Chapter 311
Lita walked to school alone that morning. She sighed and thought back to what had gone on the week before.
Monday. She thought.
"You're debut is set for this Friday," Mike said. "So that's as long as we've got to get you ready."
"That fast?" Lita said. "But I've never been on stage before.."
"Yes that could be a problem," Mike said. "But we'll work you through it."
"Yeah don't worry," Steve said. "It isn't that hard usually."
"Usually?" Lita asked.
"And what figures are you speaking from here Steve?" Rick asked.
"I just meant that I was just trying to reassure her that's all," Steve muttered.
"Hey..if I can handle being on stage, anyone can," Chad said.
"Now that's meaningful advice," Lita said with a grin.
"We should get started," Rick said and headed out the door.
"When did he become so committed anyway?" Lita asked.
"Ever since something was expected of him I guess," Steve said.
"Yeah, I'm betting on that," Mike said.
They headed for the door. "ALINA! My lucky rag!"
"Coming Mike!" Alina shouted hurrying down the hall
towards them.
Later at a restaurant.
"Isn't it funny?" Serena asked and then took a sip of a milkshake.
"What?" Lita asked.
"Well just how much the scouts are contributing to the music industry in this country?"
"I see what you mean," Lita said.
"But..I think we'll be sure that it's the Armageddon when I get signed to a cello contract, and Patterson hits the nightclub circuit," Serena said.
Lita laughed envisioning those two events and the havoc they would most likely cause.
"I don't know what I'm doing," Lita said. "I'm trying to get a job singing for the exact reason that I can't sing."
"Well..that never stopped Milli Vanilli now did it?" Serena asked.
"Who?" Lita asked.
"You don't remember them, the American band that lip synched.."
"Lip synched...hey why don't I just do that!"
"Because it wouldn't work," Serena said.
"Why not?"
"It just wouldn't.." Serena said. "Besides they hired you for you voice."
"You're right, thought it would be a lot easier if I just had to concentrate on mouthing words rather then singing them," Lita said.
"Sorry..you've already got a free break, don't ask for anymore," Serena said.
"Guess you're right," Lita said.
"Yes, and now I must go practice my Cello!" Serena said hopping up.
"Have fun with Darrien Serena," Lita said.
Serena grinned and hurried out.
Tuesday.
"Super spin attack!" Ayeka Mizuno shouted.
"Super spin attack counter!" Patterson replied and swung his sword.
The two bounced off each other and took up fighting stances at either end of the school's courtyard.
Lita watched the whole scene in awe and curiosity, much like the rest of the students.
The beauty of watching them fight is that it never gets old. They keep using different moves to try to throw their opponent off balance.
"Ryusen!" Mizuno shouted unveiling her latest move. A flying role with a sword. Patterson jumped over her and swung forward.
Is she even human? Jeez.. Lita thought. Then again I've seen more skill. How do these two have time to devote themselves to an art like this? Guess it comes easier for some then others. But from what I know with Mister Nagumo, there skills don't usually come easily for anyone.
That creepy old man...she thought.
A screech punctuated the battle as Ayeka leapt from a tree swinging her sword. Patterson leapt over her. The two went at it again.
Ayeka seems to really have devoted a lot of time to offense. Then again Patterson prefers the defensive when he can get it.
"Armageddon in a can attack!" Ayeka said moving faster then anyone expect.
"Counter!" Patterson shouted and the two smashed into each other. They both fell to the ground wincing.
"Well..this isn't surprising," Raye said.
"Sooner or later one of those super moves is going to connect," Haruka said. "Then it's all over."
"Who do you think's going to win Haruka?" Lita asked.
"Whoever makes the first mistake," Haruka said.
Lita nodded.
Later at the big crushers' studio.
"Okay..now this has been going pretty well," Rick said. "Let's keep it up."
"Let's jam," Mike said smashing on the drums.
"Mike..cool it man.." Steve said.
"YAH! I'm an animal!" Mike shouted.
"Mike..." Rick muttered.
"What's his problem?" Lita asked.
"He's Mike," Rick said. "That's all you need to know."
"BAM!" Mike said smashing a cymble.
"Well..as long as that's settled," Lita said.
"Let's give this another go," Rick said.
"Gotcha," Mike said and hit a beat out on his drum.
The band started up and she started to sing.
Wednesday.
"So it's true that you signed up with the big crushers?" Seiya asked.
"Well yes," Lita said.
"Hmm..I see..why?"
