Muukau

Yes, it's march.


Paparazzi
-Intro

I put my sunglasses on, sunglasses big enough to hide half of my face.
There's not much sun outside but I have a different reason why I'm putting them on:
to hide my face.

Then, I walk up to a mirror to check if everything is perfect.
My mask, check.
My cap, check.
My watch, check.
My bag, check.
My camera, check.

Finally, everything was good to go.

"Koharu, come on! Hurry up or else we're gonna lose her before we even spot her!"

"Oh my God. We're gonna leave without you. We just can't let this one slip so easy. If we capture it, this scandal's gonna be big!"

My friends (or more like teammates) were furiously yelling at me from the door but I didn't care.
I turned away from the mirror to put my shoes on.
Surprisingly, my roommates didn't beat me down to death even though I was only few centimetres away from them.

"You guys are not beating me up this time?"

"We don't have time for that. We gotta leave. Right now!"

I tied my shoelaces tight, then stood up tall to open the door.

"Your cap's a little crooked, Koharu," Maimi pointed out.

"It's for style."

"Now now, Koharu, we're not wearing a cap because we wanna look good, right?"

"Whatever, Miya. We never got caught anyways, ever."

"I know, but still, what if Momoko spots us? She knows what we do for living."

"She doesn't count! She might be an idol but she's our friend. We're not going to spy on her so she should just let us go too."

"Yeah, but--" Miyabi went on and on.

Blah, blah, blah.
They were keep telling me to fix my cap but I completely ignored them and walked out.

Nyahaha!
Now it's quite obvious who we are, right?
(Muukau - No, it was obvious from the beginning. The title gives it away...)
Yes, we're the enemies of the idols, fans and entertainment companies:
Paparazzis.






Paparazzi
-1

We went on a subway and arrived at where the poor victim's going to show up. We were hiding ourselves behind the bushes. From there we saw a tall guy (who we assume is the victim's boyfriend) standing in front of a pretty cafe. He was quite tall, maybe about 6' 4? I didn't know any Japanese guy could be that tall. Haha. Now I'm being racist.

The victim didn't show up for a while. I got bored so I fidgeted with my camera. Maimi was playing around with her mic and headphone. I guess I wasn't the only one bored. Not only that, I was getting really mad at the turtle.

"Hey, Miya. Are you sure the info's all correct?" I complained.

"Yes, it's all correct. Kamei Eri, C street, in front of Cafe B, a date with a tall guy at 7:00p.m."

"Well," I looked at my watch to check the time, "I know she's late all the time but she can't be 42 minutes late for a date. Who did you get the info from?"

"It's from Tanaka-san. There can't be any mistakes about it."

"Wow, Kame sure is slow."

"If I were the guy, I would've called--"

Just as Miya spoke, the guy called someone. Miya instantly shut her mouth so Maimi could record what the guy's saying over the phone. Maimi carefully held a shotgun microphone, that was connected to her laptop, through the bushes. She adjusted the placement of the mic, trying to get more clear recording of the dialogue. On the other side, Miya and I kept silence. As the guy finished his phone call, Kamei came.

"What was he saying?" I asked.

"He basically asked her how long it would take her to get here," said Maimi, as she took off her headphone.

"No I love yous or honeys?"

"Nope."

"Aw, no fun."

Kamei ran to him. It looked like they were about to hug. Now the fun is beginning. Nyahaha! I didn't let that moment pass by; I started taking pictures. I went crazy with my right index finger. Miya was right. This one's going to be big.

"I think this one's going to sell quite well," said Maimi.

"Yeah, Japan's top idol Kamei Eri, the leader of Morning Musume, caught in a scandal. She's gonna get kicked out, just like other leaders have been before. Morning Musume's leader letting us down once again. Quite a big issue there, haha," I laughed.

We followed them around until they parted but they didn't do anything interesting, unfortunately. They ate dinner in a family restaurant and walked around the street for a bit. They weren't together for a long time either. It would've been much more entertaining if they kissed or something but they parted without doing anything like that. As they walked away from each other, we decided to go back home too.

When we got home, the usual face greeted us with "I don't care about the whole world" look on her face: Mai. It looked like Maimai was doing her homework.

"Oh, you guys back from your so-called work: illegally evading other people's privacies?"

"I don't like your tone there, little missy." Maimi tried to sound like an older sister but miserably failed. Miya was just laughing her ass off.

"Little missy, huh? I'm taller than Miya now." As Miya heard the harsh truth coming out from Maimai's mouth, she stopped her laugh that instance

"Well, we're feeding you with that money!" Miya was definitely on Maimi's side.

"That's why I'm studying hard. As soon as I turn 19 I'm going to move out of this house and live a normal and "legal", let me repeat that again, "legal" life." Maimai sighed and then rolled her eyes.

Maimi and Miya lost their words and Maimai went back to her homework. I was just laughing.

We (Maimi, Miya, Maimai, and I) live together in this apartment. This small "one room" place with only one washroom, a living room, and a kitchen. Not the best place for 4 girls to live in but we're all happy. Everybody sleeps in the living room because that "one room" is used as our office. That's where we upload the photos and recordings to edit, so we can sell them for a high price to whoever's involved in newspaper and magazine business.

