Life Will Change

Chapter 52: Hecate

Begin!

~Normal POV

7/30 - Saturday

When Akira woke up this morning, Ann immediately sent him a text asking if he wanted to have their first date today. She had to do a photoshoot first, but she promised that it wouldn't take more than an hour or so, once it was over they'd be free to do whatever they pleased for the rest of the day. Of course he said yes. They were on summer vacation after all, and a trip to Mementos could wait until tomorrow. For today, all they wanted was to be two normal teenagers.

The shoot was taking place at the seaside park. Akira had yet to have visited this part of the city. It was a pier with several shops and game stalls, and a huge Ferris wheel with a view that overlooked the city and the ocean. He met up with Ann by one of the stalls.

"Hey..." He greeted, smiling. He couldn't help being nervous, and curious, as to what Ann planned for their date. She hadn't told him anything specific over the phone. Plus, neither of them had ever been on a date before, so this was new territory for them...

"Hey..." Ann replied, grinning. She grabbed his hand. "Come on, the shoot is over here."

He let her drag him along to a part of the pier that had a railing and a few benches to look out at the water. They could already see an agency employee there, and with him was Mika. Even more strangely, the man seemed to be scolding her about something.

"And don't pull a stunt like that again."

"Ok, I won't..." Mika replied, looking downcast.

Ann let go of Akira's hand and went up to the two. "What's going on here?"

"Oh, yeah, you were a victim too, right Ann-chan?" The employee said. "Do you remember a while back when a bunch of models weren't showing up to the shoots? Apparently, Mika-chan was posing as our agency and telling them the shoot locations had changed."

Akira wasn't exactly surprised to hear that. It was just the sort of dirty, underhanded, trick that Mika would be likely to play. There was no reason before to suspect her doing it, but he wasn't shocked. Ann, however, felt differently.

"What?!"

"We heard rumors that it might have been her," The man continued, "But we thought people were just jealous. I mean the shoots she filled-in for really boosted her popularity. I asked her about it and all she said was, 'I'm sorry.' So, now we have proof."

Mika nodded, frowning still. "What I did was really terrible. I caused so much trouble for everyone... But I'm gonna start working even harder from now on, I promise..."

Akira thought it was strange that she apparently wasn't getting fired. But perhaps the agency was simply trying to keep her around for their good image. Ann had never told him anything about her job being unkind to her, and the times she'd brought him along to work, he never saw any unsavory behavior towards her from the camera crew. They must be more forgiving of offenses like this. At this point, the employee had walked away to do some prep work.

"You really did something that lame," Ann asked, curiously.

Mika's expression changed again. "What are you calling lame? This industry is overflowing with models. Without an in, your career will never even get off the ground! Chances don't come to those who wait. You have to make your own luck if you want to succeed." She finished with a smirk.

Ann sighed. "You really are something..."

Mika chuckled. "It's your fault for getting the boot. If you can't crawl your way back up, you may as well go home. Either way, it's not like I'm not talented. I just needed my shot, and now I'm selling like crazy!"