Home Fanfics Go Back
“Are you… Tendo Maya?”
Maya was walking with Koharu back to the station when she was approached by two girls in middle school uniforms, both shyly coming closer, as if perhaps they had the wrong person.
“I am,” said Maya, hoping her smile would show in her eyes, though she was wearing a mask over her mouth.
“It’s nice to meet you,” they both said, bowing politely.
“I am a fan,” said one, the more outgoing, it seemed. “I was wondering if you would take a photo with me?”
Maya agreed, and she moved out of the path of foot traffic before removing her mask, her breath clouding in the air. She watched the girl’s eyes light up looking at her face, as if she was a true celebrity, and was unsure what to think.
“Is your friend able to take the picture?” she asked.
The girl nodded, coming to stand beside Maya. After the photo, she thanked Maya profusely, smiling ear to ear. “Get home safely,” Maya greeted her.
“They were cute,” Koharu commented.
“Very cute.”
“It’s easy to forget that a lot of fans aren’t scary creeps, they’re just nice people like that,” Koharu said as they took the elevator down to the train platform.
“Yeah, it is. Karen still manages my SNS, so I don’t see much of it, to be honest,” Maya admitted.
“That’s the dream. Keep that arrangement as long as possible,” Koharu advised with a laugh. “Listen, I have one more meeting, so I have to head back to Ginza, so I’ll be going this way. Good luck if you end up doing a workout tonight!”
“Bye!” Maya called, as Koharu dashed off towards an approaching train. Maya waited a few minutes for the train coming in the opposite direction to take her to the station where she could catch the bus back to Kachidoki. She did not, actually, plan to do a workout that day. The next day was the trip to Hokkaido, and due to a week of schedules packed with shoots for Blue Glitter and various meetings and shoots for HANA, she had not had time to do any packing. It was only a two-and-a-half day trip, but she needed to make sure to pack all the necessities.
When she got home, she was surprised to see Claudine in the kitchen. Their kitchen was somewhat of a joke, since neither of them possessed much in the way of cooking skills, and their schedules kept them from developing them. But on this afternoon, Claudine stood at the stove, stirring a pot, the rice cooker to the side indicating rice was also being prepared.
“What?” she asked, seeming to catch Maya’s surprise. “Even I can do the basics. And… I wanted to do something for you.”
Maya couldn’t help but smile, catching Claudine’s embarrassed blush at this admission. She walked into the kitchen after setting her things down, wrapping her arms around Claudine. “Quit it, Tendo Maya, I’m trying to cook you a meal!” she protested. Her flustered movement only encouraged Maya, and she slipped her thumbs under the waistband of Claudine’s pajama pants, pulling her closer. Claudine, who was still holding the spoon she was using to cook, only had one free hand, and used it to pull Maya’s wrist away, carefully placing the spoon down before turning around to face Maya.
“Are you just insistent on distracting me so I ruin your dinner?” she asked, bringing her arms up behind Maya’s neck, pulling their faces together.
They were too close. They were spending too much time apart for Maya to resist. She was not meant to work all day apart from Claudine, it seemed, for instead of answering, she closed the gap between them, their lips meeting, her tongue slipping in the gap in Claudine’s lips almost instantly. She wanted to be closer, she wanted more, always more.
She felt Claudine slip her hands under Maya’s shirt, dragging her fingers down Maya’s back. “I missed you,” she mumbled against Maya’s lips.
“What did you make me for dinner?” Maya asked, suddenly a little embarrassed at the sheer domesticity of the moment.
It seemed Claudine felt it too, as she buried her chin in the curve of Maya’s neck, mumbling “Curry.”
“I like curry,” Maya said, trying to assure her.
“I know.”
Somehow, they pulled themselves apart, and Claudine finished the meal. It was good, though Maya supposed she was a little biased. They watched some Korean drama as they ate, turning it off after one episode despite being instantly sucked into the plot. Truth be told, Maya’s mind was preoccupied, on Claudine, on Claudine’s lips and the feel of her skin, and living with a woman who makes her dinner, but she focused on packing for the trip.
