Ch 38: Misunderstandings

Gasping for air as she began to hyperventilate, Minami searched Makoto's eyes, desperately looking for an explanation or some sort of indication that this was nothing more than a joke.

She pressed three of her fingers against her chest and rubbed it, trying to ease her heart rate – which was currently going about 100 miles per hour.

"What are you talking about?! I haven't breached anything! I've been very careful about following the contract and doing whatever you say! I even ask for permission before I do anything I'm not sure about!" Her eyes were wide with shock as she frantically rebutted his claims.

She took a step forward as she continued to plead, "You know I'm right! You know I haven't done anything wrong! This is just a joke, right? Tell me it's a joke!!"

Makoto still was not making eye contact with her, which continued to make her anxiety soar. This wasn't like him.

What was going on? Surely, he couldn't be serious about this. She knew she'd done nothing wrong. She'd even read that contract over and over again to make sure she'd memorized it once she signed it. Breaching her contract was a nightmare she'd never wanted to happen.

Makoto shook his head and held his hand out, fingers straightened towards her seat and his palm facing upwards.

"Calm down, don't interrupt me and sit back down." He was practically monotone.

She took a deep breath and returned to her seat.

Her body was trembling now, and she was starting to feel nauseous. She wasn't sure if the nausea was coming from her anxiety or from motion sickness as a result of her trembling, but she sure did wish it would go away.

Makoto remained silent for a moment and wiggled his bottom jaw around as he thought about his next words carefully.

Finally, he took a deep breath and exhaled before continuing.

"The terms state that you may not present the company in a negative light nor may you cause any damage to the company's reputation. By plagiarizing Smile Days, you have brought upon negative attention to yourself and if announced as our artist now, will cause damage to our brand. Thus, the terms of your contract have been breached. Due to previous good standing with the company and loyal to our brand, we will reward you by silently letting you out of your contract. Your contract is now void."

Minami stared at him in disbelief for a moment.

Her lips curved downward into a harsh frown, causing the muscles in her face to trembled due to the discomfort of such a position. Her chin wrinkled as tears stung the back of her eyes, the bridge of her nose began to burn.

"W-What? I-I didn't…" her voice cracked and she covered her mouth with her trembling hand as she took in a big sniff as she attempted to stop the snot from flowing out of her nose. Unfortunately, she couldn't stop a few tears from wiggle their way out of her eyes and they fell onto her lap.

She sniffed again and averted her gaze, blinking rapidly as if to suck the tears back in. She sucked her lips in for a moment and exhaled a slow, shaking breath in an attempt to get her response out.

"I didn't….plagiarize at all….what are you talking about?" Her voice was shaking and cracking while also reaching about an entire octave higher than her normal pitch.

Makoto hung his head low and huffed out the remaining air in his lungs.

'God Damnit.' He thought as her sniffling and whimpering filled the air within the private room.

He hated this. He hated this entire situation. It SHOULD be Smile Days who get kicked out of the company, not Minami.

He placed his hands on the makeshift table and folded them as he raised his head, his eyes remaining locked on his lap.

It was hard for him to relay this information, and he wished with all his might that he had someone to do it for him instead.

"You've taken Smile Days' newest song and released it online, leaking it to the public, while trying to pass it off as your own. You also infringed copyright and replaced the lyrics."

His leg started jittering as he prayed internally, 'Please, let her just accept this. Please let her just say 'okay' and be on her way. Please don't prolong this any more than it needs to be.'

"What do you meeaaan?!" She tilted her head back and wailed out, "You g-gave me that s-song! Y-You h-had me t-take dance les-s-sons, you g-got a ch-choreograph-pher! We d-did ph-photoshoots and…and we f-filmed my birthd-day! And what ab-bout my m-m-m-music v-video?! I even asked if I c-could upload the sn-snippet to my accounts and y-you said I could!"

Her voice was cracking all over the place as tears flowed out of her eyes, her throat was sore from the tightness and friction of crying and trying to speak.

"I h-have the t-t-texts from you r-r-right here!!" She wiped her tears with her arm and wiped the snot coming out of her nose with the back of her hand, "I-I'll show you!!!"

'How dare he lie?! This is slander! The ones that really broke the contract are Smile Days! Why aren't they receiving this speech? They're the ones that out right lied about my version of the public AND the ones who leaked the song to the public. They're the ones that infringed on copyright and released a song that was no longer theirs, not ME! This isn't fair!'

Her mind was racing as she flung her arm into her white bag.

Makoto sighed in frustration and rubbed his eyebrows, the sound of her crying and whimpering beginning to annoy him.

"Minami-san," he said with annoyance, "Please don't make this hard. Leave with dignity, with your head held high. We're letting you go and that's that. Just accept it and don't take time away from me. I'm very busy and I have to clean up your mess."

Minami-SAN? He never called her that…he always called her just Minami.

She hesitated for a moment when she heard those words come out of his mouth before shaking her head and continuing to search through her bag.

"S-see?!" She pulled out her phone and pulled up the emails of all the plans and her schedule.

'FIGHT FOR YOUR LIFE MINAMI!' A voice shouted inside of her head as she turned the phone screen to face him.

"You said right here! It's right here!" She pointed at the screen, tapping it with her nail as she urged him to face the reality.

Makoto started feeling a tightness in his jaw and back, a lump forming in his throat. He wanted to stand up and shake this feeling off, but he couldn't.

He refused to look at the phone and instead placed his hand on top of it and pushed it down. He didn't need to see; he knew what the emails said.

Makoto closed his eyes and took a deep breath, hoping he could calm himself down. He needed to get her out of here as soon as possible. He couldn't take this anymore. Why would she not just leave already? It was hard enough for him.

"So what," he scoffed, "You don't even have a good fanbase anyways. You have a few followers online from your covers and it was decent, but look at how they all abandoned you so quickly? The fanbase was fake, real fans wouldn't leave you no matter what."

Minami stared at him shocked and crushed.

"This is a very serious matter and you're lucky that we aren't taking legal action."

Minami shut her eyes tight. She needed answers! Everything was so confusing and her brain couldn't comprehend why this was happening to her and not to Smile Days.

He even told her how they were nothing and how they'd never be famous and told her how she had the REAL star power.

"B-but why….why are you doing this? This is my debut song that you gave me…that we've been working on, together, as a team…" She slumped in the chair, defeated.

"Won't everyone's efforts be wasted if you do this? I'm the loyal one, not Smile Days. They're the ones that put you in this position, not me. Why are you not having this conversation with them instead? Why is it with me? Aren't you kicking out the wrong person?"

Makoto's eyebrow flinched, anger overcoming him.

Of course he knew that! Of course he knew that it should be Minami staying and not Smile Days, but he didn't have a choice and he couldn't even explain that to her.

He sighed and stood up from his chair.

"I think you somehow misunderstood me. Anyways, please leave before I call security. This conversation is over. You're dismissed. I'm busy and I have work to do."

Minami glared at him as she clenched her fists. Was this really it?