Chapter 5. The Radish Strategy.
It was the day of the auditions. Kyoko barely got any time to practice. But, she knew that she was going to be okay. All she had to do, was grab the President's attention. And she knew, just how to do that.
It was a good thing that the rules said that the contestants had to display any talent in the first round. Any kind of talent. If they were written more specifically, about what kind of talents, she wouldn't have been able to do, what she was about to do.
Kyoko walked in the waiting room, where the other contestants were. There, she saw a huge crowd of people. Some of them were carrying instruments like guitars or drumsticks, while some were dressed up in dance costumes. But, all the ladies had one thing in common. They were all wearing heavy makeup and designer clothes. Almost all of them were pretty enough to be models already. Next to them, Kyoko felt invisible.
I spent all the money I had, on my hair and clothes to stand out, not to blend in.
She felt her confidence stooping. She started feeling really nervous about competing with these people. Why was this happening? She had never been nervous about being in a spotlight before. In school functions, she used to be the most confident one. So why did she have to get nervous now of all times?
It must be Sho, he must be cursing me.
So what if he was? Two could play that game. She opened her purse and took out a handmade Sho voodoo doll. It was a habit, she had picked up recently. Since she had so much free time, her mind would always drift back to her revenge.
She knew that she had to be patient but sometimes her frustration would reach the maximum height, then she started sewing Sho's voodoo dolls, in order to relieve her anger. She would prick it with needles and imagine that this was happening to the real Sho.
That gave her some conciliation. If Sho really was cursing her, then she wasn't just going to sit back. She twisted the voodoo doll and smiled cruelly as she imagine the real Sho withering away in pain.
"Who does this brat belong to?" One of the contestants shouted, pointing at an adorable, little girl with long, brown hair tied in a sparkling, red bow. Her eyes were watery and big drops of tears rolled down her chubby cheeks.
"This is an audition, not a preschool. How am I supposed to concentrate with a snot-nosed kid running around." She shouted again. She had long, straight, raven hair, a lean frame and a beautiful face which didn't look so beautiful at that time, because of the angry wrinkles on her forehead.
"Who the hell is her mother? Answer me!" she looked around but no one came forward. So she pushed that young girl in Kyoko's direction. Kyoko fell down with girl on top of her. She had never even seen her before.
"What's the big Idea? She is not my kid." She said to that raven haired girl.
"Do I look like I care?" She was screaming now. "This audition will decide my fate and my future, and there you are, playing with voodoo dolls. It is so distractingly hideous, you're hopeless, irritating and so intensely annoying. Now get the hell away from me. I need to focus."
She moved away from them and went to the other side of the room.
What the hell? Why would she just walk up to someone she have never even met and start flinging insults on them? Kyoko thought.
She was about to say something rude back to her, but she was interrupted by that little girl, who was crying aloud now.
Some of the contestants had surrounded her. They were trying to console her and ask her where her mother was. Kyoko was disgusted by that sight. She just couldn't help but compare her old self with that girl. She used to cry a lot as well. But crying never helped! And somebody had to teach her that lesson.
She walked up to that girl and squeezed her cheeks really hard.
"You listen up, kid. Don't cry, because someday, there'll be no one to listen to you, no matter how loud you scream." She let go of her cheeks and walked away.
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After a little while, the contestants were given stickers with numbers on them. They was supposed to put it on the corner of their chest. Kyoko's number was 61. After that, they were asked to move on the stage, where they were lined up according to the numbers on their stickers.
"Welcome to LME's 27 annual open auditions. If you pass these auditions, you will have the opportunity to sign up with LME as a client. So make sure to do your best." An anchor spoke on a mic. He then turned towards the table of the judges. "And these, are the people who will be judging you."
There was a rectangular podium with four chairs on the other side. Three of those chairs were occupied. And on one of those chairs was Swara. He was relieved that this will be over today. Kyoko Mogami would leave after being eliminated and he would be back to his old life. But something struck his mind. What if she still wouldn't leave? She was crazy about getting into the agency not the auditions. What if after being eliminated, she continued on stalking him.
No! But at this point he couldn't do anything for her. Out of almost a thousand forms, only 60 contestants were selected to audition. He put his neck on the line and took her as the 61st contestant since he couldn't replace anyone, as the selection was already done. But now, the final word belong to the President. He couldn't do anything even if he liked her performance. He looked at the empty chair beside him uneasily, which belonged to the President. All he could do now was hope.
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The contestants, the anchor and the judges, they were all waiting for the President. Some of the contestants looked worried. Swara knew that they were thinking, what if the President wouldn't show up? What if the auditions got postponed? But they didn't know President Takarada like he did. Takarada loved to make big entrances and being fashionably late.
The door opened and some shirtless men came in, playing huge drums. They were followed by belly dancers wearing glitter-bikinis and large fur crowns. They all stood around the door, dancing. Then a man walked in and the party poppers around the door went off. He was surrounded by the dancers and the drummers. He was in his late forties, wearing an ordinary purple shirt and trousers. But on top of that he was wearing a brown, leather cloak and a yellow sombrero hat. He came in performing jarabe tapatio, a Mexican folklore dance.
"Now put your hands together for the visionary entrepreneur and the sponsor of this event, the president of LME, Lory Takarada." The anchor spoke on the mic.
