to fit in and get by like nothing ever happened. But it was like she was life’s guinea pig; she already came from a lab and was used to it.
Reini flicked the light settings on the H2L glowstick: green for everyone, red for Akahana, pink for Haruno, purple for Utako, and royal blue for Aoi. The glowstick also has a white preset so that you can use it as a torch.
Cyan for who?
She knew these glow sticks had RGB, too, but hey, they also had a quick switch button—a singular button to change colours rather than the sliders quickly. With a click and the colour, it’d change to the next.
She had to pick an idol alias to go by. Everyone else had their names, but she didn’t. That primetime idol variety show was on Friday, a few days until then. She had also looked over the promo merchandise they were making. Each girl in her group had her merchandise and the collective merchandise. Sometimes, people have specific favourites. She had to get her photocard done this week, too, which is something band fans would like, especially the overseas fans.
No one in the HeartHeart2love fandom knew who Cyan was for. Ever since their debut, it was like they knew they wanted a fifth when releasing this. Reini looked at her keyboard, remembering that each other member had their magical instruments: Wind instruments, Akahana. Guitar, Haruno. Bass, Utako. Drums, Aoi. and finally, herself, the keyboard.
Understanding why there was a colour for a 5th member, it was weird knowing that it was for her, she had appreciated this band for a while since she escaped that lab a year ago, and she didn’t imagine she could be in the 5th.
She would replace Aoi as the youngest member, Aoi was almost 18, which would make her 5 or 6 years younger than Aoi. Akahana would be the oldest, at 27. The rest were the same age, 22. They were fresh out of higher education. Interesting, but Reini would start school the next day, for the first time, like actual school, with actual people. Scary isn’t it?
Who knows? She could make new friends or even fall in love. Would she stick out enough that people would make her seem weird? Or would she be irrelevant enough? Maybe it could be better to be irrelevant; no one would bother her. Irrelevance is sweet; she can live normally without worrying about anything.
How different would her idol uniform make her? They took measurements, and it was supposed to arrive this week It was a custom dress made by some of the best idol tailors. It was much different from her magical girl uniform, but it retained its colours. She cycled through the glow stick's colour options and stopped at Cyan. She looked at the glowstick and waved it around for fun. She shouldn’t have been up this late; she would miss the first day of school. But she did get weary enough to fall asleep.
Eventually, sunlight seeped through her eyelids, and the alarm next to her was crying. It was time to get dressed for school—something else mandated by the label. And she went to eat her breakfast, prepared by Mirai today rather than Kesshu. It was different, but she didn’t mind. She couldn’t be picky considering she lived in appalling conditions for a year before they wanted her to move in, at risk of being found by Gift.
She looked less shabby and more collected; she persisted in looking in the mirror to see if anyone would recognise her, her features were a mix of soft and sharp, her face was pretty clear and her skin tone was some kind of golden beige, it had a slightly cool tinge to it, making it look a bit pink in certain areas emphasized when cold. She was 12 so she was going to look youthful for a while; she had wavy navy-coloured hair and her eyes were some kind of cyan-highlighted blue and round, but something she had in common with most people around her was that she had monolids, but her irises…too blue, it was clear that she was going to stick out.
She knew that eyes and hair like these weren’t ‘natural’ for an average person and were too recognisable. They were natural for her, but not everyone has powers and were made in a lab. She assumed this was a phenotypic consequence of having powers. Most people she knew in the lab had unusual features, of course. Subject 4444 had hair that was coloured like flames and emerald-green eyes, but her skin was a lot fairer and slightly more pink compared to hers.
She was fixating on her appearance in the mirror, but does it matter? Most people get insecure about how they look. Ultimately, we’re all human and behave similarly; however, it mattered the most to her.
Young girls get start to feel societal pressure and become self-conscious; they fixate on their appearance. Even if one does not claim not to be so girly, one still thinks about how there are more hairs on their chin compared to boys who are from a different area than you or in Reini’s case, how her phenotypes would make her stand out in a phenotypically homogeneous country where everyone has dark hair and deep brown eyes.
Sure she had experience, being a small-time producer with a few songs in some smaller indie rhythm games, that was her main income, without that, how else would she have acquired the money to get things during the year she was all by herself? She couldn’t just steal either, she knew it was wrong especially if it was a small business and the risk wasn’t worth it, she would also do a bunch of freelancing and odd jobs, maybe she lied about her age a few times but who cares, she only met these people once and not again.
Did her label even know about her previous experience? She had finished changing into her uniform, they checked beforehand if it fit. It would be awkward going to school in a uniform that didn’t fit, they did get it a few sizes big but she was going to be growing a lot these days.
She went to the breakfast table, just something light; rice, fried eggs, and some vegetables to keep it balanced.
“Hey kiddo, first day of school right?” Kesshu asked as he was eating.
“Hmm, yeah, I’m a little nervous.”
“You got this kiddo!”
She also needed to tell him about her previous experience in terms of music, just so he knew. As for what clubs she chose for school, she had two in mind: band and esports. Both of which she had to try out for, but it wasn’t like she was bad. She knew she had a skill for these.
“By the way, I need to inform you of something,” she said.
“Yeah go ahead.”
“So… I do have experience in making music, I have a small following and my songs are in some smaller games, just a little hobby of mine, not sure how this is helpful.”
“I guess it could be, I'm also the main producer for H2L, and as well as being ‘DJ DE@THSTALK3R’ just drop the artist name and I’ll look you up,” Kesshu replied.
“So, it’s PulseRhytmiaP
“About a few listeners per month, not bad, I’ll listen to the stuff you make and give feedback.”
“Okay then.”
She ate her breakfast, something everyone does before school, just to fuel her up before her first day of school.
—
‘Subject 4444 must be an idol.’
That’s what Dr Hamana declared.
This was just a mission. This was a mission for everyone’s sake. She looked at her mission statement, Junior idol, will have to go to school to keep up her guise and select her clubs just as something she can pick for herself.
With too many choices, she was overwhelmed. She didn’t know what clubs to choose. It was unfamiliar to her; choice.
What if she asked people at her school what each club did- to get an idea based on other people’s opinions?
She put on the disguise given to her; a standard uniform, the skirt was plaid, and there was a navy coloured blazer with a sweater on top of the collared shirt and a ribbon to tie at the collar, with the school colours, standard for the schools in the Tokyo area. She wore glasses to seem more anonymous to everyone.
She knew that this school was more independent and international from what she was told, Fuyu International School, an international school. This was interesting, some things might be different but she was okay with that.
She could make friends with people to keep up the guise, just as a temporary indulgence.
In front of the world, she would be Hotaru Yonshi- an aspiring junior idol.
