April
Chapter 4
"Dear Grandma, how are you?
I'm writing you this letter ‘cause I know you don't like emails. And phone calls are a luxury I can't afford. Specially ‘cause I have so much to tell you.
It's been one month since I started school and to be honest, I couldn't be happier. Classes are hard and the cleaning regime is hard. But it's so amazing to be among all these talented girls and I'm learning so much...
I'm living in the Sumire Hall, the school dorm. The room is tiny and I have a roommate. Her name is Hanagawa Sachiko and she seems nice. We don't talk much cause we're always studying. I know this seems harsh, but I really don't care. Our dorms are close to the school, in a small building across the Takarazuka river. The first years occupy the second floor and the second years are in the third. The cafeteria food isn't so bad; I think it’s pretty much the same as the one back in my old school. We always eating in silence. I think it’s to preserve our voices, ‘cause it's pretty rare to even hear anything outside classes.
When I first got here, a couple of days before my entrance ceremony, I was so amazed by everything. I can't explain, grandma. It's like a dream I'm having. When I first tried my grey uniform, and tied my red bowtie, I felt like crying. The school provided me everything, winter and summer uniforms, gym clothes, food and shelter. I know this is not cheap, and I hope to enjoy my time here, being the best student ever.
The entrance ceremony was very similar to the one I had on junior high. All the first years were sent to the auditorium on the first floor of the school building. The principal made a speech, congratulating us for 'starting this amazing journey'. The representative of our class, a small girl who I think it's older than me, said a few words too, but I don't really can remember what they said that day. I was in line, with other 40 girls, all dressed in grey and I couldn't stop smiling. I didn't know if I should laugh or cry. I had butterflies in my stomach and I never thought I would be this nervous.
The only thing I can't forget about that ceremony was when the senior class, the honkasei, entered the auditorium.
I heard someone said out loud: 'the honkasei are here!' And I turned to see them. Those girls were a year above us and they looked so beautiful. I really mean this. They already have their 'Sienne glamour', I swear!
They came marching in in crisp military formation without break. The small girls in the front and the tall ones in the back of their formation. The tall ones already had their hair cut in an otokoyaku fashion, ‘cause they had their stage gender assignment after their first year exams. Just like I'll have next February. I'm not worried if I'll be an otokoyaku or not. My height made me on of the tallest girls on my class, I'm pretty confident I'll be one.
We sang a song after all the speeches, and that was it. I was officially a student at TMS.
Grandma, I won't lie to you. This school is really hard. We have rules for everything. The way we wear our uniforms, our hair style, how we walk while in school. Even how we speak. It's tradition and unchangeable. And from what I heard, the girls who live around here and commute, they have rules too for how they ride the train. First I thought this was insane, but now I get it. We have to maintain a 'mystery aura'.
Seems silly, but it's true.
I'm finally getting used to my classes. Again, my routine here seems a lot like my old school, with lessons from Monday to Saturday. And my Saturday is a half-day. The only difference is the contents. I have ballet and Japanese dance everyday. Also pilates, drama, piano, modern dance and vocal training. I'm learning how to play shamisen too.
I'm so glad I can play the piano here. And since my vocal skills still need some improvement, I signed up for extra vocal lessons. I know my voice isn't my strong suit, but I can't be a star with just my dance skills.
I wish I could apply for more extracurricular lessons, but since I'm a freshman, I have to wake up early to clean the school with the other girls. It's hard work, and I'm still figuring out how the hierarchy here works, to deal with the seniors, but other than that, I love it here.
On Sundays we usually go to the Grand Theater. And grandma, that place is so beautiful and so big! We're not allowed on stage, but we can watch rehearsals. The actress who did a presentation on my entrance exam, Araki Sei, is going to star a play next summer and I already made plans to watch her.
I made a few friends too, there's this girl whose aunt used to be a musician at the orchestra and she knows a lot about the Revue. We met in our entrance exam and she's really sweet. She's at the same extracurricular voice lesson as me. Actually, she's in a lot of extra classes. I guess she wants to be a huge star like me.
