Gentle Summer Rains: I'm the Village's Idol Now?!
Episode One: The Village's Talent Show Brings Me Misfortune!
Satoyama is a rustic little mountain village. The village is a collection of rice paddies, cottages and one or two mom and pop owned stores found within a deep valley of Gifu Province. Satoyama is in some ways a village that has been forgotten by Father Time himself. Around two or maybe three thousand or so souls lived within the four square miles that made up the village proper. The center of their life is married to the cycle of the seasons. Rice is always planted in the spring of the year. It then grows throughout the summer and after autumn's harvest is sold to regional markets scattered across Japan. And in winter, when frost and snow cover the ground, the fields are furloughed till the coming spring when the cycle will start anew. It's a cycle as old as man himself.
Only the occasional celebrations of local saints and carnivals mark this unbroken way of life. These festivals often mark a brief one day period of rest for the tired rice farmer and his often overworked and underpaid field hands. Each of these events more often than not take place in the gray flagstone paved square located in front of the village's Shinto Shrine. It was there, upon the old gray stones that were fitted tightly together, that were always swept clean the day before a major village celebration that the main attraction would be set up. For some of the events the town council of selectmen would hire out a dunking booth and for others a gunge booth.
The evening sky above the village was painted a layer of orange; dark and gray with a splashing of stars just starting to sparkle. The mouth-watering smell of fried dough and the bitter, sour smell of burning charcoal filled the air, along with the better, sour smell of burning charcoal added its own smell to the host of smells that were filling the narrow walkways formed by the various booths and tents that had been set up. The hawking and shouting of the various ventures and peddlers added their own bit of magical ring to the air.
Hideyoshi took a deep breath as he poked his head out from behind the velvet theater curtain. Taking a deep breath he shook his head back and forth and felt the first waves of blush coloring his cheeks. The whole thing felt very silly if anybody bothered to ask him. And of course, nobody had even bothered to ask him!
In fact, all of his classmates, all twenty of them had just really pounced on the idea of turning the new transfer student straight from the big city into an aspiring idol. They'd have him go onto stage and sing a few songs and dance around the stage too. Of course, when the whole freaking school can be squeezed into a two story rented Forest Ranger Station, what do you expect? Even the teacher seemed amused with the idea, and had even volunteered to be the master of ceremonies.
Releasing his held in deep breath, Hideyoshi peered toward the young woman who wore a simple, short sleeve sundress that reached down to her knees. Her shoulder length hazelnut brown hair hung loose around her shoulders and a gentle smile played across her lips as she gently clapped along with the others as the current act being performed on stage came to a end.
“Well don!” The teacher said as she softly clapped her hands together. “Those were some pretty amazing magical tricks Ringo-Kun.” She smiled as she walked over to the small boy who had just finished doing a series of cheap magical tricks, ending with him pulling an old stuffed rabbit from the confines of his old, tattered top hat.
“I'm sure everyone enjoyed that little magic show! But now it's time to see if you get,” She paused as she waited for the crowd to respond.
“YEN OR YUCK!” The gathered mass of some one hundred villagers shouted all at once. The female teacher blushed and smiled a little as she gently nudged Ringo toward a strange kind of booth that was set up in the center of the stage.
The young man blushed a little as he handed off his walking cane, his tattered top hat and his faded, patched cloak to the teacher stand by. He then drew in a deep breath as he walked over to the center of the stage. Smoothing out his hair with his hands, he stood upon the bright 'X' that was made with some red duck tape. Above the 'X' there could be seen an open piece of PVC pipe. A half formed circle of plastic sheets surround him. The Raven-haired boy took a deep breath as a pre-recorded drum roll was played over a thrown together sound system.
After the drum roll was finished. The teacher smiled and then turned toward the crowd and in a loud booming voice that carried over the noise and confusion called out.
“Okay, its time to see if Magical Ringo here get some yen, or if he's going to get yucky!” She cried out as she stepped to the side. Another roll of the drum filled the air as dozens upon dozens of paper fans with a large green dot painted upon them were pushed into the air. A sea of green dots appeared in the crowd, and a few token red dots appeared too. But the message was clear as crystal; The boy was safe.
