Me and Ai

Chapter 51: Utapri

Chapter 51: Utapri

My alarm rang and I immediately got up and took a bath to wake me up. After taking a bath, I put on a white long sleeve turtle neck and a greed sleeveless hooded jacket; my pants were beige cargo pants and my shoes were black boots. I then sat over to my vanity mirror and started doing my makeup; I had to do it really well today so that it could last till the evening with minimum retouch. I was told that I didn't have to wear a wig anymore so I can keep my long hair; I just tied it into a nice and neat ponytail. Today is the first day of my photo shoot for ManAge and I decided to dress up as Kaoru already so that I won't have to rush my makeup later; it was still a bit early so I practiced my lines for the drama series for a bit; I spent around three hours on it. I got bored on working on my lines after a while and since the photo shoot for ManAge was going to start later on in the afternoon, I decided to hang around a bit; I went over to the lobby to be with everyone else.

Haruka saw me approaching.

"Kao-Kaoru! Good morning!"

"Hm, what's this? Lady is not a lady today?" Ren-san said.

"Good morning, everyone." I smiled.

"Good morning, Kaoru! Working today?" Otoya smiled.

"You're Kaoru today; does that mean you have a job as him?" Tokiya-san asked.

"Yes, Kaoru got a modelling job for a men's magazine; I've still got time. The photo shoot is still in the afternoon but I dressed up right away so that I wouldn't have to rush my makeup later. Plus Manager-san will kill me if I'm not yet ready by the time he comes to pick me up."

Cecil was looking at me intently.

"Is there something wrong with my makeup, Cecil?"

"You know my name? Have we met before? Are you a fortune teller?! Are you a spy?! Hmm...you do seem familiar somehow."

Natsuki chuckles at Cecil.

"You really don't recognize her?" Masato asked Cecil.

"Eh? "Her"?"

He takes another good look at me.

"EH?! You're that woman who was with the senpais during the card training!"

I smiled. "Yes, that was me. I'm Yamashita Kaori; it's a pleasure to formally meet you." I used my real voice when I introduced myself to Cecil and then I used my "Kaoru" voice when I introduced Kaoru to him. He seemed quite confused at first until I explained to him that I was like a trap idol.

"I see...so you really are that woman from before."

He looks at me intently and seriously for a while.

"U-um...Cecil, why are you looking at me like that...?"

"Oh, I'm sorry. I was just trying to read you."

"Huh? What do you mean?"

"Why not tell this Lady about her own fortune like you did for all of us?" Ren-san said.

"Cecil, you can read fortunes?" I asked.

"Hmm, you can say that."

"That's interesting! I'd like to hear my fortune from you then!" I smiled.

"Let's see..." Cecil looked at me again for a while.

"You're very kind hearted and you always do your best. You put other people first before yourself."

"Exhaustion is your enemy; you'll be out for two weeks and..."

"And?"

He smiles. "An angel will steal your heart. Actually, he probably has it already and soon the angel will lose his too."