Floriography: Red Roses

Chapter 15

“Oke.”

Violetta clapped her palm to call for the attention of all the models and event teams that had gathered in front of her. Tracy could not help but feel her enthusiasm and glanced a little towards the now-lit stage in white.

“Include, this is Tsuki, our stage manager today. Tsuki will manage all the timing and movement of the model, as well as its entry and exit. Please sound and lighting is also tried yes, please choose a song and adjust the lighting, later when we try to run through I will evaluate everything. Thanks though. Spirit!” Violetta left the crowd after she finished giving directions.

“Alright, for now, let's all get on stage.” Tsuki said while leading the crowd of models onto the stage, while the staff began to be prepared by Reth who immediately took over.

“Who will be the opening for Modern Kimono?” Tsuki raised her hand, then Shu quickly raised her hand.

“Oh, Shu? Ok. Others can go straight backstage yes, and stand by on the side of the entrance.” Tsuki directed quickly. The entire model immediately walked towards the backstage entrance gap and Tracy also quickly followed. Tracy peeks and notices the way Tsuki directs Shu.

In the past, Tracy had participated in several fashion shows as well. Not this big, but more or less the same way. But the coach who directs him is very, very scary. That left him pretty traumatized, to all the stage managers. Tracy had cried once, but since there was Gracy next to her, no one knew about it.

“Ok, so after Shu walk back and stop here.” Tsuki spoke out loud and stopped in her backstage pants. All the models standing around there instantly took a few steps back to give them space. “The next model will go straight in, just think of the order like this.” Tsuki directly lined up all the models with random on the left side, making the right side as the exit path of the stage.

“Oh yes, except last model.” Tsuki was looking around among the crowd, and with a slight hesitation Tracy raised her hand and came out of the line so that Tsuki could more easily see her.

“Oh, Miss Manson. Come over to Shu.” Tsuki moved her fingers towards Tracy, and without a second thought,

Tracy ran small towards Shu who was smiling towards her.

Something behind Shu's smile puts away Tracy's slight awkwardness. The smile seemed to say that Shu—yang is a professional— model recognizes Tracy as her match. Tracy said it was just her dream.

Shu and Tracy stand on the side of the stage, noticing Tsuki telling the models to walk one by one alternating from the right side, to the left side, and so on.

“Yes, as always yes, ladies. There's nothing to worry about. Now go back to the backstage, to the line, I will direct.” Tsuki turned and looked at Tracy. “Miss Manson.”

“Y-ya.” Tracy answered firmly. Tsuki smiled, then moved her fingers again in the air towards Tracy just like before.

“Cute me.”

Tsuki walks up to the entrance, and Tracy runs after her. Once Tracy is close enough to Tsuki, she holds Tracy's shoulder to position it right in the middle of the door.

“Alright, Miss Manson. I'm sure I don't need to talk much because I'm so impressed with your performance on the Kyoto.” runway

Tracy was about to open her mouth to protest, but she was convinced this was not the time. Tracy nodded small.

“I... will give you the best. Please help me.” Tracy bowed slightly, Tsuki spontaneously bowed back while chuckling.

“You are too humble, Miss Manson.” Tsuki patted Tracy's shoulder.

Tracy thought in her heart. Tsuki knows, isn't he the Manson?

“You just have to walk slowly, Manson, then up the runway. Ocean Tears is an elegant dress, so don't play too much.” Tsuki's showing it to her body. His steps are high and firm. Tracy could only nod while watching Tsuki.

“Good, and turn. Show the dress from the front. Then you can continue walking a little, and stop on the right side.” Tsuki. He stopped and faced the right side, and moved his entire body weight to the right side while posing small. “Then continue, and stop on the left side.” Tsuki sped up the pace of her show, “Jalan again, and like Shu, posing—“ Tsuki held Tracy's shoulder once again to position her in the middle of the backstage gap, facing the entrance. “Here.”

Tracy nodded. He knows enough what he has to do.

“Lamp will also die like Shu, and you will have to find a way to safely descend the backstage stairs. You can walk slowly, but make sure all of you and your long dress tail are fully backstage in five.” Tsuki stopped in front of Tracy, facing her. Tsuki raised her perfectly drawn brows.

“Paham?”

Tracy nodded deeply. “Thanks Tsuki-san.”

Tsuki just raised her eyebrows.

