EE Chapter 18

# Chapter Eighteen - "Chicken for Breakfast"

### Rinko

    "Where are you going?" My roommate asked from the top bunk, her voice not quite yet awake. I was already completely awake, dressed, and ready to get the day started. Mostly because…

    "I can't sleep! It's all too exciting! It's their first day!"

    "We're not meeting them for another hour. Why don't we go get some breakfa-"

    "Sorry, Junko! Can't talk! Gotta go get everything ready! Don't be late!"

    Our new member auditions went perfectly yesterday!

    Ok. So, maybe not *perfectly*. Only three girls showed up out of all the girls I had originally wanted, but they were pretty much perfect. The way they danced… Their cute little maid uniforms… Their voices…

    *Sooo cute! We're going to be megastars with them for sure!*

    It was touch and go for a minute, what with Eimi being a big old grumpapotamus about it, but in the end it all worked out the only way I could possibly have imagined it working out, thanks to Megumi's sparkling green eyes and perfect smile convincing Eimi to give them a shot! Eimi probably just didn't want to spend less quality time with any of us, but more friends is always better. *And who could say no if Megumi asked them that nicely anyway? Definitely not me!*

    So now we're all getting together at eight on the dot for a whole day of getting to know each other! Which is still almost an hour away, but I'm too excited to sleep. Or take a bath. Or eat breakfast. Or do *anything* except go straight to where I need to be soon enough anyway and wait. Today that's in the common lounge on the third floor. It's kind of surprising that I'm the only one here. Not just from Interlunium, but in the entire dorm. You know what that means…

    I can watch the big TV without anyone changing the channel!

    Luckily, reruns of one of my favorite cartoons were on. It was just getting to the good part - the hamsters had almost managed to sneak back into their cage with the lettuce they stole from the kitchen - when I was disturbed by someone walking through the darkened lounge and sitting loudly on one of the couches. I flicked the TV off and jumped up, just in case it was one of the girls who inexplicably hates cartoons, and fumbled my way to the light switch.

    "Akira?! Congratulations! You're the first one to arrive. You must be an early bird."

    Akira smiled. She was on one of the large, old, fluffy couches running her fingers through her ponytail, straightening it. She had on a light blue jumpsuit and athletic socks, and took a large gulp from a matching blue water bottle before answering.

    "I guess so? I get up around five every morning so I can exercise and go on a run. Why sleep when I can be productive, ya know?"

    "Wow! How far did you run? All I did was watch cartoons…"

    She laughed, "Only two kilometers this morning, but I kept it short so I wasn't late!”

    "Wow…" I sat down next to her on the couch. "I don't think I've *ever* ran that far. At least not on purpose!" My new group mate laughed again at my joke. She rolled her neck from side to side and stretched her arms out. By now it's second nature to reach over and start massaging when I see the telltale signs of sore muscles. We get lots of sore muscles in Interlunium, and nearly everyone has gotten a lot of practice at working out knots and twinges. She shot up straight at first before relaxing and letting me work on her shoulders. "I’m amazed that you can go out and do all this exercise and still have time for everything else! It's like you're always running!"

   "Ah! Well I just try to organize my time, ya know? I always feel bad if I’m not doing *something*, so I try to make sure I don't take things too easy."

    "Hey, maybe you should take notes, *leader*. Right now the new girl seems to be doing a way better job at that than you!” The joke came from the next girl to arrive, none other than the grumpapotamus in twintails. She was followed closely by Megumi and Dam-Bi - the three of which grabbed their own couch next to ours - and very shortly after by Chiyo, who sat down on the other side of Akira. We chatted for a few more minutes, mostly about how impressive Akira is at running, and not five minutes later my roommate arrived, followed by her new shadow. Ever since Kyoto, Junko and Kanon have been almost inseparable, and I don't think I've seen Kanon without her within ten feet this entire week. In fact, *everyone's* been getting along pretty great this entire time, just like a real group of idols should.

    "Sorry that we're late." Junko apologized to the group. "I had a feeling that she'd fall back asleep as soon as Chiyo left, so I went and checked just in case. And good thing I did."

    Kanon opened her mouth to say something but yawned instead. She sat down next to Chiyo and settled in against the fluffy armrest, sinking into it to an adorable degree.

