Chapter 1: Singer pop Rena Campbell
After seeing how Nanase Haruka and Kirishima Ikuya, were internationally recognized. Asahi Shiina wasn't going to sit idly by, well, along with the rest of his teammates, he was giving his all in every training session to become an elite athlete and make his dream come true to go to the Olympics for the first time in his life.
One of those days when he was leaving the train station after another exhausting routine, he saw something...
A giant image projected onto a full-color billboard. In it, a young woman with dark brown hair with noticeable golden highlights that were extensions, brown eyes, and holding a microphone, showing a faced that seemed to be singing a couple of notes.
The words promoting her it said:
RENA CAMPBELL --- FIRST JAPAN LIVE AT YOKOHAMA STADIUM
GET TICKETS NOW!
. . .
Rena...
There was no doubt that her name made his world stop for a moment.
"Rena...?" he murmured, surprised...his gaze still fixed on the advertisement.
It was impossible not to remember her delicate face, as if she were a doll.
Several years had passed since he last saw her, when she moved to Montreal as an eight-year-old girl. Memories of his childhood best friend flashed through his mind, like the time she asked him to listen her practice for a school presentation in the park they used to play.
Even that promise to meet again as independent adults, fulfilling their dreams and recounting everything that had happened in their lives during the years they were separate.
Suddenly, a smile full of hope appeared on the redhead's face. "If you're here...can we fulfill what we agreed on that time?"
. .
The next day, the group agreed to train together at the gym to strengthen their muscles.
While the others were getting ready and stretching to start the routine, Asahi was still sitting with his eyes on the screen of his smartphone, as if he were looking for something that was bothering him.
That concert announcement had made him a little curious about what had happened to Rena.
She had fulfilled her dream of achieving fame in the music industry, that much was clear.
[Her biography as an artist]
Rena Campbell Suzune is a Japanese-British singer born in Tokyo, Japan. At the age of eight, she moved to Montreal, Canada, with her parents and her older brother.
From an early age, she knew she had a gift for music, participating in school performances in a elementary school in Tokyo and joining several choirs in Montreal until finally studying art at the University of Toronto. She sang solo in a jazz bar, where she was discovered by a renowned producer and released her debut album, Violet Pulse, with Glass Moon, reaching number 10 on the hot 100 international charts on different streaming digital platforms.
. . . . .
[Beginning of a Flashback]
"Asahi! Listen to me sing one last time."
The red-haired boy looked at her and immediately smiled, his ears delighter by the girl's beautiful, melodious voice . "Wow! You're really going to be a famous singer, Rena."
The little girl blushed slightly and a small smile formed on her lips. "When I am...will you come and support me at all my concerts?"
He nodded and approved of the idea with his usual enthusiasm.
[End of flashback]
. . . . .
Does she still remember who I am? was the first question that came to Shiina's mind.
"Asahi," a male voice called out. It was Toono, who was the first to notice that his friend was a little distracted. "Are you okay?."
Shiina smiled back at him, put away his phone, and got up to start his training. "Yes, don't worry, Toono."
For the moment, there was no need to tell his best friends who Rena Campbell was in his life...and there was no need to do so because it was a personal matter.
. .
After some tiring leg exercises, the group decided to stop for lunch at Asahi's older sister's restaurant, as they usually did on certain days.
The woman, who also had reddish hair, approached her beloved younger brother, who was drinking a flavored soda and keeping away from the rest of the conversation.
He was on his cell phone looking for tickets to Rena's concert, a promise he had made to her when they were children if she made it big as a singer.
As a Asahi's relative, she knew about the young woman with british blood and her relationship with him when they were innocent children. "Did you hear?." asked the older sister as she approached him. "Rena-san has returned to Japan."
Asahi looked up from his smartphone, his gaze somewhat lost. "I was just looking for tickets to her concert, which is a promise I made to her when she was abroad," he said, looking back at the screen with a glimmer of hope. "I don't know if she remembers me."
The woman let out a small laugh after noticing how her brother was lost with a girl. "Don't worry, even though she's already achieved fame. I'm sure fate has big plans for both." She encouraged him, referring to a possible reunion.
The young adult looked up at the ceiling of the café again, as if he expected to find a sign of what was to come, because there was something inside him that he couldn't hide: a mixture of anxiety and excitement that he hadn't felt since he was a child.
What if she really doesn't remember him?
What if her world is so different now that there's no room for the past?
Once again, those thoughts began to weigh on his mind. It wasn't until he looked at the digital display on his cell phone that those questions faded away. With the image of the girl, projecting a high-pitcher note, with that passion in her eyes that he remember from his childhood, made him smile again. "I'm going to find you," he murmured to himself. "Even if it's just to tell you: you did it."
.
.
.
That same night, as he walked alone to his apartment, the streets of Yokohama were adorned with the reflections of neon lights, and electronic screens repeated the concert announcement: RENA CAMPBELL --- FIRST JAPAN LIVE. For a second, his heart beat as fast as if he were in a 100-meter race.
On one of the busiest avenues, while waiting for the traffic light to turn green, a girl walked past him with light steps.
She wore reading glasses, a black cap, and a white jacket that was to loose for her slender, feminine figure. She didn't look up, but Asahi turned toward her.
There was something familiar about her...
"Oh, excuse me!" he suddenly heard himself say when, turning without looking, he bumped into the same girl and spilled her coffee on the ground.
"I'm so sorry," the girl replied instantly, bowing quickly.
It was then that Asahi looked her straight eyes and the world in front of him seemed to stop for a moment.
Her warm brown eyes, with an unmistakable mixture of sweetness and character, gave him a feeling of dejà vu.
"Re...?" His voice almost betrayed him, on the verge of saying her full name.
But before he could utter it, the girl stepped forward and covered his mouth with a firm but gentle hand.
"Shh..." she whispered, with a nervous and shy smile. And without further ado, she disappeared into the crowd.
But Asahi stood there, still stunned by what had just happened.
He recognized that voice and energy right away.
"Rena...it's really you." A nostalgic smile spread across his face.
. . . . . . .
END OF CHAPTER 1: SINGER POP RENA CAMPBELL
