Tales of a Girl Named Tsukiko

A young girl, about 13, stands on the second place podium for a singing contest. She looks up to the first place recipient with tears welling up in her eyes.

“First place goes to….Sayori Cambridge!”

Thunderous applause erupts as do the silver medalist’s tears. She feels silly crying like this in front of all these people, but she’s unable to stop. As soon as the closing remarks leave the announcer’s lips, as if she’s unable to control herself any longer, the girl steps up onto the winner’s podium. The audience hushes, not knowing what to expect. 

Suddenly, she gives the winner a hug.

“Tsuki, what are you doing??” Sayori nervously glances at the crowd. “Don’t you know there’s people watching?”

She’s right. At the moment, the audience breaks their silence with numerous “aw”s and other sounds of endearment.

“I’m--so--proud of you, Sayo-chaaaan!” the girl chokes through sobs. With a chuckle, Sayori pats her friend on the back.

“I can’t believe I actually won...”

The girl dries her tears some. “What do you mean ‘can’t believe?’ You were marvelous out there, darling.” She fans her hands out for extra emphasis.

“I don’t know, the crowd really seemed to like you.”

Tsuki thinks back to her own performance. At the time, she had been too focused trying to search for her mothers in the crowd to notice the audience, and without their presence, she felt a little stage shy. The cheers didn’t entirely go unnoticed, though. She assumed it was just her dad, who is now crying tears of joy in the row behind the judges’ stand. She’s barely able to make out him waving at her; some businessman is blocking her view. Why can’t he go talk to the announcer somewhere else? After they attempt to wave at each other, her father finally makes his way over to the stage.

“Otouchan!” the girl runs into her father’s arms.

He swiftly picks her up and swings her around. “I’m so proud of you!” After putting her down, he lifts up his video camera. “You were amazing! The entire crowd was cheering for you! It was enough to make your dear old dad tear up. Unfortunately, it seems like your moms weren’t able to make it, but I recorded the whole thing for them.” 

While a little disappointed all of her parents weren’t there in the flesh, knowing her mothers would be able to watch Tsuki’s performance satisfies her. She can’t wait to see their smiling faces.

“Cambridge! Congratulations on winning first prize! Your family must be so proud of you!”

“Thank you Mr. Matsudo!” As her friend is talking, Tsuki happens to notice the businessman give something to the announcer. It’s probably payment for renting out the venue.

“How do you feel about the prize? Are you nervous about that record deal thing?”

The record deal! How could Tsuki have forgotten about the grand prize? Truthfully, she feels a tiny bit jealous of her friend for that, but Sayori deserves it.

Before her friend can properly answer, she grabs Sayori’s hands, jumping up and down. “ I can already see your name in lights!”

“Gosh, do you really think so?”

“I know so!”

Sayori looks away. “I do admit I’m a little nervous, but...” Tsuki’s beaming face greets her when she turns back around. “I’m excited!”

“That’s the spirit!” Tsuki throws both of their hands into the air. Who would have known how quickly their friendship would blossom in the few short weeks they’ve practiced together? Tsuki, for one, is taken by surprise by how bittersweet she feels about the two of them parting ways. She curses her bleeding heart as she bites back the sadness. The last thing she’d want to do is send Sayori off in tears. 

“No matter what,” Tsuki grabs Sayori’s hands again, taking her by surprise. “No matter what, I’ll be your biggest friend!”

“...Did you mean ‘biggest fan’?”

“That too!” Tsuki’s intense stare is unwavering even as she’s being corrected.

“Attention, I would like to make a special announcement.” Interrupting the girls’ moment, the announcer takes the stand once more. He yanks at his collar. “I sincerely apologize, but seem to have, ah, made a mistake in announcing our first place winner.”

Sayori and Tsuki exchange looks of confusion.

“First place goes to… Tsukiko Matsudo!”

“Oh... oh my!” her father is the first to react.

For the first time in what seems like eons to her, Tsuki has been rendered speechless. All of her thoughts claw at each other to burst out, but none leave her lips. It’s only when she sees the announcer attempt to put Sayori’s gold medal on her neck that her voice returns to her.

“Wait!” The announcer freezes at Tsuki’s outburst. “I... I…” She looks at her confused father, and then her downtrodden friend, hoping one of them would help her speak up. This can’t be right, she wants to say. This isn’t fair! Even the announcer’s eyes show a twinge of regret behind his smile. After a few seconds of stunned silence, Sayori’s gold medal takes the place of her silver one.

“Congratulations, Ms. Matsudo!” The announcer left his parting words and the stench of guilt behind him. 

Applause rang hollow in Tsukiko’s ears as she bows toward the audience. As soon as it dissipates, she looks to her left, finding not Sayori, but the businessman.

“Hiya, hiya Tsukiko! May I call ya Tsuki?” The man vigorously shakes her hand. 

“S-sure?”

“And you must be her father!” he addresses Mr. Matsudo. Tsuki’s father blinks in surprise; she couldn’t tell if it was from the other man’s sheer energy or from the fact that her father is highly unlikely to have understood him, seeing as the businessman spoke entirely in English.

“Um, Otouchan, this is--” She attempts to fill her father in on the situation in Japanese, but realizes she never got the man’s name. Switching over to English, she addresses him once more. “Your name is…?”

