Kana POV:

An hour later  I finally walked out of the dressing room, decked out in full makeup and a pretty pink silk dress. The dress had gold buttons and a sakura pattern, with a short-sleeve white turtleneck underneath to give off a preppy spring vibe. They matched it with white heels, some simple jewerelly, and a matching headband.

Even though Machistar's studio looked extremley bland, the amount of effort they put into dressing me up was better than I thought- they had curled my hair and even painted my nails with a clear polish to make it 'shine beneath the camera'. 

The person who had styled me was Ophelia's friend- Mina. Mina was the oppisote of Ophelia- slightly younger and extremely shy. Well, maybe shy wasn't the word. Mina didn't talk to me at all except for the occasional 'move your head' and it wasn't a 'you're a stranger' kind of silence- it was a 'I don't really like you' kind of silence.

Mina made me feel strange and uncomfortable and although I didn't like Ophelia, she was a lot better than Mina. Apparently they were best friends- though they didn't look like it. Mina didn't talk to anyone except flirt with the camera man.

Ophelia introduced the camera guy as Jacob. Jacob was tall, and mildly attractive- Mina seemed to be obsessed with him. She became a whole different person around Jacob! 

Jacob was friendlier and actually normal compared to Ophelia and Mina- I was glad for an actual normal human soul around here.

They began the shoot with a few simple poses- hand on hip, turning back, smiles or neutral expressions and some more basic things I could easily do.

But then Mina brought in the green screen and a fake swing. I was required to sit on the swing and pretend to be swinging mid-air while looking like it was the best day of my life, though today was far from it.

I did my best but it was hard to do a natural open-mouthed smile, especially while trying to angle the swing. The fake swing had plastic strings instead of rope and the wooden seat was replaced with a fake foam one. The only reason it didn't collapse under me was the stool underneath the seat, holding me up. 

After a few failed takes of that particular pose, Ophelia had me take a break. Mina was stuck to Jacob like glue, so Ophelia settled with chatting to me. 

"You've been doing a wonderful job, darling," Ophelia gushed, "My, you're a natural! Just like our Annie. Your face is even prettier. We might really have a chance this year!"

I smiled awkwardly at the compliments, though I wasn't sure if I wanted to be talking about Annie like that behind her back. There was always a cost to gossiping. 

"Darling, might I ask- will you contuine with Machistar after this competiiton?" Ophelia asked curiously. "If you do make it in as a finalist, of course you'll have to do more live modelling practice. And if you don't, well... would you still like to be with Machistar?"

I opened my mouth to decline, but Ophelia talked crazy fast over me. "I know it might be bad for your reputation to be with a small, failed modelling company- but we might make it big, and you would be doing us a great favour. Right now, we only have Annie and it would be sensational if we had a larger variety of models. You'll get pay every week and you'll only have to occasionally come in for a job!"

To be honest, the idea sounded tempting- with the amount of jobs Machistar got, I would probably be able to go weeks without doing anything and still get pay. But I wasn't sure I wanted to be a model- I wasn't cut out for the high beauty standards, the rage of hate online or the instense training.

Besides, this was only a temporary thing. I didn't want to get obsessed with modelling and have the same idiotic hope that I might make it big again like I had with singing- if I was a failed actor I would be a failed model.

"I'm sorry, I-"

"No, no, dear. No, how silly of me. I can't expect you to make a choice right here and now! This is something to consider. Please, take my business card!" Ophelia talked over me again, her cheeks teeming with pink as she handed over a tacky-looking pink card.

On the card was the word '𝑀𝒜𝒞𝐻𝐼𝒮𝒯𝒜𝑅 !' written in a curly font and Ophelia's number. There was a short description underneath; "The ideal modelling company for you !" 

Before I could apologise for the confusiona and hand the card back, Ophelia hurried away, singing, "It's time to start shooting again, folks!" Not giving me a chance to decline. Smart.

