Pop Rock Love (3 page)

“Yuki! It has been such a long
time since we last saw you!” cried a small-sized boy with shaggy light brown
hair. He ran towards Yuki and hugged him tightly.

“Jiro, don’t be silly, I was
only gone for a month,” said Yuki. He waved at the three other members of his
group, who had just entered the room.

Naoki, a slightly muscular guy
with red tousled hair quipped, “Maybe it was only a month, but Fire Boys was
not complete without you.”

“Thanks Naoki. Hey, you got a
minute?”

“Both of you, don’t wander too
far. The filming starts in two hours!” warned their manager.

“Relax Jun, we’re just getting
something from the vending machine. Do you want anything?” asked Naoki. Jun
grunted in reply.

“So what caused the change of
heart?” asked Yuki in a low voice as he inserted some coins in the vending
machine.

“MAX wanted us.”

“The mobile phone company?”

“Yeah, they wanted us for a
major advertising campaign... But Yuki, be careful. After everything that has
happened, I doubt the CEO will let you off that easily. Just try to keep a low
profile.”
 

“Thanks Naoki,” said Yuki,
bending down to grab a can of orange juice from the machine.

“Has she been contacting you?”
Naoki asked, observing him. Yuki shook his head.

“She was really mean and I
never liked her. Yuki, make sure you choose your girlfriends carefully next
time,” added Naoki.

“Yes Mr. leader-of-the-band, but
there won’t be a next time for a long time. I’m really sorry for causing so
much trouble for everyone.”

“Don’t worry about it. What are
friends for? Let’s go back before Jun throws a fit.”

The Fire Boys were getting
ready for a guest appearance on the music talk show, “Song Song Love”.
 
Dressed in their performance outfits
– shiny silver shirts and gold pants – their assistants were adding
some touch ups to the members’ hair and make-up.

Yuki was having some face
powder put on when he suddenly remembered something, “Oh yes, I bought
souvenirs for all of you!” He reached out towards the paper bag on the dressing
table and took out four small boxes. Each cardboard box had each member’s name
written on the top – Naoki, Jiro, Ginta, Makoto.

“Thank you!” said Jiro as he
opened his box immediately. “It’s cute!” Yuki had given him a snow globe with
the Merlion inside and the words “Singapore” engraved at the base. Each of the
other members got the same thing except each had a different colour. Jiro had a
blue one, Naoki’s was red, Makoto had a yellow one and Ginta’s was green.

“Not fair,Yuki!” cried Ginta,
“This was obviously a last minute buy from the airport.”

“But you see, I bought you guys
different colours,” explained Yuki, trying to redeem himself.

“It doesn’t even snow in
Singapore,” added Makoto as he gave the snow globe a violent shake. Makoto, at
age 20, was the youngest of the Fire Boys. His blonde hair was currently spiked
up. He had a fair complexion and loved to wear light blue contact lenses. To
the Fire Boys’ fans, he was known as the “pure one” because of his baby face
and beautiful voice but everyone else in Fame Factory knew about his notorious
womanising ways. His main motto in love was “never get emotionally involved”.
 

“I know,” exclaimed Ginta, “You
were too busy with Singapore girls to buy us presents!” Ginta was of Italian
and Japanese descent. He had short black hair, deep-set eyes and was taller and
darker than the others.

“You guys are so noisy, it was
nice and quiet in Singapore,” Yuki protested.

A production assistant entered
the waiting room and said, “Fire Boys, you’re on air in half an hour!”

“Okay, thank you,” said Naoki,
the leader of the group.

“Well, you can’t get rid of us
today, we’ve got a packed schedule,” said Makoto, checking his own reflection
in the mirror.

“What! No
way, what do we have?” asked Yuki. Makoto passed him a sheet of paper with the
words “Today’s Schedule” at the top.

10 am – 12 pm : Single promotion on talk show “Song
Song Love”

2 pm – 3 pm : “On Fire” radio show recording

5 pm – 7 pm : Interview and photo shoot with idol
magazine “Shounen”

8 pm – late : Rehearsal for summer concert tour,
“Burning Up”

“Oh my...” Yuki felt tired
already.

Jiro placed his arm over Yuki,
“Don’t worry, it’ll be okay! Oh yes, Yuki, I made something for you.”

“Really?”

The shaggy brown-haired boy
took out a purple hand-knitted scarf and placed it on Yuki’s shoulder.

“My therapist said that
knitting will help me to focus,” said Jiro, beaming at Yuki.

“Thank you, it’s really nice
and soft. I love it!”

Before any performance, the
five of them will huddle together backstage and put their palms on top of each
other. Naoki, being the leader, will then shout, “Fire Boys, Fighto!”

Jiro, Makoto, Naoki, Ginta and
Yuki were the members of the Japanese pop group, Fire Boys. This year, they
were celebrating their third year as a group and were under the talent agency
Fame Factory or FF for short. Fame Factory was a talent agency where boys from
12-years-old onwards were accepted and groomed to become pop idols. They were
then given FF trainee status and would take up dancing, singing and acting
lessons. Eventually, if they were popular enough or had favour from the upper
management, they would then debut as pop idols where glitz, glamour and endless
fan girls await them. At least that’s what the public is led to believe.
 

