The "I" in Idol Is For Inspiration

Boy. How long had it been since she’d stepped in here?

Masuyo Ai:

It was only her second time here, but there was a large enough gap between those two visits that saw most of her memories escape her. Masuyo couldn’t exactly remember what she first thought when she stepped into the Friction gym for the first time, but it probably wasn’t too far off from her impressions at this very moment.

Dressed in her usual gym gear, she took a moment to breath in the atmosphere and get a feel for the room. Lots of weights being thrown around. Plenty of stink and humidity in the air. Some encouraging shouts calling out occasionally from trainers and spotters left and right. Cries of determination and...moaning? Sounded kind of close by, too. Something was off about it though. She’d been in the Octagon long enough to tell the difference between a moan of pain and...the kind that was apparently coming from behind those doors. Her mind poked her to ignore it as she walked away from the gym wall and into the sea of busy bodies and working equipment.

The last time she planned to in for a workout, she was pulled into a tag title match in Russia. Kinda put a damper on her schedule. But that match was starting to put things into perspective for her. She was almost there. Almost at the peak. She just needed one more push. One more kick in the butt to reach the top.

Although, her performance as of late wasn’t doing wonders for the confidence. Ever since that hardcore match, things had been rocky. She needed a change. Needed to get her mind straight.

Gin wasn’t going to be around for a while, meaning the gym was going to be her best friend for these coming weeks. Although, it didn’t seem like Alicia was around today either, so no chance at a spar quite like the first time. Sucks. She could have used the advice, even if she knew it was going to be a bit blunter than she would have liked.

Masuyo kept walking with her bag slung over her shoulder, looking left and right for an idle station. Let’s see. Where to start? Where to start?

Hm. Maybe she should have gotten here earlier. Masuyo wasn’t too familiar with the usual routine around here, but she didn’t realize just how much traffic the gym could produce. The place was huge, yet still managed to stay filled to the brim with hard-working talent. A good thing for the business, not so much for her at the moment.

Masuyo clicked her tongue. Guess she was going to have to make some changes to her schedule from here on.

She puckered her lips and sucked at the air as she walked, letting her mind idle for a moment as her eyes continued their search around the place. She took a couple mental notes, erasing the possibility from her mind of getting to a couple of the machines she wanted to try out today. Her gaze had been so taken that she hadn’t realized someone stepping away from the punching bags, coming close to bumping her as they exchanged glances.

“Yo.” She raised an idle hand towards the woman, keeping pace before turning her gaze forward again. At least this was a pretty friendly morning she was having.

Masuyo kept walking, craning her head left and right, eyeing a couple open stations. Looked like the squat rack was open. Someone forgot their water bottle, though. Maybe they’d come back for it. Another person was getting off the bench press, too. Oh, maybe using the dumbells would-

And then she started backpedaling.

Walking backward, facing forward the whole way as if time had reached out a hand and yanked her back. She stopped once she reached the punching bags and snapped her head back to side at the dark-haired woman.

“E-excuse me?” She mustered a wide smile, the warmest she could manage even despite a few twitches from the corner of her mouth “Y-you probably get this a lot, but you look an awful lot l-like Sakura Hagiwara? A-are you two related, by chance? S-sisters? Friends? Shadow clones?”

Oh. A substitution. She probably could have just been a substitution, too. She’d heard that AFW had managed to add a few shinobi to the roster. She probably should have expected this kind of trickery from here on. Did the corruption of this industry know no bounds? That’s all this had to be right? There was no way she was real, right?

But she was. By the Buddha, she was.

She had that same smile, That same friendly demeanor that she’d seen in countless interviews in her otherwise brief career in the idol business. That same voice that echoed to thousands on national television. This was the Sakura Hagiwara. Sweet Diva’s center vocalist. The best pop icon to ever exist.

And she was talking to her right now.

“OH MY GOD!”

She took Sakura’s gesture with both hands, shaking it vigorously up and down as she retained eye contact. She didn’t bat an eyelash at the surrounding gym goers, who took a glance over at all the commotion before going back to their routine, slightly perturbed. Masuyo, on the other hand, was the very image of elation.

“I’m Masuyo! Masuyo Ai! Y-you should come eat at my restaurant sometime! I’ll get you in for free! I-I mean my family restaurant! I mean...I own all of your CDs, even the behind-the-scenes stuff! I mean...I mean…” Masuyo realized she was still shaking the woman’s hand. She shook her head and took a step back, taking a hopefully subtle breath and looking back up at Sakura.

