When There's An End, There's a New Beginning

“Hurry up, turn it on, turn it on!!” Inoue Hisashi texted his friend Kimura Airi. “It’s starting soon!”

“I’m in now,” Airi replied back to her friend.

The two of them were tuning in to watch Lucky Wish perform their newest single, “Wish You Can Stay”, on the LiveDol app. On their stage, six girls stood on stage with big smiles on their faces. They were in position for their new choreography for the song. Following a brief silent moment, the music started and the girls were immersed in their performance. The fans that were able to attend the music show were cheering loud and screaming the names of their favorite members. The black stage was illuminated with colorful lights and the girls were dressed in vibrant colored coquette-styled dresses. For the whole performance, not once did a smile leave their face which shows their professionalism as well as their love for performing. When the song ended, the crowd let out a huge roar as the stage went dark and the crew prepared for the next artist.

“Wasn’t that great! They were like goddesses up there,” Hisashi included a crying sticker after sending that. Hisashi has been a loyal fan of Lucky Wish ever since he heard about them 5 years ago. Since then, he’s bought many of their albums as well as other merchandise that he boldly displays in his room; and just like other Lucky Ones (the group’s fan club name), he’s never missed a single performance. His dream is to go to a fan meeting event to try and meet the members in person or go to a concert to see them perform in person; either way, as long as he gets to meet them in person, then his dream is fulfilled.

“Yeah, the song wasn’t that bad. Not my taste, but I wouldn’t mind it if you were to replay that a thousand times,” Airi replied flatly.

“At least show some enthusiasm!!”

“Fine, but you better give me the same next month when Miracle performs!!” Airi, on the other hand, doesn’t care much about Lucky Wish and supports the boy group Miracle, a six member boy group that is in the same company as Lucky Wish. Airi first heard about Miracle around the same time that Hisashi heard about Lucky Wish. When they first knew about each other’s interest in the other group, their initial reaction was to hate each other but that didn’t last long; they were best friends since childhood and couldn’t let simple fan wars be the cause of their friendship’s demise. If anything, knowing that the other is an idol otaku brought them closer as they have another interest in common. Hisashi and Airi made a pact together to support each other’s group as much as possible. The conditions included, buying and downloading the songs of each new release, buying at least one album when one comes out, and watching every performance together of both groups. This ensures that while one person is attached to their respective groups, the other person is doing the bare minimum to show support not only for the other group but also their friend. Even when Airi moved away 2 years ago, the two still keep in touch and make sure that the other is keeping their promise.

Lucky Ones and Dreamers (Miracle’s fan club name) do not get along together. They are sworn enemies who cannot see eye to eye and choose to battle each other like how modern people do: online flame wars. While Lucky Ones and Dreamers’ communities are filled with loving posts about their idols, there is also a side that is dedicated to hating the other group. Of course, they were never like this before. Since the beginning, when both groups debuted, both fan clubs were amicable towards each other and some members of both even got along. But, that all changed when an event called Golden Star happened which created a rift between the two. Friendships were broken, online communities were terrorized, couples broke up over petty arguments (yes, it was that serious). Both groups, however, do not condone this behavior from their fans and actually get along well with each other but fans don’t want to follow suit and hate it every time they have an interaction. The company didn’t shy away from that and instead started increasing interaction content on their social media accounts in hopes that both fan clubs would go back to the way it used to be.

“I got it, but at least just listen to me go on about that performance first,” Hisashi added a sad face sticker which made Airi chuckle.

“Fine, go ahead.”

And so, Hisashi started typing long paragraphs about what he loved about the song, the members, and just the group in general and Airi stood by watching the texts flood in knowing well that he would have to endure this in a few months.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

The members of Lucky Wish were shown off the stage by a staff member. The girls were chatting with each other as they walked back into their dressing room.

“That was great! I think that was the best song we’ve ever performed!” Yamaguchi Iroha exclaimed.

Nishimura Karin chuckled at her words, “You say that about every song we released ever since you joined.”