“Have you packed for Hokkaido yet?” she asked Claudine, moving to the kitchen to clear her dishes away.
Claudine shook her head. “I had a meeting with Kyoko and Shizuha earlier. About the Kirin situation. That kept me busy until I went to the supermarket to get… this,” she said, nodding at the curry.
“How did it go?” asked Maya, packing away the leftovers.
Claudine shrugged. “Kyoko had a lawyer friend there. We filed official police reports. Yachiyo provided witness accounts for the small amount she was privy to. Shizuha says Akira might be able to provide some witness accounts for her, but she was busy today. The police were not optimistic that enough of this was either actually illegal, or witnessed that anything is going to come of it.”
Maya put the leftovers in the fridge and returned to the couch, sitting beside Claudine. “That’s terrible. You have to at least try, though, right?” She grabbed onto Claudine’s hands.
Claudine nodded. “That’s when Kyoko had another idea. She and Souda are friends with Karasuma Urara-san, from Fashion*Butai. We were thinking if we did a proper exposé, like a tell-all article, we could get him black-listed at the least, and kind of force a criminal case at best.”
Maya bit her lip, nodding. “Of course, I’ll support you, with whatever you choose to do. But I want you to be careful. Doing something like that, isn’t that the sort of thing you hate?”
Maya thought about how difficult it was for Claudine to open up just to her about Kirin, and tried to imagine her doing that to all of the fashion world - to all of Japan who purchased Fashion*Butai.
Claudine took a deep breath, leaning over and resting her head on Maya’s shoulder. “Maybe I just made you curry because I’m going to be a mess if I do this, and you have to live with me,” she said, lifting up her supporting hand and resting her weight against Maya.
“You don’t have to do this,” Maya reiterated.
“I know. But I didn’t do anything then, and someone else ended up suffering. I want to try to fight back,” she said. She turned her head, until she was looking up at Maya. “But that’s for next week. For now, let’s go on a trip,” she said, smiling and poking Maya’s nose in an irritating fashion.
The next day, Maya and Claudine got up before the sunrise, mindlessly dragging their rolling suitcases to the front of the apartment, where the waiting car took them to Narita airport. They met up with the rest of the HANA crew there, and they all boarded a commuter flight to Sapporo. Maya tried to sleep, but found that once she was awake, she was up, so she caught up on the news instead, then played some puzzle games, while Claudine slept beside her.
When they arrived, they stopped for coffee before being herded onto a rented van, the stylists and designers lugging trunks of precious clothes and props and the photography staff loading up lighting equipment and lenses. Maya would offer to help, but knew she would be told to stay warm so as to not get sick, so she waited in the heated van, again killing time on her phone, switching to a novel she had been reading, a recommendation from her father.
She sat beside Claudine, realizing how appreciative she was to be working with Claudine again. Of course the Blue Glitter contract wasn’t bad, and she had made a great friend and a new workout partner in Koharu, but the time away from Claudine had made her realize how much she enjoyed their time together. It was too late when she realized Karen was approaching them, snapping a candid photo of Maya reading on her phone and Claudine with her earbuds in, staring out the window of the van.
Karen turned the camera around to get their approval on the photo, both nodding their consent, used to Karen’s antics at this point. “Karen, are you sure-”
“This is what the people want, Kuro-chan, yes!” Karen said, cutting off Claudine before she could finish mumbling out a weak protestation.
Once the van was loaded they pulled away, moving through the snowy roads towards the countryside, where open fields of untouched white snow seemed to stretch for miles. It was beautiful, but Maya shivered as she imagined posing in HANA’s designs in this weather. After about 40 minutes, they pulled onto a side road that led them to a ski resort, much to the oohs and ahhs of the staff in the van. Truth be told, Maya was impressed as well, as she watched what looked like a Swiss inn unveil itself before them, along with snowy mountains and scenic views.
