EE Epilogue

# Epilogue

Junko

    Waiting can be the worst part of doing anything, and today waiting seems to be making up the majority of the day, our producer Lina banishing us to the hallway outside her office while she makes the necessary phone calls and fills in all the paperwork to officially make Yume, Anette, and Akira a part of the group.

    "So we need to do auditions all over again?" Chiyo lamented to her best friend sitting on the carpet beside her.

    "Just to find one more girl…"

    "And what if they audition as a group like me, Akira, and Anette did? We'd have to split them up…"

    "We can't do that! Non. Impossible. Très impossible. Best friends must never be separated."

    The waiting was the worst part, but seeing how the group was already pulling together was the *best* part. Our trio of new members were already fitting in splendidly with everyone. Anette and Yume were off a ways away from everyone else, sitting with their backs against the hallway walls across from Chiyo and Kanon, forming an adorable little gauntlet of tiny idols that needed to be passed by anyone using the hallway. Akira was energetically moving around the hall, acting out for the tenth time her story of how she beat Eimi at laser tag, even though Eimi loudly insists it didn't happen anything like that - though I'm choosing to believe Akira's recollection of events due to their superior gravitas. Finally, after what must have been a good deal longer than was necessary to complete her tasks, Lina let us back into her office.

    "You know there are practice rooms you can go to instead. Why are you always bugging me here?" Typical grumpy Lina.

    "You have better furniture!" Dam-Bi answered as she walked past our producer, grabbing a seat on one of the twin sofas. "Though you may need to request another one. There's too many of us to fit now!"

    "I'm actually thinking of having one removed," deadpanned our producer.

    We all filtered in and took a seat. It was a little cozy, but we made it work. I ended up sandwiched between Rinko and Kanon, which wasn't too bad, until the shortage of seating became critical.

    "Akira! Come and sit here!" Shouted Rinko, far too enthusiastically, bounding up off of the couch and offering her new friend her spot. Akira laughed and sat down with a quick word of thanks, which turned into "awuh?" as Rinko sat back down straddling both our laps, placing an arm around each of our shoulders to keep her balance. "There's not enough seats so we're going to need to sit smart!"

    "R-Rinko!" I shrugged her off and managed to slide down to the floor as quite a few of my group mates laughed. How embarrassing. You can't just sit on someone's lap without any warning… and definitely not on *two* someones….

    "Ms. Nakano, how was your first big modeling gig? Was it a positive experience?" Megumi asked from the other, much less crowded sofa.

    "It was a great experience. I have enough hand cream to last me a lifetime now, but I learned a lot. Though that still isn't my name."

    "We had a great time too! We need to do it again so that you can come!" The redheaded girl behind me exclaimed.

    "I'm not sure that's my kind of…" I turned and looked over my shoulder to respond to my new group mate. Why is Rinko still on her lap, even though I gave up my seat to her? "Actually, I look forward to getting a chance at it. We'll have to go sometime."

    *Maybe Eimi and I could team up…*

    "Excuse me…" A quiet voice accompanied a light knock on the half-opened door. "Would it be alright if I came in? I have something I want to say to everyone."

    "Kazue!" Shouted several voices, and a few of the girls actually jumped up off the couches and ran to the doorway. This must be the girl Rinko wanted to recruit yesterday.

    "Did you come to join our group?!" Shouted Rinko excitedly. She had been incredibly disappointed last night after their outing, even coming back to the room early distraught because she could tell things weren't going her way. Of course, she's Rinko, so things always work out for her in the end somehow…

    "Hello again everyone. I spent some time with some of the younger members of your group yesterday after our trip, and they made some really good points. I did have fun meeting all of you…" Kazue paused for a moment to gather her thoughts, her hands crossing tightly across her chest as she grew less comfortable with twenty-two eyes focusing on her. "I don't know how I would like being an idol, but if you still want me to join, I think I would like to give it a try. I was thinking, maybe we would be a good influence on each other or something…"

    Anette, still standing near the door, raised up on her toes and gave Kazue a gigantic hug, followed by Chiyo. Even Kanon, sitting in the corner of the couch, looked awake and excited at this development. If Kanon vouches for the girl, then that's a good sign that it's a good idea, or at least not a bad one.

    "Yes! Welcome to Interlunium! Lina! This is the girl I told you about! We're going to need to get her a contract, and lessons, and she needs to go through training **RIGHT AWAY!!!**"

    Lina, faced with Rinko's overbearing excitement, merely sighed into her coffee before slowly standing and going to one of the large filing cabinets at the back of her office. A moment later she smacked a manila folder down on her desk.

    "Kazue, darling, please sign on all the lines indicated. Your father asked me to draw this up at the same time he got you your room. You'll notice he's already signed it."

    "That does sound like something dad would do…" The girl placed her signatures on the document and that was that. The easiest idol contract I've ever witnessed.

    "He's going to be thrilled to hear about this, dear. Call him tonight and let him know so he doesn't hear it from someone else, okay? You know how gossip gets around."

    "I will, auntie."

    "Make sure you do. Come by tomorrow and we'll go over all the specifics. Oh, and try to be a good influence on some of these girls while you're at it, and don't pick up too many bad habits. I think they could learn a few things from a sweet girl like you." I held back a smirk as Lina's gaze passed right over me and toward the girls behind me on the couch. "Now everyone, please get out of here again. You've just made even more paperwork for me."

    Outside in the hallway again, all the attention was back on our newest new member. I wanted to introduce myself, but decided it could wait a few minutes. Even Eimi seems okay with what's going on, so I'm sure there's no reason to worry. If this is something that the triangulation of Rinko, Kanon, *and* Eimi can be okay with, then I can't figure out a single reason to be overly concerned. I bet that will never happen again.

    "Kazue! I'm so happy you decided to join! Très incredible!"

    "Welcome to our group, Ms. Ono. I look forward to becoming fast friends."

    "We can finally be the perfect group!" Rinko was perhaps the most excited of everyone. "Eh? Wait! We need to get you past your exams! We can't wait months so we're gonna have to work extra hard! We can only spare, uh, two weeks! No! One week! Dam-Bi can tutor you on dancing, and Junko can help with fashion, and I bet Eimi can-"

    "You don't need to worry about any of that, actually." Kazue interrupted Rinko's erratic long-form planning.

    "Ahuh? Why not?! Every idol has to pass their exams before they can debut. It's I MY ME policy!" Though we were all thinking it, Akira was the one to actually state it out loud very loudly.

    "Dad's always hoped I'd be an idol someday. That's why he made me take those dumb exams when I was thirteen…" We all stared at Kazue in shock. She could have been an idol all this time? She blushed slightly once she realized we were all looking right at her. "I hated them, but I guess they'll finally be useful for something…" As though she had to prove it to us, she took a little spin on the point of her toes and struck a pose, her index and middle finger forming a V shape around her right eye. "So… What exactly do I do now that I'm an idol, anyway?"

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