    "It's all good! We're still waiting for Yume and Anette to show up too!" It's barely five minutes past eight, so I wouldn't even have noticed they were late if Junko hadn't mentioned it.

    "I'm really sorry! I'm not sure what's taking them so long. It's not like they were that much slower than me today…"

    Everyone looked at Akira in shock. Chiyo broke the silence by asking what we were all wondering.

    "You mean, they went on the same run you did? Two whole kilometers?"

    "Oh yeah! We were all so excited that they woke up just as early as I did! So instead of waiting around all nervous I talked ’em into joining me on my run to work off our jitters!" She ended with a sharp laugh as she pointed toward the door to the lounge. "There they are now! Hey slowpokes! We've been waiting for you!"

    The two girls made their way in and flopped down on either side of Junko, who had been left to claim her own couch, shocking her a bit. They were both breathing heavily and their hair was a disheveled mess, though they were still quintessentially cute.

    "We-", the auburn haired girl gasped. "We would've been here sooner, but-" She took a second to catch her breath some more. "Yume made us run four blocks extra so she could get breakfast." She gestured across my roommate to the adorably tiny girl, who grinned widely at all of us.

    "I wanted for us to make a good first impression, and what better way to do that than with food?" She held up a pair of large paper bags with pictures of a cartoon chicken on them.

    "Well, we can't complain about that! Let's have breakfast!"

    We left the lounge and moved just outside to the communal kitchen, taking over a pair of large tables which we pushed together to accommodate our first meal as a group. We raided the fridge for some fruit salad and drinks, and helped ourselves to the unusual breakfast of fried chicken and biscuits our newest recruits had gotten for us. Once we all had a plate in front of us, Megumi went into interrogation mode on behalf of us all.

    "So, please tell us all about yourselves. I'm sure you did your research and know much about each of us, but we hardly know anything about the three of you. You have us at quite the disadvantage."

    The three girls, seated next to each other at one end of the table, looked at each other to determine who wanted to go first. Akira took a look at the pieces of chicken pressed to each of the other girls' lips and decided it would have to be her.

    "Uh, well, to put it bluntly, I'm the daughter of the CEO of a huge multinational corporation. Betcha didn't see that coming, did ya?" My eyes grew wide, as did several of our group mates'. Before we could ask any questions - like, "wait, you're *that* Hoshino?!" - Akira continued. "But that doesn't mean you should treat me any differently! In fact, I'm not exactly on good terms with my parents right now, so I'm just a regular girl like anyone else. I'm actually probably the most broke one here until I start getting gigs." Even despite this sad and heartbreakingly familiar news, she still managed to keep her radiant aura about her. "Ah, but enough about that! When it comes to performing I pride myself on my dancing more than anything else. I took some lessons as a kid and even joined some street crews when I was in middle school. I even got tons of pointers from a real pro I used to know! It was thanks to one of the street performances that I was scouted by I MY ME after I'd given up on any label letting me sign up, so I'm really grateful for what they taught me! And… ahuh… Is that good enough for an introduction?"

    Megumi, who was running things right now by our silent agreement, nodded sagely and Akira breathed a sigh of relief. "Yes, I believe that will suffice. Thank you, Ms. Hoshino. I look forward to getting to know you as well as I've gotten to know our other friends. Now," She turned her attention to Anette, who was caught in the middle of eating a chicken drumstick. "What about you, Ms. Chanel? That name is French, yes?"

    Anette scrambled to chew her bite and drained her cup of water before she could answer Megumi's question. She chuckled a bit before starting. "Oui! I'm incredibly interested in French culture and love every little thing about it! My goal as an idol extraordinaire is to save up enough to live in Paris and immerse myself fully. But… The truth is that I've only been booked for a few small jobs so far. Mostly comedic sketches."

    "Actually," the tiny girl next to Anette interjected, "Anette is probably the funniest prankster you'll ever meet! Don't let her innocent act fool you. One night, she snuck into our room with a whole bottle of baby powder and her melodica-"

    "Yume!" Anette shouted at the top of her lungs, clapping a hand over her friend's mouth in protest. "Non! Don't tell them that!" She sighed and acted angry, but she was smiling the entire time. "I guess the cat is out of the sack. I was going to wait and surprise you all later, but my sense of humor is magnifique. It's amazing these two have stuck with me for this long with how much I've messed with them!"

