The Charms of Life (Ironically)

“Hey, is everything alright? Did you enjoy the concert?”

The older sister’s piercing gaze made Kiki smile again. It was like Natsumi knew that something was going on, but rather wanted the girl to start a conversation than hold an interrogation. But there was one thing the younger one had - quite an ability to lie, at least, good enough to deceive her only family member.

“Of course!” Kiki pretended to be disappointed with the fact that sister dared to question it. “I am the happiest girl in the world right now! All thanks to you.”

Natsumi stopped and hugged her, that was all she was wishing to hear that night. Actually it was true, but she didn't have to know that Kiki had few arguments with other fans and was worried a bit by Kazuya’s behaviour. The girl was almost sure he was asking for help, but couldn't find, for that moment, anything which could make him say so. After all, she was aware how much Mimi sacrificed for making it work, especially the fact she could stay on the promenade. Kiki wanted to help but wasn't able to, tormented by regrets and knowledge that another months of extra work her sister had to take to make their financial situation stable again, smiled even brighter. Not making Mimi worry - primal rule in her life, as Natsumi’s was - make Kiki happy.

“Still I feel so sorry that I couldn't afford to buy this extra ticket so you could meet them.”

“Stop talking like that” This time the younger one was getting angry, but after taking a deep breath added: “Or I will talk about all the details about today over and over again not for days but weeks.”

“Oh please no. Who did you take after that cruelty of yours?”

“Of course after you. You are the perfect example of a bad girl” Kiki was really serious, or rather trying to sound like that, just to see an angry look on her sister’s face, which always seemed funny to her.

Meanwhile Kazuya was devastated by the fact that he had to attend meetings with few fans, who could spend a lot of money to buy extra, limited tickets with this option. Actually the rest of the group had to drag him there, not realising that there was a plan already crystallized in his head, which had to be executed right away. It established finding the fan sister and trying to pass his secret contact info along to her. The truth was he wanted to use her to get to the one he met before the concert, but couldn’t admit it.

And instead of looking for her he was smiling falsely sitting opposite young women, who wasn’t able to say a word to him without squeaking or overly reacting over the smallest things. If they did it was only to express their undying love or admiration about his person or worse, asking him to do stupid, in his opinion, things like making a cute face or a few versions of hearts. In the beginning it was flattering but after years keep getting annoying. Kazuya just wanted people to talk to him like he was another human being, not some elusive, perfect creature or the object in the museum, you can’t even touch. His face was saying how tiring it was for him, but seeing the others asking him to focus and be more involved, he pulled himself together.

Oh yeah, he realised, it’s time to be a good boy now, to get as many opportunities to look for her as possible. Rewards for not causing problems, not that he needed to get them, it wouldn’t be the first time he ran away, just this case required fairness.

“Thank you for being our fan,” he smiled brightly, as much as he hated himself for being so false.

Deep in his heart there was gratitude for all those people who spent their precious time on the group, it was just strongly covered by resentment of how his life is looking right now. Kazuya looked at his friends or rather coworkers, the change had a slow pace but was also inevitable. They were living together but with time everyone wanted to be on their own, pursuing their own dreams and goals instead of the group’s one, mostly imposed by the higher-ups. All of the young men were tired of being part of something even though they were grateful for everything that time gave them, but no one believed they would be strong enough solo or on other parts in showbiz.

Kazuya was the one who openly showed it and there was one more meaningful difference, he was the one being scouted and easily deluded by money and fame. The rest were already preparing for the debut, but according to the boss something was still missing and that one missing piece in his opinion happened to be Kenny itself. Their success was spectacular but as always it couldn’t be enough. The group needed to be invulnerable as a one, because it guaranteed constant profit and had to be exploited the longest time possible.

No one cares if Sho wanted to try acting, Tadao was willing to challenge himself in other genres, Rokuro was getting interested in characterization and Nao, still loving dance more than anything, would love to focus on it more. Kazuya’s dream was not crystallized when he met the company’s agent but as he discovered it later it was math, like numbers calling him one evening and making him fall in love with them. And that was making him even more regretful as people the same age graduating from universities while he was years behind. And Kazuya wished all of them could choose the path they truly wanted, but for now every door was closed, but asking for the key was not in his style, breaking it down or breaking in definitely more. At the same time the feeling of something not being in the right place was tormenting him, but he had an answer for that - the sisters.