Reina left the break room of the studio long before the afterparty had ended.
Before exiting the building, she took a moment to look at the wall of photos featuring Idol Talk Live’s guests over the years. They were arranged chronologically, meaning farther down the hallway and closer to the practice rooms would be where the newer images were. In a week or so, the group picture taken shortly after today’s show had ended would be the newest addition to the collection.
Every guest for today was included in the picture, with Ryoma’s band on the left, the NeoStars girls in the middle, and another group she hadn’t heard of on the right. Kevin Nagisa and today’s special guest host kneeled down in the center, smiling.
Reina’s hands held onto the straps of her book bag as she looked for an image on the wall with her face on it. It helped that they all included the date of airing, which allowed the golden-haired idol to find the one capturing her last appearance. It was dated half a year ago when she appeared as part of her last production company for the show’s Christmas special. She had on a red dress with her hair styled similarly to how she wore it today, although it was slightly shorter back then.
Later down the hall, she found herself again. She was fourteen, once again standing next to Ryoma and the members of his band. When she was with SuperSound, they had her wearing a light-blue idol dress with a big fluffy skirt. Her hair was tied into two low pigtails hanging over her shoulders. It was one of the cuter looks a company had tried to give her, although being reminded of her time there made her want to leave.
On the way out of the building, she completely ignored taking a look at the other two or three times her face was featured in the studio’s hallways. She had already changed out of her stage outfit after today’s group photo was taken, so there was nothing left for her to stay for.
Her housemaid Chiyoko was waiting for her at the parking lot. She held open the door for Reina to enter the car before entering herself.
“How was your experience today, Miss Reina?” her housemaid asked.
“Abysmal,” Reina responded.
“If anything, you looked very composed during your interview.”
“I really wanted to perform today,” Reina sighed. She looked out of the window as her housemaid left and drove away from the studio. It was already night, but her fellow unit members most likely wouldn’t leave until the party was completely over.
She wanted to sing her first image song with 765 Productions for thousands to view and have this performance help establish a new image of herself for the public.
Regrettably, that didn’t happen. Instead, she split time with the other idols and didn’t even have more than five minutes for herself in the limelight. Then there was the selection for who would represent their unit, which was decided by whoever could raise their hands the fastest and by who knew the most trivia about the company.
The latter was essentially decided by whoever was the biggest fangirl, and Reina lost because she didn’t know the song of an idol whose music she didn’t listen to.
Even after the setlist was decided, Akari decided to give up her time so Hana could perform. It didn’t matter how well the pink-haired crybaby did in the end. The opportunity to shine was equally Reina’s, and she hadn’t even been given consideration by her fellow unit members if she still wanted to perform or not.
“Are you hungry?” Chiyoko asked her.
“Not particularly, I ate a little during the afterparty,” Reina lied. She wanted to change the subject of the conversation. “Was anyone at the studio today? From my family, I mean.”
The housemaid shook her head. “Unfortunately, not this time.”
“I should’ve expected that to be the case,” Reina said. She wasn’t able to look at the audience due to focusing on her interview, so she wanted to know if there was anyone who had made it to see her.
“Maybe one day they’ll be there for you when one of them isn’t busy.”
“They’re always busy.”
The rest of the car ride home was relatively uneventful. Chiyoko was the safest driver Reina had ever been with, which allowed her to peacefully listen to music as she started working on her latest blog update.
“Thank you for driving me home,” Reina said as they entered the house. Unlike most times when the two of them came home after practice or a performance, the lights inside were already turned on.
“Before you go to your room, your father wants to see you,” her housemaid responded while they took off their shoes. “He said he would like to meet you in his personal study.”
“That’s interesting, he’s never in there.”
“You probably shouldn’t keep him waiting, then.”
“Is anyone else home?”
“Just the three of us.”
“I see,” Reina responded. She set her book bag down and started walking up the stairs. “I’ll go see him, then.”
The only thing illuminating the upstairs hallway came from the end of it, where Reina’s father had his study. The door was closed, so she was only able to see the light coming out of the bottom of it before she turned on the ceiling lights. Usually, the only times she spoke with her father was either on the phone or at his company’s office. The fact that he was home today was a complete surprise.
Reina was met with the stern face of a man in his mid-forties sitting down at the table in the middle of the room. He was still wearing an expensive tailored suit and tie, although his suit jacket was currently folded and hanging over one of the other chairs. A steaming, half-full pot of coffee was between them, along with two mugs, sweetener, and creamer.
