I flopped back on my bed - my long mint hair lay in messy ponytails on the sheets - it had been three days since I sent in my songs for the Japanese record company: Osaka Seed Records contest for finding a new talent.
We had moved from Alberta, Canada to Osaka, Japan about a year and a half ago and I loved the way that Japanese people sang. It gave me a somewhat peaceful feeling.
I had sent in my songs on a CD about a week ago secretly without mom being aware. Mom hated the idea of me throwing away my education to become some “Famous Japanese Singer.”
It sickened me to know that my mother didn’t care about what I wanted to do with my life. Mom was an airhead for not caring. Mom was determined for me to become a “well-educated member of society” and not waste my life singing.
I did not want to be some well-educated chick member of society. My dad hadn’t stuck around so he couldn’t go against her and help me.
“Ugh,” I yelled as I threw my pillow at my cell phone that played my favorite song: Sweet Romance by Mayumi Gojou. I walked over to my dresser and answered it. “Hello, this is Mint Minasuki” I said to the person on the other side of the line.
“Miss. Minazuki, my name is Hanon Ohosho. I’m from Osaka Seed Records, I am proud to announce that you were in the top 15 choices for new talent. We are having an audition tomorrow at the studio at 3:30pm for all 15 who got through the judging!” Hanon said.
“What?” I asked excited, “You mean I was good enough and was one out of all the people who auditioned!”
“Yes you were and I hope you make it!” Hanon said and hung up.
“Kyaaaaa!” I screamed as I danced around the room listening to Home Made Happy by Primavera. I was dancing when mom came in and the atmosphere changed to a non-happy mood.
“What is all the excitement about?” Mom asked as she turned off the music as it started to play Meikyuu Butterfly by Nana Mizuki. I hesitated to tell her about the audition. She would definitely freak.
“I don’t know what you’re talking about” I lied. It didn’t hurt lying to my mom because I didn’t really care if it hurt her feelings.
“I really doubt that,” she said. “You were making a lot of noise jumping around like a monkey.”
“So what if I am?” I told her. She walked over the dresser and picked up my phone.


“What are you doing?!” I asked, as I tried to take away the phone from her with no luck.
“Looking to see who phoned you,” She said as her airhead smile came out as she scanned the phone log. “Hmmm, is this Hanon Ohosho a school friend of yours?”
“Yes she is and she phoned to see if we had any homework,” I told her, “Which we don’t.” I couldn’t tell her that Hanon was from the record studio, she’d utterly ruin me if she knew, although she already does that.
“Fine!” she said. “Anyway it’s time for you to go to bed, ok?!” She turned and left the room in a huff.
“Ah,” I sighed when she left the room, she hadn’t found out. I flopped back onto my bed and grabbed my phone. I scrolled through my playlists on my YouTube account and found the one labeled: Hatsune Miku and picked the song Ievan Polkka by Hatsune Miku. I knew all the dance steps as I danced around the room laughing. I finally stopped when all 5 songs on the playlist ended.
I looked at the clock; it was 10:30pm. It was definitely time to go to sleep. I walked to my closet and picked out my favorite pair of pajamas. They were mint with music notes all over the bottoms and a treble clef on the shirt. I crawled into bed and pulled the covers over my head and eventually fell asleep.
I woke up with the slight scent of eggs wavering in the air. I walked over to the closet and quickly changed into my summer uniform for school. I was in such a big hurry that I fell down the stairs and landed on my head-I did that a lot now adays. After I checked to see if anything was wrong I sat down at the table and ate.
I grabbed my books then put on my shoes and left the house for school. I walked in a hurry in order to get to school on time. My earphones swung back and forth as World is Mine by Hatsune Miku echoed through my head.
The sunlight landed on my roots and I saw it was time to re-dye my hair sometime this week. My hair flew in the air like the wind on a calm day.
