And the next chapter is out. X3
Yes, from last time, the other fandom that will have characters popping up is Hetalia (Nyotalia included). However, it'd be something like a human AU since I think it'd be unfair if we had century-old nations competing with a bunch of 17-23 year-old boys. XDDD I don't know if this should be then labelled as a crossover or not as, though the Hetalia characters are prominent, it's mainly because they're guests, and the story is really just mainly more about STARISH and HEAVENS getting money for their respective good causes - there won't be much expansion with the Hetalia characters that appear. So for now, I'm leaving it in the Uta no Prince-sama category.
Just giving a heads-up, that's all. ;w;
HUGE thanks to Kiwikowa for the review. :D
Kikikowa: Yep. =^^= the other fandom I'm going to use is Hetalia, so there'll be Hetalia characters entering as guests. owo still, thank you so much for reviewing. :D and though I'm not a fan of the anime myself (I prefer the games), I do actually like HEAVENS, and I hope to see them get expanded more in Season 4. OwO
Anyway, hope you enjoy~
The auditorium was soon filling up with quite a huge number of people. Everyone was peeking from the waiting room, and were really shocked at seeing the rate of how quickly the seats filled up. There was a large television screen blaring before them showing the whole display. There was some food that was on a table in case someone wanted a quick snack.
"I didn't think there'd be a lot of people here," Syo was shocked. "The place is filling out."
"I guess more people like this show than we thought," Masato surmised, quite surprised himself. "There are so many, though."
"Actually, a lot of them are people from the convention," a voice spoke up.
Everyone turned around to see the source of voice, and weren't really surprised to see Reiji Kotobuki smiling at them while carrying some plastic bags. He was also joined with a tall man with spiky, silver hair, and heterochromatic eyes; along with a younger male with cyan eyes, and hair of matching colour that was shoulder length, but tied up in a ponytail on one side.
"Kurosaki-senpai, Mikaze-senpai!" Nanami looked happily surprised at seeing the seniors. "You're here to root for STARISH, too?"
"Tch, we're here because Reiji's a fan of this stuff," Ranmaru looked stiffly irritated, but otherwise he didn't seem to have a problem. "So he dragged us along."
"Don't worry, Ran-Ran!" Reiji was grinning. "It's great, I tell you!" Sensing that his silver-haired comrade seemed like he was close to leaving, Reiji quickly added, "I brought some bentō from my family's shop!"
"You brought food, Rei-chan?" questioned Otoya.
"Well, there's going to be an intermission in the middle, of course," smiled Reiji as he explained. "A fifteen minute one, so I figured – hey, why not bring some food and drink? And, if we tried to sneak back here, we'd probably use up all of the fifteen minutes just to get here!"
Ranmaru was eying the plastic bags that Reiji was carrying with him, and noticed the lacquerware boxes along with some bottles. His eyes daring to the side a few times before settling on the food, he snorted, "Fine. But I'm only here for the food. What kind did you bring?"
"Shōkadō, chūka and tori," Reiji responded with a laugh when Ranmaru snatched the plastic bags from him and immediately left. Everyone just watched him go.
"According to my data," Ai, the cyan-haired male, spoke up in a matter-of-factly tone. "Four of the quiz masters were nominated as potential Chasers for this special. And HEAVENS are playing first."
"Really?" asked Otoya.
"Just like HEAVENS," Syo grumbled. "So eager to show off."
"Do you know who, Ai-senpai?" inquired Syo.
However, when he opened his mouth, a loud, booming voice bellowed from the door, "Ah~! There they are! Are you ready?!"
And sure enough, Shining Saotome burst forth and twirled towards the group. Ai shut his mouth as Reiji simply smiled at the man's entrance.
"How nice of you to come, Kotobuki! Mikaze!" Shining Saotome looked really happy at seeing two of his seniors. "Here to cheer on your juniors? Such great support! But sadly, it's time for you to go because it will start very soon. Sorry! You, too, Haruka Nanami! So, shoo, shoo!" He shooed the three of them away with a scooting gesture.
"Good luck, everyone!" Nanami cheered as she followed Reiji and Ai out of the waiting room.
"Don't worry about kouhai-chan, guys," Reiji reassured. "Ai-Ai, Ran-Ran and I will look after her~!" he winked and gave a thumbs-up before finally disappearing from sight before anyone could protest.
"They better not do anything on her…" Syo grumbled to himself.
Cecil was also annoyed, "Indeed. Muse should be with us."
"We still don't know who's the last member for our team of four," remarked Tokiya quite clearly, though he himself looked irritated. "Who is it going to be?"
"I'm pretty sure we agreed that it was either Ceci or ochibi-chan," said Ren.
