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Makoto felt it. Something had changed within Purple Silk, and that was the relationship between Ei and Sara. They used to be so close with each other, showing affection whenever they could, but now they barely interacted. What went wrong?
It also didn’t help that unpleasant rumors of Ei bullying Sara were floating around. It was laughable to Makoto, that someone would suggest that her sister could be a bully; while she appeared stoic and serious on stage, she was actually very sweet and kind off-camera. There was no way Ei could do something so terrible. She knew her sister; they had grown up together after all, and as twins, they had a special bond.
But still, Makoto couldn’t help but worry. What if Ei faced some struggles and ended up taking out her anger on Sara? What if Sara chose to remain silent to protect everyone’s reputation and feelings?
Makoto was at a loss. She didn’t have the best way forward.
“Are you alright?”
Luckily, Miko was there.
Miko, her amazing girlfriend, was someone she trusted with her life. She was always there when Makoto needed her. She hoped that Miko could be her solution to the Ei and Sara situation as well.
But before she got too ahead of herself, she asked Miko, “have you noticed anything weird with Ei and Sara?”
Hearing her question, Miko smirked. “Why? Did you see something?” She was excited for her findings.
The attitude that Miko was showing was not entirely unexpected; she was convinced that Ei and Sara would be in a relationship some day. At one point, she even proposed a plan to lock them up together and starve them until they confessed to each other.
However, right now, this was not what Makoto needed. She wanted help with the situation and for everything to go back to what it was.
“Miko, please. I am worried.” She pleaded. “I think something bad might have happened.”
Sensing her distress, Miko collected herself and her smile faded. She sat them down on the couch in the living room.
“Tell me everything from the top.”
Makoto recounted everything. She started from the beginning, describing what she observed of Ei and Sara’s relationship; how much Ei’s eyes sparkled and brightened at the sight of Sara, and vice versa. She remembered how Ei told her how much she wished Sara was her girlfriend. She even had a handwritten list of all the things she liked about her.
Archons, it was like watching a cheesy teenage romcom.
Then, all of a sudden, the two girls grew distant. They avoided each other like a plague and barely spoke with one another. While they still acted amiable with each other, there was tension in the air. Plus, those rumors about Ei couldn’t have appeared out of thin air. Something must be going on.
“I can’t say that I haven’t noticed changes between them.” Miko agreed with her observations. “But I didn’t think it was anything bad.”
“Do you think I should confront Ei?”
“I don’t see why not. Not Sara though…you know how that girl is.”
The same night, Makoto enlisted Miko’s help to distract Sara for a few hours, ideally away from the dorm, so she could speak freely with Ei at the comfort of their own home. Sara accompanied Miko to the practice room, the latter using vocal practice as an excuse.
“Ei, can we chat for a bit?”
“Sure.” Ei sat down next to her on the couch, pouring herself some tea from the pot.
“Is everything alright with you and Sara?” Straight to the point was the strategy, she decided.
“Uh, y-yeah. We’re good.”
Stuttering. Ei never stuttered, even at important events like concerts. She was always composed, so why would she be nervous now, when they were having a private conversation. This only made Makoto more stressed. This was proof that something was wrong.
“Ei, I know something has happened.” Makoto let out a deep sigh, not believing that her sister lied to her. “Please tell me, so I can help you and Sara.”
“Makoto, there is nothing going on.”
Usually, Makoto would’ve dropped the topic, but this time, she knew that Ei was hiding something. “Ei, please.”
“There is nothing to tell even if you ask me.” Face red from frustration, Ei got up from the couch. She continued, “I’m going to the practice room.”
With that, Makoto was left alone at the dorm.
She felt like crying. Her sister, the one person who she thought would never keep a secret from her, was, well, doing the opposite of what she expected. It was the first time that she was lost when it came to Ei.
However, as the leader and the eldest of Purple Silk, she would do anything to keep the team together.
While Miko used vocal practice as an excuse, she wasn’t going to waste both hers and Sara’s time. They spent the majority of their time practicing for their upcoming performance. Sara, as the main vocalist, was helpful in pointing out places where Miko could improve and complimented her when changes were applied flawlessly.
Sometimes Miko wondered how the archons could be so unfair as to make her so perfect.
It went on for about two hours before they decided to take a break.
