Shining Stars

Chapter Fifty-Two: Building Pressure

"And so, our center at the JIF will be Kana Arima!"

Ruby's voice filled the small room she was in, her arm swinging towards Kana, who sat on the couch, her hands resting in her lap, her smile radiant with elegant grace. A camera set up catching every movement that she made.

"Wooooo!!! Clap clap clap!!"

Mem-Cho clapped, off towards the left side of the frame. Ruby's smile turned towards Kana as she got closer to the actor turned Idol, her fist balled and held up to her mouth.

"How does it feel to have been chosen as the center?"

Ruby beamed as she pointed her balled hand towards Kana, as if she was a reporter with a microphone.

"Hmm, let's see..."

Kana's expression remained graceful. Her elegant demeanor was awe inspiring, the fact that she hadn't held many roles in the past half decade was criminal. As she made up her mind she began to glow with even more radian-

"First of all, turn off the camera..."

Kana's expression turned dark, her graceful expression distorting into a scary, murderous glint, which caused the other two girls to quickly find themselves complying to her commands.

Both Mem-Cho and Ruby soon found themselves on the couch looking down at the ground in shame, the camera still standing, however powered off.

"How many times do I have to tell you? I don't wanna be the group's center."

Kana sat across from the pair in a spinny chair, her arms folded beneath her chest. Her voice leaking her pure irritation into the air, her facial expression also matching her irritation with her other two groupmates.

"I know what you're up to. Did you really think if you nonchalantly made it seem like a done deal while you filmed a video that an easily swayed pushover of a girl like me couldn;t refuse?"

Ruby felt a shiver run down her spine. The pair of them had been caught. Aqua made it seem so easy... Her mind was racing a million miles a minute as she tried to think of some excuse.

Fortunately she was spared from such a fate when Mem-Cho opened her mouth.

"Well I must admit, we talked things over when the two of us went to karaoke, and agreed that neither of us would shine as the center..."

Unfortunately for Ruby Mem-Cho was fidgeting all over the place, unable to maintain eye contact with the pissed off Kana, who seemed to also notice all the suspicious behavior coming from the woman.

"Then we watched the music video for a song you put out...."

Kana's expression dropped as her lips turned into an embarrassed smile. Whether on purpose or accident Mem-Cho just saved both of them from Kana's notorious wraith.

"You saw that, huh?"

Spinning around in her seat to face the wall, Kana, blushing slightly, attempted to maintain her stern attitude.

"The fact that Bell Pepper Exercises sold well gave everyone the mistaken impression that I could be a singer, but everyone involved got burned in the end."

Ruby looked at the back of Kana's head who still refused to look at them.

"So just forget about it. That song is a symbol of a time I'd gone astray. A dark chapter where I struggled to make money."

"You don't have to put it like that..."

Ruby tried to protest Kana's harsh words against herself and her word, but Kana immediately tried to shut it down.