The van pulled around to a loading dock and the crew got to work unloading the equipment. Maya and Claudine were sent with Mahiru to check into the rooms for the stay.
The rooms, as it turned out, were just as nice as the facade of the building, with plush beds in a European style, dark wood on the closets and dressers, and a large, clean bathroom. She put her bag and coat down, laying back onto one of the beds, relaxing after the almost five-hour journey. Claudine, her roommate without question, took a little more time getting settled in, though after a few minutes she also came to sit on the same bed, leaning against the headboard and cracking open a sparkling water. “I’m tired already and we haven’t even begun to work,” she complained, sipping the drink.
“The first schedule is in an hour, too,” Maya said, draping her arm over her face. The sunlight was streaming in through the window, and, reflected off the snow outside, was too bright for the current circumstances.
“Haha, what’s this? Hardworking Tendo Maya complaining about doing work? I’m telling the others,” Claudine teased. She used her free hand to stroke Maya’s bangs, causing Maya to relax into the bed further.
“I said no such thing. I was merely commenting on the time,” she shot back.
“Sure you were,” Claudine said, replacing her hand with the freezing cold bottom of her water bottle. “Bet you’ll be complaining again once we’re out there and your whole body feels like this.”
Maya grit her teeth, determined not to let Claudine win, even if this was the silliest argument. But truly, she was Tendo Maya, she did not whine in a professional workplace.
They made their way down after the hour was out, meeting in a conference room which had been reserved and overhauled in the past hour into a dressing room. The stylists worked quickly, pressured by Hikari and Nana’s constant glances at the clock. January had short days, after all, so there was limited time to shoot. Maya’s hair was left down, her makeup white and silver, reflective and bright and full of highlights. She watched as Claudine’s hair was straightened and her bangs swept aside - a truly strange sight - to match hers, a blonde haired, red eyed reflection of herself.
“Ugh, je suis Tendo Maya!” she complained, sticking her tongue out at Maya.
They were dressed in nearly identical dresses, long sleeved white chiffon and lace with silvery thread embroidery, small silver sequins, and silver beading. They seemed to be dresses that Kaoruko and Hikari had designed in tandem, and the result was exquisite. The stylists carefully tied up the back, and the bottom was long enough that they were given white winter boots that would be hidden as the dress draped around their feet.
Next, they were given winter coats, hand warmers, and lap blankets, led to a four-wheeler, and carted out the back of the resort and onto the side of one of the ski mountains. The trip seemed to take forever, as they had to circle around to the side without any ski trails, with perfect, untouched snow and no other humans. When they arrived, they found some of the staff already setting up, decked out in full winter gear.
“The side of a mountain in the snow in the middle of January in Sapporo… somehow I knew it would end up like this,” Claudine whispered to Maya.
They got underway quickly, ditching their coats and coming to stand in a clearing, surrounded by actual snow and winter forest. Nana called for snow, and a staff member released some collected snow from a tub in front of a fan and it drifted around them gently, apparently an effect that was practiced before they arrived. It was cold, certainly, in the thin sleeves of the dress, but it wasn’t windy, so it wasn’t unbearable.
The reflection effect with Claudine was surreal, however, making it difficult for Maya to focus. They posed facing each other, away from each other, on small stools, and in a few other arrangements, before being whisked away in the four-wheeler to a nearby building, closer this time than the main inn, where they could warm up, have a hot drink, and change into the next outfit.
Maya had to admire the work of Mahiru in arranging this whole shoot, as everything was running smoothly. They returned again, this time posing closer to some large icicles hanging from a rock formation. The frozen blue complimented the icy blue and white of the dresses well, and they continued, trying to get as much work done before the sun set.
Due to the nature of the scenes, the normally desirable ‘golden-hour’ light was not wanted in this case, and Nana ended up calling it quits around 3:30PM. Her teeth now chattering, Maya accepted the parka, blanket, and hand warmers gratefully, taking the first ride back to the inn.
