Pop Rock Love (18 page)

She turned towards the
distance, looking at the replica of the Statue of Liberty. “Yuki, if there ever
comes a day when I become more important than your dream, then that is the day
we should part.”

“Mimi...”

Her mobile phone suddenly rang.
It was her manager whom she had abandoned back at Shibuya. An angry voice
shouted at the other end. “If you hadn’t answered this call, I would have
called the police! Where are you?”

Yuki’s cell phone also started
ringing and it was Jun at the other end. “Yuki, you do know that there is a
group meeting at Fame Factory tonight, right? Where are you?”

After getting off the phone
with their respective managers, Yuki said apologetically, “I need to go. I’ll
give you a lift back.”

“No, it’s alright, I’ll take a
cab back. You need to get back to the agency.”

Mimi could see him hesitating.
“It’s okay, you go first, I’ll stay here for a while before leaving. It’s so
beautiful here,” she said, giving him a reassuring smile.

He placed his arms around her,
holding her tightly. “I’ll call you later.” Mimi hugged his back and shut her
eyes. She really didn’t want him to go.

“Ok,” she said. He released his
grasp and put on his mask again and walked off.

Mimi let out a soft sigh.

Just when I was getting used to
not having you beside me, you had to appear and turn my world upside down
again.

Track #16

The model, Rika, contacted Mimi
a few days later, asking when she would be free to have a meal together. It was
a chilly winter morning, and the trees had long shed their brown leaves and now
stood on the pavement, bare. Rika had arranged to meet her at a café around
Ebisu at nine. That morning, Mimi found Rika waiting outside the café, wearing
a white knitted hat, a black blazer and ugg boots. Even when she wasn’t wearing
heels, she still towered over everybody. Mimi thought she looked even prettier
than how she remembered her. Mimi herself was clad in a black leather jacket
and a dark pink shirt dress and shin-high black boots. The model waved
enthusiastically once she caught sight of her, “Nice to see you again!”

They entered the café and took
their seats. “The breakfast set here is really delicious,” said Rika, as a
waiter came by to take their order.

“Really? I will have one then.
Two breakfast sets, please,” she told the waiter. Mimi looked at Rika and
asked, “Do you come here often?”

“Sometimes. I live around here.
I come by whenever I can wake up in the mornings, which is not very often. Work
has been busy.”

“That’s good, isn’t it?” Mimi
commented. Breakfast consisted of a plate of bacon and eggs and a bread basket
of croissants. The blonde girl looked at Mimi intently, “Actually, I am very
interested in becoming your friend. I remember the time when you talked about
‘strong emotions’. To tell you the truth, I am thinking of quitting modelling
and just be an artist or something, in Paris.”

“Why do you want to quit?” Mimi
asked, biting off a bit of croissant.

“It’s because I’ve had too many
unhappy memories here in Tokyo. I feel like taking a break from everything and
just running away from it all. But I really like your songs; somehow they give
me strength.”

“Thank you. But still, running
away may not be the answer. I mean, unless you really want to be an artist,
that would be a different story then.”

Rika sighed as she started
cutting up pieces of bacon and said, “I don’t know if you know them, but there
is this pop group called the Fire Boys.” Mimi choked on a piece of bread and
started coughing rather violently, but Rika didn’t seem to notice and continued
talking, “I used to go out with one of them. Well, for boy bands, they are not
allowed to get involved in serious relationships. So he dumped me after he
found me cheating on him. But that’s not the end of it. I got so mad, that I
sent pictures of the two of us to the CEO. Things got really messy. Their CEO
is a really powerful man in Tokyo, I got fired from my modelling agency and had
to move to a smaller one.”

Mimi picked up her glass and
took a sip of water. “But why did you two-time him?”

