The Musical Box

Later that day, the entire group was getting ready backstage for a concert in a decently-sized music hall in the heart of Tokyo. Waiting for them outside were three thousand screaming fans, all of them anticipating their arrival. Today would be the first of three concerts at the venue, with the next two being the following weekend. All of them were dressed in largely-matching white and blue outfits with skirts, perfect to dance in on stage. As a timer on the wall in the break room ticked down to when they had to be on stage, Sadako remarked to Miyako, “I still can’t believe I fucking bombed on that quiz. You got all seven of your questions right, and I got only one!”

“Yeah, that was pretty embarrassing,” Miyako replied with a chuckle. “You sounded like you were ready for anything when you weren’t ready at all.”

“Even Yuna-chan got four of her questions right, and she was the most worried about how she would do.”

“I’m still shocked I did so well,” Yuna then chimed in. “And I’m even more shocked you did so terribly, Sadako-chan.”

“That was definitely not your proudest moment,” Momo then told Sadako, amused by what had happened. “Oh well, you know that people like to root for the underdog.”

“I’d like to not be the underdog,” Sadako sighed. “But here we are, I guess.”

Momo then looked around as a song the group was listening to in the break room came to an end. Right before it ended, she asked the other girls, “Hey, you guys mind if I put something on?”

“Sure, go ahead,” Miyako replied to her.

Yuna agreed, replying, “Why not?”

Momo then got up from the couch that she and Sadako were sitting on and went to her phone, which was hooked into a speaker in the room, to choose another song to play while they waited to go on stage. She checked the time, seeing they had about twelve minutes to go, and got an idea. She got out of her regular playlist, but accidentally opened up her settings app. “Shit… Come on…” She then hit a few options, reconnected to what she thought was just her speaker, got out of settings, and then went back to her music on her phone and played the song she wanted, the same song Ai had shown her on Friday. “And here we go.”

Miyako asked her, “Momo-chan, what song did you play? What’s taking so long?”

“It’s called The Mu-“ Momo then suddenly heard the song begin to play, but not inside the break room. Instead, it was playing on stage. “Oh fuck.”

“Wait,” Sadako asked as she turned around to face the door to the stage. “What happened to the music outside?”

“You gotta be kidding me! I connected to the house music system?! How?!”

As the vocals of the song began, Hideki ran in, demanding to know, “How the Hell did you guys connect to the house music, and what the Hell is that song?!”

“Oh shit,” Momo said as she went over to try to stop the song. “Hang on!”

“Hold up,” then said a stagehand as he ran in. “Let the song play!”

“Huh?!”

Hideki, shocked, replied, “What?! Why?! What is this?!”

“I love this song,” the stagehand replied. “We actually got a tribute band for the group that made this song playing on Tuesday, so if anything, it’ll help promote it. It’s by Genesis.”

“Genesis?”

“Yeah.”

Then, a third man entered the room, this man being the owner of the venue. He walked in and asked with a smile on his face, “Now which one of you chose this awesome song, huh?” When he realized that Hideki was not happy and the rest of the girls were either confused or scared, he asked, “What’s wrong?”

“This wasn’t part of the playlist for the house music before our show,” Hideki explained.

“It’s fine,” the venue owner assured him. “If anything, we’ll just finish that playlist after the show when everyone’s leaving.”

“Yeah, but this music… It doesn’t really fit our theme, you know?”

“So what? It’s something different. I’d say let it play.”

Hideki then turned to Momo and said to her with a sigh, “Please tell me what this song is and how long it lasts.”

“It’s called The Musical Box,” she replied. “It’s about ten minutes long.”

“Ten whole minutes?! How?!”

“Genesis made long songs like that,” the venue owner shrugged. “A lot of bands did back then. Some even still do.”

Hideki finally gave up, saying to everyone, “Okay, okay, fine, we’ll play the song. I’d rather not have to deal with this again, though, okay?”

“It’s my mistake,” Momo assured him with a pat on the shoulder. “I apologize. It won’t happen again.”

“Alright, I’m sorry for just snapping at you, Takahara-san. It just startled me, that’s all. Get out there and show these people a great show like we always do.”

“You bet we will,” Momo smiled.

