With a pizza balanced on each hand, Ranko made for table fourteen. “Here you go, guys. I’ve got a double pepperoni and a seafood. Enjoy!”
She made a point to smile, but looking around the room, it was hard to maintain. The energy level in the bar was non-existent. She sighed with a pang of guilt, knowing full well that the cause was her refusal to take the stage.
She missed it terribly, but she just couldn’t do it to herself anymore. She had been right to refuse Takao’s advances – Yui had convinced her of that – but it had cost her everything. She saw no other viable way to make a career of singing, and she had been told flat-out by a music professional, jerk though he might have been, that she wasn’t good enough. Entertaining drunks in a 200-seat bar, sure, but really, really good? Good enough to make a living at it? No. And if the dream wasn’t possible, allowing herself to hope just made the truth hurt worse.
Still in her own head, she turned to the next table, a two-top with one guy sitting at it. She didn’t even look up. “Hey there, welcome to the Phoenix. What can I get you started with,” she asked robotically.
“A smile, for starters?”
She looked up, her face instantly brightening. “Crash! What are you doing here?”
He smiled warmly. “Well, I heard it on good authority that they have this really amazing singer here.”
Ranko looked down. “Oh.”
“What’s the matter, Ranko? Your face isn’t still hurting, is it,” he asked with genuine concern. “Sit down, talk to me a second, if you can.”
Ranko scanned the room, and finding none of her tables in need of anything urgently, she pulled out the other chair and sat with him.
“So, how come you’re out here taking orders instead of up there doing your thing?” Crash leaned back in his chair, idly fiddling with the laminated menu.
She sighed deeply. “I just don’t have the heart to do it anymore. I’m not good enough.”
“Yeah? Says who?” He looked around the room for emphasis.
She slumped a little bit. “You know.” She didn’t even want to say his name.
“Oh, that shitbird? To hell with him. What does he know? I say you’re great.” He nodded, giving her a big smile.
“You’ve never even heard me, man.” Ranko rolled her eyes dejectedly.
“We can fix that easily enough.” Crash grinned mischievously.
Back at the bar, Yui watched the exchange. She couldn’t quite make out what they were saying, but it was good to see Ranko at least talking to someone. She’d barely said a word to any of her sisters all night.
“Who’s that?”
Yui looked up to find Akane standing across the bar from her. “Hey! What are you doing here on a school night?”
Akane grinned. “Tomorrow’s Founder’s Day, dummy. No school. Don’t you guys have a calendar in this place?”
With a laugh, Yui slid a glass of soda across the bar for her sister’s girlfriend. “You’re adorable. You think holidays mean anything to people in hospitality.” She motioned back to the table where Ranko and Crash sat. “The guy’s name is Crash. Hey, don’t ask me. He’s a musician, somebody Ranko met at the studio before everything went downhill.”
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Akane snapped her head back toward Yui, a concerned look on her face. “Downhill?! What happened?”
“Shit,” Yui said. “I thought you knew. I’m sorry. Things didn’t go well with the studio thing. I think it’s probably best that Ranko tell you the details herself, but it’s been really rough for her. She hasn’t sung in days.”
With a deep frown, Akane slumped onto a barstool. “She was so excited about it, too. She must be crushed.”
Yui nodded. “I’m not gonna lie, Akane, it’s been bad. I’m glad you’re here. We’ve all tried, and none of us have been able to pull her out of it. She won’t even talk to Hana. I’d have called you on Friday if I’d had your number.”
Akane pulled a pen from her purse, writing a few digits on a bar napkin and handing it to her. “Here.”
The man sitting at the table with Ranko stood up, walking toward the stage. Akane couldn’t hear what was being said, but Ranko was calling to him, as if she wanted him to come back. Standing, Ranko tried to catch up with him, but he was too quick.
He stepped up onto the platform, snatching up the microphone and turning it on confidently. “Hey, everybody, my name’s Crash. How you all doin’ tonight?” A smattering of half-hearted whoops came from the crowd.
“So, I need you guys to do me a favor if you don’t mind.” Crash stood quietly for a moment, waiting for more of the room to turn their eyes to him.
Akane looked up. “What is this idiot doing?”
Yui smiled in recognition, shaking her head. “What I should have thought to do days ago.”
Crash tapped the microphone, the loud thump echoing through the speakers. “Okay, I’ve got everybody’s attention now? Great. So, how many of you know my friend Ranko?”
Ranko hid her face, trying to shy away from the crowd as a much louder cheer came from the bar’s customers.
“Right? Isn’t she great?” Crash laughed a little bit into the microphone as the crowd whooped again, louder still. “She’s been having a little bit of a rough spot for a few days, I hear. But maybe - just maybe - we could talk her into coming up here and singing us just one song. What do you say, should we ask her?”
The crowd roared, and then began to chant her name.
Ranko snaked her way back to the bar. “Mei, pull the power from the spea… Akane? Hey, what are you doing here?”
Akane turned to her girlfriend. “Giving you a kick in the butt, apparently.”
Ranko could barely hear Akane speak over the crowd still chanting her name. “Akane, you don’t understand.” Her voice was hollow and cold. She could barely make eye contact with her. She wasn’t sure whether she was more ashamed to have to tell her girlfriend that she’d failed at the idol business after less than two weeks, or that it had happened because the talent agent they’d put all their hopes behind had propositioned her. In that moment, she almost wondered if she’d have been better off accepting Takao’s proposal.
With a nod, Akane placed her hands on Ranko’s shoulders and smiled. “And you can tell me later, if you want. But right now, you have somewhere you need to be.”
Mei flipped a switch, turning the spotlight to highlight the two girls at the bar. The crowd roared as Ranko was identified, and continued to chant. It came now also from the speakers, as Crash had pointed the microphone toward the audience. He pulled the microphone back to himself. “Well, it sure sounds like somebody is a hit around here. Whether she thinks she is or not.”
The crowd, even at less than maximum capacity, was deafening. Akane took Ranko’s hand. “Come on, you.” She started walking toward the stage, and Ranko followed trepidatiously. Mei kept the spotlight trained on her sister, refusing to let her escape.
As the pair approached the steps, Akane gave Ranko’s hand a final squeeze and took a standing spot near the right side of the stage. Crash bounded down to meet her, the second microphone in his hand.
“I’m gonna kill you, Crash.” Ranko smiled weakly.
“Whatever, get in line.” He grinned briefly.
“Look. I know you’re hurting. I know you’re angry, and you’re scared, and you’re doubting yourself. I’ve been there. I get it. But I also know music is in your blood. I’ve seen the way you light up just talking about it. I’ve seen what you tolerated so you could fight for it. So, pick yourself up, dust yourself off, and take all of that bullshit and deal with it the way true musicians always have.”
He reached out, poking her in the chest above her left breast with one finger. “You take everything you’ve got in here…” He handed her the microphone. “... and you put it in here. All the good, all the bad, everything. You get up there and you sing your damned heart out, girl. You shake this place so fucking hard, people in France start wondering who pissed Ranko Tendo off.”