-
Meanwhile, Reini kept on looking at her phone, making sure her map app was correct; she did practice walking to the school beforehand but she just had to double-check, she was walking until she felt something behind her touch her shoulder, she got startled but was relieved to see who it was.
“Hey, Reini, the first day of school?” Aoi said.
“Hm, yeah, do you go here?”
“Of course I do, my family runs this school, and this is my last year at this school, I don’t want to go to university or anything, I mean I already have a high-paying job as a band idol, I want to perform more and maybe start a family with him.”
“Who?” Reini asked
“My boyfriend, of course, I love him a lot,” Aoi replied.
“Ew, boys.” Reini coughed
“Haha, maybe you might change your mind when you're older.” Aoi jokes.
“oh no, I’m firm on this, boys give me the yuck.”
“Hmm, you sure about that?” Aoi replied as something hadn’t clicked in her mind yet.
“I don’t get why some girls want to be with boys, I just don’t like them like that, besides I have other things to worry about.”
“Oh, my bad, I get it now, don’t worry about it right now, you don’t like boys at all, right???”
Reini blushed a little and turned back to Aoi. She was a little flustered but didn’t want to be late.
“So you’re like Akahana, Utako and Haruno, right?”
Reini was still flustered, her bandmate had just understood her more than anyone else did at that moment, but she didn’t want to admit it. She continued walking to the school, with a slight blush on her face.
“Y’know, I also managed to get you a place at this school, without an entrance exam too, cause special circumstances considering you escaped from a lab, and Mr Otokabe is one of our biggest sponsors you know, so you’re a special-case-kid, be on your best behaviour, okay, especially with Dr Watanbe, he takes science too seriously, but Miss Yamada is nice, she loves literature a lot and you might accidentally get her to go on a long passionate tangent on conventions in Shakespeare, Mr Bernard will be the music teacher for your year, he’s from France and had a long career in composing, oh and tell the art teacher, Mrs Iro, that you’re a friend of mine ”
“Yeah, thanks Aoi,” Reini cried back.
“No problem, I gotta get to my class, I want to come slightly early, race you!”
Reini chuckled a little, she didn’t want to race so she’d let Aoi win for the fun of it. But Aoi paused out of disappointment, she wanted to motivate Reini to try to compete with her. Aoi was already pretty far from Reini.
“C’mon Reini, I'll buy you something extra at the cafeteria if you beat me!”
Aoi was much ahead. She was waiting for Reini. She waited but then put her arms down and continued running. But then, as she was running, Reini zoomed past her, running into the school gates. She looked in shock. She was much behind her. How did she run that fast? And without having to respire frequently, too? Just what was she?
Someone went up to Reini, approaching her with a clipboard and a pen.
“Can you be part of the track team, please?” the student asked.
Reini was a little perplexed, she gently shoved the clipboard back.
“I’ll think about it,” she replied.
She then headed inside the building and waited in the reception with a piece of paper. Aoi had managed to catch up with her and meet her at the reception. Reini continued looking at her paper, knowing what number each room was but not where it was. Aoi was talking with the receptionist briefly.
“Hey Reini, you need to go see mu-I mean the principal, she needs to talk with you first,” Aoi stated.
“Ah, okay, where would that be?”
“I’ll show you!”
Aoi held Reini’s hand, to guide her to the principal’s office, not too far from the reception, she knocked on the door and heard something to let her in. She opened the door and let Reini in, Aoi had to head to class now, but since this was Reini’s first day at a school, in her whole life (a normal school at that, not the Gift tutoring); and most people started this school much earlier than she did, that’s why she could see some young children enter in the gates, she was told this was an all-through school, so that meant this was going to be where she went for school starting from junior high to senior high.
“Good morning, ma’am.” Reini awkwardly said.
“Good morning to you too, I’ve heard about you, Reini, right?” she said.
“Yes,” she replied.
Reini felt slightly tense, she was rubbing her fingers and making sure she was ready for what came next.
“You’re an exception, my daughter begged for you to at least have a place here, I know you haven’t done any entrance exams but you needed a place somewhere, anyways, I’m the Principal, Mrs Fuyu, you’ll have to introduce yourselves to the other people who have been in this school for longer, you’ll be in middle school, grade one class A, any questions?”
“Aoi is your daughter, right?” Reini asked sheepishly.
“Yes, she’s my youngest, I have 4 daughters, my oldest wants to become principal of this school, they’re all hard-working.”
“Ah, okay, another question, where is my class?”
The principal adjusted her glasses and found a map in the drawer, it was paper. Reini was sort of perplexed but didn’t mind.
“Paper, for navigation, in this day and age?”
“You may never know, I think, as an educator, it’s neat to have something tactile.”
“Got it, thanks for the map.”
“No problem.”
She left the office, trying to navigate to her new class. She took a picture of her map just in case something happened to the sheet. She didn’t want to bother anyone so she would just use her map. She finally reached her form class, the teacher wasn’t in yet nor had anyone decided on what seats to take, some people had already claimed the seats at the back or the front, it was out of the way enough so that she couldn’t get noticed and it had a nice view of the city.
The teacher hadn’t arrived yet, but it seemed everyone got a notification on their phones; they were bumbling about what was on their phones.
“Did you hear, I just got the notification!”
“Of course I did! I got the notification too!”
What was everyone talking about? Reini was a little shy to ask as she didn’t know these people yet but maybe it could be a good time to introduce herself to some of her classmates by starting a simple conversation. She wanted to open her mouth. Maybe make a new friend from this.
“What are you talking about…” she queried.
“Oh, who are you?” the student asked.
Fair enough. She was new. Nobody knew her well except Aoi, but Aoi was years ahead of her.
“Pshh, touche, it’s Reini Nanaichi, and you?”
“Karin Tanaka,” the student replied, "I've never heard a name like that, where are you from?”
“I don’t know that myself, well, Tanaka, do you know what all the buzz is about before the teacher comes here?”
“There was an announcement on social media, something big is coming from one of my favourite idol bands!”
“Oh, really,” Reini lamented as if she didn’t know about it. “What band?”
“H2L, I'm a huge fan of H2L, Azeem says he’s gonna get tickets, I heard it’s gonna be on that primetime show, the one I watch with my friends Naomi, Riku and Ella, we’re excited to see what it was, it was a glow stick with the cyan setting, are you going to be watching?” the student said
She heard a lot of foreign names there, but then she quickly remembered this was an international school, so it made sense. Some of the students did have different features, such as differently coloured hair or skin tones that varied from light to deep, but they were still more natural. It was normal to have foreign students in an international school, but most of them were Japanese.
“Eh, maybe, that’s the celebrity prime-time show, right? Ai, caramba! ‘out of this world’ exclusive interviews with Ai Seiun?”
“Yes!” she exclaimed.