“OK, we try to get here. The lighting? Sound?” Tsuki shouted while raising her hand. The two staff near the door raised their thumbs and the floodlights started to turn on.

The sound of a casual house song began to light up, the volume grew louder and louder. Tracy immediately walked down the stage and ran towards the door.

“Shu.” Call Tsuki. When Tracy turned her head and stopped in the middle of her way to look at Shu, the girl was already wearing a high bun-shaped head ornament and her bun needle was a red fan that was taller than the bun itself. Several small gold chains with sparkling diamonds fell on his forehead, circling his head.

Shu seemed to be a different person. His eyes were sharp and his smile was smooth. He walked confidently, slowly tracing the runway. Tsuki watched him, and nodded in satisfaction. Upon reaching the end of the runway, Shu bowed respectfully, patiently adjusting her posture and the heavy ornament balance on her head so as not to fall off, before returning upright, and elegantly turned around to walk towards the gap backstage. She posed pretty, and then the lights and song went off together.

Tracy almost gasped, when the lights went off, she really couldn't see anything. The remaining glimmer of light was just a white line framing the runway, and the light did not illuminate the path towards the backstage. In the darkness, Tracy can't see Shu at all.

“Model enters the stage in 3..2..”

Tracy almost jumped when she heard Tsuki's voice from the front of the stage. Tracy gulped.

“1!”

The second also lights up again and the song starts again. The next model immediately continued the catwalk without pause. Tracy squinted her eyes again, to adjust to the suddenly bright light. Tracy

gobsmacked in the heart. He has left the world of modeling for too long, he forgot the taste.

All models that run the runway look professional. Tracy can only see the Modern Kimono collection now, because yesterday she was standing backstage. Tracy saw the models wearing these collections backstage, but their aura made all the clothes look more majestic than they looked.

Tracy realizes, no model has come out of the backstage. But without needing to look, Tsuki raised her palm in the air towards Tracy. His eyes paid attention to the last model and waited for her to enter the gap behind the stage. After that he lifted his thumb, and the floodlights were all pointed at Tracy.

Tracy put her body up, and walked slowly towards the stage. Not as slow as Kyoto, but not as fast as the tempo of the song.

Tracy imagines Ocean Tears's dress wrapped around her. He could even convince himself that he could feel the velvet material of the dress was smooth on his fingers.

“Ok, ok, stop, stop!”

The lights are back on. Tsuki.

“Good work, Miss Manson. Increase that aura, I can't see your confidence. But I'm sure with the dress and the adrenaline, everything will be beautiful in time.” Tsuki nodded while patting Tracy on the shoulder.

“Good.” Tsuki sighed.

“For Frozen Flower, we can't practice much, because Aya Eiko will only arrive in Tokyo tomorrow morning, and we won't have time to train with her. What we will use is the mp3 version, but do not expect everything will be exactly. Aya likes vocalizing, so there will definitely be a lot of sounds that you just heard tomorrow, please.” Tsuki sighed again while shaking her waist.

“Ok, we start now. Opener for Frozen Flower?”

Nana quickly advanced forward, breaking through the herd of models gathered in front of Tsuki. Tsuki nodded then pointed towards the white umbrella that Nana had to carry later, while saying something in Japanese. Nana quickly took the umbrella.

“All backstage, Miss Manson, you also back backstage.” Tsuki patted her shoulder again, this time pushing her slowly towards the other models who had already walked backstage.

“Remember, make this round fun. I want to see the expression, the dance, the lipsync, everything you can do to

make them believe that the shoes you wear do not hurt.” Tsuki shouted so that everyone could hear the sound backstage.

The lights are turned off, and the song plays.

Tracy lifted her head. He knows this song! Violetta loved this song and several times Violetta listened to it while Tracy was with her.

Unknowingly Tracy was already nodding her head at the tempo of the song, and she saw Nana start walking when the song reached the first ref. Tracy sighed, she wanted to see Nana walking, but unfortunately she was at the very back and backstage quite dark. He could not even see the person in front of him clearly. When Nana returns, the models start walking one-on-one, and Tracy can hear Tsuki yelling at them to enjoy her song more and regard Tsuki as Aya Eiko. Tracy was getting nervous. She's a big fan of Victoria's Secret fashion show, but she's never done a fashion show like that.

