Replacement

Can I hold you tight...?

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Everyone has at least once experienced bad mornings and bad hair day or on the other hand, a wonderful start. For some, waking up is refreshing while the others wish to go back to sleep. First, lets look at the bright side with Masaki cooking breakfast, pouring his favorite milk he bought last night while Mao waking up next to Jun.

"Good morning."
Jun turns his body towards Mao and smooths her hair. He smiles and took his cell phone under the pillow to check the time. Mao just blushed and hid behind the blanket, still not believing what happened yesterday night. She's , he's . I'm sure everyone can guess what happened between them over night.

"I have to get ready now."
It was past seven and he had lots of business to do today. Starting with rehearsal of the fashion show and to finishing off the fight with Toma. He got out from the bed with another blanket around his lower body and changed into his new clothes.

"If you're going out, lock the door and put the keys in the post box."
Throwing his things in his bag, Jun tells Mao who just sat on the bed with her blanket around her. She nodded while Jun passed her the keys and went out of the room.

So, for the rest of the others, they were having the horrible morning. Kazunari could not sleep at all last night, his eyes are becoming like panda, Masami couldn't get Ryo out of her head all night and even in her dreams he appeared. She couldn't focus on one thing, she even forgotten to close the tap after washing her teeth. Satoshi cried all night, his eyes were swollen. This was his ever first time crying after the age of twenty. Boys don't cry, his mother always told him. Aya was having trouble turning off her extremely loud alarm and having to think about her chance of getting fired plus about Mao, Jun and Satoshi. Sho was having bad hair day along with having no mood to go to work. He didn't know what to do when he sees Aya. Dragging his foot to his car, slowly he drives to the company, still thinking on how to deal with her.

"Sho-kun! Sho-kun! Sho-kun!"
Aya ran over to Sho as he parked his car at his usual place. She was waiting for him, remembering where his reserved parking lot is.

"A, Aya-chan?"
Shocking to see her talking to him first, he tried to explain about yesterday but she started first.

"The rumor is true! I saw how you exactly told me about the president yesterday night! What do I do now...?"
Aya worriedly asked in a rush. She needed to talk to someone, get their advice and the only person she could think of was him. She didn't dare to face Satoshi, she had a feeling something went wrong between him and Mao since Mao and Jun came home together last night.

"Calm down. He won't cut you off, I promise. The rumor is not true, don't believe it."
He held the side of her arms and spoke. He didn't want to tell the entire truth, that this rumor is just a story he made. What a coincidence, he thought. Aya wasn't satisfied with what Sho told her and still she was panicking about getting fired. Sho took her hand but Aya pushed it away and the next minutes shouting at his face.

"No! You're calm since you won't get fired but I'm just assistance and I have no reason to stay here anyway."

By the time Masami got to her office, most of the staffs were already working on with their papers. She was satisfied with all her co-workers as they handed their finished work to her every minute.

"Nagasawa-san. I need the signature of president here."
One of the workers approached to her, holding a pen and a piece of paper. She read through it, proof reading if there's anything wrong.

"Okay, I'll go and hand over to him."
Seeing no mistake, she nods and piles up the paper to bring it to Kazunari. She was surprised to her emotion that she wasn't as happy as always when she would be to go and see him. Knocking on the door as usual, she goes in and hands him the paper like she did the other day. He looked groomer than before as she wondered what happened to him.

"Are you okay?"
She asks knowing he is not. He just signs the paper without looking at it and passed it back. Kazunari thought for a moment whether he should tell her what he saw or not, his result was that he should not involve her as it was her important time, just before the fashion show.

"Nah, it's nothing. I'm fine."
He looked up and smiled like nothing happened. Masami could tell he is lying but since he is the one talking, she couldn't say more but leave. After few minutes from Masami's exit, there was a soft knock on the door, opening slowly and the girl Kazunari has been thinking all night entered.

"Erm, good morning."
Aya awkwardly walked in the room, she needed to do something before things turn out too late. She tried to believe what Sho told her but somewhere in her mind, she was still scared.

"Yes?"
He could guess she came in to talk about her embarrassing moments he saw but he acted like he didn't care.

"About yesterday, I just want to make sure that what you saw is not what you think."
She continued.

"We were doing work then the lights got off and there was thunder too! I really hate thunders so without any thought I just... Yeah, and before you know it you came in. There's nothing suspicious so pleeeaaase don't fire me."
She tried to explain everything before he could tell her anything so whatever conclusion he would give her is after she had done whatever she could do.

