The Next Morning.
Ai eats her sandwich brought lately from a
Stop. She closes her eyes savoring the delicious sandwich, holding her cheek.
"Mmmph! This is so yummy!" she said with a bright and energetic tone
Akira — sitting beside her, scrolling through his phone.
"It's 'delicious' for you."
Ai huffs, looking away from him.
"Yummy or Delicious, whatever. And first of all, why would you even care at grammars so much?"
Akira just resumed his phone activity, his eyes glued to the screen.
"No reason."
Ai opens one of her eyes, glancing at Akira who hasn't eaten his unwrapped sandwich In lap yet. Ai nerves flares, and took the sandwich— she foecefully pushed it to his mouth, but Akira caught his arms directly just before she hit his mouth — taking a bite.
"That's so kind of you." Akira said flatly — typing on his phone.
Ai's eyebrows twitches. A hint of annoyance, yet playfulness in her expression.
"I'm not your personal maid to violate me like this!"
Akira, eyes still on the phone.
"Well, today I promote you as one."
Ai tries to remove her wrist from his grip but she couldn't — she hits Akira with a headbutt to his arm. Crying like a child, bullied.
"AKIRA-SAMA!!!"
Akira eyes widened — looking closer to his phone.
"Hmph? Piyeon, that YouTuber..."
Ai's eye peaked curious, peeking at the phone — eyes, widened.
"B-Komachi collab... B-Komachi... B-Komachi Is their new group name?!" full of shock and disbelief.
Akira:
"Is that disappointment I see–"
Akira turns her head to Ai — Ai wiping her tears away like a proud mother.
"No... It's just that... I'm just very happy and shocked. My dear Ruby-Chan is trying to revive the B-Komachi." she said in a proud yet gentle tone, smiling and trembling.
Akira sighed. Looking away.
"No, I was referring to the problem here. Is the fact Piyeon is actually mentoring the group..."
Ai cries, rolling tissues and wiping them to her teary eyes.
"WHAAATT!?? B-B-B-B-B-BUT, HOW WILL I MENTOR THEM NOW?!"
Akira eyes widened , not because Ai is crying, but Ai didn't even bring a roll of tissue on her bag nor buy lately.
"Where did you even get that?"
Earlier this morning — In the Ichigou Production's dorm.
Board:
Aqua | Filming my Love
Kana Arima | Group name meeting
Kaachan | 8:00 P.M- Live briefing session
Kana, laying down on the sofa, reading books.
Ruby looks at the schedules on the board, she crosses her arms
"Aqua is busy with Filmingm on the other hand, I..."
She turns to Kana, asking her.
"Senpai, you're used to not having a job, right? What do you normally do?"
Kana turns her head to Ruby.
"I'll punch you on the chin and shake your head." She replied — dry and irritated.
"If you have nothing to do then just no matter how you sell as an idol, it's a short-lived job. You can barely support yourself."
Kana closes her book.
"You'd better do something that can get you into a good university."
Ruby blinks, taken aback from the straight forwardness of Kana — replying in mock offense.
"You're so straight forward, huh?"
Ruby's expression softens.
"Is there nothing we can do now?" she replied, her voice, gentler.
"New idol's would normally sing and dance at shops,bars,etc."
"They'd also do some media-related jobs in a while." Kana replied.
Kana lays front on the couch, hugging the pillow.
"But we don't have any songs, and we haven't decided even decided on a group name yet. What can we do now?"
Ruby slams the board, frustrated.
"When it comes to a group name, you're the one who makes things difficult!"
"It's just that... as soon as we have a name, we'll do things for good, right? I'm still not sure about introducing myself as an idol."
Ruby approaches Kana — confused.
"What's so hard about it? You just have to say 'I am an Idol, Kana Arima' "
Kana jumps — feeling embarrassed.
"It's so embarrassing! I'm a self proclaimed idol with no track record. How do I explain that to my parents!? "
Miyako enters the room.
"Would having a track record help you make up your mind? In that case, I'll help you make some."
Miyako sets up a small camera just right Infront of them.
"What's with that cheap camera?" Kana replied boldly.
"It might be cheap, but it's mighty." Miyako declares.
Miyako continues
"In the past the jobs of new idols were limited to distributing flyers... And appearing in joint live concerts."
"Those were the basics, but times have changed now."
Miyako finished setting up the camera.
"These days, the internet is everything even for idols. It's also cost effective if you're just starting up, so why don't we start by selling your names online."
Ruby thinks deeply, trying to understand the context.
"You mean like YouTubers!?" Ruby's guess.
Miyako:
"Exactl. You can gain Subscribers on YouTube and invite them to your concerts. Isn't it effective?"
Ruby lits up, burning with admiration — she grins.
"Heck, Yeah! You're so smart Miyako-San!"
Kana looks down — sighing in disappointment.
"Ma'am, I think you're underestimating the online world." Kana — points a finger to Ruby.
"Apart from her looks, she's good for nothing. At this rate, we'll probably get through thousands of subscribers at most."
Ruby crosses her arms — huffing, feeling mocked hard.
"What did you say?"
Kana resumes —
"Even with my fans, we'd be lucky to have 10,000. If we did live concerts, only 1% of them would actually show up.
I don't think this plan would work." being as straight forward as ever.
Miyako sighs in disappointment.
"Maybe if we were amateurs...but strawberry productions has employed many tiktokers and YouTubers along the way. We're actually a leading agency. I know how to get this done."
"Anyways, I was able to Catch hold of someone who can help us with this. He'll teach you all kinds of stuffs himself. "
Miyako — turned her head to the door.