"I have my reasons Seiya," Lita said. "I don't like your tone."
"What am I supposed to think? Don't you like our music?"
"Yes Seiya, I love it. And I'm not going to make fun of your music am I?"
"No..but you're making fun of the institution. You're joining the bad guys," Seiya said.
"Seiya, just because there's a rivalry is no reason to get bent out of shape," Lita said.
"Lita, I don't like those guys, and you go and help them out," Seiya said.
"They're my friends," Lita said.
"Eh...so what?" Seiya asked. "I'm your supposed boyfriend aren't I? And you're going to be trashing two of your best friends."
"Seiya, they understand, besides, we're just having some fun," Lita said. "Raye and Mina are okay with it."
"So you think," Seiya said. "I sure wouldn't want my best friend making fun of me."
"Do you even have a best friend Seiya?" Lita asked.
"Enjoy yourself," Seiya said and walked away.
"Seiya..wait.."
Seiya didn't listen. Lita sighed. I didn't want this to
happen.
Later.
"The opportunity came up. I took it," Lita said. "Why does everyone have to take is so personally."
"Lita, I'm not trying to judge you," Amy said. "But I think everyone just wants to understand your motivations. I think what you're doing is fine. I guess if I had the reasons, I wouldn't turn down such an opportunity either, not that I'd ever be up on stage..but that's not the point."
"Amy..Raye and Mina seemed to understand. Even Rick accepted it. But Seiya."
"Seiya can be a jerk sometimes," Amy said.
"You noticed?" Lita said sarcastically.
"Listen Lita, it's just a strange situation that's all. Seiya will get used to it."
"That's what I'm hoping," Lita said. "I really wouldn't want to lose him over this. He can be a nice guy."
"He's probably got a lot on his mind with Yaten and all," Amy said.
"What's happening with Yaten?" Lita asked.
"No one told you?" Amy asked.
"No," Lita said.
"Yaten's thinking of leaving the group."
"Oh..I see..that might..mess up things then," Lita said. "In fact..what place is there for me in a band whose opponent is the three lights if the three lights don't exist."
"I don't know, but Yaten hasn't done anything yet," Amy said. "He's just thinking about it. Mina seems to think that he's had enough though."
"Oh..well..guess we'll have to see then," Lita said.
Thursday.
"Lita..listen," Seiya said. "I'm sorry..I overreacted yesterday."
"You had other problems," Lita said. "I realize I might not be helping things."
"Yeah well...I guess I'm just a little protective. But there's no reason for me to react like that."
"Seiya, it's okay. Let's move on."
"Yeah..I guess...Yaten decided he's going to quit today."
"He did? Oh..I'm sorry," Lita said.
"Yeah..well.." Seiya said. "Guess we can't help it. He has his reasons. I have to respect them. So we're going to be kicking off the farewell tour tonight. And then from then on..until the end of the schedule."
"No more three lights huh? It's hard to contemplate," Lita said.
"Well..there'll still be the big crushers," Seiya said.
Lita laughed.
"Yeah guess so," Lita said. "It's too bad, you're music did mean something."
"I know," Seiya said. "It was more than just a way to find the princess. But hey..what can you do?"
Lita nodded.
"Anyway..after the tour when summer comes we're going to be headed back to our planet to see how things are.." Seiya said.
"Will you be coming back?" Lita asked.
"I don't know," Seiya said. "It all depends. I mean..if this Gala mess isn't cleaned up we might have to stick around, but otherwise I don't know."
"I see," Lita said. "Well..good luck with all of it."
"We'll have plenty of time to deal with goodbyes," Seiya said. "Right now the three lights need to put on a farewell tour which will be remembered for years to come."
"I don't know if I can do what I'm supposed to now," Lita said.
"What?"
"Well..making fun of you on your farewell tour?" Lita asked.
"Oh..I guess that is a problem," Seiya said. "I'm sure Mina and Raye won't mind. They're under contract for a while."
"What about your contracts?" Lita asked. "Can you just break them?"
"Well..uh..we don't know about that yet," Seiya said. "But...we're working on it. Taiki says there are ways out."
"All right," Lita said. "I should go talk to Rick."
"Yeah.well...see ya later," Seiya said.
And at the rival band's studio.
"What? Farewell tour?" Rick asked. "Aw geez..Mike..how are we supposed to trash their farewell tour?"
"Good question, I'll have a list of ways on your desk tomorrow morning," Mike said.
"No..I mean morally," Rick said.
"Oh..well..why not?" Mike said and shrugged.