“It wasn’t serious cheating, I
just hung out with this other male model who had been asking me out. I didn’t
even sleep with him or anything,” Rika started waving her hands around, “I
mean, my ex was always busy with his work schedule and he was never around. The
cheating was just an excuse for him to dump me. To him, I was just a road block
to his career. Maybe I was just jealous of him. I was jealous that he had
something more precious than me. But that’s just how it is, you can’t expect a
star to stay by your side forever.” Rika seemed to be talking to herself now.
She looked on forlornly at the breakfast in front of her and started to cry.
Mimi quickly handed her a tissue.

Mimi felt sorry for the blonde
girl sitting in front of her. She didn’t even need to ask, but she knew Rika
was talking about Yuki. She wondered if one day, her fate would be the same as
hers. Perhaps one day when she can no longer hold on to a star, she will lose
him the same way Rika lost him. She reached out and placed her hand over
Rika’s.

“For what it’s worth, I think
you are a great model. You looked so beautiful in the music video. It was an
honour to have you in it.”

Despite her tears, Rika managed
a small smile and said, “Thank you.”

That afternoon, Mimi had to
troop down to Niji Building for another day’s work. A hundred and one thoughts
were dancing around in her mind but at least, she had her music, she told
herself. She greeted her band as she entered the rehearsal room, telling
herself that she had to focus on her music. Kamaki, her keyboardist, was
excitedly showing her photographs of his new baby girl when her manager
suddenly barged into the room, holding a bunch of papers.

“Mimi!” he shouted, waving the
papers wildly. “Mimi, your new single is officially a hit! It debuted at number
eight! We got the confirmation from the Oricon Charts!”

“Really? That’s great! Everyone
did a great job!” she said, clapping her hands. Kenta continued to bounce
around the room. “You know what this means? You’ll perform at
Music Stage
next week! Your first television performance! I’m so proud! Drinks are on me
tonight, let’s all go and celebrate! What date is it? I need to jot it down.”

Kamaki replied, “It’s the
fifteenth of December.”

Kenta suddenly stopped bouncing
around. “Ah, no wonder Sato wasn’t in his office.”

Mimi asked, “Why? Where is he?”

Her manager rubbed his chin
thoughtfully, “It’s the death anniversary of his best friend. It should be 15
years since he passed away. He must be at the cemetery. I’ll tell him the news
when he returns.”

He must have gone to visit
Daichi, thought Mimi.

*

A bitter gust of wind blew
among the graves at the cemetery. Wearing a long black trench coat and
sunglasses, Sato placed a bouquet of white lilies on Daichi’s grave. He stuffed
his hands in his pockets and said sadly, “I can’t believe it has been 15 years
since you left this world. I’m so sorry.”

“You know it wasn’t your
fault,” a male voice said from behind. Sato turned back to see Hiroki standing
there with his own bouquet of lilies. About 17 years ago, Daichi, Sato and
Hiroki were a trainee group under Fame Factory. They spent long hours training
together at the dance studios, practising their singing and rapping, sharing
the same dream of debuting as a pop group eventually.

After what happened to Daichi,
Sato left the company. He couldn’t stand being in the Fame Factory headquarters
without his best friend around but Hiroki stayed on and debuted as the
successful pop duo, Hiroki & Haru. He was also given plenty of hosting and
acting opportunities, such as the main host of
Music Stage
.

Hiroki placed a bouquet of
lilies on Daichi’s grave and said, “Sometimes I wonder what it would be like if
Daichi was still alive. He would be the same age as us, maybe he would have
gotten married by now and you’ll probably still be in Fame Factory, not a rock
producer. I see you’re doing well though.”

“There’s no point thinking
about ‘what ifs’ now.”

“You were always so cold. The
girls at the cabaret club were complaining to me that you never look for them
anymore. Are you seeing someone now?”

“You are so annoying,” said
Sato, placing a cigarette in his mouth and lighting it. He turned away from
Hiroki and started walking. Hiroki ran and tried to catch up with him but Sato
continued walking briskly, avoiding him. The singer pressed on, “You found her,
didn’t you? The girl who can fully understand your music, the one who can make
your music come alive.”

Sato stopped in his steps. He
was getting extremely irritated with the other man and glared at Hiroki who
looked triumphant at finally getting his attention. Hiroki said, “I haven’t
seen you so interested in anyone before. Are you sure you are not interested in
her romantically?”

