Chapter Ten: Welcome to the Party, Pal

We swiftly unloaded the mighty haul. By we I mean myself, Yuki, and Janae. The latter kept an eagle eye on the perimeter but her performance was otherwise unaffected by last night’s crazy bender. A good bodyguard couldn’t let a hangover keep ‘em down.

The food fanned out over a winding snake-like network of tables. By the time we’d filled it from top to bottom, there was still a handful of boxes left. We hauled these into Yuki’s plush makeup trailer and filled up an entire refrigerator. There was still a single bento box left over.

“That’s for you!” Yuki said cheerfully.

I was left holding the box, glancing around like there was someone else who could possibly be waiting in the wings to hand this bento off to.

“For all the help!” she continued.

Janae nodded as well. I wonder how long this little surprise had been in the works.

With a shrug, I accepted the offer and brought the bento back into my own RV, to be placed in my own, more modest fridge. With that done, I parked the vehicle at the side of the lot and returned on foot.

“The others should be coming out of the shoot shortly,” Yuki said.

“What’s… the occasion?” I asked.

“It’s something of a premature birthday party,” Janae explained.

“Today’s the last day of filming.” Yuki nodded. “So we’re going to have all this waiting for the full crew. Tomorrow’s also my birthday, so I decided to just celebrate that as well.”

“Really?” I asked. “Well. What a coincidence…”

Janae’s lips pursed while Yuki’s cheekbones angled up in a slowly dawning smile.

“… that happens to be my birthday!”

“Birthday buddies,” Yuki exclaimed.

“I’m somewhat surprised that phrase translates to Japanese,” I said. “Is it still alliterative?”
Yuki giggled. “I previously lived in America for almost four years. East coast.”

D’oh. Way to sound like a dweeb, Vic. I swiftly tried to course-correct. I muttered out something noncommittal and shrugged it off. Weave, weave!

Four years—that would explain how she was so fluent in English.

“Did you go to college here?” I asked.

Yuki nodded. “M.I.T.”

The Massachusetts Institute of Technology? That was fancier and more technical than I was expecting. Judging by Janae’s facial expression, this was news to her, too.

“So, uh, what did you do at M.I.T?” I asked.

Yuki segued into talking about some kind of robotics rigging utility that I didn’t quite understand. It definitely appeared like there was a story there, one that looped around back into a character-revealing backstory behind her status as an idol back in Japan. Before she could get momentum in the story, however, a door from the observatory burst open, and a gaggle of film crew walked out. As if lured in by the aroma of fine food, they made a beeline for the provided luncheon.

I was suddenly glad that I had my own bento box back in the fridge.

+++

That director guy roamed about the luncheon with a camera. I suspected he was angling to get more footage of Yuki and I, wary of what Janae had mentioned last night.

“So about that director?” I asked, grabbing a plate of fried rice.

“What about him?” Yuki asked.

The Frenchman unsubtly zoomed in on us from across the room. I’d realized at some point during these delivery gigs that I’d seen his movies before. Eh, he was alright—assume his cinematographer did most of the heavy lifting, though.

Yuki picked up her own plate. As the subject matter expert, she appeared to know all the best combinations of rice and sushi amidst our hodgepodge. Mostly, I followed her lead.

“Do you like it?” Yuki asked.

With a mouth full of rice, it was unwise for me to respond. Still, I managed to nod, receiving a giggle in return.

“How’d you get into a Hollywood movie?” I asked.

“It’s part of an elaborate trade. The agency owes someone in the studio’s international department a favor. So they traded me.”

Who knew Yuki was but a pawn in some elaborate corporate game? I wonder if her fans knew. I got the impression from what little I’d seen on the internet that the fanbase mostly assumed she was in California for a kind of extended vacation.

Janae, of course, stood sentry at Yuki’s side even as we all began to dig in.

+++

“You’ve got something,” Yuki said, motioning to my cheeks.

I tried in vain to find the rogue food item by her directions. Ultimately, Yuki just took a pair of chopsticks and snipped the offending piece of rice.

“Ahem, Miss Yuki,” Janae began.

“Oh, relax.”

“People on the Internet are already talking.”

I leaned in, curious. Janae snuck Yuki a look at her phone. Evidently some of the director’s candid shots had leaked to the press.

“We should begin a process of rumor control,” Janae said.

“It’s no problem,” Yuki said. “Let them talk.”

Subtly, I took a peek at my own phone. Y’know, for curiosity and all. Horror of horrors, I happened upon a Yuki☆ x ‘Delivery Hunk’ tag on a certain fanfiction site. There were already three entries! My panic abated as I saw another tag and followed that to its inevitable conclusion: Yuki☆ x Janae C, which had three digits worth of content.

“So, Mister Driver,” Yuki said. “Principal filming is done. This is just a pre-game. I’m having another party at my house tomorrow, and you’re invited!”

“Oh, really?” I asked. “You, uh, need me to deliver something again?”

Yuki shook her head. “No, silly. I’m asking if you want to come. Not as a job, as a friend.”

Janae cleared her throat. “I’ve vetted him, Miss Yuki. But I must reiterate that you should be careful about inviting casual acquaintances in the future.”

“Don’t worry about it.” Yuki turned back to me. “What do you say?”

I pondered it over. I thought about other potential commitments, with that Texiera job still lingering in the back of my mind.

“I’ve got something around noon to attend to. But until then, I’m all yours,” I said.

With a triumphant ‘Yaaaay!’ the pop-star jumped up and hugged me. Janae let out a fatigued sigh.

All the while, some of the orderlies began to disassemble elements of the set, now that filming was complete.