Idol Star System Generation: Season 1

  Chapter XI – Black and Golden

  The show on Saturday, while only marginally bigger than the first Naoko had performed, got the girl so pumped up that the first thing she asked Aratani when she met him again on Sunday was if there was any possibility for her to attempt to perform two shows every weekend. Perhaps even starting on that day. Sure, the dressing room was once again a tense and silent place, the obnoxious Ruby and the other girls irritatingly argued about who was the best among them and other trivialities, and it appeared to be a habit of restaurant owners to make performers dress up in rooms close to the kitchen. It wasn’t perfect, but the actual gig was, like before, a fantastic experience. It had occurred on another bistro that offered live exhibitions. The place looked smaller but the house was full, two hundred people.

  Naoko couldn’t even wait for her next show. The thrill of the night, the flashing lights that surrounded her, the upbeat atmosphere and how welcoming the audience was, with cheers and applauses, was addicting. She could hardly contain the expectation to get to higher classes and experience how was to perform for bigger crowds.

  Her producer was taken aback by her determination. Until she arrived by seven a.m., awfully soon for a Sunday but on time like they had scheduled, his only concern were the photos and videos a freelancer photographer had captured from her show. He’d bought a professional camera, meaning the quality of the images were much better than before, though Aratani was still an amateur holding it. As such, he’d paid a seemingly expensive cameraman to help him. The man was used to photographing weddings and parties. The professional’s photos were much steadier and a few shots even looked a little artistic, but most were just well-taken, albeit still, pictures. A little underwhelming considering Naoko’s gig was full of lights, movement and energy, but a decent work nonetheless.

  Taking a moment to get mentally ready for the shock of frenetic positivity that was Naoko when she was happy, Aratani explained they wouldn’t be able to register her on another show on that day since she already had a full schedule but he promised to try to manage her agenda to make her wish for double auditions on weekends come true whenever possible. Naoko was determined not to take one year to get to Sea class like the other idol from her school, Reiko, and also enjoyed performing more and more.

  They visited two different photographic studios for the ads contracts, and after that Naoko was taken to the classes she eagerly awaited while Aratani returned to the agency to send the scanned copies of the contracts by e-mail to her like always. On the hall by the entrance of the large, glass-covered building where she was taught, Harumi and Sakura awaited sitting on a couch.

  The twins looked ecstatic to see Naoko and excitedly followed her. They were amazed to see the acoustic studio where she had her singing lessons. It was a good opportunity to have them there too, since Naoko was finally going to learn four new songs – or, rather, how to sing properly songs she already knew. The two stood contemplating in amazement from behind the sound-proof glass along with the instructor, and she explained them many things while the sole student sang on the sound-isolated part of the room. Naoko couldn’t hear what her teacher said, but it’s amusing to see the awed expressions Harumi and Sakura did through the glass. After the lessons were over Naoko’s instructor even let the sisters sing a song at the microphone while she talked with Naoko about her new homework.

  The following classes were just as fun. Initially they were so scared by the severe mien of instructor Sato Mayumi while Naoko explained about the presence of the two that the guests were reluctant to even get inside the dancing room. Eventually the twins loosened up, though, since the teacher, albeit strict, was a lovely person. From there they enjoyed the many mistakes Naoko did while learning new poses, steppings and two new choreographies. She had another dancing session after the body language class to learn the other two choreographies for the remaining new songs, but before that Aratani showed up and took the girls to lunch.

  Sakura almost couldn’t eat due to how much she talked. Harumi, though nowhere nearly a timid person, was usually less impulsive than her sister and spoke a little less. Still, the two talked nonstop with Naoko and her producer during the one hour break. They were so amazed it was as if they’d been invited to an amusement park instead of an eight hour course.

  The twins told Naoko they had been visited by Aratani once, who’d explained them the basics about the I.S.S.G. and even helped them buy outfits (with the money of their old, senile producer). Since they’re twins and would be practicing the same songs in hopes they’d perform non-ranked shows together, their costumes had to make sense on a pair despite the two being different in terms of personality. As such, the sisters got a pair of good and evil-themed attires. Radiant, outgoing and short-tempered, Sakura chose a lil’ devil suit, albeit not really an evil-looking one. There was a tiara sporting small horns, a sleeveless one-piece short yellow dress with a diagonal lower cut, only one white wing resembling that of a bat and two pairs of white boots. One was knee high and the other had half of that length. With this it’s possible to mismatch them. She also got a small pointy tail to be affixed on a belt, sharp winglets for her footwear and long gloves, along with a few accessories that matched those of her sister.

  Harumi, quieter but also more cynical and acid when she got irritated, got a one-winged angel garment, with a single black wing. She chose another short one-piece dress, though pink and with a furry diagonal lower border. Her gloves were short and she also got two pairs of black boots of different barrel lengths to be mismatched. The small plastic wings to be affixed on her footwear were white, though, and looked like fluffy cute wings.

  A nice thing about buying outfits for the twins was that, despite each having their own standard looks, their body measures were the same. This allowed Harumi and Sakura to exchange pieces of clothes if they wanted.

  They told Naoko that Aratani, on his first visit, taught them about two of the five categories judges evaluated: Dancing and Singing. As such, they enjoyed a lot the lessons they’d watched. Aratani seized this opportunity to explain Naoko the last category she didn’t know about, Memorability, while also teaching the twins about it, meaning they’d only need to learn two others at a later date:

  “Memorability is the oddest category there is. While the other four are very technical and have even subcategories with set, predetermined scores depending on the difficulty of a song to be sang or a choreography, for example, Memorability has none of it. It’s also the only category where most modifiers don’t apply and that doesn’t focus on specific aspects of the presentation, but on it as a whole. It’s created so that the judges can express their own opinions, within reason, and give the scoring system a flexible approach to subjective aspects that hard math can’t really calculate. Even the names of the five subcategories reflect that: Novelty, Idol Signature, Feelings and Emotions, Significance and Mystique.”

  Giving time for Harumi to write down it all, while Sakura lazily let her cellphone capture Aratani’s voice in the restaurant, the man proceeded:

  “Novelty exists to evaluate how creative or innovative a performance was. Previously known as “Uniqueness”, at first it required girls to always try new steps, wear new frills and so on, but the higher ups noticed that forcing introduction of new elements made no sense. Instead, Novelty doesn’t require, in theory, that an idol do anything new per se, but rather something different from what other idols that had already presented on the same show or audition, even if it’s a common thing among idols. So if a girl does a tried and true movement, sing a classic or wear the same frilled dress she wore the last twenty gigs but somehow no other contestants before her did the same on that particular show, that will be considered novel enough. There is a catch here: the first idol to perform will have no previous competition, so anything she does on a show will theoretically be “new”, while the last idol to get on stage will have to do different things from all the girls before her if she wants a good Novelty score. To balance it, jud
ges make it so the Novelty score gets progressively easier to achieve during presentations. So unless the first few idols do something genuinely new or unexpected, they will usually receive average, ten out of twenty scores, while if the last girl pulls only a handful of moves, garment pieces and whatnot not yet seen on that presentation, she can easily be awarded fifteen or more points.”

  “So is it better to perform last?” Sakura asked, and Aratani responded:

  “Not really. The tough part is having something new or unexpected after twenty, thirty of sixty competitors to show. It becomes easier on the higher classes, where the number of idols is smaller and each already has a clear stage personality. Also, remember that tensely waiting an hour or two to perform can wreck the nerves of anyone, so even if you do manage to gain a few points here, a girl who is not mentally prepared can lose a lot of points elsewhere. And, to complicate matters, if an opponent that’s going to present before you knows beforehand what you’ll do she can include this element on her performance and undercut your score a little if she really wants you to lose points. Sure, the order of presentations is randomized before every show, but not on auditions. Also a pose, an introduction sentence to salute the crowd, things like that can be changed in a jiffy, so be careful what you girls reveal about your oncoming performances before it. It won’t dent your tally by more than one point or so, since the Novelty subcategory takes into account not only if what you did has already appeared on that show, but also how many times it did. So unless every other girl also decides to do the same thing just to hurt your score, it’s not a big problem, but a point is a point.”

