Chapter Text
Kumi hummed a soft tune to themselves as they scrolled on their phone, a fresh coffee in their other hand. A single chuckle escapes their lips as a short meme video plays, they turn to round a corner a slim but fast figure bumping into them causing them to fall back on their butt spilling their coffee over their pale pink button up.
"Aww come on I just bought that!.. there goes the last bit in my bank account.." A deep disappointed sigh leaves their mouth as they look up to who bumped into them.
"Ohmygosh I'm SO sorry!" The woman helps Kumi to their feet fiercely and repeatedly apologizes. The woman's two other friends round the corner quickly and pause seeing what happened. "Yeah.. yeah, hey it's- it's fine.. I needed to cut out coffee anyway." Kumi chuckles as they brush off their shirt.
"Please let me pay for another coffee at least!" She turns to her two others and motions for them to keep running down the street obviously in a rush. The two others nod and dart off down the street. "Oh, sorry I didn't even introduce myself.. I'm Rumi." Rumi picks up what's left of Kumi's coffee and hands it back with a slightly embarrassed smile.
"Kumi, thanks." They take the cup and toss it in the trash bin beside them. Kumi starts unbuttoning their pink button up revealing a white tank top underneath, and arms lined with scars, they toss the pink shirt over their shoulder spying Rumi eyeing their scared shoulders. "Don't worry, I'm not in a gang or anything." A smirk spread on their face.
Rumi quickly looks away not wanting to make things too awkward or ask just yet.
"Oh.. wait.. where's... not again." Kumi sighs as they look through their small shoulder satchel. "Have you seen an apple pen anywhere? It must've fallen out.." Kumi pulls out their iPad, a crack now decorating the camera.
"Again I'm so sorry.." Rumi picks up the lost pen, it having rolled away in the scuffle. Kumi takes it gently and spins it around their fingers, setting it back in their bag. For the first time since their encounter Kumi looks up and locks eyes with Rumi. "Thanks princess.. Now how about a coffee?" Rumi blinks shocked at the name Kumi just called them but agrees and starts the walk to the coffee shop.
"Rumi huh?" Kumi tucks their phone back in their pocket. "You look awfully familiar.."
Rumi glances at Kumi for a moment, eyes scanning their face. Could someone really not know who Rumi is? "I.. get that a lot."
Kumi huffs a small smile on their lips. The two make their way to the counter, baristas and customers fanning over Rumi but trying to keep their composure.
"Hi! Uhm.. Welcome back." The same barista who prepared Kumi's first order looks back at the familiar face before shifting to see Rumi, her eyes wide in shock wondering if Kumi knew who they were with.
"Hi, same order again please, I got a little clumsy." Kumi flashes a smile and nods to Rumi. Rumi slides her card over to the barista a little embarrassed.
"Ohmygosh it's Rumi.. Where's Mira and Zoey?" The barista couldn't contain her excitement. Kumi looks back and forth from the barista to Rumi with a stone solid poker face.
"They're on the way actually, I just needed to replace this nice person's coffee I spilled!" Rumi felt anxiety creeping in, she never felt anxious out in public before, especially not for buying a simple coffee. This person, who seemed to not know her, however they made her nervous.
"Thank you, please come again Rumi!" The barista hands over a perfect replacement to the coffee Kumi ordered earlier, followed by a small bow of her head. Rumi smiled politely and gave a small bow back, turning to hand the coffee to Kumi.
"Thanks princess, I really appreciate this." Kumi gives Rumi a wink before heading over to sit on a bench just outside the shop. They pull out their iPad and pen sliding on their art glove and getting right down to sketching something.
Rumi blinks confused at the exchange that just happened but also intrigued to who this stranger was. She follows Kumi and sits beside them, in the same spot where Mira and Zoey ran off from. Rumi glanced down to Kumi's iPad curiosity taking hold of her. A perfect sketch of Rumi, Zoey and Mira was framed out, followed by some scribbled words 'More sass' and 'Get better at drawing hair' with an arrow pointing to Rumi's scribbled in braid.
"Wait- You know who I am!? You knew the whole time?!"
Kumi picks up their coffee blowing the steam away before taking a long sip and setting back down. A smile spreads across their face as they meet Rumi's eyes. "Yes princess.. I do." Kumi lets out an amused laugh before placing down their iPad, grabbing their phone from their pocket.
"Andddd you know me."
Rumi's face twists in confusion as they eye Kumi up and down, Mira and Zoey round the corner walking back, their faces defeated.
Kumi hums the tune to How It's Done, a smirk staying on their face as they scroll through their phone looking for something to share with Rumi.
