“You never would’a messed with me before I found the recipe, but now I got you under my spe-ell! So I’ll change around your destiny to make you wind up next to me; together, we’ll be hotter than hell!”
Swaying from her position seated atop table sixteen in the bar she called home - literally, for a time - Ranko lip-synced with her own voice coming from Orochi’s deejay equipment. The song had not done as well in radio play as Once Upon a Rhyme and a few of the other tracks from her second album, but it had been well-received in each of the three local concerts that began the Wildfire Tour. After the kickoff show at the Budokan on Saturday, she played a packed house at the Osaka-Jo Hall arena on Tuesday, and the outdoor Nishikyogoku Athletic Stadium in Kyoto on Thursday.
That, despite squeezing in her high school graduation ceremony on Monday afternoon and a small family gathering on Sunday night at her father’s home to celebrate her sister Kasumi’s engagement to Dr. Tofu.
It had been one hell of a week, and tomorrow night’s show in Fukuoka was just the start of the really crazy part of the first leg of her tour. Masa, Norio, Ariel and Lance were already down south setting up her stage in the new Hakata no Mori Athletic Stadium, where she would perform for just over twenty-two thousand Firebirds, the largest crowd she’d ever seen.
So far.
Her eyes scanned from one corner of the bar to the next, lingering on every beer ad, every scratch in a tabletop, and every chip in the paint on the walls as she committed it to memory.
The place had changed in the last few years since she’d all but crawled across its threshold hungry and broken a week before her eighteenth birthday. Some of the drink ads plastered on the walls had been replaced with new ones, and the 1989 calendars the beer distributors had sent out had been replaced with 1992 ones. The laminated half-page menus jammed into the napkin holders on every table advertised new options for brick-fired pizzas and parmesan garlic wings. The Pac-Man standup arcade machine that used to be in the corner by the door to the mens’ room now resided in the living room of Mei and Yui’s apartment. The bathroom doors had received a fresh coat of maroon paint. The round tables dotting the floor had been rearranged to widen the footpaths between them.
The tiny corner stage and the karaoke machine had been torn out, replaced with a wooden platform that ran the entire length of the back wall separating the bar room proper from the ladies’ restroom. The three wooden shelves on the wall behind the service bar that had once stored dusty extra bottles of rum and whiskey now were stacked with shrink-wrapped CDs and black Ranko and the Dapper Dragons tee shirts. Just around the corner from them, facing the front door, the narrow wall enclosing the service bar that had been bare that first day now displayed a large pine-framed photo of seven women standing in front of an empty stage in the street in front of the bar, with her signature splayed across the back of it in giant pink letters. A few centimeters above it, an orange and gold plaque venerating the winner of the 1991 Japan Record Award for Best Album from a New Artist hung from a single drywall screw.
I guess I’ve made as much of an impact on this place as it’s made on me, she thought with a satisfied smile as she smoothed the knee-length pastel pink skirt she wore. I’m glad.
“Witch-cra-aaaft, and I’ve decided what to do with you, do with you: I’ll spend my whole life through with you…”
“You know, Ran-chan, you suck at partying.”
The redhead was pulled from her thoughts by a second girl hopping up to join her in sitting on the square tabletop. Kumiko reached around the shoulders of Ranko’s pale blue hoodie, pulling her into a tight side hug. “You okay?”
Ranko nodded, summoning a smile. “Yeah! Just… ya know, thinkin’.”
Kumiko laughed, shaking her head. “I just graduated high school on Monday. I’m trying to avoid thinking for a little while longer if I can help it.”
The redhead giggled in reply, giving a sage nod that was only a little exaggerated. “Probably for the best. I saw the way the calculus final exam wrecked you. Could’a sworn there was smoke coming out of your ears.”
“Hey! I got a better grade on that test than you did!” Kumiko gave her friend a playful swat on her arm.
Ranko blushed. “Yeah, but that’s not a fair comparison. Math and I are mortal enemies.” And I defeated it. Barely. Her face turned serious, and she looked down at her white-and-pink French manicure. “I’m gonna miss you so much, Kumi.”
Kumiko sighed, giving her friend a tight squeeze. “I’m gonna miss you too, Ran-chan. But we’re both gonna go do the things we were born to do, and it’s okay to be happy about that. And, like, I’ll have a phone in my dorm. And you’d fucking better use it, girl!”
