SG Chapter 1

# Chapter 1 - Rejection

### Minori

    A scream filled the small practice room on the seventh floor of the dormitory, startling the two of us inside the room who had nothing to do with it. After exchanging a long, awkward glance with my friend Aoi, I was wordlessly nominated as the one who'd have to see what was going on. Honestly I would have been happy to ignore it and just sneak out, but our workout bags are over on the other side of the room from which the scream emanated. I took a few steps toward the other side of the rehearsal space and put forward a polite question of concern for the girl who was continuing to rage in the corner.

    "Are… Are you okay?" I narrowly dodged a high heeled dance shoe that was lobbed in my direction, accompanied by another cry of dissatisfaction. It managed to hit my friend Aoi - still sitting nervously on a blue safety mat - in the thigh, though by then it had lost most of its momentum and fell flat on the ground next to her chair. I think it may actually be one of Aoi's shoes…

    "I… I-I think m-maybe she got turned away too…" My small friend finally spoke, though her braveness was met with a slightly intimidating glare from across the room.

    "I can't believe it… After all that practice! They didn't even-! AHHHGH!!!" The source of the shrieking - a blonde girl who had apparently met the same fate as Aoi and I at the auditions - punctuated her frustrations by slapping the palm of her hand repeatedly against the flimsy movable wall, making it shake back and forth on its track.

    "We didn't get past Eimi either. We wanted to audition with one of her songs, but that turned out to be a bad idea. She wasn't very happy about it…" I approached the situation delicately, talking just loud enough to be heard and keeping my hands up in the air, just like you see in nature documentaries. At least I hope that the same tactics will work on the curvy blonde gorilla currently making a mess of the place…

    "Eimi!" She knocked over a chair, "Inagawa?", followed by a stack of practice mats, "Sucks!", and finally kicked one of the sprawl of gym bags that had been pushed in the corner so people had space to warm up before their 'auditions.' Not that anyone seems to have actually gotten one, at least not so far as I can tell. Thankfully, her frustrations were being worked out on a red bag that was neither the baby blue bag Aoi uses nor the pale pink one I carry, but I had a feeling it probably wasn't hers either. A bunch of girls had all used this room to get warmed up, and we were in roughly the middle of the entire process. A couple girls had already come and gone without any better luck than we had, and the last girls were down the hall right now, probably being dressed down by Eimi as we speak. Aoi had felt so bad that she suggested we wait around in case any of the other girls took it even worse than we had and needed someone to talk to.

    We, um, hadn't predicted this sort of reaction…

    "Y-Yeah… She k-kind of does… Suck, I mean…" Aoi tried to get in on it, but was still so timid in the face of this stranger that it came out quiet and stuttered. She was still loud enough to be heard by the angry blonde though, who snickered slightly, finally stopping her rampage in favor of stationary indignation.

    "And Dam-Bi? Agh! I can't believe she acts so nice but then she did that! Why did I even want to join that stupid group in the first place?! They have one good concert and they turn into a bunch of divas! Well forget them! I didn't want to join that crummy group anyway…"

    "Dam-Bi only showed up right at the end of our meeting with Eimi. She's usually super nice in class. Maybe Eimi's just in charge and so they have to do what she says? She is the most famous, right?" Dam-Bi and I actually go to the same school, and since Kikyo only runs two idol courses we all get split up regardless of grade, so we have most of our arts classes together. She always has - for real - always been really nice to me, so it's extra hard imagining her acting like Eimi just had. But Eimi always seemed so nice too, so maybe Dam-Bi ***is*** just as bad sometimes and is really good at hiding it at school.

    Regardless of whether or not that's true, I'm still really glad that I'm not in the *other* idol course. That one has Eimi in it, and she didn't even try to be nice…

    "She said… Well I dunno what she said! It was in Korean, but it sounded really really nasty! And they already have a blonde? Yeah, if you can count that fake dye job as blonde!" I started to giggle but choked it back down. I didn't think she was actually being serious, since she's really obviously not a natural blonde herself. I mean, she looks like she raided Eimi's closet and makeup case to prepare for the audition, but there's no way her hair is naturally that color any more than mine is pale pink…

    "That's awful…" My friend had stood up and found the courage to join me in the center of the practice room. At the same time the blonde had gotten closer and closer as we started to engage her and calm her down, but at least she was no longer making a mess. "I've s-seen Rinko and Junko at school plenty of times, but we've always been in different classes so they've never really talked to me. Ex… Except this one time when Rinko sat down at the wrong table at lunch and decided she would stay and insisted she meant to sit there, but she seemed pretty nice then… I'm… I'm Aoi, by the way. Aoi Yoshioka. It's a pleasure to meet you. I just passed my exams last week."

