Author's Note: Normally I prefer to put these at the end these days, but I feel like this is something I comment on before you guys read. I originally wrote this back in November 2015 and posted it elsewhere for some friends at the time, but shortly before writing this we had been talking about the temperaments of the utapri characters. What it would take to make the different ones angry, and how far you'd have to go.
As the resident Haruka writing for the group I pointed out that we do see Haruka get mad at Tokiya once in season one when he talks badly about HAYATO, and then later on you can see her get a little annoyed with HEAVENS seeming to think little of her friends. So her temper trigger is obviously things said about her loved ones and friends. After we had this discussion it occurred to me that even though Haruka has a clear trigger on her temper there's not often times or places to use it, and so I came up with what we have below.
Honestly writing this, and doing the revisions on it, had been one of my favorite Haruka themed projects that I've ever done. Getting to explore what could possibly be going on in her head as her temper is being set off more and more, and how much it would take someone so apparently mild mannered to act.
So I really hope you guys enjoy this as much as I have creating it.
They were all at a dinner put on by the Triple S committee as thanks for those performers who came and did the audition concerts for the opening ceremony. Though not everyone would make it through the dining room was lively with chatter of the different performers as they mixed and mingled with each other.
Haruka herself was seated at one of the tables that had been reserved for those form Shining Agency, her seat in among the members of STARISH who managed to take up a round with just themselves. Right behind her was the table with Quartet Night, and their other friends had their seats, though not all of them were seated. She was more than happy to listen to the banter back and forth between both STARISH and Quartet Night, as well as participate where she had a chance. Everyone was still giddy with excitement and anticipation from the concerts that night.
Things may not have gone exactly as planned, but everyone had still done their best. The rest was out of their hands.
A voice the composer didn't recognize reached Haruka's ears as it mentioned the name of her friend's group. Unconsciously it pulled her attention away from the conversation at her table, her ears turning more to that stranger's voice. However as she listened her back and shoulders started to stiffen, and her smile began to fade from her face as they spoke ill of her friends.
"Nanami?" She heard Otoya's questioning call, but didn't respond to it.
Why? Why would someone say these things about such wonderful people?
It was nothing they hadn't heard before to begin with. That voice said that as young pop idols they would never last. Their careers would would be over once their pretty faces weren't so young and pretty any more, or even when some newer more exciting group came along. Then they went on to name each of the boys with something she considered terrible.
Jinguji-san and Hijirikawa-san were only a part of the group because their families put pressure on the agency. Their jobs were received the same way since they didn't have any talent to do anything in the first place.
The group's fame was only due to the lingering fame of the joke that was once HAYATO.
Three of them weren't even worth mentioning since they didn't even do anything.
And then the foreigner. Who even put foreigners into their boybands for anything other than a shock factor or eye candy? That kid probably had a voice over for all his interviews too so he didn't sound like an idiot with an accent.
She noticed a change at her table as well, her friends could hear the man's careless, callous comments as he went on. She could see it in her friend's faces that they heard, moments of clenched jaws, furrowed brows, and narrowed eyes before smiles were pasted back on. The conversations, the friendly banter, became a little more forced as they tried to ignore the commentary on themselves, but glances that were exchanged between them with an entirely different silent conversation that she was too out of it to catch. Haruka did notice they kept looking to her though.
Haruka's own gaze dropped down to the plate in front of her, wide and unfocused as her hands curled around her napkin. A few times one of her friends would try and pull her attention away from this person, and she knew she should stop listening but somehow she couldn't. Their effort was in vain as the stranger's voice went back to criticizing them as a group again.
"Their debut was a joke in the first place. The UtaPri Award? A fluke! Just look at what happened tonight! Those boys couldn't out sing a quartet made up of older idols desperately clinging to the end of their own careers, and then they went and got upstaged by a fellow third rate boy band who didn't even use a new song!"
Haruka shot up out of her seat furious.
"Nanami!" "Lady!" "Nanami-san!"
She was shaking from head to toe, she knew her vision was fine but for a moment she didn't actually see anything before her, and it was hard for her to breathe she was just so angry. It was almost strange, Haruka couldn't remember ever being this angry before in her entire life.
Her thoughts were stuck on a loop right now as her hands curled at her sides. How dare they. How dare this person say such awful things about such wonderful people as if it were nothing?
