Shonan Private School was a combined junior and senior high school offering a total of six years of education. The senior high school division was further divided into General, Athletic, and Performing Arts streams. Although it wasn’t officially affiliated to N. University, N. University admitted students from Shonan with a faculty reference. For that reason, many students at Shonan had ties to the entertainment business, and athletic students were also scouted from all over the country. About a quarter of them lived in dorms.
Kento had transferred here in the second term of ninth grade. Now, two months in so far, he had had no time to enjoy student life, and still had no friends. But he and his roommate, Tomoya Komatsu, naturally began to spend time together since they were part of the same entertainment agency.
Today, they had left class early together to go to dance lessons. Kento and the other background dancers were up to their eyeballs in dance lessons since DZ’s nationwide tour was about to begin.
Tomoya was already at the bus stop, waiting for him.
“Hurry, hurry!” he urged Kento when he appeared at the school gates. The bus arrived just then, and they both boarded.
“Thank goodness,” Tomoya said.
“Yeah. Good thing we made it.”
“No, I meant thank goodness you’re part of the group now.” Tomoya sank into a seat and chuckled. “You know, I never liked leaving class early by myself. It stands out. I wasn’t bullied about it or anything, though,” he added. “It’s just that… when you say you’re in the entertainment business, people are a little more critical of you.”
“But there are tons of people here who are in the entertainment business,” Kento said.
Tomoya wrinkled his brow in disagreement.
“There are a lot in senior high school, but not that many in junior high.”
“…I see.”
Kento wasn’t quite as riled up about it. He was very much used to not fitting in. He had always stood out in class, being a year older than the rest of his classmates since elementary school, due to certain reasons.
“Anyway, enough about that.” Tomoya took out a pack of gum from his pocket and passed a stick to Kento. He chewed on one himself as he picked up where he left off.
“Who do you think will make the audition?”
“We won’t know until it’s over,” Kento said unconcernedly. Tomoya stared up at him.
“You’re lucky, Kento, you’ll probably make it. Mr. Mori scouted you himself.”
Tomoya was talking about Nobuyuki Mori, the managing director and son of the female president of the production company.
Kento’s mother owned a small boutique on Omotesando, a high-end shopping district, and Kento often hung out there after class. Nobuyuki Mori had stepped into the boutique one day, accompanying a female personality affiliated with the company. That was when the two had met. Mori had sweet-talked Kento’s mother into letting him scout Kento for Sion Promotion.
“That doesn’t matter. An audition is still an audition,” Kento said as he chewed his gum. “Anyway, look at you. Your whole family is involved in music. And you’re a good singer.”
Tomoya wrinkled his nose and shook his head.
“But it’s classical music. That doesn’t count.”
Tomoya’s father was a professor at a college of music. His mother was a piano teacher, and his two older sisters were in vocal programs at music school. They were a family of born and bred musicians.
“I hate classical music. It’s not catchy, and it’s boring.”
Kento figured it must sound that way if you had to listen to it every day.
“Your family is way cooler,” Tomoya said. “Your dad’s a photographer and your mom’s a fashion designer. You’re like a TV-show family,” Tomoya said enviously.
“I guess it is if you put it that way, but in reality it’s pretty different.”
His father, Ikuto, was indeed a photographer; however, his subjects were rather dull ? archeological remains or things related to anthropology or other specialized academic fields. He often submitted work for a famous science journal published by the American Geographic Society.
His mother, Hisae, designed textiles ? the dyeing and patterning of fabric. She played a more backstage role in terms of fashion. But she was now a sought-after designer, currently working in London for an up-and-coming designer. Their family currently lived apart, with each following their dreams.
✦ ✦ ✦
The headquarters of Sion Promotion, where they were both affiliated, was located in Shinjuku.
A year ago it had transferred out of a rented office in the Aoyama building into one of the high-rises at the south exit of the station. The agency used to rent a dance studio in Shimokitazawa, but now had its own studio in the new office for dance lessons. Members of the agency were now free to come at any time to practice.
The dance studio, at a spacious 150 square metres, was like a gymnasium. A part of the wall had a mirror and a barre. DZ’s concert tour was planned for the winter holidays, in addition to out-of-town concerts on weekends starting in December. That meant lessons were becoming steadily tougher.
A professional dance team formed the core of the troupe of background dancers. Kento and his junior team had to dance to eight songs, including the opening and finale.
As he danced along with Uehara, the choreographer, he felt the sweat begin to stream down in droplets.
The exhilaration was indescribable. The lessened pain in his leg only spurred him on; Kento let his boundless energy flow to the tips of his hands and feet as he went through the routine.
“Looking good, Kento,” Uehara said, clapping him on the shoulder.
“Kento, stop stealing the spotlight,” grumbled Ryusuke Kawara, one half of the DZ duo, in a joking way as he popped in from the doorway. “You need to tone down your dancing, or else you’re going to outshine us both.”
Mori, who was beside him, smiled behind his glasses and gestured for Uehara to lean in and listen.
“I think the results are in,” he murmured into Uehara’s ear, which of course went unheard for Kento.
“Right. Along with him, I’d vote for Nishimura and Oka as potentials.”
“I was just thinking the same thing.”