Ch 11: "I'll See You on the Stage!"

A large table with what seemed like every staff member in the company around it, sat in the center of the room with very little room left between it and the walls. Various documents lay atop it and the staff members passed pieces around as they chatted. Minami walked in, expecting the meeting, but not fully expecting this.

She bowed to everyone and sat down at one of the empty seats at the table.

"Minami. Do you know why we're here today?" Makoto asked her, a serious look on his face.

Minami looked around the table, trying to read everyone else's expressions before slowly shaking her head. He had messaged her last night that a meeting would be held today, but didn't give her any more details than that.

"We're going to be discussing your debut plans."

The other staff started smiling and a small smile also began to spread across her own face. She was in disbelief. She didn't think he was actually serious about giving her the song, she'd assumed he just said it in anger due to the situation with the guide singer not showing up.

"Oh." She covered her mouth and giggled, not completely confident that this wasn't a prank of some kind.

"We've changed the song from 'Smile Days' to 'My Days' and I've also changed the lyrics so we're going have to re-record it, which we can do in-house. I also completed a B-side track, you know how to do lyrics right? Do some lyrics, we can always get someone else to do them if they're bad. I'm going to need your schedule." He spoke quickly while looking from one document to the next. He held out his hand.

She stared for a moment, the information hitting her like a wall of bricks, before her brain registered what he was asking. "Oh right." She pulled out her coral planner with the mint boarders that Naoto had given her.

He glanced at the planner and then darted his eyes between it and her. "Do you not keep everything on your phone?"

Minami's shoulders rose up to her ears as she shrugged and slumped, "I prefer to use a planner…It's easier for me to keep organized and write my ideas into it."

He sighed and shook his head, flipping open the planner and referencing his document. "Okay, here." He held the planer out to her, which she took back instantly. "Write this down, we're going to record on the 16th, and I want your lyrics to the B-side by then too. I'll send you the audio file through email at the end of the meeting so have them prepared."

Minami's pen glided across the pages as she filled in information for the schedules. "We're going to do promotional work for you too, to get your name out there beforehand. We need to build up your presence. Also, your name isn't a very good one, it's too long." He thought back to her performance at Carrot Star's concert. It wouldn't be a good image for her if anyone saw that clip or recognized her name. "You'll be MINA from now on. Short and sweet, I like it."

So much information was being thrown at her that her head was spinning, her hand was cramping and she was still shock and wondering if this was all still actually happening or if it was just a really intense dream.

Even when she was in school and taking part in clubs and after school activities, participating with Kissiks and attending auditions, she had never seen such action. She had multiple photoshoots set, some for social media photos, company profile photos, jacket photos and promotional shoots, then there were the recording dates for her debut as well as for additional covers for her social media accounts which were paired with filming dates, fittings and salon dates, not to mention the plethora of songs to learn for the said social media account covers.

She couldn't wait to tell Akina and Naoto about this. Although suddenly and unexpectedly, Saki popped into her head. She wanted to share this news with her. It had been years since they'd spoken, but she couldn't help but think of what she'd say if she knew what was going on. Probably something like, "I knew you could do it! Send me a signed album when it's out! I'm gonna buy your single, I want to support you!" That was the kind of friend she had been…and Minami missed that.

However, Makoto had strictly informed her not to tell anyone that she was an artist under SUN MEDIA. This was to avoid any talk or questions in the case her debut ended up being scrapped, but also to make it a big surprise announcement once her debut was actually finalized and announced to create hype. In any case, her schedule was full and she was going to have to break the news to them that she wouldn't be available for a while.

★ ★ ★

"Juri, do you think we'll ever get to debut?" Minami sat on the wooden bench and swung her feet back and forth, "It feels like it's such an impossible dream."

"I think we can do it. If we work hard at it," Juri played with the ends of her mid-length blonde hair, "They say if you believe you can achieve, so we just have to do that and work hard right?"

"But, I'm scared that if I debut….no one will like me…." Minami's head hung low and tears formed in her eyes.

"Hey, don't say that! What kind of company would debut someone they didn't see any potential in. If they sign you, that means they see your potential, and everyone has at least one fan. That's really all you need isn't it?"

Minami smiled, "You're right! I just need one fan, if I have one fan, I can do anything!"

"That's the spirit!" Juri smiled and held her hand up, which Minami then high five-d.

"I hope we get to meet on stage one day." Minami said as Juri grabbed hold of her hand.

"We definitely will! We're going to have a bunch of collaborations! Let's be famous for that! We'll do collaborations all the time, singles, concerts, special appearances, and we'll do photobooks and everything!" Juri waved their hands in the air with a big smile on her face.

"Oh and we can make it a thing that other artists want to do as well! And our fans will be like, 'I can't wait for Juri and Minami to do another collab. I love when they collab together!'"

"I'm in if you are. Deal?" Juri let go of Minami's hand and held out her pinky.

"Deal!" The two of them locked their pinkies, sealing their promise.

"See you on the stage?"

"See you on the stage!"

★ ★ ★

"Juri! Hey Juri! Guess what!" Minami ran to Juri, waving her hands in the air.

"What, what, what?" Juri hopped up excitedly from her seat at the café.

"I'm debuting!" Minami flung her arms around her and squeezed her tightly, happy tears exploding from her eyes.

"What?! No way! Are you seriously?! Tell me all about it!" Juri pulled back and stared into Minami's eyes as if to double check the validity of her statement.

"It's true! I recorded the demo song for this group and the producer liked it so much he gave it to me instead and asked me to sign a contract with them! I'm so!! I can't believe it! Isn't this so insane?!" Minami couldn't help but scream and start jumping up and down, unable to contain the excitement. She felt just like a kid again.

"That's crazy! I'm so jealous! When does it come out? How are you feeling? Besides excited I mean." Juri motioned for Minami to take a seat across from her, which she did.

"We haven't set an official date yet, but things are about to get crazy for me. I'm honestly so insane, I had lost so much confidence after you ditched me at our conc! Er…t….and you…..said all those horrible things to me…..and you said how I was ugly and I couldn't sing or dance….and how I was weighing you down…." Minami stared down at the table as tears welled up in her eyes, "Juri? Why did you say those things? Why did you suddenly not like me anymore? What did I do to make you hate me? We had so many plans….why did you throw me away?"

Juri laughed and flipped her hair, "Because it was pathetic watching you try to achieve this dream. If it was so easy I would've done it myself. You're ugly, you CAN'T sing, and you CAN'T dance and NO ONE likes you. Did you really think it would work out for you? Pfft….you can't even get your own song, you have to steal someone else's…."

Minami jumped up from bed flailing her limbs, gasping for air as sweat and tears ran down her face. She grabbed onto her heart. Why was she dreaming of a memory with Juri and why did she think of telling Juri her news….

She rapidly wiped her tears away from her face and sniffled her snot back up into her nose. She hadn't thought about Juri in so long…why now all of a sudden?