My Beloved Star (An Akane x Aqua one-shot)

My Beloved Star

"It's not every day you have an empty schedule, Akane. Feels weird doesn't it?"

Akane: "Huh? Oh, yes it does...."

Akane Kurokawa, one of Japan's most remarkable young actresses. She's won many awards, but none of those were easy to earn. Most days her schedule is completely booked due to having tons of acting jobs. Today however, was different. She was totally free. It was quite the shock to her realizing that she had no set or stage she needed to perform on. For the first time in a while she felt free, and yet she was also incredibly bored. Because of this, Akane decided to seize her day and invite her friend, Ruby Hoshino, to go out for tea.

Ruby: "Hm? Something wrong?"

Akane: "Uh n-no I'm fine, I just... spaced out for a bit."

Ruby: "Ah, well glad you're okay. Anyway, how does it feel having a day off? Are you itching to get back on camera?"

Akane: "I actually find it relaxing. Although I'm not sure what else I wanna do today."

Ruby: "Oh! We're planning on shooting a music video later today, you can be there behind the scenes!"

Akane: "Hehe.. I appreciate the offer but I'd rather not. Kana and I still have it out for each other yknow?"

Ruby: "Oh c'mon it'll be fun! We'll even throw a special party celebrating the anniversary of B-Komachi!"

Akane: "T-that so? I completely forgot about that." She runs fingers through her hair. "Well then I suppose I could join you guys for a little while."

Ruby: "Really? Yay! Thank you so much!"

Ruby is a part of the famous idol group B-Komachi. One of the members, Kana Arima, has had a rivalry with Akane ever since they were children. Recently though, they've grown a lot more distant. To the point where they can't even remember the last time they had a meaningful conversation.

Sitting at an indoor table in a private room with Ruby, Akane looks out the window admiring the pleasant scenery of the cafe. She notices a beautiful flower bed with a wide variety of colors. As she becomes more fixated on the flower bed, she notices a lone flower isolated from the rest slowly decaying. Akane immediately looks away from the flower bed, having a somewhat pained expression on her face.

Ruby: "Are you sure you're alright Akane? You look kinda sick."

Akane: "Yes, I'm fine. So, what time is your party?"

Ruby: "Oh! It'll be at 7 in the evening, try not to be late!"

Akane smiles and nods in assurance that she won't miss it. Both of them finish their bubble tea and exchange goodbyes shortly after.

Back at her home, Akane removed her shades and her heavy dark coat and hung it up. She threw herself onto her bed and checked her phone out of boredom. Spontaneously scrolling through her photo albums on her phone, she stumbles across old photos of her and her ex boyfriend, Aquamarine Hoshino. The two broke up after Aqua admitted to his feelings being fake and that he was using her. Akane knew his feelings weren't genuine in the beginning but she wanted to believe that was a thing of the past and they could start dating for real. However Aqua betrayed that trust and it left her with a scar in her heart. She quickly deleted the photos, she thought she already deleted every photo of her with him. Just seeing Aqua's face brought her pain, even if their breakup was two years ago.

Aqua was known for being aloof most of the time but two years ago he became even more distant. Not just in terms of his behavior, he's been studying abroad to become a more successful actor. This attitude change was so sudden, his sister Ruby as well as all the other people he was close with had no clue where he was going or what for until after his flight landed. He went to America trying to study the way actors are overseas. At least that's what he said in his messages.