Moriyama Natsumi, the Child Prodigy, the Runaway

The sun was out and the sky was a perfect blue with little clouds drifting across the sky. Different shades of the sky can be seen easily and birds were flying across the blue. It was spring and the pink petals of Sakura were falling with the passing gentle breeze; an ordinary day under the sun at Daisen High School with the three troublemakers... assembled once again.

"What’s cha next class?" Came a rather tom-boyish voice. That was Nobugi Ohara. Short brown-haired and always wearing an aggressive face that screamed, "I will beat you up if you look at me." You can imagine her easily as part of a gang that hangs out around a dark valley, and in her mouth, a rolled piece of paper.

"I think I got free."

"Ah, ain’t you lucky man! I wanna enjoy ma youth too!" She immediately threw a tantrum like a kid. Of course, that rolled paper would be a lollipop. Ohara was actually super kind... apart from the fact that her face was rather scary pretty much all the time.

"We are gonna be late, Ohacchan. Lab is all the way on the other side!" Komi Morin finally caught up to them and panted her words as she had her hands on her knee. "Both of your long legs are unfair..." She sighed and pushed her glass closer to her face. Morin is a black-haired second member of the troublemaker as how I like to call them.

"It is now 09.57 and 18 seconds... It is approximately 210 meters away by bird’s-eye view... If we walk at the spee – "

"Don’t calculate and just go already!" Morin started dragging Ohara along the floor as she continued to mutter random numbers and wrong calculations that no one ever listens to.

"Catch you later, Mii-chan." Morin smiled a wry smile at the so-called Mii-chan before complaining at the top of her lungs. "You are heavy! Why didn’t I feel your weight until just now? Ahhh, we are gonna be late!" Although they were in a rush, Morin’s voice was still pretty clear and distinct that they were not any further away than just the other side of the wall.

"See you later."

It was Monday morning when Moriyama Natsumi waved bye to her two nerdy friends with a hefty long sigh. Natsumi was studying arts while Ohara and Morin were both science students at Daisen High School.

Daisen High School was the biggest school in the area that they were in. A powerhouse with many strong teams and well known for its high success rate... well... just in that countryside. But still, for that reason, many agencies and coaches have, in the past, come to scout students that have potential and train them further.

Heading towards the library where she was going to be on her phone in the corner of the library like always, she saw a poster. A small A4 poster on the green notice board. It was a poster for the upcoming school play using an old war-style "you are wanted" poster, Natsumi skimmed through the poster. With a bright flame of passion burning in her eyes, she read every crook and nook of the poster on where to meet on what day and what time, but then her flame got extinguished when she hit that.

That phrase –

"Musical Talent Required"

"Singing is Required"

As she kept on reading, so did her face plunged into a blank expression.

Moriyama Natsumi was a child actor. Her parents too were both actors, famous actors, in fact, extremely famous. As a result, she has always been in the acting world since birth. From completing small advertisements to being extras in a movie, the acting skills and techniques run in the family.

She’s what you would call a child prodigy.

But as she grew older, she felt like her achievements weren’t her achievements. She realized that her ability to act was mediocre at best, yet people still complimented her. Genuine or fake, she couldn’t even tell, and even though she was supposed to be a master of disguise, pretending to be someone she wasn’t, she couldn’t even tell what other people truly meant when they praised her.

Every little thing that she has achieved feels a little hollow, like an empty vessel. Bits by bits, her sense of pride crumbled away, parts by parts, her dignity faded away, and eventually her self-esteem…all reduced to nothing.

She was nothing. She was only there because of her parents. She was not Yui, she was just "that Moriyamas' daughter". She even questioned if she actually liked acting or not. After all, she had never done anything else and all of her achievements were given and not achieved. She has had cameras pointing at her ever since birth, and job offers came flying in even before she learned how to walk.

Distance was what she thought she needed. She needed to be far away from everything that she was used to. A new life.

At the age of 15, when she was offered another job through her parents’ agency, she rejected it and ran away. She wasn’t satisfied. She didn’t want to be known as the daughter of the Moriyamas, she wanted to build her own career. She was going to be Moriyama Yui, not the daughter of the Moriyamas’.

She ran away. She took the shinkansen and went far away, far away where no one knew her, so far that no one would come after her. That’s what she decided, and she ended up in a countryside, a countryside where the first thing she saw when she walked out of the train station after walking around in circles was grass, a long field of grass stretched across the field as far as her eyes could see... and it would stretch just a little beyond that.

That was the chance to create her new life she th

ought.

She stood outside of the train station for a long time and, realizing that there was no signal where she was, she was at a loss. That was when regret started to build up inside her. She started to think that she only ran away because of her anger at that moment. She started to feel like crying, but she decided to bite her tongue and keep going. She was determined to not go back, and when that old man called out to her in front of the train station, she opened up, trusted him, and put her faith in him. Although she was taught to never go with strangers and to be sure to threaten them with whatever she had, she decided to throw that away and go with the old man. A little dramatic and it may seem a little exaggerated, but that was the way that she felt. Lost and didn’t know what to do, but she decided to take that little help even if it might be dangerous, even if it might stray her, she was prepared to take the chance. She was determined to the point of stubbornness.

The old man took her into the town, and that’s where he dropped her off. Yet again, she was quickly alone and at a loss. The world felt like it came crashing down on her and she was only bearing it on her own. As hard as it was, or how it felt at that time, she headed to rent a flat after asking many strangers for directions, and although the landlord was hesitating to allow her to live there, her honesty and desperation shone through. She was dead set on not going back home until she could be Moriyama Yui and not "the Moriyamas’ daughter". After that, she enrolled in the nearest high school.

Her parents, being too famous, were too busy to look for her. No, it was more like they couldn’t be bothered. Of course, when her presence was gone, the paparazzi were everywhere and news reporters were trying to chase after her, but her parents protected her, saying that she was at the mall or school, and then after a while, they weren’t after her anymore... and then it became obvious what people really thought of her.

Everything returned to normal after a while. Her parents were surprisingly understanding, and they were fine with her decision as long as she reports to them every now and then. This carefree parenting might be born from the fact that they are busy, but it doesn’t matter, after all… it wasn’t like anything changed much. They were always home late and never had the time to look after her anyway. She always ate dinner alone…and they sometimes acted as if Yui never existed except for when it comes downs to work. At least now…she will have the freedom of doing things that she wants.

After taking that break from acting, her passion to act was re-ignited. She wanted to give acting another try. She wanted to help other people. She wanted to share her passion with the world.

She wanted to dye the world in her colour.

But…

"Curtain Call Acting Agency will be coming to watch and potential students may be selected."

The school play this year –

A musical – The Snow Country.

And why is Natsumi’s face turning into a blank expression and her deep burning flame dying away?

She absolutely sucked at singing.