[Play: STAR ANIS : We could be]
The Intracontinental Hotel in downtown Los Angeles. One with over seventy floors and view of the entire skyline and cityscape below.
There, in a three-room suite, Hope, Erie, and Juliet were staying the night.
Hope tiptoed around the room as if afraid to break anything. Her fluffy pink dress and lacy frills fluttered as she moved. Looking at everything with slightly trembling blue eyes, she said, "M-Mister John really got this place for us, huh...?"
Juliet, wearing her pink hoodie and jeans, walked around like it was natural. She set her suitcase and guitar off to the side before walking over to the mini-fridge and pulling out a bottle of Dk Pep. "I'm sayin', Johnny's Mister Moneybags. Johnny Cashmoney for sure."
Erie, wearing a retro Freddy's printed t-shirt that John had procured from somewhere, along with jeans, rolled a small suitcase with her belongings into the room and looked around. Then she stared at the window and the long drop below.
Hope paused and glanced over. "Are you okay, Erie?"
"I'm fine." Erie nodded and said, "...I'm just surprised. I thought I'd be traumatized by heights after... you know. But..." She smiled, her emerald eyes sweeping over the glittering lights below. "...It's pretty."
Hope walked up next to Erie and smiled. "It is, isn't it?"
Juliet moved her belongings into the adjacent room to claim it. After that, walked over to the others. Crossing her arms, she looked off into the distance and said, "Huh. You can see the Hollywood sign from here."
Hope's eyes sparkled. "You can! Wow!" She clasped her hands together and said, "I've only seen it in pictures! Oh!" She pulled out her phone and smiled. "We should take a picture of us!"
Erie smiled and said, "Yeah. We should take a picture of our bright-eyed selves before things go to hell in a handbasket."
Juliet moved closer to be in frame. But she rolled her olive-green eyes and said, "I think we've already BEEN in hell." She gestured towards each of them and said, "Hope was struggling a 9-5 and almost Hoshino'd... which is still weird to say. I was legit homeless until the other day... and technically still am. Then you... well, y'know."
Erie laughed. "Truuue. But that's why we should take the picture then, right?" She smiled. "So that we can see how good things get from here."
Juliet paused. Then her eyes softened as she let out a warm smile. "Yeah."
Hope smiled too and said, "Okay! Then on three! One, two... three!" She pressed the button on her phone and took a selfie of everyone. After that, she sent it to their groupchat and said, "Done- Oh, wow." She giggled. "You two look rough..."
"Whadaya mean- I mean, what do you mean?" Juliet pulled out her phone to look at the picture. Then she noticed how frazzled her hair was and her thin face. "Gah! I look like I haven't eaten in months!"
Erie peered over and said, "Let me see... Wooow. Is it the lighting? Both you and I look like ghosts, Julie."
"Right?!" Juliet laughed. "And how come Hope looks like an angel in the picture? Look, she's even got like a halo from the reflection!"
Hope giggled. "Maybe it's because I'm nice? But you two don't look too bad either!"
Erie rolled her eyes. "Don't look too bad... you mean we don't look GOOD either."
"You said it, not me~" Hope giggled again and skipped over to the fridge to get herself a soda too.
Juliet smiled and walked over to sit on the sofa in the middle of the room. Huddling up in the corner, she cracked open her bottle of Dk Pep and took a long drink from it. "Ah... nothing like the feeling of drinking unhealthy soda in a stupidly expensive room."
Hope sat down next to Juliet with a bottle of Mount Dew. Settling into the middle of the sofa, she cracked open her drink and said, "It IS a bit weird... I don't want to think about how much this room costs..."
Erie went to the fridge next. But instead of pulling out a soda, she grabbed a mini parfait. After grabbing a spoon from the small kitchen area, she plopped into the sofa next to Hope and said, "Probably a few grand."
"A-A few thousand?!" Hope's eyes widened. "F-For just one night?!"
Juliet sipped on her soda and said, "It's pretty cheap, actually. New York is worse. And don't get me started about overseas..."
Erie took a bite from her parfait, nibbling on a blueberry. Then she pointed her spoon at Hope and said, "Haven't you been around Mister John for a while now? You're still surprised at how much money he has?"