The redhead nodded. “I promise. And if you need anything… advice, somebody to come rock your sorority party…”
“I promise, Ranko.” The silver-haired girl tittered loudly. “The first time I get stuck in math class, I’ll call you.”
“Oh, fuck off, Iwata.” Ranko giggled as she squeezed her friend tight.
“There, that’s more like the girl I know,” Kumiko said as she hugged the songstress back. “Now, go on, wallflower. Go enjoy your friggin’ goodbye party.” She gave Ranko a shove, pushing her forward until her backside slid off the tabletop.
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“Yes, Akane. For the eighty-seventh time, I promise.” The tall, blond guitarist sighed in exasperation, looking down into the piercing gaze of Akane Tendo.
Akane sighed, swaying on her feet in her pastel green dress. It had a wide, white belt made of faux leather, secured around her midsection with a large gold buckle. “I know, it’s just…” She turned, glancing across the bar room at Kumiko and Ranko giggling together.
“I get it. I promise. I’ll watch out for the… cat tongue thing, make sure Masa doesn’t go too nutso with the fire, and I’ll keep her out of trouble while we’re traveling as best I can. Lance is gonna watch her like a hawk, too. He’s all but adopted that kid, and… you haven’t met him yet, Akane, but, you do not want to fuck with that man.” Crash laughed. “Dude would eat me and Shinji both for breakfast and not even be full.”
Akane managed a small smile. “I understand, and I know I don’t have to tell you. It’s just… she’s my whole life, Crash. If anything…”
Crash nodded, clapping Akane firmly on the shoulder with the hand that was not currently occupied with his dark brown beer bottle. “Akane, I won’t let anything happen to her. You know I won’t. I love her. Not… like that, or anything!” Not anymore, at least. “Like a sis– I mean, frien–” He sighed, chuckling and shaking his head as his eyes fell to the floor. “Shit, you know what I mean, and I’m just gonna shut up before I get myself in any more trouble.”
Akane smirked playfully, wagging her finger up at the tall man. “Yeah, well… so help me gods, Crash, if she comes back pregnant, I don’t care what you say. I’m blaming you.”
The young guitarist sputtered, and Akane blinked, wiping a few droplets of light beer from her cheeks.
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“You’re sure you don’t need me to come with you? I can always get another internship in a couple months.” A tall man of twenty-three, with so slender a build that he was almost frail, rubbed his companion’s back. “It’s really no big deal. Gimme an hour, and I can run home and pack a bag.”
Ken sighed. “Ryo, I wish you could, but… this is the top firm in Tokyo. You shouldn’t screw that up. I’ll just be gone for a couple of weeks, even though Ranko’s making it sound like we’re going to Mars or something. There’ll be other tours. It’s okay.” He strained, stretching his full body length upward from his bar stool to be able to reach high enough to kiss his boyfriend on the lips.
“Besides,” Ken said with almost a giggle, ”somebody has to snuggle the puppy while I’m gone. That’s a big job!”
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“I’d tell you to behave while you’re out there, but…” The short, stumpy man laughed, stroking his curly orange beard. “I know better.”
“Daddy!” Hitomi gasped, stifling a giggle behind her hand and affecting a scandalized facial expression. “I don’t know what you’re talking about!” Her other hand fell limply across her cleavage as if to ask, who, me?
Unauthorized reproduction: this story has been taken without approval. Report sightings.
“I do,” Emi said, wrapping her arms around Hitomi’s waist from behind and planting a kiss on the shorter girl’s shoulder. “Don’t worry, Mr. Uyeno. You have my word, if she gets herself in trouble, I’ll make absolutely sure she has a great time doing it.”
“That’s what I’m afraid of,” a taller man with short black hair mused, flashing his daughter’s on-again, off-again girlfriend a knowing smirk.
“We’ll do our best, Dad,” Hitomi said, smiling up into the eyes of her other father. “But…” She flashed a smirk behind her at the redheaded girl that was talking to Izumi in a light blue hoodie featuring a large white embroidered heart with cute little black whiskers on it. “We’re traveling with a demon, so you can’t be too surprised if we end up raisin’ a little bit of hell.”
Mr. Uyeno laughed heartily. “Well, try to keep it to a minimum, okay? Just raise some heck. Ideally, in small quantities.”
Emi giggled, squeezing Hitomi tight. “I make no promises.”