“I think that went well,” Claudine commented as they showered, using the showers in the ski lodge changing room so they could return the garments and warm up simultaneously.
“I agree, I just can’t imagine what more we have to do tomorrow,” Maya commented, her voice carrying over the spray of the water to Claudine’s stall next door.
It seemed Mahiru, who was in charge of collecting the garments and fixing their evening schedules, heard her. “Tomorrow is more of the same, largely. I think there’s some different props and you’re heading to a different area to shoot.”
“Shouldn’t the snow and ice concept have been the winter theme, not spring?” Claudine complained, turning off the water.
“You can make those decisions when you are the designer, Saijou-san,” said Mahiru, her tone all practical.
“You sound like Yachiyo. Well, we’ll see if you have snappy comebacks like that if you’re the one standing out there in the dresses.”
“We all have our roles,” said Mahiru, packing up her things to go. “By the way, you’re welcome to take dinner in your room, or you can join some of the staff in the lodge dining room on the west side of the inn. See you later!”
Claudine and Maya finished changing, drying their hair to help warm up, and walked back to their room to deposit some things. “I think I’m just going to order room service,” Claudine said. “I don’t feel like getting looked at, in case anyone recognizes HANA, and I told Kyoko and Shizuha I would call.”
Maya was a bit disappointed, as she did want to eat dinner in the fancy restaurant with Claudine, but she supposed there was always the next night. “I will give you some privacy, then. I am going to go down to dinner now, perhaps I can still catch up with the others.”
Maya descended the elevator again, rather hungry after that day’s adventures, and turned towards the west corridor. She entered the dining room, eyes peeled for the HANA staff, but was surprised when she was flagged down by a middle-aged man.
“Dr. Takarada?”
“Tendo Maya! Please, come have a seat! Unless I am keeping you from a date?”
She shook her head at her old professor, taking the seat across from him. “I’m here for work, my coworkers can eat without me,” she explained.
“Are you still working in anthropology?” he asked, flagging a waiter over, who brought Maya a menu, and poured her a glass from the bottle of wine on the table.
She shook her head. “I took a break, after some time at the Edo-Tokyo museum. I’m working as a model for a fashion agency in Ginza, currently,” she explained. It was refreshing, she realized, to speak with someone with no knowledge of HANA or the industry.
He nodded faintly with recognition. “Do I recall that your mother works in fashion?” he asked, sipping the wine.
“Yes, she designs kimono,” Maya explained. She didn’t feel much like explaining what kind of company HANA was, and the professor didn’t ask. Instead, she asked about her professor’s work, what brought him to Sapporo, and asked after old classmates, making for a rather enjoyable and nostalgic dinner.
“I’ll have to let your father know I saw you tonight,” he said, as they were getting ready to leave, Maya a little more inebriated than she anticipated.
“Oh yes, do you keep in touch?”
The professor nodded, walking with her to the lobby. “I do. We have some discourse going about woodblock paintings he has been studying.”
“Yes, do tell him we met up. Good luck with your work, and have a good evening, sensei.” Maya bid him goodnight, and watched as the professor turned towards the bar in the lobby as she made for the elevators. She was slightly drunk and very tired, unfit to continue socializing that evening.
As she rode the elevator upstairs, she thought about what a strange encounter that was - both halves of her life colliding. She thought she had left anthropology and history behind - at least for a time, but of course it was a small world, she was bound to run into someone here or there who knew her. Certainly, she realized, a colleague from university or from the museum must have seen her face adorning an advertisement in a department store window or on a pillar in the train station since she debuted. It was a strange sensation.
She wondered, suddenly, if she continued down this path, ascending higher and higher, towards mainstream popularity, if there was any return.
Was it possible to ever go back to a quiet job in a small museum? Would it be possible to meet a portly old professor, no matter how little interest he had in fashion, and have him be unaware of her celebrity? And then, perhaps more concerning - would she want to return? Would this career lead her away from her studies - from the things she thought were her passions, the things she shared with her father - permanently?
