Idols Are People Too

"Hey everyone, are you ready for your Mia concert?"

The crowd roared back at me and I knew it was time. You might be wondering who I am, but I'm really nobody important. I mean, yes, I am a pop idol, but it isn't like I'm particularly famous. I was only in the top 200 nation-wide last poll. Number 200 exactly, honestly. Sure, I could dream of being in the top 10, but reality hits hard. Even so, I had my niche of being in the top 3 idols that fans want as a little sister.

Wow, that was a bit depressing. Just so you know, I am an adult even if I'm a little bit on the shorter side. I once wore a wig and took out my contacts… and the bus driver tried to give me the student fare… I get it, I’m short and I look young, especially when I don’t have makeup on. In fact, if I really tried, I could probably make myself look even younger.

I’m not bitter about the time I went to the amusement park and the staff tried to take me to the lost child center. You know, the one meant for little children? They even handed me a personal alarm to keep. I returned it, obviously, but I had to pull out my number card and debate for an hour that it was real.

What I am bitter about is the people that try to use baby talk with me knowing I am an idol. I can’t even talk back because I have my image to keep, but I don’t look that young. It isn’t exactly an idol-like dream, but I want to find a guy that can treat me for who I am, not how I look.

Just thinking about it was making me upset, so I probably needed to go to the mall and unwind. Buy enough to get that retail relaxation and all that. Sounded like a plan, so long as my manager didn’t catch me again. He always told me that if I want to buy anything that doesn’t fit my image, I should send someone to buy it. He just didn’t get it. It is the experience that is relaxing, not the actual products.

Wow, the concert was over already? I must have been stuck in my thoughts for longer than I realized. Here was the plan. I would go to my green room and use the window there to make my escape. Yes, we were on the fourth floor, but I could reach the fire escape ladder from here. I already checked ahead of time, not that I was admitting to premeditated escape, but I needed to prepare for any eventualities.

Only bad thing was that I wouldn’t have any good disguises since my manager confiscated them, but I doubted anyone would recognize me here so long as I pretended that I was cosplaying. After tying a rope around the railings and securing myself with it, I made a successful jump and undid the rope. Within minutes, I was happily on my way to the mall.

The trip went about as expected, although I had a few people telling me how much I looked like a certain idol. They believed me when I told them that my parents were huge fans and made me dress up in support. Some fans, eh? With that said, I finally could enjoy my shopping. First off was the model store. The newest models just came out and I needed to buy some. Next was the games. No otome games here, just the newest fighter. I even got a store bonus.

Within the hour, I had bag after bag of goodies. Would you believe that they had a brand-new assortment of fried squid flavors? I grabbed a few of the deadly hot flavor, but I just had to try the new onion roll flavor. There was no way I could make it back to the hotel with all of these bags, so it was to the bus stop for me. Sure, I could call a cab, but I could use that money on a new model or even get a few more store bonuses.

Unfortunately, my glee was rudely interrupted when a group of guys went and pinned me against the wall.

“Hey brat, you look loaded. How about you hand over your pocket money and nobody has to get hurt.”

Now, given how I looked, there weren’t too many people that would try to mess with me, but either these guys weren’t picky about their targets or they knew who I was. Given their statement, there was also the possibility that they were thugs that only picked on targets that looked weak. Five, eh? That might be a little much even for me.

“Excuse me, but would any of you know where the bus stop is? I can’t seem to find it, but my map says it should be around here.”

A cute boy interrupted the shake-down with a question. Even I could tell that the boy was just acting, but he was still brave for stepping up. I gave the boy a silent thanks in my mind, but he was definitely out of his league. It would definitely be too much for me to hope for him to manage to deal with even just two of them.

I wanted to yell at the boy to run, but I considered taking advantage of the distraction instead. I had a few moments to decide, or so I thought. The next event forced my hand though.

A flash of light drew my attention and I immediately sprung to action. This would now be legitimate self-defense, which meant I no longer needed to hold back. I couldn’t hold back, for that matter. For the one with the weapon, I went straight for the weak spot. For the next, I kicked them to the side of the head.

“You—”

I didn’t let the third finish his statement as I struck his face with my heel. Oh, the cops definitely would be upset about that one, but the knife was justification enough. That left three to deal with. Two of them pulled out steel to face me, but one suddenly dropped to his knees when a certain boy gave a rather impactful kick.

The fifth went down with another kick of my own and I followed with another to the one who was starting to recover. As for the one who was dropped by the boy, I put them into submission before I made a call. The police came soon enough. Fortunately, they didn’t give us much trouble given three of the punks had pulled out knives. I just hoped nobody caught the fight on camera.

“Well, I’m glad you are okay.”

“Thanks to you. You are a brave kid.”

“I’m not a kid.” The boy glanced at my bags, “And I assume you wouldn’t want to be mistaken for a kid either.”

Wow, I can’t believe I made the very same mistake I was upset at others for. The boy gets it and I think that I like him. There aren’t many people that accept that I’m not a kid. Well, there is the issue of me being an idol, but as long as we aren’t caught.

“Say, you wouldn’t happen to be available, would you?”

“Huh? I suppose that I have some time right now.”

It seemed that the boy was a little bit denser than I expected. Okay, that first one was just a rehearsal. Time for the real thing.

“I mean, are you dating anyone right now?”

“I suppose I’m not.”

“Then… would you be interested in dating me? I’ve always wanted to date a guy that can see me for who I am.”

“Uh…”

Oh, that was quite a bit of hesitation. The boy seemed to be struggling to find the right words, but I could guess. I guess that was going to be a rejection. My first love ended just like that. Well, it isn’t like we actually knew each other, so it wouldn’t exactly be a heartbreak, just a little disappointing.

Or so I thought. What I didn’t expect was his next words.

“I’m not exactly… a guy.”