THE SAYASHI CONTEST
Chapter 5: And the winner is…
After Saki put on a solid, yet classic, dance performance, Miyabi came in front of the jury’s table. She was smirking and talked on a tone full of confidence:
“I’m sorry but there is a contender older than me that forgot to register. I think it would be extremely rude of me to not make way for my dear friend…TSUGUNAGA MOMOKO!”
“WHAT?! ARE YOU INSANE?!” A high pinch voice in the audience retorted on an outraged tone.
“Don’t worry, I got her Miya-chan!” A husky voice shouted triumphantly.
°C-ute member, Okai Chisato, extricated herself from the crowd while holding firmly Momoko’s wrist.
“Let me go! It hurts Chisato!” The poor tiny girl cried out desperately, yet cutely.
“Good job Chissaa!” Miyabi exclaimed with a big smile.
After smiling and winking to her friend, Chisato let go of her prey and went back among other Hello Project’s girls. Momoko stayed there, pouting cutely. Miyabi looked at her happily.
The teasing was just beginning.
“It’s a contest Momo-chan! I always thought you loved to face challenge…I’m disappointed!” The blonde girl teased.
“I…Of course I love to face challenge! Momochi never backs down from anything!” Momoko stuttered while crossing her arms on her chest to show clearly how much she was upset.
“So! Do you intend to take part of this contest or not?” Reina asked impatiently.
“Of course I’m going to participate! Momochi will not be impressed by this gross contest and I’m sure I can win with my overflowing cuteness!” The tiny girl answered with conviction and a bright smile.
“Ok, so, it’s your turn!” Reina announced, sighing.
Momoko did what she did best: act as Momochi which meant to be cute and to keep on answering “yurushite nyan” for merely anything.
Reina looked at her performance without much interest while Ayumi smiled at her politely and exclaimed “cute!” a few times.
Sayumi was still giving Riho a massage and didn’t really care about the girl. For her part, Riho was fully enjoying the massage and was quickly falling asleep. Ayumi was fighting hard against the urge to take a picture of her sleeping beauty.
“Nobody can match sleeping Sayashi-san’s cuteness!” The Juuky thought with a fond smile.
“Ok, next!” Reina announced with authority.
“But I’m not done yet!” Momoko exclaimed on an indignant tone and with wide eyes.
“Unfortunately we’re quite short in time ya know, sorry~” Reina answered with a fake smile.
“Yeah and it’s my turn now!” Miyabi announced while stepping forward and looking down on her friend.
“Oh sure Miya-chan but it’s quite clear that you can’t put on a better performance than mine…” The tiny girl retorted with a confident smile.
“Well, we’ll see!” The blonde girl answered to her friend with an equal confidence.
She then went to the jury’s table and just stood in front of Riho. She slowly lowered her tee-shirt collar to lustfully show her collarbone. The ace, who was sleeping a few minutes earlier, instantly woke up and looked eagerly at the girl’s cleavage.
Reina sighed again, Sayumi giggled, thinking that Riho was indeed her kouhai, and Ayumi looked away, red and upset.
After that, everybody thought that it was the end of this strange contest but an unexpected competitor made her way toward the jury.
“Good afternoon everybody! I’m the mysterious contender that you were expected and I’m here to raise the level and, of course, win this contest!” Nakazawa Yuko announced with her strong and so characteristic voice.
As soon as the ace saw her, she yelped and hide behind Sayumi who was too happy to have a shaking Riho grabbing at her shirt.
“You’re all still kids here! I’m gonna show what it means to be a woman and what it is to be sexy!” Yuko said with a confident smile and while looking at Riho who kept hiding behind her senpai.
“Hum…I’m sorry Nakazawa-san but the age-limit of this contest is 25, so, you understand that…”
“What the?! Who made that stupid decision?!” The Hello Project dean shouted angrily. She was now casting a threatening look toward Sayumi.
“We had to set an age-limit. There’s always appliance limits in contest you know…” Sayumi lied the best she could. She was not satisfied with her poor excuse but tried her best to sell it.