Of course I miss home, I never spent so many days without seeing mom and dad, or my brothers, but I guess this is what growing up means. When I left the house, I promised myself I wouldn't go back, unless for vacations and holidays.
This is my life now. And I'm trying my best here.
Love you a lot.
Your granddaughter,
Haruka."
*******
Takarazuka Music School was established in 1919, with the intention of teaching their students everything from singing to dancing. The school was famous for its strict discipline and its tradition of having first-years clean the premises until it is spotless every morning.
The student body was small, with only 74 girls, divided in first and senior year. The school term began in April and, until next March, all the students would dedicate themselves, through their own limits to finish school and finally start their careers at the Revue.
Most of them would spent the first 7 years as background dancers or playing small roles. Only a few would stand out enough to get bigger roles and just a couple would become what they called 'Top Star'.
Established in 1980, after the huge success of the Rose of Versailles adaptation, the Top Star system was used to guarantee that promising and talented actresses would climb higher the company's hierarchy. Officially, only otokoyakus could become Top Stars.
Being a Top Star meant staring in every Grand Theater perfomance of her Troupe until her retirement, or 'graduation'. Musumeyakus who paired up with them were called 'Top musumeyaku' and they also would recieve every lead female role until they retire.
It was Haruka's dream to become a top star someday. She didn't care which Troupe she would be, she just wanted to show what she could do. To prove her love and dedication for the Revue. That's why she never complained when she had to wake up early to clean the school, among with the other girls in her class. She had an objective and she would do anything to achieve it.
The first month of school was pretty uneventful. The freshmen class quickly understood their role in the school and easily got into a quiet routine.
The classes were too physically demanding, with hours of dancing and singing. Haruka decided to spend her evenings resting and studying lines for her acting class. She was a ballerina before, so she knew how important was to rest her muscles and bones. She couldn't risk getting injured. Getting hurt now could ruin her whole future.
So every night, after dinner and a bath, she would go back to her room and take care of her sore body.
Discipline was really important for a future Sienne. And if Haruka wanted to be the best, she couldn't goof around and lose focus.
*****
"What are you doing?"
Haruka looked up and saw her roommate watching her form the door. She looked at the clock over the bedside table; it was almost time for their curfew.
"Just some post ballet lessons exercises," the blonde girl answered, feeling a little annoyed by the other student. Her roommate, a mousy girl named Kanagawa Sachiko didn't seem too interested in their classes. She was a tiny girl, older than Haruka by 2 years. With pale pink hair and delicate features, she looked like a porcelain doll.
Haruka knew friendships were important. She was a popular girl back in her junior school and making friends wasn't something hard for her. But something about Sachiko didn't click. She always looked bored or not interested in class. To be honest, Haruka imagined her roommate someone who shared her passion about the Revue, so they would talk for hours about their favorite shows or stars. Maybe even practice lines for drama class.
But Sachiko wasn't this kind of girl. At least, so far, she didn’t say anything. And that frustrated Haruka. She knew her classmates would be her sisters from now on. Their bond was eternal.
She saw how the other girls acted with their own roommates. And she couldn’t help but to feel a little jealous.
"Why? We already have a lot to do at school, you wanna come home and do more work?" Sachiko said, sitting on her bed. She untied her red bowtie and sighed. Haruka was definitely a lost cause. "The hard part is over, Tenou. We made it. Now we just need to enjoy."
Haruka looked around and saw her own uniform hang at the door.
"Passing then entrance test wasn't the hard part. I think it was the easier one..."
"HA! nonsense!" Sachiko laughed and Haruka started to get angry at the girl. Her patience was running very thin. She dedicated herself to her dream, to the Revue and this was what she got? A mocking roommate who was supposed to be her sister?
"I have two older sisters who are Siennes, Tenou. I know what I'm talking about. After you sign your contract, you don't have to worry about anything. Then you find a rich husband and you're done."