"That said, I'll leave the rest to you."
A mysterious underweared, masked person enters the room.
"You can count on me."
The door opens slowly, revealing full view of the guy.
Kana eyes widened, stuttering.
"H-HE'S A PERVERT...!!"
Meanwhile, Ruby's eyes lit up, recognizing the man.
"Oh, he's Piyeon!!"
Kana's shoulders and jaw drop — confused.
"Pie who?!"
"You don't know Piyeon. A brawney masked trainer slash YouTuber. He's crazy popular among grade schoolers!!" Ruby replied in a bright and energetic tone.
Kana raised an eyebrow
"I didn't even know there was such thing as a brawney masked trainer!" Kana replies.
Kana then turns her to head Mr. Piyeon.
"I barely watch YouTube... So kids are unto this kind of stuffs, huh?" Kana — then looks down on the ground, disappointed.
"There's something disorted with this world, after all."
Ruby clutches her hand — holding a grudge.
"HOW DARE YOU SAY THAT TO PIYEON..." Ruby approached Piyeon, pointing to Kana.
"PIYEON-SAN, TEACH HER A LESSON!"
Kana continues to mock.
"He's just trying to make an impression online... by reusing a character from a TV show."
"I make a hundred million yen a year." Piyeon replied boldly.
Kana's expression changed to shock and disbelief — humbled.
"I'm sorry for making fun of you."
Piyeon then takes the pen, walking towards the board.
"Listen to me carefully now. There are a number of techniques to gain subscribers! What do you think they are?
Ruby raised her hand in a child like vibe.
"Posting new videos everyday!"
Kana also raised her hand.
"You're famous to some degree."
Piyoen nods.
"Yeah, yeah, something like that. But you're neither popular nor patient to post something every day, are you?"
Ruby turns her body away slightly, feeling humiliated.
"That's harsh." keeping a smile.
"However, there's actually a trick that you can use to increase the number of subscribers quickly!" Piyeon continues.
Kana's eyes lit up — feeling excited.
"Ive'd been waiting for that Sensei!"
"Do tell!" Ruby shouts our of curiosity.
A few minutes later.
(Kana and Ruby stands in front of the camera, wearing a shoer skirt and shirt, with a Piyeon mask)
Piyeon starts the live.
"Tweet! Tweet! Tweet! Welcome to Piyeon channel! For today's episode... My hands are kinda tied, really! It seems that my agent is starting up a new idols group... And she wants to use my channel to promote it!"
Piyeon steps closer to the camera.
"At first, I was going to turn her down... But she's my boss, so... (piyeon who's weak at authority)"
"Having that, our plan for today is...
They started dancing in a quick pace.
Piyeon:
"If they can keep up with pieyon's boot dance for an hour, they can take of their masks and reveal themselves!!"
Meanwhile — in the present time. (Akira's house.)
Ai watches Ruby and Kana perform dances at the smart TV.
She clasped her arms together, her eyes, shining bright.
"Awww! They're so good and cute!! I can't but feel like dancing too."
Akira sighed, his eyes glued to typing a message.
"Don't do that now." he said in a annoyed tone — feeling too vulnerable from the playful music emmited by the video of the dancing channel of Piyeon. Clutching his head with an arm while he continues to type.
Ai holds her hands tighter. Feeling proud — looking at the name of Ruby's new idols group.
"She's... really fulfilling my guesses 12 years before."
Meanwhile, back at the Ichigou Production's— earlier this morning.
Kana and Ruby stumbles to the ground, feeling all exhausted. Trying to catch their breathes.
Ruby removes her mask, finally introducing herself. Posing to the camera.
"My name is Ruby Hoshino... From the strawberry productions... I'm a self proclaimed idol! Huff."
Kana also removes her mask, introducing herself.
"I'm Kana Arima! I'm a self-proclaimed Idol! Nice to meet you!" catching her breathe.
Piyeon ends the recording, and turned to Kana who was providing an oxygen tank to Ruby.
"I think I've heard that name before!"
Kana replies back shoutingly.
"That's your only reaction?!"
Piyeon continues — praising them.
"You girls are amazing. I was going to edit the video to make it look like an hour that way, but you really meant business huh?"
"The viewers might not notice it, but the people on set do. I like you after all. (Staring at Kana.) Kana felt flustered from the kind words.
Piyeon suddenly remembers.
"Whoops, I forgot to ask something important. Do you have a group name?" putting his hands on his hips.
Kana turns her head slightly to Ruby.
"Just pick whatever name you like, Ruby."
Ruby looks up at the ceiling, thinking deeply.
"Uhmm... Well the, let's call it... B-Komachi."
In the present time — Ichigou Production's.
Miyako receives an E-mail from a unknown account.
akirakiyoshi18390@gmail.com
"Hello, out studio had recently taken an interest in your new idols group, we'd like to be a second mentors in this project...."
Miyako's eyes widened —
"Akira...
15 years ago
Ichigo and Miyako on the car, driving back home.
Ichigou:
"And oh, there was this recent scandal of Ai seemingly to exchange numbers with a guy."
Miyako eyes widened, leaning closer in shock.
"Wait, what? Really?!"
Ichigou continued —
"Don't worry, it was just a conspiracy by the fans... Though, Ai did confirm it to me privately that they did exchange numbers..."
Miyako composes herself — Returning to her sit.
"Why... And what is the guy's name?"
Ichigou sighed.
"... The Guy looked oddly familiar, Ai said...
The guy's name was Akira Kiyoshi."
Present time — Ichigou Production's
Miyako glares intensely at the Message. Shocked and in great disbelief.
"Akira Kiyoshi?"