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“Yui, I…”
The blonde whirled behind the bar. “Hey, little sis. You okay?”
Ranko nodded tentatively. “Just been thinkin’, about graduation. We’re… okay, right? You and me? You’re not mad at me or nothin’?” As she spoke, Ranko picked up a small glass jar that rested on the counter behind the bar. It looked like it might have held cherries or jalapeños once, but the label had been removed and the jar had been thoroughly washed. It was missing its lid, and it contained five thin blue plastic drink stirring straws. “What’s this?”
Yui smiled warmly down at her sister. “That’s…” She lowered her voice, bending down to bring her mouth closer to Ranko’s ear. “That’s for me. To help me stay focused.”
“But… stirring straws? I don’t get it.” Ranko shrugged.
“I’ve… been putting one in the jar every day I go without having a drink. Every day in a row, anyway. I gotta dump it out and start over if I mess up. It was Mama’s idea. I guess the concept is, it’s supposed to remind me how long I’ve held out when it gets hard.”
Ranko beamed at her sister. The straws in the little jar, which moments earlier would have been tossed in the trash without a second thought, had taken on an almost sacred significance in her eyes in the span of a few syllables. “Yui, I’m so proud of you! You have no idea.” She threw her arms around Yui, squeezing her tight. “Thank you, Yui. Thank you for listening to me.”
The blonde squeezed her back, so tightly it hurt, but Ranko did not mind in the least. “Well, what can I say? You’re an impressionable young girl. We can’t have your heroes going and letting you down, now, can we?” She sighed quietly into her sister’s shoulder. “I’m proud of me, too, kiddo. I’m trying. Thanks for caring enough to give your big sister a swift kick in the ass when she needed one.”
“Always. I love you so much, Yui!” Ranko broke the hug, picking up the glass jar and shaking it in the barkeep’s face. “And I expect this to be a lot fuller when I get home, ya got it?”
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“Here. I bought you something.”
Crash looked over the little black device his girlfriend had handed him skeptically, fiddling with the spring-loaded clip on its back. “Really, Ukyo?”
“Yeah! I mean, you’re gonna be all over, right? I can’t keep track of a thousand hotel rooms and phone numbers, crap like that. I’ve got a business to run! So, just keep this with you, and I can get a hold of you wherever you are.” Ukyo flashed a sweet smile up at him.
“Oooh,” the guitarist’s friend said with a smirk, leaning over Crash’s shoulder to look at the pager in his hand. “Looks like shit’s gettin’ serious, bro. You got yourself a leash.”
Crash flushed furiously as he clipped the device to the waistband of his blue jeans, turning it inward so that the plastic casing rested against the skin of his hip. “That’s not what it’s about at all, Shin! Shut the fuck up!”
The young chef smirked, running her hand down the narrow strip of tan tee shirt visible between the open breasts of her boyfriend’s leather jacket. “You sure about that, Noboyuki?”
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“Ranko? Honey, what are you doing hiding up here? There’s a party going on for you downstairs, ya know.”
The redhead looked up, smiling softly at the woman standing in the open doorway of her former apartment. “Hey, Mom. I’m good.”
Hana sat on the bed next to her daughter, pulling her under her arm and against her chest. “Nice try. Baby, what’s wrong? Don’t flash that fake-ass smile at me. I know my little girl too well for that.”
Ranko sighed, curling her knees into her chest and letting Hana’s embrace envelop her. Her disused left knee strained slightly, but she ignored it. “Mama, I don’t wanna go. I’m scared. I don’t want to leave everything I love behind like this. I fought too hard for it, and I don’t wanna let it go.”
The Phoenix’ matriarch squeezed her youngest child close, sighing gently. “Oh, honey. You’re not leaving anything behind. Everything you love will be waiting for you right where you left it when you get home, I promise. You’re not leaving us. You’re having an adventure - one you’re doing to do great at - and you’re gonna come back in a few weeks and regale us all with your epic tales. You can absolutely do this. You’re a survivor, kid, just like your sisters.”
The redhead shook her head frantically, hugging tight into Hana’s leather-clad chest. “I’m not ready, Mom.”
Hana kissed the girl in her arms on the top of her head through her hairspray-stiffened red mane. “Yes, you are, Ranko. Yes, you are. I know you are. You’ve been through so many bigger challenges than this. You are stronger and braver and smarter than you’ve ever given yourself credit for.” She sighed quietly, kicking her heels gently against the white aluminum footboard of the twin-sized bed.
