Mika's Steps

So we’re out here in Kyoto and the weather has been really nice, and the people have been super kind. If you’ve never had a chance to visit you should come some day, and visit all the classic locations. Let’s never forget where we came from! You’ll be seeing a lot of content from our trip soon, stay tuned and let me know what you think!

I could hear my coworkers looking at some video on their smartphone.

“Hey Mika, have you been to Kyoto?” One of my coworkers asked.

“I have, long ago.”

“Ah it’s so nice!”

I was confused as to why Kyoto was suddenly so impressive. I think it’s a really beautiful place but it’s a historic location, nothing has changed there for these girls to be excited about.

“Have you ever seen Eiko’s content? The tour is really nice!”

The girls then shoved a phone in front of my face, looping the video I had overheard when I walked into the bakery. On the screen was a beautiful girl. Her body seemed perfectly exercised, and curvier than mine. Her skin had some sun shine on it, but not too much. She had carefully dyed and highlighted blonde hair, with the ideal amount and shades of makeup on her eyes. They all combined into an extremely photogenic image that somehow filled me with jealousy. This girl is the image of perfection.

“She’s cute,” I said, and I didn’t say it lightly, since I didn’t really care about celebrities like her. However, she was definitely attractive in a way I found hard to describe. I guess I can understand why the girls followed her. If they can’t be her they would instead live through her.

“If you think she’s cute, wait until you see her boyfriend!” The girl with the phone started furiously scrolling, looking for a clip of the boyfriend. Before she could find it, our boss walked through the door, and quickly interrupted our conversation.

“Are you working hard?” She scared the girls back into working. She then looked at me in plain clothes, waiting in a corner out of the way. “Mika! You’re not supposed to be here today, is everything alright?”

I explained to our boss that I had made an appointment elsewhere, and that I was there to ask the girls to cover for me and for permission to miss a day.

“You don’t have to bother to do all that in person, but I appreciate you making sure.” The old lady smiled, and I tried to be as grateful as possible. Good, one less thing to worry about.

With my schedule cleared for a day, I made sure to learn everything I could about Imagination Frontier. It turns out it’s a company focused on modern entertainment. It has several talents working for it on video platforms and streaming. There’s several musicians working there too, and they have collaborations with other media like video games and movies. It seemed like a well rounded entertainment company that had little need for someone like me. Still, going there seemed like a great learning experience and a step forward.

I could hardly sleep the night before my appointment, knowing I was going to their offices the day after. And sure enough, exactly as expected, time flew by when I least wanted it to. I was unable to sleep all night long. When I left, the train was packed and overwhelming, and the walk through the crowded city streets in central Tokyo gradually built up my worries until I reached my limit. I had to take a break on a side street for a second, catching my breath and slowly building the courage to walk into the building where they were expecting me.

The building was a nice office building, small, but in a busy area of the city. The receptionist was quick to welcome me. How many famous people come here? I wondered, before I shyly walked up to the front desk.

“Hi I have an appointment,” I said, somewhat nervous. The receptionist quickly addressed me as she typed on the computer.

“With Mr. Hiroaki, correct?” She smiled at me briefly, before quickly going back to her computer. Judging by how politely I was treated, they were used to dealing with visitors a lot pickier than I was. I simply sat where I was instructed to, and waited patiently.

“He won’t take long,” said the receptionist, who then leaned forward. “He is usually late, please forgive him,” she added, speaking quieter.

“Sure!” I knew the delay wasn’t her fault, so I simply waited with a smile. Deep inside however, I could feel my anxiety trying to explode from within my body. Every minute made my worries worse, and I had to actively fight the urge to run out of the building. I could hear my heartbeat slowly accelerate. Sitting restless on the lobby’s chairs, right when I felt like I was reaching my limit, I heard some echoing footsteps headed towards me.

“Hello there!” I heard someone off to my side. The young man I had met at the park, Mr. Hiroaki, was greeting me. “I’m sorry, the talents usually aren’t here this early!” he said playfully. I noticed the receptionist shaking her head in disapproval. “Here, let’s go.” He signaled me to walk with him.

He then noticed I was wearing fairly plain clothes, but he never made me feel uncomfortable about it.

“Would you like to try our makeup artist? You don’t have to, but you can try and see how fun and how good these people are at it. You have time, don’t you? And don’t worry, if you say no, that’s fine too.”

I simply nodded, ignoring the part where he wanted me to feel like I had an option. He took me to a makeup room, where a stylist and a makeup artist were standing by. They both quickly filled my face and hair with some beauty products, applied some heat to my hair, and brushed it thoroughly. Before I knew it I felt, my reflection in the mirror felt like a completely different person. Mr. Hiroaki came back once they were done and he smiled at me.

“See? Aren’t they like magicians?” he said proudly. “Not that I think there’s anything wrong with how you look.” He kept telling me I had a choice, even though I felt like I didn’t. “Some of the people here might be intimidating to meet without this… level of detail though.” He then dropped me off at a dressing room and left for a few minutes while they picked an outfit for me. I went from plain clothes, to well picked, flattering, designer street clothes. I was starting to have a hard time recognizing myself in the mirror. They then bagged my clothes so I could take them home later. Afterwards, Mr. Hiroaki met up with me once again and asked me what I would like to see in the building. It felt more like a tour than a job interview, which at first was confusing, but I did manage to see a bit of how their offices and studios worked. At some point, we walked past a photographer’s studio.

“Oh right, the photographer!” He then took me inside the studio. Once they were done with the person that was there before me, they took pictures of me that I hardly felt were real. He made sure to send a copy to my phone, just for fun. And honestly, that’s what it had started being, fun. At first I was full of worries and anxieties, but all of that had slowly faded away as I learned and experienced more inside that building. Mr. Hiroaki might’ve noticed I was more at ease, since he then moved on to talking about music.

“Alright. Now, would you like to see our music studios?” said Mr. Hiroaki with a smile.

“Sure!” I was genuinely excited about seeing their music rooms.

He then took me to an empty recording studio and unlocked it for me. He called over a studio technician to set it up, and they prepared an electro-acoustic guitar, a mic, and a headset at the studio for me to try. While the instruments were familiar, the indoors, closed environment for music was one I wasn’t used to. It was very different from my usual outdoor practice. The studio technician finished setting me up, and left me with Mr. Hiroaki in the studio. He then instructed me to head over to the instruments. I started getting nervous as I walked up to the pristine guitar and studio microphone that were waiting for me. Mr. Hiroaki noticed my slight hesitation, and gently motivated me to start playing.

“So, why don’t you try to play something you feel like playing?”