"It would propel us up in the charts," Steve said.
"I don't know," Rick said. "I don't like the three lights, but I kinda wouldn't mind letting them go in style."
"Too bad you won't be doing that?" the record executive said walking onto the stage. "I wondered what your reaction would be. You've got a contract Mister Fujimori, and I will hold you to it."
"Uh but about me?" Lita asked.
"You?" the executive asked. "What about you? All of you have contracts. All of you will honor them."
"But Seiya's my boyfriend, I don't want to derail his farewell tour."
"Listen up," The executive said. "The farewell tour will rake in millions with fans buying up the last vestiges of three lights merchandise and going to their concerts. However, it is also possible for the big crushers to rake in extra millions capitalizing on this. And you will do so."
"Don't you have any sense of honor?" Rick asked.
"This is the record industry, not feudal Japan Fujimori, now..keep going, the concert is still tomorrow. And you will do what your supposed to," the executive said and walked out.
"So much for our dreams," Rick muttered.
"So what do we do?" Lita asked.
"I wanna have a look at our contract. But until then let's practice some more," Rick said.
"For what Rick?" Mike asked.
"Because until we can find a way out of this, we have to perform," Rick said.
"Ehh...life, ain't it grand?" Steve muttered.
And now it was Friday.
Lita wondered just how Rick was going to get them out of their contracts. They were stuck. I guess it's not a big deal. They could perform making fun of the three lights and keep going. But after the executive treated them the way he did, Lita wasn't sure any of them were cut out for that business.
I had to get involved. Well this is what happens when you try something new. Wait a minute I usually don't think like that. Wait a second..my father's a cop, this is why I'm in this mess, he'd have way for us to get out of this. I'll have to see him after school.
She quickened her pace.
I just want to see some of my friends and try to forget about
this for now.
In class.
"All right..here's what we got," Rick said putting a sheet of paper on his desk. The group of scouts all crowded around.
"Hey..these terms are better then ours were," Seiya snapped.
"Hah hah," Mike said.
"Of course we're able to break our contract," Seiya said.
"Hey Seiya, I'm involved too," Lita said.
"Sorry..I forgot," Seiya said.
"Seriously though, since you guys getting out would cause us less annoyance we are willing to assist you," Taiki said.
"But are you guys sure you want to leave the music business?" Serena asked. "I don't mean to be nosy..but isn't this what you wanted."
"Not this kind of business," Rick said.
"Yeah, not with this company," Mike said. "The big time is all right, but forced to do something..no way."
"Besides we have plenty of fun playing out of a garage," Steve said.
"Seems like you've got it figured out," Rick said.
"Of course Alina's going to be crushed," Mike said.
"Alina?" Everyone asked.
"Alina, my new girlfriend. She doesn't two time," Mike said.
"Hey! Watch it!" Mina snapped.
"I got it, Patterson could blow up the company headquarters," Haruka said.
The group chuckled.
"Wouldn't work Haruka, we'd also have to hit the subsidiaries and branch offices," Patterson said stoically.
"Touche," Haruka said.
Hotaru started laughing.
Everyone looked at her.
"I love his dark humor," She said.
Patterson blushed.
"So how'd you get out of your contracts guys?" Lita asked the three lights.
"Well you see, since our contract was up at the end of the summer anyway, we stated that a protracted legal battle just wouldn't get us anywhere," Taiki said.
"When's your term up?" Seiya asked.
"Well...uh.." Rick said. "A year from now.."
Everyone sighed.
"And a few months," Mike said.
The group sighed again.
"Hmm..." Taiki said and looked through it. "Who was your lawyer?"
"My father," Mike said.
"Oh..I see," Taiki said. "That explains it."
"Hey, he's a very good criminal lawyer!" Mike said.
"This contract isn't ironclad though. Rarely can companies create contracts without loopholes," Taiki said.
"So how do we get out?" Mike said.
"Didn't he say he'd fire us if we didn't let Lita perform?" Steve asked.
"Right, but now that we want to get fired he wouldn't do that," Rick said.
"What's all this? I'm sorry to intrude," Ayeka said sticking her head into the huddle.
"No problem Ayeka.." Mike said. "You know how to get out of a music contract."
"Kill everyone involved except yourself, and then not get convicted?" Ayeka asked.
Hotaru began laughing. Patterson turned away to hide a smile.
"Good thinking Ayeka," Mike said.
"Seriously though, what's the trouble?" She asked.
Time passed and they explained it.
