Chapter 10

# Chapter Ten - "What's Wrong With These Girls"

### Eimi

    "Hey Eimi! Long time no see! I'm looking forward to appearing with you!" An annoying, grating voice got on my nerves. I hate sharing a dressing room…

    I kept my eyes closed as my eyeshadow was applied. Maybe if I pretend I didn't hear it, then whatever upstart idols I'm sharing the stage with today will get the hint.

    "In fact, we've all been really looking forward to it!"

    Of course not…

    "Oh, I look forward to it as well! You girls are the Interlunium group, yeah? What an interesting name! My producer mentioned you!" My makeup was finished, so the artist gave me a tap on the shoulder. I opened up my eyes and took a look at these so-called idols I'd be working with today. It took me a second, but these two girls are definitely familiar…. "Oh? So *you're* the group I'm sharing the spotlight with? Guess I've got nothing to worry about."

    I laughed as I walked straight toward the door. This may actually almost be fun.

    "Oh, and by the way," I flashed a smile that could melt your heart, "You look like you've gained a bit of weight, Ringo! You should pay better attention to your figure!"

    The annoying girl just grinning like an idiot was the last thing I saw before I slammed the door behind me. Can she not even recognize an insult when she hears one?

    "Action in five... four... three..." The man directing the stage gestured the last two numbers with his fingers. The warmth of the lights was something I've always found comforting. Even as a kid, I was never more at home than when everyone's attention was focused on me. I thrive on it. I *need* it, like most people need water, and I've never gone thirsty. Not once. Because I'm, quite frankly, amazing.

    That's not a boast, or an exaggeration, or even hyperbole. It's the honest truth. There's no one - *no one* - who can hold a candle to me. Not their voice, not their moves, and absolutely, positively, definitely not their looks. And anyone who tries to get between me and the spotlight is in for a really, really bad time.

    Like these losers who think they're good enough to even share a soundstage with me.

    Watching the most annoying of the five girls, she looked like she had blanked out from the pressure. She was going through the motions like a robot. She wasn't even doing a good job *smiling!* Come on!

    "So, Ms. Rinko Hanazawa! You're the leader of Interlunium, the new supergroup from I MY ME! I heard from my sources that you guys don't have all your members yet. Is that true?" She perked up, finally looking like she was actually here, smiling playfully at the host. Not the absolute worst acting I've ever seen, but still utterly atrocious.

    "That's correct! One of our members couldn't be here today due to a… family obligation! But we're also waiting on one more girl to respond to our offer!" She looked directly at me and made a stupid little wave - the ***nerve*** - causing the audience to cheer. Don't drag me into this!

    The host was surprised, acknowledging the less-than-subtle nod the annoying brunette had given me.

    "Oh, well isn't that exciting! Looks like we nearly have the whole group here then! What, a, shame!" The audience laughed at his juvenile attempt at a gag, more so at his inflections than the dumb joke he was attempting to make.

    *Hack. I bet he's a perv, too.*

    The female host took over - *at least she's HALFWAY competent* - moving onto the next member of this little trainwreck, the pink haired freak.

    "Well, moving on to Ms. Junko! Oooh you're the mysterious type, aren't you? I can tell just by looking at you! Will you please come to the front of the stage?" The pink wannabe stood up confidently - though I couldn't even hazard a guess as to why - and walked to the host, at least managing that most minor of tasks without falling over her own feet.

   After a series of boring questions and a few small events, during which the losers were made to jump through hoops for the idiot crowd, the show was *finally* close to ending. Ignoring Rinko's glances took almost as much effort as the rest of the gig - why are you so *obsessed* with me? - but I did notice, during breaks in shooting, that the unfamiliar members of this group weren't looking at me with the same sort of attitude as the brunette and her rosé-furred attack dog.

    This was a tad confusing. I had intentionally treated her so incredibly poorly - how else could I be expected to get my point across?! - and yet, she didn't share that with her other group members? The brunette I could understand. She was annoyingly persistent in her delusion, but the pink one?

    *They must just be that desperate.*

*As if.*

    The hosts rudely began speaking again, ambushing me and catching me off guard.

    "Yes, yes, yes, yes, now is time for our final event! We're going to have a tandem rock climbing competition!" All the girls jumped and looked around, betraying that this was their first time on this kind of set. If I were capable of such a pathetic display, I would have been embarrassed for them, especially the way their jaws dropped as the back wall of the set parted to reveal the rock wall that had been set up in advance. "The girls have to go change to prepare, and then we'll let them pick groups of two! In the meantime, please enjoy the commercial break!"

    The other girls were rushed off stage - a herd of cats would have been more coordinated - and told to change as quickly as they could. By the looks they were exchanging they hadn't anticipated anything like this. I managed to beat any of them with a quick change, something I'd practiced hundreds of times for my act, despite the thoroughly infuriating feeling of beady little sets of eyes watching me undress.

    "Hey! Mind your own business!"

    *Oh, they're sooo jealous.*

    Stretching for the impending skit, I took the opportunity to covertly sneak a good look at the "competition". Their leader Ringo… Rinko? Whatever! Their leader is, obviously, nothing special. Maybe - if I were the kind of person who was inclined to be charitable - I would say that she does possess a certain charisma, but honestly I found it more annoying than anything. Her eyes weren't entirely awful, and it was obvious that she had practiced her smile extensively - if so inclined, I could possibly admit that it was her singular feature which wasn't completely gross - but there was little else for her to be proud of.

    *Emphasis on "little".*

*Hah!*

    The other member I had encountered was also thoroughly unimpressive - an average idol, at best - and I found little about her that was worth being worried about. Weird hair colors are so last season, anyway.

    Of the other three girls, only two were at all familiar to me, and only in passing. The girl changing into the purple athletic wear was a moderately successful new idol. Nowhere near the success I'd attained, but she was, by her reputation, at least basically competent. How she'd been suckered into being a part of this debacle I could never guess. The long-haired brunette, I'm pretty sure, was in some of my classes. She was supposed to be a big deal once upon a time but completely flopped and really wasn't worth paying attention to after that, so she was always just sort of there, wisely making herself as indistinct as possible. Once she pulled on her athletic top she looked directly at me and smiled, winking her right eye. Infuriated, I figured out what must be wrong with her - she can't read social cues ***at all!*** - and surveyed the only remaining "competition". The short haired girl actually had a look that could take her far if the current trends held up. The androgynous look is in this season - though not as much as cuteness, obviously - and you could say that her timing to enter the world of idoldom couldn't have been better. At least it would have been if she hadn't hitched her career to this travesty. At a glance she seemed fairly normal. Cute enough, in pretty good shape, and younger too - the audience would probably eat up me helping out a junior girl - but she already looked tired and she'd barely done anything.

    Make no mistake, there was obviously *something* seriously wrong with her to end up a part of that group. Her defects just weren't nearly as glaring as with the rest of them.

    Having a minute or three left at most until we were herded back on stage, I had a choice to make.

    *Which of these losers will make me look the best?*

  \_\_\_\_

# Chapter Navigation

* Next Chapter
* Previous Chapter
* Back to Contents