The teacher walked in and tapped on his desk, suddenly, the students hurried to the closest desks they could find in hopes of appearing ready for the school day. He logged in his laptop. He was slightly dishevelled but not scruffy, he still looked relatively young but still experienced. But he looked like he wouldn’t hurt you in any way. He was wearing a brown blazer today, his tie was a contrasting deep blue. He adjusted his circular glasses to make sure they were in the correct position. He seemed European as his hair seemed to be naturally brown and his skin a lot pinker. It was typical of Europeans to have more put-together outfits than their American counterparts, who usually wore more casual outfits when doing something every day and the fact that the refillable water bottle he was carrying had litres rather than ounces and the fact that he was using 24-hour times on the schedule she caught a glimpse of on the whiteboard.
“I’ll be your homeroom teacher this year.” he announced bluntly “My name is Mr Berg, he joined the school this year.”
Everyone was idle, awaiting further instructions.
“I hear we also have someone else too, Reini, I’m told?”
Reini immediately perked up, she felt picked on but she knew she had to introduce herself, all those high school movies and shows won’t be for anything, she felt butterflies in her stomach and indecisiveness on what impression to leave, she was cycling through impressions as she walked up to the digital whiteboard. She picked up the stylus and immediately wrote the kanji for her name.
“My name is Reini Nanaichi and I’m here on scholarship.”
Everyone was still idle, she didn’t say anything about herself, she left no impression on anyone, and she had to come up with something quick.
“I play the…piano…” she suddenly exclaimed
Maybe a few blinks here and there.
“I also am open to making friends this year… I just transferred from… oh no I used to be home-schooled, silly me!” she continued in a perkier tone. “Anyways my favourite food is my curry… my uhh… what is he to me… ah just this curry that someone I know makes for me, I really like spicy things but I also love sweet things too, I will be starting my middle school here and finishing high school here.”
When she finished, the class gave a little clap. It was time for her to go back to her seat. That introduction wasn’t too bad. She handled that okay. She had been rehearsing more for her debut on the prime-time show, but she let the class introduction feel natural rather than choreographed. It wasn’t like everything for that day was gonna be fully scripted.
The teacher started taking attendance, she was too busy to think about the class because she was looking outside the window and wandering off and thinking about things.
—
A girl walked up to the gates, she checked her time, she had a few minutes to make it to her class, it was lower school stuff, she could get into middle school if she was old enough, maybe a year or two, but for now, she was in the grade appropriate for her age. Think of year 6 in primary.
That was the class she was meant to be in, the one she said she would be in, there were a few empty seats for her to take before the teacher got here, maybe the teacher would seat her somewhere.
She laid out her equipment enough, just a full pencil case and some notebooks for her to use. Would they even check her notebooks? She heard the teacher blurted out but then she heard something, she wasn’t paying much attention until the teacher called for her.
“I’ve been calling your name a few times on the register, but you didn’t seem to respond.” the teacher said
“Ah, sorry, teacher.” she blurted out.
“Hotaru yonshi? Right? The transfer student?” the teacher asked.
“Yes ma’am,” she replied.
“Very well then, that’s attendance taken, I’m your new form room teacher, you can call me Miss Yamada.”
“Ah, got it then!”
“Very well then, that’s attendance taken, I’m your new form room teacher, you can call me Miss Yamada.”
“Ah, got it then!” she replied.
She felt a little silly, she wouldn’t get used to this name. It wasn’t like she had a name anyways the same numbers, four of them, and they were all fours, it felt like bad luck and coincidence. She had to introduce herself with that fake operative name they made up for her, with normal people her age. Wouldn’t subject 0271 be better with talking to people since… You know, the incident happened a year ago.
Since it was the first day back, instead of lessons, they would go to the assembly, to have a long briefing during the last periods, and for some notices too, this would probably be a slog but at least she could daydream, and look interested too. She didn’t want to be noticed but not everyone had hair coloured like flames or bright green eyes, she could get away with saying it was dyed after all this was one of the few schools where they were quite lax on hair and piercings.
“You have to introduce yourself, Yonshi, you’re new here so some people don’t know you, feel free to introduce yourself in front of the class.” Miss Yamada asked her politely
She wasn’t so sure about it, but to keep up her guise, she had to introduce herself. What did she even like, what was even interesting about her? She took a deep breath and wrote the kanji of her name on the whiteboard, just as she imagined, right?
“My name is Hotaru Yonshi…” she announced.
The room was silent, she didn’t know what else to say. A student shot up their hand.
“What’s your favourite food?” someone asked.
She couldn’t answer that, was it those biscuits she sneaked in that photo shoot, or the fact she was going to debut as an idol?
“Biscuits…” she replied blankly, “Any other questions?”
Another student, eager to answer their question, shot up their hand.
“What kind of music do you listen to? I love V-era, she’s so awesome! She’s going to perform live and have a big track list at Ai Seiun’s show before the big H2L announcement, and I’m going to see it with my mum!”
“I'm not aware of that music, I listen to Bach and Chopin.”
More students were also eager to ask the new girl.
“What TV shows do you like?”
“What books do you like?”
“What games do you play?”
Another student, a bit slouchy, shot up their hand, they had a slight smirk.
“Hey, what rock do you live under?” They laughed.
She stared at them, ice-cold and serious. She scoffed. Another student told them off for such a question. Miss Yamada, known for being nice, knew she did have to intervene with this student, but it was a common occurrence for this student to act up.
“Do you think what you said was relevant or nice?” she asked.
The student, feeling singled out and a little shameful, slouched down and looked away from her face in embarrassment.
“No miss…” they muttered back.
“You wouldn’t mind saying it louder, I don’t think Yonshi can hear it.”
“No miss!” they cried.
“Now apologise, to her, get up from your seat and sorry, and I need you to mean it!” she requested them.
They stood up from their seat to apologise, they felt bad because they were now on the spot and being stared at by the whole class.
“I’m sorry…” they said to her.
“Hmph, very well then, don’t make Miss hold up the class for your antics,” she replied.
She was done with her introduction and took her seat. This was certainly an interesting experience. She patted any loose lint or creases off her skirt and then looked at the teacher, wrote stuff and took registration. She looked around the class and looked at the displays and out the window. The trees were shedding their blossoms and the wind scattered the petals. She let the teacher do the stuff for coming back for the new school year and it was already break for her. This was interesting for her, school was a new experience for her, she was a little overwhelmed by it but it was something new for her.
She decided to find a little corner to sit at during break. She relaxed until she saw a girl with navy hair wander past. She caught a glimpse of her blue eyes; she knew who this was. There aren't that many girls with navy hair, let alone blue eyes in the whole country. Was that subject 0271? Could she have already scored a bonus on the first day when she didn’t mean to?
