Home Fanfics Go Back
Kaoruko sat at the head of the conference table, Futaba, Mahiru, Hikari, Karen, Nana, and Junna flanking the two sides. She sat only with her favorite leather bound notebook in front of her. As always, she trusted Futaba to summarize everything on her tablet, sending the pertinent emails and setting the correct appointments.
Mahiru sat ready as well, her handheld and her tablet ready to go, and Kaoruko could tell that for all her polite and easy-going demeanor, when push came to shove, she was a woman of action, ready to get things done. In fact, she had seen it many times before and was hoping for her to come through again. Karen sat beside her, tapping, as always, on her own tablet, likely managing one of the many social media profiles she maintained.
Junna sat with some of their most recent catalogues, some proofs from their early spring shoots, and had some of her catalogue proof-of-concepts casted to the screen in front, showing opalescent sheens and blue to white color schemes. Beside her sat Nana, quietly surveying her work, a simple notebook and her smartphone in front of her to take notes. Kaoruko eyed the childish frog case on the phone with distaste, but kept her mouth shut. Lastly, to Kaoruko’s left sat Hikari, sipping on a large mug of coffee, punching ideas rapidly into her phone, and generally looking anything but present at the meeting, but she too snapped to attention as Kaoruko called everyone to order.
“We need to plan spring runway,” she said, her voice steady. “And we need to talk about some of our retail partnerships.”
“We need to talk about some of these reviews from winter,” Hikari said, scrolling through her phone, presumably at some bad press they received on last season’s designs. “Even Elle trashed us: ‘HANA, usually a bastion of originality and class, had meager offerings with their [life on mars] collection, showing designs that impressed, certainly, but did not ‘wow’. Altogether the collection left something lacking, particularly feeling washed out compared to the lush velvet and deep jewel tones of-”
“-Of Siegfeld, we know,” Kaoruko finished. “We all know you have a crush on Otori-han, and now Tsuruhime-han is biting at her heels, as well. What a pain in my ass.”
“It’s not a crush, she’s someone I admire,” Hikari mumbled, looking miffed. Mahiru rubbed her back with a grin.
“In any case,” Kaoruko continued, “We need to reaffirm our presence in the spring, and the best way to do that is on the runway, and by placing ourselves firmly in storefronts.”
“If that’s the case, it’s gotta be Maya,” Nana said.
Karen nodded. “Maya is really hot right now,” she agreed. “I can’t explain it, but her popularity is skyrocketing. You should put her in the windows.”
Kaoruko cocked an eyebrow, trusting her team, but wanting to understand the message. “Just Maya-han? We hired the two of them…”
Karen looked ready to respond, but held up, and only continued once Mahiru prompted her to speak. She seemed to recognize that she had the least experience here, and deferred to the others. “In the under 25 demographic- Maya. In the over 55 demographic - Maya. In between those - run them together. In the following stores and train stations, Claudine would do better solo-”
“Email Mahiru-han and Futaba-han that info.”
Karen nodded. Kaoruko was impressed. She had data. And Karen knew how to interpret it.
Junna spoke up then, from among her stacks of papers and designs. “Won’t it be hard to run them solo, with the concept being mirrors and all?” she asked.
Kaoruko considered this. It was a valid point. They did take solo shots, but they had taken significant care to ensure the shots together aligned in a mirror style.
“Well,” Nana said, tentatively. “The concept is actually ‘crystalline’. So I think as long as it fits that theme, it’s fine. That being said, I don’t mind making some photo manipulations to have the solo shots appear to be mirroring themselves.”
“Good. Great. Do it. Then get the right girl in the right window or the right train station pillar.”
She watched Junna’s expression - just a flash for a quick moment, but a deeper version of the irritation present at the Tokyo Tower. She stored it away for later, she didn’t have time to play marriage counselor now.
“Now,” she continued, a steamroller, pressing everything into place with force. “The runways. Junna-han made a stylized logo-” she watched as Junna presented the .::crystalline::. logo on the screen with sparkling jewels around it and a mirrored image beneath it. “We need a new contract. Seiran is busy, I’m not sure who we’ll grab this time. Mahiru-han, get us some support.”
