Ch 21: Happy Birthday!

Minami stood outside the big glass doors and smoothed the fabric of her mint ruffle dress. The doors were covered with large curtains from the inside so no one could interrupt the private party.

She fidgeted with her hair for a moment, the soft curls creating an almost calming motion as she traced her fingers along them. Today, SUN MEDIA was throwing a birthday party for her. The event would be filmed, and they would make it look like a surprise for their new artist that had just signed.

It was all fake, nothing more than media play. She'd have to act surprised, even though she knew what she was going to be walking in to, even though they had planned it and prepared her for it beforehand. After all, she'd be filmed! They had to make sure she was looking beautiful with her pre-approved outfit and her hair and makeup that were done professionally at the salon.

She took a deep breath and placed her hand on the door handle.

'Do I look okay? I hope I don't look stupid…' She bit her lip and wiggled her fingers against the handle before finally pushing down on it and opening the door.

"SURPRISE! Happy Birthday Mina!!" Everyone yelled in unison as Minami entered the room, confetti poppers going off around her and spraying her with colorful bits.

Her hand flew up to her mouth and her eyes widened as she looked around the large room that SUN MEDIA had rented out.

It was decorated with pink, blue and silver banners and balloons along its walls. A long rectangular table was in the middle with a white table cloth and place settings each already having its food served onto it. It was catered from an expensive restaurant nearby, which would also be mentioned as part of the deal SUN MEDIA had made with them.

A huge white cake sat in the middle of the table with the words 'HAPPY BIRTHDAY MINA' written on it with pink and blue music notes. One of the staff members escorted Minami to her chair – the one with the big silver bow- and pulled it out for her.

"This is….." tears welled up in her eyes, "…really so amazing….thank you everyone for this! Really, thank you!" The emotion was genuine, no one had ever celebrated her birthday to this extent, nor had she ever had so many people show up to one of her parties before.

She gracefully dabbed her tears, careful not to smudge her makeup, as she sat down in her seat. Yes, it was all for show, and most of these people probably couldn't wait to get home, but she still couldn't believe that all of this had been done for her, fake or not.

"You look so beautiful, Mina!" A girl with a short black bob bounced up, smiling as she held out a white gift bag with golden handles. Yellow tissue paper peeked out from the opening of the bag, accentuating the golden handles, "I got you a gift. I know we don't know each other very well, but I hope you like it."

"Oh! I'm thankful you even got me anything at all, Erina." Minami smiled as she gingerly took the bag out of the smiling girl's hands.

Erina was one of the SUN GIRLS members. While they had never had one on one conversations before, Minami had met her a few times prior. While she didn't seem to add much to the group talent wise, she made up for it with her reputation and personality.

Articles about Erina's wonderful and selfless personality were constantly going around on social media and tabloid sites.

Minami slowly pulled the tissue paper from the bag, the gift had been placed in a smaller box which was wrapped diligently in the tissue.

Inside the box was a white leather square bag with pink angel wings and red hearts scattered across the front. The quality was nice and it was the perfect size. Minami's eyes lit up and her jaw dropped at the sight of it.

"Wow! Erina! This is gorgeous! I love it!"

Erina smiled wide, "I noticed you always have that other bag with you and it's starting to show some wearing on the edges. So I thought maybe you could use a new one."

The articles were right, Erina WAS caring. The fact that she'd noticed such a small detail despite them never even having a real proper conversation one on one was astounding. She was sure not even Akina would have thought of something like that.

"I'll definitely use it! Thank you so much!" She hugged the bag to her chest and cradled it in her arms when she felt a tap on her shoulder.

Minami turned around to see the face of SUN MEDIA's receptionist. The two would greet each other whenever Minami came in and would chat here and there. They were on pretty good terms to the point Minami would call her a friend, although due to their difference in age Minami couldn't see herself really spending time with her outside of work.

"Open this one next!" The woman handed her a green envelope that was decorated with butterflies and flowers. Minami opened it carefully, ensuring she didn't damage its contents.

Inside were two tickets to 5year's upcoming concert.

Minami's hand flew to her mouth as a loud gasp escaped her lips. "No way! I've never seen them live before!" Her eyes darted over the ticket information over and over again trying to verify that the information she was absorbing was 100% correct.

The receptionist nodded with a smile. "I thought you'd enjoy them! Don't worry though, you don't have to feel pressured into taking me. I'm not into that sort of thing so take one of your friends and have a good time." She placed her hand gently on Minami's arm, rubbing lightly with her index finger, similarly to how a mother might comfort her baby.

"Thank you! I know just the person to take with me too. I really can't believe this. I really really appreciate it. This must've been so hard to get!"