Miko told Makoto to not inquire with Sara on the Ei-Sara issue, because her girlfriend—bless her heart—had no tact. However, Miko herself was a different story; she was skilled at reading people, and Sara was emotionally constipated but naive, which made this a great opportunity for her to dig into this.
“Sara, how is everything with Ei?” She asked. Sara had confided in her before, about feelings she had for Ei.
“Ei? Everything is good.” Sara then added, “I mean, nothing has changed.” The last part was suspicious, almost like an afterthought trying to throw Miko off the scent.
But Miko was a fox. “Oh. Really? Even after you asked me what you should do?”
“I got busy.” An evasive answer.
Miko would eat a chair on livestream if they were not already together. She decided to keep this to herself for now, since she wanted to see what Makoto would do next, after her talk with the other emotionally constipated idiot.
The door to the practice room opened and Ei walked in.
“Sara?” To no one’s surprise, she asked for Sara the second she arrived at the practice room.
“I’m here, too.” Miko deadpanned, because no one should ever ignore a visual goddess.
“Oh, Miko. Can I borrow Sara for a sec?”
“Take her. We’re done already.”
With a not so graceful shove, Miko pushed Sara into Ei, who caught her in her embrace.
“Be careful!” Ei shot Miko a glare and then quickly checked if Sara was injured.
“I’m going home,” she informed the two. “Refrain from acting gross together, will you?”
Ei, surprised by her words, turned to Sara, who only shook her head in response, indicating that she didn’t say anything to her.
Archons. Miko couldn’t understand how Makoto did not come to the conclusion that they were already together. These two idiots were so obvious. She hoped they heeded her advice and avoided attempting anything disgusting at the practice room. It was a common space shared by many.
Upon returning home, the first thing Miko saw was Makoto laying on the couch upside-down like a corpse, unlike her usual elegant self.
“What happened?”
“Ei walked out on me.” She sighed. “I wasn’t careful with my words.”
“That little shit…” Miko cursed quietly. She started, deciding to tell her the truth, “so, actually—”
But Makoto interrupted her. “I need to get to the bottom of this. I can’t let anyone get hurt.” She was determined to find out the truth.
“You’re so hot.”
Miko couldn’t handle how hot her girlfriend was. Her earlier thought of disclosing Ei-Sara’s relationship status was conveniently forgotten.
Incident #1
Date: June 26
Time: 7:15 AM - 7:25 AM
Location: Purple Silk dorm
Parties Involved: Makoto, Ei, Sara
Details:
The noises of a door opening woke Makoto. Initially, she paid it no mind, as Sara was known to be an early bird, waking up at 5:05 AM unless they had other schedules earlier than that. However, a conversation following the noise put her into high alert.
“Remember, don’t tell them anything.”
“Ei–”
“You know what would happen if we do, right?”
Ominous words, if Makoto’s experience in television drama had told her anything. She kept quiet and continued eavesdropping from her room, now sticking her ear to the door.
The only sound that followed was another door closing, close to her own. From that, she concluded that it was Ei returning to her room from Sara’s.
Makoto opened her door and found Sara trudging towards one of the bathrooms at the dorm.
“Sara?”
“Sorry, Makoto. Did I wake you?”
“Are you alright?” Instead of answering, she asked. “Your eyes are puffy and red.” Like you were crying was left unsaid.
“I’m fine. Just didn’t sleep well.”
Makoto didn’t believe her. “What’s with the bruises on your neck and shoulders? And your legs?” She pointed at the dark patches on her skin. The ones on her inner thighs were the most apparent with the color contrast between the marks and her milky thighs; it was like she had been mauled and bitten by a wild animal.
Panic flashed in her eyes. “It’s just from practice,” hurriedly, she explained.
Makoto remembered a strange event from last night. Before she went to bed, weird groaning noises of pain echoed in the dorm. Back then, she thought it was from someone stretching after a long day of practice.
But looking at Sara’s condition, she was convinced that it was something involving Ei, because they obviously were in the room together for the entire night.
“Please take care of yourself,” Makoto said.” Let me know if there is anything I can do, and I mean, anything.”
“Yeah.” Sara stopped before the bathroom door. “Happy birthday, Makoto.”
Conclusion:
As opposed to Makoto’s initial observation, Ei and Sara didn’t grow distant. They simply hid their interactions from the other members. This may indicate that whatever they were doing was not appropriate or even dangerous.
Makoto had suspected it to be substance abuse, but it was quickly dismissed as a possible option given the lifestyles the members of Purple Silk led, especially Sara’s. This also wouldn’t explain the bruises Sara had and the groaning noises of pain.