“Everybody here is younger than 25 except me, you and Reina-chan! Is it not a problem for you to be considered too old to participate, Shige-chan?” Yuko noticed mischievously.
“I don’t need to participate to this contest to seduce my sweet Rihoriho~ and I have enough money but I’m glad you’re worry about my financial situation Nakazawa-san.” The ex-Morning Musume leader retorted with a smile full of confidence.
“You’re welcome!” The Hello Project dean exclaimed with a wide smile, already enjoying teasing her kouhai.
Meanwhile, Reina had decided to stay out of this and Ayumi was looking worriedly at Riho who was more frightened than ever.
“Listen, the best price is offered by Sayashi-chan, so, she should decide whether I can participate or not!” Yuko suggested triumphantly, delighted by her idea.
“Well…that sounds quite reasonable…” Sayumi pondered.
Yuko and the Rokkies turned to look at Riho, waiting for her decision. Ayumi was staring at her comrade too but with a look of apology on the face. She knew that Morning Musume oldest member, Nakazawa Yuko, scared the ace to death and because of this, she would be unable to say no although she didn’t want her to participle to her contest, for sure.
“Of…of course you can…pa…participate…Nakazawa-san…” Riho stuttered with a faint voice.
“I always knew you were a good girl Sayashi-chan!” Yuko exclaimed triumphantly.
The Hello Project dean then took lewd pose and did her best to look sexy. She looked awkward most of the time and laughed at her silliness.
“Ok, I think it’s about time to end this contest! Phew ~!” Reina suggested with a relieved smile.
As Yuko was going back among competitors, Riho stopped hiding behind Sayumi and stood up, relieved. She then went behind Ayumi who gave her chair back. The tiny girl went back among her generation mates too.
“Thanks for your patience everyone and you, public! We’re now going to give our awards. First: Sayu!” Reina announced with a strong and enthusiast voice.
“The girl who will be granted the privilege to kiss me is…HARUNA!!!” Sayumi shouted triumphantly and with a big smile.
“WHAT?! What?! What?! What?! What?! WHAT?! But I did nothing to seduce you Michishige-san! I don’t understand!!!” The tall girl exclaimed in a total shock.
“That’s for sure but you did all you could to support your best friend and bring together Rihoriho ~ and Ishida-chan and you know how much I enjoy love stories! You’re a kind girl Haruna and you deserve it!” The Rokky explained while making her way toward her kouhai.
“But…” The younger girl protested but was promptly shut up by a quick and yet passionate kiss.
When Sayumi pulled out, she was grinning while Haruna was as red as a tomato. She instantly hid behind Erina, hugging her tightly. The kyuuky couldn’t help but make fun of her girlfriend’s prudery.
“Don’t be so shy Haruna! You got a kiss from your Oishi! I’m sure it’s one of the best days of your life! I think I could kill to have one from Niigaki-san!” Erina confessed proudly.
“These girls are really strange…” Reina noticed, annoyed.
“Well, now I’m gonna give my prize! The one who will go on a date with my fellow Lovendor is…UEMURA AKARI!” Reina shouted with enthusiasm and a teasing smile.
“WHAT?!” A loud voice exclaimed among competitors.
“WHAT THE HELL REINA?!” A low voice exclaimed in the crowd.
“Well, well, well…Uemura, you love cold and awkward girls, so, you should like Marin! And Marin, if you can handle someone like Uemura during a full evening, you won’t have problems with Sato anymore!” Reina explained, satisfied, while clasping her hands.
“But I wanted a date with Sayashi-san…” Akari whined while hugging Tomoko who didn’t seemed too pleased about it.
“My life sucks…” Marin wheezed and left the hall.
Everybody was now looking at Riho, waiting for her to announce the winner’s name.
“Well…I assume it’s my turn…” The ace noticed quietly.
“And The Sayashi Contest Grand Prize, my prize, finally goes to…ISHIDA AYUMI!” Riho shouted with a big smile.
“WHAT?!” The tiny girl exclaimed with wide eyes and an open mouth.
“That kiss made the difference Ayumi-chan and I’m willing to offer you a two month salary prize if you kiss me again! I love the taste of your lips!” The ace confessed with enthusiasm and a smirk.
