Aᵟᵁᴬᴹᴬᴿᴵᴺᴱ Hᴼˢᴴᴵᴺᴼ → Tᴴᴱ Oᴸᴰᴱᴿ Bᴿᴼᵀᴴᴱᴿ

𝒩ᴼᵂ 𝒫ᴸᴬᵞᴵᴺᴳ : ❝ ℋᴬᴿᴰᴱᴿ, ℬᴱᵀᵀᴱᴿ, ℱᴬˢᵀᴱᴿ, 𝒮ᵀᴿᴼᴺᴳᴱᴿ ❞ 𝒷ᵞ 𝒟ᴬᶠᵀ 𝒫ᵁᴺᴷ

↻ ◁ II ▷ ↺

ᴡᴏʀᴋ ɪᴛ, ᴍᴀᴋᴇ ɪᴛ, ᴅᴏ ɪᴛ, ᴍᴀᴋᴇs ᴜs ʜᴀʀᴅᴇʀ, ʙᴇᴛᴛᴇʀ, ғᴀsᴛᴇʀ, sᴛʀᴏɴɢᴇʀ

﹌﹌﹌

ᴛʜᴀɴᴋs ᴛᴏ ᴛʜᴇ teamwork between Aqua and Kana, the two of them had managed to get into several ads and manage to get into several shows as characters who only appeared once. They had managed to get into some roles that appeared in more than one episode, but that wasn't the usual case.

Aqua didn't mind, though. If he was finding ways to help Ruby become an idol, then he had to focus on finding ways to help her. He could focus on his acting career later or push it to the side for now.

One of the things he decided to help her with was starting her social media accounts. After seeing what other social media accounts other idols had, he was about to help her get started on them before realizing her social media accounts should relate to her concept—one that he didn't know yet. When he asked her what her concept was, she shrugged and said she didn't have one yet. That was going to be a problem.

"Think about it," he said. "What do you like to do? What's important to you? What is something you've always wanted?"

Ruby, who had just come back from practicing her dancing skills, didn't seem as if she was paying attention to what he was saying. However, her eyes were hit with a realization when he said the last one. Before she could stop herself, she said, "I want my concept to be for sick girls in hospitals. For the kids that don't think there's hope in the future. For them to have someone to look up to and brighten their days."

Aqua stayed silent.

"I can have a dreamy concept," she continued. "Like a place where nothing goes wrong and everything is okay. A dream concept made for sick little girls in the hospital. That's what I want."

In a way, Ruby reminded him occasionally of Sarina Tendouji, a patient in his past life he cared for. They both had the same sparkles in their eyes, the same motivation, and the same dreams until Ai's death. His mind kept wondering if they were the same person, yet he always pushed those thoughts away.

"We can make that work," he forced himself to say. They would need research on other dream-like accounts to see what they were doing, but they had time.

"That's not it," she said. "I also want a stage name. And I want to act differently. So... So I'm more interesting."

Aqua knew his sister well enough to know when she was lying. However, he also knew her well enough to know when she didn't want to tell him something. He could tell she didn't want to tell him the real reason why she wanted a stage name and to act differently, but if that was what she wanted, then as her brother, he would support her.

"Do you have a stage name in mind?" he asked. "We can always find names online."

"I want 'Sarina'." The seriousness on her face disappeared as she frowned with a playful look in her eyes. "Jeez, Aqua, why're you so stiff? Do you have a secret ex-girlfriend named Sarina I don't know about or something?"

Aqua forced himself to loosen himself. It could simply be a coincidence that she chose that name. Sarina wasn't too uncommon of a name. "We should figure out other stuff," he said in an attempt to find some time to recompose himself.

After making definite plans of how she would act and how her social media accounts would look, Ruby left to make a quick phone call to one of her friends. While she was in her bedroom, Aqua received a text message from Kana. She had asked him when he was free as her work as a side character in a new movie had ended.

He replied with saying he was helping Ruby with her idol career. He then asked if she knew anyone that could help with music, and she said no. She said they could hire someone online, but he wanted to make sure her sister's first music video would be perfect. He had always been decent in writing, meaning he might be able to write a song for Ruby himself. However, he wasn't the best at music, meaning someone else had to do that. Adding on, he didn't know much about editing either. Fortunately for him, he knew someone that could help him.

. . .

ᴀǫᴜᴀ ᴄʜᴇᴄᴋᴇᴅ ᴛʜᴇ address several times before arriving at the apartments, yet he checked it again as he stepped to the front door. He didn't believe Taishi lived here, yet it was the best hope he had. He slipped the paper he wrote the address on back into his backpack he had held defensively in front of him.

A little after he knocked on the door, an old woman shorter than him opened the door. "Hello! Are you Aquamarine Hoshino?"

"Just call me Aqua. I'm here to see the Director, if you don't mind."

"Of course not!" She brought him to a bedroom. "Taishi, Aqua is here!"

Aqua stepped into a dark room, the only light coming was from a desktop monitor. The floor was covered with random items, making it especially easy to trip, and shelves were dedicated to countless of movies. Though he wasn't expecting anything, it was exactly how he expected Taishi's bedroom to look.

Taishi himself was sitting in a chair. He turned his chair to look at his visitor. "I didn't expect you here."

"I didn't expect you to still live with your mom."

"What's that supposed to mean?" His voice got higher than he ever heard it.