I crossed the street and climbed up the steps of Osaka Private Academy. I got to my homeroom. My teacher Miss Yukari was taking attendance-I made it right before she called my name. I slid into my seat and took out my textbooks.
“Ring, ring” I jolted from my seat and got my bag and hurried out of the room without a word. Last period had ended. I wasn’t paying attention and ran right into mom.
“Where are you going in such a hurry?” she asked. “You know that you have a doctor’s appointment,” she said with her famous airhead smile.
“What,” I said trying to hide the excitement of going to audition in my voice. “I didn’t know anything about this!”
“I told you about it a week ago,” she told me.
“Well I’m busy today, so get it changed!” I told her with bitterness in my mouth as I looked at her with disgust. “I have an audition at Osaka Seed Records to become a singer and nothing going to stop me from fulfilling my dream!”
“You know that I don’t want to be a singer!” she told me. I knew that, but I didn’t care, all I wanted to do was become a singer. I ripped down the street away from her.
I heard her yell “You’ll never become a singer under my roof!” I was panting as I walked up to the studio. I walked in smoothly as if nothing had happened. I felt a little tinge of meanness in my stomach. I ignored it.
I gave my name to the secretary-who was giving out numbers; in which order we would audition. I was given number 13-my favorite and lucky number. I went and changed into my outfit.
I sat down in the next room with the other girls. There were all different kinds of girls: blonde, red, browns, tall, short, wide and skinny. I walked over to an empty seat and sat down. Four more girls came in and they man came in and told us the way the audition was going to work.
After he finished, he and a redhead who was given number 1 went into the studio. After about 5 minutes she came out and they called the next number. I sat there wondering if mom was going to find me before the audition and drag me back home with her.
“Will number 13 come in, it’s your turn?” I suddenly snapped out of my thought. As I closed the door, out of the corner of my eye I saw my mom coming in the front door of the studio. I quickly closed the door and stepped in.
“What is your name; age and what are you going to sing?” the man asked me.
“Mint Minasuki, age 16 and I am going to sing New Future by Full Moon” I told them confidently.
“You may start.” The man started the music and leaned back into his chair.
I slipped into my own world. The words seemed to flow out from me and my heart. I sang with all my confidence. I enjoyed singing with all my heart. It was like I was born to sing. When I finished, they were all staring at me in wonder - it kinda was creepy.
They finally all came back to earth and started all running around like dogs chasing cats.
The man went out and announced that they had agreed on a winner and there was not going to be another round. I looked around in confusion, was I the winner? The man came up and congratulated me. I had done it. He told me all the things that would happen.
I walked out after that and saw her. Mom with steam coming out of her ears in frustration.
“What did I tell you - you are never going to become a singer!” she practically yelled at me as I walked out of studio. I did feel a little sympathy for her for running away. I turned to look at her.
She had tears in her eyes. I was taken back in surprise - mom cared for me? It didn’t make any sense. Mom grabbed my hand and took in hers. A strange feeling grew in my stomach.
“What do you what from me?” I asked quietly.
“I just don’t want you to do something then decide that you don’t want to do it but then you can’t get another job.” She told me with tears her eyes. The pain filled up in my chest. I wondered what it could be.
“Mom, I really want to be a singer with all my heart and this is my chance!” I told her. I determined to make her change her mind and see my side of the situation.
“Oh honey, I didn’t know that you wanted to be a singer that bad. Being a singer is a lot of work. So I tried my best to keep you from it, so that if you tried it and didn’t get it you wouldn’t be disappointed. I’m so sorry, that I stopped your attempts to become better!” Mom started to sob. I tried to make her feel better.
The strange feeling expanded all over me and I started to think that maybe my judgment of mom was wrong. Maybe mom wasn’t a cold-hearted person.
The man who did the auditions came up to me and mom. “I’m Shou Mitsuki and I’m going to be your manager. I hope you have a successful career, Mint!” he told us with excitement.
“I’m Amaterasu Minasuki and I am Mint’s mom” mom said as she shook hands with Shou.