Convincing herself that these anxieties were just the wine causing her to worry needlessly, she shook the thoughts from her head, entering the room to find Claudine asleep on one of the beds, her laptop open and a tray of dinner half-finished on the side table.
Maya took the tray and placed it outside the door for the staff to collect, and then pulled away the laptop, surprised to see Claudine still logged in, alone, to a video call. She disconnected the call and closed the laptop, accidentally waking Claudine in the process.
“You’re back,” Claudine murmured, groggy with sleep.
“I’m back.”
Maya began changing into pajamas, watching as Claudine, who was already in her pajamas, shuffled to the bathroom to brush her teeth and finish getting ready for bed. She emerged again, downing some water, and set her phone on the charger before returning to bed.
“You’re not going to sleep on that other bed, are you?” Claudine asked, rolling over to the edge so that she was closer to Maya. Propping herself up on her elbows, her wavy hair pushed back, gazing up at Maya imploringly - she was irresistible.
“Wouldn’t dream of it,” Maya replied, rushing through her bathroom routine before turning the lights out and taking the far side of the bed.
Truth be told, Maya was too exhausted to fully appreciate a night in a fancy hotel room with Claudine properly, but she shivered as she felt Claudine’s arm snake under the shirt of her pajamas, coming to rest across her stomach and pulling her closer against Claudine’s body. The shiver was replaced with a warm feeling as Claudine kissed the exposed part of her shoulder before settling her head back down on the pillow, both of them drifting off quickly, bodies entwined.
The next day was more of the same, with a quick breakfast leading to a seat in the stylists chair leading to a ride back out to a shooting location - this time the edge of a frozen stream. Mirrors - large, and in many shapes - had been propped up in the snow, reflecting the frozen stream, the snow and ice, the sky, and of course, the models. Because of the complexity of the shots with the mirror angles, these shots took longer, with Junna and Nana and the assistants helping to arrange them. Maya and Claudine wore corresponding - almost identical - dresses, this time with mesh white long sleeves, with light blue cylinder beads just a few millimeters long adorning the bodice. The train, once again, was long, draping into the snow where it seemed to blend into the earth.
After those shots were finished, the set was kept up and they were sent to warm up and eat and drink, before changing into the final set, the only sleeveless set for this session. These dresses had little adornment, but they were poofs of tulle, artfully draped.
“I’m to wear heels? In the snow?” Claudine asked, reflecting Maya’s thoughts when presented with their footwear.
“It’ll be an illusion,” Nana said, in her usual calm tone. She held up a board, painted white. You’ll be standing on these, and we can edit the ground around your feet to look like snow in post.”
And so it was that Maya walked out to the board in snowboots, changing into heels once she stood on her tiny island, feeling pretty, but very cold, in the sleeveless, and very leggy, deep blue tulle dress.
It was hard to concentrate on posing as her teeth chattered, but she remembered that her makeup was much more dramatic this time - swipes of darker blue and black over her eyes, and heavier contouring - and didn’t want to waste the stylists’ work. Somehow, she made it through, and once again they were rushed inside to warm up.
“This better win some award,” Claudine growled, exiting the shower and toweling off her hair. “I am still thawing out my toes.”
They went back to the room and ordered room service, warming up under the covers of the bed while they waited for the food to arrive. Claudine flipped through the channels on the television, and Maya checked social media, laughing a bit at the images Karen put up on the HANA Instagram - shots that showed them smiling in the snowy weather, having a good time. She wondered if she would look back at this trip nostalgically, once she thawed out.
Once they ate, Maya suggested visiting the gift shop. Claudine, true to Maya’s prediction, grumbled a little at the suggestion of getting out of bed, but did so anyway, changing from her loungewear to a more formal outfit and nodding at Maya when she was ready. “Let’s go.”
