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“One, two, three, four, side step, twirl, move-” Ai’s voice carried over the music as the group practiced. At this point they had been practicing for nearly the whole morning with little to no break and it was abundantly clear; Saki’s movement blurred into a confused haze, Junko’s choreo was mixed up, and at one point Lily was so exhausted she had collapsed after their number, her vision blurred with sweat and tears. Technically, Saki is their self-appointed leader but in choreo Ai almost always took the reins as she had the most experience as the former center of her old group. And to put it in comparison with Saki’s biker gang, Ai was close to being just as ruthless about idol work.
Ai held her hand out in a final pose once the music stopped. Despite being undead, her heart rattled in her chest overtaken by the extremities of their work. A strange sensation that nobody understood but did not question too hard on. Regardless, her breath shook as she quickly regained control of her situation.
Suddenly, her body was frozen in time and every nerve pinched with a specific type of discomfort. One by one Ai’s body fumbled apart as stray bandages rolled away from the sockets. Sakura reached out to try to help Ai piece her body back together but the younger idol was able to put herself back again relatively quickly as if nothing happened. With a final crunch of Ai’s neck connecting to her head, she continued back to her rehearsal.
“One more time!” Ai’s back was turned, but from their cracked studio mirror she could see the others slumped and exhausted. A flicker of empathy ran across her face but it was pushed away by a past lifetime of knowing what happens to idols that got too comfortable–they fell. And Franchouchou could never afford to fail.
“Ai-chan, can we take a break?” Sakura panted heavily, crouched and clutching her knees and strawberry hair soaked with sweat. “It’s 2 o’clock and we’ve been practicing nonstop since 8…”
“My feet hurt,” Lily whined.
“It wouldn’t hurt for a small break,” Yugiri commented softly. “A well rested performer is sharper than one who never stops.”
Even Tae, who seemed to have the most stamina consistently, was slumped on the ground grumbling.
Visibly annoyed by the lack of enthusiasm, Ai knew that there was no fighting with them. Even as the primary instructor, it was always Saki’s call as leader whether to stop.
The biker stretched (loudly popping his bones as was normal for their zombie bodies) and ran a tired hand through his bangs. “I say we call it quits today,” Saki announced. The girls besides Ai breathed a sigh of relief. “Everyone go drink water and go on lunch break, but Ai stay here. I gotta talk to you.”
As the others sluggishly left the studio murmuring “Thank God”s and “Finally”, it was just the biker and the Heisei idol alone. Even when physically drained, Saki still kept an aura of intimidation after all these years. It wasn’t necessarily that Ai was afraid of him (after all, a successful idol could never show true fear), but it did make conversation ever so slightly unnerving at times.
“Listen, I know you run ship a specific way n’ I respect that. But ya gotta let the rest of the group catch up before you move on. A true leader doesn’t abandon her group.” It could be Ai’s imagination or an undiscovered zombie trait, but Ai swore that she thought she saw Saki’s pupils narrow into slits like a cat. Maybe it was the shadows of the harsh studio lights.
“I just don’t want another EFS, alright?” Ai leaned against the wall. “And anyways, I always work like this. Even while I was alive.”
Saki’s frown deepened. “Flowerhead, they exploited you.”
Ai blinked. Exploited? Sure her industry was brutal and competitive, but she practiced at home and at school as well. There was no way that…
“You think I’m shitting you?” A slightest bit of fang poked from Saki’s upturned frown before his expression shifted to something along the lines of sympathy. “When I was your age, I didn’t have anyone tellin’ me what to do. I didn’t have the best childhood but I was never expected to do unpaid labor in my own home or work like we’re in the fuckin’ military.”
Ai sat in uncomfortable silence as Saki continued. “You’re 16 and working like a fifteen minute break once in a while is going to break our entire team. D’ya really not have faith in us, or are you just brainwashed by faceless capitalist ghouls that run off exploitation?”
“Of course I have faith in us, why would you ask that? It’s not like that you don’t even…” Ai was never caught off guard like this, how could Saki do this? Weakness was never an option, how could she falter right now?
“I don’t what? Y’can’t even come up with a good defense ‘cause you know I’m right. It’s okay to admit it. We control our schedule now, and Shades can suck it–y’don’t gotta worry about workin’ like that anymore.”
