Chapter 11

# Chapter Eleven - "We Now Return to Our Regularly Scheduled Idols"

### Eimi

    "Welcome back!" The hosts continued to talk, moving on to explain the rules of this skit.

    *Blah blah blahblahblah!*

    "Now, you'll each have to team up with one other idol. Once you have your partner, you'll be tethered together with ropes! You'll have to work together to get up the wall before the other teams, but be careful! If one of you falls… you'll both fall!"

    The entire ensemble next to me looked slightly faint; realizing that they would have to climb the wall without much real gear. Welcome to the world of idols, pansies! Grabbing one of the harnesses and quickly scanning it, it looked worn out and ready to break at any time. I suppressed the urge to let my nervousness show, instead focusing on how annoyed I was.

    *Was this really okay? Who approved of this? My producer is DEAD!*

    At least the other girls look even more concerned than I am. The first useful thing they've done since they showed up. Luckily, there's a really thick mat on the ground, so we'll probably be alright…

    "Alright girls, pick your teammates!"

    The Interlunium girls all looked at each other and nodded their heads. They had a bit of an advantage here, knowing each other, and if they were even slightly competent they would have expected something like this to happen. I calmly walked over to their half of the stage. In the few minutes I had to come up with a plan, I had decided that the two girls that annoyed me the least were probably the least bad options for a teammate. To that end I wanted to select Megumi or Kanon - at least I think those were their names. Something like that - but the purple one quickly grabbed onto the sandy brunette's hand and declared that she would be her partner. The pink one quickly claimed Kanon, shooting a cheeky look in my direction while anger washed over me.

    I was gonna be stuck with…

    *Ugh.*

    The brunette grasped my hand tightly and raised it up above our heads.

    "Let's go, Eimi!"

    The hosts were eating this up, getting to watch me squirm.

    "Now, we don't wanna damage the girls - *or the equipment* - so the mics have been taken off for this event! Body language only, girls! The rules are simple. The first duo to reach the top of the wall wins the entire competition!" I snapped on the climbing equipment - not that it looked like it would help at all - and a gross stagehand attached me to my "partner" with a length of old rope. "Ready yourselves, ladies! On go, you'll start!"

    Even stuck with a dud for a partner, I was determined to win this dumb race. I braced myself against the wall's lowest hand holds.

    "Three, two, one, go!"

    The race was on as soon as an obnoxious buzzer filled the soundstage. I was off, grabbing the holds as quickly as I could. Glancing over, Rinko was holding her own ok enough, as were the group directly next to us. The third group, however, annoyed me, because my first choice of partner had finally shown what was wrong with her.

    "Megumi, come on! We gotta get up!"

    "Ms. Han, my apologies, but I've never actually gone rock climbing... I'm unsure if I'm able to learn without a chance to practice beforehand."

    "Okay, how about this." Dam-Bi jumped down from the wall and crouched down. "I don't rock climb often either, but I work out a lot! Get on my back and I'll try to carry you! We might not make it very far, but we'll try!

    "Ms. Han! Do your best!"

    The girl in the green workout clothes climbed onto the back of her partner, who started attempting to climb the wall. As far as competition goes they were laughable, but I'll admit, I chuckled out loud at how ridiculous they looked right along with the studio audience.

    The other competitors were proving more capable - though that isn't saying much - and had already reached nearly as high as I had, moving in a frustratingly fluid fashion. We were falling behind because this nincompoop couldn't be consistent. One moment I would be in the lead, and the next moment it would be her. It was beyond frustrating, but since we weren't wearing any microphones, I could speak my mind so long as I looked sweet from a distance.

    Easy.

    "You're so incompetent! If you think you're gonna get ahead of me then you really are an idiot!"

    "Come on, Eimi! We've got to do this together! I'm just doing my best to keep up with you! So, won't you join our group?"

    "No way in hell, big face!"

    "C'mon! We've been having fun together all day!"

   "Not even worth a fraction of my time! Chances are I'll forget all about the five of you tomorrow!"

    "Please! Don't be so mean! You know you want to!"

    "Shut it, you rat! Why don't you bug someone in your talent range?"

   "Pretty please, with a lemon on top!"

   "I said no, you kapp-" It was only a moment that I had taken my focus off of climbing to berate the annoying girl I was tethered to, but that moment was critical. I lost my footing, and when my weight shifted my fingertips went numb as they were yanked off of the overhang I thought I'd had a solid grip on. Despite a desperate attempt to relatch onto the wall, I was unable to recover my positioning and started falling. Time seemed to move in slow motion.

    Was this the end?

    I talked all high and mighty, and no matter how much I had earned it, I was about to crash into the ground.

    On live TV.

    Attached to this loser.

    As my arms flailed, I have to admit I found just the tiniest bit of solace in knowing that the annoying brunette would be brought down with me. As I passed her on my way down, I realized how silly I must look to her and everyone else - arms flailing in a pathetic attempt to try to grab onto something. If my choice was between crashing into the ground like a panicked idiot or taking my lumps with dignity, that was an easy decision. We were going to lose, and it was all my fault.

    *This is it. I'm gonna lose the competition to these losers all because this idiot wouldn't leave me alone.*

    My eyes closed and I was oddly at peace, though that was possibly because I was concentrating on looking as graceful and dignified as possible. Maybe I could even salvage this in the news. "Superstar Idol Brutally Injured by Morons."

    It could work.

