Pop Rock Love (17 page)

Track #15

Stacked with five floors of
music albums in every genre, HMV Shibuya was every music junkie’s paradise. On
one of the higher floors, there was a small corner with an event stage for
artistes to perform. Right now, that whole area was being covered by a black
curtain to prevent prying eyes from looking in. Mimi and her band were standing
behind the black fabric barricade, doing their final sound checks on the small
stage. Her husky vocals could be heard from beyond and many curious shoppers
stood around, listening. The showcase area could hold around 80 people and a
line was already forming around the shielded portion. Security staff were
employed to make sure that everything ran smoothly. After the sound check, Mimi
went backstage as the fans started streaming in.

“How are you feeling?” asked
Kenta as he stood beside his artiste.

“I’m kinda excited to see
everyone. I mean, these are people who bought my single right?” said Mimi,
peeping at the audience. She was wearing a black birdcage veil, a white fitted
blouse with a ruffle design at the front and black skinny jeans with boots. Her
make-up artist, Ayaka, had applied dark smoky eyeshadow and pale pink lipstick
on Mimi.

“You’re so naive, they are all
staff from Niji Records,” said Kenta, snidely.

“I’ll be really naive if I
believed you,” she answered. At the moment, there was a host on stage telling
the audience to not record any part of the performance. “And without further
ado, please give a warm welcome to Mimi!” The fans cheered as Mimi and her band
got on stage.

“Hello everyone, I’m Mimi.
Let’s have fun, shall we?” The crowd clapped enthusiastically in response. She
grabbed hold of the microphone stand and started to sing “Maybe”. While she was
singing, she took note of each and every person in the audience. Most of them
were girls in their late teens and early twenties and there was the odd male in
the audience. They looked as if they were really into her music and that fired
her up even more. A guy wearing a black cap at the back of the crowd suddenly
caught her eye. He was staring at the floor the whole time but underneath the
black cap, Mimi noticed a mess of black curls. It was only when she was singing
“Farewell”, the last song of the showcase that he finally looked up at her.
There was no mistaking it, it was Yuki. Like a silent angel, he stood there
watching her. It was hard to control her tears as she sang the tragic song.
Mimi felt a sense of déjà vu as she sang from the stage while never taking her
eyes off Yuki. It was like the very first time they saw each other, but things
were different back then. They were just two nameless individuals who saw each
other across a crowded room. When Mimi saw Yuki for the first time, she didn’t
know who he was and what he did. But she was certain that she was in love with
him even before he spoke a word to her. Right now, she was the one crying
because she realised that she was still in love with him. When she finished,
Mimi bowed deeply to her fans and thanked them for their support. Her very
first showcase was a rousing success.
 

“Great performance, you’ve
worked hard. Anyway, you’ll be happy to know that you’re free for the rest of
the day. Try to get some rest,” said her manager when she went backstage. Mimi
nodded while Ayaka detached the birdcage veil off Mimi’s hair. Her assistant then
wrapped a black trench coat around her and said, “Luckily the make-up was
smudge-proof. Try not to cry too much during your performance!”
 

Mimi smiled sheepishly and
wondered if she should call Yuki later. She was then ushered to the back
entrance of the building by the HMV staff together with her manager and Ayaka.

Kenta pushed open the door that
led to the streets outside. Much to her surprise, there were some fans waiting
for her around the back entrance. As soon as they caught sight of Mimi and her
manager,
 
they bombarded them with
small packages and gifts. In the midst of the chaos, someone wearing a blue
Power Ranger mask and a denim jacket suddenly reached out and grabbed her hand.
He pulled her away from everyone and started running. Mimi was too stunned to
even shout as she ran together with him. They both ran across the Shibuya
junction and then towards a parking lot. Mimi wondered if she should be afraid
but his hand felt familiar. He stopped beside a white Audi and took off his
mask. It was Yuki.

“I’m sorry. Did I scare you?”
he asked, looking at her uncertainly.

“A little bit. I thought you
were a crazed fan. I thought you were in America?”

“Well, I came back this
morning...” His left hand was still holding on to Mimi’s hand. He let go reluctantly
and said, “I’m sorry I should have told you this beforehand but, I really
missed you. If you don’t mind, can we spend the rest of the day together?”
 

“It’s kinda hard for me to turn
back now,” said Mimi. She really didn’t want to assume too much even though her
heart was beating wildly. Right now, being next to him was already more than
she could ask for. Maybe he just wanted to be friends. He smiled at her and
fished out his car keys. Mimi went to the otherside and sat in the passenger
seat, while Yuki took the wheel.

She glanced at Yuki and thought
that he looked a little troubled. Was it because of her? She couldn’t figure it
out. Yuki leaned over to the back seat and passed her a pink Power Ranger mask.
“We have to wear these in public, if we don’t want to attract unnecessary
trouble.”

She thought that it was ironic
that wearing a character mask would attract less attention than her real face,
but she nodded. “Where are we going?” she asked. Mimi peered out of the window.
It was nearing evening and they seemed to be travelling towards Tokyo central.

“When I
was in Singapore, you took the trouble to take me around to all those
interesting places. I should return the favour.”

They were driving across a
giant steel suspension bridge, crossing over waters that separated Tokyo from
an island. Mimi spotted a replica of the Statue of Liberty standing on the
island and she figured out where they were headed. “Odaiba!” she cried, looking
at Yuki who was grinning. “We are going to Odaiba! Does this mean we are now
driving on the Rainbow Bridge?”