"We.. couldn't find what we were chasing." Zoey glances back at Kumi, her eyes narrowing as she slowly recognizes Kumi. Mira looks from Rumi to Zoey then finally sets on Kumi, her face unreadable but her posture stiffening.
"Here, you'll remember this." Kumi slides their phone over to Rumi and a video pauses on the screen, Rumi holds the phone up for the girls to see but glares over the phone at Kumi, unsure what the video will hold. Kumi nods respectfully to Mira and Zoey, picking up their coffee cup and taking another long drawn out sip. Rumi taps play and the video starts a black screen with a fading in audio, the baseline of How It's Done plays muffled over the phone. The screen fades in with Huntrix's logo and the audio pops in at full when the singing starts, a high quality animated versions of the girls dance, cuts and edits to the audio and video fade in and out with small tributes to each girl before ending with them standing in their signature pose. A very popular and viral fan edit that made its way around the internet a few weeks back, the screen fades out to show the artist's logo, a small silver and blue fox with the signature 'Kumi' circling it. "It's you!" Zoey pushes past the phone and stares at Kumi in awe. The final image on screen is of Huntrix's reaction calling it the 'best fan edit ever made' followed by a fire emoji.
"I knew you looked familiar! I've been trying for so long to get these two to see your work!" Zoey's eyes wide with excitement.
"Wait.. you're the artist who has been posting those awesome edits?" Rumi looks back at Kumi a little less anxious now.
Kumi raises their coffee like wine to toast. "The one and only baby." Mira relaxes and looks down at their iPad, the current wip shown on their screen.
"Wow.. I have to say I'm impressed." Rumi hands Kumi back their phone and looks back to the now cracked iPad, a gleam of embarrassment and pain flashing on their face over getting the creeps from one of the group's fans and a talented one at that.
"Wanna look at some of the photos I've taken too?" Kumi asks casually.
"Uhm, yea!" Zoey bounces on her feet and leans over Kumi's phone expecting them to be there.
"Here's what I'm editing right now." Kumi flips through the iPad showing some of the professional grade pictures, some of them better than the girls' hired photographer. Kumi clears their throat and digs back in their bag, pulling out a Nikon D850, one of the best cameras you can have for high quality photos.
"This is the raw photo, no edits." They cycle through some pictures of the girls mid concert, all rapid fire through their sets, perfect captures of their poses centered slightly off but fixed with the high resolution edits. Kumi leans back on the bench and crosses their leg, resting their ankle on their knee.
"Wow.. you're better than my modeling agency.." Mira pushes up her glasses and looks up at Kumi in awe. Rumi flips through the photos once more with Zoey unable to find the words to say.
"Do you need a job?!" Zoey jokes after flipping back through their camera roll.
Kumi raises their cup to the lips, pausing as Zoey asks her a question. "Well.. funny enough.. yes." Kumi continues their motion and sits again placing the cup beside them, pointing at it after they set it down.
"This cup of coffee was all I had left in my account actually." A small depressed laugh escaped their lips. "And I lost my apartment.. So these are the last clean clothes I have." Kumi motions to their coffee stained button up with a small amused smile, not at all actually upset over the ordeal just teasing Rumi with it. Rumi looks back at Mira and Zoey for a couple moments, not a single word escaping their lips, just silent communication. Kumi sighs and raises their face to the sky, closing their eyes in an attempt to calm their nerves.
"Do.. you want to try interning with us?" Mira asks hesitantly. Kumi's head snaps up and glances between the three in rapid succession. "You're joking right?" Kumi's eyes narrow in disbelief. Mira looks back to the girls for a moment before going back to them.
"No." Rumi scoots forward.
"Look, we've seen your work and we actually really like it.. now we can't really hire you yet, but if you want to intern with us.. we have simple apartments for all our staff and if we really like what you do then.." Rumi trails off a smile spreading on her face.
"We'd love to hire you!" Zoey finishes Rumi's sentence.
Kumi stares at the girls in silence for what seems like forever, they take a deep breath and close their eyes as if meditating.
"I don't think you know what you've just done for me." Kumi confesses, their eyes still closed. They open their eyes, a newfound pride sparkling in their greenish yellow eyes.
"Yes!" they slide their ankle off their knee and spring up with urgency taking a very deep bow in front of the girls. Mira chuffs softly with her hand on her hip.
"Sick." Zoey cheers and throws one arm around Rumi's shoulders.
"You can start on our next training session if you want." Kumi stands back up and nods.
"Tell me a time and place and I'm there." The girls hand Kumi back their iPad and turn for them to follow. Kumi's life was about to change for the better and they had no Idea what was in store.