Bonus Chapter - A Pastel Sunrise

### Erika

    "You heard right! We're the hottest group you're ever gonna see! Interluniwho? Eimi Inaga-huh? Never heard of 'em! It's our time to shine!" A girl with a lewdly full figure and two long, high pigtails shouted directly into the camera, then flashed a confident, haughty smile.

    "Come to our big debut and let us show you what we've got! You haven't seen half of what I MY ME has in store for you. We can't wait for you to support us, so let's all do our best!" A well built, slightly taller girl struck a pose for the camera, her left hand flashing a peace sign. Unlike her group mate's bright bottle blonde this girl is a brunette, save for a single streak of pale bubblegum pink to the right of her face. She's shaking a little, but overall she handled it well, keeping her eyes fixed on the cameraman and never letting her warm smile waver.

    "Y-Yeah! Let's rock everyone!" A third girl bounced on her heels excitedly, pumping her hand in the air with her pinky and forefinger extended.

    "You'd better watch out, Interlunium, because your rivals are finally on the scene. The sun is rising! Hope we're not too bright for ya! I'm Asa Asakura!" The blonde pointed her finger directly at the camera before swinging it high above her head, her ample bosom jiggling far longer than any proper idol's should, though that's less her fault than whomever designed their costumes.

    "My name's Minori Takagi!"

    "And I'm Aoi Yoshioka!"

    **"We're the Sunrise Girls! Come bask in our heat!"**

    The three young idols stood in the center of the camera in careful formation, their arms stretched out to form the shape of a rising semicircle around them. They'd given a short interview with the middle-aged host while his younger co-host went off to prep the next segment and had wasted no time in hyping themselves up. Their outfits are cute, even though they're pretty standard idol fare, and their pink and yellow color scheme is pretty, but that last part?

    That cannot be true!

    "What do they mean they're Interlunium's rivals?! We've already claimed it. Can they just do that? I've never even heard of any of them from Dam-Bi before. Who are these girls?" Song-sama was confused by their proclamation, as were we all.

    "Yeah, and they're part of the same agency. Why would they go after their own company like that? I can't imagine their script was approved by management. They're probably going to get an earful." Akiyama-sama was just as perplexed, albeit from a different angle.

    "That's not fair! ***We're*** their nemeses! Rinko-neesan even agreed and everything. They're just making stuff up…"

    "M-Maybe it's just some kind of marketing thing… You know, to get some publicity before their debut…" Looking around, Ai-chan obviously hoped someone would agree with her, but we were all really annoyed at the nerve of these girls, even if she was probably right. I grabbed the remote from her and clicked off the television.

    "What about the physical challenge? Come on…" Song-sama complained. "That's the best part, and they're kind of cute. Doesn't this make us their rivals too, or… No, wait. The rivals of our rivals are… Aren't we supposed to be friends with them now?"

    "The rivals of our nemeses are *our nemeses*. That's the transitive property. It's how it works. We'll need to crush them, not fawn over them, no matter how cute they are!" I squeezed the cardboard carton of strawberry milk I'd just finished and threw it across the room, sending it hurtling perfectly into the center of the waste bin. It was very intimidating, naturally. "They didn't even ask for permission, so they get no mercy."

    "Don't we need to actually, you know…" Peterson-sama finally weighed in with her opinion. It was one that most of us shared. "We've trained for months and still don't have a debut planned, and now idol groups are popping up everywhere. Our shtick may not even be relevant by the time we do at the rate we're going. Are we even idols, or just wannabes?"

    "It's not quite that simple. We never actually completed all of the…"

    "Mariya, so what? It's just paperwork. And that's your fault anyway. You said you were on top of it but Meiko was slacking off. We're ready. We've been ready. Even I'm ready, and I barely knew what idols were when we started. What's taking them so long? We should be out there spreading magic and love. It's time. We're good! Right? Aren't we actually pretty good?"

    "Well, Daddy just feels that if we're really trying to compete with some of the groups that have debuted recently that it should be done strategically. He didn't expect Erika-chan and I to try and force a loophole in our contracts. If Starsphere is going to try to compete in that part of the market, he's not sure a five girl group is the way to start. He's told the marketing team to look into it, and it sounds like they may want to add a few more girls. So he's ordered Meiko to-"

    "What? No way! We don't need more girls. I'd have to redo all the choreography, you'd have to redo your orchestrations, and not to mention that Ai's costume ideas were made *specifically* for us. They can't just do that to us after all the hard work we've put in, can they? The five of us are ready to go. I've been ready since I was thirteen! What's the point of waiting even longer?"