    "I'm pretty sure everyone auditioning just passed their exams last week. Could it have been some kind of prank on the new idols?"

    "Yes! That has to be it! I bet they had no intention of letting anyone into their little group. What a bunch of… ARGH! I hate them!"

    "I'm sure they didn't realize how much it would let us all down… My name is Minori Takagi. It's a pleasure to meet you." While Aoi kept her hands tucked at her side, I extended mine for a handshake. I didn't necessarily want to open myself up to this girl's craziness, but as long as Aoi started it I guess I needed to at least go along and be as polite as a Kikyo girl is expected to be in situations like this. The girl looked at my hand for a moment before she sighed and shook it tightly.

    "I'm Asa Asakura. Remember it, because I'm gonna be ten times as popular as *Eimi Inagawa* soon. Ten times more popular than all of them put together." She said Eimi's name in a mocking whine, as though it were meant to rhyme with something unpleasant. Inagawa, to rhyme with 'scum'. Suddenly her lips curled into a huge, devious looking grin. "Aoi, right? Are you any good?"

    "W-Well, I passed my exams without any real problems, but I've been performing as an amateur in talent competitions ever since I was a first year. That's how I got scouted, but school's kept me busy until now…"

    "I know she seems a little quiet, but once she's onstage she's like a whole other girl. She's big into rock and roll, so she can *scream*."

    "So yer a singer."

    "Visuals are my specialty, actually…" Aoi thrust a fist in the air and gave a little hop, shouting her, uh, catchphrase? "Let's rock!"

    "And whatabout you? Minori, isn't it? You'd be kinda cute without that ugly wig. I kinda see where Eimi was coming from on that one. Weird hair is totally on the way out. Visuals too?"

    "Dance, actually." I responded dryly. I happen to think I'm super cute in my pink wig, so I didn't really appreciate the backhanded compliment. "I make videos where I recreate famous dance routines. That's how I was scouted. One went a little viral and a scout reached out on my channel. I can actually do a really good Eimi"

    "I see, I see. Hmmmmmmmm…" She hummed loudly as her eyes scanned us up and down, then she continued forcefully, as though we were being interrogated. "Who're your producers, huh?"

    "W-Well… You see, w-we haven't…"

    "We haven't been assigned producers yet. We have meetings set up to meet several next week though, so-"

    "Hah!" Asa interrupted me with a loud laugh. "You mean you went all the way through your exams without a single producer snatching you up? All the girls with real talent are already working on their first projects. Yeah, I already have a producer myself too. I really just came to audition for a laugh and cuz, you know, it would've been rude or whatever to stand 'em up. Had to be the bigger idol, y'know?" Her attempt at sounding humble didn't really land, but was it possible there was some truth in what she was saying? It's true that as we went through exams a few of the girls were approached by producers one by one, but it hardly seemed like the standard for how things are done. Sometimes idols go months without finding the right producer for them. It even happened with one of the Interlunium girls… So, just because we haven't found producers yet doesn't mean that we won't find one who wants to work with us soon.

    "I-Is that really how it works?" Aoi was starting to clutch her hands together nervously.

    "Don't worry, Aoi, we're going to-"

    "Yup, that's how it works. HOWEVER!" The blonde paused with that unsettling grin. She seemed to be enjoying keeping us in suspense, and I have to admit that I was getting just a little curious as to where she could possibly be going with this. "How! Ever! You're both in luck! I just happen to have decided right now that I'm going to form my very own group. It makes sense, right? My producer says I'm gonna be the next big thing, and what's the big thing right now?"

    "G-Groups?"

    "Aoi, are you asking me or telling me?"

    "S-Sorry! Groups! Groups are… the big thing…"

    "Thaaat's right! So this was obviously a test by my producer. He said 'Asa, you're gonna be a huge hit!' What else could that have meant other than 'go out there and form a group even better than those Interlunium losers'? Nothin', that's what. Pretty perfect, right? I need a group to showcase how amazing I am, you two wanted to join a group, so it's like fate or whatever. Plus this way you'll have a producer. Really, you're welcome. This is gonna be great. Just watch. We're gonna be bigger than Eimi's fat cow thighs!"

    "R-Really?! You can do that?!"

    "Psh, yeah. Obviously. I've got my producer wrapped around my little finger. What Asa wants, Asa gets. Come on, I bet he's still in his office. He works hard like that, ya know? Real go-getter. Never stops cranking out the hits. You're gonna love him."

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