“You never change, always so
meddlesome. You should take care of your own life,” he said, blowing cigarette
smoke at Hiroki’s face.

“She’ll be on
Music Stage
next week. So I can see for myself why you like her so much.”

Sato furrowed his brows and
resumed walking towards his car.

“Sato, I’m just worried about
you.”

“Why?” he snapped back.

“Because I’m your friend.”

“I have no friends. The only
person I believe in is myself,” he said, throwing the cigarette stub on the
ground. Sato got into his black convertible and sped off.

*

“Kenta, I need to leave! I left
my cell phone at Niji!” Mimi was yelling at her manager who was sitting next to
her at a noisy pub around Niji Building. Kenta, who was already a little tipsy
after a few glasses of sake bomb (a concoction which Mimi learned was a mix of
sake and beer), just giggled and waved his hand at her. “Bye guys!” she told
the rest of the drinking party, which included her band and some other Niji
staff.

As Mimi walked towards the rehearsal
studio, she heard the soft tinkling of the keyboard. Wait a minute, she
thought, listening carefully to the music. She last saw Kamaki at the pub with
a very red face, so it couldn’t be him playing. But then, the style of playing
was different. She slowly peeped inside the room and saw Sato playing a piece,
seemingly engrossed. She continued looking at him from the doorway. She really
loved the way he played the keyboard. It was like watching a great artist
painting a masterpiece. Even though they passed by each other frequently in
Niji Building, Mimi felt as if she had not seen him for a long time and though
she would never admit it out loud, she missed him.

Sato felt someone watching him
and stopped playing. He glanced at the doorway.

“Mimi, what are you doing
here?”

“I forgot my cell phone,” she
replied, spotting her pink cell phone on the floor at the corner of the studio.
She walked over to pick it up.

“Yuki called,” Sato said.

“What?” Mimi cried, feeling
frazzled. She quickly checked her phone.

“I’m bluffing,” said Sato. Mimi
gave him a dirty look.

“How are things with him?” he
asked airily.

“I’m too busy conquering the
Oricon charts to think about anybody,” said Mimi, crossing her arms.

“You’re lying,” he said. Mimi
sighed and sat on the floor of the rehearsal studio. She might as well tell
him; there was no one else that would understand better. “Actually we sort of
got back together recently.”

“Hmm...”

Mimi rubbed the temples of her
head and added, “I probably had too much to drink. I shouldn’t have said
anything.”

“You know, I was at the
cemetery today. It’s the death anniversary of the only friend I ever had in my
life. He died as a result of some crazy fan. Fans can love you one minute and
then turn on you the next. You know what is going to happen if the public finds
out about your relationship? All hell is going to break loose. The fans are
never going to let you rest. They will dig up your personal history and slam
you on the Internet. The extreme ones may even wreak havoc at your
performances. At this stage of your career when you are just starting out, it
may destroy you.”

“So what must I do?” she asked.

“I may regret a lot of things,
but what I regretted the most was not treasuring my best friend when he was
still alive. If you are serious about pursuing this relationship with Yuki,
whatever it is, just keep it a secret. Be very careful and never, never let the
fans or the media find out.”

“It sounds so troublesome.”

“It is and exhausting too. So
you need to ask yourself if Yuki is worth jeopardising your singing career for.
But I already know your answer,” he said sitting down next to her on the floor.

“It must be nice to be full of
self-confidence,” she said, looking at Sato. She continued, “Does the CEO of
Fame Factory have that much power?”

“They have connections
everywhere and even have control of all the broadcasting stations. If you look
at the music industry, every major boy band that had emerged came from Fame
Factory. I mean, I don’t deny that they only produce the best but the rival
companies have never gotten a fair fight in the first place.”

“What do you mean?”

“The rival pop groups never get
enough publicity. But Mimi, you are doing rock, so this doesn’t really affect
you. I heard that you made it to the Oricon charts with your new single.
Congratulations,” he said.