Mahiru nodded, taking notes. “We also need more security,” Futaba added, pulling up her notes. “Fall was already unacceptable, and things have only ballooned since then. We have some new contracts to review, but we need to talk about the YaYas…”
“Yes, we need to talk about Kuro-han’s fans, who as far as I know do not have a name, and Maya-han’s unofficial fanclub. And general paparazzi at these events, since they affect all staff,” Kaoruko summarized, counting the three on her fingers.
The rest of the meeting was spent arranging travel plans, discussing new security protocols, and changes in marketing and design promotions. Futaba kept track of the emails and assignments that would have to go to the design team, the marketing team, and the events team, and she left the meeting feeling more secure than she entered it, though still annoyed with the results of the winter campaign. As much as she told herself every season couldn’t be a winner, the [life of mars] campaign sinking to Siegfeld felt extra bad.
She took lunch in her office, a delivery of udon, an assortment of pickles, and fresh edamame as side dishes. She ordered herself an iced tea to drink. As she ate, she pored over some proofs from the recent shoots on her largest monitor, trying to envision what Junna and Nana seemed to already see. She was distracted by the tension between them - she didn’t like tension between anyone in the company. She wasn’t sure what it was about, but she was sure at some point it would come to a head. These things always did.
After lunch, she had a meeting with Maya, and so she tossed her trash, sipping on the last bit of the iced tea as she waited for Maya to enter her office. Maya entered as she usually did, with perfect grace and posture, but with a bit of a guard up, as if she expected Kaoruko to deal her damage, verbal or otherwise. “Good afternoon, Maya-han,” she greeted.
“Good afternoon.” Maya stood, seemingly unsure what type of meeting this would be.
“You may sit. We’re just having a chat today. I’ve had such a morning, I’m not nearly in the state of mind to design anything, my goodness.”
Maya took a seat in one of the chairs across from Kaoruko’s desk, refusing her offer for tea. “What kind of chat are we having?” she asked, straightforward as always.
“Just a check-in, about you. We haven’t spoken one on one since before Christmas, and well, I was afraid you’d be upset since I almost made you ill on the set the other day.”
Maya looked embarrassed at the memory, and shook her head. “Please forgive me, I fear I wasn’t hydrated well enough before getting in the baths. I should have known to prepare better.”
Kaoruko shook her head. “It’s fine. You’ve never missed a day of work all year. Sitting out a couple hours on one shoot is no matter. And honestly, you’ve never been more popular, so whatever you’re doing is working, just… drink enough water. I won’t chastise you to take care of yourself, I’m sure Kuro-han does that plenty.”
Maya’s subtle blush was enough to tell her that this was the truth. Kaoruko continued. “But that does bring me to one of the things I wanted to talk about. You have… an organized fan club now.”
Maya nodded. “They seem like good people. They just get enthusiastic. Honestly Claudine seems more worried about it than I am,” she said.
“And you’re more concerned about Claudine’s Arcana ads with Shizuha than she is, aren’t you? Tit for tat,” Kaoruko joked.
“How do you know about that?” Maya asked.
Kaoruko shrugged. “Lucky guess. Saw one on the way in and thought: Maya would be annoyed by this.”
Maya shook her head, as if annoyed with Kaoruko’s intuition, or just her way of verbal jousting. But Kaoruko would not be deterred. This was her company, and this was her domain. “Anyways, I really don’t think you have the correct perspective on this.”
Maya leaned forward, and Kaoruko could tell she was listening more closely than she let on. That she always was. “Are you saying Claudine has the right idea?” she asked.
“I’m saying the right answer is probably somewhere in the middle,” she said. “But you can’t take everything so laxly. You’re bound to either slip up and make an error, or get yourself in a dangerous situation. It’s like a chess game,” she advised.
Maya bit her lips, considering this. “So you’re saying I need to think several steps ahead?” she asked.
“Always,” Kaoruko nodded. “Plan your way in, plan your way out. Literally, figuratively.”
Maya nodded. “Was that all you wanted to discuss?” she asked.