    "Awww. Anette, that's cuz we always get you back!" Akira gave her friend a playful head rub and, while she was distracted, stole the slightly bitten piece of chicken off of her plate. All Anette did was blush in embarrassment, momentarily silenced.

    "Then, Ms. Chanel, am I to understand that you aren't actually French? How did you come to have a French name?"

    "It's her stage name!" Yume excitedly answered for her friend, who was now looking at her plate in confusion. "But she's gone by it since she was little. It's what she goes by with everyone, even at home. If she's *not* answering to Anette then there's a problem."

    "Oui. My parents gifted me the name Chizuru Anami, but Chizuru is très boring and a menace. You must never awaken Chizuru." Akira and Yume both laughed as Anette mimed being some sort of monster, taking swipes with imaginary claws at each of them before grabbing her chicken back from Akira's plate. "But as long as she is fed good food, Chizuru is happy to remain asleep, and you shall have Anette."

    "Thank you for being forthcoming." Megumi smiled directly across the table at Junko, who narrowed her eyes slightly in return. "It's a pleasure to meet you as well, Ms. Ana-"

    ***"Non!"*** Both girls on either side of Anette shouted loudly, interrupting Megumi, who froze wide eyed.

    "Um, you'd better call her Ms. Chanel!" Akira added. Anette chuckled to herself as she gnawed on the drumstick.

    "Please forgive me, *Ms. Chanel*. And how about you, Ms. Zhou? Would you be so kind as to introduce yourself as well?"

    "Of course. Nihao, everyone! If you couldn't guess, I was born in China and lived there for a lot of my life, but I moved to Japan a while ago to live with my mother for rehabilitation after I was in an accident. Don't worry though! I'm alright now. I used to be a gymnast, but I crashed my bike and broke my right leg pretty badly. It's healed just fine for nearly anything I want to do, but it'll never be as strong as it needs to be to compete professionally anymore, so I decided to stay here to keep my mind off of it. That's how I found out about idols! I took up dancing and figured this was the best way to get better at it! So let's all do our best, okay?"

    "That's really inspiring!" Dam-Bi even applauded slightly. "Do you think you could teach me some Mandarin? I know a little but not much! I love learning new languages! I could teach you some Korean in return!" Her eyes sparkled at the thought of having a new buddy to talk to in something other than Japanese.

    "Of course! It'll be nice getting to practice with someone new."

    "And what about you, Anette? Could you teach me French?"

    "Oui! That means yes. My French is très incroyable. Magnifique!" Anette proudly raised her chin as she answered, somehow missing the two girls next to her shaking their heads. Dam-Bi giggled and left the topic at that.

    "Well now that everyone knows each other, we can all work together, right?" I raised my voice to try to talk over the chatter that was starting to fill the table, but it wasn't enough. Everyone was nearly done eating and, with the introductions over, had moved on. I couldn't be too annoyed though. The new girls were a great fit - their Interluniumeyness scores were off the charts - and that's way better than having everyone listen to me.

    "Hey! Have you girls heard the big rumor yet? About the ghost?!" Dam-Bi addressed the girls around her most directly, but everyone quieted down a little when they heard the word "ghost".

    "A ghost?!" Shouted Chiyo, her voice nearly cracking. Several of the rest of us echoed her alarm until Dam-Bi continued.

    "Yeah! The one that's been seen around the dorm at night. A bunch of girls have seen it!"

    None of the girls seemed to have any idea what the fashionista was talking about. I didn't have any clue either. Some of the younger girls swiveled their heads to look around the common area cautiously. They stopped once Megumi again took control of the room.

    "Ah yes. I assume, Ms. Han, that you're referring to what some of our dorm mates are calling the 'handsome dormitory ghost', are you not?" Most everyone gasped. If someone as smart as Megumi knows about the ghost then *it has to be true.* "It's said that on particularly dark nights, girls walking through the halls after lights out have witnessed a tall, handsome young man in the dorm. Some of the braver girls have even tried to speak to him, but to no avail."

    "B-But ghosts aren't real, right?" Chiyo squealed loudly.

    "Yeah! It's probably just some creep who works in the offices upstairs." Akira tried to reassure her new friend, though with mixed results, as the thought of that didn't strike Chiyo as all that much better.

    "A c-creep?"