"Quit calling me that," said Syo in irritation. However he placed his input, "I don't really mind if Cecil does it, but I'd like to stick it to HEAVENS that we're not easy to beat down!"
"I'd like to do it," Cecil piped up. "As I mentioned before, I'm very confident with my abilities."
"Okay, then," said Natsuki with a smile as he raised a finger for each name he announced. "So, it'll be Toki-chan, Masa-chan, Oto-chan, and Cecil-chan~"
"Looks like it," Otoya agreed, now feeling his stomach turn over. "So…let's do our best, guys!" he said as he raised his fist.
"For the orphanage," spoke up Masato.
Otoya felt a smile spread across his face before a flame of determination ignited in his crimson eyes, "For the orphanage!"
The others gathered together into a circle before calling, "Fighting!"
Just as they did so, the audience started shushing each other and began to quiet down when suddenly the stage started to dim from its normally great hue of electric blue. The STARISH boys turned around to focus on the screen. When the electric blue stage suddenly pulsed, the front erupted in a more vivid shade of the colour as a sudden bolt of electric blue lightning shot at the sides – suddenly igniting the whole stage at front to regain its vibrant colour.
More lights were shimmering before another bolt of electric blue suddenly shot up. More burst forth until it appeared to form strands.
However, upon a closer look, it wasn't strands.
"That looks like…" Nanami squinted from her place at one of the top boxes before exclaiming. "Veins!"
The bolts of lightning had formed into what appeared to be a brain. Suddenly, another shot of lightning was blasted to the other side as it leaved behind what appeared to be some smoke. One more blast obliterated the brain that was formed, and what remained appeared to be a figure running.
Everyone marvelled and "oohed" and "ahhed" at the display of electronics as the stage lit up. STARISH included, despite the fact that they were only in a room with a screen - they wished that they could see it first-hand. Shining Saotome had ushered the boy group into the room from Matthew's instructions as the Chasers didn't want to be revealed before they came onto the stage to play, so staying backstage was out of the question.
As the stage was highly illuminated, and the bolts of lightning finally disappeared, Matthew appeared on stage with a mike. Also on stage was the panel where the players were seated, which was glowing quite vividly.
However, there was something…very different about it.
"Hold on, all of HEAVENS are there," Masato's eyes widened.
And indeed, he was right.
There at the panel was not four contestants, but seven.
There they sat in order of the initials of their group name. Yamato Hyuga was sitting at the left end looking quite pumped; Eiji Ootori was rubbing the back of his neck as he smiled softly at the audience; Shion Amakusa simply surveyed what was before him intently; Van Kiryuin winked at the camera; Eiichi Ootori adjusted his glasses before giving a smile; Nagi Mikado made a cute pose; and finally, Kira Sumeragi sat at the right end, looking serious, but his pale yellow eyes burning with a sudden determination. Right in front of each member was a plate with their first name on it.
"So…then that means all of us can play!" Cecil looked delighted.
"I think it's better that way, anyway," Tokiya nodded. "We can win more money. So, I suppose that's why they changed the panel for tonight for all seven instead of just four."
"That's really nice of them," Otoya noted. "Really, it is quite nice."
"Don't forget we still have to face the Chasers," said Tokiya sharply. "And for all we know, all of us could just as easily get eliminated."
"Yeah? Well, I'm more eager to see HEAVENS getting eliminated," Syo said with a wry smile. With that, the others couldn't help but agree. For that, they continued to watch – missing a little bit of Matthew's introduction, but otherwise getting the gist.
"…but by working as a team, they have the chance to win millions of yen," Matthew announced. "There's just one thing standing in their way, though." He then turned to the game board that was across the room from the panel where the seven HEAVENS members were seated at. "The Chaser." Matthew then turned to face the audience again. In their lounge room, STARISH saw the blonde Canadian gaze right at them before dipping his head down a little, "The chase is on."
The auditorium then erupted into applause – screaming, cheering, whistling and cat-calling as well, when suddenly, the stage flashed with multiple white and yellow lights as the stage became a shade of scarlet. More squeals of delight and screams of excitement were heard when the stage suddenly morphed back to the electric blue as quickly as it changed colours.
"Welcome, to this special edition of the Chase!" Matthew announced, smiling serenely. "Unlike most episodes of the Chase, this time, we have two celebrity teams that will play for great causes. They have come here to challenge and see if they have what it takes to take on some of the world's finest quiz masters and take money for their respective charities. Here we are with team number one. From Raging Productions, it is the seven souls of the angelic HEAVENS!"
When Matthew gestured in their direction, the auditorium erupted into more screams, applause and squeals of delight - quite a huge number of girls looked absolutely enamoured and elated at seeing the seven boys. The seven members of HEAVENS reacted accordingly – Yamato raised a fist; Eiji waved while smiling; Shion nodded; Van gave a click of his tongue with a grin; Eiichi adjusted his glasses and winked; Nagi looked ecstatic at the attention; while Kira simply dipped his head in respect.