Great. How befriend someone who thought so little about something Haruka loved so dearly?
"I'm going to bed. Good night, Kanagawa."
Easy. Haruka could just ignore her.
*******
Michiru was silently riding the train, going to school. She felt so tired, like every bone in her body was hurting. Her days started at 6 am, she had a light and nutritious breakfast, made by herself, she couldn't rely on her busy parents to do that for her. And Daiki was still a little angry at her, so she tried her best to not be at home when he woke up.
It took her almost one hour to go to school. Since Michiru was a commuter, she had some rules to follow, like always riding the last train. Coming from a traditionalist family helped her dealing with rules. At least one good thing.
The girl was always reading something, mostly her assignments for classes. Michiru was facing some difficulties in her dancing lessons, and her extra classes weren't helping. Her moves became stiff and ungraceful. And she was always tired.
If she felt like this right in her first month at school, how she would be able to be there for two years?
Sighining, the aquamarine haired girl felt like she had made a mistake. She would fail TMS miserably and her father would never forgive her. And that was so upsetting! Knowing that the man she admired most couldn't care less about her life, her future and he was probably rooting for her failure.
When she became such a pessimist?
"Good morning, Kaiou-san!" She heard someone say and couldn't help but smile. She knew that voice. It belonged to her favorite classmate, Tenou Haruka.
Haruka was the complete opposite of Michiru. She was always smiling and befriending everyone. Easy to talk, madly talented, Michiru could watch her dancing for hours; it was so beautiful to see her body moving.
And since they did their entrance exam together, it was like their shared a special bond. Haruka was the only one who Michiru felt like she could talk to.
"Good morning, Tenou-san... “She was too tired to even pretend to feel excited. How come Haruka was so bouncy this early? They would face a whole hour cleaning up all the school before their classes start.
"Why the long face? Did someone say anything to you?"
"Like what? And who?" Michiru knew some honkasei could be restless about the freshmen. Mayuko never told her anything, but Saeko said she should be careful about their seniors. They could be awful bullies.
"I don't know. The honkasei can be just waiting for us to be confortable so they can kill us in our sleep."
Michiru looked at her classmate, her bright smile was so contagious.
"You're mocking me."
"I am."
"That's evil," Michiru said, taking her indoor shoes from her locker. It felt weird being around Haruka. She had this aura of protection, like nothing ever could hurt her. Michiru felt safe next to her. Her problems were inexistent next to that bright smile.
"Maybe I like being evil…" Haruka whispered.
Inside the school building their voices disappeared. It was required of the freshmen class to clean the premises, in silence. This way they wouldn't spend any energy or time with gossip.
Haruka liked the silence. She liked being alone with her thoughts. This was her first time cleaning the main music room. The piano stood there alone, like a king waiting for his subjects. So far, piano lessons were focused on the students that never had any kind of contact with the instrument. Like Michiru. Even being a skilled violinist, the girl was struggling to learn how to play it.
Haruka felt like she needed to do something about it. Like offer to tutor her. And Michiru could teach her about shamisen. It was a fair trade, right?
Distracted, Haruka didn't realize the first bell rang. Michiru touched her shoulder to get her attention. A small smile in her face as usual. Michiru was always smiling at Haruka, maybe this was a simple way to thank her for just being there.
Haruka smiled back, gathering their cleaning supplies. Why her roommate couldn't be someone like Michiru? She was polite, kind, smart and since her aunt was a cellist at the main orchestra, she knew a lot about the Revue.
And she felt at ease just being around her.
Life was so unfair sometimes.
******
After ignoring their housing situation, Haruka with her roommate from hell and Michiru with her angry father, the girls became inseparable. They were always helping each other during cleaning and in class. Haruka could feel her singing improving with just weeks of hard practice. But Michiru was staying behind, even doing a lot of extra classes.
May came and with it, the whole school started to get ready for the Sumire Hall Fundraising, which would happen in June. It was an event where the school opened its doors to the community, so they could watch the students performing. The tickets sale would be used to improve the school facilities. The Music School was private, but the student body was too small to maintain the school by themselves.
