Chapter Text
"You're my partner?" Arima scoffs incredulously, and Akane merely nods, face stoic and almost emotionless. The only telltale sign betraying her 'annoyance' is the subtle eye roll she does at the way Arima gapes at her.
"This is insane. I can't work with you!" Arima exclaims furiously, and Akane scoffs in, now, barely concealed irritation.
"Stop being so dramatic, Tanaka." Akane sighs, setting a notebook and pencil case down on the wooden desk with enough force for it to make a sound. "It's the last project of the semester, so just suck it up, and not trouble the teacher."
With cold eyes that definitely renders even Arima speechless, she is once again, reminded, of how much of a genius Kurokawa Akane truly is.
"Wh- I- What?" Arima sputters, seemingly at a loss for words, "Don't tell me you actually want us to be working together?"
"Trust me, I hate this as much as you do, but a change of partners only warrants loss of points because Miss Yuki doesn't like complaints." Akane deadpans, pulling out a chair with an ear splitting screech and sitting on it.
"Let's just put our differences aside for once, and work together, yes?"
Arima sighs, before begrudgingly sitting on her chair.
"Alright, cut!"
The director's voice announces the end of the scene, and, in just a matter of seconds, Akane's once cold expression is replaced with a polite and sweet one. She smiles kindly, bowing to everyone, and though Arima follows in suit, she can't help but marvel at how easy it is for Akane to slip in and out of her character that flawlessly. It's almost like magic.
Damn, she really needs to step up.
"Good work, Kana-san." Akane says to her, a bit stiffly, and Arima barely murmurs a response of acknowledgement before Akane leaves the classroom, probably to drink water or rest while the break is ongoing. Well, at least she doesn't refer to Arima by her full name anymore.
Arima sighs, opting to sit on a chair instead and make her manager bring the water to her. As of late, things have been a bit.. complicated.
She still hasn't been exactly able to fully comprehend the fact that, as of now, she and Akane, her biggest and most formidable rival, is playing the role of a couple. The lead couple, nonetheless, with an abundant amount of screentime. Which also means that in future scenes, they'll hold hands and kiss—
Gods, why is she even worried about that?
If anything, she'd like to avoid working with Akane, at least for now. Had she been in a bit more comfortable situation, she would have turned the offer down. Because, for god's sake—even though Aqua had apologized to both of them sincerely and all of that shit was put in the past, Akane and Arima hasn't exactly.. smoothen their differences, so to speak.
But, yeah, no—her career is at the point where, one wrong move, all of her efforts will come crumbling down. She has to take opportunities, to gamble and hope to God it works since her career depends on it.
And what better opportunity, than a leading role, with the genius actress Kurokawa Akane also starring in it?
The drama Rivals & Partners has been a long awaited upcoming gl drama, derived from a popular manga that almost every gl fan has read. Arima has also read it, and truly, it lives up to it's fame and popularity. She even got butterflies too many times while reading certain parts of it.
It's the story of two rivals—Akari Tanaka, a seemingly bubbly, extroverted and polite girl who hides her true personality in fear of being disliked, and Ume Hayashi, the quiet and mysterious top one student in their class—being paired up in a project.
Akari is the typical pretty, popular girl in school. She's kind, polite and sweet—she gets along with everyone, but hides her true self behind a quiet smile. But when it comes to Ume's arrogant and cold attitude, Akari's nice facade gets torn in absolute shreds, and she acts more like her true self when around Ume.
Arima is currently playing as Akari. It's actually pretty easy to slip into her character, as they sorta have the same personality and thoughts. Ume, on the other hand, is incredibly unlike Akane at all. She's timid and soft, while Ume is outspoken and tough. But considering Akane's title as a genius, it wasn't much of a surprise that she literally transformed into Ume under the camera's flash.
It was the first day of filming. They had script readings, and rehearsals first, and now they're officially filming the scenes that will make the final cut. It was expected to be finished within a few more days, and, Arima can only hope that it'll be successful.
With the big production and the first rate actors starring in the drama, Arima doesn't need to minimize her acting and point the spotlight onto others as much. She's actually trying to put her and her acting first, as that was the acting method that suited her the most even in her early career, but old habits are hard to grow out of. She's improving, though, at least.
"You alright?" Arima's manager, Eina, asks softly while handing Arima a bottle of water.
"Yep. Totally," Arima sighs, "Just a bit nervous, if I'm doing well."
"Of course you are! Just be confident and think that you'll definitely best everyone. Confidence is key, I tell you," Eina laughs, and Arima scoffs.
"If my lost confidence is the key to my acting, who the hell locked it?" She pouts, and her manager merely laughs again. What a brat, her manager is. "No, but seriously, I'm fine. Just a bit nervous, is all."
"Worry not, I'm sure you'll do wonderful! This drama is gonna boost your career for sure!" Eina says cheerfully, and Arima simply smiles in response before drinking the water Eina had given her.
Arima can only hope she does excellently, and that the drama itself does too. Without her acting career, Arima doesn't know what she's gonna do. She'll be completely lost if she can no longer grasp that feeling of portraying a character and being whisked away to another world temporarily, where, even though she's still Arima Kana, she can be someone else.
Arima is nothing without acting. Even though she's hardly fallen in love with anyone—at least not as hard as she did with Aqua—she realized that she was in love with acting. Even though the showbiz industry is utterly toxic and difficult to wade through, she can't stop acting. It's addictive, and without it—she is incomplete.
So if this drama doesn't do well, then..
"Kana-san."
Arima blinks, before realizing Akane is in front of her. She realizes, only now, that Akane has a pretty soft and mellow voice. It's.. comforting, especially amidst her inner turmoil.
"Yeah?"
Akane glances at the side shyly, before looking at Arima directly in the eyes, and Arima could've sworn she saw a bright red flush climbing from Akane's cheeks to her ears as she parted her lips.
"Let's.. make this a title worthy of praise."
Arima's eyes widen, before she smiles.
It's a passing and fleeting thought Arima has—
Akane's kinda cute.
"Yeah, we will."
"Why'd you break up with Akane, though?" Kana asks, nervously fiddling with her fingers, still foolishly and naively in love with a boy who never ceases to both make her heart flutter and convulse in utter agony and pain.
"I.. realized, something about her. It had something to do with you," Aqua says, vague and not giving anymore information.
"Huh?"
"You'll realize it, too, Arima."