The turn soon arrived, and he could see Tsuki's back right in the middle of the runway, watching the previous model, trying to enjoy the song. Tracy takes a deep breath and starts to follow the song's lyrics slowly, imagining that Tsuki is Violetta. He could not help but smile, and when it was his turn to walk, he confidently fluttered the curtain in front of him and sang in his heart. His hands were raised on both sides of his body before falling back on the sides of his body. He made a small turn as he passed Tsuki, giving eye contact, before returning to walk forward.

Tracy poses three times, this time, as she has to wait for the bridge's arrival, Tracy expresses the song's lyrics, imagining as if she is an emotional fan of Aya Eiko and is in attendance at her concert right now. As the bridge arrived, he turned around, dashed small towards Tsuki, and grabbed his hand forward. Tsuki was unmoved, but Tracy could see her smile at a glance. Tracy then slowly circles Tsuki, and when she gets to Tsuki's back, Tracy spins around and walks back slowly toward the backstage slit, and the song approaches its end.

As Tracy stepped backstage, she was applauded, and she woke up from her daydream.

“Thanks.” Whisper Trace while bending small.

“Good work.”

Trace turned around, and found Tsuki behind her.

“The situation may be different tomorrow, with the real Aya Eiko. Aya is not a dancer, so the girl will not move much from the point she sings. Aya is also quite full of appreciation, if he does not consciously stand not in the middle, do as you like, Frozen Flower should be impressed fun.” Tsuki nodded with satisfaction.

“Not perfect, but good work. After this I will call Miss Naka and we will do everything again from the beginning, ok?”

Everyone answered Tsuki, and then she turned around. Tracy breathed a sigh of relief. At least not everything

as scary as he imagined.

“Hey, good work.” Nana. Tracy laughed.

“You too. I really want to see you on the runway for the opening of Frozen Flower, dear I'm behind.” Tracy took a breath. Nana chuckles small with a centile.

“You can see the video later. When they said Manson, I thought it would be Gracy Manson, but you're different. I now understand why they chose you for closure.” Nana smiled, then patted him on the shoulder. “Good work.” He said once more.

After that, Tsuki's voice came back from outside.

“Model, crew! Once again!”

The lights begin to dim, and Tracy can hear Tsuki's voice chatting with Violetta in front of the stage in Japanese. Then the sound of the music house began to light up again and the runway began to be done from the beginning.

After doing everything again from the start, Violetta gave her criticism, which was not too much in fact, but was quite burdensome for everyone, as they were not given any more opportunities to practice. Tracy was quite disappointed, two, three times the exercise promised by Violetta yesterday seemed to just disappear. It turned out that the decoration committee did not allow them to practice for too long because the stage still needed to be laid out.

Some of the timings were re-matched, as Aya would sing with Mp3 accompaniment instead of a live band. But Tracy

staying a little anxious, her achievements would determine Violetta's success for the show this time around, and the eyes that would be watching would be overwhelming. At least more than he imagined.

“Ok after this, all the models backstage and try all the dresses yes, if the size does not fit we will match.” Violetta again guided all the models backstage and several staff members followed to the stage to ask Violetta for advice.

Tracy immediately looked for the Frozen Flower dress she needed to try, and Candice— quickly and without needing to be asked please—gave the dress that Tracy was looking for before going straight to take care of the other models, without saying anything.

Tracy enjoys the texture and beauty of the dress in her arms. The dress material is thick and smooth, with a bright orange on the top that gradates to white on the bottom. Some of its parts are decorated with small sparkling gemstones. Simple, but luxurious.

“Violetta?” Juan's voice rang out from the edge of the stage, and Candice immediately shouted.

“Later, wait there, don't come here!” He ran straight towards Juan. Tracy looked around, some models were still in the middle of changing her clothes. They are not too disturbed by the presence of men in their midst, they must have been accustomed to the precarious situation that forced them to change clothes suddenly in any place. So these models are ready with a closed underwear, pants that look like short and a closed bra.

“Later there will be Louis backstage, for Modern Kimono part, I need video activities backstage.” Juan's voice sounded faint, Tracy clicked her tongue slightly. Louis? Why is he backstage?

“Later when Frozen Flower might be replaced by Derrian. There will be one representative from the section

documentation, I ask for help the models are asked to interact also with the camera.” Tracy took a breath. At least as long as Modern Kimono he would be behind the entrance, he would only meet Louis as he returned backstage, she said, at least that guy won't have time to talk to Tracy for long.

“Alright, already, later on the business, we still change clothes. There!” Candice evicts them and Tracy goes on her own business.