Kasumi was on her bed wishing she could hide from the world.  She winches as her cheek is more bothered by the slap than she thought.  She glances down at her phone seeing no response from Shouta yet.  He is a busy guy unlike me.  Kasumi lays down in her bed curling up into a fetal position.  She stares at the wall that her sister is on the other side of. 

Will she ever forgive me?  Will she ever believe me?  Kasumi turns her face into her pillow trying not to cry.  She has cried enough.  Junko doesn’t deserve any more of her tears.  Especially after how she laid hands on her.  How dare she!  Yet if I did the same it would be a big deal.  **** her and **** her.  Kasumi sighs as she doesn’t mean it.  Why does this mean so much?  I never cared before.  Why should I start caring now?  Oh yeah, I want to be a better person.  A better big sister.  Kasumi swallows hard.  I want Jiro to be proud of me.  Inspired by me. Junko becoming pregnant was shocking but being an aunt is one thing Kasumi does love.  Her phone chimes capturing her attention.  Kasumi holds her phone up not bothering to lift her head from her pillow.  She feels emotionally drained and would rather stay where she is.  Shouta responded saying he can talk.

Kasumi is relieved and scared at the same time.  She can barely make sense of her own thoughts.  Everything happened so fast.  Kasumi closes her eyes for a moment.  She dials Shouta.  He answers quickly.  Kasumi is surprised to hear how alert he is.  Good news maybe he can help me with Junko.

“Hi Shouta,” greets Kasumi.  Kasumi realizes she doesn't sound like herself.  Her voice sounds strained, exhausted and something else she can't put her finger on.  She's not use to feeling like this. “Thanks for taking my call.”  She sighs.  “I know there are other things you could be doing.”  Kasumi is trying to figure out where to start.  “I spoke to Junko tonight.  It didn’t go well….at all….”  Kasumi can feel her anger coming back to the surface as she remembers how cruel Junko was during their conversation.  She isn’t sure if she wants to tell Shouta everything but it may be for the best.  She needs to know exactly what to do.  Anything she can think of would hurt Junko and probably make fixing their friendship worse. 

Kasumi listens to where Shouta instructed her the figures are located.  He stated how he was going to be off looking at some other items close by.  Kasumi grips her purse strap as she thought Shouta was going to stick beside her the whole time.  What was it Junko liked again?  Gundam or whatever. Kasumi slowly walks the aisle looking at the other figures available.  There were some really nice ones.  Kasumi smiles looking at a female figure in a cute school uniform.  So glad I don’t have to wear that goofy shit anymore.  Although I did make it look good.  She chuckles at the memory.  She gets to the gundam figures and there is a lot.


“Jesus,” she mutters looking at the selection.  They all look the same to her.  Why does this have to be so hard.  Kasumi pouts tapping her left fist on the side of her thigh for a moment.  Once again she is regretting not paying attention to Junko.  She had been in her sister’s room more times than she can count but doesn’t remember anything Junko owns.  She definitely remembers those god awful clothes she has but outside of that she doesn’t have a clue.  Kasumi folds her arms feeling frustrated.  I should have taken a picture of her room in detail.  That could have been saving my skin right now. She continues to stare at the shelves seeing if anything jogs her memory if Junko has it or not.

Kasumi listens as Momo explains how heels can make most appear taller.  Kasumi didn’t really consider that because she is somewhat tall.  She mostly wear heels to fit a look.  Mostly when going on or she wants her legs to look toned.  “That is something I hadn’t really thought about” states Kasumi thoughtfully outloud.  “I can see you rocking some killer heels!”  Momo is giving her pro model tips.  Kasumi tells herself to make a mental note of all these nuggest Momo is dropping in the conversation.  While she doesn’t want to be a model she certainly wouldn’t mind looking like one.   

Momo explains she is interested in some of the social media platforms but not all of them.  She wants to learn more how to use Instagram.  Kasumi personally feels Momo is doing herself and upcoming career a disservice.  Tiktok in Japan has come a long way.  Many people think the focus is educational.  It still is but they are slowly expanding to more areas.  Nothing messy like some of the stuff Kasumi has seen overseas.  Celebrities have begun to use the app to connect to fans.  Kasumi mostly enjoys the jpop and kpop dance challenges outside her typical makeup and fashion threads.  Kasumi herself would be overwhelmed trying to get on Tiktok and use it.  She doesn’t know how to put reels together but she is going to look into it soon.  Kasumi turns her attention back to Momo who says she is excited to get started on learning about Instagram from her.  Kasumi smiles glad to know Momo is comfortable and trusts her with navigation of Instagram.  Oh my god…..someone trust me to teach them.  I’m like a mini teacher! Kasumi begins to celebrate on the inside.  She has never been a position like this before.  It’s a euphoric feeling.  Momo’s giggles brings her back to the moment.  Kasumi nods listening to Momo admit the mall does tend to have cute guys.  She even says no harm in checking them out.  Kasumi feels like that is all she ever does is check out guys.  She never approaches them, they should be coming to her!