    My roommate in particular was spooked by that theory, saying loudly, "I think that would actually be worse…"

    "Wooooh, who knew we'd have a phantom! Do you think it's a restless spirit? An idol that never debuted? Très spooky!" Anette teased, waving her hands spookily and talking in a deeper voice than normal.

    "There is some photographic evidence. It certainly appears to be some sort of spirit, doesn't it?" Megumi typed on her phone as she addressed us. I wondered where exactly Megumi stores her phone. Do kimonos have pockets?

    The staggered sound of nine other phones going off drew me away from that thought - it'll have to remain a mystery - as she shared the dark, blurry photograph in our group chat. Everyone looked at their phones in silence, trying to make out the phantasmagorical phenomenon.

    "He's kinda hot though, isn't he?" Everyone looked up from their phones to stare at Eimi, who continued, "What?! You can't tell me I'm wrong. You were all thinking it!"

    A few of the girls looked a little uncomfortable - does it make it worse if the ghost is cute? - but most of us returned to scrutinizing the photo. It wasn't a very *good* photo. Even looking from a bunch of different angles it mostly looked like a dark hallway with a vaguely person-shaped blob of not-quite-as-dark-ness in the middle. If this was the only evidence, then it's hard to say that there's even a ghost at all.

    Suddenly, the perfect idea came to me.

    "Why don't we try to catch the ghost ourselves?! It'd be so cool! I've always wanted to meet a ghost!"

    "B-But what if it's an evil ghost…?" Chiyo fretted, massaging her fingers nervously. "I don't want to be haunted by ghosts. I'm already having a hard time falling asleep lately…"

    "Seeing as the ghost has yet to terrorize any of the other girls who claim to have encountered him, I believe it's safe to say that you'll be perfectly fine, Ms. Watanabe." Megumi consoled her junior, patting her on the head awkwardly. "I'm sure Ms. Mitsuboshi knows adequate protective spiritual techniques as well, just in case." Kanon cocked her head, confused at being dragged into the conversation, then nodded her head "yes" as soon as Chiyo turned and looked at her, making her roommate look much more relieved.

     "It'll be fine." Eimi insisted. "I'm interested in meeting this guy too. This could be good publicity for the group, you know." She remained focused on her phone, squinting and holding it close to her face.

    Eimi's enthusiasm caused Dam-Bi to snicker from the other end of the table. "Wow. Who knew that our Eimi was so h-".

    Whatever she had been trying to say got cut off by the blonde interrupting vehemently and loudly, "Don't you DARE finish that thought!" Several of the girls broke out into laughter as Eimi turned a darker shade of red.

    "If we're done poking fun at Ms. Inagawa's proclivities, if we are to attempt a solution to this mystery I think it's best that we split up into groups in order to efficiently cover more ground." Even though I'm the leader I continued to let Megumi create our plan, because Megumi knows *everything*, and everything obviously includes how to catch a ghost, so letting her share that is the most leaderly thing I can do right now. "It's obvious that Ms. Hanazawa, Ms. Inagawa, and Ms. Hoshino should be our 'capture team'. They're the most interested and the most active amongst us, after all. The second team will handle reconnaissance, and will attempt to help locate and contain the ghost. I propose it be comprised of Ms. Han, Ms. Chanel, Ms. Shimamura…" She paused and gazed across the table at my roommate, who shook her head, before continuing, "Ms… Junko, and myself."

    Megumi stopped and looked at the remaining girls - our three tiniest members overall - and tried to figure out their role in our adventure.

    "You know…" Yume chimed in, "I think we'll be the reserve team. You guys can do all the spooky stuff and we'll stay at my room as a home base and play *Capsule Girls*. If anyone gets too scared or needs a snack they can come play with us for a while. Sound good?" She looked to Chiyo and Kanon, who both nodded vigorously in agreement, relieved to be off of ghost hunting duty. "And if the ghost comes to our room we'll play videogames with it until the capture team arrives."

    To get everyone's attention I clapped my hands together loudly. "Alright! It's settled then. Tonight we'll have a sleepover and we'll catch the ghost! What are we going to need? Special ghost-handling gloves? A vacuum? Those backpack things that-"

    "Rinko? I have a question…" Kanon raised her hand politely to get my attention. "What do we do with a ghost if we catch one?"

    "I'm glad you asked! I have the perfect idea." Everyone stared at me while I kept them waiting in suspense for maximum impact. "We ask it to join Interlunium!"

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