Maimi, Miya, Momo, and I were best friends ever since the very beginning of junior high. We're 21 now but our friendship hasn't changed at all, even when Momo became an idol at 14, and when we became paparazzis at 18. That's why Momo just lets us go even if she spots us or something. In return, we would never stalk Momo either. However, Momo is mad at the fact that we became paparazzis. She lets it go, but she's not happy about it. One day, she came up to us and said if we stalk anybody from her group, she'll kill us. Well, we know that she'll still love us no matter what. Sorry, Ishimura.

So now you might be wondering why Maimai, a random high schooler, is living with us and not Momo. There's a long story to that. Stuff happened few years ago and now we're responsible for Maimai. That's it. We, us four and Maimai, don't like to talk about it much. Let's not get too deep into this.

"Hey, Koharu," Miya called.

"What is it?"

"Leave Maimai alone in the living room so she can do her homework and come to the room. Maimi's already there. We gotta talk," then Miya whispered, "you know, about Maimai's university tuition and stuff."

"Uh, yeah, sure."

I followed Miya into the room. Maimi was on the computer, editing the recording she did today. As Miya tapped her shoulder, she turned around and took her headphone off.

"So we all know that Maimai just started her last year of high school."

"Yes," we nodded.

"Yes, we do, OK, good. We knew this day was going to come; that's why we saved up the money ever since," Miyabi hesitates a little, "the day."

"Yes," we nodded again.

"However, I'm here to say, we don't have enough."

"What? What were we doing for last 3 years then?" Maimi yelled out in shock.

"Quiet down! She might hear us!" Miya said quietly.

"Momo said she'll cover about 30%. Do we still not have enough?" I asked.

"We don't. Not only that, we shouldn't let Momo cover 30%. That's not fair. After all, she really didn't have anything to do with it."

"You're right Miya," Maimi interrupted," it was all my fault."

"No, don't say that. That's not true."

"There's no time for guilt. So, I thought of an idea."

"What is it?"

"We're going to CREATE a scandal that will long last in Japanese entertainment history."

"Huh?" Sorry, that was kind of loud but I couldn't help but be surprised at what she said.

Things weren't processing through my brain. OK, so we're going to create a scandal that will long last in Japanese entertainment history, huh? What can we possibly do? What can 3 girls, who are 21 year olds, do to create a scandal that big? We're all weak (maybe not Maimi).

"Are we going to seduce a married man?"

"Nope."

"A little boy?"

"No!"

"Then who?"

My questioning went on. Maimi had a confused look too. What's in her mind, God. Apparently, all my guesses were incorrect. I got tired of asking soon.

"Just tell us what you have in mind, Miya."

"Yeah, spill it out already," even Maimi got tired of this.

"Guys, don't go all crazy when I say it," Miya had a bit her lips, "we're going to make a girl idol fall in love with one of us, and no, we're not crossdressing or
anything. We have to make her fall in love with one of us--as a girl."

"WHAT? Are you out of your mind? Do you think that's even possible?"

"Why not? We're quite attractive," did I just hear her chuckle? This is totally ridiculous!

"Miya, this is no time to joke around. There's no way that's going to work, right, Maimi?"

I didn't get an answer from Maimi. She kept her mouth shut. This is not fair. The poor girl will probably have to leave Japan after this scandal (assuming that it works in the first place) and not only that, even if she leaves, everyone will talk about her and make fun of her. It will literally be a scandal that will long last in Japanese entertainment.

"Koharu, you're defending a girl that you haven't even met in your life. She's going to be no different than the other girls; the other girls who got kicked out of their group because of a scandal."

"But this is not fair, we're playing with an innocent girl's feelings."

"What other things can we do to make so much money? It's either Maimai or the girl, who are you going to choose?"

"Maimai," Maimi finally spoke.

Maimai's word came strong to me. It's 2 out of 3 already. There was no way I could win this debate. I had no choice but to agree with Miya now.

"It's gonna be OK even if the girl gets hurt a little and leaves Japan or something. Soon, everything will be a history."

"Ok, fine. You win," I wasn't comfortable saying this at all.

"So, should we go and choose our victim now?"

"I'm a little tired today. Let's do it tomorrow."

"Same here. I gotta finish this too."

"Sure, then tomorrow morning, all good?"

"OK."

Miya said she'll stay with Maimi until she's done so she can deliever the photos and recordings to Tanaka-san today. I came out to the living room. Maimai was still doing her homework. I sat across from her to start a conversation.

"Did you choose which university you wanna go to?"

"Yes. Harvard."

"What? That's no place for kids like you!" I bursted out laughing.

"Watch me get in. You will regret that you said that!"

"I'm glad you're aiming high though."

"No, to be honest, I don't think I want to go to university."

"What? Why?"

"You know, the tuition and everything," she looked a little gloomy.

"Hey, that's not something for you to worry about. Finish your homework already."

"You're the one who started the conversation, you know."

I didn't know she was worried about this. She's a kid and she shouldn't be worrying about this. I felt more guilt than ever. This is not good. I don't care what I have to do to get the money now. I'm gonna make that scandal happen no matter what.

"Yes, it's all correct. Kamei Eri, C street, in front of Cafe B, a date with a tall guy at 7:00p.m."

If you read that as Cono-michi and Cafe Buono, you're a real wota.

I know I said this is SayuKoha but Sayu didn't appear in this chap, did she.

Sorry, Lilith.
Her name will be mentioned in next chap though.
OK, now I gotta hide...
Hee hee.