Pop Star

♡

You know I used to be a pop star once.

Sure I wasn't world renowned or anything but I knew people loved me. Every Friday night I got to walk on to that stage and look out on a room full of people who were there just to see me. They'd line up and wait for hours just to take a picture with me and pay way too much for a cheap button or mouse pad with my face on. I felt like a princess.

My name is Keon Agawa but my fans call me Ko. I wanted to be an idol for as long as I can remember. My parents always used to say I learned to sing before I learned to talk. Every night I would sit for hours in front of the TV watching concert after concert. The girls on stage all looked so flawless. Every step, every note, every single detail was perfect but they made it look like the easiest thing in the world. I wanted to be like them, more than anything.

My parents were supportive at first. They paid for me to have singing and dancing lessons, they drove me to concerts when my grades were good but deep down I could tell they were hoping this was all just a phase. Sometimes I wonder how my life would have been different if it had been.

When I was eighteen my parents finally confronted me on the logistics of my dream. They wanted me to go to college and get a 'stable' job and of course me being young and impulsive, I decided I was better off without them. They wouldn't get in the way of my dream. No one would.

Starting out wasn't easy but once I found a venue that would take me you couldn't get me out of it. Whatever money from my meager paychecks that wasn't spent keeping the lights on went directly to my idol career. Dresses, recording sessions, merchandise, I poured every last bit of myself into my career and for a while it paid off.

People loved me, sure most of them were greasy men that were older than my dad but that wasn't what was important, I was an idol. I met amazing people and the other girls who performed at the venue became some of my closest friends. At least until she came.

I didn't think much of Yori when she first started showing up. She seemed nice enough if a little ditzy but she was young and her family clearly spoiled her so I didn't hold it against her. Admittedly I was a little jealous that her parents supported her idol career but my crappy family life wasn't her fault. If only I knew then what I do now.

Slowly more and more of the faces I'd see in my audiences showed up in hers. Less and less of my buttons and mouse pads were being sold and her lines just got longer and longer. Every night after my set I'd go outside to smoke and I'd see her prance out to her friend's expensive cars, wearing the trashy designer outfits her parents bought her, holding all the money I should have made. She didn't even need the money. She was already a spoiled brat.

One night when I went outside for another one of my angsty smoke breaks I saw a boy standing in the alley I usually smoke in. I recognized him, he was one of the few guys who went to this venue who wasn't a gross old man. We started talking and he told me his name was Kirisame Tokuda.

Apparently one of the girls at the venue had been paying him to take care of her merch sales and he offered to buy me dinner. I couldn't tell if he was flirting with me or if he could somehow tell I was poor but I didn't care, free food is free food.

He took me to a ramen shop and we actually had a really good time. I had a couple drinks and I ended up spilling all my frustrations to him. I ranted to him for an hour about money, my parents, my fans and Yori. Recently my disdain for her had evolved into unbridled hate. She stole my fans, she stole my money, she was stealing my dream, she was stealing my whole life, and I told him everything.

The whole time he sat with me and listened to all my struggles, only interrupting to speak with our waiter when we needed our drinks refilled. No guy had ever willingly sat down and listened to my problems before, not even my own dad. After we were finished and my little therapy session was over he paid for our meal and walked me back to my apartment. It was honestly one of the best nights I had had in a while.