“But I’m for real this time. This song is totally awesome!”

As Iroha was feeling giddy about the performance, one member’s expression expressed the total opposite. Iwasaki Miyoko was walking slowly behind the other five so Karin stopped to let the other members pass her while she waited for Miyoko to catch up.

“Miyoko, are you okay?” Karin noticed her member’s sad expression. The other five heard the leader’s words, stopped in their tracks and turned around to witness their member’s sadness.

“Yeah, I can’t believe this will be my last performance. I feel so bad I decided to do this right after a new release. But, I also feel relieved that I can start anew with my life. I know I shouldn’t say that but-”

“Don’t feel bad. You know this isn’t something you want to continue with, so don’t push yourself to do something you don’t enjoy anymore.”

Miyoko felt relieved to hear her friend’s words and had a small smile on her face. Miyoko felt a small force come upon her and it was Sugita Aoi giving her a hug.

“Don’t be sad big sis, it’s not like we’ll never see each other again,” Aoi said with a trembling voice.

“Gosh, Aoi, don’t cry now,” Miyoko tried to calm her junior down.

“Aoi, she still has a month left, you know,” Hanazawa Tsugumi said with an embarrassed smile on her face.

“And don’t forget about your farewell concert! So this won’t be your last performance!” Iroha added.

Hearing these words from her members caused Miyoko to tear up a bit.

“My, my, now you got her crying Aoi,” Miyazaki Erina said calmly with a gentle smile on her face. “There, there Miyoko, it’s okay to let it all out.” Erina laid her member’s head on her huge breasts and gently patted it.

“I’m better now,” Miyoko quickly said flatly, all her emotions magically disappearing as soon as her head touched Erina’s chest. Inside, her sadness was turning into tiny bits of jealousy.

“Well, look who we have here.” A male voice was heard coming from across the hall. A tall, handsome guy with a bright smile on his face was walking towards the member. “Lucky Wish members, that was a good performance you put on.”

Karin turned to him and gave him a threatening glare. “What are you doing here Denji?”

“What am I doing here, you ask?” His cool tone quickly turned into the tone of a teen boy in heat. “I want Erina to treat me like that!” He referred to Miyoko’s head resting on her breasts. “Erina, please, what do I have to do in order to get that type of treatment, I’ll do anything!” He was on his knees as if he was begging the gods to let that happen to him. The cool guy was actually perverted inside.

With a gentle smile, Erina leaned towards him and said, “Leave your group.”

Denji was taken aback by her words, “Erina, I can’t believe you would say something like that.” His shocked face turned into a bashful one, “If you are willing to take care of me forever, maybe I’ll consider it,” he said innocently.

“Are you just here to ogle at Erina?” Everyone’s attention turned to Karin who didn’t look amused at what was happening in front of her. “If you just came to be a pervert, then just go away.”

Denji quickly composed himself and he turned back into the cool guy he was before. “Oh Karin, better watch what you say, what if one of your fans heard you? Shouldn’t we do our best to not add fuel to the fire on this feud between our fan clubs,” he added smugly.

Karin was annoyed by him but he was right; the fans cannot see them like this especially since the company markets them as groups who get along well despite bloodshed between both fan clubs. In reality, the members of both Miracle and Lucky Wish hate each other as well. Just like the fan clubs, both groups didn’t have any problem with each other at first, but after an incident called Golden Star happened, the two groups have never seen eye to eye since.

“The CEO wants a picture of us together to show that ‘Miracle went to support their sister group’. Shouldn’t you make your fans happy so they can prepare for the sad news tomorrow?”

Karin and her members were surprised to hear that. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”

“Oh really? Then maybe you also don’t know that we’re losing a member too.”

Karin and her members expressed shock at his words. “What are you talking about?”

“Kaito’s been thinking about leaving for a while now and he’s going through with it.”

