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Being a model was much tougher than it looked. Nana would know, as she used to be one. And in Nana’s experience from her time working as a model, one of the main reasons the job required you to be a lot tougher than the average person was because it could sometimes be very difficult to evaluate praise and criticism objectively before deciding whether to take it to heart.
Nana scanned the blogs and forums as she perched on the bed in the Parisian hotel room she shared with Junna, her roommate (and girlfriend) perched over her shoulder.
“Check that one,” Junna said, indicating the link Nana’s mouse was hovering over. “They’re always fairly objective.”
Nana clicked on Elle’s Daily Fashion Revue and control+F searched for HANA on the page, finding what she was looking for instantly. “HANA’s Eclipse show was a real treat. HANA’s production last year was average at best, however if you don’t have them on your radar - you should be watching!! They have two ‘new’ faces for the campaign, one being the truly new and incredibly talented Tendo Maya who I predict will be a top model in Japan within the year, the other being the surprise return of Saijou Claudine, now all grown up and proving to the world she hasn’t lost her skill. The design and format of the show itself was superb, and the HANA couture dresses were greater than I could have hoped. I even found a way into the secret show to watch it again - I was that obsessed. Heed my warning - do not sleep on HANA! [9/10 stars]”
“That’s awesome!” Junna said. “Told you she knows what’s up.”
“Yeah, I’m glad.”
“You don’t sound so happy,” said Junna, running her fingers through Nana’s hair. Her hair was down, a style reserved for when she was alone with Junna, and she tilted her head back to enjoy the feeling a little longer.
“I am really glad Elle liked it. It’s just that for every review like hers, there’s dozens who didn’t come to the show with comments like this:”
Nana pulled up a forum, titled Tokyo Fashion Week - HANA, scrolling through so Junna could see the comments, which ranged from the highly positive to those that she didn’t even wish to read again. “HANA doesn’t even deserve a thread here, I’m glad Akira left,” said one. She scrolled.
Currently obsessed with Kagura-san’s black chain dress. I can’t stop staring at it.
↳ I would like it more if it wasn’t worn by Saijou Claudine
↳ what’s wrong with Claudine? I’m happy she’s back!
↳ All she does is stand there and try to look sexy. I like the new girl. She’s pretty and athletic and she has a degree and she’s really nice to her fans. Claudine neveer interacts with fans :P
↳ Will you two shut up? We were talking about the show?
↳ this is about the show, calm your tits. Eclipse was really good, but idk how they’re gonna follow this up. And tendo maya is only on this contract bc of her famous mother…
“You’re worried about the models,” said Junna.
Nana felt the intrinsic urge to deny this claim, to play it off, as if everything was fine, however Junna was right, and she had no reason to be dishonest. “I am.”
“You always are. You were worried about Akira too.”
“I’m still worried about Akira,” Nana said. “But I trust Yachiyo to look out for her.” She leaned back on the bed. There was a certain level of fame in the industry that just made her nervous. Even lower level models, like Yumeoji Shiori, struggled with obsessive fans and stalkers, or bad press rumors from time to time, and it only got worse as the fame grew. During last year’s campaign, Akira had a particularly bad time due to her inability to handle social media (Maya picked it up in record time in comparison) as well as her blunt way of speaking with interviewers and fans.
But currently, the situation with Maya and Claudine was a little different than that of Akira. Maya was plummeting to fame at a record pace - attracting the attention of all sorts of people, and Claudine was staging an incredibly difficult sort of comeback - a transition from child to adult, and from absolute disappearance to a global stage. Everyone was going to have an opinion on the two of them.
On the bright side, they looked good in HANA clothes, and they looked good together. The HANA fall print media campaign went well - so well, in fact, that they were currently hanging billboards of the red velvet shoot and selling department store window prints of the initial rooftop shoot - even as late as November. All of metropolitan Japan was going to have Claudine and Maya shoved in their faces. It was helping Nana and Junna’s careers as well. As the photographer and graphic designer behind those images, they had ascended into fame in their circles, their names attached to the images to those ‘in the know’. And to those ‘in the know in the know’, they were the power couple of high fashion photography at the moment.