She approached the girl, starting carefully, then increasing her pace exponentially until she was chasing the girl down the hallway, she shoved the girl and then pinned her down, ready to interrogate her.
“So you think you’d escape me…” she muttered ominously.
“Help! I'm being threatened by a young girl!” the older girl squealed out.
“Answer me, who are you working with, what information do you have on Gift? What do you know, who else knows about the information.”
She tried to get out of the pinned position, it wasn’t too hard but she got up and backed up, she did have blue eyes but she looked too healthy to be Subject 0271, the subject 0271 she knew was visibly miserable, and she looked too well-kempt and trendy to be her, this could just be a girl who just happens to share her phenotypes.
“I’m sorry, I don’t know, what are you even talking about, please just-”
“I know you’re lying…”
“I don’t know what you’re talking about, I’m trying to enjoy my break, I was just on my way outside and-”
The other girl began tearing up, she realised she had the wrong person, she felt bad and didn’t know what to do, she wasn’t trained to deal with people being threatened or anything, let alone being the accidental perpetrator.
“Ah, my mistake, I thought you were someone else,” she said.
The other girl composed herself a little.
“I take it you were looking for someone else.” the other girl asked.
“It’s classified- I mean it’s none of your business.”
“Really? I wonder why you were looking for them then.”
“She…owes me something.”
“Money…? Do you get in trouble with the other students, often?” the other girl replied.
“No, this is my first day here, I thought you were a…former childhood friend who betrayed me?”
“Oh, betrayed you? I wonder why she did it, well, what’s your name?”
“Hotaru yonshi, how about you?”
“Reini Nanaichi, honestly I don’t have many secrets. Maybe I’m going to be an idol but that’s about it.”
“Huh, me too I guess?”
“Really?” Reini asked, “That makes two of us.”
“Yeah, what label?”
“Uh, Otokabe Records, do you think you can keep it a secret? Well online really, I don’t want leaks I don’t want to inconvenience the school with paparazzi after I debut as the newest member of my band or before.”
“Ah well, I’ll be a solo act under Gift.”
“Gift? I sure hope the pay is that great, my um… Parents… Thought Otokabe would be better for me since I heard it was one of the most artist-friendly labels.”
“Ah, well sorry for the whole fiasco.”
“You can buy me a soda to make up for that~”
“I don’t have much change to spare,” she replied
“Get me a soda once you debut then, I’m sure many people will find you cute.” She quipped back.
“I could say the same about you.”
“Ah well, see ya then.”
The girl had gone on her way to some other place in her school.
—
That was a close call, Reini was almost found out by her, subject 4444, she has a more human alias too, maybe she could tell Aoi to make the teachers keep an eye on her, she knows she was brainwashed. She had had enough of that perky trendy girl act, she’s anything but that, but it was so unlike her so it was a perfect act. She usually wasted away at a computer playing bullet hell or rhythm games. She only goes out to hit the arcade and rarely goes on outings, but recently she’s been to so many places, the tailors, the doctors, the shops, the pharmacy, the arcade, karaoke booths, and restaurants. She only went out for essentials, it only took 3 letters relating to a certain arrow game to make her go outside, otherwise, she was reluctant.
She decided to head to the courtyard to spend the rest of her break. She could see some of Tokyo from there, the Skytree was within viewing distance, and some skyscrapers, mostly in one area. The birds were chirping, it was still 10 something.
The bell rang to indicate the lessons, the next lesson was English, she wasn’t too bad at it, she knew a few phrases and could hold a conversation in it, didn’t she have an online friend she spoke to in English? But she knew there would be people better at it than her; given that this was an international school.
The teachers introduced themselves to standard procedures. The teacher’s name was Mr Smith, he might be American, she noticed her American peers were looser with their uniforms rather than the ones that came from Europe, it wasn’t like it was extreme but sometimes to an extent, the teachers too. Something she also observed more instantly was that his complexion was darker than hers and his hair was tightly coiled, most English teachers in Japan were people who came from English-teaching countries so she wasn’t surprised. But he dressed more casually than Mr Berg did, in sneakers and a lack of a tie, but had that outfit that still enforced that he was a teacher. She was taken aback when she heard the accent that came out of his mouth.
“My name is Mr Smith, and I am your English teacher. I come from Birmingham in the West Midlands of England, which is part of the United Kingdom.” the teacher said.
So that’s where she recognised that accent from, she saw a few videos from that place, and it seemed okay-ish. People joke about Birmingham being hell on earth. Or maybe not, as it’s got one of the worst poverty rates and rubbish everywhere in the developed western world. Or were people joking about that online, who knows, she needs to go for herself.
“Since some of you are new here and it’s the start of the new school year, I will be testing you.”
The whole class groaned.
“Fine then, don’t worry I’ll give you the test next week, but for now, here’s a fun worksheet I made, I hope you like it.”
The class mumbled a little.
“This is a group effort, so team up with some students!”
She didn’t know anyone, a girl was waving her hands.
“Hey new kid, it’s me!” a girl said
Who was that again? Reini was a little confused, when did she meet this person?
“Hey, it’s me! Karin Tanaka from form class? We talked about H2L, remember?”
So that’s who she was, Reini had remembered the girl from earlier. How silly of her to forget, was she always this absent-minded? Maybe something subject 6174 commented on when she was still alive at that lab, was a bit funny. Perhaps she was always absent-minded.
“Sorry, I was a little lost!”
“Ah no bother, I just wanted to ensure you had a group!”
She started to look at her sheet. It was to start a conversation in English, but they also had to act and do some improv. Everyone was at varying skill levels, and she didn’t know what skill everyone else was at. The sheet told students to select an idea for an improv play that people would perform in front of the class because it was the first day back, and the teacher wanted a more relaxed activity. She wanted to do an improv performance in English based on ideas given on the sheet. There were a few ideas.
At a restaurant, they would be ordering food and then gossiping about something, what was up to the improv, it could be anything really.
An old people's hospital, or some other environment like a care home or something, talking about cities they went to in alphabetical order, as a little constraint for the group or some other word game as long as it was English and telling some sort of story.
She looked at more ideas, alien diplomats, they would discuss things about their made-up planets, as far as Reini knew, aliens were totally real, she heard about those at her time in Gift. She doesn’t know much about them other then the fact that there are aliens pretending to be humans and they’re kidnapping people with the help of Gift. Maybe she could ask Mirai more about aliens.
A medieval roleplay, with a lot of options there, the princess being saved from a fire breat]
hing is too typical, and an epic about a samurai and a knight who are both girls who both fall in love was a great idea and she knew she just came up with it now but that’s too long.
An evil lab…
That was enough to leave a bad taste in her mouth. She read the idea further on and instantly had an idea.
She patted Tanaka on her shoulder and pointed to her idea.