“We'll it looks like Magical Ringo pulled another rabbit from his hat!” The teacher said, clapping her hands together as she called the boy over to her side. Once Ringo was standing by her side, she reached down into her dress pocket and pulled out a small coin purse. Smiling gently she placed the faux, brown, leather drawstring back down into his open palm. The bag was filled with coins, most of the coins either being the one hundred yen coin or the highly valued five hundred yen coin.
“For your wonderful display of magical talent. I'm pleased to reward you with a prize of twenty five hundred yen.” She said winking toward the crowd and the crowd went wild with excitement.
“And now for our next act we have the lovely Amaya, the strange and mysterious transfer student straight from the busy, bustling streets of Tokyo!” The teacher bellowed and bedlam once more broke out. A group of teenage girls sitting in the front screamed the loudest. All of them were dressed in colorful yukata, those light unlined cotton summer kimonos that always appeared at summer festivals. All four of them held up a large sign that read. “Good Luck! Amaya-Chan!” Followed by “WE LOVE YOU! AMAYA-CHAN!”
The sight of the sign made Hedeyoshi blush and wiggle around. He knew that group of girls; they were among his closest friends, and had even taken him under their wings when he had arrived at a local bus stop a few months ago, back when winter was retreating and spring was advancing. It had been their idea to dress him up like one of those idols you often see on television. They had also chosen his stage name of Amaya, which roughly meant night rain.
In fact, it had been the oldest of the idea of the oldest one of the group, seventeen year old Oichi Oda, whose family owned and operated the towns only general store, that had first suggested the idea. She had even provided the outfit for Hideyoshi to wear.
The outfit, a pleated pink skirt, a sparkling white crop top and pink go-go booths had been ordered through the Oda Family's General store. The outfit had come from some cosplay wholesale store that was located in neighboring Gifu City, the city was the namesake of the prefecture and also the largest city and capital too.
All of these thoughts rolled through Hideyoshi's head as he watched Ringo gently climb down from the stage. He liked Ringo a lot too; he was basically the only guy friend he had, and he was something of the little brother of the group. He quickly collected his thoughts. After all, it was his time to shine now, so putting on his best stage smile, he walked out onto the stage and offered a little wave to the gathered crowd of village locals.
“And here we her, Amaya-chan herself!” The teacher said, smiling. “Its an honor to meet an Idol in person! I mean, normally you gotta travel to one of the big super huge cities, like Kyoto or Tokyo to meet one.” She paused and smirked. “If you don't mind me asking, what brings you all the way to this rural mountain village, Amaya-chan?” She asked as she pushed the microphone she was holding toward him.
Hideyoshi blinked and blinked again. He was still getting used to being addressed as Amaya, and the fact that senpai had chosen to use the honorific 'Chan' instead of 'Kun' or the more formal 'San' really made him feel more feminine, and that made him feel more at ease with this whole charade. Or was it really a charade? It was becoming harder and harder to tell the difference with each passing minute. Hideyoshi soon found himself pushing all of this from his mind, and sternly he reminded himself that he was on stage now and this was just a silly act in a silly talent show. He then emptied his mind and reminded himself he needed to to act feminine in order to pull off this gig.
“Yes, my mother and father just moved from Tokyo. My mother is a manga artist, and she finds the cool mountain air refreshing. She can also really focus on her work here in the mountains without all the hustle and bustle of the big city.” He said, smiling a little. He felt like walking on a very tightrope or along a very narrow path. All eyes were zooming in on him.
“And how are you finding this village and your new school, Amaya-chan?” The teacher asked again. “How does it compare to your old school, it must be really dull and small. I mean we lack a lot of the fancy clubs and sports teams of the big city schools.” She quickly added.
“School is...” Hideyoshi paused, the first question he felt he could handle. But this question threw him for a loop. Leave it up to the teacher to throw in a random curve ball. Once more he found himself trying to think like a girl. Then almost naturally, the words came spewing forth from his mouth. “School is cool.” He said at first. “Its small, so everybody knows everybody and we're all friends. Its like we're one big family. In Kyoto, the schools are so big, and crowded that it's hard to get to know anybody at all.”