Nana leaned over and kissed Junna before flopping back on the bed.
“Do you miss it ever? Modeling?” asked Junna, looking down at Nana from where she remained leaning over the laptop.
Nana contemplated this question for a second. She had modeled during the years of her photography training, only working full time as a model for about six months. And though she had found some success, the stress of that fast-paced, high-tension world was unforgiving enough to make her return to the camera, to the world where she could slow things down, capturing moments to save and reflect on, something she found much more joy in.
But you have so much talent!’ her agent had whined at her, when she gave her resignation.
She didn’t have much to say to that. She felt like she was given a choice, and in the end she chose time over fame. She would always choose more time.
“No, I don’t miss it,” she said firmly. “But I will support our models however I can.”
Nana spent another hour lounging with Junna until Junna convinced her to get up and enjoy Paris. Paris was Junna’s favorite kind of place, filled with romance, history, the setting of many plays and stories, and it allowed her to recharge on inspiration for her designs for the next sessions of HANA media.
In the late fall evening, Nana and Junna toured Paris, stopping in cafes, bookshops, a florist, and walking below the Eiffel Tower. Before it became properly late out, they picked up dinner and returned to the hotel, surprised to see Karen at the desk in the lobby.
“Karen-chan!” called Nana, surprised when the normally cheerful Karen did not immediately look up. She moved closer. “Karen-chan?”
“Oh! Nana-chan! Junna-chan! I’m sorry, I was distracted.”
“What are you working on, Karen?”
Junna and Nana sat down at the small table Karen was sitting at in the lobby, surprised to find her sitting by herself for once, and not with Mahiru or Hikari. Perhaps they were picking up dinner.
“Well the show is tomorrow, so Kaoruko wanted some sort of preview to go up on our story on Instagram, so I’ve been working on a video for that. I’ve also been trying to keep up with the Twitter, but I keep falling behind on that.” She yawned. “And I’m drafting captions for our posts for tomorrow so they’re ready to go whenever you send me the pictures.”
“Wow, Karen, you really are working. Do you want me to buy you a drink or something?” asked Junna, sounding impressed. Nana wondered if she had doubted how much work Karen had been doing until that moment.
“Wow! Um… a hot cocoa would be great!”
With a smirk at Nana, but no comment to Karen, Junna walked to the coffee shop on the left side of the lobby, rather than the bar on the right side as she likely had been anticipating.
“Karen, do you manage the models’ social media as well?”
Karen looked up properly from the tablet she was working off of for the first time. “I have access to @thisisTendoMaya, so I often clear her troll messages or post on her story from time to time. I have to fix her tags too,” she said with a giggle, pulling up a screenshot of one of Maya’s posts of a cafe breakfast that she had tagged #thisisbreakfast and #iamgoingtoeatthis
“I don’t know, #thisisbreakfast is a pretty good tag,” Nana argued.
“I agree, I have a little bit of regret about changing that one,” she laughed. “I don’t have access to Claudine’s account, though. She’s an old pro at Instagram and Twitter, though.”
“You’re a new pro, though, it seems. I can’t believe how good our page looks!”
Karen beamed, and just then Junna returned with the cocoa, slipping a hot tea into Nana’s hand as well. “Thanks!” said Karen, to both of them. “Anyways, I see you have dinner. I need to finish this video, so I’ll let you eat!”
Junna and Nana returned to their room to eat, watching a French drama they couldn’t understand as entertainment. “Call Claudine,” said Junna. “I want to know who the murderer is!”
Both to appease Junna and to satisfy her own curiosity, Nana called Claudine’s cell.
“Bonjour? Oh! Nana! Hello,” she said, quickly switching from French to Japanese.