“Huh, what is it, Nanaichi? Evil lab? Sure, what ideas do you have?” Tanaka said.
“Oh boy, do I have any ideas, I was thinking of an evil lab that makes human weapons. How many people do we have on our team?”
“My buddies Naomi, Riku, Ella and Azeem can join, it’s great we're in the same English class.”
“Ah, nice, well, I can write my ideas down.”
She wrote down her ideas, more like scribbled on them, her handwriting wasn’t the best, but she still had ideas. She could hear Tanaka talking to her friends. Just small talk, her ears were getting a little too busy but she could make out what people were saying.
“So Naomi, how are your little twin sisters, Chihiro and Hikaru?” Tanaka asked
“They’re fine, they just entered lower school, you might see them around in the kiddies area.”
“Aww, they’re so cute, aren't they!”
She could overhear a lot of small talk, Tanaka brought her friends over to Reini, she wasn’t done scribbling but they wanted to take a look at what she was doing. A bunch of people peered over.
“So here’s an idea, I was thinking of a rich billionaire who opens a lab because of a big war and hires a bunch of scientists, and they make a bunch of experiments, the head scientist doesn’t treat some of the experiments fairly, so that was my gist.”
“A billionaire like Evan Rust, right?” one of them asked.
“Yeah, I hate the guy—I mean, yeah, sure, you can be Evan Rust or something, " Reini answered.
“Gotcha,” they replied
“I’ll be the evil head scientist; the rest of you can be subjects, " Reini said.
“But what do subjects do?”
“It’s improv, you are in an evil lab, do whatever you think subjects do.”
“Looks like me, Riku and Ella are the subjects, right?” Tanaka said.
“Yeah, whatever I say next I don’t mean, I’m meant to be the evil head scientist so please don’t get upset if I say anything bad, I don’t mean it,” Reini said with a little worry in her tone.
“Don’t worry Nanaichi, we know it's a role, we’ll be up in a bit so get ready, you can do this.”
“Thanks.”
Other teams went up and it seemed they picked up other ideas, everyone was in varying levels of English, and and it sort of hurt to see people say entirely articulated sentences and then see some people only manage to say one word after that, but it was all in good fun, she didn’t know the English levels of her group, maybe it would be the same as others.
They went up to the front of the classroom, the teacher was viewing in the back, they were cheered on and then they started their performance.
“I’m a billionaire, just like Evan Rust or something, and I will open a lab, not evil or anything!” Azeem exclaimed as he got into his role.
The class giggled, it was a little obvious, and that’s what made it funny.
“Head scientist, make me some weapons or something.”
“Hi, I’m a scientist, the HEAD scientist, just like the scientist Dr Hamana or something, I’ll go use this money to make human soldiers, I’m sure that will make great weapons,” Reini said
“That’s great, now go do research.”
She picked up some props and played with them, a beaker and a flask, she signalled to the others to come out.
“These are my subjects, 1, 2 and 3. One has a developmental disability. Three cannot walk due to her physical disability.”
She brought out a chair and put it behind subject 3 (Ella), she then sat down, to sort of indicate having a wheelchair, she gave subject 1 (Naomi) a piece of paper that was written in scraggly words “UNKNOWN DEVELOPMENTAL DISABILITY”
“I’m a scientist like Dr Hamana, I’m an ableist prick, and you know what that makes me, a bitch!”
The teacher’s smile turned into a frown. He knew what she just said, so he pointed at Reini. She understood that it was her being pointed to.
“Me?”
“Yes you, outside the class, now.”
“The show must carry on without me!” Reini said as she left the room.
She messed up her first day; badly, she accidentally said a swear word in front of the whole class, and in English too, her teacher, a native speaker, knew what she just said in front of the whole class, some other students might know, some might not, but she was in trouble for real this time and she could already feel the regret.
“I’m in trouble, aren’t I?”
You could tell he was cross, his arms were crossed, and his face didn’t have any joy in it, of course, Reini was in trouble, what else was she in, fairyland?
“We do not tolerate bad words, in any language, on the school premises,” Mr Smith said sternly “Every other school has this rule.”
“Yeah, figured, I was too passionate about my performance you see.”
“I can tell.” Mr Smith sighed,
“I’m in trouble, aren’t I?” Reini muttered.
“I get the message, but it’s funny you mentioned the famous researcher Dr Hamana, you mean Gift’s dog as we like to call her, and one of those experiments is you, right?”
“How-”
“Don’t worry, all of us are with the SII.” Mr Smith said.
“Ah, great, then I don’t have to ask.”
“Ask what?” Mr Smith enquired.
“Well, it was about how you know that was about me.”
“I get notices through our special network, but as I was saying, you can’t say swear words in class, I’m going to have to report this.”
“Fine but there’s also something you should know, I think she might be here.”
“Who?
Reini looked all around the hallway, hoping no one would hear what she would have to say.
“Subject 4444, or as I like to call her, bad luck, she goes by Hotaru Yonshi, I think Gift might be onto you guys, she has flame-coloured hair and green eyes, She almost caught me in the hallway, could you tell the principal for me,” Reini muttered.
“Understood, I’ll inform her, and make sure she knows about this.”
“And something else, she’s still a young kid, so if you have her or anything, make sure she has a better time at school than the lab, i may not really be buddy-buddy with her but I’m sort of worried for her, what I mean is make sure she enjoys it here and maybe she could learn what Gift is really doing to her, you got that.”
“I understand it kid, but as I said, no swearing class, now go back in, you have an improv performance to finish off.”
She went back to the classroom, and she got away easily or so she thought, but she still felt kinda guilty, she wasn’t taken away for too long, and she could still continue the performance. She cleared her throat and looked at her peers.
“And what have my… subjects been up to in my absence?” she improvised.
“Nothing ma’am!”
“Nothing? You’re meant to do something, make yourselves useful!”
Reini turned her back, she could feel something behind her, she turned to see someone with a long balloon, being used as an improvised fake weapon.
“Attack!” they exclaimed
She went along with the attack, pretending to be hit with the balloon baton. Then she dramatically fell to the floor and then the other girls ran out the door, with subject 2 holding 3 in her arms, a little touch of realism as subject 3 can’t walk as stated before, then Azeem came out from one of the tables. She made a wee-woo sound to imitate an alarm, her mouth was facing away so it made sense.
“Where are my experiments, not-evil head scientist, I heard the alarms,” Azeem exclaimed as he pretended to be the billionaire in the story.
“My! Well, they attacked me, let's do something to get them back.”
She picked up the beaker and flask again, pretending to mix chemicals and stuff, she then held them out.
“I made a special thing that will help get them back, with this not-evil substance, we will take away every ounce of autonomy they have!” Reini continued to pretend.
“Let’s attack then, when we find them, let's look for them!”