  “Wow, do people really do these things?!” Sakura asked, irritated, “That’s low!”

  “In reality, you girls will see this is usually not an issue,” Aratani calmed her down, “Right now it’s not even expected you girls do anything new, really. The Intermediate League, meaning idols of the Wood and Fire classes, is when this can become an issue. There is some foul game there, since there’s still a big number of competitors and many fall into similar stereotypes. Major League idols, meaning those in the Metal and Water classes, are few when compared to other leagues and concern themselves more with their own presentations than with that of others, since they all have such distinct stage personalities. It won’t help her to “steal” a move or a pose from another girl to hurt her tally by one point if, by incorporating an incongruent element on her acting it can make the foul-playing woman lose two or more. An idol who acts all lovey-dovey will not copy a sexy, a cold or an aggressive pose from others because it can badly hurt her Idol Signature subcategory, which is the next one on the list. So girls, learn one thing: the Intermediate League can be tougher than the Major one, because although the competition is usually not as fierce, technically speaking, it’s common for opponents to employ dirty tricks like this. It’s here where bad characters are weeded out of the system. Compared to them, Major League idols are far more respectful for their peers. Not to mention they are generally more mature, are very well-paid and wouldn’t risk their solid careers and reputations on a show, much less on a single point. They’re more often than not past the trivialities, so don’t worry, Sakura-San. It’s not that bad, just aim to reach Metal class soon.”

  “Roger that!” Sakura replied, holding a fist in the air and facing her sister with burning eyes, “Let’s do it, Harumi, right?! Oh, and you too, Naoko-Chan! Let’s help each other blaze through those petty classes and reach the Major League pronto!”

  Aratani, Naoko and Harumi exchanged half-jokingly looks, painfully aware of a fact Sakura seemed not to know or to blissfully ignore: it wasn’t as simple as that. Still, Naoko responded, letting her eagerness show despite keeping her feet on the ground:

  “It probably won’t be as easy as Sakura-Chan makes it look like, but yes, let’s help one another! This way we won’t be lonely like all those girls we see at the auditions!” Thinking for a moment, she added, “Well, Sakura-Chan and Harumi-Chan have each other to rely on, so you two won’t be lonely anyway. I’m a little jealous of you too… But we could help each other… I think…”

  “No, Naoko-Chan is right,” Harumi agreed, “When I was on the stage back on the day we met, my sister wasn’t with me. If I qualified, I would’ve been sent to that show alongside Naoko-Chan, though! So I wouldn’t be lonely amidst many idols like Aratani-San told us you did!”

  “Oh, yeah! That’s right! We can all be together if we win the same audition!” Sakura complemented, “This way we can help each other!”

  Aratani interrupted the girls, pointing:

  “Sorry to barge in, but while it’s a good idea, it will only work if you three are able to qualify. If you girls register to the same show, you will be pitted against one another and can unwillingly kick each other out of the qualifying zone. Also, remember that not every gig has five qualifying places, some only has three, two or even one. Even Sakura-San and Harumi-San can in fact harm each other by registering to the same gig. If you girls want to help each other, support one another but also don’t register on the same gigs unless you’re very confident about all of you winning. Until then, keep your distance so as not to jeopardize your chances.”

  “Makes sense, I agree with Aratani-San,” Harumi soundly agreed, “We can communicate with one another to set the gigs each one will be registered to. This way we can maximize our chances and kind of form an unofficial group. Is it okay to do this, Aratani-San?”

  “Well, there’s no rule against having friendships,” the producer replied, “In fact, girls that sing on bands usually do such things. As long as you girls don’t go forming gangs that violate any laws, like two of you preventing an opponent from a third one from reaching the audition in time and thus getting disqualified, it’s all fair game.”

  “It’s settled, then!” Sakura eagerly announced, “Let’s form a group! It’ll be very cool to help each other ascend classes!”

  Getting enthusiastic, Naoko suggested, a little hesitant at first:

  “Hey, we could also have other friends with us! I mean, if you girls want, of course! Yesterday I met a girl called Kobayashi Megumi, who’s going to university this year to study nutrition and who helps homeless people! She was extremely sweet, humble and nice! She was fired for fumbling seven straight auditions because she got terrified on stage, but she’s amazing! Aratani-San will help her if she overcomes her fears, so by next Saturday I expect she’ll try to perform again. It’s her last chance, so I’m rooting for her! Can we talk beforehand so as not to register on the same audition as her? Also, it’s always nice to have more friends! With more people on our group we can help each other better! There’s a bigger chance some of us can attend to each other’s presentation to root, and we won’t be lonely among so many cold girls and producers!”

  “Sounds fun!” Sakura immediately agreed, “It’s as if we’re really a band! Perhaps we can even really form a band, all of us, someday! What do you think Harumi?”

  The girl with the odango hairstyle, a double bun with pigtails emerging from it, answered calculatedly:

  “Sounds promising. As long as we don’t make the group too big, otherwise we’ll run out of possible gigs and start competing against one another, it’s a good idea. More people also means more chances we’ll still have friends with us even when we get class promotions. Not to mention since me and you, Sakura, are going to heavily rely on Non-Ranked gigs for money, it’s a good thing: I’m sure our agencies can share the costs and the profits of Non-Ranked shows easier if we really form a band for some exhibitions once we’re more famous. This way the fans of one girl can also get to know the others, and we can create a network like a real band! I like it.”

  “Yay! Now that’s a plan!” Naoko enthused, and Sakura, thrilled, leaned over the restaurant table and raised both of her hands, palms clasped in the air, saying “High touch!”

  The other two also raised their arms and high-fived each other at the same time in a triangle. Aratani, looking glad, com
mented:

  “You know, girls: that’s not a bad idea, actually! I can see Naoko-Chan’s mindless drive to help people and make friends paying off here. And since the Mizushima sisters will be at their best on Non-Ranked shows where they can perform alongside one another, you girls will have to rely on rather costly gigs to be promoted between classes due to the requirement of a minimum number of show points. Splitting the bill with other agencies can not only make you two and the others perform Non-Ranked shows sooner than you’d otherwise, because of the reduced costs, but also, perform more often. It can lead to quicker class promotions and a more steady flow of cash to us all. Sure, the profits will also be divided proportionally, but more shows also mean more chances to amass fans and keep them fed with content, and fans in turn buy merchandises, ask to hear your songs on radio stations and so on. Seems not only a good idea for you girls to cheer each other up, but from a business standpoint it also sounds appealing. And like me, I’m sure other producers will agree with that too. Good call, girls.”

  After letting them enthuse about the possibilities for a while and using those moments to eat, Aratani returned to the original topic:

  “Alright, girls, you three will need to go back to classes in a few minutes, so back to the explanation about the Memorability category. We already covered the Novelty subcategory. Next is Idol Signature, also sometimes called Character Fidelity. Really simple stuff: each idol has, or should have, an easily identifiable personality. It’s like with any person, really: if someone is timid, you expect him or her to usually act shyly. If one day that person acts outgoing, the other he or she is aloof and the next one, enraged, people around will get confused. The stage character you girls have is how your fans expect you three to act, and despite the fact that the personality of an idol under the limelight is usually over the top when compared to an average Joe walking on the streets, it’s not different, really. Consistency is the keyword here. When you’re not famous, people expect you girls to act in accordance to how you three dress and behave. They see your gait, the way you talk and sing, how’s the mood of your songs, these kinds of things. When you three get famous, and I hope you do, it’s even more important to pay attention to be consistent. Idol Signature is not only a reason for girls not to copy each other by default, but also an essential part of your images. Fans don’t want boring, plain idols. Even girl-next-door personae are not to be plain and boring, so girls, find about your personalities, exaggerate it on stages and keep to it. Questions?”