The two of them were surrounded with bookshelves filled with CD’s, Blu-ray discs of concerts, and awards her siblings had won. She had a few shelves with her accomplishments on it, too, but her older siblings had much longer careers than she did. Naturally, she had the least items on display.
“It’s quite rude to enter without knocking,” her father said to her. He poured himself coffee from the pot. His chestnut hair had more gray in it than she last remembered.
“Hello father,” Reina responded. She sat down in one of the chairs opposite him. “For what do I owe the pleasure of seeing you tonight? I would have thought you’d be visiting your mistress today.”
Mister Fukuyama gave her a warm smile, his blue eyes meeting with hers. “I finished my work early today, so I figured I would go home and catch up with my daughter.”
“Is she mad at you today?”
“We’re taking a break, but that’s unrelated to this conversation,” her father responded curtly. He motioned to the coffee pot. “Feel free to have a drink while we talk.”
“No thank you. I’m afraid it’s too late to be having caffeine.”
“I agree, that’s why I brewed a pot of decaf.”
Reluctantly, Reina leaned forward to pour herself something to drink.
“I’m told you made a television appearance today,” her father said to her.
“I’m told you weren’t there to see me,” Reina responded quickly. She took a sip from her mug before deciding to add more sweetener to it. “You’ve brewed better coffee before this.”
“Considering your lack of a performance tonight, I didn’t miss anything.”
“Is that why you’re here, to gloat?”
“I’m here to discuss how my daughter is squandering her talents at another company.”
“I believe you’re forgetting the only reason I’m no longer with yours is that you fired me five years ago.”
Her father sighed. “I’ve already apologized for that. You need to move past this and return so we can properly utilize the talent you’ve developed since.”
“I’m perfectly fine at my current company,” Reina said.
“You’re content with your unit, full of amateurs?” her father asked. “A beginner and a girl who couldn’t sing until today?”
Reina wanted to defend the two, but she was still upset with them about not discussing with her the change in performers. Still, her unit was part of her public image.
“At least with your last companies, you were able to have a solo concert in the amount of time you’ve spent at this one,” her father continued. “Why did you even decide on 765 Productions, to begin with?”
Reina took a deep breath before replying. She didn’t want to lose her composure in front of him. “If I remember correctly, then my current company actually won more awards than yours last year. I’m sure you’ll see better results from my unit once we have our first concert in a few months.”
“You’re seventeen,” her father responded. “You need to think about how to properly use your time before you start becoming too old in the public eye.”
“I’ll be fine, thank you for the concern.”
“You’re acting selfishly, as usual.”
“I’m not,” Reina said quickly.
“You need to think about how you’re going to affect the family reputation in the long-term. If you continue to be unsuccessful in your career, then it’s going to-”
He stopped talking and put up his index finger to show her he was putting a pause on the conversation. He took his phone out of his pants pocket to answer it. “Good evening. No, I’m not busy at the moment.”
Reina put her mug down and stood up to leave the room.
“One moment,” her father moved his phone away from his face. “Stay. This conversation isn’t over.”
“I beg to differ,” the golden-haired idol responded. “Goodnight.”
She closed the door without looking behind herself.
Her room was on the other end of the hallway, but she was sure she’d still be able to hear the business talk from there. She walked downstairs for some alone time, seeing her cat already asleep in his living room bed. She went to the dining room instead, where the light was already turned on.
Chiyoko was nowhere to be seen, but there was a plate of freshly-sliced tiramisu on the table. When she sat down to eat it, she found there was a note written on the napkin under her spoon.
“To cheer you up,” the note read.
Reina gave a silent thanks as she started to eat. With her free hand, she took out her phone to see if she was missing anything from the after-party.
The official 765 Productions blog had already been updated to show the group photo taken around an hour ago. Tae’s social media accounts had some selfies with her and the other girls. Reina frowned after seeing one of the pictures was of her caught off-guard, but there was nothing she could do about it now that it was posted. She felt surprisingly glad to have been included in the first place.
Looking at her notifications, she had a few new requests that weren’t there when she checked them hours ago. At the top of the list was one that she wasn't expecting at all.
Kanagawa Hana would like to add you.
The bubblegum-pink idol must have recently reactivated her account because her picture looked like it was over a year old.
Reina sighed before accepting the request. If the two of them would be in a unit for the foreseeable future, then they at least had to appear friendly in the eye of social media. If Akari ever did the same, then she probably would have had to accept, too.
“Good work today,” Reina wrote to Hana. “Let’s hope that you can do this more often.”