“We can’t have another Golden Star-”

“Relax, management knows and won’t make the same mistake again. The company already has a plan on what to do. Now, how about that picture then,” Denji took out his phone.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Next morning

“AIRI!!!!!!” Hisashi spammed his friend’s phone. “WAKE UP! WAKE UP! YOU HAVE TO SEE THIS!” He sent in multiple texts which made Airi’s phone buzz nonstop. The buzz woke her up and she didn’t feel like listening to Hisashi’s rambling about Lucky Wish. She tried to ignore it at first but couldn’t take it with the multiple texts.

“Gosh, he better also be up to hear my ramblings when Miracle releases their new single,” Airi grumbled. She unlocked her phone and the first thing she saw were crying stickers from her friend. She scrolled up to read the rest of what he sent before and saw that he sent an image. When she clicked on it, she saw that it was a statement from LOSE (Lucky One Star Entertainment), which was Lucky Wish and Miracle’s Company. She tried her best to read it with her tired eyes and once she could comprehend what it was, she became fully alert.

“ARE YOU OKAY? DON’T DO ANYTHING DRASTIC,”Airi quickly replied to her friend. It was a statement that informed fans that Iwasaki Miyoko, a member of Lucky Wish, was leaving. After reading that, Airi felt bad for not being there for her friend as soon as possible. She understood what it’s like when a member leaves the group. Miracle and Lucky Wish have had multiple lineup changes throughout the years that broke the hearts of fans many times but they would always warm up to new members quickly. The best thing about supporting a group like this is that there are always new members to learn about and love even if it means letting go of one you’ve been supporting for a long time.

“MIYOKO-CHAN! SHE WAS CLIMBING THE TOP OF MY LIST OF MEMBERS I LOVE THE MOST! AND NOW SHE’S GONE!!” He sent a crying sticker.

An outsider would see this as overreacting but true fans who truly know this feeling could sympathize well with Hisashi.

“It’s okay Hisashi, someone new is going to come along. It’s always been like this. We knew what we were getting into when we started supporting our groups.”

“I know. Just let me get this out of my system so I can at least feel happy when Miracle releases their new album.”

Airi smiled at the sight of that; if Hisashi was willing to get over Miyoko to support Miracle, then she would do her best to mourn the loss of Miyoko with him.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Next morning

Hisashi’s phone was buzzing early in the morning. He didn’t want to check it as it could just be some fan accounts he followed that were still saddened about the news of Miyoko. The best he could do is just avoid seeing those posts so he could quickly get over her so he can be happy for Airi when Miracle comes out with their new release. The buzzing kept going and he tried his best to avoid it but got too annoyed after a while.

“Gosh, do people really stay up all night crying over the loss of a member?” Despite saying this, Hisashi was doing exactly that and just fell asleep around 3 hours ago. When he grabbed his phone from the nightstand he saw that the notifications were from Airi.

“HISASHI! HISASHI! WAKE UP! YOU HAVE TO SEE THIS!!” Airi sent all of these messages separately which caused multiple notifications to pop up. Seeing the urgency of her messages, he opened up the chat and scrolled up to see what she sent before. He saw an image and tapped on it; it was a statement from LOSE stating that Kurosaki Kaito, a member of Miracle, was leaving the group.

Hisashi immediately became alert seeing that.

“Wait a minute, one of my members left and one of your members left? A day after each other?”

Airi replied back with a crying sticker.

“It’s going to be like Golden Star all over again!”

“No, the company said that both member’s farewell concerts will be a few days apart to avoid conflict between fans.”

Hisashi opened up Tweeto and saw his feed was already blowing up with Lucky Ones posting hate comments about Miracle. On the other end, Airi already saw the hate coming out from her side too.

“I can’t believe this is happening! It’s Golden Star again!” A tweet said.

“Wow, Miracle is really craving attention to announce around the same time as Miyoko”

“Lucky Ones are probably fuming at the news lolololol”

“Watch they try to paint Miracle as the bad guy. Like, your group members aren’t the only ones allowed to leave,” the tweet was completed with an eyeroll emoji.