"I wasn't planning to fire you. Err, so there's nothing between you and Sho?"
He asked, scratching his head, just to ensure one more time.

"Oh, really? Thank you thank you thank you! We're just friends, good friends."
Aya smiled with relief and she thought maybe, Sho was right about not believing the rumor. She suddenly felt guilty for not believing him. She immediately excused herself to look for Sho and apologize to him about inappropriate behavior she did to him.

"Wait."
Just as about Aya was going out the room, Kazunari called her from behind and stopped her. She turned back with a question mark on her face.

"I need you to be the replacement of Mao."
He said it out simply, sounding like it's not a big deal. Aya didn't understand what he was telling her, still question mark on her face.

"Meaning, you are going to walk down the catwalk with the dress Mao chose, along with other models."
He got out a picture of dress and passed it to her. She still had no idea what the heck he was telling her. Is he nuts? She thought.

"I can't replace Mao-chan. I can't. Not me, please. I have no experience of this and erm, I just can't. Please replace with other professional models."
The dress was pretty, just how Mao would choose but she couldn't accept his offer.

"This is an order. Don't worry, you have great bod-, I mean great styles. I'll tell Masami to visit you for measurement."
Texting Masami for the order made dress; he stood up and passed her the schedule. Fashion show is just around the corner; Aya knew she can't be like Mao just in few days.

"But, I can't. I don't know what to do. I'm not even in the top five models; I'm not even a model in the first place!"
She couldn't understand why Kazunari is asking her to replace Mao. There are plenty of other models who have way more experience than her. Reading the lineups for the day, she sees Mao's name along with top five models.

"You can start joining the catwalk practicing from now, you'll be fine. I promise."
He smiled and patted her head, just what he wanted to do.

"But,"

"No buts. I told you, this is an order. I'll contact the teacher right away so go on, practice time."
He turned Aya towards the door and pushed her forward. Just as Aya was about to say one more word, he closed the door leaving her outside. With a loud sigh, Aya had no choice but to visit the practice, but she was going to head there anyway to see Sho so the destination was still the same but change of additional reason. Slowly, she stepped out of the elevator and looked around the floor. There were lots of models practicing with a teacher advising and telling them where to face, when to turn and when to move. Seeing Sho at the side waiting for his turn, she walked towards him for her apologies.

"You must be Aya-san. I got the message from the president. Come, come this way."
A man around age of thirty walked towards her, blocking her way. He's wearing tight pants with tight shirt with a stick to make a beat of rhythm. He smiled at her like he was an angel and led her to the center of the floor.

"Attention pleases everyone! This girl is going to replace Mao's part. Since this is her first time, please be nice and help her around alright? Now, back to practice!"
The man used his stick to hit the floor, making a loud noise and gathering everyone's attention. He placed his hand on Aya's shoulder and introduced. Everyone gasped with surprise and whispered among each other about her.

"Why her? Who's that anyway?"

"She's the new assistant, I remember her."

"But she's pretty. Ouch, what? It's true."

Aya could see that people are whispering about her and she obviously didn't like it. Sho was quite happy to hear about it since that means he has more time to spend with her, talk to her and get to know her more. The only problem was that just a few minutes ago, he had made Aya angry and they are in awkward moment. He did want to go up and talk to her but his turn was next and someone else already took care of it.

"Hellooo."
Since his turn just finished, Masaki came over to Aya and tried to make her feel comfortable with all the eyes on her.

"Aiba-san! I'm glad you talked to me."
Aya really wanted to talk to him more but right now, her only focus was to talk to Sho who just got his turn and was busy with his walk. She watched him carefully and tried to send her apology face but he wouldn't turn to her for a bit.

"You can line up there and when it's your turn, you just walk up there like everyone else. I'm sure you'll do fine."
Masaki noticed Aya looking over to the practice zone and thought she needed some help.

"Oh, right. Thank you."
She wasn't actually planning to line up yet but Masaki pushed her to the other side with his mouthing of `Go! Go!`. She appreciated his kindness but it was not given at the right moment. Lining up and waiting for her turn, all the other models stared at her from every direction. She tried to focus on the ones that cat walked, learning the steps and the way of walking and trying to imitate them as it was her turn. She had the style, the grace but the fact that she got all the other's attention, everyone watching her walk was uncomfortable. She walked awkwardly with a little hunchback, just missing a little confidence.