Ai sighed, avoiding eye contact with her leader. “When you put it like that I guess it does sound like that…”
“‘Cause it is, isn’t it?” Saki’s voice lowered to a more gentle tone, something unusual from the otherwise brash leader. “I’m not judging ya, I promise. I’m sure Junko had similar shit with her idol experience. It's nothin’ you did wrong. And I know Lily was worked to her bone when she was alive–”
“Look, I get it, alright? I know what you’re trying to say.” Ai didn’t mean to sound snappy but constant talk of her past made her skin crawl. “And I’m not doing it.”
“A day off wouldn’t kill you, y’know!” Saki argued.
“We’re already dead though.” Ai deadpanned.
“You know what I mean!! I’m sayin’ is that it feels like every morning you’re always in the studio before any of us. Doesn’t it get tiring feelin’ like you have to work extra hard ahead of us?”
“That’s… what I like to do. I don’t like letting myself get sloppy and unrefined.”
“And that’s why a day off is what you need. Did you forget that you literally fell apart again today? You’re literally falling apart at the seams constantly and you don’t even care.”
Ai scoffed. “That happens all the time with me. It’s just a mild annoyance at best. I’m fine.”
Saki glowered in an unspoken mild anger, visibly wanting to say something to Ai. All he did though was turn away from the Heisei idol and begin to exit the studio. Before he left though, he left one final message: “I am serious, Ai. If I see you in the studio next morning before any of us I’ll fuckin’ fire you.”
That certainly got Ai’s attention. “What the hell-?! You can’t-” Saki had already left.
“He can’t fire me…!” Ai hissed to herself. “Franchouchou needs me, doesn’t he get that? Where the hell am I gonna go if I get kicked out? He can’t do that… can he?”
Fortunately, the only way to avoid getting kicked out of the group was to not wake up at 4am to practice. Unfortunately, this means that Ai’s entire routine was broken and she didn’t know what to do about that.
Later that night, all Ai could do was anxiously rub her stuffed zombie rabbit. Ever since Iron Frill, Ai had gotten used to short sleep schedules not just through practice but tours and promotions took up 90% of her day-to-day life. And now as a zombie with already little need for sleep (and night terrors that made sleeping difficult regardless of her past) without that comfort of being able to use her hours effectively, the night was slightly overstimulating now.
The grandfather clock that silently ticked was practically its own heartbeat now, and her heightened sense of smell as a zombie meant that she could sense things that were not there before such as the smell of the mansion’s wood and bugs that lived in the walls. Even after a year and a half of their zombification she still could never get used to constantly being able to absorb scents like this.
Ai marinated the words that Saki spoke to her in her mind, about being exploited… sure it was very common in her time, and on paper it was definitely exploitation, but to apply it to her just… she didn’t want to accept it. But if Saki is right about having the day off, the least she could do was go along with it. After all, Saki never banned her from getting up early to use the studio. It was only for tonight so she’d be fine.
It was a long night, but Ai ended up staying true to Saki’s demand and did not go to the studio. Her muscles craved the studio already, but she had to keep her word.
“Ai-chan, aren’t you going to practice today?” Sakura asked as she attached her prosthetic leg. “Do we have the day off or…?”
“Nah, we got work to do,” Saki answered for Ai. He slipped on his red workout jacket and “combed” his hair with his nails. “Ai’s taking an off day. And y’all better damn make sure of that.”
Junko yawned hugely, unfurling her night braids. “Ai’s not joining us today? This is unusual…”
“Is it because of yesterday?” Lily asked.
Saki shook his head. “Don’t worry ‘bout it. She knows what I’m talkin’ about.” Saki flashed a small smile at the Heisei idol before commanding the rest of the group to hurry up.
As the other dispersed, Ai was suddenly alone in the living room. Kotaro surely knew of what happened, or maybe he was getting shitfaced at the bar again. It was somewhat difficult to communicate with him after what happened at EFS. But it didn’t matter, did it? Franchouchou was learning to be responsible by themselves not only as a unit but as individuals.
By the patter of little paws, Ai heard Romero come into the room holding a leash. She had forgotten that because Kotaro wasn’t here now and the girls were working almost every day, there was nobody to take care of Romero. Well, not like he needed much care anyways as a zombie. But he’s still a dog and can’t just be neglected.
She wasn’t sure if Romero knew about Ai’s day off, or if to him it was just a face he was happy to see, but it would be nice to go outside sometime.
To the best of Ai’s ability she applied their outside makeup, duly noting that they were running low. Trying to ration makeup between seven girls was very difficult, especially when Kotaro wasn’t around to renew it, but for what it’s worth it was at least passable though none of them could ever achieve the same skill as Kotaro.
When she finished, she clipped Romero’s leash to his studded collar and took him outside and at least tried to use her one off day to relax.