“I think we should avoid Tweeto for a while.” Hisashi texted Airi who replied with a thumbs up emoji.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

Airi was walking to school with her head down. Everything was bleak to her, the gray sky screamed rainy weather today, flowers looked wilted, and children had sad looks as they walked to another uneventful day at school. Of course this was all in her head as the weather was nice and clear, flowers bloomed beautifully, and children were laughing with each other while walking to school. Airi stopped in her tracks when she came upon a pair of shoes in front of her.

“Excuse me sir, please get out of my way. I would like to get to school before the rain comes,” she said bleakly.

The man standing there was confused as the day was clear.

“I’m sorry?”

“I want to get to school before the clouds in my heart start pouring rain.”

“Are you okay, miss?”

“You won’t understand. No ordinary person understands the feelings of an idol otaku when a member of their favorite group leaves.” Airi said, still looking down.

“Are you talking about Lucky Wish, or perhaps, Miracle?”

Airi gasped as she heard those words and looked up to face the man. The man was wearing a black suit and sunglasses. “You heard about them? Are you a fan too?” Airi sounded like a kid who just found someone who shared the same interest.

“More than that…I work for their company.” The man smiled and pulled out a small card from his suit pocket; he handed it to Airi who took it and stared at the card in awe.

“You work at LOSE?” Airi examined the card; there was a side of her that told her to be suspicious of this man but she just wanted to feel this happiness for a moment. Maybe she could ask him if she could take a tour of the building, maybe see where the Miracle members practice; perhaps she could run into one of the members while she was there, she’d trip over and he’d catch her, they would make eye contact and eventually fall in love. “Sir, is there any chance you could let a sad fan go see where the members of Miracle work? It would really make me happier after hearing about the news.” Airi pulled out her cutest sad face to get the man to pity her.

“I’m sorry miss, but we don’t allow that. But, you could probably meet them if you were an idol at LOSE.”

“You’re right. If only I was an idol there…” Airi's voice trailed off.

The man smirked, “So be an idol.”

“Huh?”

The man’s tone turned to that of a motivational speaker’s, “Yes, come be an idol. I, Dojima Kotarou, am a casting agent looking for the new member of Lucky Wish and you miss, are a perfect fit for the group.”

Airi couldn’t believe what she was hearing. Is she seriously being casted or is this a scam? She was speechless and didn't know what to do in this situation. “The safest bet would be to run away from this crazy guy,” she thought to herself.

“I know what you’re thinking, but ask yourself this: ‘Should I take the risk of this once in a lifetime opportunity or should I stay safe and continue on with my normal life?’”

“This guy really sounds convincing,” Airi thought. “What do I do? This might be some random guy who looks up what teenage girls are into and uses that to lure them. At the same time, the company always pulls these massive scouting hunts whenever a member leaves.” LOSE is very consistent with new member release schedules. For Lucky Wish and Miracle’s entire career, new members have always been revealed within one month after a previous member’s farewell concert. The CEO once stated in an interview that the company puts a lot of effort into finding new members quickly so they send a handful of agents throughout the entire country in hopes of finding the next big idol.

“So what will it be, miss? Do you want to become a LOSER (Lucky One Star Entertainment Rookie?” The man interrupted her thoughts.

“A LOSER?” Those words convinced Airi to believe him. “I want to be a LOSER,” Airi said with a motivated look on her face.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“Well, here we are.” Both Kotarou and Airi arrived at a giant building. The sunlight shone on the multiple floors of glass windows that line the exterior of the building. Airi looked with complete awe.

“I can’t believe he’s legit. A few minutes after I agreed to go with him, reality hit me again and I thought today was going to die in the next few minutes. Maybe I shouldn’t have texted my mom that note about loving her and telling her I might never see her again,” Airi thought.

Once they both walked into the building, Airi saw Hisashi in the main lobby sitting on a couch.

“Hisashi?” Airi called out.