“Sayashi-san, are you…are you sure it’s not a mistake?” Ayumi babbled, still in shock and totally red.
“Of course I’m sure, it’s my decision!” Riho chuckled and made her way toward the girl to stay beside her.
“You know, I’m not interested by your one month salary. All I want is…a date…with you…” The Juuky confessed shyly while looking away to hide her blushing cheeks. The poor girl was so stunned that she forgot her microphone was still on. Everybody in the hall heard what she said and loud cheers and clasped resounded.
“Don’t worry Ayumi-chan, you’ll have both. You deserve it!” The ace clarified on a reassuring tone while putting her characteristic smug smile.
Cheers and clasped resounded louder than ever. Riho and Ayumi were now surrounded by their close friends and senpai, well decided to congratulate them. The ace suddenly remembered that she was supposed to be on stage in one hour and forty-five minutes when the contest began and this one took forever! Usually time flied, she was surprised that she still got time.
Something was wrong.
Riho took Ayumi’s hand in hers and squeeze it. The shorter girl looked at her fondly with her so beautiful smile. Her cheeks were still red but her eyes were literally sparkling.
Something was off.
All of this was definitely too good to be true.
“I love you Sayashi-san.” Ayumi confessed on a near solemn tone while looking at her in the eyes.
Riho noticed that they were now alone and standing in a desert park. Ayumi was holding her hands in hers. They were soft and warm.
“What the…” The ace thought, not understanding what was happening.
“TUUUT TUUUT TUUUT TUUUT TUUUT TUUUT TUUUT TUUUT TUUUT TUUUT TUUUT TUUUT”
“God…what…happened…”Riho mumbled while turning off the alarm clock on her phone.
“It was…it was just a dream?” The young girl asked incredulously to the empty room while rubbing her eyes.
It was already 8.30 a.m in New York and like every morning, Riho struggled to wake up.
But today, it was particular.
She clearly didn’t want to wake up. Not because she was tired or felt comfortable in her bed but because she didn’t want that dream to end.
That feeling of loss and loneliness so early in the morning was clearly a pain and it hurt her. She couldn’t begin the day like this. She had to find a solution to feel better. She checked the time. It was 9.30 p.m in Tokyo.
She decided to give it a try.
She called Ayumi by Line. The older girl answered right away.
“Ayumi-chan, I’m sorry to call so late. Am I disturbing you?” Riho asked quietly. She was not fully awoken yet.
“No, it’s ok Sayashi-san, I was reading my English lessons in bed but it won’t be long until I sleep because the day was quite tiring...and I have to wake early tomorrow…” Ayumi explained matter-of-factly but with a sweet smile. Although she wore her glasses, dark circles under her eyes were clearly visible.
“I just have one thing to ask you.” Riho began seriously.
“Sure.”
“Would you…would you accept to go out with me?”
Ayumi blinked a few times as Riho’s words echoed in the room. She was startled and wondered if she heard what she thought she heard or if she was already sleeping and thus, dreaming.
A deafening silence quickly filled the room. Ayumi struggled to break it but no sound came out of her throat. She felt her eyes becoming humid.
“It’s not a joke…I’m serious.” Riho added. She felt uneased too and feared to be rejected.
“I know…” Ayumi articulated with difficulty.
“If…If you don’t want to, it’s ok…forget what I just said!” The ex-ace explained quickly, trying her best to regain composure and put on a stoic face.
“I accept” The older girl answered on a serious tone with her hand holding her phone shaking.
“It may sound selfish and difficult since I’m far away but…Huh?”
“I would be glad to go out with you Sayashi-san. Now, talk to you later, ok?” Ayumi repeated, used to her friend’s morning slowness.
“Ayumi-chan, wait!” Riho pleaded with a strong voice, finally registering what the girl just said.
The Juuky hanged out. Her heart was pounding so madly in her chest that she struggled to breathe. She couldn’t hold her phone anymore with her sweaty palms and she was sure to be as red as a tomato since she felt too hot.
How was she supposed to sleep now?
THE END