The receptionist laughed, "Well, when you have connections, it's not so hard. We do work at an agency you know. But, you should go, I think some others are waiting to hand you a gift too."

She nodded to behind Minami where Smile Days were standing. Minami turned to face the six girls smiling and waving at her.

Their demeanors were much sweeter than when she'd seen them at the office a few days ago. Maybe this was the real Smile Days? Maybe they were sweet after all.

"Mina! We got this for you. It's a really sought after item." Miki, the group's leader and main vocalist snickered as she handed Minami an unwrapped pin in a square plastic bag with a sticky strip keeping it closed.

It was a yellow sun pin with an orange happy face detail in the middle. It sparkled in the certain light and was overall a cute item. However, it was only one of their cheap merchandise pieces that had not sold well at their latest event.

This wouldn't have been so bad if they had at least wrapped it and given a better delivery speech, but as was, it was clear that it was only for the sake of appearances.

Fine. Minami could play that game too.

She smiled from ear to ear, "Oh! I've seen this! I wanted to get it but I didn't get the chance. Your merchandise is so cute! I love it! Thank you!"

The girls crossed their arms in disgust behind Miki, who was glaring at Minami with a snarl. Minami simply held her smile and opened up the pin, placing it onto the chest of her dress.

"How does it look? It looks cute right?"

Staff members continued to give her gifts throughout the night. Mostly things like stickers and bag charms. Makoto had given her a lyric book and told her to improve her skills. A few staff members had gone in on a single gift and gotten her an autographed 5year album, and the rest simply gave her Happy Birthday cards.

She was packing her bags to leave when Miki suddenly pulled her aside.

"You know that just because you debut doesn't mean anything is going to happen to you right?" Miki sucked on her cheek and wiggled her lower jaw around.

"I'm sorry? What?" A puzzled look decorated Minami's face.

"Just because you debut. Doesn't mean you're famous. Got it? You think all of this is for you? It's for the company, don't get it twisted. No one likes you here."

Minami furrowed her eyebrows in furthered confusion, "Are you trying to warn me or? I think some people do like me."

"Yeah, I'm warning you, to know where you stand! Don't you get it? You're nothing. You even got a hand-me-down song. You couldn't even do it on your own huh? You had to leech off us and OUR resources."

"That's not what happened…and if it's such an issue, I'm not the person to be talking to about it…Makoto is."

"All you'll ever be is a thief. You're still just doing covers, except you're covering OUR song. A song thief who only does covers. That's what you are." She crossed her arms and glared at Minami as if she was ready to rip her hair out.

"What's your problem?" Minami turned away from her and continued to gather her stuff. She suddenly felt like she was back where she was 3 years ago, dealing with Juri all over again.

"My problem is that some random chic has come out of NO WHERE and is trying to steal our work." Miki grabbed Minami's shoulder and pulled her backwards so they were face to face.

Minami pushed her hair back and huffed, "It's not your work. You didn't make the song. What did you do for it exactly that makes it your work? You didn't even record it yet."

"Excuse me?! I'm going to-"

Makoto came over and grabbed Minami, pulling her away from Miki. "You're going to what?"

Miki's demeanor immediately changed and a smile lit up her face, "I was going to tell her how welcome she is at the company! I'm just really glad that our family is growing. Don't you think that's a really great thing? And I just want to say again Mina, happy birthday!" She grabbed Minami's arm and gave it a painful squeeze, the smile never leaving her face, before she turned around and returned to her group mates.

"Mhmm…" Makoto waited until she had left hearing distance before turning to Minami.

"You should really stay away from them. They'll do anything to destroy your success.

Before Minami could respond, he pulled her towards the Sun Girls members and the staff members so they could all take pictures to commemorate the day. They would also later be posted to Minami's blog once it was officially announced that she had signed.

Finally, the day came to an end and Minami returned home where she could sit back and relax.

She opened up her phone to see numerous texts from her parents, as well as hundreds of notifications from fans on social media. Wait what? She had never had so much attention before on her birthday, it was making her choked up. How could so many people care enough about her to wish her a happy birthday like this?

Then, she saw the text messages from Akina and Naoto.

[Akina] Happy birthday!!! I love you sooooooo much! Have a great one! I'll give you your present when I see you next, text me!

[Naoto] Happy birthday babe. Are you free later? Let's do something, just you and me.

Her cheeks flushed at Naoto's message and she found herself suddenly smiling like an idiot. She quickly typed up her response.

[Minami] We finished up already. I'll go to your place?

BZZ! BZZ!

[Naoto] You got it babe.