“Ranko, do you know why I renamed this place Phoenix?”
Ranko sniffled quietly with a slow shake of her head. “I mean, you never told me, but I figured it was obvious. The girls who come here rose from the ashes.”
Hana nodded softly. “That they did, but that’s not why I picked the name.”
“Why then?” Ranko sat up, looking at her mother curiously as she wiped her running nose on the sleeve of her plush hoodie.
The Phoenix’ matriarch leaned forward, putting her hand behind Ranko’s head. She pulled her gently forward, placing a soft kiss on her daughter’s forehead.
“Because the girls here burn the brightest, and shine their light on the whole of the world. Because they can’t ever be defeated - they might sometimes be down, but they’re never, ever out. Because they are fucking legendary.”
Hana pulled the shivering singer into a hug again, holding her tight against her black leather jacket. “So, I want you to dry your tears, and get on that plane with your chin up. I want you to carry the light I’ve watched grow in you everywhere you go. I want you to inspire the thousands - millions - of girls that need a light in the dark to guide them. I want you to be a symbol of hope for every girl out there who thinks what’s broken in them can’t be fixed. I want girls none of us will ever meet, in cities whose names we can barely pronounce, to know they can walk out of the fire stronger than they went in, like Ranko Tendo did. That’s a power only you possess, baby. I can do it with one girl at a time, if I’m very lucky. You can do it with stadiums full. That is a legacy you can leave that will last forever, Ranko. But you’ve got to be brave enough to do it.”
Ranko sniffled loudly against her mother’s chest. “No pressure, huh?”
“There you two are.”
The redhead sat up on the bed, waving limply in the direction of the doorway. “Hey, Akane. We’re just talkin’.”
Akane nodded, smiling softly. She was always so glad to see Ranko open herself up to her mother’s wisdom and counsel. “Do you need a minute?”
Hana shook her head. “No, I think maybe I’m not the one she needs right now.” She stood, bending over her daughter to kiss her forehead again. “I love you, little star, and I’m so proud of you.”
“I love you too, Mom,” Ranko said through another sniffle as Akane sat in the still-warm little nest Hana’s backside had made in the purple duvet cover. Hana stepped quietly out of the room, noiselessly closing the door to the little one-room orphanage above her bar.
“Hey, princess,” Akane said, flashing her lover a gentle smile. “Smile for me?”
“I’m tryin’, Akane. I swear.”
Ranko did manage a small smile, wiping more of her mascara from her cheeks with her fingers. I’m not sure why the hell I bothered putting this shit on; I knew I was gonna end up crying and fucking it up.
“Hey. I mean it. Look at me. I have to remember your face for the next few weeks, and I don’t want to remember it sad. I wanna see the brave, beautiful, silly girl I love. I know she’s in there.” Akane reached out, brushing a loose strand of Ranko’s hair from her eyes before playfully poking the golden heart dangling from the pale pink choker that peeked out through the V-shaped neckline of her lover’s hoodie. It was styled as if it had been constructed of old-timey cogs and gears like some steampunk mechanism, with a faux keyhole at its center.
“Akane, I… I can’t…”
“Shhh.” Akane pulled her wife into a hug, stroking her hair. “Yes, you can. I’ll look after everything for you, I promise. I’ll keep an eye on Yui, and your mom, and this place. All of it. All you need to worry about is going out there, showing the world who you are, and taking what’s yours. And never, ever forgetting that you’re mine, and you’re coming home to me.”
“I… I love you, Akane. More than anything.”
The larger girl rubbed Ranko’s back firmly under the hood that dangled beneath her red hair from the back of her sweatshirt. “I love you too, Mrs. Tendo. I love you fiercely, I love you proudly, and I love you forever.”
Ranko ignored the knocking on the apartment door as she was pulled into a desperate kiss that threatened to melt the whole of what little resolve she had for the task ahead.
The door swung open gently after a second set of soft raps, and Mei’s voice called to the lovers.
“Ranko, honey, the van’s here to take you to the airport.”
Akane withdrew her tongue slowly from Ranko’s mouth, standing and offering her wife her left hand as she wiped a tear from her own cheek with her right.
“Come on, princess. It’s time for you to go conquer the world.”