Chapter 1. Her Prince!
She was late. She knew she had to get out right now if she wanted to make it in time to her next job. But, the girl she was covering for, still hadn't shown up.
"Here you go, Sir." She smiled brightly as she handed a packet with burgers and fries in it, to a customer. She glanced at the wall clock and then at the staff door again for the eighth time. Just then, it burst open and a girl in the same cafe apron as her, hurried in.
"I am so sorry, Kyoko. I won't be late again. Thanks for covering for me." She said, panting, as she tied back her apron.
"It's okay, you're welcome." Kyoko smiled and replied as she rushed off to the staff room. She went to her locker and took off her sweat-stained apron. As she was taking out her stuff, she heard two of her co-workers chatting nearby in front of their lockers.
"Have you seen how handsome he is? He is the one for me." One of the girls with huge dark circles squeaked to her friend.
"Didn't you say that you like Ren Tsuruga?" Her friend replied. Kyoko wondered who they were talking about.
"Ren Tsuruga? No way. He's just an actor with a pretty face. He has no talent. But Sho Fuwa, his voice is like an angel. I was up all night listening to his songs."
Kyoko's heart skipped a beat as she heard the name Sho Fuwa. She was done there but all of her attention was on their conversation now. The thought of being late completely left her mind as she fidgeted in her locker, pretending to look for something so she could listen to the rest.
"Really?"
"Yeah. I bet Ren can't sing at all. Like I said, he just has a pretty face. But Show Fuwa, he is so talented and is also dripping with good looks."
Kyoko's heart did a backflip, she was so happy that she almost danced. Of course, Sho Fuwa was the best. And he was also better than that sorry excuse of a celebrity, Ren Tsuruga. People were finally noticing that. How could she not be happy?
"When you say it like that, I guess I'll have to buy a CD."
"Oh, I bought one and guess what I got?" The girl with the dark circles opened her locker and took out a rolled poster. She unrolled it and there was a picture of a teenage boy. He had spiky blonde hair with sharp brown eyes and flawless skin. He was carrying a guitar and was dressed up in a stage costume.
"Tada, I got it free with the CD at the supermarket. A life size Sho Fuwa poster."
Kyoko couldn't believe what she was hearing. How could that happen?
"No!" She exclaimed loudly. Both of the girls looked at her.
"I waited all night outside the store to get Sho's CD but I didn't get a single poster. Not even a small one," she cried. She fell on her knees and an aura of despair began surrounding her. She was Sho's number one fan. She should have been the one to get the poster.
"She waited out there all night. What's wrong with her? Who even does that?", The other girl whispered to her friend.
"Even I wouldn't do that," the girl with the poster said as she rolled it and put it back in her locker. Then she turned to Kyoko suddenly, as if she remembered something.
"Hey, do you still have the receipt that you got with the CD?"
"Yeah, why?" Kyoko said miserably, only half listening. She was too busy in sulking to pay attention or to remember she had to go to work.
"You can still get a poster. Go to the store and show them the receipt and tell them that you didn't get a poster. Then you demand one. They'll have to give it to you."
As Kyoko heard the girl talk, the realisation hit her. She could still get the poster.
"I don't think that they'll give it so easily and she seems way too nice to fight over a poster..." the other girl was saying but she was interrupted by Kyoko who run out screaming, "Gotta get Sho's poster." again and again.
.
.
.
Kyoko rode her bike like a maniac while also mumbling "Gotta get Sho's poster" all the way. As if she could forget about the poster by not saying it out loud.
When she finally reached the store, she looked like she just got back from the gym and when she asked for the poster, they almost immediately gave her one because of her intense frown.
She couldn't wait to go home and put the poster on the wall. She was already deciding where she would hang it when the face of her angry boss suddenly clouded the perfect view of her bedroom with the poster. It was then she remembered about her job.
She checked her wrist watch and realised that she was already an hour late and it would take another 40 minutes to get there.