The other option left was physical violence. Unlike the previous option, this was plausible, because bruises would form after a fight and could cause pain. Although she didn’t understand why Ei would do that or why Sara would be a willing victim. Further investigations were required.
For now, to protect Sara, it is recommended that she prevent them from spending the night together. Miko’s help would be appreciated, since she could be very persuasive when necessary.
Incident #2
Date: July 1
Time: 3:20 PM - 3:45 PM
Location: Narukami practice room
Parties Involved: Makoto, Ei, Miko, Sara
Details:
Purple Silk was practicing for a special stage at the Inazuma Summer Festival. They would perform their most popular songs Tricolor Dango, Purple Taste, and Shogunate.
While the girls liked to joke around a lot, they were professional to a fault when it came to work. They disliked wasting anyone’s time, including their own.
During the intro of Purple Taste , Ei glanced at the mirror and suddenly stopped the music.
“Sara, you’re lagging behind.”
“Sorry.”
“Were you practicing before we came?”
Sara turned away and refused to meet her questioning gaze, proving her right. This would mean that she had been dancing for almost four hours.
Ei sighed, “we don’t need you collapsing on us again.”
Her words reminded everyone of the terrifying scene not long ago at a rehearsal. They were on stage dancing like usual, and then the next moment Sara disappeared from everyone’s line of sight as she fell due to exhaustion. Fortunately, Ei had caught her before she hit the ground, since she was the closest to her during the choreography.
“It's alright. Let’s take a break.” Makoto announced, breaking the awkward atmosphere enshrouding the room.
Sara apologized again before being pulled to the cafeteria by Ei.
Miko jogged to catch up with them. She patted Sara’s rear as an act of comfort. “It’s alright, little bird.”
“Stop fooling around, Miko.” Seeing her actions, Ei reprimanded, but Miko only laughed at her reaction.
Later, before returning to the practice room, Ei and Sara went off to have a private talk. Makoto assumed it was to address the earlier incident.
When they returned, Sara’s clothes were ruffled and her eyes looked teary in the reflection of the light.
Conclusion:
Ei was easily frustrated by Sara and Miko. This might indicate that she was in a bad mood. In addition, she was watching Sara’s every move, if she was able to see the sluggishness in her movements. It was unclear why she was watching so closely.
The recommendation here was to make sure everyone was on their best behaviors and taking sufficient breaks. Makoto would make sure everyone went to bed at a reasonable time. Further investigation to Ei’s mood was required.
Incident #3
Date: July 6
Time: 3:20 PM - 4:00 PM
Location: Inazuma Summer Festival
Parties Involved: Makoto, Ei, Miko, Sara
Details:
Purple Silk was waiting backstage for the Inazuma Summer Festival to begin. They had completed their rehearsal earlier and had changed into their performance outfit and put on makeup. There was nothing to do except to rest until the event began. However, it was the opposite for Makoto, as she was busily observing Ei and Sara.
When Sara came back to the room after changing, Makoto noticed a shift in Ei’s mood. Ei was glaring at Sara; her anger was shown through the obvious red on her face.
“Looking good, little bird.” Miko whistled at her, liking what she was seeing.
Their group outfits had been altered for the special occasion tonight. Originally, it was only supposed to be a change in color to fit the theme of the festival. However, due to an accident while the designer was working on Sara’s, her outfit in particular had the skirt and shirt lengths shortened. Hence, it was more revealing than she was used to.
“Miko...” Makoto warned.
“What? I didn’t say anything inappropriate.”
It was true that she didn’t, but still, Makoto wouldn’t want Sara to feel self-conscious or uncomfortable if attention was suddenly brought to her.
“It’s fine.” Sara reassured them.
“See?” That smug smile on Miko’s face…Makoto couldn’t say she didn’t like that.
“I, for one, recommend that you put some clothes on.” Ei huffed. She grabbed her jacket and put it on Sara. “Don’t need you to get a cold as the main vocalist.”
Miko’s reaction was an explosive laughter, while Makoto stared in confusion. When Miko saw the expression on her girlfriend’s face, she only laughed harder to the point of tears streaming down her face.
The only thing that somehow calmed the atmosphere was a knock on the door. The rookie girl group from their company came to visit them. Sara had known them from a previous collaboration. She fell into a familiar rhythm and started chatting with the girls.