The freshmen couldn't perform at the fundraising, it was their job to organize everything, from costumes to make up, even music. During one meeting, they decided Michiru would play her violin. And since she was very skilled, Haruka would play the piano. A few other freshmen would help them.
Michiru didn't like that. She was retired as a violinist and she already had so much work to do, how she was supposed to handle learning more songs to play? And not just that, their class was supposed to take care of everything. Like in those festivals they had back in junior high. But back then, Michiru didn't have classes all day long.
It was impossible.
And dealing with all this by herself made everything even worse.
"This is gonna be great! Don't you think, Kacchan?"
"Who's 'Kacchan'?" Again Haruka sensed her sadness and was trying to make her laugh. That was the only reason Michiru could think. Haruka always knew when she was feeling bad. And she always knew how to distract her.
"Why, you of course! We have to find nicknames for ourselves, remember? And calling you Kaiou-San all the time it’s way too formal." Haruka was reading the music sheet the seniors gave her for the fundraising. They could have chosen easier songs...
But she understood it, easier songs didn't make stars. Challenge did.
"You're way too ahead, Tenou-san. We barely started school and you are already thinking about nicknames..."
It was a tradition for every Sienne have her own nickname. Since they would drop their real names after finishing school, and chose stage names for themselves, it was costumary for them to have also nicknames for her classmates to call them and in the future, their fans.
"Its already May, Kacchan... Tines goes by really fast and I don't wanna waste any time. I chose yours and you can choose mine, deal?"
"So use my first name. I don't want a nick from my last one." If her father was thinking she was less than a Kaiou for giving up the family legacy, maybe she didn't want to be a Kaiou anymore...
What in hell's name was she thinking? Looking at Haruka, she didn't seem to notice how mad she was. And it wasn’t fair to get angry at her friend. She didn't know anything about her or her life. They just talked about school and the Revue. Haruka mentioned, every now and then, her grandma or her parents or her older brothers, and how she missed them.
But aside from her aunt, Haruka didn't know anything about Michiru's private life. She didn't want to pry, Michiru would talk to her when she felt ready.
"OK, so I'll call you Michi. What do you think?"
Haruka looked at her clock, they had less than 5 minutes for their extra modern dance class. Being a classical ballerina, Haruka had a crash course in other styles for her entrance exam. She liked tap dance, but ballet was her true passion. She love the structure and organization that ballet provided. Modern dance was a little too erratic in her opinion.
"Michi? You really put some thought into that, right?" Michiru got her black leotard, already hating the idea of another dance lesson. She liked to dance, she was used to dance all the time when she was young. But her whole body was hurting.
She was so tired...
"Come on, it's cute. You can choose another one, but I'll call you Michi." Since they were alone in the room, they decided to change to their dance outfit there. Michiru always tried to not look at the other girls when they were changing. She was already weird enough, with her own preferences and school was already hard enough without any rumours about her.
If her life wasn’t already hard enough...
"Michi? Did you heard me?"
"Sorry, I was thinking about the fundraising. Did you say anything?"
"Yeah, we better run or we will be late."
********
After the class, some girls were leaving for the dorms, the dinner would be served soon and the kitchen staff was pretty adamant about the schedule.
"Isn't commuting too hard?" Haruka asked, changing back to her grey uniform. She was dying to take her bath and eat something. Michiru was quiet, more than usual. Their teacher was a little rough with her during class, and Haruka was trying to distract her. She didn't know why, but she had this need to make the other girl smile. Michiru was this misterious girl, always so sober. So polite and so distant.
And Haruka was her polar opposite. Always smiling, jumping around. Even their strict teachers liked having such an enthusiastic student.
"I don't mind, Osaka is just 30 minutes away..."
"I miss home. But at least here I don't have to cook. If I did, I would be starving." Haruka laughed, enjoying the fact that the teacher already left, so they could bend the rules a little.
"My parents aren't home most of days. They work a lot. I usually go to my aunt's house for dinner."