  Harumi, asking for forgiveness, inquired:

  “I’m sorry, Aratani-San. I just read a note I took on a previous topic you said. You mentioned something about requirements for promotions? I wrote down your words here, let me quote it: “you girls will have to rely on rather costly gigs to be promoted between classes due to the requirement of a minimum number of show points.” I got curious about these points. Can Aratani-San briefly tell me what these are about?”

  The producer, in a minute, explained Harumi and Sakura about the requirements of money sums, number of shows and, later, number of fans for being allowed to attempt class promotion cups.

  “Don’t worry, Harumi-San, I’ll go over those things in details on our next meeting on your agency,” the man assured once the girl looked satisfied with the explanation, “Now, back to the topic at hand. Next subcategory of Memorability is called Feelings and Emotions. It’s easily confused with one of the subcategories of the Dancing category called Mood. Did you girls remember it? Mood means what’s the sensation a dance gives, but on Memorability, the Feelings and Emotions mean rather if the idol was able to make the judges and the audience feel something at all. Sometimes the dance is good and transmits the impression of a feeling like sadness, happiness or whatever, but the idol does so in such a mechanical or impassionate way that while the Mood subcategory of Dancing will go up, the one of Memorability, Feelings and Emotions, will plummet. In fact, that’s one of the most unreliable subcategories there is, because a judge can feel things the others won’t, or a person has heard a song so many times that its initial impact is lost. However, in general a good song and a solid performance will always touch the hearts of people. That’s what art, in all of its forms, is about, and human beings are easily swayed by them. When judges evaluate a real show, the energy of the crowd usually affect this score and make it skyrocket even on an average presentation despite the best efforts of the examining board to keep it professional. That’s how humans are. About the Feelings and Emotions subcategory, it’s almost always either a pretty good or a pretty bad score. Twenties and zeroes are not uncommon, and there are usually no so-so values here. If your presentations are just “meh” you can be sure Feelings and Emotions will be hurt by a lot, so put your hearts on your songs and, if possible, try to have the crowd sing along and help multiply the vibes.”

  Aratani made a brief pause to ask the girls if they wanted desserts and called the waitress. After that he resumed his explanation:

  “Now, Significance. This score is frequently low, don’t you girls worry about it. It comes into play when there is an external reason for you girls to wear, sing or do something. For example, if your song tries to call people’s attention to global warming, if it’s occurring a campaign somewhere to adopt cats and you girls wear cat ears to promote it or if it’s the last show of an idol’s career, for example. Naoko-Chan mentioned Megumi-San, a girl who fights for homeless people: if she sings about it, for example, her Significance score will easily go to max. Once again there is little ground for an average here: it’s either a very low or a very high score. If there’s any significance to what you girls are doing, you must tell your producers so they can write it during the registration process, because the judges are not expected to know everything and can’t be blamed for, say, not giving significance points if you girls wear a bandana in commemoration of the supposed birthday of a fictitious character from a stupid game or anime that also wears a bandana. Of course, like it can be seen from this example, not all things you girls do to increase Significance need to be serious, and not everything increase it by a large margin. If on the first week of summer you girls wear a sunflower on the hair or sing about the beaches and sun, that’s some significance. Also take note, girls: if you wear golden accessories on a presentation during the upcoming Golden Week next week, that’s some easy points for you three.”

  The Golden Week was a period where many holidays were concentrated. Occurring on April twenty-ninth and May third, fourth and fifth, it’s a week-long vacation for many employees and students. Since that Sunday was the twenty-seventh day of April, the advice Aratani gave was timely as there were only two days until one of the greatest sequence of festivities of Japan.

  The waitress arrived with the desserts, and while they ate Aratani kept explaining:

  “And, finally, we get to the last subcategory: Mystique. This subcategory is so subjective that numerous agencies have already sued I.S.S.G. because of it. I heard when the organizers were thinking about a name for it, they almost decided for the French expression “Je ne sais quoi”, which literally means “I don’t know what”, and only not did so because it’d be hard for the general public to pronounce. But that’s exactly what Mystique tries to evaluate: a certain something that is hard to explain, a certain “I don’t know what” that a specific idol, singing and dancing a song in a certain way, evoke. Harumi-San and Sakura-San weren’t on that show we watched a few weeks ago, Naoko-Chan, but I’ll try to make sense of it for them: there was a Water class idol there called Ogasawara Umeko. She sang songs with deep lyrics and did so with passion and talent. Her voice was able to send shivers down the spines of people and make them want to cry while also being happy. Her performance not only inspired feelings and emotions, previously covered, but had some deep… something, hard to explain but easy to feel for those who were present. Her Mystique score was most likely maxed, and, true to this, she was the undisputed best idol when it came to the Memorability category. Mystique
can really make or break a presentation and is impossible to objectively qualify. Still, studies point out that different judges almost always agree on a high or low score here, so even though it’s very subjective, it only show that a spine-chilling performance is a spine-chilling performance no matter what.”

  As the girls finished eating, Harumi with some delay due to the notes she took, Aratani also concluded:

  “Novelty, Idol Signature, Feelings and Emotions, Significance and Mystique. These are the subcategories of Memorability. It’s very easy, especially during the Minor League, for an entire rooster of thirty or fifty girls on an audition get low Memorability scores and for the point difference be neglectful, due mostly to the Novelty and Idol Signature subcategories. It’s not a big deal right now, but the more prestigious the class, the more it’ll come into play. Being either high or low with little room in-between, Memorability is the last frontier here, the hardest and most unreliable category of all, but because of the large variations in scores, it’s also where true idols shine. Millions of women and girls can sing and dance nicely, but only a handful can make it memorable. Some Major League idols’ agencies even have an employee on their rows just to find ways of increasing this Category during shows. In the end, these five subcategories all group up to answer a simple question: if someone liked your performances or not and whether it was just a forgettable pastime or a memorable show spectators will still want to talk about ten years later and proudly say they were there, watching history unfold through the hands and voices of legends that once walked this ground.”

  Shivering, Naoko looked to her equally admired friends and laughed:

  “Way to speak like a megalomaniac, Produ-San! That was some speech you just did! I can’t see how anyone would really look at a show as “history unfolding”, but that sounded cool, I can’t deny.”

  Standing up to go pay the bill, Aratani called the laughing girls to go with a gesture and answered in a cool but assertive way:

  “Naoko-Chan clearly underestimates the power of music. I’m not joking or exaggerating when I say it’s possible, albeit obviously hard to happen. An overseas tour, a cup to decide who’s the next Star idol, the last show of a beloved band… this can all be very powerful. But that’s not all: along the modern history there have been many memorable shows or sequences of shows, here and worldwide. I’ll give an example, an idol one specifically: do you girls ever heard of the Black December Days?”

