Chapter 15.1

Mari is sitting in her room listening to Konan Kollou on the holographic projector in her nightstand. The beats and timbre of the songs heavy bass dancing as waves of colorful green light on her walls and over her nightstand. 

As she is looking at a motion script notebook going over her notes for her Spanish class she hears a thud at her window. 

So she gets up from her bed to inspect the noise. She looks through the window to observe her lawn when she notices a figure in army fatigue waving her down. 

sup on further inspection she notices some auburns locks fall form the person’s hat and automatically knows who it is. She leaves the window goes back to her bed picks up her phone from off of her nightstand and proceeds to call a number. 

“Umm what the hell? Why are you throwing rocks at my window?” asked Mari. 

“I’m coming up just let me in through the window.” said Rin. 

“Uhm, Rin I don’t know if you this but — I — a front door.” said Mari timidly. 

“WELL I KNOW THAT! However, I didn’t want to wake your folks up and I’m pretty sure they will want to ask me why I’m over her so late. Meaning I will have to make up an excuse. I just want to talk with you real quick.” explained Rin. 

“Well— are you sure you can’t just do it over the phone.” said Mari.

“MARI—!” shouted Rin.

“Ok! Ok! You can come up just make sure you don’t walk directly in front of the door as we do have motion-sensor cameras. That alarm will alert my mom using the house’s audio system.” explained Mari. 

Rin sneakily walks behind the trees in the front yard. She the barrel rolls over by the trash box and begins to smell a bad odor.  

“Eww. Smells like someone died in there.” complained Rin. 

Holding her nose for dear life she quickly sprints to the side of the house. There, she used on of the ball shaped lawn ornaments to stand on. In hopes of being able to reach the second-story window . However she’s was about 2 meters off from reaching it. 

So she called Mari once again using her phone. 

“Hello!” said Mari anxiously.

“Hey! I’m by your window. Can you lend me a hand?” said as Rin tries to keep her balance. 

“Uhmm—are you sure you don’t want to just talk on—“ said Mari.

Rin responds with “MARI— i need your help or i’m going to fall.”

“Ok! Ok! I’m coming.” Mari said as she makes her way to the window. 

She opens the window and says “This better be worth it.”

She reaches out to Rin and grabs her hand with both of her’s. She pulls Rin up with all of her might. She manages to pull her in through the window but her buttons on her right jeans pocket gets stuck. As Mari pulls Rin into her room Rin’s right pant leg rips. 

“Ahh” Rin screamed. 

“What! What is it—Oh!” Mari gasps as she sees Rin’s pant leg on the window seal. 

Rin immediately stands up and covers her bottom in embarrassment. 

“Hold on! You wait right there I’ll find something to cover you up.” Mari says with urgency.

She quickly runs into her closet and yells for her AI assistant. 

“Hey! Wanted39 can you get some pants that Rin can fit.” says Mari. 

Out of her closet door an holographic Greyhound with blue patches on its ears pops up. 

“Very well master! I will find some that will satisfy your request. All I will need is for master Rin to step foot in the room so the sensor can match what trousers will be the best fit.” said the AI assistant with most eloquent delivery. 

“Thanks Wander39!” said Mari.

“It is my pleasure.” said the Wander. 

“Aye Rin! We need you to stand in front of mirror on the door. We need to find what pants I have that fit you the best!” said Mark exuberantly. 

“Ok!”, Rin says running toward the closet with her hand over her bottom. 

She stands in front of the mirror with an awkward stance as though she just got stung by a hornet on her bum. Her hands are positioned with her palms facing outwards with her knuckles digging into her buttocks. 

The overwhelming embarrassment made her blush with a strawberry like tinge on her forehead. 

“It’s fine Rin; Wander will be back in a second with some pants. So now that we’ve gotten that out the way. What did you come to my house unannounced? Did something happen to you that you ashamed to say?” said a curious Mari looking over at Rin. 

“No! It’s nothing like that. I just wanted to talk to you about something regarding this new venture.” said Rin. 

“What is it? I mean you definitely have been busy the last week and  a half. So i assumed you were trying to work on your dancing skills or something.” said Mari leaning on her vanity in her closet. 

“Well! I have been training” Rin reminisces about the last 2 weeks of training from the running to the constant exercising. 

She briefly snaps out of her daydream to say “No.That’s not what I want to talk about.” says in reassuringly. 

“Well what do you want to talk about?” asked Mari. 

“Well—“ as Rin reminisces on what happened earlier that day. 

Rin had walked away from the beach and as she making her way to the city. She looked up at a billboard for an EV-Idol.

She continues to to walk onto the bridge that would take her into the city. However, just before she takes a step onto the bridge she hears a voice in the distance.

“Miss Rin! Wait a minute please! We just want to talk to you.” said Shanshira speed walking fiercely towards her. 

Rin turns her body around fully but before she knew it Shanshira was picking her up and taking her to Shishijima. 

Too stunned to speak; Rin looks on in pure shock as she is being transported along the beach like a freight. 

Shanshira makes it to Shishijima and places Rin right in front of him. 

Shishijima begins to take a puff from his vape and blows it off to his right. However, the wind blows fiercely and pushes the vapor back into his face. He begins to cough ferociously but all Rin could do was roll her eyes and look off into the water. 

“Agh agh, we’ll look it decided to join us again agghhhGHHGHh” said Shishijima coughingly. 

“Well, you didn’t give me much of a choice now did you?” says Rin solemnly. 

“Sorry; Miss Rin.” could be heard by Shanshira in the background, 

“So *agh* I completely understand why you would be apprehensive of this gig. However, this is one we can’t afford to miss. See; even before you signed to me; I was asking around for a gig that may be able to get eyes on you. You know maybe an industry exec could be there. However, all I could manage was a couple of mic nights at coffee clubs. 

You see; it’s rather hard for a human to break into the music business. Of course; you can become a voice of an Idol and maybe even have your likeness be an inspiration for one. However, usually you can only be in the background where you will be underpaid and mistreated. 

This opportunity only came about because my friend knew I had an EV-Idol that didn’t have an exclusive contract with a company. So that lends itself to a bit more flexibility as it pertains to bookings. See as EV-Idols are the sole property of these companies they tend to only allow them to perform on stages where the seek to make the most profits. So seeing EV-Idols at a smaller venue like this is a treat for those who can’t afford to see one on a bigger stage.” explains Shishijima. 

“So what does that have to do with me?” asked Rin. 

“Well—“ said Shishijima with a long pause afterwards.