"The aunt who used to work at the orchestra?"
Michiru gave Haruka a tiny smile, happy that her friend, she could call her that? remembered that fact about her.
"Yeah. Aunt Saeko used to work here before I was even born. She was the one who introduced me to my instructor." Michiru missed her classes with Mayuko, even being harsh with her, Mayuko was always smiling. Just that made the young student feel better. "And my uncle Jun is still a conductor at the orchestra."
Haruka looked at Michiru, suprised by the new info the girls just told her. She finished gathering her things in her satchel.
"Do you wanna get some dinner? It's on me."
*****
The rules about how a Takarazuka Music School student should do everything also determined how they should act in public and even which stores they could attend. Haruka and Michiru were still learning about all those rules, so they were always trying to be really careful to not do anything wrong.
The blonde girl took her friend to a small restaurant a few streets down the school. She had dinner there a few times with some classmates on Sundays, since the kitchen was closed.
It was a hot spring night. A few other students decided to have dinner at the same restaurant too, since their curfew was a couple of hours away.
Haruka lead Michiru to the back of the restaurant. The owners, an old couple, used the back yard for the Siennes to be, so they could have their meals without being bothered. Since their daughter was a former Sienne, they knew how important it was for these girls to have a place where they could just relax, outside school.
"My father sent me my allowance, so order whatever you want." Haruka choose a table in the back, she knew Michiru wasn't too social and she wanted to talk to her friend. After being scolded by their teacher, Haruka figured Michiru would want to be alone, but she couldn't just let her go. Not if she was upset.
"I'm sorry about what happened in class today."
"Why you are apologizing?" Michiru didn't even bother to look at the menu, she just wanted a light sandwich. "I am the one who shouldn't be in this school..."
Shocked by her friend's words, Haruka waited to place their order so they could talk more freely.
After the old man left to get their food, Haruka looked at the other girl, amazed by her sad face.
"I'm so tired, Haruka." It was the first time Michiru called her by her first name. "My whole body hurts, I can't focus, I can't memorize lines, I'm not ready to take any tests. I can't take any more info, like those songs the honkasei class gave to us."
Haruka looked around, and after realized no one was paying attention to them, she took Michiru's hand in hers.
"You know our entrance exam was the easy part? That now everything will just get worse?"
"That's supposed to cheer me up?" Michiru asked. Why Haruka's hand felt so warm?
"No, no, you got me wrong. What I'm trying to tell you is this: you need to relax. Rest a lot, healthy food and some relaxing exercises for after dance classes and you will be fine."
Michiru knew Haruka was trying to make her feel better. But she couldn't just believe everything was this easy. That was Haruka's recipe? Food, rest and exercises?
"My father hates me for being here. He barely speaks to me anymore and… I don't have anyone to talk about this. I think my whole family are waiting for me to fail."
"That's why you can't focus in class?"
"You can tell?" Michiru asked, surprised.
"Well, yeah. I think you have potential, ‘cause if you didn't, you wouldn't be here. And I think you're so lost in your own head, you aren't paying attention to anything around you."
An old woman stopped by their table, putting their plates with some sandwiches in front of them. She looked at their joint hands, but didn't say anything.
"I don't know your family, Michi. But I really doubt they're rooting against you." Haruka took a sip of her tea before continuing. "Please, just try this: just enjoy being here. I'll help you with anything you need, so you won't feel this way. "
"And why would you help me?"
"Cause you're my friend. And since I was five, I try to help all the damsels in distress."
Michiru laughed quietly, feeling like a weight was lifted from her shoulders. This could work, if she could rely on her friend. This school was too hard to face it alone.
"Thank you Haruka. And now I know what I'll call you."
"Yeah? Please, do tell."
Michiru took a bit of her sandwich, liking how light and tasty it was. Still not better than those her cousin Ami did for her, every night after she got home. Ami just knew her and understood her. And eating sandwiches together for dinner gave them some quality time together.
"My prince..."
TBC