Hisashi looked up and smiled when he saw his friend. “Airi! You’re here too?” He ran up to give her a hug.

“What are you doing here?”

“I got scouted!”

“Really? Me too!!”

“We’re both going to be idols then?”

“Now we won’t just meet our idols, we’ll actually be working with them!” Airi couldn’t contain her excitement at the thought of working in the same company as her friend and her favorite group.

“Kotarou, is this your find?” Another man in a suit came into the lobby from the elevator. “I could see her being in Lucky Wish, considering if her skills are up to par.”

“Rentarou, worry about your own rookie. I know a good one when I see one. If you don’t remember, I was the one who scouted Nishimura Karin.”

Airi and Hisashi both gasped when they heard that. Nishimura Karin is one of the most popular members of the current Lucky Wish lineup as well as the leader. Her solo merchandise got sold out many times and many fans who have seen her at fan meetings say that she’s a literal angel.

“If this guy found her, then he must really have good taste,” Airi thought to herself. “So what happens now? When do we debut?”

Both Rentarou and Kotarou let out a snicker.

“You newbies, before you debut, you must pass LOSER boot camp,” Kotarou stated.

“LOSER boot camp?” Hisashi questioned.

“You guys aren’t the only ones who got scouted you know. You must show that you are better than the other scouted rookies during these intense sessions. Two weeks worth of learning basic dancing and singing as well as learning the already released songs of Miracle or Lucky Wish, depending on which group you were scouted for.”

“The LOSER who wins, gets to debut,” Rentarou added.

“I see, so debuting isn’t as easy as it looks,” Hisashi was starting to have second thoughts.

“Hearing that all of these idols were able to beat others in order to obtain their spot makes me respect them even more,” Airi wasn’t going to back down; she felt determined to debut. “Don’t worry, Hisashi, we’ll debut together.” She looked at him with a big smile which gave him comfort and made him determined too.

~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

“THAT WAS HELL!!!” Hisashi yelled out in frustration as he and Airi were walking out of the LOSE building. Hisashi had a look of exhaustion on his face and his posture was reduced to a slouch as he walked sluggishly. The bootcamp started today after Airi and Hisashi were scouted last week.

“I’ve never moved this much in my life,” Airi whined while her hand was on her hip as if she was a mother that was exhausted from doing housework. “Why did I ever agree to do this?”

“I want to give up but I keep thinking there’s a chance I might see a Lucky Wish member one day if I keep coming.”

“It’s just two weeks, just hold out and try not to-Ahh!” Airi tripped and fell but couldn’t get up because of how tired she was.

“Are you okay?”

“I’m fine. Just leave me here. Let me sleep here. I don’t have the energy to walk home.”

“Come on.” Hisashi grabbed her arm and put it around his shoulder. “Let’s go home,” Hisashi let Airi rest her head on his shoulder as he held onto her waist to keep her from falling over while they walked home.

In a black car across the street from the LOSE building, a man sat there watching over the rookies as they were leaving the building. He was talking on the phone.

“So what do you see?” A woman’s voice was on the other line.

“None of these rookies look interesting. Maybe we should give this up. Just like the previous years, they all might be closeted idol otakus with no life outside of that.” The man noticed Hisashi carrying Airi around his shoulder. “Hold on, here’s something interesting.”

“What is it?”

“Looks like one Miracle rookie and one Lucky Wish rookie are dating.”

“How do you know?”

“What guy will allow a girl to rest on his shoulders like this unless they were dating.”

“It won’t last long. Inside reports say that Lucky Wish members and Miracle members hate each other. They won’t even let each other interact with one another.

“Let’s just hope these two debut, maybe they can give us something to work with. Think about it, ‘Lucky Wish member and Miracle member dating’ and considering that they’re the two newest, that will cause some serious reactions, don’t you think?”

The woman snickered at the sound of that. “Alright, keep an eye on them. If you see anything newsworthy, report back to me.”

“You got it.”