“My apologies for not introducing myself earlier. You can call me Mr. Fredrickson!” A business card appears in his hand, reading Fred Fredrickson.

“Fred Fredrickson…?”

“Fred Fredrickson from Jiyu Records at your service! I’m here to discuss the record deal with you and your dad!” With another swift motion, he pulls out a clipboard adorned with a contract and a pen. “I’ll only need a signature from the little lady here!”

“My... English is not... good. Sorry.” Mr. Matsudo manages to reply. Usually after people see him struggle, they switch over to Japanese. Mr. Fredrickson certainly looked young enough to know both languages, so why didn’t he?

“No problem, no problem… Well, actually, one problem.” Fred focuses his attention to Tsuki. “You might be able to tell, but I’m a bit of a foreigner here myself! Moved in from the US a couple years back. I’ve been working on my Japanese on and off, but it’s nothin’ to write home about. Would you be willing to translate for us?”

“Of course!” Tsuki thought back to her birth mother’s stories of having to act as a translator between her dad and stepmom, when the latter still struggled learning Japanese. Immigrants from the United States and Japan were something of a commodity in Jiyukoku State, so situations like this usually don’t happen. Still, it should be fairly simple to navigate. Tsuki is ready.

“Alrighty! All you guys have to do is read over this contract here, have little Ms. Matsudo sign it, and I’ll be on my merry way!” 

Tsuki fills her dad in on the conversation so far. When she originally discussed the competition with her parents, they were a little anxious, but overall positive about the possibility of her getting a record deal. As long as her mothers could check over the legal matters, things should be fine. Occasionally, Mr. Fredrickson interjects a few words to fill in dead space.

“So this is the representative!” Mr. Matsudo kind eyes showed a hint of apprehension while looking over the man. “Tell him it’s nice to meet him, and that we’ll have to wait a bit until your mothers get here to read over the contract.”

Tsuki nods, but as she’s about relay the information, the representative interrupts once more.

“You were really something out there!” Tsuki has to disagree with Fred. While looking for her mothers in the crowd, she feels like she didn’t put as much energy into her performance as she would’ve liked. “That... demure presence you had was a hit with the audience. Wholesome, approachable, even the grandmas are gonna love you!”

“Oh, thank you.” After having finished talking to her dad, Tsuki decides to take a look at the contract. It’s filled to the brim with legal jargon. She admires the work of lawyers, but wonders how her moms can stand to read this stuff without losing their minds. In fact, they are probably reading over legal documents as she’s thinking this.

“When I saw how taken the crowd was by your performance, that’s when I knew. I knew you had to be Jiyu Records’ new starlet!”

Tsuki stops reading. “...You knew?” 

“Yep!” he fails to pick up on her suspicion. How funny. To Tsuki’s recollection, the judges decide who gets offered a record deal, not the talent scout. If she were the less mature age of 9 or 10, she would’ve called him out on it immediately. Luckily, she is not a mere child anymore, she is a teenager, and she is a teenager with a plan. In the background, she can see Sayori’s family comforting her as she looks like she’s about to cry. Fred will pay for this.

“G-Golly!” She brushes her hair from her face. “Do you really think... I’m that good?”

“You’d be very valuable to the company! We need something to compete against companies like Bakers’ Entertainment or whatever it’s called.” He waves his hand as if he’s brushing the competition away. “I think you have what it takes to blow them out of the water!”

“Oh, goodness, you’re surely exaggerating, aren’t you? You guys don’t need me that badly, right?”

“I assure you, you’re invaluable!”

“Invaluable?” Tsuki pretends to be shocked.

“Yes indeedy!”

“Sign on Sayori and we have a deal.” She folds her arms.

“...E-excuse me?” The shock on Fredrickson’s face is priceless. It’s making it hard for Tsuki to keep a straight face.

“Sayo-chan~! Come here, please!” she calls to her friend. The other girl cautiously approaches Tsuki, sadness still visible on her face. Tsuki wraps an arm around her as soon as she is close enough. “This nice man wants to make you a deal!”

“Really…?” Tears fall from Sayori’s surprised face.

“That’s-- I---!” The representative sputters and fumbles like a cornered animal.

The unrest does not go unnoticed to Tsuki’s father. “Tsukiko? What’s going on?” Though she doesn’t want to betray her parents’ wishes, she’s come too far to stop now.

“And while we’re at it,--” She turns to the girl standing on the third place pedestal. “Oh, Ms. Garcia~? Would you like a record deal?”

The older girl seems confused. “...Sure?”

“Anyone else you’d like to invite?” Fred mutters through clenched teeth.

Tsuki smiles and curtsies. “That will be all.”

He sighs before managing to smile once more. “I... guess we can make that work. Just sign this contract.”

“Garcia! Come over, we’re signing the contracts!” The older girl walks over towards the group after Tsuki calls her. Tsuki then examines her friend. “Sayori!” she scolds, “Take off that gaudy silver thing! Don’t you know that gold suits you so much better?”

Before Sayori can even react, Tsuki replaces her silver medal with the gold one.

“Tsuki, I--thank you so much!”

“Don’t thank me, you earned it, darling.”

The three winners take turns signing Mr. Fredrickson’s contract, much to the horror of Tsuki’s dad. She knows she’s in for a world of lectures when later, but looking at her friend’s smile, she feels like it might just be worth it.