Hikaru

I was walking along the smooth stone wall, lip synching to my song, just to practice for the MV. I turned the corner, seeing Kaoru’s car pull up to the brick building. I sped up to meet him. When he got out of his navy blue limo, he noticed I was already in my outfit. That was typical. I was always early, on tours, I always overpacked, I was always prepared for everything. His circular glasses were on the tip of his nose, so he pushed them up with his tattooed arm. His outfit included a white shirt with black print stating: SAVAGE. Over that, he had a leather jacket with a high collar he was smoothing out. When he put the collar down, it revealed a few more tattoos.  His white hair shaded his eyes from the strong sun, not blocked by any clouds. He finally looked at me, his eyes happy.

“Hi, Kaoru. Have you applied sunscreen?” I asked. He smirked a bit and gestured to his face. It was pale, but without tattoos.

“I think a little sun would do me good,” he joked. I laughed, but the happiness didn't last long. Our manager came bursting out of the door, shoving us into the studio. Yukio, a small girl, with a big heart, strode out of the changing room in baggy pants, a hoodie, and a gold chain around her dark neck.  Makoto was practicing the dance, getting increasingly faster as he did. Shinva was crying in the corner, and Tatsunori, our manager, was looking proud, but stressed. I immediately went over to Shinva, Yukio followed behind  my heels, noticing her. Shinva was the youngest of all five of us. She had a lot of trouble with some dance moves, and struggled with going deep enough with the rest of us when we sang. So, Tatsunori yelled at her for not being as good as the rest of us, and often threatened to cut her from the band. Her family desperately needed the money, so when they learned she could sing, they sent her off to intern at K-pop Central when she was only thirteen. She was now sixteen, but compared to the rest of us, that was young. I sat down next to her huddled up body, and Yukio got down on his knees in front of Shinva.

“Tell me what happened.” Yukio said comfortingly, making Shinva’s sobs turn into frequent sniffles.

“My, sniff, my mom can't pay sniff the rent this sniff month. She called me to tell me to sniff, to work harder. I don't understand how you can sniff, work harder in a K-pop band, sniff.” he told us. Yukio smiled at her.

“Listen. You are working so much harder than any of us. It's okay that it's a little harder for you, because then you will get smarter from trying to figure things out. What about your drawing skills? You are SO much better than me at that. Don't be discouraged. Come on.” Yukio stood up and stretched out his hands to Shinva. Shinva took them, and they walked over to practice with Makoto. It was true. Shinva was incredible at drawing, painting, anything artistic. Kaoru slid to walk beside me.

“Is she okay? Anything different?” he asked.

“No, not really.” I answered him. We went to practice with the others.

After using Makoto’s technique of practicing, Shinva was almost flawless. She was shorter, so she had to be in the front, and in the front she couldn't see the other members to be in sync. So, they made her go through a few moves, and they were ready. They had already done recording yesterday, so they had the full track. Just filming today. The crew set up the cool quartz pillar background. We stood in formation for the first shot. Shinva was in the front row of two. She was accompanied by Yukio. Makoto and Kaoru were in the back row of three. I was farther away in my own little third row. When the dance music started, I would walk in between the four, making a pyramid shape. I sang first. Then we transitioned so that Shinva was at the tip of the pyramid, and she did her singing part. Then Makoto, then Kaoru, Then, Yukio went last. Her voice was so angelic and soft, while Kaoru was really low and rough. We did this on purpose, so that the crowd would be shocked. Once we finished the routine, we were breathing heavily and running in place, our usual procedure after filming. Tatsunori handed out bottled water to each of us.  Once our heart rate was slow and steady, Makoto spoke up.

“I suggest we all go to my house and cel-e-braaaaaate!” Makoto was such a party person. He was a social butterfly in everything. Yukio asked Shinva if she could come. Shinva nodded, beginning to act excited and antsy. Shinva lived in a run-down apartment, and she was so far from home. Makoto had a HUGE modern condo, with a pool, movie theater, BIG kitchens, {he likes to eat} and a whole bunch of other stuff a poor girl could never dream of. They took Kaoru’s car, it was the only car they had that could fit all of them. Kaoru had a HUGE family, so he bought a limo to fit at least half of them if they were going somewhere. The limo had two front seats, and the second row had three seats on each side, and then the third row was the same as the second, and the fourth was just two. Makoto hired a chauffeur to take us there so all of us could sit in the second row together. Me, Kaoru and Makoto sat together, while Yukio and Shinva sat across from us. Shinva was literally bouncing in her seat. Makoto was doing something on his chromebook he brings everywhere. I was curious to know what he was doing, but I didn't bother to ask. He was probably ordering stuff to surprise us with. I looked around at everybody. We had known each other for three years, and this was the only time our manager didn't know about one of our celebrations. Usually, when he knew, the paparazzi was all over us.  I was glad we didn't have to deal with that. The car skidded to a stop and we all climbed out. Once we did, Shinva did a cartwheel. I was so surprised I jumped in shock when she did. I looked to the others. They were just as shocked as I was. Except Yukio. She was smiling. Yukio and Shinva became best friends within a month of being in the K-pop band. So they know everything about each other. Our expressions of shock turned into smiles, my mood turning from excitement to satisfaction.

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