  Seeing the three looked completely clueless, Aratani kept it in suspense for a moment. After paying the bill and nodding to the bowing clerk who bid the four goodbye, he said while walking back to his car and getting in:

  “I can’t blame you girls, I think. Black December Days happened thirteen years ago or so. Back then, three great disasters struck the country in less than two years and many coastal regions were threatened by the rise of the ocean due to the global warming. It broke the respite of economic resurgence while Japan also faced another crisis due to a few scandals concerning major companies. Also, political tensions with China and North Korea regarding international waters, stupid ballistic tests, hacking attacks and whatnot were taking a heavy toll on the government and, hence, the finances. Likewise, at that time there were never implemented plans for Japan to expand its economy internationally in such a way that would conflict with the interest of China and many other countries. In fact, Japan’s government took an odd turn towards a preemptively aggressive stance, responding to North Korea’s routinely and oblique threats with unexpected animosity and not being too responsive towards diplomacy with other countries either. At that time, no one knew why we suddenly started acting this way, but it led us to the brink of war, or so it appeared. Also, continuous drops in birth rates, an increase in the already high number of youths who refused to leave their bedrooms, too many old people to take care of in comparison to the productive population and other complex problems made for not that many taxes to spare for country security, so a few militarization projects and national internet security enhancements were started at the expenses of other social areas, like actual security. As in, security for people on the streets. Then…”

  The man stopped for a while, thinking what he should say while he drove. After a moment, he hesitantly spoke again:

  “That’s not a nice subject, but… since I was careless to choose the Black December Days as an example of memorable shows, please bear with me. There was an increase in a few specific types of crimes that the news blamed the reduction of funds for internal security for.” Reflecting how he should say that to the girls, Aratani finally gave in to the most straightforward way possible, to end that conversation quickly, “The most prominent type was sexual assault. At the time the press couldn’t quite tell if it was a coincidence or not that amidst all that chaos some people went rampage, but nevertheless numerous cases of rapes and murder were documented at the time, and apparently many others went unreported. Most of the known ones involved minors as victims. It caused quite a commotion, and when the press linked the attacks with the government’s already questionable decisions regarding its investment agenda, it became even worse. At some point, somehow, a group of schoolgirls wearing black clothes decided to protest in front of a school against the lack of security on the beginning of December, after a schoolmate was murdered, and a few days before the date where politicians would get together to decide on how exactly they would allocate the finances on national defense programs they would create. It was a small number of girls at first.”

  Looking around discreetly to see if he hadn’t shocked the girls beyond what was reasonable, Aratani was pleased to see Naoko, Harumi and Sakura merely looked absorbed on his story. Breathing easier, he continued:

  “It was such a horrible subject that many businesses simply pretended it wasn’t happening anything. Of course, one of the industries that did that emphatically was the entertainment one. They kept producing comics, animations, movies, songs and whatever like they always did and people on it hardly manifested their opinions at all, even though they had powerful communication tools under their control. Only a small group of idols, eleven or… no, it was twelve, I think, from many different bands, heard about the protest of those schoolgirls and, probably against better judgment from all but one of their producers, they decided to join the fray. Thinking about it now, to associate their images with a fight against an unpopular topic no one wanted to admit that existed was a foolhardy act that could’ve backfired and ended their careers in a jiffy. Still, a dozen girls and a single producer who was probably unattached of material things, seeing he could’ve tarnished his reputation and went bankrupt for backing up girls from different bands without the consensus of their own producers, mustered all the press attention, internet support and help from activists for human rights in Japan and abroad that they could in a day or so for a special show.”

  While Aratani was more concerned with the traffic than with his talk, the girls were completely concentrated on his story, breathlessly listening to him. The man, silencing for a moment to focus on driving through a crossway, resumed:

  “December seventh was the day. Two days before the one when the politicians would vote about what to do with the money extracted from the taxes supposedly destined to health system, social security, police and so on. Wearing pitch-black school uniforms, the dozen idols publicized the not very well-known protests of those students of a single school. Between songs they denounced the wave of rapes and murders, criticized the government’s oddly preemptive militaristic agenda to the detriment of the internal security and rallied the population to press the politicians to back down from the meeting that would occur the following day. The hastily prepared show four or so hours long took everyone off-guard and broke many taboos of the idol industry. The media gave it ample news coverage and also looked for the students who did the original protest for interviews. People on the internet went insane – well, more insane than they usually are – and human rights activists and feminist groups fr
om many countries unexpectedly manifested support for the victims and the cause. Seeing how well the population accepted the twelve idols’ pleas, along the day other idols manifested support, celebrities of other kinds did the same and the thing escalated quickly.”

  Aratani took a moment to clear his throat and steered one more time, reaching the avenue where the building Naoko had her classes was. The girl eagerly insisted that he continued, to what her producer retorted:

  “Calm down, Naoko-Chan! Unlike you, who can speak for hours on end, my throat actually gets dry after a while! Ahem. So, with all of this happening, that night was very agitated. The population eagerly waited for more news and many students were already discussing protests for the oncoming days. On December eighth students, mostly girls but also many boys, wore black clothes or accessories in schools all around the country. I remember I did so too. The show was such a big success the producer and the eleven or twelve original idols got the help of many other agencies and girls to promote a big follow-up gig the next day. Also on December eighth the claims of the idols that the government was acting oddly on its anticipatory and aggressive external diplomacy and that the population should not tolerate being deprived of internal security while risking a war no one seemed to want was apparently heard by someone who could do something about it.”

  With an expression as if forcing his memory to work, Aratani recalled:

  “By the end of afternoon someone, or maybe a group of people, anonymously hacked social media accounts of the Minister of Defense on the internet and used it to leak bombastic claims about allegedly personal interests that the same Minister could have in the seemingly inevitable war bound to start at any moment. The source backed it up with supposedly real documents attesting transactions of large sums of money to a bank account that was apparently his, coming from a big company that produced equipment and vehicles for war. On that same night a newscast presented the first verifiable evidence that the Minister of Defense was contacted multiple times by representatives of that company on non-official meetings. It was a very weak proof by itself, but you girls can imagine the consequences of it, right?”

  Sakura looked confused and said she got lost on the part of the repercussions of the show and what did it have to do with the Minister of Defense. Harumi explained:

  “A person or an organization was probably alerted by the idols on the show about how oddly the government was acting being so upfront about a war and decided to investigate. If they hacked social media accounts of the Minister of Defense, they were probably hackers who could also hack other things and get the documents. Either this or the person or group already knew about it and was waiting for the right opportunity to publicize the info. Whatever’s the case, it means he was being accused of receiving huge payment from companies that could gain lots of money if a war erupted.”

  “So they were saying the minister was forcing a war to gain money?!” Sakura asked, and Harumi, agreeing, replied, “Seems like it. Please proceed, Aratani-San!”

  The man, taking a moment to recover his train of thoughts while driving, said:

  “The population came crashing over the government like a tidal wave. The stock market plummeted, the media hunted down politicians like there was no tomorrow and students and people in general protested wearing black clothes, makeup, accessories and so on all over the country. The twelve original idols received dozens of reinforcements for their show that day. Starting in the afternoon, it came to an end only late at night. Despite the snow, many people protested on different cities. Even some groups of activists showed support for the cause around the world on that date: Berlin, New York, Moscow, London… Small groups, sure, but it just showed how much the silent plead of students of a single school was amplified by a handful of idols. And as they say: luck favors the bold. Once they did what they could, publicizing the cause, society was lucky that someone found out about the Minister of Defense’s private agenda. After that it wasn’t a struggle of a few girls anymore: the fight was taken from the streets and stages to the courts, where it was solved. It’s hard to say what would’ve happened if those idols hadn’t decided to intervene, though. I want to believe those hackers would have leaked that information all the same, investigations would’ve followed suit and the war would’ve been thwarted nevertheless; either this, or it would’ve never really occurred because it wasn’t the plan to begin with, like the Minister of Defense personally declared. If I recall correctly he was being blackmailed and threatened by companies to create a reason for corporations to sell weapons, though he had no intentions to start a war. But who knows?”

  The producer parked the car close to the building and gave a brief glance to his own hair on the rearview mirror. Looking from an angle it was possible to see Harumi and Sakura’s engrossed expressions, and on his left Naoko was just as captivated.

  “And?!” Naoko interrogated eagerly, “What happened?!”