"Hey. Are you gonna walk like that in front of audience? Oh please, no."
One of female model came up to her, stopping the practice. Her followers or her gang followed her behind, supporting her.

"Yeah, you can't replace Inoue-san. Back off."
The gang yelled out from behind along with other hurtful words. Right before the instructor was going to stop them, Aya yelled back.

"Oh yeah? I can do better than you all."
She hated to lose; especially to someone she doesn't know so well. She always had competitive minds in schools and she would do anything to win. Her heart and her mind were burning with anger as she pushed them away to continue her walk. Now, she walked with confidence, style, grace and it was perfect.

"How's that?"
Finishing her walk, she turned back to face the girls who looked astonished thus vexed at how she could just walk like that. They had nothing to say anymore but to accept her as a replacement.

"Now now girls, Diamond don't create enemies among each other. Aya-san, that was excellent!"
The instructor came over, tapping both of their shoulders as the gang left the scene. All the other models and staffs clapped as Aya just realized everyone was watching her, making her embarrassed. She walked away quickly, hoping all of them goes back to the practice immediately.

"Aya-chan."
Someone called her from behind as Aya was standing right in front of the wall, trying to hide herself but obviously it didn't work.

"Sho-kun! I'm really sorry. I really wanted to apologize earlier but I couldn't see you and I, I'm so sorry. I should have believed you. I'm sure you think I'm an awful person but I hope you will forgive me."
Turning back, before he could say anything, she speaker out everything she had to say in less than ten seconds. He looked surprised since he was going to say the same thing, well to reveal that the rumor is not true but guess he doesn't have to do that anymore.

"No, no. I don't think you're an awful person. I understand. Anyways, you were great out there."
Everything was back to normal and he thought how normal could be blessing after all.

"Ah, don't mention it. It's really embarrassing."
Her face blushes again as she thought how she walked and acted out there, she wanted to erase that from her memory.

"Haha, I was thinking maybe you should tell Mao that you are replacing her. I'm sure he would be delighted to hear it."

"You're right; I really should tell her before anyone else tells her first."
But where is she? She thought. She wanted to tell her face-to-face, see how she reacts. She remembered Masaki telling her about Mao and Jun. Aya told the story to Sho and asked him how she could meet Mao.

"Oh, I see. Mm, I'll ask Jun about it then. Hey, Jun."
He calls as Jun finishes his walk. Masaki finishes his too and he comes over, even though he is not called, that was just him; he just loved to disturb people.

"Is Mao at your place?"
Directly Sho asked. Jun was surprised that he knows but he had no reason to hide.

"Yeah, she is, but how do you know about that?"
As Jun asked back, Sho looked over at Aya and Aya looked over at Masaki. Scratching his head, Masaki explained that he saw the two together last night and told that to Aya.

"Right. It's a long story. I'll tell you guys about it when we have time."
Flashback of all the happenings went over his minds and it was too much to tell all of it now.

"Aya wanted to see her to tell her about the replacement. Is it okay to go over to your place, like soon?"
Sho asks, he too wanted to see Mao. He hasn't heard from her for a long time.

"I want to go too!"
Masaki yells out, he doesn't want to be left alone and he knew something big was behind from the time he saw Toma at Crystal and right after that Mao got into big trouble.

"Alright, after the practice, we'll all go back to my place. I guess I can explain what happened there."
Jun looked at the clock on the wall; the practice was going to end soon. He sensed someone was watching him, he looked over to the right and his eyes met one person; Erika. She quickly looked away as she smiles hearing all the information like a spy. At this time, Jun did not suspect her that she was indeed one of the enemy he had.

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Comments

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Dailycommenter 98 streak #1
I am trying to find an old story on here but I cannot remember the title so I am going through all the story links I found this sounds interesting and has a nice description
Vikamer #2
Kansahamnida
Kuraiyuki
#3
Chapter 16: Sugoii desu~~~!!It's really really good! I never thought that Erika was evil...so unexpected!!>.< looking forward to the next updates~~!!! X)
junhartmao #4
omg my poor poor Mao grrhh I don't like you Toda Erika & I hope you ain't using her Jun (or else) haha.......can't wait for you next updates!!!
cutterpillow
#5
Hello. :)<br />
I have seen the trailer and I like it. its awesome-ness. :) <br />
Plus Masami is here! She's my first ever favorite j-actress. <br />
I hope she's not the antagonist here. *crosses finger*
YippieM #6
Hello :D<br />
I really love your story!<br />
Updating soon :D
1623Love
#7
I like it! Update please ^^