    "I agree. I mean, the five of us have gotten really good! We don't need anyone else. I'm not even sure I'd be any good if we made a bunch of changes all of a sudden. I never thought I'd be an actual dancer, but I've gotten good at it when it's with you guys! We've got moves!" Peterson-sama stood up and did a twirly spin from our choreography. She had a point.

    "I… I agree… We're perfect how we are. It would be different if it was someone we were all friends with, but there's nobody like that with the company. Pastel Project is the five of us. That's how it's always been… Wh-Who would they even add?" Even Ai-chan spoke up against Mariya, and she *never* does that, cuz they're best friends.

    "I don't disagree, guys. I want to debut too. I'm just saying that there's only so much I can do about it. It's one thing to pull weight with Meiko when it comes to reserving rehearsal space and ordering costume materials, but actually planning a debut needs a real producer to sign off on it, and as much as I pretend I don't have the kind of pull you need to rent out an entire venue… I'm just letting you know what I've been told. We just need to be patient and hope that-"

    "Well I won't do it!” I shouted loudly enough to stop everyone's quibbling in its tracks. "It's in my contract. I don't have to take on any project that I feel will negatively impact my brand, and diluting my cuteness with more girls will definitely have a negative impact. Five girls is the biggest group I'm willing to be in right now, and it has to be with my four best friends or I'm not gonna do it! That's my bottom line. I won't be an idol with anyone else but you four."

    *Not when I finally have friends. I won't let us get split up. I'll fight until Akiyama-shachou gives in. No matter what!*

    I had to fight back the icy grip of panic as I wrestled with what it would mean to have to give up on Pastel Project. I quickly pulled myself together, and even gave them all the patented Horie pout for good measure to prove I'm serious. "Not even Koko could make me. We're going to debut together, and soon. I promise."

    "Could that actually work? Erika's the best idol the company has. At least I'm pretty sure she will be. If she refuses to perform with anyone else, wouldn't that basically make them have to agree to it?”

    "Correction, Tae-chan. We're the *five* best idols the company has. I helped train you all myself, but none of you needed more than a firm nudge to get there. There may be some girls who are better at singing ***or*** dancing ***or*** posing, but there aren't any with the agency who are better at doing ***all of those***. Even Ai-chan has become perfect. We've been ready to debut for at least five days now, by my estimations, which means we're losing critical time. In my opinion, Akiyama-shachou is risking violation of my contract by not specifically approving or disapproving my current project. This is just a legal fact."

    "A-Are you sure you'd want to say that?" A sputtered torrent of concern left Ai-chan's mouth.

    "Yeah, isn't that the nuclear option? What if he stops thinking about it and just says no? What would even happen? We'd be back to just modeling, right?" Kohaku-chan was concerned, but I had a trump card.

    "It's how business gets done. Koko always says that it's the talent's job to convince the director that what they *really* want is what you feel like doing, no matter what it is. And what I want is for us to debut together A-Ess-A-Pee! I'm not going to let anyone else say they're Rinko-neesan's nemesis but me! If Akiyama-shachou wants a giant idol group it's too late to do it with us. He can get a different group of girls together to make a mega group. I'll even help train and promote them to make them a success if he wants. But there are only *five pastels*. If he won't agree to it then I can hold my breath and reject every job that comes my way until I turn eighteen, even if it would upset Koko. Contracts are only valid so long as they're serving both parties. Horie Rule of Business number Three."

    "Erika-chan, are you sure? Isn't that kind of, you know, sneaky? It's a part of the business, but hasn't Daddy been good to you?" As expected, Mariya-sama didn't understand the difference between loyalty to the company and company loyalty. But she's always been on only one side of the negotiations. She doesn't know any better…

    "Yeah, you could get pretty much anything you want. You could be just like Rinko, dancing center with a ton of cute idols around you. I'm happy that you're so enthusiastic about us, but I'd feel bad if you sold yourself short. Maybe you should think about it? Don't you think you might regret it later?" Tae-chan tried to object. Of course she did. She's a big softie when it comes to me, even if she won't admit it. This is how things have to be though.

    "I don't want a ton of idols. I want to debut with my best friends, and I want to do it right away, before Interlunium gets too popular and we don't stand a chance! I'm going to talk to Akiyama-shachou first thing tomorrow. He'll need to agree. Either Pastel Project debuts within the month, or I'm never going to debut as an idol for Starsphere. I pinky promise."

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