    As I waited to test the quality of the dingy mat below me, the impact I was bracing for never came. I wasn't falling anymore. Rather I was swaying lightly, a tight grip around my wrist. Something had saved me, but I definitely couldn't have gotten caught on the wall. Not from that position. I heard the roars and cheers of the audience before I even opened my eyes. Rinko had let go of the wall with one hand and had somehow caught me mid-fall. She had a big dumb smile on her face, and although she would probably fall at any second, she seemed steady. Probably from all that extra weight.

    "Come on, Eimi! We have to finish the race together!" I was taken aback. Hadn't she heard any of what I'd said before? Was she really that dense? It took a moment to realize how warm her hand was around my wrist - though that was certainly just from the excitement of the fall, the pain in my fingers, and the friction of her rough, unmoisturized hand. Luckily, she kept a strong hold on me as I struggled to make sense of everything running through my head. "Hurry up. They'll beat us if you don't grab back onto the wall!"

    Something about the way her stupid face looked at me calmed me down enough to come to my senses, though I was still overheated from the rush of adrenaline coursing through me. I grabbed a handhold and kicked my feet against the wall, locating a pair of footholds to brace against and shaking her gross hand free of my delicate wrist.

    "Now, let's go up together this time!"

    We continued up the wall again, though this time - only because it was the only way to win - we worked together, calling out when to brace and where to move as we easily dominated the event.

   "Congratulations, Rinko and Eimi! We don't have a new car or a jetski, but we hope you'll accept these vouchers for a year's worth of free cup ramen!"

    *Like I would eat that crap.*

    And just like that, the recording had finished. The group of girls celebrated, as though they had done something worth being proud of. They were acting like children, hugging each other and exchanging high fives with audience members in the front row. I don't have any need for amateur moves like that, and so I slunk backstage to get changed without being gawked at like people had never seen a real idol before.

    Alone, I was able to take my time changing - not that changing takes any real time at all, but it was nice to not have to make a challenge out of it to avoid unwanted scrutiny - and scrubbed off my makeup. I had absolutely no plans to be seen by anyone if I could help it, and touching it up after that stupid race was just too much effort to go through right now. The water felt nice, cooling my face that refused to return to normal, flushing pinker than that annoying girl's hair, only getting worse the harder I tried to cool down. I almost made it out of the changing room before I was mobbed by the five girls I'd shared a stage with, trying to drag me into their juvenile celebrations.

    "Eimi! The audience ate up that great moment between you and Rinko! I've never seen a person grab someone like that! It was like an action movie!" The purple-garbed girl gushed over what she had witnessed out on stage, as if I needed the accolades.

    "Miss Inagawa! I can attest, you looked quite amazing out there! The excitement seems to agree with you. You're practically glowing!" The useless one heaped on more pointless praise, at which I once more became acutely aware of how strange I was feeling. The girl with a blue shock in her white hair simply looked exhausted from the exertion and stood quietly. All things considered, at the moment, she was by far the least annoying of the pests I'd been forced to deal with. The pink one in the blue workout gear, tied for the most annoying specimen of their group with the brunette in red, piped up.

    Though thankfully not to me.

    "Come on girls. I think I hear them calling for an encore."

    A complete fantasy, but it got them out of my hair. Well, most of them. Once the pink one led the purple one, the useless one, and the tired one out of the room, the most annoying one was still here, looking at me annoyingly with big glossy eyes.

    *Sigh. Fine.*

    "...thanks."

    "Hm? Did you say something Eimi?" Rinko fluttered her eyelashes innocently at me - as though I wouldn't know what she was doing - but was still wearing the same annoyingly cute grin from before.

    "Thank you… for catching me." I spoke more confidently this time, clearly enough that even she couldn't possibly have trouble understanding. I made sure to show my displeasure at her little game by puckering my lips in a pout and turning my head, being unable to bring myself to look at her for one moment longer. Out of the corner of my eye I watched Rinko's grin get even bigger, if that was even possible.

    "Of course! We're a team, after all! So, won't you reconsider my proposal? Please!" Rinko drew out her begging in a truly grating fashion and sidestepped directly into my field of vision. She reached her warm hand out, gripping my hand for the second time today. "Won't you please join Interlunium?"

    My cheeks must have been glowing red now by the feel of them, and even my neck felt like it was on fire. I must be completely allergic to this girl to have this sort of reaction. I finally relented just a little bit, tired of twisting my neck away from her, and looked at her directly. Just looking at her annoyed me, even if her smile was surprisingly pretty, and her eyes were actually sort of…

    "N–No way! Never!" I yanked my hand free from hers then slapped it away - the last time I ever wanted to feel it on me - and stormed out of the room. If nothing else would get through to Rinko, then surely that had to. For some stupid reason I looked back as I turned down the hallway outside the changing room door. The goofy smile Rinko had been wearing every time I'd seen her was finally gone, replaced by a look of utter sadness. Not hurt, or offense, or jealousy like I was used to seeing, but just… sadness. I ducked around the next corner, frustrated over everything that had happened since that girl came into my life, and breathed deep breaths for a few minutes. Once I felt like I was back to my normal self I snuck back down the hallway and cracked open the door of the changing room.

    The pink-haired girl was embracing Rinko in a hug, consoling her. The rest of the group was gathered around them, adding their sympathy to the mix and reassuring the girl that she had done her best. I felt…

    I don't know how I felt, or why I felt it beyond it being the fault of that girl, but I hated it. If only because it made it impossible to keep up my carefully controlled facade.

    The pink one hugged her friend again, looking directly at me and smirking the most infuriating look I'd ever seen. The heat in my head came back furiously, and I returned her look with the nastiest scowl I could manage.

    *I need to be careful around that girl…*

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