“In my experience I found Friday and Saturday nights at the mall to have the handsome guys,” Kasumi admits.  She is getting flashbacks to her high school and college days.  She would leave Junko often with the chores of the shrine to go outl.  Her friend circle at the time had to be at the mall on a Friday or Saturday night.  If they weren’t there it was one of the other houses where they would party among their group.  Their group consisted of girls and guys.  Most of them were popular at school.  The college days were a bit different as you had the study hard crowd, study hard and party and then simply party.  Kasumi feel into the strictly party crowd.  She sighs inwardly because she misses those days even though those peers weren’t her true friends. 

Kasumi doesn’t speak to any of them.  She recalls a few of the girls from high school being jealous she got in Valeria University.  That made cheating her way in their worth it to see the looks on their faces.  They could clown her about staying back a year but she got into a top university.  It’s as if they didn’t want to see Kasumi doing better than them.  To this day Kasumi is unsure if they wanted to see her fail at life.  Those high school girls she hung out with disappeared from her life after she got into Valeria University.  ****.  Kasumi grabs a strand of her hair twirling it as she listens to Momo explain how she does want to get married one day.  She has even given hearself a deadline.  Kasumi is stunned how put together this girl is.  It’s as if she planned her whole life out.

“Thirty is great deadline to find a husband,” replies Kasumi.  “I personally would want a husband before the age of 30 mostly so when I have our child I can snapback with my body.”  Kasumi pats her mid section for emphasis on getting back into shape.   “The older you get the harder it is to lose weight and tone the skin.” Kasumi cringes at the thought of her looking so called sloppy after having a baby.  Flabby wrinkled skin, muffle top, cottage cheese thighs.  Ew.  “I like that you aren’t focused on solely finding a guy.  I have heard that is when the best ones come along.  Cheers to us finding some cute, nice, and etaslished bachelor.”  Kasumi would have toasted with a drink in hand to that.  Momo shifts the conversation pleasantly encouraging Kasumi to apply to work at the Mani Mani Cat Cafe.  She chuckles as Momo does this cute little side to side making those purple locks dance behind her.  It reminded her of a kitten in that moment.  She could use some innocent baby kittens to lift her mood.  Might not be such a bad gig.  “Thank you so much Momo.  You’re right.  We do all have to start somewhere.”

Kasumi feels bad when Momo says she is trying everything she can to succeed at modeling.  She really is.  Momo is doing more than Kasumi is herself granted Kasumi was no model.  “I apologize if I came off aggressive.” She grins. “I’m just overly excited about your career.  I want to pick a magazine one day and say I know her!”  Could Kasumi be selfish.  Sure.  She can also care for others if they give her something to care about.  Kasumi finds herself caring about Momo.  Something about her is so precious.  If only Junko could be more like her.  “There is a huge world out there.  You have every right to take advantage of it.”  Momo transitions smoothly stating how she likes to dress cute.  Totally.  Kasumi nods her head excitedly.  Momo is so easy to talk thus far.  She doesn’t feel like she is playing catch up with ‘college talk’ or ‘adult conversation’.  Kasumi found adult conversation to be boring as it could be about politics, bills, retirement, and such.  Just because you are grown doesn’t mean you can’t have a social life.  Kasumi shocked when Momo reveals she doesn’t think she could pull off a romper or a jumpsuit.

“Are you kidding!” exclaims Kasumi.  “You just need the right style for you.  I can see you rocking a romper with a waist belt.  Got to have the waist belt to snatch that waist.  Since you are going for cute the romper could be paired with some cute sneakers or sandals or in my case heels.”  Kasumi giggles.  “Then top it off with a jean jack, cardigan of even a blazer.  Rompers can be dressed up or down.  The options are limitless!”  Kasumi tucks a strand of hair behind her ear.  “I didn’t mean to get so excited there.  You are the full package Momo.  Not everyday someone inspires me to put outfits together.” Kasumi knows breaking into the modeling industry is hard.  One has to stand out.  Momo was not only petite, cute with thick purple flowing hair, her personality is humbled.  She’s going to go far.  I just know it!