"Now, why don't we meet the team a bit better? What their specialties are, and what they like to do, maybe?" Matthew inquired, which prompted loud cheers of approval and eagerness.
Yamato was grinning madly as he jerked a thumb at himself, "I am Yamato Hyuga, and I'm ready to take you on!"
"I am Eiji Ootori," Eiji said as he stretched his jacket sleeve a bit. He smiled weakly as he felt his cheeks light up a bit, "I…I guess I really like video games and music."
"I am Shion Amakusa," Shion murmured. "The stars have brought us here to compete."
"The name's Van Kiryuin," Van smirked. "Sports and geography are my thing!"
"I'm Eiichi Ootori," Eiichi announced when it was his turn. "Pop culture, movies and chemistry are what I excel at."
"Hello everyone~!" Nagi was waving happily. "It's me!"
"Cutie Nagi~!" members of the audience were screaming in delight at the youngest HEAVENS member.
Nagi looked extremely elated as he laughed, "Yes, it's me~! My specialty is literature and I'm pretty good at maths, too! I hope you cheer for us, everyone~!"
Finally, it reached the last member at the other end of the panel table. "I am Kira Sumeragi," the dark-haired idol spoke in a surprisingly clear voice. After what appeared to be some thought, he then said simply, "I like animals."
"I didn't know Kira-chan likes animals, too!" Natsuki's eyes immediately lit up at hearing that piece of information uttered by the idol at the right end of the panel table.
"Sounds like a pretty decent team," Masato murmured unwillingly.
"That is even if they survive," Ren added, arching an annoyed eyebrow in Masato's direction.
"Yes!" Cecil agreed as he clapped his hands together. "For all we know, they might all lose against this Chaser!"
"All we can do is watch, really," said Tokiya as he narrowed his eyes.
Everyone watched intently from their places on the couches or the floor as things continued moving along.
Once the HEAVENS members were done with their brief introductions, Matthew continued as he walked across to the game board, whose panels were suddenly flashing vividly in a consecutive pattern, "That is our first team, ladies and gentlemen. Now, one-by-one, they have to bring as much money as they can, down the board, and into the team prize fund." He pointed at what appeared to be the yen sign at the very front of the seven member panel table that was underneath their names.
"Hunting them down every step of the way is the Chaser," concluded Matthew. "Anyone who gets caught loses their money and is out of the game. If they get back safely, though, they get to move on to the Final Chase, and a chance to win the cash prize."
"See?" Reiji looked absolutely excited from his spot next to Nanami at one of the top boxes. He looked giddy. "It's so exciting!"
"It really is," Nanami agreed, now feeling quite eager to see what happens, despite the nervousness she felt for the STARISH boys.
"Whatever," was Ranmaru's response as he leaned back in his seat with his arms crossed over his chest. However, the look in his eyes easily showed that even he had gained some interest with the premise of the show.
"It will be interesting to see what these quiz masters are capable of," Ai murmured. "I wonder if I can achieve new data."
"Considering you can be asked literally anything up in a quiz show, I'm sure you'll be able to get some new info, Ai-Ai," Reiji beamed.
"Now, are you all ready?" Matthew asked. Upon hearing everyone shout "YES", he called again, "Are you ready?" The shouts were even louder and they thundered throughout the entire auditorium. "Well, that's wonderful! Now, we can start!" He then turned to face the HEAVENS members. "And it all starts," he then raised a hand in Yamato's direction. "With Yamato Hyuga."
Yamato looked extremely pumped as he this time punched his fist into his open palm. He leapt out of his seat as Eiji patted his back in what appeared to be a notion of good luck. Regardless, the stoked blonde eagerly bounded forward as people cheered and applauded his enthusiasm and obvious display of fighting spirit when he raised his fists up and spread his arms out.
"What a show-off," Cecil huffed.
Syo snorted with a nod of agreement, but he gazed intently at the screen.
Likewise, Otoya was staring at the screen – now wondering just how the whole thing was going to go.
He just hoped that things would turn out well in the end.
shōkadō - a traditional black lacquered Japanese bento box.
chūka - bento with Chinese food in it.
tori - bento that has chicken pieces cooked in sauce served over rice.
HEAVENS will be the first team to play, and Yamato will be the first contestant to do the Chase. However, his Chase will be split into two parts because, since he's the first member to play, they'll introduce the Chaser in his part, along with the three other potential Chasers.
Who will the Chaser be? Will HEAVENS be successful in gaining money? Tune in next time~!
Peace out!
- Hebi-Kazechi-10