“*Cinderella! You’re Cinderella!”

“Yup,” Naanya said with a smile. “This is Komiyama Haruka-chan, Mukaichi Mion-chan, and Tsuchiyasu Mizuki-chan. Girls, this is Mako, my best friend.”

“Uwaa~ She’s so cute! Haruka’s jealous!”

“Hehe, thank you.”

Naanya suddenly came up and whispered in my ear. “I think she’s the ‘mad’ kind of jealous. Komiharu can be a little black-hearted.”

“Eh?”

“Oh, Naanya, don’t say weird things about me~.”

“That’s right. Komiharu is SOO cute~~~” The girl named Mizuki jumped behind her and hugged her. “I wub you~~~”

“Mizuki’s the softie in our group. She loves everyone.”

“And Mion-chan?”

“Ah, me? E-eto…” She blushed a little bit. That’s so cute.

“She loves idols, especially everyone at Akihabara48.”

“You like Kojiharu-san, right?”

“I hear she also really likes Okada-san.”

“Ah, that’s…” She was blushing even more. Even cuter!

“When she’s around idols she love, she tends to get a little shy. But, she’s a really nice girl.”

“And the four of you together are…”

I stood back a bit and looked at her.

“Cinderella.”

“Wasn’t it ‘Cinderellaaaa’ when we decided it?”

“Maa, anyways, we’re all members of Shinjuku Girls. Actually, when we found you, we decided to bring you all here so you could watch us rehearse.”

“Eh? Bring us here..?”

“Ah, gomen, Mako-chan. I forgot to tell you. This isn’t the Akihabara48 agency. This is the studio for a show we’re performing in.”

I looked around, examining more carefully.

Yes, this was a changing room for a TV studio. I must’ve been half asleep and thought it was the office.

“So, the others are…”

“They’re waiting for you in another room.”

“We asked the staff to let you watch our live performance. And they said yes.”

“Really?!”

“Un. Everyone’s waiting in the studio. You wanna meet the rest of the members?”

Maji? All the Shinjuku Girls, together?!

“Yes, please!”

…..

“Everyone~~~” Haruka opened the door to the studio and gathered everyone up. “We have a special guest! And it’s none other than Kojimako!”

“EEEH?!”

I smiled widely as I saw all of them, dressed in their practice outfits.

“WOW!!!” One of the girls ran up, smiling. “It’s her! It’s really her! You’re really you! You’re Mako!”

“Yup. In the flesh.”

She squealed and hugged me tightly.

“I’m Hikari! Hashimoto Hikari. Let’s be friends!”

“Okay.”

“Pika~” Another girl came up behind her and lifted her shirt a bit, making her let me go. “Sorry, Mako-chan. Pika is a hugger.”

“It’s okay.”

“My name’s Uchiyama Natsuki. Nice to meet you.” She held out her hand. I shook it and smiled at her.

“Nice to meet you, too.”

“And I’m Maeda Mitsuki. It’s so great you’re here, Kojimako!”

“Hehe, great to be here.”

“Mako, Mako~” Haruka came over and pulled my hand, dragging me to another part of the studio. “These three are part of another unit in Shinjuku Girls, ‘*Aoichigo’.”

“Hi~” All of them waved at me.

“Hi.”

“How bout you introduce yourselves?”

“Hai. I’m Fukuoka Seina. I’m currently the youngest member of Shinjuku girls. My special talent is spinning plates.”

“Eh?”

“You know, when clowns take those long poles and spin plates on top of them?”

“Yeah?”

“I can do that!”

“Eh~ that’s amazing.”

That’s right, I think I remember seeing her do that once. Her nickname was…

*“Coronet Seina.”

She blushed heavily as the others giggled at the name.

“Me next! I’m Manami! Ichikawa Manami! My special skill is pitching!”

“Pitching, like for baseball?”

“Uh-huh.”

“Her record is 35m.”

“Woah…”

“Now me! I’m Yumoto Ami. I’ll show you what my skill is!”