“So this is your mom?” he asked me. “We’ll need to talk about her career and schedule. About how she’ll fit in her education, if that’s ok with you?”
Mom turned and smiled at him. “That’s fine with me. How about you, Mint?” talking to the both of us.
I jumped up and down in excitement. I was going to be a singer. My dream was starting to come true.
I would work as hard as I could. I wouldn’t let this opportunity get away from me after I worked so hard for it.
When we got home, I went up to my room and flopped back onto my bed. I am going to be a star. I pulled out my Stars magazine and began to flip through. Would I be able to be as loved as the people in the magazines?
“Mint, are you up there?” mom yelled from the kitchen.
“Yeah I am!” I answered her. I left my room and went downstairs to the kitchen. “What do you want to talk about?” I asked her.
“We need to talk about your singer career - you and I” mom told me.
“Ok, so what about it?” I asked her. I walked to the fridge to get a cup of water. I filled the cup with ice then poured water in. I gulped all the water in one go.
“Like how you’re going to fit in your school time with whatever you are doing,” mom asked. I could tell that she was concerned - I didn’t know how.
“Well, Shou said that most of the shoots and recording would be out of school time and I can take the study option. I am sure that everything will go fine” I told her. I wanted everything to go right - it had to. I had worked so hard to get this far.
“I hope this fills your happiness” mom told me.
“I know it will. Thanks mom” I told her. The words felt weird on my tongue, I hadn’t told her that in a long time. I wondered why I hadn’t said thank you to mom in a long time.
“I hope it will be successful and a lot of fun - I’m looking forward to it!” I told her. I could hear the excitement in my voice. I just wanted to jump up and down across the world.
When I think of it I wasn’t the nicest person on the world - I was actually really mean to mom and adults.
Then it finally hit me. Mom had done everything for me. She didn’t want me to be a singer because she was afraid I would be not as good as I thought. She wanted the best for me. Mom was never an airhead. I had been some rebellious teenager who thought they could do or say anything and could hurt the others around them. I had hurt mom and I hadn’t even noticed because I was too busy trying to make others live hard for them - not caring about what they thought.
“Mom, I’m so sorry that I was so mean to you!” I told her between my sobs. Mom put her arms around me and tried to comfort me.
“It’s ok Mint; it was partly my fault trying to keep you from achieving your beloved dream,” mom told me. This made me sob more. “I should have been helping you to become a singer instead of pushing you away from it.”
“Mom, it’s not your fault, and I’m so sorry….so sorry….I never meant to do any of the things I did to you - I hope you can forgive me!” I choked through sobs.
“It’s ok Mint, I’d forgive whatever you did - so don’t worry. I love you no matter what!” Mom said. I was so emotionally moved.
“I love you too mom,” I said “Even if I’ve never told you - I do…….I really do…..” my words trailed off. I sniffed and stopped my crying. I was going to be strong for Mom, for Shou and for anybody in the future.
“That’s better Mint” Mom said as she noticed that I had stopped crying. She gave me a big bear hug.
“I think I’m going to go look at the moon now” I said. It was a habit to go look at the moon going to sleep.
“Ok Mint, don’t stay up too late. You want to look good for school and you want to sound good singing tomorrow.
“That’s fine with me; I won’t stay up too late!” I told her, yawning.
I said good night and walked back upstairs and put my pajamas on. I went out and sat on my balcony rail for awhile. The moon shone down on me. No matter where I was on the planet I could look up and I would be looking at the same moon as mom. It’s cool that all people on earth are looking at the same moon. I always thought that when I was little that the moon belonged to me. Mom called it Mint’s Moon.
I could hear the music to Still Doll by Wakeshima Kanon in the night, I smiled to myself. I pulled my mint hair out of the ponytails and let it hang loose. I let the night breeze flow through my hair. It always felt good on my face. I turned and looked all around me. I knew there were many girls who shared the same dream with me - I hope that they will get their dream achieved like me.