They looked all over the classroom, the other girls Karin (referred to by Tanaka), Ella and Naomi snuck back in with an obvious sneaking pose, but then it seemed they brought another chair with them, a wheeling chair rather than a static one, it was great that they kept that role consistent.
“Psst, audience, don’t tell the evil people but when the evil scientist and evil CEO were gone, we planned our escape, you saw us planning earlier, now we have the weapon to take down the evil lab once and for all!” Ella said
They presented a triangle, and one of the props in the tray hit the triangle, and it had a clear ringing sound.
“We found this triangle when we escaped. It was falling from the sky!” Naomi said.
“We will win and have a happy life,” Karin said.
“Now come out!” Ella exclaimed, “Come out and face us, our tormentors, we are not afraid.”
Reini knew it was probably time to come out, so she came out, got the beakers and held them again.
“Look over here, Not-evil CEO, look how I will make them ours again.”
She took shreds of paper beforehand and put some in the beaker, she threw the shreds at the girls, two of them were holding the triangle on either side but the girl who was subject 1 (Naomi) had the triangle baton out and she rang it, once, then twice, the triangle rung clearly.
“As long as we have this special triangle, we won’t be hurt,” Karin exclaimed.
“Begone, the plagues of this world, that means you too, CEO,” Naomi said.
“Oh no, my invention didn’t work!” Reini playfully cried out in defeat, clearly good at acting.
“Ah no! I’m defeated ahh no I'm disappearing!” Azeem exclaimed with acting enthusiasm.
They rang the triangle a few times more, making them shrivel and then disappear (hiding behind tables) they were gone for good now.
“We will bring peace to the world with this triangle and our message.” Karin said.
“The moral of the story is don’t be like evil lab people, don’t exploit children.” Naomi said.
They all went back up to the front of the classroom to bow because the performance time was now nearing its end, the class cheered for them, it seemed to be a pretty solid performance, with rarely many stutters, it was clear they knew enough English to create a well structured enough story in English, enough for the teacher to understand what was going, other students had to rely on peers for what the plot was as they didn’t understand English that well, some could pick up a general idea. But it was good enough for their age.
The class clapped for them as they bowed, but the teacher told them to sit back down, as he had more stuff to talk about, it was almost an assembly touch of course, just for today, after lunch. The clock was ticking and the bell rang to indicate the end of the period. They had to go to lunch now, Reini went to the cafeteria and she saw Aoi there.
“Hey, Aoi you owe me a yakisoba-pan.”
She paused for a second.
“Fine, a deal is a deal, I’ll queue up, and then we can hang out outside if you like.”
Reini didn’t wait long, these queues were efficient.
“We’ll get some strawberry milk at the vending machine, it’s the best honestly, my treat.”
“Sure then.”
They found a place to sit down outside, it was sort of pink outside, the trees were blossoming beautifully and the petals were falling naturally.
“So, how was the first day of school.”
“Ugh, Gift sent subject 4444 here.”
“I’ll tell mum- I mean the principal to keep an eye out, she was the girl that Akahana told me attacked you, wasn’t she?”
“Hm, ye-” Reini replied as she was scarfing down her yakisoba pan.
A bow was approaching them. Who was it? He looked to be in the same year as Aoi, that’s for sure. He hugged her from behind. Reini didn’t seem to mind this random guy she had never met before, but it seemed Aoi had met him before.
“Reini, this is my boyfriend, Eisuke, I’ve mentioned him before.”
He sat down next to Aoi and held her hand, they giggled a little.
“Is this the girl you were talking about, Reini?” he asked.
“Yeah, this is her, she’s my new bandmate and friend!”
“She’s the one who escaped that lab isn’t she?” he asked.
“Me?” she asked
She realised it was her.
“Oh, yes, well, that’s me.”
Why did he know about her, was he allowed to know about this, was he also an operative or something, but wasn’t he pretty young, and didn’t have any significant abilities, or was that just an assumption?
“My name is Reini Nanaichi, I have other things to do other than escaping a lab.”
“Hello there, my name is Eisuke Aiyama, I'm Aoi’s boyfriend,” he replied.
“He’s an up-and-coming streamer, how many subscribers did you say you have?”
“I’m close to my one million special, you did want to join me then, didn’t you?”
“Yes, I did.”
She kissed him on his forehead and held his hand and they wanted to talk for a little with Reini, but they were so engulfed with their conversation that they didn’t notice the bell. Then later they realised the bell rang and they managed to get into a meaningful conversation, he seemed like a nice guy. If he wasn’t then he would certainly regret it, Aoi was a friend of Reini’s, and anyone who messed with a friend would regret it. She heard a pinging echo out of the school.
“All students to assembly, I repeat, all students to assembly.” The voice over the tannoy said.
They all had to finish their lunch and walk to the assembly. Someone might be coming to speak at the school assembly, but Reini wasn’t bothered at all. She just wanted to see what the assembly was like. All of the years [or grades for my non-British readers] were there. It was a massive theatre, enough for a few spare seats. She took a seat at random, but it seemed her classmate, Karin, was there again.
Everyone was talking and it was some kind of dictionary soup where everything was liquified and all mixed. Reini couldn’t tell what anyone was saying or who was saying what, but it didn’t matter anyway, there was nothing to focus on.
The principal went up to the podium, cleared her throat and it rang throughout the assembly hall. Creating significant noise.
“Good afternoon, students. For some of our cohorts, this may be their first day back; for others, it is their first day here. Welcome to our prestigious, award-winning school. We have a guest with us to speak after our notices.”
Reini slouched a little, this was gonna take a long time. She adjusted herself if someone caught her slouching. She looked at the massive screen above the principal, to keep herself stimulated, reading the notices, what the hell was even happening on a random Tuesday next week, why did they care about some random ‘special’ day that no one had heard of, what the hell was international pillow fight day on Friday, it did sound interesting but why was in the notices, where were the other events happening in April. Like April Fools, wasn’t today April Fools, wasn’t that why Mr Smith decided to let the students goof around in English, she totally forgot about pranking Mirai, Kesshu and Tatsu, She also needed to check out what the rhythm games were doing this April fools, she also checked the celebration noticed boards.
World autism awareness day, tomorrow?
What was autism anyway?
Wasn’t it that thing?
She heard about it online a few times, it wasn’t like she had any of the symptoms or anything, she didn’t want to even mention it to her current guardians. She didn’t want to seem attention seeking, that Idol debut would already be enough attention for her anyways, a lot of people nowadays have crap handwriting and an attention span that's so messed up it's not worth intervening. She was fine. Wasn't she?
But then she remembers that she wasn't okay; according to the doctors she wasn’t meant to hear in that messed up lab, she had some incurable developmental disorder. She remembered sneaking outside her room and putting her ear against that wall, hearing those doctors, years ago in the lab.