…

Ten minutes had passed, and the song Momo had accidentally played had ended. It was now time for A TO Z SIX to take to the stage and begin their show. All six girls walked out of the backstage break room, confident and ready to give their fans a great show. With the stage still dark, all six got into their starting positions for the very first song in the set. As they did, the owner of the venue emerged onto the stage to introduce the group. “Good evening, everyone! Thank you all for coming to see one of Japan’s newest big idol groups in the last five years! These girls will give you quite a show, and I’m proud to host them in this wonderful music hall of our’s! Before we begin, I’d like to point out that if you liked that previous song that we played over the house sound system, we have a tribute band for Genesis performing here later in the week on Tuesday night. We have details for that show on our website as well as on the poster boards throughout the hall. I certainly enjoy their work, and if you do, too, this is the place to hear it. Now, enough of my yapping. You’re not here to hear me ramble on, after all. With that out of the way, let’s give a big round of applause to A TO Z SIX!”

As the crowd went wild and the venue owner left the stage, all of the girls heard over their in-ear monitors from the soundboard, “Starting off with New Journey in five, four, three, two, one…”

Now we begin

On a new journey to find what we’re looking for

(Let’s find a path!) (To our future!)

And figure out what we were born to do

This song, the very first song on the group’s upcoming EP, would be the start of their concerts for much of the rest of the year. The lights on stage flashed on as everyone danced and waved towards the audience, with Sadako taking the center position. The crowd chanted to the beat of the song, many of them holding light sticks.

We have our whole lives to look forward to

And nothing is going to stop us now (No! No! No!)

If you think you can derail our success

You’ve got another thing coming

You can’t stop us running

Towards our goals (Yes! Yes! Yes!)

If only we had known that we’d be here

Back when we first started all those years ago

But now we’re here and we can rock and roll

So look out (Hey!) We’re coming through (Hey!) It’s oh so near (Hey!)

Don’t stop us now

Now we begin

On a new journey to find what we’re looking for

(Let’s find a path!) (To our future!)

With all your love we will succeed

Now we begin

To find the treasure buried deep in the sand

(Let’s find a path!) (To our future!)

And figure out what we were born to do

Na na na na, na na! Na na na na, na na!

…

Two and a half hours later, the show had ended, and the group, after taking about a twenty-minute break, was now doing a meet and greet for some fans who had purchased additional passes to do so on top of their concert tickets. This was commonly done after A TO Z SIX’s shows, particularly in smaller venues, and was a good way to get additional revenue for Time Clock Records. A man went up to Momo, who was sitting second to last on the right side of a long table, shaking her hand and telling her, “You all did so well tonight! I’ve been to seven of your shows, and tonight was one of the best you’ve ever done!”

“Thank you very much,” Momo replied with a smile as she pulled out a small red marker and saw him set down a picture of the entire group with one signature already on it. “I see you have a ticket for an autograph, by the way. Thank you for supporting us for all this time.”

“Of course,” he replied. “This is my third autograph session I’ve paid for.”

“Wow, your third? Amazing!” Momo then signed the photo. “Here you go, sir. Thank you so much for coming to our show, and have a wonderful night. I hope we’ll see you again.”

“Thank you so much,” the man replied as he bowed.

As he moved on to Sadako, who was sitting next to Momo, another man walked up. This man, who only had a ticket for a handshake, said to Momo, “That was a great show. You girls looked fantastic up there.”

“Why thank you very much,” Momo replied with her usual smile as she and the man shook hands. “We always strive to do our best, sir.” Initially, things seemed to be alright. However, the handshake went on longer than Momo had anticipated, making her uncomfortable. “Uh…”

“Momo-chan, it’s so good to finally get this close to you.”

“I bet it is, sir.” His sweaty hand continued to maintain an iron grip on her own hand, prompting her to shoot a side glance at Sadako to try to catch her attention. “Sir, do you wish to see the other members of our group?”

“As long as I get to see you, I’m fine. The rest are good, but none compare to you, Momo-chan.”

“Oh, alright then…”

After a few more seconds of holding onto her hand, a security guard finally noticed that something was up. He walked over to the man and told him, “Sir, you have to move along. We have other people in line.”

“Come on, let me-“

“Move along,” Momo told him in a slightly more stern voice than before. “Please. Do it or you’ll be thrown out.”

“But-“

“Move it,” said the security guard as he then grabbed the man and shoved him away from Momo. “Or else you’re out of here!”