Haruka made me step back a bit as she stretched, then she jumped and did a backflip, posing as she landed.

Everyone applauded.

“Amazing!”

“Komiharu-sempai!” Suddenly, two girls came over to me and Haruka. “We need some help on this part.”

“Can you help?”

“Of course.”

I watched as they walked up to the stage and started practicing. Naanya told me the two girls were Ino Miyabi and and Taniguchi Megu, the newest members of the group.

Miyabi moved to Tokyo from Osaka, just like Nagisa was, and Megu’s been doing dance since she was in second grade, and was the highest score in the dance auditions.

Just then, I felt a buzz in my pocket and saw my cell phone was still on.

I answered, “Hello?”

“Mako? Are you still at the studio?”

“Yeah. Why?”

“Ah, good. We’ll be there in a bit. We just wanted to make sure Naanya took care of you after you fainted.”

“Don’t worry. I’m okay.”

“Alright, but we’re still coming over there. We were invited to watch them perform.”

“I know. See you then.”

I hung up and put my phone back, smiling as I saw Naanya getting along with her fellow members. It reminded me of how I was with the others.

I really am glad we both kept our promise…

…..

“Shinjuku Girls?!”

“That’s right,” Miichan smiled, handing flyers to everyone. “We’ve been invited to see Shinjuku Girls’ live performance tonight as honored guests.”

“Sugoi~”

“Mako’s already there, right?”

“Oh yeah, she was with Owada-san.”

“They must be really good friends. I bet that’s why we were invited.”

Miichan faked a smile for the girls, hiding her true emotions. She was suspicious of Naanya; there was something off about her.

At first, she believed that maybe she was a servant to the Maou, but her aura wasn’t dark. In fact, there was no darkness. It was all light. Even so, she felt something was wrong about her and had been taking a close eye on the young actress.

She looked and saw a familiar pair of chocolate brown eyes looking at her.

“Takamina…”

“Can we talk?”

“Eh..?” Miichan was silent as the shorter girl excused themselves from the others and took her hand, walking her into her office. “What’s wrong?”

“It’s about Mako. And that girl, Nana.”

“Look, I’ve been watching her. There’s something off in her aura, but I just—”

“I know.” The shorter girl interrupted. “I’ve noticed things have gotten a bit… strange since those two reunited. Nana’s aura, Mako’s frequent spells, and then…”

“What?”

“…This.” Takamina reached into her pocket and took out a small white feather, making the younger girl’s eyes widen.

“That’s..!”

“I think my time will soon come in this world. Just like her.”

Miichan fell to her knees, tears falling down her eyes.

“Look… I know this may be hard to take in, but we all expected this would happen. I can’t stay here forever.”

“I know. You promised… You promised *Atsuko….”

“Atsuko…” Takamina repeated the name, sighing as her image appeared in her mind. “She’s waiting for me. Soon, I will have to go back.”

“Eterna…”

Takamina knelt down and patted the young girl’s head.

“Don’t worry. It’ll be okay.” she wiped off the latter’s tears and smiled, hugging her. “Even if I’m gone, everything will be just fine.”

“Yea.. but, still.. I can’t imagine you not being here…”

The shorter girl just nodded, trying to contain her tears.

“Normally, this is the other way around…”

…..

While I was waiting for the others to get here, I watched as the girls were practicing for a special performance of “Cinderella”.

They said their manager wanted to open the show special and decided to do the same thing Nogizaka46 once did, and that was a live musical performance. Apparently, Nogizaka did “Alice in Wonderland” and Ikuta Erika was the lead as Alice, so they went for the same fairytale theme and made Naanya the lead as Cinderella.

Right now, they were rehearsing the scene where Cinderella went to the ball. Everyone wasn’t wearing their costumes yet, but had their roles’ names written on their shirts. Mion was the Prince, Hikari was the Fairy Godmother, and Haruka was the Wicked Stepmother while Natsuki and Mitsuki were the Stepsisters.