Throughout the conversation, Makoto once again noticed that Ei’s eyes never strayed away from them.
When they took a picture together, to be later posted on social media, Ei intentionally took the spot between Sara and the rookies. It was unusual to say the least, since she wasn’t the most social person and preferred to stay away from newcomers.
Conclusion:
Ei appeared to have trouble with a sexy concept, as she seemed angered by the outfit Sara was wearing and even put a jacket on her to cover up. While Makoto hadn’t known her sister to be someone so conservative, this particular style would be something to avoid while discussing a future album concept.
Makoto should encourage Ei to ask for more opportunities from the company, especially collaborating with other artists, since she was watching attentively at the interaction between Sara and the rookies. She would also bring this up in her stead at the company meeting for their upcoming projects.
So far, the evidence seemed to indicate that Ei might be having a disagreement with Sara due to external reasons–things that were out of their control, like the distribution of resources and support from the company. Although further investigations were still needed to confirm.
Incident #4
Date: July 10
Time: 9:20 AM - 9:45 AM
Location: Purple Silk dorm
Parties Involved: Makoto, Ei, Miko
Details:
When Makoto woke up, Miko was not in bed. They had gone to bed together last night. It had been a while since they had last slept together. They didn’t have to worry about waking up early today, as it was the first day of their vacation, a compromise between them and their management, because they weren’t able to get their birthdays–which, coincidentally, were within three weeks of each other’s–off.
There were noises coming from the kitchen, so Makoto wondered if it was Miko cooking, albeit unlikely, given that she was on the lazier side.
As expected, it was not Miko who was occupying the kitchen. Instead, her girlfriend was standing at the door, watching intently. She deduced that it was Sara cooking, because otherwise...she didn’t want to imagine that.
“Miko? What are you doing?”
“Making sure our dorm doesn’t get destroyed.”
“By Sara?” A strange comment from her, since their youngest was the best cook among them.
Miko waved her over and stepped away from the door. What she saw almost gave her a heart attack.
Ei was cooking–attempting, at least. Makoto couldn’t tell what she was working with. It was just a lump of darkness.
“Ei?”
“What?” Her sister answered without looking at her direction, focusing entirely on the bowl she was holding and mixing more ingredients into it.
“What are you doing?”
“Making food for Sara.”
Speaking of that, “where is Sara?” It was late in the day, according to Sara’s standards.
“Still sleeping. She was very exhausted.”
“Why?”
“Uh…you know, stuff. Stuff that I had nothing to do with.”
At that, the entire dorm was filled with Miko’s shrill laughter, but even that did not wake Sara up. Makoto’s worries for Ei and Sara increased by tenfold, and her girlfriend wouldn’t say anything, except telling her “don’t worry about it.”
Now that was a cause for concern. When had Miko minded her own business?
Conclusion:
This was the most out of character Ei had acted ever since she was born. She was cooking, and that alone should alarm anyone. She didn’t burn the dorm down, so that was a relief. Although it would be ill-advised to let her cook again.
During the chaos, Miko found the situation amusing. Did she know something that Makoto was unaware of? Or worse, could her girlfriend be involved with whatever was going on between Ei and Sara, or was she bribed to keep quiet about it?
Later in the day, Sara finally came out of her room and ate lunch–whatever it was that Ei made–with them. She fortunately didn’t seem to have food poisoning after that. Makoto noticed that she was once again walking with difficulty, like she was hurt. She was also wearing a long-sleeved shirt and pants during summer. Was she trying to hide the same marks Makoto saw last time?
There was something happening that Makoto didn’t have the full truth of. She only wished to get to the bottom of everything soon.
Incident #5
Date: July 13 - July 14
Time: 11:55 PM - 12:10 AM
Location: Purple Silk dorm
Parties Involved: Makoto, Ei, Miko, Sara
Details:
It was once again late at night. The same moaning noises that Makoto heard last time were echoing in the dorm. It seemed like today was the day that the truth would be revealed. Carefully, she put her ear to the door to Sara’s room.
“Ei, please…”
“Please what? You gotta be specific.”
“Ei! Please…don’t make me say it.” Sara sounded like she was going to cry.
Makoto was facing a dilemma right now. If she chose to enter the room, she might interrupt what was going on between them and never get to the whole truth, since they would know to hide it better next time. On the other hand, if she chose to ignore it…she would feel guilty or even regret, because she had the perfect chance to save Sara.