“We'll, we're happy to have you. Anyway, I want you to know, you really want to avoid the forfeit tonight. Because we've prepared a really nasty blend of slime for tonight's loser. It's best not to go into detail, but I think it's vile.” She said, smirking. “Anyway, you may began when you're ready.” And with that the teacher stepped to the side and retreated to the back of the stage. And then from the front an spotlight was shined on Hideyoshi.
For a solid fifteen seconds, Hideyoshi felt his mind go blank. He had had heard of stage fright before, but never before had he personally encountered it. Then he found a voice, a voice that came from deep inside of him. From some hidden recess of his soul. The voice was cool, calm, confident, feminine, bubbly and strong. It was the sheer force of that voice that caused Hideyoshi to break the mold and to assume the personality that might indeed be Amaya, finally coming out from hiding in those hidden corners of the soul.
Fifteen more seconds passed though before Hideyoshi started to sing, his voice, though, was off key and did not match the music being played in the background. As dozens of musical teachers before had noticed, the boy could not carry a tune in a bucket to save his life. His voice squeaked and fell flat. It was beyond painful ; It was agonizing. Halfway through his song, a dozen paper fans were already starting to appear in the air. All of them had that big red dot in the middle. Toward the middle of his song, however, something came over him. It was that tiny voice again, perhaps belonging to Amaya that took hold of him. Then as though you had flipped a mental switch his singing started to improve a little and the swaying of his hips became a bit more natural, smoother and more graceful.
A murmur of approval ran through the crowd as a few of the people pulled down the red dotted fans and replaced them with green. Though those came down as soon as the singing started to get off tune again. At last though, mercifully to the ears of all, the sing stopped. And Hideyoshi just stood there, blushing as he looked out at the sea of red-dotted paper fans.
“So.” The teacher said, her ears were still ringing from the act. Slowly she blinked in hopes of collecting her wits. “That was something...” She said blushing quite unsure of what to say. She did, however walk over to Hideyoshi and place a loving arm around his shoulder. “Though Amaya-Chan.” She said gently as she guided the boy across the stage toward the awaiting booth. “I'm sorry to say that I don't think your little performance tonight is going to earn you any yen. In fact, I think you're about to get very messy!” She cried as she gently motioned for Hideyoshi to step inside the confines of the booth. She then pointed with her fingers to the bright red 'X' that had been taped to the floor. Hideyoshi got the message and stepped onto the 'X'.
“I can't help it.” Hideyoshi said in a voice that was not his own. It seemed with each passing second, Amaya was becoming more and more a person and less and less an idea or a stage persona if you wanted to get clever with it. He knew this feeling all too well. Being an veteran roleplayer of both online forums and tabletop games. It was the kind of feeling one had when they discovered a character they had a really solid connection with; A character that had been hidden in the deep recesses of the player's soul. It was both a thrilling and frightening experience.
“Can't help what?” The teacher asked, blinking as she stepped aside and took hold of the cord that would release the mess all over Hideyoshi.
“I can't help that you village bumpkins fail to notice how talented I am!” If my singing was good enough for the tea houses and sound stages of Kyoto and Tokyo, it should be more than good enough for your little talent show!” He said in a high pitched, haughty tone of voice that was oddly feminine.
The feminine tone of voice took everybody back, including the teacher who was in on the act. The shock of hearing such a feminine tone of voice even caused the teacher to pause before smirking a little as she wrapped her slender and perfectly manicured fingers around the braided, silken cord that would release the sixty liters of mess that was hovering above Hideyoshi's head.
Having been the one to mix the mess she knew the mixture was really sticky, as she had used four boxes of instant vanilla pudding, one liter of oatmeal, a dozen jars of chunky applesauce and a touch of blue food coloring. She was sure the boy would have a time trying to get the stuff out of hair.
“Oh, I'm so sorry princess.” The teacher cooed as she peered toward the crowd and winked. “But maybe, next time you'll have a little more luck.” She said with a wicked grin. “OKAY EVERYBODY, COUNT DOWN WITH ME, STARTING AT THREE!” She shouted at the top of her lungs. Her loud voice echoed loudly into the night and even bounced off the stone face of one of the mountains.