Jacob set up the camera again and I kept flashing poses. It was easy enough for me- it was a little bit like still-life acting. It was just about posing at the perfect angle for the camera, relaxing muscles so the smile looked more natural- and making poses seem easy and light-hearted. I gathered that they wanted me to do a cute, spring-themed shoot from the outfit.

After an hour of endless posing and standing, I was ready to go home. But Mina wouldn't let me.

"We should do a double set and submit them both, just in case this one doesn't work out." Mina held up a sunflower-yellow skirt. "This one would look nice."

I smiled apologeticly. "That sounds lovely, but I have to get home now. I'm sorry."

Mina frowned. "Do you have somewhere to be?"

"I- uh- yes," I stumbled on my lie. "I actually have an appointment with my JP. I might be late at this rate, so..." I quickly grabbed my bag and rushed into the changing room.

As I hurridely changed out of the pink dress and into my ridiculous carrot hoodie and gray sweatpants. Using a wet wipe from my bag, I wiped my face free of the heavy makeup and did my best to brush the excessive waves out of my hair.

I hung up the dress on a hook and removed all of Machistar's jewerelly and shoes on me, kicking on my white sneakers. 

After hours of trembling on heels, it felt so good to be back on the ground! But as soon as I stepped out of the dressing room, Mina stepped crazy close in front of me, jumpscaring me again.

"When will you be free again? We need to do the yellow dress shoot." She frowned. 

"I, uh.... I don't know. This was only a spur-of-moment gig that I did. I didn't plan on staying with Machistar." I said. Behind Mina, Ophelia's face fell.

"But we need to do the yellow dress shoot. You started doing this job, so you have to finish it."

I wanted to kill Mina for her horrible attuide towards me. She wasn't even paying me to do this job- how could she talk to me like that?

"I'm sorry, I'll have to decline. You never payed me for this in the first place- this is really a favour I'm doing for you," I frowned back, "And I don't have time for this job anymore."

"It's not like you have other jobs," Mina glared. "I know what the media says about you now. You're a ruined actor- you probably don't even get jobs anymore. That stupid idol group you joined was just because you wanted to make money again."

Her words hurt more than I liked to admit, and I would have kept arguing with her, but what could I say? It was all true.

"I'm sorry." 

I pushed past her and Ophelia, then ran out the door before anyone could stop me. I didn't want anything to do with this company anymore- I should never had been involved with it in the first place.

I hurried down the street, speed-walking as fast as I could go without being stared at.

"Wait! Arima!" 

I gritted my teeth and kept walking even faster. I thought it was Ophelia or Mina- but then I realised the voice that kept calling for me sounded too deep and male-ish to be either of them.

"Please, stop!"

After I was a good block away from the studio, then did I spin around and almost collide into Jacob, the camera man.

"What do you want?" I said fiercly. "I don't want anything to do with Machistar anymore! That Mina is horrible! And if you're here to persuade me to take a business card, I already have one!" I took out the card from my pocket and flashed it in his face, then dropped it on the floor. 

"No, Arima- I just wanted to give you this." Jacob handed her a piece of paper with a few numbers written on it. "It's my number."

I stared at it and frowned. "Why would I need your number?"

"I- I assume Ophelia and Mina won't be sending you an email anymore even if you become a finalist- so I'll call you if you do. And I can help arrange modelling lessons for the catwalk if you are a finalist- you're a pretty talented model and I don't want you to give up." Jacob blushed.

I didn't know what to say.

My head told me it was incredibly stupid to keep the paper- I should never have gotten mixed in modelling. 

But my heart told me to keep it- that it would be useful in the future. And an idiotic part of me still hoped I would be a finalist- and was secretly happy that Jacob had complimented my modelling skills. 

"I- I won't promise to return your call." I told him promptly and then fled down the street before he could say anything else.

As I rounded the corner back to the Hoshino residence, I wished I had never went to Machistar in the first place.

A/N: You won't see much Akane VS Kana material in the early stages of the plot- but you may in the future!