  Aratani extended his arm to the glove compartment to take a hair brush. While he took care of his hair through the use of the rearview mirror, the producer retold:

  “Of course, among so many accusations the government had to postpone the meeting, thus halting the animosities with other countries for the time being. Funnily, this follow-up, huge protest show occurred the day before December tenth, the internationally observed Human Rights Day since nineteen fifty, so protests continued for that day too. Investigations took place for many more days, but by the end of December there were already a few hard to deny proofs against a few politicians. From there it was found the Minister of Defense was blackmailed and had illicit businesses with private corporations that supplied weapons and war machinery. The scandal even hit the Prime Minister and other bigwigs, until then hell-bent on not turning back on the rather poorly-done economic expanse plans that were causing obvious ruckus on the international community. The aggressive stance of the government was quickly corrected and tensions with China, North Korea and a few other countries were reduced to… well, to the way they usually are. Not really good, but certainly better than how they were back then.”

  Tossing the hair brush back from where it came, the man continued:

  “Also, the money was reverted back to security, public health and so on, and the country returned to normal. Well, still in economic recessions and with many problems like always. The cause of the numerous rape attacks was never quite understood and, despite being mitigated by the ostensive patrols of the police after funds were sent back to security, the situation was merely controlled, not really comprehended and solved, if it’s even possible to do it. So the shows of Black December Days weren’t magical vaccines to all the problems of humanity and even after that it took almost three years for political, social and economic situations to get more or less acceptable again, but… compared to the war that we almost faced, we can’t complain. Sure, the Minister of Defense even told at the time that there a war would never really occur: they were just going to create an international tension to justify the building of a few military bases and to reinforce the defenses buying war equipment and weapons from a few companies, and then they would step back. But who knows how far that could’ve gone, really?”

  Turning his attention to Naoko, who was baffled beyond measure, Aratani declared:

  “And those became known as the Black December Days, referring to the way people, especially women, dressed to protest against the increase in reports of abuses committed at that time. The way those idols performed, in black and singing rather acid songs, even spun a new music subgenre dubbed “Nippunk”, known elsewhere in the world as “Japunk”, and influenced a few fashion tendencies to boot, if you girls want to delve into details. Of course: it’s rare to even have the opportunity to perform shows like that – and to be fair, it’s good that “opportunities” like the crimes and political tensions that led to those protests never present themselves again. But it’s not impossible. Compared to the importance of the Black December Days sequence of shows, talking about th
e Memorability category of a simple gig for cash like we were back in the restaurant is vastly underwhelming. Still, does Naoko-Chan at least understand now what I meant when I said some shows are memorable beyond measure, and that the spectators can really attest the watched history unfold beyond their very eyes?”

  The girls were so impressed that for the rest of the afternoon the Black December Days subject recurred on their conversations. It just wasn’t the only discussion topic because the twins were also amazed by the newness of Naoko’s classes. Since the last two classes happened between two and six p.m. the marathon left even the sisters exhausted just by seeing Naoko dance and learn about body language, but also staggered by the high quality of her hard training.

  They told her the only lessons the twins had attended so far were dancing classes. They couldn’t even sing there since there were other people, none of which were idols, practicing alongside them. Despite the warning of the producer they had for a few weeks, Mr. Hamasaki, that those casual lessons would be insufficient, the senile owner of their agency thought it was a good idea. And by “good”, he meant “cheaper”. Sakura and Harumi told Naoko after the classes that the agency owner, that old man called Ikeda Hiro, had lots of money but was the stingiest person they’d ever known.

  After losing their producer, the now comatose Mr. Hamasaki, the twins had to practice singing and dancing on their own, using the constrained space of their agency for it. They even had to interrupt practice sessions to answer phone calls and send e-mails for Mr. Ikeda as the old geezer didn’t quite understand how to use a computer.

  When Aratani arrived at their office, Naoko’s producer was shocked. He forced Mr. Ikeda to either seriously invest on those girls or leave the idol business altogether so as not to lose money and compromise the twins image – not to mention their sanity. Ikeda was very reticent to spend money at first, but Aratani was also very persuasive in his speech about how much the old man could profit if he invested on those girls. Ikeda wasn’t too keen on long-term investments since he had no expectations of living another ten years and couldn’t care less about his heirs’ well-being, Still, he was sold when Aratani flashed the argument of potential incomes of nine digits and up per month in a few years if he seriously invested on the twins. As such, Harumi and Sakura were going to be enrolled on those same classes starting the following day, Monday. Unlike Naoko, who had three or four classes straight in one day, they would study and practice for two hours each day during the week. The two could hardly contain their anxiety, and since the rest of the day was free time for all, they had plenty of time to talk about their expectations.

  When she returned to her dorms one of the many messages she received was from her childhood friend Masahiro, impressed but also worried about what he’d seen on her fan club page. Aratani had published the excerpt of the prestigious Kirakira Idol Sunday Mag with the news about her saving Miwa’s brother from a car accident. Despite being only a tiny box, that was enough to create quite an uproar, albeit a positive one, on her webpage. The actual number of fans didn’t change by more than ten or so, but for the first time the message forum of her fan club actually looked lively.

  Naoko explained Masahiro what really happened, since he was imagining Naoko had jumped in front of a car to move the kid out of harm’s way. Her childhood friend kept insisting it was still a foolhardy move and holding she should be more careful with herself, but nevertheless his worry for her safety and the news made her happy.

  By the sunny Monday Naoko was still excited about the idea of forming an unofficial group with Sakura, Harumi and maybe Megumi, if she managed to qualify on her audition. Also it was the last day of school before the Golden Week – because her school actually had classes on that day, along with Wednesday, Thursday and Friday, respectively April thirtieth and May first and second –, and while Naoko knew she’d not be able to kick back and relax on that marvelous opportunity for idols to work, she was excited by it nonetheless. Also, due to May fourth being on a Sunday, there’d be a compensation day on May sixth. Coupled with the fact that the last week of April was also the last week of extended “recap” classes, beginning on May her classes would end by midday and not by three p.m. like they did until then. Club hours would be reorganized accordingly too. She had no idea what she’d do with three extra free hours each day, but the possibilities were infinite! For all of these reasons Naoko was radiant.

  Another girl who was beaming was Miwa. Beginning that day she had a few hours for herself every afternoon due to her brother Tamotsu’s private classes. During break Naoko followed her to Shiori’s chair. Even the usually melancholic and sorrowful girl wasn’t that bad on that occasion. She was not paralyzed anymore, but at first was still very timid around Naoko despite Miwa’s tries to bridge the gap between the two.

  Initially Naoko thought about discussing what made her so reticent, but then she remembered what Aratani told her about cheering up people. After he did that crazy talk about calling Megumi a bird, he explained Naoko that to keep insisting on reminding a person of her problems would accomplish nothing. She should either present a solution or drop the subject altogether.

  Instead of focusing the conversation on Shiori’s bashfulness, she looked around for the first funny thing that caught her attention on the girl. Problem was, there seemed to be no funny things about her, so Naoko asked about her thin-lensed glasses, the most eye-catching object she wore. Shiori looked a bit down when replying whisperingly about it, though. Naoko learned two facts with it: one was that Shiori’s myopia was actually light and she could easily see without glasses. She only wore them so as not to strain her vision, which could lead to a progression of the myopia degree. The second was that pointing someone else’s flaws was not a good idea if the intention was to make her open herself to you. Pretty deep stuff!... Though not really.

  Running out of ideas after just one try, Naoko simply forgot about finding funny things on her and asked about what she intended to do during the Golden Week, expecting it to cheer her up. Shiori thought for a while, but nothing occurred to her.

  “I’ll… stay home, I think,” she whispered unenthusiastically. Naoko and Miwa promptly asked “why?” together, to which Shiori replied timidly, “I… don’t have… many things to do.”

  Naoko finally saw an opportunity and suggested the three of them did something together, to what Miwa immediately agreed. Only question was what. Miwa excitedly suggested:

  “We can throw that karaoke party we said we would!”

