Chapter 14

A phone can be seen ringing on a table surrounded by people. As the ringing seems to go on for a couple of seconds with no one around reaching for the device. That is until a lone hand reaches for it and says “Answer”.

The phone answers that call and A voice can be heard from the other end. 

“Hey! Where the hell have you been? I told you to take a break! Not that we were finished for the d—“ the voice says in an agitated manner before the phone was hung up. 

The person who hung up the phone was none other than Rin. Lying down at an arcade where she is taking a break on one of the benches with her face sweating.

She takes a drink from her water bottle. 

“53% drunken from — container — bottle — 48 oz.” says Coconoko in robotic voice. 

“Haha—just kidding! How you doing kid?” he says in a concerned manner. 

“Oh no! I’m fine. I just fainted about 10 times but no worries the sound of the constant ringing revives me every time .” she says panting. 

“Well alright! If you don’t respond next time I will call the EMS. Ok?” he says to Rin. 

“Yeah. Alright” says in Rin in a delirious tone. 

Coconoko disappears which prompts Rin to try and sit-up. She then looks over and tries to take a sip of her water. 

She reaches over towards her water bottle and hears a voice in the distance. 

“Hey Rin!” the voice says from way in the crowd. 

She adjusts her body towards the direction of the voice and standing there was Santana with two girls standing beside him. 

Rin looks over and quickly turns back to her original position and puts her head down on the table. In hopes of Santana getting confused and thinking it was someone else he was talking to; instead of herself.

However, Santana makes his way to the arcade dining room. Rin peaks up from her position to see him coming towards her and she begins to panic.

“Damn; out of all times I see him out. He has to see me looking like a pack mule.” Rin thought to herself. 

“Rin how are you doing? It feels like we never run into each other at school! hahaha.” said Santana. 

Rin jumps up from her hunched over stance and gets up from her seat. 

“Oh! Well that’s because I’ve been training my body. See; I’ve been running for miles to get in shape!” Rin said confidently to hide her embarrassment. 

“Oh! That’s great. I remember those days of struggling when I first made the Junior Varsity basketball team. We spent most days after school doing suicides in the school gym to improve our endurance.” said Santana enthusiastically. 

“Yeah! It’s similar to that. I want to improve my endurance.” said Rin frantically. 

“Oh! So have you joined some type of sport’s group?” asked Santana. 

“Uhmm- you can say it’s something like that.”said Rin with a crooked smile on her face. 

“Oh; about our conversation last week. Uhm—“ as Santana is about to finish his sentence he gets interrupted. 

“THERE YOU GO! I HAVE BEEN LOOKING FOR YOU EVERYWHERE!” shouts Shishijima. 

“OH DAMN IT! HE FOUND ME!” Rin sequels to herself. 

“Who’s this? Is this your co—“said Santana before he was interrupted again. 

“Save it buddy. She’s not interested in whatever you selling.” said Shishijima in a snarky tone. 

“C’mon Rin. We got to get back to working out. I have a couple more exercises for you to do.” said Shishijima gesturing her to come with him. 

“Oh wow! It seems like you guys are pretty serious about training and conditioning. Maybe one day I could join you guys.” says an excited Santana. 

“There’s no need for that buddy. This work out’s only for her. We don’t need anyone on the sidelines distracting her.

Isn’t right Rin?” asked Shishijima. 

He turns towards Rin and she’s nowhere to be found. 

“Oh man not again.” says a frustrated Shishijima. 

Shishijima pulls out his phone and calls someone. 

“We’ve got a runner.” says Shishijima to whoever on the other line. 

As Rin runs from the arcade she looks around for somewhere to hide that is until a figure is standing right in front of her as she runs right into it. 

Rin looks up at the figure  in terror like she had seen a ghost. The shadowy figure reaches out and touches her shoulder. 

“Oh no! No, anything but that. Please don’t! NO!” shrieks Rin. 

Shishijima sitting on the beach in a small t-shirt, basketball shorts, and shades looking up at the sun. Frustrated at him not being able to persuade Rin to come back. 

“Mr. Shishijima! I found her!” says a voice in the background. 

Shishijima turns around and see Shanshira waving and has Rin’s hand in the other hand as she tries to scurry. 

“Good job Shanshira!” says Shishijima cheerily. 

Rin sits in the sand with a pout like sees being sent to time out. 

“Hey Rin, I know it maybe hard for someone who has never really tried working out. You know to work out. However, I promise it will be for the best when you get on the stage. 

Also, speaking of  stages—“ Shishijima pauses to take off shades wipes them on his shirt. 

Rin looks in anticipation while he does that.

“Well what about stages we’re trying to mention?” inquires Rin. 

“Wait a minute; let me wipe the sweat off my glasses. I have to be able to see your face perfectly when I say. I want to remember this.” says Shishijima. 

He finally finishes wiping off his glasses a no puts them on his face. 

“Well, I just want to tell you formally that as you were off galavanting. I received a call from an acquaintance of mine that there was a space open at his club for a performance. So I decidedly booked you for it.” said Shishijima. 

Then there is a silence for moment before Rin says; “You mean we got a gig?”

“Yep your very first one. Excited?”said Shishijima. 

“Uhmm yeah.” said Rin.

“Well; I also want to let you know there’s a catch.” said Shishijima.

“Well—the club owner told me that the performance’s at this particular at this club is specifically for EV-Idols.” said Shishijima. 

“WHAT?” said Rin. 

“I mean it was either that or wait until an opportunity arose for a human artist to performance. Which let me preface this by saying come few and far between.” said Shishijima.

“That’s great and all but I think forgot to leave out the part—uhmm—I AM HUMAN!” shouts Rin. 

“Well I know that. However, he doesn’t; hence why he offered it to me in the first place.” says Shishijima smiling. 

“SO HOW I AM GOING TO PERFORM AS AN EV-Idol when I’m clearly not!” inquires Rin.

She then gets up and storms off while the others are still sitting down.

“15,000!” shouts Shishijima. 

Rin hears this and stops in her tracks. She then turns around and looks at Shishijima with an indiscernible look. 

“What?” asks Rin. 

“Well I told this club owner knows and I was able to get him add 2 thousand more just out of inconvenience.” said Shishijima.

“Wait what inconvenience?” asks Rin in confusion. 

“Well I was getting to that before jumped up and started to leave. The performance is 5 days away.” said Shishijima. 

Rin sits in silence and looks at both Shishijima and Shanshira in bewilderment. This persists for a moment or two before she lets out. 

 “OH NO! I’m going home.” She says before she starts to run off. 

“Wow! So she was holding out on us. This is the fastest I ran all day.” surprised as he picks up an incoming call. 

“Can you get her before she goes somewhere that’s hard to find her again.” he says to Shanshira. 

“Sure. I’m on it.” says Shanshira. 

“Hello! I was waiting for you to call. How have you been?” says to Shishijima to the person on the other line.

Now that things have been set in motion. How will Rin and co. deal with the struggles of performing as a human in a EV-Idol dominated field? 

Watch out for the next chapter of Wage Hand to find out.