Oops! This image does not follow our content guidelines. To continue publishing, please remove it or upload a different image.
"OMG! IS THAT RIKA!" "Wow, you look so different!" "We love you, Rika!" "We've missed All Out Kiss!"
I send a bright smile at the fans crowding around the arena that I would later be performing in with the rest of the group. According to the talent agency I'm in, the Hokkaido music festival is the perfect place for All Out Kiss to have a comeback and, they were not wrong.
Our manager, Minami, came to pick me up from the train station and has complained about everything since she laid eyes on me.
When we finally get to the dressing room, she looks at me and then my hair. "Is something wrong?" I ask, giving her a tight smile.
"Your hair, there's nothing wrong with it but, I just assumed that it was the same as before so, it matches the concept for the concert," she says as she hands me a leaflet with the concert theme on it.
My eyes scan the leaflet and, I almost cringe when I see what I was supposed to look like, my hair was supposed to be in space buns and, an ugly pink skirt and top I had to wear that brought Peppa pig to shame. I laugh as I put the leaflet down on a table and sink into one of the couches. "Thank god I went blonde! I can't believe that you would make me dress like this. I won't let you guys exploit me by dressing me like a child just because I'm the youngest!"
Her red-stained lips make an O shape. "I'll sort it out, but the other managers might have a problem with it," she says with a shrug.
I press my manicured nails into the palm of my hand and watch crescents form with an unsatisfied look on my face. "So, what should I do now?" I say before tying my hair into a high ponytail with the elastic band on my wrist.
"Since you got here an hour late, and you haven't contacted the agency in over six months, you will need to recap the choreography for the new song we were working on before the groups' hiatus." She sighs whilst she scrolls through the schedule.
We start walking out of the dressing room and make our way to the rehearsal hall. Loud music and annoying singing echo through the hallway, yet it almost makes me nostalgic. Memories of the year I spent endlessly working fill my mind and, I swallow the lump in my throat. It was hard trying to act like everything came so easy for me when it didn't. A part of me wishes I never became an idol. If I didn't, I'd no longer have an outlet for all my pent up aggression and, I would never be able to suppress my superiority complex. My mind drifts to Miya and how he is effortlessly good at everything he does. I've spent my whole life acting like I was just as good as him, but all I am is the girl in second place.
"RIKA! ARE YOU SURE YOU KNOW THE CHOREOGRAPHY?" Minami repeats for the tenth time.
"Yes, I'm sure. I know all the lyrics and know all the visuals." I roll my eyes.
Two people are doing my hair and makeup since I go on stage in fifteen minutes. Choosing my outfit was hard, but the team in charge of the clothing picked a half-decent dress with my help.