“I need to see her more! Just a little more!”

“You saw me enough,” Momo replied to him in disgust. “We have other fans we need to see, and you’re being really disrespectful to them and to us! Get out!” She sighed and thought about how rude and creepy the man was as the rest of the group looked on in shock at what had happened.

As the man was dragged out, a female fan of A TO Z SIX then walked up to Momo, asking her, “Hey, are you alright? He was really creeping me out in the line here.”

“I’m fine,” she replied to her as she shook her hand. “It’s nice to meet you, ma’am. How are you feeling? Did he make you uncomfortable?”

“I’ll be fine,” replied the woman, who was in her mid-twenties. “He was looking at all the girls, though, even the younger ones around your age.”

“Ew. Glad he’s gone, then.” Momo then said to her, “Thank you for looking out for me, and thank you for your support for A TO Z SIX. Have a good day.”

…

After the autograph and meet-and-greet session, Momo had just finished changing back into normal street clothes and a hat to disguise her looks when Hideki knocked on the changing room door. She asked, “Who is it?”

“It’s Tomoe,” replied Hideki. “I need to talk to you, Takahara-san.”

“Oh no,” she muttered to herself. As she opened the door, she asked him, “Tomoe-san, is everything alright?”

“It’s about what happened during the meet-and-greet,” Hideki replied. “Come on.” The two then walked to a small office in the back of the music hall to meet alone, and when they walked in, Hideki told her, “Take a seat.”

Momo then sat down across from him in the small office. “Tomoe-san, what’s wrong?”

“First off,” Hideki then began. “Let me state that we are taking care of that man who tried to hog you at the expense of everyone else. He was ejected from the venue, and we will keep an eye out for him. Now, with all that said, I’ve talked with Oma-sama, and he was not particularly happy with how you responded to him.”

Confused, Momo replied, “…What?”

“We’ve talked it over, and he believes that you did not maintain your composure as an idol should in the face of that man’s behavior. In particular, your comment where you told him to get out seems unprofessional to him. Additionally, the fact you talked about what had happened to the next customer in line isn’t appropriate.”

Momo was incensed. It felt as though Hideki, or perhaps rather Masaru Oma, was blaming her for what happened instead of blaming the creep who had touched her. In her mind, the way she responded was showing restraint, because she very easily could have punched or slapped him for what he did. Additionally, she was not only looking out for herself, but also the rest of A TO Z SIX and even their other non-creepy fans who wanted an opportunity to meet the group and had paid good money to see them. She wanted to argue with Hideki about it, but could tell from the way he was talking that he was not entirely on-board with what he had to say to her. Instead, she replied after taking a deep breath, “Alright. I understand.”

“We won’t be suspending you from the group,” Hideki clarified. “But Oma-sama would prefer if you did not react in that way again.”

“How does he want me to react?”

“I hate to say it like this, but he would like it if you just kept smiling and moved on like nothing happened. Give the impression to other fans that nothing is wrong, and let security take care of it without getting involved.”

This answer also incensed Momo, but again, she knew she could not argue with him. “I see. Is there anything else we need to talk about?”

“That’s all.” Hideki then got up to leave the room. “We’ll be heading out in another few minutes. Have a good night.”

This left Momo in the room by herself. As she leaned back in the chair she sat in, she muttered to herself, “Are you fucking kidding me? I can’t believe this shit… I need a change of pace.”

…

May 13 2024

The next day at school, Momo and Ryosuke were talking about what had happened privately. “Like I said,” she warned him. “I’m really not supposed to tell you any of this shit, but I can’t really hide it anymore, and I don’t want to burden the other girls in A TO Z SIX with this, especially not Sadako-chan. I don’t want her to worry about me, especially when I’ve been the de facto leader of the group on stage so much.”

“I can’t believe the company would really blame you for what you did,” Ryosuke remarked. “That’s so fucking stupid. It’s not your fault some asshole was hogging up the line and being creepy around you.”

“If you think how the company reacted is bad, just wait until you see how fans can react.” Momo then pulled out her phone and searched for a news article about a scandal that had hit an idol in another group within Time Clock Records. “This happened a few months ago to a different idol group in my company. This woman got backlash for how she responded to a question on a talk show that was… Well, in my opinion, kinda inappropriate. She tried to stand firm and say that, but fans online reacted horribly to it.”

