Chapter 7: A Mission Assigned
MOMO
At some point during my sorta indie freelance gig as a pop idol, one thing led to another… I wound up being a petite model. Sorta. Kinda. This along with occasionally showing up for concerts, and art gigs meant I had plenty of exposure. And so I started drawing online, and my work got known far and wide. I even offered to sell my product, but I found that running my own business has all sorts of tax pitfalls. Like, I was charged as an employer and an employee! Who exactly am I employing if I work for myself? I was just about to call it quits when something happened that changed everything.
I was working on this drawing of a girl with brown hair sitting on a chimney looking mournful and pensive. This was the picture that changed it all, though it certainly helped that I was already kinda famous. The next day, I got this call, "Hey are you Momo Kamui?" That was my stage name, so I nodded. Then I realized I was on the phone, "Oh right. Yes! That's the name I go by!" I heard the voice at the other end of the line ask, "I saw the drawing you made recently and…" I cut him off, "Sorry, it looks like I'm not selling my artwork anymore." The man's voice reassured me, "No, it's not like that! I like your artwork, but I have a different goal in mind. Tell me, have you ever drawn any manga?" I had not, and I told the guy as much. He didn't seem to care, "No matter, we'll get you started right away!" I was flustered at how this man who I had never seen before wouldn't just give up and leave me alone. And then I realized something. While I had dearly liked working as an idol for pop stardom, the experience hadn't made me truly feel anything. I had walled off my heart to avoid further pain, and presented a mask to the world of a woman who was happy and successful, I hadn't been flustered in quite some time. Not since Charlie… One tear dripped down my face, then another, then… "Uwaaaaaaahhh~~!!!" I sobbed away like a little girl, probably freaking out the guy on the other end of the phone.
But then I heard how calm his voice was and I began to calm down. He asked me what was wrong, and I explained how my stupid and irrational feelings decided to act up when something reminded me of my old boyfriend. "Look," he said, "how about we meet over lunch and I'll explain the anime that I want you to help me draw." Wait a second, "Anime? I thought you said manga! That's way harder, what with full color frame-by-frame artwork." He chuckled, "I see we have a lot to talk about! My name is Noah Jordan. Meet me at Starlight Cafe at 9pm. I'll be wearing a blue shirt when we meet in the restaurant."
Starlight Cafe was a typical meatloaf and grilled cheese diner, made from a motor home that had been redecorated. Attempts had been made to make the menu or décor modern, but the owner had staunchly refused, only allowing the two dishes of crabcake and liver and onions to be added to the menu. The salad in particular was something straight out of ages past, a rough chunk of lettuce with dressing dumped on it. Practically nobody under the age of 55 ordered this salad. While looking at the diner I wasn't sure whether I should be in a 1950s film or even a noir era flick. I half-expected everyone to be wearing brown or gray clothes and packing a gun.
I looked around the room. There weren't that many customers tonight, as it was a Tuesday. An old balding man with a dog leashed at his sidesat in the corner. A quick look at his dark glasses told me that he was most likely blind or nearly blind. I doubted he could even see my drawings, since that was definitely a leader dog for the blind. The dog was gnawing on a bony piece of meat that a kind waitress had left. The grill was to that guy's left with a long table stretching across the area. Circling the room from the first guy, There were four small groups of teens at that table, mostly eating burgers with fries and milkshakes. I decided they were too young to be the person I wanted, so I ignored them. In the corner, I saw a woman with short-cropped blond hair, blue blouse and a black skirt with casual heels. Next, there were a pair of men in leather pants that had a hole in the back (yeah, I think they were gay), followed by two women in floral dresses chatting about work and their boyfriends. The entrance was next, so there was a gap in tables, but nobody sat there anyway. There was a draft that blew past every time this entrance was opened. Lastly, there was a logger with a scruffy beard wearing a blue plaid shirt. That had to be the guy, as I definitely heard a man on the phone. I walked towards him, when I heard a whistle above the dull murmur of conversation. Turning around, I saw the gal in the blue blouse waving at me. I walked over, and the woman chatted with me, "Hi there, Momo! Are you ready to talk about making an anime?" Thinking through this quickly and how the woman didn't sound like the person the phone, I decided he must have sent her on his behalf because he was busy. "So, you're his secretary?" I asked. She grimaced and motioned for me to sit down. She then grabbed my right hand and guided it under the table. My eyebrows raised as I felt something that should not be there. Like people in noir films everywhere, she was packing a gun.
"Noah?" I asked. She told me, "That's Noë. But yes, I suppose I still answer to that name." I groaned, "Not again..." Curious, my companion asked me, "Again?" I explained how I knew Gemini for years before moving away to this town, and since then, I had met Coconut from the band as well as Danielle and Marcie from the apartment (I shut Joseph out of my memory). "Why do I attract all these weird men?!?" I cried. Noah humphed at this a little, "You say this Charlie broke you heart? And you rejected all the guys you met like Gemini? Maybe what this is really about is your deciding to go after guys that everyone thinks are normal, and these 'normal' guys are players and jerks." I fumed at this, "I'm not going back to Gemini! That town sucks!" Noah shook her head (dammit, I kept wanting to say 'his' but my brain was telling me different), "I don't expect you to! But listen, you liked Gemini as a good friend but were unwilling to see her as anything more than that, right? So maybe your heart wants someone less like Charlie and more like Gemini, even though your brain tells you that this isn't a normal guy." I got up, preparing to walk toward the door. Noah grabbed my hand. It wasn't the firm grip of a man grabbing his girl to drag her to some place she didn't want to go, though. It was the concerned grip of a girlfriend. She was genuinely worried that I was doing a lot worse than I let on. I sat down again, without her saying a word to stop me. "Okay, no more talking about past guys," I said, "but I will listen to your plans for the future. What's this anime supposed to be called?"
"Magical Princess Minky Momo," she explained, "The premise is that this girl comes from the world of dreams on behalf of her father. And she needs to grant dreams in order to repair the connection of that world. In the process, she can use her magic to transform into an adult and effectively work at jobs for adult women. So we'll want her to work at a bunch of different jobs so we can sell toys." I missed the last part because she mumbled it. Momo, huh? Was it a coincidence that I chose this name for being an idol singer? Or was it a sort of destiny? "I'll do it," I said, "I'll take the job!"
