Transition And Restart

Usually Noriko disliked getting caught in a crowd gawking at something. It just didn"t ring well with her idea of collective stupidity. Right now she was neither in a crowd nor gawking. Instead she was part of that something. If possibly it was even worse.

"G.o.ds, this is scary!" Cameras were one thing. Cameras meant some sulking and a shot that had to be retaken. You could redo and pretend the mishap never occurred. An audience was different. No remakes.

While this wasn"t the first time for Noriko, the madness from a year and a half ago was for pretend. A school festival meant students pretended being something they weren"t. This was different. Sure, she most definitely wasn"t a model, but the shoot was real, which means the fashion show right now was real as well.

"I can"t do this," Noriko complained. She stared at the glittering darkness where young people moved to booming music in an almost night.

Kuri"s fingers dug into her shoulders. "Can"t do what?"

"Go out there. They"ll know I"m not the real thing."

Kuri shook her head. "You"ve already done this once."

Shaking her head Noriko gave Kuri a pleading stare. "That was pretence. This is real."

She only received a glare in return. "Pretence? In what way?"

"That was just our cultural festival. It wasn"t for real."

The hand on her shoulders hardened. "Are you daft?"

"Daft" wasn"t a word Noriko used to hear applied to herself. She shook her head. "Brilliant" possibly, but not daft.

Kuri stared at her. "Look, if you believe I played house with Uniclo, my own career and an audience in the four digits, then you"re sadly mistaken."

"Huh?"

"Moron! That fashion show was very, very much the real deal. We even had two pros, including one superstar.""

Sometimes Kuri was just too much. "Superstar, you!"

"Superstar me, yes. They just don"t know it. I"ve done all the big European events more times than I care for, and trust me, our festival show had a huge audience for this kind of work."

Kuri"s words didn"t convince Noriko. Something that happened in their own gym hall didn"t feel real. School was school, and reality lay elsewhere.

The rhythmic carpet of noise changed into a soundscape with different sources, and Noriko realised someone must have lowered the volume. Now there were voices mixed into the music, jeering and cheering, and she turned to find out what had changed.

"I look better than I speak, but you knew that."

Another round of jeering.

"But then I look d.a.m.n good!"
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And one of cheering.

"Tonight I"ve brought some friends, so let"s have fun and watch some real nice clothes from Nimata"s latest collection!"

The cheering rose and drowned the music, very much like it had done during the festival, but Noriko had to admit this was nothing like the brutal wall of sound from back then.

"You"re up. Just out, wave and get back!"

"When did you…" Noriko stared at Kuri who magically appeared by her side almost finished changing into a new set of clothes. A slap on her back forced Noriko onto the stage, and only closer to two years of experience being around the mayhem that was Kuri and Urufu prevented her from freezing like a statue.

"Hi, I"m one of the friends," she said. The sound carried clearly around her, so someone must have done a decent job with the microphones. "I speak better than Ageruman-san, back there," she turned as her self confidence came back, "but then don"t all of us?" With those words Noriko waved at a floor filled with faces and walked off the stage. To her immense relief the entire room filled with a roar of laughter.

"You"re on after me." Kuri"s face flashed a huge grin. "Well done Noriko. Love your guts." And with that Kuri was back on the stage she so mysteriously had entered during their short talk without Noriko even noticing.

After Kuri one of the boys entered the stage. Just looking at his backside Noriko hoped she didn"t make that kind of impression. After him, Kuri again, and after her the other boy who made a much better job at playing a model.

How Kuri managed to throw herself into new clothes in no time at all was beyond Noriko, but before she had a chance to ask it was her turn once again. She staggered onto the stage, turned with a closed fist and pretended being angry at someone invisible back there who had forced her out into the lime light.

"Stupid kids. They promised I only had to do this once," Noriko said and was rewarded with more laughter. She waved and decided against trying another joke. That would be pushing her luck.

Back behind the stage she changed into a new set of clothes and made ready for her turn. Three sets, they had said. This would be her last. After that she"d have Kuri"s face for dinner, or at least her wallet. There was no way Kuri should get out of this without paying. That Noriko enjoyed herself immensely had nothing to do with it.

Her third and last time onstage went by without mishaps. If anything Noriko received a loud departing cheer when she said she"d been the fool for the third time and needed some serious learning. This time the braver of the boys also managed a joke and returned with a grin on his face accompanied by the sound of approval from behind him.

Well, it was time to change back into her uniform, to once again become the usual Noriko and join her cla.s.smates back at the hotel.

"Pick three," Kuri suddenly said in the dressing room.

"Pick three?"

"Three pieces of clothing from today"s shoot. You"ll get paid properly as well, but I want you to have something extra."

"Like three socks?" Noriko said and smiled.

Kuri shook her head. "You could, but please don"t."

Noriko felt her smile slowly fade away. "The second set," she said. "All of it." That meant five pieces of clothes, but Noriko had really liked it. Wearing it almost had her try a second joke after all.

Kuri nodded approval. "Skip the socks," she asked.

Noriko smiled again. The socks would be piece six and seven, and she had already kind of promised Kuri not to go for the socks.