Vaguely Haruka was aware of her friends trying to get her to sit back down. Telling her with quiet urgency that it was fine, they could ignore it, it didn't matter, and to not get angry. The composer ignored them though, it was too late for her to not be angry, and it did matter. Golden-green eyes sought out the one who spoke ill of her loved ones, and friends.
She could not allow this to continue. She would not allow them to continue to keep speaking so badly of her dear friends.
Finally she found the person and her body started to move. From the corner of her eye Haruka saw a hand, one of her friends she realized vaguely, reach out trying to grab her wrist to stop her. She kept moving though, that hand missing her by inches as she strode over to the other table.
It was almost like an out of body experience as she reached the stranger's table, and slammed her hands down on the empty space making them jump. The singing in her hands from the action was also only a vague thing, not nearly enough to cut through her fury.
"You're wrong." Fury that carried through in her voice as well as the burning gold gaze that locked onto the stranger's, not allowing him to look away from her. Her voice, both calm and angry, sounded strange to her own ears. "About all of them, you're wrong."
"Hijirikawa-san and Jinguji-san are with us today, and always, because of their own work! Everything they've done, every achievement they've gotten, it's been accomplished with their own two hands! No one is pressuring anyone to accept them for anything!
And Ichinose-san is Ichinose-san! No one else! His fame and his songs are his own from what's he's doing now, and it has nothing to do with HAYATO-sama!
Syo-kun and Ittoki-kun want to inspire and support people with their work! Both of them work so hard to do so, and they never give up on anything or anyone along the way!
Shinomiya-san and Cecil-san like to make others happy and smile! They've both had to overcome so many more things than you can even begin to imagine to do so as well!
I've seen all of this! Watched them grow more, and more wonderful every day! STARISH is more than boys with pretty faces! They are wonderful people who care for and inspire others! They are worthy of the rivals that push them to do bigger better things, just as their rivals are worthy of them! Every single one of them, and without STARISH I would never be who I am today either!
So I won't let you say anything more! Not another word! You won't say another thing bad about them for as long as I am here!"
The words had spilled from her lips without her really realizing it, and before she knew it her anger was draining away from her. She was breathing as if she had just run a mile, and still shaking a little though she wasn't sure why anymore as her presence of mind came slowly back to her. Her hands throbbed dully still from when she had slammed them onto the table.
Still she stared down this other person, unwilling to look away until they admitted they were wrong. Until they said they would stop. She wanted an apology for their bad behaviour before she apologized for her outburst.
The silence that had settled around her though was unnerving, more so than the quiet murmurs that came after from the people who had heard her, it almost made her want to retreat quickly from her outburst. That was no good though. She had to wait for their apology, she wouldn't back away until she got it. The man, well everyone at this table, seemed far too shocked to say anything back to her though.
A hand came to rest on her left shoulder gently, using a little pressure to make her stand up straight. The copper haired composer had to resist the urge to look back at who it was. Another hand came and took her right hand gently, and Haruka winced a bit as it made the throbbing hurt a little more for a moment.
"Excuse us." That cool voice belonged to Ichinose-san. Finally looking away from the man she had yelled at Haruka turned her gaze to see him and… His face was as sharp and cold as when they had been in school. A glance to her right and she saw an unusually serious looking Otoya was the one who had taken her hand.
Both of them guided her away as the noise from the rest of the room began to pick up again slowly. Haruka's wide eyes turned to the floor, a blush starting to spread across her cheeks in embarrassment as she internally panicked. Oh god had she made them angry with this? She had certainly caused a scene in her desire to defend everyone. Doubtless they were all embarrassed, she certainly was now that her head was clear.
"Chin up Nanami-san." Tokiya murmured as his hand moved from the top of her shoulder to back at her shoulder blades. Haruka blinked, looking up at him startled. She saw the slightest upwards curve of his lips, and his eyes weren't angry or cold any longer when they glanced at her. If anything, she thought he looked proud.
"You didn't do anything wrong, it's alright." Otoya added also quiet. When Haruka looked to him he was smiling for her as he lead the way back to their table, starting to pull her along by her hand. "Let's finish dinner together, ok?"
The composer looked between the two of them, and smiled, "Mmhm!"