“Kuro-san! Junna requests your presence in room 716. We are watching a French drama and need help solving the mystery.”
“What? Hold on.”
A few minutes later there was a knock on the door, and to Nana’s surprise, Claudine arrived with Futaba in tow. “Weren’t expecting me, were you, Nana?” she teased.
“I can’t say I was,” said Nana with a smile, “But you’re more than welcome here.”
“Good, because Kuroko and I have champagne!” They each raised a hand to reveal a rather large bottle of champagne and entered the room, waving hello to Junna.
If either Futaba or Claudine noticed how only one bed in the room was being utilized, they didn’t comment on it, and Nana appreciated their discretion. While it wasn’t exactly a secret that she was dating Junna, both she and Junna liked keeping their work and personal lives separate. Claudine and Futaba both sat on the unused bed, and Futaba set about popping the first bottle of champagne.
“You two aren’t usually together,” Junna commented, from where she was lying on her stomach on the bed, flipping through a French magazine. In the background, the French drama continued on the television, though Futaba had gotten the champagne open and was starting up a playlist from her phone.
“It’s true, we’re not as close as the two of you, perhaps,” said Claudine. “But Kaoruko decided she needed Tendo Maya for some dumb event this evening, so we decided to occupy ourselves.”
Nana wanted to ask about the event - if it was Kaoruko picking Maya randomly, or because she generally was more sociable than Claudine, or if it was because of family connections, or her new popularity, but she knew Claudine was not the person to ask. “Well cheers to this hotel party!” she said, and even Junna sat up as they passed around paper cups of champagne.
During the course of the evening, she learned that Futaba and Junna were the chatty drunks of the group, while Claudine seemed to be holding herself back. Nana preferred to observe, though it became harder and harder, especially as the four of them became more and more drunk. Nana knew Futaba and Kaoruko were a couple, but hearing Claudine mention Tendo Maya each of the few times she spoke made her wonder if there was more to the relationship between the two models than just acquaintances.
Eventually, after midnight, there was a knock at the door, and a grumpy Kaoruko came in to retrieve Futaba who had fallen asleep on the bed, fully clothed beside Claudine. Claudine woke during this exchange, and embarrassed, excused herself to return to her room as well.
The next day was the Eclipse show at Paris Fashion Week. Nana and Junna rode with Claudine and Maya to the venue, which they didn’t think anything of, but Claudine drew the curtains in the car as they approached. “Oh mon Dieu…” she said, her voice a bit hoarse from the previous night’s revelries. “Did you see them? Dozens of mosquitos out there, waiting at the entrance.”
On any other occasion, Nana might laugh at Claudine’s word for paparazzi, but in this situation, they did seem like a swarm of mosquitos. They were hovering around a staff-only entrance, waiting for a glimpse of models without hair or makeup done. In fact, Claudine looked rather obviously hungover and sleep deprived, and Maya seemed to still be jet lagged from their flight two days earlier. This wasn’t Japan, so Nana didn’t know who to call to amend this situation, and the driver wasn’t going to wait all day for them to exit the car.
Claudine slipped on her mask and sunglasses, her typical Tokyo attire, and one of the stylists offered her a black bucket hat, which she took. Maya also put on a mask, but otherwise left herself uncovered.
When the car door opened, dozens of shutters clicked, and voices asked questions in French, English, and Japanese. Nana stepped out first, allowing Maya and Claudine to step out beside her, and then Junna and the two stylists got out last, forming a sort of diamond formation. They walked the twenty feet or so to the staff entrance with men approaching them from all angles, cameras in their faces, and shouts of questions in their ears. Once the door had shut behind them, Nana felt Junna slip her hand into hers, and Nana squeezed, trying to reassure her that there would be no way this would happen again.