Hope shook her head. "I can't help it!" She sipped on her Mount Dew and said, "Even though I KNOW it's fine... I was living on a few hundred dollars a week after working twelve hour shifts every day..."
Erie paused. "Huh. Wait, how much were you making, Hope?"
Hope fidgeted, her ears turning red from shame. "...Nine dollars an hour after tax?"
Juliet coughed, smacking her chest. Then she spun to look at Hope and said, "THAT LITTLE?!"
Hope's face turned red and she said, "I-It was technically ten... but taxes..."
Erie looked genuinely flabbergasted and said, "But minimum wage is like sixteen dollars, isn't it? Even McRonalds pays twenty here!"
Hope's eyes widened. "McRonalds pays twenty in California?! Where I lived, it was only eleven!"
Juliet looked genuinely concerned and said, "Where the hell did you live, Hope? The middle of boondocks Iowa or something?"
Hope blinked. Then she turned an even deeper shade of red and averted her gaze, hiding behind her soda.
Erie gasped. "NO WAY!" She pointed her spoon at Hope and said, "YOU'RE FROM THE BOONDOCKS?! LIKE, THE LITERAL BOONDOCKS?!"
Juliet stared at Hope and said, "Wow. No wonder you're uncomfortable. Have you like, even seen a band in real life?"
"A... band?" Hope blinked. "Like, a concert?"
"No, like, money." Juliet waved her hand and said, "You know, like a thousand dollars."
"O-Oh. N-No? Sorry...?"
Juliet shook her head. "That's not something to apologize for... but wow. Rose-colored glasses are a thing, huh...?"
Erie stared at Hope, still shocked. "...How the heck did you live on ten- No, nine dollars an hour?"
Hope blushed and said, "I-I took food home from work? And I didn't buy health insurance?"
Erie jumped out of her seat and pointed her spoon at Hope. "YOU DIDN'T HAVE HEALTH INSURANCE?!"
Juliet slowly blinked. "Hope."
"Y-Yes, Julie?"
Juliet set her bottle of soda down and then held Hope's hands. "You are not allowed to NOT be spoiled from now on."
Erie nodded. "Yeah! That's terrible! Oh my god, like, that's crazy! Even that black company didn't pay me THAT little! Who the hell were you even working for?!"
Hope fidgeted and said, "I-It was just the local retailers. But you know, not a lot of people around, so not much money... I was saving to move out, but it was hard." She smiled. "I'm glad Mister John accepted me. It was really a dream come true, you know?"
Erie plopped back into the sofa, shoveling a big spoonful of yogurt and berries into her mouth. After eating it, she said, "I thought MY job was soulcrushing, but I would ACTUALLY crash out working for that little. At that point, isn't it better to go to jail? At least you get food and a bed... Plus security!"
Juliet pulled her hands back and then rolled her eyes. "I think saying prison is better is a stretch, Erie... but I get what you're saying." She looked at Hope and said, "You're really strong, Hope."
Erie nodded. "Definitely stronger than me, that's for sure. Unironically would have stabbed my manager or something after like, a week."
Hope giggled. "Well..." She looked a bit guilty and said, "...I can't say I didn't consider it. Some of the people working there were creepy. They never got handsy, but you know... they look."
"Ewewew." Erie shivered. "Creepy old white men in the middle of nowhere Iowa... yeah, hard pass."
Juliet nodded. "At least it's over now."
Hope smiled. "Yeah. I was worried it would be the same in Japan, but the guys there are super nice! Although, they seem a bit scared when they look at me..."
Erie paused. Then her emerald eyes lit up as she said, "Ooh! That's because a few of our senpais are literally part of the yakuza, aren't they?"
Juliet blinked. "What?"
Erie looked at Juliet. Then she said, "Oooh. You don't know, do you? Mister John gave me the handbook with a lot of the lore... one sec." She hopped off the sofa and walked over to her suitcase. After rummaging inside it, she pulled out a leatherbound binder with waterproofed pages and said, "Here! See? According to this, Miya-senpai and Aoko-senpai are ACTUALLY yakuza princesses. Like, not just lore, but IRL."
Juliet stared at the unexpectedly organized dossier and biographies that Erie pointed out. Then she said, "...You know. This explains a lot about my oshi..."