“Why? Do you have a hot date?” Kaoruko sat back in her chair, filing her nails. It amused her how efficient Maya was, or how much she seemed to dislike spending time one on one with her. “No, there is another matter,” she continued, knowing a line like that might be enough to get a rise out of Claudine, but not Maya.
“What is that?” asked Maya, all business. She straightened the blazer she was wearing, waiting for Kaoruko’s next words.
“This business with Claudine and Shizuha and Karasuma Urara-han… I have been informed the issue of Fashion*Butai in question is hitting shelves tomorrow…”
“Does Claudine know?” Maya asked, obviously surprised by the news.
Kaoruko raised an eyebrow. She was obviously stating the information because she wasn’t sure Maya was aware, but somehow, in part of her mind, she was thinking Claudine had told Maya. “Yes, I believe she’s aware,” Kaoruko stated casually. “Of course I do not contest to what she’s doing, but it does complicate things a bit.”
“What do you mean,” Maya said. “Should we cancel it?”
Now this was interesting. “Why would you want to cancel it, Tendo Maya?” she asked.
Maya sat back a little, trying to look less interested than she obviously was. “I just meant that it would make things simpler. For Saijou-san, and for the company.”
Kaouko smiled, sipping the rest of her tea before tossing it away. She had half a mind to suggest Maya tell Claudine to cancel the article, but she wasn’t feeling particularly nefarious today. “No. It’s too late. And well… sometimes simpler isn’t always better. We’ve gotta play the long game with this one. But that means that tomorrow, and well… the next few weeks, most likely, are going to be a little rough.”
“What do you mean? What’s going to happen?” Now Maya didn’t pretend to hide her interest.
“Well, from what I gather from Urara-han, the article contains some pretty strong accusations against Suzuki-han. I wouldn’t be surprised if he comes out with his own side of the story. Or even tries to sue for libel.”
“That can’t be allowed,” Maya said, but Kaoruko could tell that she could see the pieces fitting together. Claudine and Shizuha didn’t yet have a criminal case against Kirin. There could be an outcome from all of this where they ended up accused of a crime, or at least denounced in the public eye.
“Of course it’s allowed. Suzuki-han is a free man, he can do as he pleases, as much as it displeases us. I’m just giving you a heads-up so you can be prepared.”
“Why are you telling me? Why not meet with Claudine directly?” Maya asked.
Kaoruko shrugged. “Well, I’m sure she has pieced this all together, more or less. But I had a feeling that she might have left you in the dark, perhaps because she was worried that you were dealing with those pesky YaYas, or maybe because she’s just a jerk. Either way, I thought someone ought to catch you up. Maybe between the two of you, you can prevent anything completely wild from happening to my company.”
“Understood. Thank you, I guess,” said Maya, bowing and leaving shortly thereafter.
Kaoruko stood up and stretched, knowing she was not going to get any work done. Despite her casual demeanor to keep Maya calm, she was quite concerned about the exposé, her stomach churning with an unshakable anxiety.
“Futaba-han,” she chirped, exiting her office an hour earlier than normal. “Let’s go home.”
“Now? We’re expecting that call from-”
“Now. I need to prepare for a few things, and you have those calls, but we can take them in the car or at home.”
Futaba nodded, closing up at her rounded desk that sat right outside of Kaoruko’s office. Tonight, they did not go around saying goodbye to anyone, they merely took the elevator to the underground garage, meeting the chauffeur Futaba had paged when Kaoruko had first decided it was time to leave.
“What do you want for dinner tonight?” Futaba asked, still tapping at her phone as they stepped into the car.
Kaoruko shrugged. “Whatever you want. I’m not very hungry.”
Futaba looked up now, perhaps sensing the unease Kaoruko was radiating. “What’s this? That udon set wasn’t very filling,” she said.
“I know, but we’re about to have a shitstorm tomorrow,” Kaoruko said. “What with the Fashion*Butai Urara’s about to publish with Kuro-han on the cover.” She sighed, checking the filing job she did earlier on her fingernails. “What can you do, though?”
“Is this one of those ‘for sure’ things, or one of those ‘Kaoruko Intuition’ things?” Futaba asked.