I was watching as Naanya and Mion were practicing their dance, but Naanya kept messing up and had to take a break.

While she was alone, I went up and talked to her.

“You okay?”

“Oh, yeah, I’m fine. Just a little nervous…”

“Because you don’t want to mess up?”

“Un…”

“Don’t worry. You’ve done a lead role before. Twice even! I’m sure you’ll be fine.”

She looked at me and smiled. “Thanks.”

“Even though I’m an idol right now, I’ve never really done any acting before, so you’re more experienced than me.”

“Wanna practice with me?”

“Eh? Really?”

“Sure! Here…” She handed me her script. “You read the part of the Prince. Come on.”

She held my hand and dragged me onto the stage, smiling.

“Ready, action!”

I took a deep breath and took a step forward.

“Who are you?” I read the lines, reciting them in front of Naanya.

“I’m Cinderella.”

“You’re so beautiful. May I dance with you?”

“Of course.”

She held my hand, pulling me close. I blushed a bit as she adjusted ourselves into a proper waltz stance.

“Ready?” She broke character a bit to talk to me.

I nodded.

Looking down at our feet, I watched as we both were able to stay synchronized and not step on each other’s toes. Naanya had nothing to be nervous about. Maybe that was because it’s me.

I imagined what it would be like if this were real. The whole world gone silent, the lights shining only on us while everyone watched, and Naanya, in the most gorgeous dress…

That image flashed in my head, and it felt so real, I suddenly stopped.

“Kya!” Naanya’s foot slipped and she accidentally pushed me down, making both of us fall. “Sorry, Mako-chan.”

“It’s alright. I wasn’t concentrating, either.”

We both laughed as we got up, dusting ourselves off.

“Well, I think you will make a perfect Cinderella, if I do say so myself.”

“Haha, thanks.”

I was about to go back, when…

“Mion?!”

I turned back and saw Naanya looking around, a confused and worried look on her face.

“Where’s Mion?”

“Eh? I don’t know…”

“Maybe Haruka or Mizuki has seen her.”

She and I started looking for the trio together, but they were nowhere to be found. We asked the others if they had seen them, but they all said they hadn’t seen any of them since break.

“Where could they have disappeared to?”

Just then, Naanya’s phone rang.

“Who is it?”

“I don’t know. It’s an unknown caller.” She opened her phone and I listened with her as she answered, “Hello?”

“If you’re looking for your friends, I have them safe and sound.”

I know that voice. It’s Kaiba!

“Where are they?”

“Oh, no. I don’t want you. I want your little friend, Mako.”

Uh-oh…

“What?”

“Make sure you pass on the message. Oh, and I want to face her alone. Try anything funny, and you’re both goners.”

“What are you—?” She stopped talking and looked at her phone. “He hung up…”

I backed away as Naanya was giving me a scared, yet somewhat suspicious look.

“Mako-chan, what was he talking about? Did you know him?”

“I…”

“Tell me! Who was that?! What is he going to do with my friends?!”

I can’t… I can’t tell her. But..!

“Mako-chan…”

God, what should I do?

================================

Footnotes

*1. Cinderellaaaa/Cinderella - A unit under Full Moon productions and sub-unit of Shinjuku Girls. The members are Owada Nana, Komiyama Haruka, Mukaichi Mion, and Tsuchiyasu Mizuki.

*2. Aoichigo - A unit under Full Moon productions and sub-unit of Shinjuku Girls. The members are Komiyama Haruka, Ichikawa Manami, Yumoto Ami, and Fukuoka Seina.

*3. Coronet Seina - A nickname given to Seina due to her talent of playing he coronet.

*4. Maeda Atsuko - A human girl who Takamina fell in love with. The two had a close relationship and were going to get married, but then she was attacked and killed by the Maou. She made a promise with Takamina that she would be reborn and that they will meet again in ten years. (Side note: This is a reference to Takamina’s upcoming graduation, and also the AKB48 song “10-nen Zakura”.)