  Naoko was about to agree, but seeing Shiori didn’t look too excited, she commented:

  “We’ll throw that party, that’s for sure! But what if we let Shiori-Chan choose this time?!”

  Though she thought it’d be a nice thing to do to give her freedom to choose, Shiori looked a bit lost. Uncomfortably looking to her feet, the girl fearfully replied:

  “I… don’t know… I’m not… very creative for this kind of thing. I said I was going to be at home. Maybe… I’ll go out to a park or something… I’d prefer… just to tag along!” Tensely, she regretted, “But Miwa-Chan and Naoko-Chan must… think I’m a boring person, don’t they?”

  That was exactly what Naoko was thinking, but hearing Shiori say that made her realize the shy girl was actually trying her best. Feeling some pity, Naoko questioned:

  “No, don’t say such things about yourself, Shiori-Chan! Say, what do you like to do? Anything at all, even if you think is boring for others or that you like to do alone, anything!”

  Pondering, the girl reticently replied in a shy, somewhat childish voice:

  “Naoko-Chan and Miwa-Chan will probably think that everything I like to do is boring. Well, for the most part, anyway. I like movies. I think many people do. I also… like to listen to music, though I’ve only been to a karaoke twice, maybe. I get a little uncomfortable singing with people around. Besides, I like… to read and to write, I think. I’m part of the Poetry and Literature club, too, so… yeah. But that’s not som
ething I could do with others. Maybe discussing texts, but not really reading. Oh, and… I really like photography. But that’s another solitary hobby, I think…”

  “Those are nice things! Though Shiori-Chan mentioned photography?” Naoko asked for clarification, “Shiori-Chan likes to appreciate the works of others or to snap her own photos?”

  “I don’t like to appreciate other people’s photos too much, I much rather prefer to take my own,” Shiori replied in a low voice, and Miwa inquired, “Like, with a cellphone, or…?”

  “Ah, no. I have a semi-professional camera,” Shiori explained. Seeing her friends got surprised, Shiori smiled a little for the first time Naoko could remember, although the girl modestly added, “It’s an old camera my father gave me more than a decade ago, though! It’s heavy and big, not that practical, but I like it. I still prefer to use it than any cellphone. I…” getting a little sour for a moment, she vacillated, “I’m not a big fan of cellphones or taking photos with it.”

  “Why?” Miwa questioned, but Shiori’s hesitant answer took some time to be heard:

  “Because… People take many pictures with it, and… they trivialize photography.” Assuming a firmer look on her face, Shiori declared, “Back when it was created, taking photos was a hard and complex process, deemed second only to the millennial art of painting. Families wore their best clothes to be photographed. It evolved to become a form of art by its own merits. While anyone can push a button, a true photographer goes a lot beyond that. The angle; the positioning; the timing; how much time do you keep the shutter open to increase light exposition and create blurs, continuous lines, over-saturations and other effects on the photo; the contrast between light and shadows and the careful planning of illumination, the object being framed and its relation to the background; the focal distance, meaning if the background will be blurred or not; the use of zooms or not; the influence of different lenses to expand or distort the image for artistic purposes… There are many factors that a professional cameraman needs to take into consideration! The composition of an image can generate feeling on those who see it, or give information! The cinema was only possible thanks to the photography, and it also employs many terms for the filming that comes from the photos! There are historical photos that denounce crimes of war, fractions of a second before something groundbreaking happens or everyday situations full of significance that no one seems to care anymore! Cellphones vulgarized the art of photography. Now there are so many images people think photos exist just to prove they did something! They’re eating on an expensive restaurant and take a photo to show off to everyone on the internet. They comb their hairs and snap a picture on the mirror. Things like that. Trivial photos no one cares about, that only exists to fuel vanity. True photos have meaning, instill feelings on those who see it or transmit significant information. They register things people would want to show their grandchildren fifty years after. Most of the pictures people take nowadays will only bring shame to them a couple of years from now. That’s an absurd!”

  Miwa and Naoko were staggered, their mouths agape. After Shiori’s passionate speech, the girl quickly recovered her timid expression and added:

  “Also, it’s not like I would be able to use my cellphone to take photos even if I wanted…”

  The girl wearing glasses revealed an extremely old cellphone she had. It could hardly take pictures, and did so with terrible resolution. Slightly embarrassed, Shiori stated:

  “It’s another thing my father gave me quite a while ago. I only use it for calls and messages, really. The only image I have here, this background photo, I took with my camera. I had to edit it on my laptop to lower the resolution and file size due to memory capacity issues.”

  She showed her phone’s background image, depicting a slightly tilted close-up shot of the meeting of two little birds over the leafless branch of a tree during winter. Icicles hanged from the branches, but the sun, hidden behind the two birds, shone over frosty mountains on the back, illuminating a vast blue sky and fields covered in a white blanket of snow. While the resolution wasn’t that great, like Shiori pointed out, the photo itself could be easily confused with any stock image taken by a professional cameraman. The tilted angle let a little of the ground be seen, something that would not be possible if the image was taken from a horizontal position like any amateur would probably do. Also, the way the sun shone from behind the animals gave them a bright aura. Only a fraction of its splendorous light escaped from being obscured. More than that and the image would’ve been oversaturated by light, but it didn’t. It helped compose a photo that was very artistic. The winter setting was beautiful yet sober, while the touching birds were heartwarming.

  Miwa was surprised, but nowhere near how much Naoko was impressed. Of course she wanted to praise Shiori for something as an act of friendship, but for once she didn’t have to force herself to do that. The girl wearing glasses really deserved it.

  “That’s amazing!” Naoko genuinely complimented, “I loved it! You managed to make those cute birds even cuter with the sun illuminating their feathers from behind like that! That’s impressive! Shiori-Chan truly has talent! I have absolutely no knowledge about photos, but I can see your image here has something which I can’t quite say what it is… Something that’s more than any picture I’d take in a second. Does Shiori-Chan have any other photos she can show?”

  Miwa agreed, though also saying she knew nothing about photography, and praising her for the positioning and the nice angle. Blushing, the timid girl smiled gladly.

  “Thanks, Naoko-Chan! Miwa-Chan! I… have a few more… I mean, not on my cellphone, but… I have an account on a social media application where I upload a few of my photos. Huh… can I show it to you two?”

  She tried to use her cellphone, but it was so old and slow to process information that ultimately Naoko and Miwa opted to use their own to access Shiori’s images. Though she said she selected only “a few” photos to publicize, the girl had more than a thousand pictures there, each one starkly different from the others. Sure, there were lots of pictures on rainy days and during winter, but each looked unique rather than a sequence of five or so photos from the same object or living being. It was rare for Shiori to photograph people and when she did so, it usually omitted the faces or focused on parts of their bodies, like a hand holding a dribbling umbrella.

  The exception was when the image wasn’t only made to be artistic, but also critique. One photo in particular pictured the facade of an expensive-looking restaurant. A well-dressed couple ate by a table as it could be vaguely seen through an open mirrored window, while the focus of the image was an angled reflection of a bearded man in rags walking on the other side of the street carrying a cardboard box full of things. A beggar, no doubt.

  The word “beggar” was misleading since it’s uncommon for homeless people in Japan to actually panhandle for money or anything when compared to most other countries in the world. They hardly begged, partially so as not to bother people, or did so sparingly and as a last resort. Though that photo showed a man in rags, it’s not hard to see somewhat well-dressed homeless people too. They frequently relied on what other people threw away instead, as the image Shiori took could potentially show. The instant Naoko saw that image, very well-taken and also fantastic from a photojournalistic standpoint, she remembered Megumi. Telling Miwa and Shiori about her meeting with that idol who devoted herself to helping homeless people, Naoko sent her an invitation to see that image. When she did so, the girl was taken aback by the number of other people that had already shared that photo: zero.