“Holy shit,” Ryosuke remarked as he saw examples of fans reacting poorly to what she did. “Some of these replies are nasty. People care way too much about this stuff.”

“She was made to make an apology video, even though I think she really didn’t have to.” Momo then put her phone away. “While I love performing and making music, it’s shit like this that can suck all the fun out of it.” She then stretched her arms and yawned. “So, with all that out of the way, how was your weekend, Sakamoto-kun?”

“The Saturday show went well. We were sold out on both Friday and Saturday night, so the theater program made quite a bit of money. Thank God for that, because we need to replace two of our mirrors in the changing room.”

“Why two mirrors?”

“Somehow, both mirrors broke separately several minutes apart. The first fell out of its frame, and the second got a giant crack in it after someone slipped and caught themselves on the frame.” Ryosuke was clearly annoyed by what had happened. “I mean really, what are the odds?”

“Not high.”

“In other news, I also starred in a commercial for some candy company over the weekend before the Saturday show.” He then pulled out a pack of said candy company’s strawberry-flavored chewing gum. “I’m not really supposed to bring gum into the school, but these dudes gave me and my family a shit ton of free candy, so I’m trying to get rid of it all. Want some?”

“Screw it, why not?” She then took two small pieces and put them in her pocket. “So, how did that go?”

“Oh it was easy. It took maybe an hour, and I got paid twenty thousand yen for it, so it was pretty easy money.”

“That’s a sweet deal, no pun intended.”

Momo and Ryosuke shared a laugh before the latter then pulled out his phone to show the former some of the music he had been listening to for the past few days. “Also, let me show you this. I’ve been listening to some of the music that Inuyama-san recommended to me. It’s pretty good, actually. I even fell into a rabbit hole of sorts of albums that tell stories.”

“Whole albums that tell a story, huh?”

“They call it a concept album,” Ryosuke explained. “Basically, every song on a concept album tells a story when they’re put together, rather than each song telling an independent story. Sometimes, they may all have a central theme but otherwise don’t really have an order to listen to them. Other times, there’s a complete story that is only told correctly when you listen to the entire album front to back.”

“Honestly, I kinda wish I could pull that off,” Momo shrugged. “I think it would be cool to have us tell a story on stage. Alas, I doubt Time Clock Records would really agree to A TO Z SIX doing that. We all record songs that are written by people the company employs with zero real connection between them. Hell, this most recent EP we have coming out is composed of only three new songs, while the other three are basically scraps that were picked up from the trash bin and remastered a bit to fill out the record.”

“Have you thought about striking out on your own?”

The idea of making her own music was one that Momo had indeed considered, but it was one she had not fully entertained. Even so, with everything going on now, it was an idea that was becoming more and more appealing. “Well, I mean… I could, but… To be honest, I feel like I work better when I’m with other people. I can’t do everything, after all. I can’t play any instruments besides the flute and a bit on the piano, so any guitars, bass, drums, or whatever, I’ll need help.”

Ryosuke then blurted out without thinking, “I could help you.” Realizing what he said, he quickly covered his mouth. “Oh, uh, I…”

“Wait, you’d be willing to do that?”

“Well, I mean, I just…”

“Do you play any instruments?”

“Actually, I do.” Ryosuke then explained to her, “I can play piano, too. I’ve taken lessons for years, although I’ve slowed down a lot so I can focus on acting. That said, I still sit down and play either the piano or the keyboard a few times a week.”

“That would be perfect,” Momo excitedly replied. “If we can get Inuyama-san on board, we could make our own music!”

“Woah, woah, hey, slow down a bit,” Ryosuke pointed out. “This feels kinda sudden.”

“Trust me, Sakamoto-kun. I think we could make something good. I truly think this is the way to reignite the spark I’ve lost when it comes to music!”

Ryosuke then looked at Momo, whose expression was practically pleading with him to say yes, and then sighed. “Alright, alright, I’ll help you with your own music.”

“Yay!” She then excitedly grabbed Ryosuke’s hands, causing him to blush. “Thank you so much, Ryosuke-kun!”

“Ryosuke-kun? What’s with the first name?!”

“If we’re gonna work together, we might as well drop the formalities. Am I wrong?”

“I guess you’re not wrong… Momo-san…”