Transition And Restart

"Who gave away my line-id?"

Long before dusk draped Kyoto in a dirty yellow, only to give way to night mere moments later, Noriko received her first message from someone unknown. By now most of the pictures came from people she maybe wouldn"t know even if she saw their faces. "Kuri, you"re going to pay for this!"

They were outdoors again. That meant they were freezing their b.u.t.ts off just as they had done when the insanity started. That also meant Noriko could wave goodbye to any hopes of at least spending the evening alone with Urufu.

"There"s nothing left of this trip. I hate this!" But in reality she didn"t, not really. The way they were studying she could always call upon Urufu to help her, so time alone with him was just a matter of acting on her longing rather than stay home and pout.

The shoot was more interesting than Noriko wanted to admit. That was where her shame came along. She wasn"t supposed to enjoy working this hard for something as shallow as mere looks. It didn"t matter that she had asked Kuri about it earlier the same day. Looking good for Urufu was one thing. Looking good in general was an entirely different beast.

She posed for the camera and received a disapproving frown from the photographer as a reward. In return Noriko stuck her tongue out at him. "This is hilarious!" She guffawed until she had to lean on Kuri for support. In the background a smattering of shutter sounds reached her like a distant whirlwind. That made her laugh some more, and this time one of the boys had to stop her from falling over. Noriko grinned at him and regained her balance once again.

"Why didn"t he stop me?" she thought and stared after the photographer. The staccato from his camera never ceased and she met a grin as wide as her own.

Something moved behind her. "Next set, Kinos.h.i.tsensei?" Kuri"s voice asked.

The photographer nodded. "Yeah, can"t cram out anything better from this one."

"Fun, definitely fun," Noriko admitted. If she couldn"t be beautiful she could at least pretend to be, and if the got a huge laugh out of it, where was the fault in that?

"Exchange line?"

The question brought Noriko out of her thoughts. She turned, looked behind and sought after the voice who had asked the question. To her surprise Kuri"s face showed no reaction at all.

"Tell him you"re together with Ryu," Noriko suggested and continued looking for whoever believed the shoot was a good opportunity to hook up with Kuri.

"You tell him you"re together with Urufu instead," Kuri said. This time her face definitely showed a reaction, and a huge grin at that.

"Huh?"

Kuri threw one arm across Noriko"s shoulder and turned. "She"s not available."

"Huh?"

"Aww. Of course a cutie like her already has a boyfriend." This time the voice got a face. One of the crew who"d spent the day scurrying around with all kinds of equipment.

"Me?"

"Yeah, you," the man said. He smiled at her and shook his head. "You thought I was aiming for Ageruman-san? Not happening. That"s the fast track to unemployment."

When Noriko looked at Kuri"s face for an explanation she got a nod in return. "I"m working. There"s no time for fending off admirers. Besides, some of them could turn into stalkers, and that"s scary just thinking about it."

It made sense. Modelling wasn"t just about having fun after all. Then Noriko"s mind travelled back a little. "Me?" She blushed but brought her scrambled thoughts back in control. "Sorry, but I already have a boyfriend." Years of being brought up to behave at least decently kicked in. "Thanks for considering me, though. I"m flattered." She was, or else she wouldn"t have blushed like that.
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"Yep, a real cutie," the man said, but the teasing tone in his voice promised that he"d back off.

Noriko smirked but played along. If he didn"t push it any further she could live with him having the last word.

It was time for yet another freezing change of clothes, and while Noriko failed miserably at keeping up with Kuri"s speed she noticed how her phone came alive again, and again and again. After an approving nod from Kuri Noriko dared looking at it.

The usual teasing message with photos attached to them lined up her queue like dancers on a festival. Noriko grinned as she read them until she happened upon one from Jeniferu. A photo with Noriko clinging to one of the boys in the shoot came accompanied by a message with a sobering effect.

"You sure Ulf approves of this?"

"G.o.ds! I haven"t contacted him even once. I suck!" Noriko frantically brought up his line-id and started typing. "Got caught up with Kuri. Sorry!"

Being dragged into Kuri"s shenanigans was bad enough. Being caught hanging around a boy for everyone to see with a smile like it was the happiest day in her life was a lot worse. "I need to explain this. I hope he isn"t angry." She quickly sent another apology after the first, but before she had a chance to send a third explaining why the second one was so incoherent Kuri dragged her away for the next session.

"This is bad! This is really, really bad!"

Several long minutes when Noriko made her best to pretend her stomach wasn"t a jumble of unpleasant feelings pa.s.sed, and in the end Kuri sent her back to the chairs with a worried look. All of a sudden playing model wasn"t fun at all.

"I hope you"re having a good time," wasn"t the message she had hoped for. Was he serious, or was he just seriously p.i.s.sed off? With Urufu you couldn"t know. By now she knew his loving her didn"t prevent him from being angry with her at all.

"I"m sorry Urufu. Please forgive me!" Noriko wondered if she shouldn"t express that thought in a text to him, but before she had a chance to act on it they were all shoved into cars headed for the finishing part of the evening.