“What does it matter? It’s not set in stone, no, but when has my intuition ever led us astray?” At that moment she thought of the unsuccessful winter collection, allegedly spearheaded by her intuition, and turned her head out the window.
“Well let’s pray for once you’re wrong,” Futaba said.
“Don’t pray. Useless drivel. Take action. Prepare. Ensure extra staff at the building entrance, trained security if we can get them. Make sure Mahiru has the models’ schedules at the building, or somewhere secure. Keep tabs on the news. Keep our lawyer on the case. Schedule a press conference in case we need it, we can always cancel. Set up a meeting with Karen first thing. No, you, Mahiru, and Karen.”
Futaba nodded, taking all of this down as it was said, never needing any repetition. And then, a moment later, they were home, and her work phone was slipped into a pocket and work Futaba became wife Futaba as they exited the car and entered their home.
The house was quiet, as it always was right as they got home, and Kaoruko was quick to turn on some mindless music, just something to fill the emptiness. Futaba set down her bag, taking off her shoes and hanging up her coat, taking Kaoruko’s coat as well to hang in the closet. The house was neat, modern and furnished tastefully, but Kaoruko never had enough time to appreciate it.
Kaoruko kicked off her shoes as well, flopping down across the couch, trying and failing to transition from ‘work’ to ‘home’ mode. It was always harder in the spring, she knew it was the same for Futaba. Once Futaba completed the daily tasks - starting some water for tea, checking on the food delivery, turning on some lights - she, too, came to sit on the couch, settling herself across Kaoruko’s sprawled legs, a position that their staff could likely hardly ever imagine them in, but one that Kaoruko quite enjoyed. It was moments like this, just the quiet contentment of understanding each other, of decades together, that made moments like this easy, and something to cherish.
“You really can’t stop thinking about work, huh?” asked Futaba. She leaned her head back against the back of the couch while Kaoruko did the same against the arm of the couch, both finding the conversation easier, at least for now, at arm’s reach.
“I could say the same to you,” Kaoruko said. She could feel it - the charged energy of Futaba. More than likely, she would try to sneak in a workout before dinner to get rid of some pent-up energy.
Futaba shrugged. “I don’t really mind. It reminds me of spring season in the old days, before we hired Hikari and Mahiru. Before Nana and Junna.”
“Don’t remind me… that was hell. I don’t know how we even managed to get going those first few years,” Kaoruko laughed. She suddenly wished she had a glass of wine in hand, or even better, a glass of sake, if they were reminiscing, but she didn’t want to move or make Futaba move.
Futaba smiled. “Me either. But we got here. And we’re doing great. I was surprised you made such a big deal of the winter evaluations, sales were still up.”
“True. But I don’t want to just be another cash cow for my dad. I want to actually be seen for skill. The reviews matter more than the sales, honestly. And the staff being ok plays into that directly. Hikari wasn’t doing well in the fall, and look what happened. Not that I blame her, that was on me, for not dealing with the Akira issue well enough, and not recognizing her issue.”
Futaba moved then, shifting from sitting across Kaoruko’s legs to laying half-beside her, half on her chest. “You’re comparing them, aren’t you? Akira, and Maya and Claudine.”
Kaoruko sighed, pushing her hand through her hair. “In a way. We did have that shitstorm back in the spring with Akira. But that was because she was incompetent on social media. This year… we have one model with a cult following and one with a scandal ready to burst. Last year, we got lucky that Akira got overshadowed by Fumi and Siegfeld took the blow. That won’t happen twice.”
Futaba began tracing squares on Kaoruko’s sternum, an indication to slow her breathing. The finger traced upward - inhale. Across her chest - hold. Downward - exhale. Back across - hold. “We’ll deal with that tomorrow. Tonight, let’s eat. And sleep well.”
Kaoruko nodded, allowing her breathing to match the pattern of Futaba’s tracing.
Futaba kissed her lips, gently and with care. “I’m going to go workout, dinner should be here in ten or fifteen minutes. You don’t have to wait for me if you don’t want to. Love you.”
“Love you.”