  Despite Shiori’s photos being all fabulous, her gallery seemed to receive almost no visitors and no comments. Bewildered, she asked Shiori why, but the girl looked just as puzzled:

  “I think I’m just not good enough at it… or just don’t know many people to publicize it.”

  “Are you kidding me?!” Naoko excitedly retorted, “Of course Shiori-Chan is good enough! She’s better than that, even! Th
is photo of a beggar reflected on the window could easily appear on any newspaper or magazine, in my opinion! I’d never imagine it was taken by a high-school girl rather than a grizzled, badass photojournalist that had already been on wars dodging bullets while snapping images, or that has helped some ace exorcist free an old feudal town from dangerous ghosts that only appears on pictures, something like that!”

  Not expecting that last twist, Miwa and Shiori burst into laughter. The glasses-wearing girl, though very grateful and thanking Naoko a lot for her kind words, pointed she was nowhere near a veteran war photographer. Naoko, though admitting that, insisted while opening her own fan club website on her smartphone, where the photos of her shows were exposed:

  “Okay, maybe I exaggerated a bit on the part of Shiori helping exorcise a village with her camera, but I can prove you’re nothing short of a professional, either. See this for example: it’s a gallery with photos taken on the two shows I’ve performed so far. My producer photographed the first one and it was horrible, so he decided to hire a freelancer for last Saturday’s gig. The man’s a pro, costs a lot I think and works on weddings and parties. I won’t say the photos he took were bad. But… I expected more. I can’t quite explain it, but with a few exceptions these pictures seem a little… I dunno. Not very… energetic. Enthralling. Lively. Whatever. And that’s coming from a renowned professional! Seriously, I saw photos you took that look better than this. Those birds, that homeless guy reflected on the window… I can’t quite put my finger on why, but I’m not saying this just to make you happy either! What do you think, Shiori-Chan? Miwa-Chan? Am I really being too optimistic?”

  Miwa was quick to agree the pro’s photos, despite looking better than what an average person would do, paled in comparison to many of the images on Shiori’s personal gallery, though the introverted girl was not so fast to judge. The smartphone’s luminous screen reflected on Shiori’s glasses as the girl silently analyzed the pictures. After some consideration, still glancing at the pictures, she commented:

  “This person knows how to handle a camera, I can see that. Your shows were both on dark places while the stage was heavily lit. He had to use a high light sensitivity setup and high amplitude lenses just to absorb enough light to make the silhouettes of spectators appear clearly like that, but in doing so he risked capturing too much of the stage’s illumination and making it bloom so much it’d have made you disappear amidst it, Naoko-Chan. He was careful to set the exposition time right so that the shutter let just enough light in, while apparently not making use of a camera flash.”

  Noticing her friends had puzzled looks on their faces, Shiori briefly explained:

  “The shutter is that eyelid-like device on a camera that opens to let light inside. Back at the time where digital cameras didn’t exist, the physical film was a transparent cell covered in light-sensitive chemicals that darkened according to how much radiation hit them. Many piled-up layers of differently colored chemicals composed a colored image. Even before that, the first few cameras used a paper immersed in a special solution and sprinkled with composites made mainly of silver. The silvery dust slowly darkened as light excited its particles, so well-illuminated areas of an image grew darker. It created a negative image, which was then transferred to another paper on a dark-room to develop the final black and white picture. The finer the grains of that silvery composite, the better the resolution of the photo. The “pixel” count idea derives from it: the more pixels an image have, the higher its resolution. Only problem was that finer silvery grains also grew darker faster than bigger grains, so if the exposition time wasn’t correct, a photographer could end up with a pitch-black picture. And since it was made of silver, it was costly, so to waste shots was not an option. Also, it wasn’t an automatic process: the person needed to know how much time he or she would hold the shutter open, because photos could take minutes, even hours to form depending on how the light-sensitive emulsion of the film was made. Compared to today’s almost instantaneous pictures, it was a hassle to take photos when it was invented.”

  Turning back to the images on Naoko’s cellphone, Shiori said:

  “Digital cameras still follow this principle. You can adjust the sensitivity of the image and the amount of time the shutter will stay open. Professional cameras can also analyze the lighting and automatically adjust these parameters and the results are almost always acceptable, but depending on the photographer’s intention, he or she will need to manually change these parameters among others, like the zoom and the optical field distance. Hm…” looking at a few photos, Shiori got a suspicion, “Naoko-Chan, just a question: was there another person taking pictures? It looks as if there were least two photographers on your last show.”

  At first Naoko denied it, but suddenly she realized, astonished:

  “No, there was just one. That pro… No, wait! My producer also took some pictures too! He had bought a professional camera and decided to bring it along! I was too concentrated on performing to notice, but I’m pretty sure he must’ve taken a few shots too. But… but he was also using a professional camera, like I said! How… could you possibly know there were two people taking photos, Shiori-Chan?! Can you tell it just because of the angles and stuff like that?!”

  “Hm… well, yes, the positioning and angles give it away too, but not only that,” Shiori elaborated, “A couple of images seem to have been taken by a tall person standing up, so those photos aim directly at Naoko-Chan’s face on the stage, while the rest of it was taken from a lower perspective, a few even from crouching positions, making you look taller and more imposing. So yes, it’s possible to know there was a tall person who doesn’t seem to know too much about framing and such which I take is your producer, right? Meanwhile, there was also a short person who used better compositions, angles and such. But I noticed there were two people taking pictures because that tall person’s photos saturate a lot the audience and reduce a little the clarity of the stage, normalizing the light intensity and giving the images a slightly pale tone. This occurs when you let a camera automatically choose parameters when you’re on a very dark place with only a few bright sources of light concentrated on a point. Depending on the automatic parameters, the camera will try to level light saturation on the image, making the dark brighter and the brightness a little darker. This tall person was most likely taking shots with the camera on automatic settings. Most of the photos of this show on your fan club gallery, however, come from a shorter person whose camera’s parameters were probably manually set. The audience looks darker but still visible and the limelight looks brighter. It gives the images a more realistic feel and preserves the original colors of the objects.”

  Miwa and Naoko were dumbfounded by Shiori’s analysis. Unaware of the dazed faces of the two, the girl wearing glasses continued observing the photos:

  "Despite Naoko-Chan being unimpressed by that photographer’s images, he’s clearly a good professional. I think what you said that felt lacking on his work while comparing his photos to mine was that he had to capture not only the moment, but also the feeling of the moment. It’s a show, after all. Frankly, it must be a hard job. It’s not a mountain or a tree. People are always hard subjects to capture correctly. Maybe if he waited for moments where you were in the middle of some movement… But, no, wait. Depending on the exposition time it could create blurs. Hm… Yeah, makes sense he only shot when you appeared still. Even so, maybe he could’ve reduced slightly the exposition time and increased the light sensitivity a little to compensate. Or maybe if he took a few distant photos, the motion blur effect would be minimal because the only person moving quickly there was Naoko-Chan. The audience was mostly still. So he could’ve tried to quickly move the camera while taking a few pictures, and the motion blur of the stage lights would’ve created the impression of movement while also covering Naoko-Chan’s blur. Well, if there were little motion blurs it’d probably compose nicely too…”

  So absorbed in her reflections, Shiori’s words were
gradually turned to whispers and finally muted. The rest of her analysis probably occurred on her mind during a few moments. Suddenly remembering she was not alone, the startled girl returned Naoko’s smartphone while embarrassedly asking for forgiveness for getting carried away. Miwa and Naoko exchanged baffled looks, and the idol elatedly inquired:

  “With such skills did Shiori-Chan ever consider working as a freelance photographer? You could treat it as a part-time job! An arubaito you could even do only during weekends or something, so as not to compromise your studies. It’d net you some money and a few works to put on your curriculum and on your portfolio, too!”