“ONE!” Shouted one hundred voices that was quickly followed by, “TWO!” Came another shout that echoed across the rice seedling sleeping in the warm earth. Hideyosh was blushing at this point, he folded his hands and placed them in his center and tried his very best to smile. He wanted to cast a very demure pose. He wanted to pose the way Amaya would pose if she was her right now. As the seconds ticked by, he could feel his cheeks starting to flush color. And he could hear, Amaya screaming deep within his head. Her voice was so clear, so definite he wondered if he and her were really just one of the same, but he had very little time to ponder because at that very moment the word “THREE!” Was shouted by one hundred voices, that hungered for humiliation and the braided cord was pulled. The bucket that hovered overhead was upturned and a thick concoction, gurgled as it poured out of the bucket and down the funnel and into the pipe.
Then in a blink of an eye, the slime came tumbling down, it rained down upon Hideyoshi's head and splattered in all directions before starting to dome at the top of his head. Then the dome started to flatten out and soon the chunky mixture started to roll down his head, coating the back of his top and skirt were drenched through and through and so was the front. In short, he was drenched from the top of his head to his very toes in chunky, pastel blue, apple-scented slime.
“This show's slime mixture is one part applesauce, one part vanilla pudding, one part oatmeal and two good drops of blue food coloring to give it that lovely shade of blue you're wearing. Amaya-Chan, could you do a huge favor and taste some of it.” The teacher said with a wicked smirk.
Hideyoshi blinked and blinked again. He was still getting used to being addressed as 'Amaya' but the more he was called that, the more he felt the name kind of suited him. After all It was just an act, so he returned the teachers smirk with one of his own and lifted his fingers to his mouth, then counting backwards from three to one he started to lick at some of the slime that had fallen on his hand off with his tongue, He quickly came to regret his decision. The mixture tasted just like the teacher said it would, it tasted way too sweet and it tasted as sticky as it sounded and felt.
“Wow! What a wonderful sport!” Cried the teacher as she started to gently clap her hands together. “And while you might not be walking away with any prize money, sad to say, you did get slimed. How does it feel?” The teacher asked as she walked the booth and held the microphone close to Hideyoshi's mouth.
“It's so gross!” Hideyoshi said blushing. He sounded so much like a girl it was pitiful. “Those big chunks made it feel so yucky!” He whined.
“At least its better than last year's show.” The teacher paused as she started to sweat drop a little. “Last year's slime was a mixture of soy sauce, canned tuna fish, canned soup, oatmeal and of course applesauce. It was a strange blend of sweet and savory. And poor Nobuna-Chan smelled like fish and soy sauce for a week..”
“I bet it did, anyway you've been a big sport Amaya-Chan. There is a make-shift cleaning station set up backstage.” The teacher paused. “Let's give Amaya-Can another round of applause for being such a good sport!” She shouted. And with that, Hideyoshi stepped off the stage and started to make his way toward the make-shift shower. The shower in question was nothing more than a concrete slab with a drain in the middle. A rusty shower head sprayed a fine mist of water when the knob was turned, a few old boards provided shelter and privy. And thankfully a small bathrobe was provided.
As the water washed away the gathered gunk and the fragrant smell of provided body wash filled the air and as he washed his hair with the coconut shampoo that was also provided, free of charge. He suddenly changed his body. Everything was different, from the way the soap felt to the way it smelled. It was like they were really going out of their way to treat him like we're an Idol and that made him feel special.
As the seconds turned to minutes, Hideyoshi started to wonder if he should be Amaya-Chan more often, after all, if she gets this kind of treatment, it would totally be worth it. Even if his first time being Amaya-Chan ended up with him getting covered from head to toe in gunk, it was still worth it, he still had fun, he enjoyed getting dressed up and even performing on stage. Sighing, Hideyoshi washed the last of the soap from his body and hair and cut the water off. It seemed he had a lot of soul searching to do in the coming days.
And here the Adventure comes to an end.