“No need to try for anything you don’t feel adventurous trying,” replies Kasumi.  “Which dresses where you eyeing again?  I can certainly help you pick one of the two.”  Kasumi grins forgetting that she was also shopping for herself.  She can come back to that.  Her new friend needs her fashion opinion.  So much more important.

“Well thank you,” says Kasumi with a grin.  She has so much spirit.  “Modeling does look like fun.  I like the print work over the runway.  Besides I’m much too short for that.”  Kasumi finds it interesting that Momo states how having the right makeup and outfit makes it easy for her to be cute.  Definitely.  Kasumi still finds it hard to believe when some women don’t wear make up at all.  Defined brows, mascara and some lip gloss can go a long way.  Kasumi took notice of how Momo is surprised she has 4000 followers on instagram.  She is further stunned when Momo confesses to not really using social media like that.  After Momo explains how the sites are complicated for her Kasumi understands completely.  Kasumi is taken back to how she felt when she was struggling at college.  Every single class was hard.  Didn’t matter how easy the subject was.  It was constantly whooping her brain’s ass.

“Instagram is one of the easiest to me,'' she replies. “The filters on there are incrediable.  I find the hardest social media sites to navigate is TikTok and Tumbler.  Lucky for us Tumbler isn’t as popular.”  Kasumi solely focuses on Instagram.  TikTok is too much for her.  She needs to learn more about editing before trying to use that social media platform.  “I can show you how to use Instagram if you like.  I truly believe you would get so much more coverage on your modeling.” Kasumi rubs her chin.  “Part of me thinks you can show bits and pieces of your life but mostly the modeling.  You could end up getting contracts or something.  People nowadays like being able to relate to people they look up to.  That is how come I recommended showing small pieces of your life.”  Kasumi herself had businesses on Instagram approach her for advertising but they were all companies wanting her to promote for free.  I wouldn’t dare.  Kasumi is not the best teacher but working Instagram is something she can do.

“I’m so glad I’m not alone,” replies Kasumi.  Momo admitted she wants a nice boyfriend who is a good person but can also buy her things she wants.  Kasumi can tell Momo is not the type to want expensive things 24-7.  She has a good balance much like herself. “I swear all the good guys are taken.  That leaves us with guys who have low paying jobs or lacking in looks.  The good looking ones are rather arrogant.”  Kasumi places her hands on her hips.  “I’m not saying all men but most of the guys I have run across have been not so great.”  Even when on campus Kasumi couldn’t find a guy.  Most of them were too busy into their studies or into fooling around and not being a committed relationship.  Kasumi already knows she isn’t giving up the cookie unless she is getting married.  She is not innocent by any means.  Kasumi has dabbled in kissing, a hand job here or there but oral and the act of sex itself is a no for her.  She refused to be the girl in high school or on campus known for spreading their legs.  Valeria University is a top tier college.  She wanted to be taken serious like her sister Junko.  Kasumi wasn’t going to risk any gossip being released about herself.   

“Really,” says Kasumi with her eyes watering a possible job offer..  “I mean I will consider it.  I have been thinking about getting a part time job after all.” Kasumi blinks back tears of happiness.  Momo is beyond kind.  She just met her and yet she is offering for her to apply at the kitten cafe.  It’s like this girl was placed in her life for more than one purpose.  Thank you ancestors.  “I know kittens and cats must warm up to their caregivers.  It’s understandable they wouldn’t be use to me if I was to work there.”  Kasumi doesn’t want to assume.  She realizes she can’t stop smiling.  Kasumi didn’t think for a second she would enjoy their conversation this much.  Kasumi listens nodding her head as Momo discusses her portfolio.

“I do know modeling portfolio is a must in your career field,” states Kasumi. “Showcasing your skills to take a variety of photos is important.” She grins wildly at Momo.  “This is why I have faith in you girlie.  You totally got this in the bag!” Kasumi is thrilled when Momo accepts her offer to show her how to use the social media platform.  She feels irate on the inside hearing how Momo’s classmates didn’t want to help her when she asked for help.  I shouldn’t be surprised.  People can be so cruel.  Kasumi nods her yes wanting to help Momo even more after hearing that.  Momo excitedly tells Kasumi how they should proceed.  She’s such a good planner.  She thought of all of this on the spot.  Kasumi needs 24 hours or longer to think of plan when it comes to most things.  Organization doesn’t come easy to her but she is getting better about it.

“There is no need to rush to be sexy,” replies Kasumi.  “I think playing up your futures as you are is best.  Wholesome modeling goes much further.  As you age then you can shift to the grown and um sexy.”  Kasumi looks around not wanting to use such language openly. “Now we are going for cute but comfy.  Totally my area.  How do you feel about rompers or jumpsuits?”