“I meant...how’s your day going, Ms. Hagiwara?” She said with a nod. “Sorry for being so forthright. You’re just..you’re amazing is all. I just wanted to say that.”

Shut your goddamn mouth, Sakura. You are so amazing. Don’t let anyone ever tell you otherwise.

Oh Buddha, she touched her. Sakura Hagiwara just touched her on the shoulder. It was so quick, just a couple pats and nothing more, yet she felt like all the weight that she came in with had been lifted right off of it. Maaannnn, how she was freaking out over here! WHY did she not bring a pen?!

Okay. Stop. Just play it cool. Talk to her like a regular person, not like an idol. That’ll just scare her off. Masuyo breathed deep and put her hands on her hips, grinning ear to ear with a smile that nearly tore the skin from her face.

Goddamnit.

“Oh, you know! Doing great! Just hangin’! Having fun at the gym! Here for a workout, maybe lift a few weights, run the treadmill. The works, the works. Gotta stay in shape, right?! Ha ha ha!” Too excited, man. Pull it back. “But...uh. That’s just...that’s just my usual day. Except I forgot my iPod. Thought this day was going to be a bummer until...well, now!” She finally dialed back the smile, keeping it warm and cheery. “By the way, your singles are the best for workout mixes. Not even joking.”

God. She still could not believe this was happening. She met Sakura Hagiwara. In this very gym like it was nothing. She knew that this promotion was basically world famous now, something that was still kind of hard to believe since she’d watched the place grow from what was basically a small indie studio on the corner into a modern-day Colosseum. She expected to bump famous people, but doubt she’d know exactly who they were. But if she’d known Berserk’s rising ace would be here…

...oh yeah. Berserk’s ace.

“Hey.” She snagged her bag forward over her shoulder, noticing it slacken in her grip. “So...what are you doing here, if you don’t mind me asking? I thought you were working for Berserk. Figured you’d be on the rise after you beat Ele-I mean, Blue Panther. There’s no way they’d let you go.”

Holy crap, she just gave Masuyo a nickname. That was her nickname. Like...for her. On the outside, Masuyo was managing to maintain what she felt was a good degree of composure. An upturned smile, a slight rise of the eyebrows, enough to show that she approved of it. But inside? It was like a million little fireworks going off at once. This was one of many dreams come true for her. She couldn’t wait to get home and shove this in Saaya’s face.

She did her best to dial it back and focus on what Sakura was saying. This was a chance to get to talk with someone she long admired after all, excited as she may be. Despite being the younger one between the two of them, Sakura had seemed to have done so much with her life and accomplished even more. She was a national sensation, a pupil to one of the best wrestlers in the country, and now quickly climbing the ladder to take that name for herself, and she’d just barely scratched her second decade on this Earth. She may not have been a big name around AFW yet, but if there was anyone a fresh, young rookie like Masuyo could look to as an example, it was her. She nodded along to pop star’s words, words that very much proved the point she was making. Already she was striking out on her own and aspiring for bigger and bigger things. Her potential seemed endless.

“Cool! That’s actually kinda what I did. Not to compare, but I think it’s really big of you! From what I can tell, AFW is a real step-up from Berserk, but if there’s anyone who can make it here-”

Before she could get away on another gushing tangent, though, a voice caught her attention from behind the former idol. Coming up right from behind was Misaki Toyota, as if saying her name had just poofed her into existence. Her reaction this time was less one of gleeful surprise and more looking on in esteemed awe. Berserk’s ace. One of the finest combinations of skill, technique, beauty, and passion there was in Japan. Masuyo was seriously running into both of them on the same day? At the same time? She was almost thinking this was all a setup. Then again, she was standing in the middle of one of the best wrestling leagues on the planet so...

“Misaki?” She caught herself gawking for a second and snapped out of it quickly enough, eagerly taking the woman’s hand. “I-it’s a pleasure to meet you, too! I caught some of your matches when I was starting out. You were a big part of my decision to go into wrestling. Arigato.” She looked between her and Sakura after she let go of the handshake before settling her eyes back on Misaki. “So...you’re both signed on with AFW? Was Berserk seriously alright with that? You two are their top members right now. Nobody, there’s worried the federation might try and steal you two away? I mean, the pay’s definitely better.”