“Tendo-san?” Nana heard one of the stylists ask, and turned to see Maya leaning against the wall just inside the door, catching her breath. Nana wondered how late she had been out with Kaoruko, and if she was in poor condition this morning, or if she was just sensitive to the paparazzi in her face.
She righted herself quickly, looking a bit pale. “I’m fine, sorry to worry you. Let’s get downstairs.” Nana did not miss how she and Claudine subtly grabbed hands as they walked.
Naturally, Futaba and Kaoruko were upset upon hearing about this incident. “The building manager just keeps saying ’that’s just how it is here, nothing security can do,’” Futaba said in frustration, running her fingers through her hair.
“Unacceptable,” said Kaoruko. “We’ll simply have to hold HANA shows at a different, much more heavily vetted venue from now on. I will not have anyone on my staff subjected to that.”
As if the entrance to the venue was a sign, the Paris show just seemed to be cursed from start to finish. Luckily, the impressions overall seemed to be good. Unfortunately, by the end of the show, Nana had one camera that was not functioning, Yanagi Koharu had a rolled ankle from tripping over an exposed cable backstage, and one of the guests had to be removed by security for approaching the stage. It was a far-cry from their flawless Tokyo Fashion Week debut.
Kaoruko gathered them for their typical debrief in the dressing room, Koharu icing her ankle, and the rest of the models looking rather shell-shocked from the super-fan who tried rushing the stage.
“I should have guessed Claudine would be a hit with the French crowd,” Kaoruko said, perhaps as an attempt to lighten the mood, but earning a punch in the arm from Futaba.
“In any case,” she continued, “We pulled it off. I know this wasn’t our best show, but I will be having serious discussions with the staff at the venue, I do not believe this was our fault in any way. Let’s get some food and rest up a bit, there’s a get together this evening that we’re expected at.”
Futaba arranged for Koharu to see a doctor, and for the models to leave without the harassment of paparazzi.
Somehow, the rest of the visit to France passed uneventfully, and before Nana knew it, they were back in Tokyo. Once she got a good night’s rest, her first stop was her favorite camera repair shop just outside of Akihabara. To her surprise, she spied a familiar face inside, though she was rather hesitant to approach.
“Daiba-san, is that you? Come let me get a look at you. Goodness knows I’ve been seeing your photographs all over Tokyo.” Sakuragi Rei walked out of the shadowy corner where she had been inspecting some sort of lighting equipment, moving towards Nana. The older woman worked for the Sarazashi Company, a line of kimono and other traditional Japanese clothing which had been long-time partners with the Rinmeikan Agency..
“Sakuragi-sensei! What a pleasure to see you here! I have been seeing your photographs as well, every night on the subway line.”
Sakuragi smiled wryly. “A station pillar is a far-cry from a billboard and the department store windows, but that is the nature of selling everyday clothing vs. traditional wear. Not to mention that the photographer is well, one of the very best.”
“Ah, I’m not nearly that skilled, Sensei. I just work with wonderful designers and models.”
“Indeed, your subjects are quite stunning. I’m looking forward to meeting everyone at HANA in Seoul. It’s one of the few times per year Sarazashi is on the same stage as companies like HANA.”
“Looking forward to it! Now, Sensei… I think I’m having an issue with my lens…”
After fixing the issue with her camera with the assistance of the veteran photographer and the shop owner, Nana made her way to HANA headquarters, where she walked into the meeting room to convene with the others to prepare for the first of the winter print shoots. So far, only Mahiru and Junna were present, and they were very much occupied, giving Nana just a cursory greeting.
The theme for the winter line was [life on mars], so many of their shoots were taking place in nature. Hikari, Kaoruko, and the other designers had released designs that seemed to be part of the earth, blending seamlessly into trees, leaves, snow, and water. Junna was nearly losing her mind planning the catalogue, with Mahiru in tow bouncing ideas off of her, as there was no runway to plan in winter.
“We could plan the catalogue in four sections, like elements of nature, with an earth, water, plants, and snow sort of feel. Even the edges of the pages can show four sections when the catalogue is closed!”