  Thankful, Shiori responded with her blushing face lowered:

  “Thanks! I… yes, I sometimes I dream of becoming… a photojournalist, actually. I want to try working for a magazine or something, someday. Certainly not covering wars like Naoko-Chan said, I might add! But it’s very hard to become a paid professional. Like I said: people takes photos on their cellphones and think it’s good enough. It’s hard to imagine I’d even be accepted by a newspaper or a news website someday, I don’t think anyone would pay me right now.”

  By the way Miwa looked to Naoko, it’s clear she had an idea, and her friend understood it. Agreeing with a nod, Naoko declared:

  “Hey, Shiori-Chan, would you like to work on a show of mine? I could talk with my producer! Oh, but I’d not ask you to do that as a friend, it’d be a paid freelance job, of course!”

  Surprised, Shiori covered her mouth with her left hand.

  “B-but Naoko-Chan, I… I’ve never worked as a photographer before! I… don’t even know how to photograph an event like the photographer your producer hired did!”

  “What about all you said?” Miwa intervened, “And all the photos you showed us? They’re gorgeous! Shiori-Chan seems to know how to do it!”

  “Those things I said were just speculations of mine…” Shiori admitted, “I’ve never been to a real show to know how I’d do it. It requires excellent reflexes to do the things I said he should do, and if you take as an example my performance on any Physical Education class, Miwa-Chan will see I’m not one for reflexes! And the photos I showed were mostly about nature, with only a few exceptions!”

  Not letting Shiori downplay her own skills so easily, Miwa insisted:

  “But many of your photos showed you have the ability to take photos of a show! It requires precise timing to snap an image of two birds on a tree or a man walking down the street getting reflected on a window like the way you did! Shiori-Chan may have poor reflexes for sports, but it requires quick thinking to snap the photos you did!”

  “Not really,” Shiori replied, “I was lucky about those two birds. As for the homeless person, I saw him walking down the street a mile away and positioned myself to take the photo at the right instant. It took preparation, not reflex, to do most of my photos.”

  Siding with Miwa, Naoko suggested:

  “How about Shiori-Chan give a shot at it? On my shows I always perform the same dances I do over and over again at the theater after the Drama club sessions. If you know my choreographies, maybe you’ll be able to prepare accordingly to take photos at the right moment during a real show! And you can also prepare beforehand for it too. Really, I’ll have many opportunities to present myself during the Golden Week starting tomorrow, so Shiori-Chan will have, like, many days to think about positioning and stuff, rather than ten seconds max like you probably had when you took most of the pictures you showed us! If you want, you can take a few shots during my rehearsal today and evaluate if you’d like to work with me at a show! Oh… but, of course, provided it’s not too much of a hassle for you to take your camera. If it is… well… maybe you can photograph me on Wednesday.”

  Looking thrilled but also afraid, the girl wearing glasses inquired:

  “That’s no hassle at all for me to go grab my camera! But… what if my lack of experience photographing shows make me take bad photos of Naoko-Chan? You’ll probably get mad at me… and you won’t have good photos to exhibit on your fan club website!”

  Taking her smartphone again, Naoko looked for the images Aratani had taken during her first and second gigs while responding:

  “Any bad photo Shiori-Chan takes will still be much better than the ones my producer takes! Here, look at that again. And if he could hardly see he was so bad at snapping pictures until I told him that, I doubt he’ll know even if you take bad photos. But what’s more: Shiori-Chan knows how to take enticing photos! Come on, you even knew my producer is a tall guy based on the angle he took those images while standing up! I believe you can at least try it! We can send the pictures you took on my rehearsal to my producer and let him decide” After a few seconds letting the girl ponder about the opportunity, Naoko included something she’d just realized, “If you work with us, not only will you be paid and can start your professional portfolio, but your photos will also appear on my fan club and be credited to you! I know there are currently not a lot of people there, but at least they will all have an opportunity to visit Shiori-Chan’s personal gallery if we put a link there! This way your other photos can also be seen by a few people, and who knows if they won’t comment on it and share it with others?!”

  Raising her hopeful eyes from the phone’s screen and facing Naoko from over her glasses, Shiori-Chan stared her for a moment, contemplating something while looking surprised. A deeply thankful smile gradually shone over her otherwise shy face.

  During the Drama club meeting Chiasa was awestruck by how close Shiori and Naoko had gotten. They were almost polar opposites, one extremely timid and the other outgoing like no one else. The girl wearing glasses didn’t look sad anymore, on the contrary: despite her usual introverted face being somewhat stoic, she seemed happy every time she looked at Naoko. Her paralyzing fear of the idol was replaced by a heartwarming and welcoming attitude she didn’t had with anyone else on the club. Though her social anxiety was still present, being close to her new cheerful and supportive friend seemed to give the bashful girl courage.

  Shiori was previously concealed behind one of the toughest antisocial shells Naoko had ever seen a person rise, but it was worth the effort to pierce it. Formerly a completely secluded girl, Shiori hadn’t developed many social skills and quite a couple of her interests were things a person could only do alone, but despite this she quickly became exceedingly loyal and thankful to Naoko and Miwa. Once she lost her fear to speak her mind to the two and be judged, she proved to be quite interesting. She knew an awful lot about a few of things like photography, movies and literature, while at the same time being completely clueless to many others, mostly related so social interactions.

  Also she’d never been to a show and in spite of living in Tokyo since she’s born she had no idea about the many opportunities to have fun there. Even Naoko, who’d only arrived a month ago or so, already knew more about things to do on the capital than her. Still, Shiori was eager to learn about it with her and Miwa, and even accepted to do things she feared like hanging out with other people if it meant to be with her friends and possibly enjoy herself. Right from the get-go Naoko invited her and Miwa to go to movies, a karaoke, a gaming parlor, a gig she performed, an ice-cream shop, a ramen shop, the shopping mall on the I.S.S.G.’s headquarters, an amusement park, a regular and not so amusing park, the Tokyo Tower and other famous landmarks, ice-skating on a rink, exploring a few prefectures, visiting her own dorm room and more. While Shiori was painfully unaware of the many entertainment options that surrounded her, Naoko was able to make even a trip through subway to a random location sound exciting.

  After the Drama club meeting was over Shiori asked if she could go out and come back in a hour or so to watch the second half of Naoko’s rehearsal, and Chiasa was so amazed by the girl’s disposition that she decided to stay on that day despite having been released from that obligation by the performer. Katsuro also decided to stay, though following Chiasa’s instructions, he left twenty minutes or so before the end of t
he practice session. Hearing Naoko would practice a few new songs, other students also opted to stay.

  Naoko had four new songs to practice. She wasn’t expecting to use them on the presentations during the Golden Week since she’d not have enough time to rehearse them well, but she had to practice them nevertheless. Wearing a white dress with bluish green details, complete with a two-tiered pleated skirt that Aratani bought her on Saturday along with a few other clothes, she felt great. Her attire was more consistent with her cheerful personality and upbeat songs than the dark and red outfit she previously wore. Aside from her white gloves and platform boots, she wore her black tiara with sky-blue ribbons and quite a few new accessories, all golden: a pair of pressure earrings with fake blue gemstones, a thin necklace and a wristband on her free arm, the right one. Hopefully it’d net her a few extra points during the Golden Week, and even after it they looked stunning on her and would certainly improve her Aesthetics scores and her modifiers by a bit.

  Her only concern was the pressure earring: during rehearsals they fell twice when she shook her head particularly fast. They helped her increasing multipliers by quite a margin, but only if they stayed during the whole presentation, so she had to be careful. The other objects only netted a few small modifiers because they were a nuisance to dance with. Still, not too bad once she got used to them.