They took the elevators down, walking through the lobby and peering at the indoor pool, the hot tub, the fitness center, and the lobby bar, before walking towards the gift shop. They found Nana along the way, walking in the same direction.
“Going souvenir shopping?” Nana asked, falling into stride.
“I figured we better do something, before just falling asleep tonight,” Maya replied.
Nana smiled. “I wouldn’t blame you if you just went to bed early, today was kind of killer,” she admitted.
“See, Maya, even the photographer says we can just sleep,” Claudine teased, pulling on the back of her sleeve playfully.
“We’ll just be a short while,” Maya assured her. She just had a bit more energy to burn off, a bit of her routine she needed to fill - the lack of her normal workouts and the walking she would normally do through Tokyo throwing her off.
They got to the gift shop at the edge of the large ski lodge, a large, attached shop filled with plushies and keychains and other goodies. There were a surprising amount of guests inside for the hour, but Maya didn’t mind, she felt she could blend in better with the crowd.
She realized, as soon as she entered, how wrong she was. A moment after she entered with Claudine and Nana, a few heads turned, and murmurs grew louder. “It’s them!” “Maya-sama!” “Oh my gosh, look!” “I knew she’d be here!”
She watched Claudine take a step in front of her, and Nana moved in front of them both. Cameras were being pulled out now, and she remembered the time with Koharu, at the coffee shop. Just leave, she thought.
And so she turned away, pulling Claudine by the arm, silently apologizing to Nana. She ducked into a staircase with Claudine, out of breath, but she didn’t care. They both raced up the stairs to their floor, running down the hall until they were in their room, bolting the door.
And Maya felt bad, she felt guilty. She realized those fans waited all day, most likely, for a chance to see her, and she bolted away. But there were so many, and they had startled her, and… she was unprepared. She thought she could understand a little more about Claudine’s reticence to look at her fan messages, her anxiety when interacting with fans.
“You… stood in front of me,” she said, once she and Claudine were changed back in their pajamas, laying back on the bed.
Claudine nodded, her eyes a bit glassy. Maya was sure hers looked the same. “Of course. I don’t know, I guess it was like when Kirin approached you at the party, I just… don’t like it when people think they can take advantage of you.” She turned on her side, facing Maya. “And I think you’re too kind. You might let them.”
Maya turned on her side as well, both of them now facing each other on the bed. “You didn’t have to do that,” she assured Claudine. “I can manage.”
Claudine gave her a light smile. “It’s no trouble. It’s not so bad when it’s Tendo Maya fans. They weren’t there for me anyways, I could tell.”
Maya’s phone rang then, and she answered, assuring Futaba that they were back in the room and fine, and receiving word that Nana was fine as well. She received instruction to stay in the room until their next schedule in the morning, and realized the adrenaline from the encounter was plenty to burn off the remaining energy that she had.
The next day was their final shoot: indoors, against a huge window that faced out to a snowy scene. Word had apparently gotten out about their stay, for dozens of observers, many young men and women, came to stand just outside a barrier set up beyond the shooting area, hoping to catch a glimpse of the HANA crew coming or going.
They finished quickly, but Maya couldn’t help but feel badly about her behavior the night before. So with Futaba beside her, she approached those who came out, saying hello, taking a few selfies, and chatting with a few attendees before she was ushered away, Futaba apologizing and reporting that they had to make a flight.
At the airport, she was a little calmer, content that she at least could make it up to some of the people at the giftshop. She grabbed a coffee at a newsstand, surprised to see Akira’s face on the Fashion*Butai cover. “Oh yeah, that happened,” Claudine said, not sounding particularly interested. Maya grabbed the issue, purchasing it along with her coffee.
“KING” was the headline, emblazoned across Akira’s chest, a striking title, crossing gender lines and declaring unequivocally that she was at the top. A fire seemed to grow in Maya’s chest with every line of the article she read. Every barrier Akira was breaking, every achievement she made: Maya wanted to surpass them all. Spring season was beginning properly, and this was her time to strike.