"What's wrong with me?" She screamed at herself. How could I be so reckless, she wondered. She sat on her bike and this time she rode even faster, like her life depended on it. Maybe it did, she thought as the angry face of Mr Taisho loomed over her head.
.
.
.
She reached Darumaya within thirty minutes. It was a small traditional Japanese restaurant owned by an elderly couple, Mr and Mrs Taisho. Out of all the places where Kyoko had worked till now, Darumaya was her favourite. It was because she loved to cook and she could learn new recipes there but the main reason was that Mrs Taisho was a very kind and caring woman and she treated Kyoko like her own daughter.
While Mr Taisho, on the other hand, never spoke and was always frowning, which gave people, including Kyoko, the wrong impression that he was a harsh man but in reality, he was just as nice as Mrs Taisho.
Kyoko knocked on the door, Mrs Taisho opened it to let her in. Just as she was about to enter she fell down. She was panting and sweating as if she just ran a marathon. Her legs were wobbly like noodles. She tried to stand up but she fell down again.
"Oh my, what happened?" Mrs Taisho exclaimed. She held Kyoko up and led her inside.
"Nothing. I was late so I just rode really fast." Kyoko replied apologetically.
"Why couldn't you just take the day off? Look at yourself! You can't even stand up! I can't let you work like this." Mrs Taisho scolded her but she seemed more worried than angry.
"Please, I have to work." Kyoko pleaded. "If I take even a single day off, I won't be able to pay the rent."
Kyoko lived in a huge luxury suit in a very nice area. More than half of the wages was used to pay up rent.
"You live in such an expensive house. You said you had other jobs, right? Do you live alone?" Mrs Taisho inquired.
At that Kyoko just looked down. She didn't say anything.
"Well," Mrs Taisho continued. "if you don't wanna say, it's okay but whatever your reasons may be, it's not okay for a sixteen year old girl to push herself so much. You left your home and moved into Tokyo right after middle school. Making it in a big city like Tokyo alone is expensive as it is. On top of that your apartment is like a mansion. You don't go to school any more but work on part time jobs and then spend almost all of it just on rent. It's not right.
"You've got eyebags and dishevelled hair. Don't you wanna dress up and stuff, like the other girls your age? Don't you think that you should move somewhere affordable and save some money for yourself?" Kyoko kept looking down, she still didn't say anything. Mrs Taisho decided to not push her anymore.
"Kyoko, honey, we are just worried about you. You should take care of yourself more." She said and left Kyoko to change.
It was eleven o'clock when Kyoko finally left Darumaya. She somehow managed to complete the shift without passing out. Luckily there weren't that many customers, so she got time to rest in between.
As she walked back towards her apartment building with her bike beside her, she couldn't help but reflect on what Mrs Taisho had said to her that evening.
Of course she wanted to dress up and look pretty. When she was young, she was often scolded by her mother because she only read princess's stories. But she didn't want to read anything else. She loved how the princesses were treated badly and covered with rags at first but after they meet their princes, their whole destinies changed. They'd transform into the most beautiful person in the whole kingdom.
Kyoko also wanted to be a princess when she grew up, to find her prince and to have herself transformed. She longed for beautiful dresses and expensive cosmetics.
But, when she grew up, she realised that all those things required money. And she didn't have nearly enough of it.
She thought that maybe if she did move out, she might be able to save enough money to buy a new dress. Maybe she could go to the salon and fix her hair too. What am I thinking? She shook her head violently to get rid of those thoughts. She shouldn't be greedy now because even though, she had nothing else, she still had something that those other girls didn't have. She had her own prince.
When Kyoko reached at her apartment building, she saw that the lights of her apartment were on. She realised that he must be back. So she ran inside like the wind.
She pushed the elevator button, but the elevator was taking too long to come down. So she ran through the stairs. She opened the door and exclaimed loudly "Sho, you're back!" And there he was standing. Her prince. Sho Fuwa in the flesh.
To be continued.