Talk show “Song Song Love” was
hosted by one of the Fame Factory senior groups – Hiroki & Haru
– a pop duo both in their early thirties. “Song Song Love” usually had a
few musical artistes on the show and the interview area was held in a Western
bar replica site. For today’s episode, the Fire Boys were its first guests.

Hiroki, walked on the set in a
white cowboy shirt with silver sequins, black jeans, brown boots and a white
cowboy hat. He strutted over to the bar and sat down. “Barman!” he shouted.

Haru, donning a black frilly
apron, walked over to the cowboy, “What can I get ya?”

Hiroki banged the counter and
said, “Give me a Flaming Joe, I feel like something fiery today...”

Haru leaned towards his
customer, “I’ve got just the thing to warm you up.”

“Really?” the cowboy asked.

“They are one of the hottest
bands around. You’ll love them!”

Upon hearing this, the studio
audience started to cheer loudly.

“Really? Who?” Hiroki asked,
rubbing his chin.

Haru smiled and said, “Let’s
welcome our first customers, the Fire Boys!”

The audience, mostly made up of
teenage girls and office ladies who decided to take a day off, clapped and
cheered enthusiastically.

Each member bowed and smiled
towards the camera as they entered the makeshift bar. Sitting on the bar
stools, Haru, the bartender asked, “So Fire Boys, what will you have?”

“A coke, please,” all of them
said in unison.

Hiroki said, “Wonderful, you
all think alike. So Fire Boys, congratulations on your new number one single!”

The audience gave another round
of applause.

The five members bowed and
Naoki added, “Thank you very much. We couldn’t have done it without the fans.”

Haru placed five glasses of
coke on the counter.

Hiroki looked at Makoto and
said, “So Makoto, you were in the live action version of the manga, Host
Party.”

The barman added, “The first
episode earned a 24 per cent audience rating, making it the highest-rated
Spring drama in Japan so far.”

“Thank you for everyone’s
support,” said the blonde boy.

Hiroki said, “You played a high
school student who is also a host, otherwise known as a social escort?”

“Yes, you can say that,” said
Makoto smiling.

“Ah ha, so it’s time for the question
of the day,” said Hiroki.

“Yes, I understand,” Haru added
as he brought out a big prompt card from behind the counter and read from it,
“If the Fire Boys were hosts, who would earn the most money? We’ve asked a
hundred real life hosts and showed them the members’ photographs. So based on
their replies, we have the top three!”

Hiroki turned to Naoki who was
sitting beside him, “Leader, who do you think would earn the most?”

Naoki pondered the question for
a while and answered, “Of course, I would earn the most.”

Everyone laughed at his serious
tone.

Jiro added, “Yes he would,
after all, he is the leader of the group.”

“See my members understand me.
But second to me, would be Ginta, because he looks strong,” quipped Naoki.

“What? I don’t know if that is
a compliment or not...” said Ginta, scratching his head.

Makoto added, “It doesn’t
matter because you would earn the most.”

Haru turned to Ginta, “What
about you Ginta? Who do you think?”

“Maybe Yuki?” Ginta pointed at
the wavy-haired boy.

“Me?” Yuki raised his eyebrows.

“Yes, because he is the kind
that plays hard to get. I think girls find that exciting.”

“Wait a minute!” exclaimed
Yuki. The rest of the members laughed.

Hiroki nodded his head and
added, “So I see.”

Yuki looked at Ginta and asked,
“How did you derive at that conclusion?”

“Yuki never returns my calls or
emails.”

“Yes, it’s true,” Makoto agreed
and added, “He will also never give you a practical gift!”

“The more he likes a person,
the more he will ignore you,” said Naoki.

“Oh no...” said Yuki, looking
defeated.

Hiroki turned to the
curly-haired boy and said, “Alright, so I guess, we have all agreed that Yuki
would be the number one choice. Let’s reveal the answers now. At number three,
we have Makoto, number two we have Ginta, and number one, as expected, the
hosts chose Yuki!”

“Really? What were the hosts’
comments about him?” Haru asked, patting Yuki on the back.

“Yuki has a mysterious aura,
yet has kind eyes.”

“Should I be happy then?” Yuki
asked, scratching his head while the rest of the members pat him on his back.

Hiroki looked closely at the
camera and said, “After the commercial break, let’s get ready to hear their
latest single, ‘Love Love Night’!”

The producer shouted, “Fire
Boys, please stand in position at the performing area!”

The disco beat for “Love Love
Night” started to blare through the speakers. Jiro and Yuki did a double
somersault across the stage while the other members were swaying their hips and
doing some finger-jabbing dance moves. Yuki took the microphone and started
rapping, “What’s up, disco ladies? Get your groove on, because you are in my
sight. Do you remember me? You are the lucky one, Love Love Night!”

Their fans cheered as the Fire
Boys started to dance in formation with smiles plastered on their faces.

It was just another day of work
for the Fire Boys. With three years in the industry and more than five years in
training, they knew how to make their fans happy. Yuki always believed that as
long as they stood united, nothing would be too hard for them. But then he
wondered why, as he was singing and looking at the audience, was he searching
for Mimi’s face.