At the end of the day, Makoto couldn’t just sit and let Sara endure whatever was happening. This could also be the opportunity for the truth to be revealed, that this entire thing was just a misunderstanding—that there was no bullying involved, and they could end this once and for all.
Determined, Makoto took the master key–only to be used during an emergency, like now–unlocked the door, and barged in.
Much to her disappointment, her worst fear had come true. Ei was on top of Sara and pinning her to the bed. What else could she be doing if not physically assaulting Sara? This was more severe than she had imagined. She blamed herself for not interfering earlier.
Taking them by surprise, Makoto dragged Ei off of Sara. Her strength at the moment terrified even herself.
“Makoto! What are you doing?” Her sister yelped as she fell on the ground, which probably attracted Miko’s attention as well. Makoto could hear footsteps coming towards them.
“Ei, I’m very sad and disappointed in you.”
“What are you talking about?”
“Please. Stop pretending.” Ei’s attitude was infuriating Makoto, and she was someone who didn’t get angry easily. “Why did you do this?”
“Do what, exactly?”
“This! Bullying!” Makoto pointed at Sara, who was hiding underneath the blanket, as if sinking into the bed.
“I’m not bullying her! Well, I mean…”
“Makoto, what are you doing?” Miko asked, standing at the door.
“Miko! You knew about this, right? Why didn’t you tell me?”
“This? Yeah. I did. I really thought you would’ve figured it out.”
So Makoto was the only fool here. Everyone knew, but hid it from her for an unknown reason. She could’ve helped resolve the conflict between them. If only she was more observant…
“Anyway, why did you barge in, if you knew they were having sex?”
“Sara was hurting! I—”
Makoto froze. What did she just say?
“Sex?”
“You found out Ei and Sara are together, right?”
“Together?”
Miko nodded.
Upon that, Makoto finally, truly looked around the room.
There was a pile of neatly folded clothing—too much purple to not be her sister’s—on the chair. Her sister was…alright, wrapping a thin blanket around herself, but was clearly not wearing a shirt or a pair of shorts. The door was also locked when she entered…
It was at this moment, Makoto knew, she fucked up.
Miko sensed that her girlfriend required some time to process the information and proposed that they all take a short break before the members sat down together to discuss the situation.
A few minutes later, Ei and Sara were sufficiently dressed and took a seat on the sofa adjacent Makoto and Miko. Neither of them were meeting anyone’s eyes—Miko tried, but every other person was too embarrassed.
“So, you weren’t bullying Sara.” Makoto started first, since she was the culprit who caused the incident earlier.
“No…not in the way that you’d generally define bullying, anyway.”
Makoto wished her imagination wasn’t so active sometimes. The image of her sister and their youngest member—archons, she remembered how adorable Sara was when they first met. How could she be having the s-word already? With Ei, no less? To be clear, they weren’t that much older than Sara, but Makoto always treated her like a younger sister.
“Moving on…why didn’t you tell me, Ei? I thought we shared everything with each other.”
“Well…” Ei’s eyes moved to the figure next to Makoto. “You also share everything with Miko.”
“What’s wrong with that?”
“Can you really look me in the eyes and tell me that she wouldn’t take every chance to embarrass us?”
Makoto couldn’t. She knew Miko would tease them both. “I…either way, I apologize for how I acted earlier and for raising my voice,” was all she could offer.
“Honestly, I blame Miko for the entire thing.”
“You bitch.”
“Oh? You wanna fight? I’ll show you what true bullying is.”
Sensing the rising tension in the room, Sara decided it was her job to stop it from escalating, since Makoto was just watching her girlfriend with heart-eyes.
“Guys, stop fighting, or I’m gonna put Ei on cooking duty for the rest of the week.”
That shut everyone up.
Conclusion:
Makoto would be taking courses from Miko in order to enhance her tact and observation skills. This would help her become a better leader if she were able to read emotions and the room better. She would also be trained in knocking on doors.
Purple Silk would request for a bigger dorm from their company, so the two couples could have their own private space. While that was in progress, everyone would be required to soundproof their rooms, so no one would be disturbed by weird noises.
Lastly, Purple Silk would resume their weekly 5-minute talks to prevent anyone from withholding important information from one another.
Ei proposed that Miko should, quote, “shut up and stop teasing them,” but it was vetoed by the leader, saying that she liked Miko’s voice a lot.