A risqué photoshoot

Ann sat alone in the hallway, mindlessly staring at her messages to pass the time. She read through her old Phantom Thief group chat, reminiscing on their last conversation about a month ago. She wore a soft, but bittersweet smile as she hadn’t been too active with her friends lately. The life of a traveling model leads to some difficulties in maintaining a social life, and Ann was currently facing that issue.

She then swiped down a bit further to a contact simply titled with a Purple Heart emoji. A pink hue enveloped her face as she tapped on the contact, but before she could read the set of new messages, she heard the distinct footsteps of her manager. She looked up to see a man in his late thirties along with a younger looking woman right behind him.

“Takamaki-san! What are you doing on your phone? The shoot is about to start!” Said the manager.

“Oh! S-Sorry!” Ann got up from her seat abruptly. “I didn’t know we’d be shooting so soon.”

The manager rolled his eyes at Ann. “I expected more from you, Takamaki-san, but that’s unimportant right now. Kashiwagi-san has a tight schedule and you’re lucky I was able to squeeze you into it!”

“Kashiwagi-san? The People of Japan magazine photographer?!” Ann was stunned. She’s worked for tons of magazine companies before, but People of Japan was the magazine every model wanted to be on. Even a simple feature half way through the book was enough to propel you into stardom, so needless to say Ann felt quite proud of herself.

“Yes! Didn’t I explain this to you in the car ride here? Did you listen to a thing I said?” The manager looked like he’d pop a blood vessel.

“I… guess I didn’t… B-But I like, just got back from a runway in Malaysia! I’m still a bit jet lagged, you know?” Ann tried to defend herself.

“I don’t care!” He said callously. “Look,” he grabbed Ann’s shoulder firmly, “If your photos are used for this week’s magazine, you won’t have to settle for those cheap Malaysian runway shows anymore. You’ll be walking with the world’s premiere models in France! So don’t mess this up, for both of our sakes…”

Ann looked down towards the ground, feeling nervous all of a sudden. It was like a heavy weight was just placed on her shoulders. This could be her big break into the mainstream modeling scene, make her dreams come true! All she could wish for was to be more prepared, as she felt not nearly qualified for such a high level magazine.

“Well, I guess it’s now or never then…” Ann anxiously said to her manager.

“Great! Now follow me, I’d hate to waste any more of Kashiwagi-san’s time!”

The manager practically galloped down the hall, with the young looking assistant struggling to keep up.

Ann could feel her heart pounding through her sweater. She’d been in all kinds of magazines, specifically Shibuya magazines. But The People of Japan was a whole new type of book. She’d be in every major store across the country. She could hardly imagine her face in such a book, and honestly she felt a bit intimidated.

Nevertheless, Ann quickly followed her manager to the photo shoot.