"Hmm..I know..you're all still minors right?" Ayeka asked.
"Yeah, yeah," They said.
"Well..that means that legally you're only allowed to work so much," Ayeka said. "Performances you know."
"Right," Rick said. "They spaced them out. How does that help?"
"Well..there's also a law that says that no minor can be held under contract by anyone for longer then a year without a special waiver," Ayeka said.
"She's right," Amy said. "I remember that from somewhere."
"Tell me we didn't sign a special waiver," Rick said.
"No..only the contract," Mike said.
"Let's make sure the special waiver isn't in the contract," Rick said and flipped through it.
"It's not!" he said. "We're out yes!"
Lita flipped through her own contract.
"It isn't in mine either. But then again I'm only signed up for as long as you guys are anyway."
"Then we're clear!" the guys shouted.
"Yay..." Seiya muttered.
"The only problem I foresee is that the three lights had more leverage then you do. The record company may just hold you to that year while you battle in court over it," Taiki said. "Also, there are obscure scheduling laws."
"That's right, you have to watch out for them too," Ayeka said.
"What are they about?" Mike asked.
"Essentially, even if your contract is out with a record company if you happened to book with a venue, you might still have to play anyway."
"This is a law?" Lita asked in surprise.
"When will they learn! DEMOCRACY doesn't work!" Mike shouted.
"From the looks of it, any day now," Hotaru said.
The majority of the class started laughing.
"Jeez..what's everyone standing around like this for," The Miss Love said walking in. "Take your seats for heaven's sakes."
Everyone sat down.
Later that day.
"Lita, there's no way we can stop this before tonight. I guess you'll have to go out there, but, the executive doesn't have creative control, so we can probably keep him from making you make fun of the girls," Rick said.
"That's okay, we've actually got a way to handle it," Lita said.
"We?"
"Uh huh," Lita said. "You just wait and see."
"Uh okay.." Rick said. "Now you've got me worried."
"Oh don't worry...but you want to mess with the record company don't ya?"
"Yes," Rick said.
"Then that's just what we'll do."
"Okay..but.." Rick said.
"This is golden, trust me."
"All right..all right," Rick said.
That night at a crowded stadium. The big crushers put on another performance. Sitting in the front row was Serena, Amy, Greg, Haruka, and Michiru. The three lights and Patterson were outside just in case Gala broke her word.
The guys finished off another song.
"This crowd is crazy," Serena said.
"I agree, maybe it's best that there isn't a unifying force for such behavior," Amy said.
"They're just having some fun," Michiru said.
"Yes, it's fun to give up your sense of decency and control!" Haruka shouted hysterically.
"Tell me you're kidding," Serena said.
"I am," Haruka said calmly.
"Good..I thought you had been transformed to one of these people," Serena said.
"Nope, I'm fine."
"Here comes Lita," Amy said.
Lita came out on stage dressed in a puffy outfit.
"Uh hi," she said. "I'm Lita, and well..you know the three lights have these two girls that sing with them, Mina and Raye...."
The crowd booed.
"Uh well..yes..please don't blame them for their misguided ways," Lita said. Most of the crowd laughed. "Anyway..I uh..know them pretty well, and I felt that because we're such good friends, it probably made perfect sense for me to make fun of them."
The crowd roared.
"Can't argue with her logic," Michiru said.
The band started up with a quick song which meant essentially all Lita had to was talk quickly.
"Just how do two girls from the same high school and same group of friends end up as idol stars anyway? Maybe the fact that they were trying to get dates from the three lights at the time might have helped, I don't know I wasn't there. You see Raye is happy she's an idol because she's really good at singing and Mina's happy because she gets to have fun without having to do any work for it. See..that's what it's about. And so I'm here and look hey I'm an idol star too, but I can't even sing.."
She then broke into a horrendous rise in her voice. The crowd laughed.
"Mina and Raye can sing I guess, but who'd want to listen because they're just talking about stuff no one cares about anyway..right..I mean.."
Some laughing interrupted her. She turned.
"Well..well..well..." Raye and Mina said clutching microphones and standing in the center of the stage. The crowd stopped in confusion.
"We thought we'd just stop by," the two said. "And see how Lita was doing and also well....rock.."
The band started up again and the three girls all broke into a triplet of one of the easier songs the big crushers had used. The crowd looked on in surprise and then started cheering.
"That was innovative," Haruka observed.
"I'm still in shock," Serena said.
"This is all very strange," Greg said.
And the concert went from there.