She could hear murmurs coming from a steel door, she squished her ear against the door, it was cold and she could hear two grown-ups in that room laughing.
“Subject 0271, here's the briefing, she tested positive for powers but there's also something else, she's defective goods.” one of the scientists said.
“In what way, boss?” the other asked.
“She has…a developmental disorder, making her defective in the head, to say the least.”
“So what would that make her-”
The scientist interrupted “Oh, she’s totally a r-”
The memory stopped there. She was in assembly now. She didn’t have to think about that bad word now.
Who cares anymore? It was the first day of school for her, and it was also April Fool's Day. She was just going to see what those rhythm games did for April Fool's Day, and she was going to prank people. Maybe she could give Tatsu a makeover while he has his old man naps or something, or she could give Mirai chocolate-covered sprouts.
The headmaster continued to drone on about unheard-of celebrations until her mic and projector stopped working, and then the lights shut off too.
Reini was a little perplexed but continued to watch, the dictionary soup was slowly pouring back in and then a mascot appeared, it was sort of a fox, it looked cute and it was doing jumping jacks on the stage.
It was April Fools anyway.
The mascot was now waving its hands, and then it pressed a button, and the screen changed to say “Happy April Fools from the mascot; Plush the Kitsune” The fox-like mascot then hopped off the stage and gave everyone high fives, it also carried a whiteboard. It was running through the sea of students but then it stopped and wrote something on the board. You can’t talk through mascot costumes, then it pointed.
The finger was pointing at Reini. Why her of all people? Maybe it was pointing at someone else. The whiteboard read “What’s your name and what do you like doing after school?”
“Me?” Reini questioned.
The mascot nodded.
She was supposed to be ready for public speaking.
“Oh, my name is Reini Nanaichi, and I like to hit the arcade and play music games. I'd be happy to 1v1 someone if they like.”
The mascot did a little dance and then ran to the next person, Reini was glad that was over, she wasn’t on the spot anymore, and she had to hear other people get embarrassed like she did. She slouched again, and then she heard someone speaking next to her, she tried to make out what they said.
“Looks like Plush likes you,” Karin said.
“Tanaka?” Reini muttered.
“Yes it’s me, what do you want?”
“Oh, just checking who it was, haha.”
“Gotcha, I wonder who the special guest is or if it was Plush, I wouldn’t mind either way!” Karin exclaimed.
“Me too I guess.”
The principal walked back up to her podium, trying to settle down the students, she tapped on her mic to get their attention.
“Now we’ll have a special guest on, Happy April Fools from the teachers, this was our idea, but now, we shall welcome one of our guests, who has been a great sponsor and is an important figure you might know.” the principal announced
The lights had shut off, and then a spotlight turned on as a silhouette walked out from behind the curtains, immediate cheers as soon as he was fully revealed but Reini didn’t seem as excited as the other students, Tanaka had nudged her.
“Why aren’t you excited, that’s Tatsu Otokabe, CEO of Otokabe Records, he manages H2L, I love H2L,” Tanaka exclaimed.
“I see him every day, no biggie.”
“Haaaaa? Every day? That is a biggie. That means you’re near H2L all the time, aren't you?” Tanaka replied
“You’ll see.” Reini casually said.
“Oh, you’re gonna be a talent, right?” Tanaka asked
“I guess he teaches me,”
“He’s your mentor? Are you part of the super-elite, to have that guy as your mentor?”
“Nah, I’m kinda a nobody.”
“Strange, everyone in this school has a connection of some sort.”
“What connection do you have with anyone?”
“My dad is an SII engineer, he makes the phones for SII,” Tanaka answered.
“Wow, for real?” Reini exclaimed with a sarcastic tone.
“Hey, how am I supposed to believe you see Tatsu Otokabe every day and aren’t messing with me because it’s April Fools, we just met today, how am I supposed to believe someone I just met,” Tanaka asked.
“You can come over to mine for dinner, gimme your number, I’ll give you the address.”
“Okay then.”
They exchanged numbers after that meaningful conversation, but they had to stop because they didn’t want to be caught by any teachers, they had to focus on the assembly now. Because someone very famous was there now.
Tatsu picked up the mic, and briefly inspected it.
“Huh, one of ours; still going strong after all these years, you know, I remember when I was in the engineering room and my daughter accidentally dropped the prototype,” Tatsu remarked as he gave a lighthearted chuckle.
He cleared his throat and spoke into the mic.
“I’m Tatsu Otokabe, and I’m one of this school’s biggest sponsors and I’m also the CEO of Otokabe Records,” he announced.
Everyone cheered.
“I wanted to talk about where I sort of came from, of course, I won’t deny it, I did have resources to help me, but when I was younger, I used to make music, of course, I also had to prove myself worthy of inheriting the company from my father, it started when I was fresh out of university and my father had made me work hard.” Tatsu said, “I proved to him that I could work hard but there was also something else that made my father positive that I was ready to take over the family business.”
He adjusted his tie a little.
“It was passion, I would work endlessly to try and fix problems with the company’s products, I spent many sleepless nights and made improved prototypes because I wanted to make sure our customers were happy with our products, when my father realised I truly cared about this company, he would make sure I got promoted based on how well I did that year, like every other employee, he also made sure I worked hard enough so that I could get my place, he made sure I also knew the experiences of different people by making me mingle with them, if it weren’t for my father making me understand how hard people work, I would be very different, but that was a lesson he instilled always.”
He leant in a little.
“He left behind a part of his fortune for me, he had willed most of it away to charity, but I inherited his company, and a few properties, but my fortunes grew, I used it to help people like he wanted, he dedicated his fortune to building schools across the world such as this place for example, he believed everyone should have a chance at education, I was pretty similar with my late daughter, she grew to be someone I was proud of, but for the children who are listening, I wanted to say, my final thoughts, is to stay passionate and help others, even if you had little to your name or a family business as I did, I want you to know that someone out there will appreciate your passion, stay strong, stay cool! Otokabe out! And happy April Fools too! Wow, I haven't done that kind of outro since my youth.”
He walked away from the podium and behind the stage, with the spotlight following him as much as it could, everyone was cheering for him because he had finished his speech. The speech moved Reini a little, but what was she really passionate about? Maybe there was something, she loved her games and drawing and music and she was a really good piano player.
They could go home after the assembly, maybe she could go with Tatsu or ask him if she could hit the arcade instead, she wanted to play some of those rhythm games she loved so much. She wasn’t sure if she wanted to head home or head to the arcade.
Everyone had to leave now, the presentation was over, and so was the day, the whole presentation and assembly were done now. She walked outside the gates and heard a car, it was Tatsu’s white SUV but Kesshu was driving it, he waved for her. She signalled back and walked towards the SUV.