He took it as his cue to switch the topic. "I came because you're a director, so you know about editing, don't you?"

"Why do want to know about that?"

"You remember my sister, Ruby? She's starting an idol career."

"Like Ai?" He turned his head away, and Aqua could tell he was remembering his movie That Was The Start, the second time he worked with Ai and the first time he worked with Aqua.

"Like Ai, yes. I want to help her, but I don't know how to edit. We're already going to be spending time finding people who can help with costumes and things like that, and I want to help the best I can. Since you're a director, I thought you could maybe teach me how to edit to make at least a decent music video."

Taishi frowned. "What makes you think I'll help you?"

Aqua reaches into his backpack. "I have money. How much do you want?"

A pause. Then, a chuckle. "I was just teasing you, Aqua. Course I'll help you—for free."

Aqua looked up to see a sincere smile on his face. His fingers still brushed against the money he brought in case he changed his mind, but for now, he would believe him.

Taishi moved himself and his chair to the side so Aqua could have a better view of the desktop monitor. It was showing the process of a video being edited. "Editing is harder than it looks. A simple mistake and ruin the image, feeling, whatever you're going for. You have to make it just right, but there's no real right answer. Once you have learned the basics steps, you will soon have the freedom to do whatever you feel with editing, but I will be here—"

"Aqua, are you staying for dinner?" called Taishi's mother from the kitchen.

Taishi scowled, his voice getting higher-pitched as before. "Mom, I was in the middle of something important!"

"Eating is important!"

"I told Miyako I would be home soon," said Aqua as politely as he could to make up for Taishi.

Taishi sighed. "I guess this means teaching you some other time?"

Aqua smiled. "I think you can squeeze in some stuff."

Taishi smiled back.

. . .

"ᴛʜᴀᴛ ʟᴏᴏᴋs...ᴄᴏɴғᴜsɪɴɢ," was all Kana said when she saw the notes he took for his private editing classes with Taishi. They were supposed to be having a relaxing day at a café with their drinks, but Aqua had been behind on his studying.

As a previous medical school student, he was no stranger to having difficult lessons. Taishi said that note-taking wasn't necessary, but he took them to study them at home. It may look like a disorganized mess to anyone else, but to Aqua, he could see that all of his notes were organized in a way to make it easy for him to find what he needed, study it, and memorize how to do it.

Kana stirred her coffee in silence. Then, she spoke. "You've been forgetting about acting for a while now. I know you want to help Ruby with her career, but remember yours, too. Aren't you the older one too? You got the entertainer career first."

Yet it was Ruby that managed to make Masaya ask her to participate in The Beginning if an Idol. He had been forcing those thoughts to leave him alone, yet some managed to find their way to the surface. He forced them to leave immediately after receiving them again. Aquamarine Hoshino was not jealous of his younger sister.

"I'll start acting again a little later," he said. "I just want to make sure she has a stable foundation."

"It looks pretty stable to me." Kana pulled out her phone and typed something. She showed him her phone to show one of Ruby's new social media accounts, this one being Ruby's idol introduction video.

She was dressed in a dark blue dress and white stockings, her hair in a half-up-half-down style with a dark blue bow at the back of her head. Her hands were on the stool she was sitting on, and her posture was loose yet confident, as if she knew something others didn't.

"Hello, everyone." Ruby said, a curious and small smile on her face. Her voice alone sounded dreamy enough, soft and sweet. "My name is Sarina, and I'll be your dream idol. I—"

Kana paused the video. She opened the comments which were of people who talked about how interested they were in seeing where she went. Some were a little more mean than others, claiming the concept was "boring", but for the most part, she had the Internet's blessing to continue.

Kana showed him the next video, which was of Ruby singing a cover to one of B-Komachi's songs. It had Aqua's attention more than the last one. Though they had different ways of how they wanted their idol careers to go, he could easily pretend Ruby was Ai. Everything, from the voice to the posture, reminded him of Ai. It gave him a nostalgic and dreamy feeling. He wasn't the only one who felt that way, and after reading eh comments that were praising Ruby for her vocal skills, he wasn't the only one who felt that way.

Kana put her phone away. "She's obviously doing okay. She's getting popular very quickly. I mean, she's cute, has a good singing voice, pretends like she's all mysterious when she's anything but perfectly, and that makes her someone idol scouters like to go for. The disappointment they feel when they realize she isn't an indie idol must be bad..."

Aqua felt himself relax at seeing how well his sister was doing. Even though what happened to Ai still hadn't left him and he doubted it ever would, it would help Ruby if she pursued her childhood dream of becoming an idol. He knew she would have Ai's love and support, and he knew she was watching her with hope that she would succeed.

He heard his ringtone and pulled out his phone. He saw it was Ruby and answered. Even though it wasn't a FaceTime call, it felt as if he could feel her excitement through the phone. As Ruby was Ruby, she was clearly having a difficult time controlling her excitement.

"What's going on?" Aqua asked to help her.

"Aqua, you'll never believe what just happened," Ruby said, her voice making her smile obvious.

"You became famous before you even posted your first music video, and now you have people making it all for you and all you have to do is look pretty?"

"Kind of! You have the famous part right. Sort of." Ruby's voice lowered, but the excitement still shone through. "Director Kaburagi called me. He said... And I'm not kidding... He said I'm gonna be on Idol's Beginning!"