There Is No Misery In Paradise

Chapter 1

The stage is lit, three lights train onto the stars and fireworks go off as the show ends for the night.

The fans are waving their light sticks, a wave of red and blue, a few greens here and there.

Emerald eyes would focus on those few green lights and smile brighter than before, knowing those were her true supporters.

"BIRDS OF PARADISE EVERYONE!!"

—
Her name was Kotoha Hashibira, age twenty-two and she is an Idol. Has been one for the last two years. Before she had been a lowly YouTuber with less than fifty thousand subscribers till an agent reached out to her, asking her to be the third member of the Idol group known as Birds of Paradise.

Her stage name would be like her Youtube username, Ladybird.

She knew what she was.

A filler member.

Her group mates weren't her friends like they portray on stage and in interviews.

She was alone and didn't feel supported.

But she does feel joy when she is visited at her table by her true fans. Some even brought older merch for her to sign.

It made her heart swell at the love she received.

But she had hoped to write and produce something of her own again.

Which is why she was up here for the week.

She wrote in her notebook and tapped away on her laptop, letting a tune or two play, humming away to it.

It was so peaceful up in the mountain in the Tohoku region of Japan. This was one of the non-tourist sights left for the natives of Japan.

This was her first time up here but it was just lovely. White and untouched snow covered the landscape.

She was only sad that cell service wasn't the best here and the place she stayed at was actually only using a satellite phone for emergency. But their wifi worked for the most part, even if it was a short window of an hour before they turned it off.

It was at minimum a thirty-minute drive up here and that was if the roads were clear.

But she needed to get back. A tour was going to start and her manager needed her at the train station two towns over by tomorrow.

"Honey, it's not wise to travel in this weather. Too many have crashed on these roads over the years." The hostess was a nice middle age lady who was kind to her. Kotoha smiled and still put her thick winter boots on.

She would get up and bow to the lady before writing in her notebook, tearing the paper out, and handing it to the lady.

"Please, if I don't message back, you're welcome to call this number. It's my manager's private contact and should be able to tell you where I am." The lady still had a crunched brow on her.

"Be careful Hashibira-chan." Kotoha would wave, smiling as she exits, the wind blowing as she pulls her luggage and loads it into her rental car.

If she was slow and steady, she should be able to make it to the station in three hours. With how the winds are, she may have to go even slower than expected.

—
Making it to the first town was fine, just under two hours, and shaking the snow from her coat as she entered the pub. She was really in the mood for some Tonkatsu ramen and this seemed like her best chance.

She would order and the locals keep their minimum chatter going. Her eyes would drift, new clippings everywhere and even some posters.

One really old one said something about joining a group that runs a temple. A news clipping with a missing person had been recently posted based on the date.