“Yeah. Do you know why it’s
called the Rainbow Bridge?” he asked.

“I have no idea.” The bridge
looked whitish silver to her.

“You’ll know when the sun
sets.”

Odaiba was a large man-made
island with various attractions. Mimi had never been there before and she was
excited. She had been so exhausted with all her debut preparations that she
never did get a chance to have much fun. Mimi clasped her hands together and
said, “Thank you, Yuki!”

“The pleasure is mine,” he
replied.

When they finally parked the
car, the sun had set and they got out of the car wearing Power Ranger masks.
Mimi glanced over at the Rainbow Bridge; the white bridge she saw before had
now transformed into a pretty array of colours. The wires supporting the bridge
were lit up with fairy lights and the pillars were illuminated with dashes of
red, green and blue. Mimi looked around her and realised that it wasn’t just
the bridge, but the whole island of Odaiba looked extremely dreamlike at night.
She pointed at a humongous ferris wheel decorated with colourful lights. “Are
we going on that?” she asked, awe-struck. The blue ranger nodded and took her
hand as they both ran towards the magical ferris wheel.

“Zepp Tokyo,” said Mimi,
gesturing to the livehouse located right next to the ferris wheel. “It’s a very
famous livehouse. All the famous J-rock bands performed there. I want to
perform there!”

“You want to take a photo in
front of it?” Yuki suggested, fishing out his mobile phone. The pink ranger
nodded and posed next to Zepp Tokyo. He laughed and said, “I’m sure you’ll
perform there one day!”

“I hope so,” she said. She
noticed that his mobile phone wallpaper was an old photo that she took with
Yuki when they were in Singapore. As they both stood in line for the ferris
wheel ride, Mimi wondered why he hadn’t deleted it.

“Are you feeling cold?” Yuki
asked, facing the pink ranger.

“A little bit, it’s never this
cold in Singapore,” she replied, rubbing her hands together.

Yuki placed his arm around her,
holding her close to his side.

Mimi’s face turned red and she
was glad that she was wearing a mask. Finally it was their turn and they
entered the ferris wheel’s carriage. Once inside, Mimi and Yuki took off their
masks. Even though it was only the two of them in the carriage, they sat side
by side. The carriage was slowly rising up. Mimi looked out of the window and
the night view took her breath away. She thought that it resembled a field of
golden lights. The carriage continued to rise higher and higher and everything
below looked so small. She looked over at Yuki, only to realise that he had
been looking at her all this while. He smiled softly at her. She wondered why
her heart felt so heavy suddenly.

“Yuki, I’m currently writing a
new song. It’s about chasing stars.”

“Chasing stars?”

“The light from the stars takes
millions of years to reach Earth.
 
Stars we see in the sky may have died thousands of years ago. Some stars
are billions of light years away; it would be billions of years before we
notice that the star is no longer shining. Some stars are just not meant to be
together and some stars are just impossible to reach,” she said, looking down.

Yuki reached out and held both
her hands in his. She looked up in surprise as he placed her hands on his
cheeks. “But I am alive now and my heart belongs to you and it has never
stopped belonging to you.” He leaned towards Mimi and kissed her gently on her
lips. Her hands remained on his face as she kissed him back. The ferris wheel carriage
was now beginning its downward descend. Mimi knew that compared to when they
were in Singapore, their situations right now were different but what she felt
for him was the same. But then, would these circumstances tear them apart
again? The ride was going to be over and she wondered if this was going to just
be a beautiful dream. They put on their masks again. He held on to her hand as
they stepped out.

“The thing is, this is the kind
of relationship I can give you. We need to hide behind masks in public and no
one must know about us. It may be the only way we can protect each other. But
when we are alone together, I promise not to hide anything from you.”

Mimi held on to his hand
tightly. There were a thousand and one thoughts swimming in her head.

“The Fire Boys are really
important to you, aren’t they? Whatever is important to you, I will treasure
them as well,” she said.

“Sato is really important to
you too, isn’t he?”

Mimi was stunned, “Where did
that come from?”

“I saw the magazine article you
both did for
Front
. Actually, I am kinda jealous of him.”

She couldn’t believe her ears.
Mimi scratched her head and asked, “You’re jealous of Sato? Why?”

“Because he is able to give you
something I can’t.”

“And what is that?”

“He is able to fulfill your
dreams. I mean, I always knew that you were talented but that song he composed,
‘Farewell’, I have never heard you sound so amazing before. His skills are able
to bring you to the next level.”

“I think you give him too much
credit. Everyone thinks so highly of him. No wonder his ego is bigger than this
island,” she said, shrugging her shoulders.

The both of them walked towards
the Odaiba Marine Park. There was a view of the beach, the Rainbow Bridge and a
replica of the Statue of Liberty. They both picked a quiet spot and sat down on
the bench. Mimi was rather amused by the pseudo statue and was reminded of
something. “Yuki, didn’t you go to America? How was it?” Yuki had taken off his
mask. He looked at the statue wistfully. “It was for a screen test. I may be
filming a dance movie there if I pass the audition.”

“That’s awesome. You love
dancing, don’t you.”

“Yeah.”

Mimi thought that he didn’t
look particularly happy about it. She wondered why she felt guilty for having
him by her side now. She was happy to have him beside her but then she could
not shake off the feeling that she will lose him one day.