“I’m taking Tatsu back home, do you want a ride back,” Kesshu asked.
“Nah, I’m just gonna go to Akihabara and go to the arcade, y’know, that one.”
“Oh, that one… with all the games, I used to go there a lot, here’s some money, go refill your pass, I bet it’s pretty low.”
“Really? You mean it?” Reini said.
“We’ll be giving you more money, get used to it. You’re going to be an idol on Friday, and we’re gonna have to pay you a lot. Oh, that reminds me. We have some things coming tomorrow. The designer says he wants to meet you. He has a few ideas for some dresses after Mirai sent some measurements.”
“Ah, gotcha then, thanks so much for the money.”
“Don’t sweat it, how was your first day, wait, save it for dinner.”
“Ah yeah, it would be better for dinner.”
“I’ll be waiting for Tatsu here, have fun at the arcade!” Kesshu said.
“Will do!”
“You can bring a friend over for dinner if you made one.”
“Noted, but I wanna go to the arcade now.”
“Okay, bye then, see ya later!”
“See ya at dinner then.”
She went off but then felt someone behind her. Then they jumped in front of her. She was a little startled but calmed down once she saw who it was. It was the girl from her class, Karin Tanaka. She had just met her today, so was she sure she would consider her a friend?
“Hey Nanaichi, who was that guy at the car paying you, you aren’t in trouble or anything, aren't you?”
“No, he’s my caregiver I guess.” Reini says, “He was just giving me pocket money.”
“Wow, so like your dad or something, my dad gives me pocket money sometimes,” Karin said.
“Yeah, I guess, I’m going to that one arcade in Akihabara, wanna come with?”
“Sure then.”
They had a long session at the arcade and browsed some shops for ideas of what they wanted to get, but it wasn’t like they brought anything, most of the shops in Akihabara are touristy and the prices are hiked quite a bit, so they’d rather hit the second-hand chains or the non-tourist-traps, Akihabara prices were almost double or maybe triple what she would see sometimes, and sometimes in questionable quality, they could buy a new prize figure somewhere else for much cheaper, they did end up with a few snacks but Reini made sure to remind her not to eat too much as she had something planned later on. They decided to take a train, Karin had to call her dad first but it was fine; Karin could go with Reini. The train didn’t take too long and it wasn’t too far of a walk.
“Wow, you live here? It looks very grand and well maintained, and there’s a shrine nearby, I should bring everyone to do cherry blossom viewing and New Year's here, unless that’s your fave spot, then I don’t wanna take it.”
“It’s fine, we want more people to come here.”
“We?”
“Those of us who live here of course.”
“Gotcha and it's near some of the big spots too, anyways, what’s your room like?”
“You’ll see when we come in, anyway, my caregiver is making dinner.”
“I can sort of smell it, can you?”
“Yeah, I can smell everything else too.”
They entered the house, the smell of the food was stronger than it was outside, but they still needed to check the kitchen. They took their shoes off and put them in the shoe box, just to keep things tidy enough.
“I think they’ve put dinner down, it smells like curry.”
“I love curry, One time I tried it at a restaurant and it was so good.”
“Wow, you can afford to go to restaurants?”
“Oh, are you not fortunate enough?”
“Sorry, old habits, I guess I can go to a restaurant now.”
“Oh, okay, well, let’s eat then!”
They went to the kitchen and the food was down, Tatsu was sitting on one of the chairs minding his own business until he noticed Karin with her jaw dropped. It wasn’t every day you saw a CEO like this.
“Ah, mind my manners, welcome, looks like Reini did make a friend,” Kesshu said.
She was dumbfounded again, was that THE DJ DE@STALK3R, in her new friend’s house?
“Wow, I’m sorry, it’s not every day I get to see famous people, my dad is an engineer for the SII, and he takes part in making the SII phones, I rarely get to meet famous people but it’s such an honour, honestly.”
“Engineer? I talked with a few engineers for the SII, we develop sound chips and make sure SII hardware and software are the best for production, we do open source our music driver software though, so other people can edit it to their liking, I assume you know my name already." Tatsu said.
“Well my name is Karin Tanaka, my dad’s an engineer.”
“Tanaka? I know him, we talk a lot about sound chips and audio quality.”
“My dad talks to you? WHY DIDN'T HE TELL ME?”
“Well, we made dinner, come and sit down.” Mirai said, “You can call me Mirai, I look after things around here.”
She took a spare seat. Serving herself some curry. But before she ate she had to show her manners.
“Thanks for the meal.” Everyone said in unison.
Tanaka had taken a spoon with curry and rice, mixed it a little and ate it, she was instantly taken back by how delicious it was.
“It's so tasty, who made this!”
Kesshu raised his hand.
“Well, now that it is dinner, how was the first day of school?” Mirai asked.
“Not bad, I enjoyed it, I swore in English though, by accident.”
“Oh, she was passionate, so much so that she said a bad word.”
“I guess we make mistakes in passion, don’t we?” Keshhu said.
They laughed and continued to dine on their food, the conversation carried on throughout dinner and after dinner, Reini and Karin went to see Reini’s bedroom. They hung out for a bit, school wasn’t that bad, and she did make a new friend outside the band, which was great. She hoped to see her again at school. Tomorrow.
School isn’t that bad, but it is really slow.
Karin had headed safely back home, it was time for her to go to her tutoring, Reini had waved her goodbye as she left.
She made a friend, and hopefully, she remained a friend.
—
Later; Reini had prepared her concoction of chocolate-covered sprouts, she giggled as she got it out the fridge to give to Mirai, she bounced happily as she approached Mirai. Sliding the tray over to her.
“Aww, you made me a little treat, thanks!” Mirai exclaimed.
Reini was giggling a little, Mirai was going to be bombarded by the taste of sprouts. But to her horror, she was taking more off the tray and was visibly enjoying the ‘prank’ Reini made. Tatsu had woken up from his nap, with a full face of extravagant makeup, slightly smudged but it was still extravagant.
“What’s going on here?” Tatsu asked as he walked into the kitchen.
“Reini made me a little treat!” Mirai exclaimed “it’s so tasty!”
Kesshu walked in, going to grab a snack. He saw everyone in the room.
“Hey, Tatsu, looks like you got a little something on your face!” Kesshu exclaimed.
“You don’t say…” Tatsu replied.
“Well, I’ll be making some backing tracks now, bye!”
Kesshu headed out and took his snack, Reini went back into her room and sat down, she then heard a fart-like noise coming from where she was sitting, she got up and saw a whoope cushion; fair game. She chuckled a little. There was a note next to the cushion. She picked up the note to read it.
‘Happy April Fools' - from the ‘best DJ in the world’.
She put the note in a drawer, then went about her day.