Takarada danced for a few minutes along with the belly dancers and when the music stopped, those dancers and drummers left.
The President took off his leather cloak and sombrero hat and joined the other judges, as he sat down on the fourth unoccupied chair, followed by the contestants claps.
All the contestants had dumb looks on their faces, which said, 'what just happened?' Swara couldn't blame them. He was just as surprised when he saw the President for the first time. He was just as reckless back then, making huge entrances and in ridiculous outfits. But now, it felt completely normal to him.
"We will began the auditions shortly but before, we want you to step forward one by one and tell us a bit about yourself and why you wanna join this agency." The anchor said, once the President was seated.
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Kanae Kotoname was getting restless. First, she wasted almost an hour in the waiting room where she also wasted her energy screaming on a brat and some stupid, wannabe girl. Then she waited for the President's stupid grand entrance. And now she had to wait and listen to 61 people talking about their sorry, boring lives. She just wanted it to be over soon but she couldn't do anything about it. So she just waited, again.
One by one, the contestants stepped forward and talked. Thankfully, no one was given more than 30 seconds. Her number was 47. When her turn came, she introduced herself and blabbed about how inspired she was when she watched people act.
Finally, it was the last girl's turn. Once she would be done, the auditions would begin. Wait! It was that same, weird girl with the voodoo doll. One look at her and she could tell that she didn't belong here.
She stepped forward and spoke into the mic, "My name is Kyoko Mogami. And I want to sign up with this agency so that I can become a star. Since I want to be a bigger star than Sho Fuwa, I'll have to sign up with an agency that's bigger than his."
Oh, so she was one of those, a fangirl. She must be really stupid to announce that. Apparently she wasn't very good, because fangirls were supposed to be sneaky and what was worse, was the fact that she didn't even mention LME's top star, Ren Tsuraga.
Just a random singer and from rival agency, no less. She had no business being there. She was going to fail miserably and in Kanae's opinion she deserved to.
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What's the matter with her? Swara thought. Doesn't she remember the time when i threw her out because i thought that she was fixated on Ren? Being obsessed with Sho Fuwa isn't any better.
A stalker is a stalker. Why on earth would she announce that? Fangirls were never taken seriously in this business and she just declared herself one.
"She is the one Swara picked, right? He heard the other two judges, besides him and the President, comment.
"A Sho Fuwa fan, nothing special."
This was a disaster. She would be eliminated. And then she would stalk him for the rest of-
"She would have gone with his agency if that were true. There's more to her, but I can't put my finger on it." His thoughts were interrupted by the President.
"She has a spark beneath the surface, don't you feel it?" The President gave the other two judges a questioning look.
"No."
"Not at all, sir." They replied.
The President gave a hopeless sigh and turned back to the stage as the performances were about to begin.
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Ren was waiting in his car for Yashiro, his manager. He was supposed to drive him to the set. He should be here by now. He check his wrist watch.
It was time for the auditions to begin, he remembered out of nowhere.
Yashiro opened the door of Ren's car and sat down at the driver seat.
"Ready to go?"
"Yeah. I was wondering, the open auditions, they would have started by now, right?"
"The open auditions? You're not usually interested in such matters. Is there someone in particular, who is auditioning and whom you're rooting for?"
"No." Infact the opposite, he thought. He wanted someone in particular, to fail instead. That girl. He wasn't able to get her out of his mind. He just couldn't bear to think someone like her working in the same agency as him.
He already couldn't stand people who treated showbiz as just a ticket to fame and fortune and not as an actual career. But revenge! It was so ridiculous. He didn't know what Sho Fuwa did to her and he honestly didn't care. But someone who didn't respect this career and only want to join due to personal and petty motives like revenge didn't deserve a chance.
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At last, it was Kyoko's turn. She felt intimidated by the other performers. But she was not going to back down. She had thought hard about it. She had to show a talent. Any talent . She had no talents related to showbiz. She could have tried to sing or dance, anyway, like some of the other contestants. But she would have failed immediately like them too.
And what she couldn't afford was to fail. So what if she didn't have the talents of an idol. She wanted to join this agency, so she could learn them, in the first place.
No one said that the talent should be that of an idol. Once, she found that loophole in the written rules of the form, she knew what she was going to do.
She did have a talent. Back at the Fuwa mansion, she had struggled hard to learn it. Katsuramuki. One of the most difficult, yet essential techniques for traditional Japanese chefs. It involved slicing a daikon (radish), into a paper thin sheet. It was very difficult to master. And it was traditionally prioritized by people who managed ryokans(japanese inns).
Since the Fuwa business was of the ryokans, Kyoko was made to learn it, when she was just nine years old. And she successfully mastered it at ten. Back then, all that effort was just to please Sho's parents. But now it would help her in her revenge.
Kyoko had told Taisho about the auditions and asked for his help, but he not only helped her practice, but also lent her his usaba (a special knife only used for katsuramuki), which was pretty precious to him. She felt blessed. And also confident. She wasn't going to fail now.
She walked up to the stage and took out the usaba.
"Why is she carrying a big cleaver?"
One of the contestant said in a frantic voice, from behind the stage. Everyone had a scared and confused look.
"My talent is katsuramuki. I will show you how to carve a radish rose." She said and held out her other hand from behind her back. She was holding a radish in it. She began to cut.