Mahiru nodded, eyes alight. “Full page photos, with the text describing each piece in white, so as to be unobtrusive and blend into the organic feel of the shot.”
Junna scribbled down notes, nodding. “We could have a page with the models, and the opposite page with the clothing just hanging on a line in nature, so we can see what it looks like in its natural form, emphasizing our organic cotton, and how the light flows through our fabrics.”
Hikari walked in, obviously trying to give the impression that she was unconcerned with mundane things like the catalogue. “You two are just making a photobook,” she said.
Mahiru blushed a bit, but Junna looked undeterred. “Based on market research, this is the style our customers want,” she said confidently. “If the women want a photobook, I’m going to get a photobook into their hands. That’s what’s going to sell your clothes, after all.”
“Women… and men,” said Kaoruko, who had slipped into the meeting room undetected. “Can’t forget those men who want pictures of beautiful women and then end up buying clothes for their girlfriends or moms or sisters.”
“Ara, Kaoruko, are you calling me a beautiful woman?” asked Claudine as she walked in, and seemed to be in an unusually good mood at the chance to tease Kaoruko. Maya was just behind her, smiling mildly in amusement.
Kaoruko chose to ignore her, unlocking her phone instead. “Where’s Futaba and Karen? We need to get going.”
“We’re here!” Futaba’s voice sounded from down the corridor. Karen came bounding into the room a few seconds later, huffing and puffing, but with a large grin on her face.
“Check it out! It’s my new toy!” In her hand was her phone, mounted on a handheld gimbal, allowing it to function as a steadycam. “My videos are going to be upgraded!”
“Great, we’re all here, let’s go.”
They piled into a van from the underground parking garage, settling in as they took the relatively long drive to a nearby forest. Nana wanted to get some golden hour shots, so the set up was to take place around 3pm. The models had their hair and makeup done, but they would be getting changed on location, and the set still needed to be dressed and the photography equipment set up. They arrived on time and got to work, the staff who were not busy with setting up huddling under a tent and portable space heater.
Today’s shots were with the ‘earth’ theme, and fall leaves littered the ground, and they chose an area with several large boulders as well. The orange and brown tones dominated, and soon the sunset would allow for a natural-lit glow on the scene as well. Claudine changed into terra-cotta colored pants with brown clogs and a crocheted, cream-colored camisole, her hair extra fluffy and hanging loose around her arms. Maya wore a long taupe skirt with a leaf pattern beaded into the bottom third in silver beads. On top she wore a brown sweater made of a loose weave, and a brown beret. She wore HANA collection flats on her feet. Her hair was in a loose side braid.
It was strange seeing Maya and Claudine in coordinating outfits after seeing them as opposites for so long. The warm, rich colors were so different from the constant black and white feel of fall, but in a good way. Before long, it was time to begin the shoot. Nana took a few breaths, listening to the distant sound of a stream and the birdsong that filled the forest as they worked.
“Alright, let’s get to work!” she called cheerfully. She started with Claudine sitting on a low boulder, and Maya leaning against the adjacent taller boulder. Then she had them both sit on a nearby downed log, with fall leaves around them. She took a few of Maya walking across the log, and some of Claudine perched atop the taller boulder. Then, as usual, they began moving on their own. Posing without speaking. And in compositions that were extremely well-balanced.
Karen zoomed around the scene, recording this and that with her phone, and making sure to stay out of Nana’s shots, and the stylists popped in and out of the scene to adjust from time to time. There were two outfit changes – both similar “earth” outfits in the same family of color and style, and they finished the shoot around six. By that time, it was a bit chilly, and they sent the models to the tent to change and take some time by the heater before driving back. “This is going to be a good catalogue,” Nana told Junna. “Probably your best work.” “Our best work,” Junna said, sneaking a kiss to the back of Nana’s shoulder.