Please read the Disclaimer in Chapter 1 if you haven't already.

The next few hours went by smoothly. Syo slept until afternoon as Ai finished a few games of League. Coming out with good scores and all Victories, Ai was in a good mood. Ranmaru had gone back to sleep after his huge breakfast and Reiji had stayed in his dorm playing games on his Xbox. The trio eventually came together to meet for lunch, and this time, Syo joined them.

It started out simply of Reiji chatting up everyone of course. Though Ai still found it difficult to speak to Syo, especially in front of Reiji and Ranmaru.

Somehow, the conversation directed to Reiji asking Syo if he'd ever be Yui Kosoba or another trap idol again, though Syo calmly said he probably wouldn't.

"Eh? Why not? I thought Syo-chan looked cute in a dress, and it came out really great!" Reiji says. Syo scratches his cheek.

"It did do well, but... I didn't enjoy doing it very much. Being someone who isn't really me." Syo responds.

Reiji took this as a cue to change the subject, but Ranmaru interrupts.

"It doesn't matter what you want," the silver haired says sternly as he took a bite of his lunch, "what matters is that you get the job and do it for the sake of being an idol."

The room went into silence.

"Do it for the sake of being an idol." Syo repeated quietly and coldly. "Do it for the sake of someone else. Do it even if it pains you. Do it even if it mentally destroys you."

Reiji and Ai stare at him, concern building up. Even Ranmaru looks up in surprise.

"Do it even if you're forced against your own will." Syo smiles harshly. "Haha. Describes me, doesn't it?"

The blonde gets up abruptly and ran out of the room, knocking over his chair in the process. The door slammed.

Ai gave the two a dark look. "That was not about idol work." He hissed, before getting up as well and chasing after Syo.

Reiji sighs hard. "You're... You're really bad at reading the atmosphere."

Ranmaru narrows his eyes. "Shut up! That brat's problem doesn't have anything to do with me!" He snaps.

Reiji raises an eyebrow. "It doesn't. You made it have to do with yourself."

"Syo, wait!" Ai called. Syo didn't even spare a glance; the blonde was stiff and seemed to be walking too fast.

"Don't fucking follow me!" Syo shouted back angrily. He nearly tore his lip from biting it; the tears again falling down his face fast. "These stupid-ass tears..."

Ai managed to catch up with him, grabbing his wrist.

"Let go of me!" Syo demands, trying to yank his hand away. But Ai's grip was tight.

"Syo... Syo, listen to me. You shouldn't take your anger out on someone else." Ai spoke, choosing his words carefully in an attempt to not distress the boy anymore.

Syo grit his teeth. "Yeah, sure, because it's so easy to handle betrayal!" He yells, his hands clenching and unclenching.

"That's true, it is, and Ranmaru shouldn't have said that, but-" Ai exhaled heavily. "You're both stubborn! You're so stubborn, Syo. I know what Natsuki did was wrong- he hurt you- I know, Syo, please look at me-" Ai reached for Syo's other hand, but Syo slapped it away and broke free of the other.

"Don't touch me! You know?! You know?! You know what it's like to feel like you've been betrayed your whole life?! You know how depression feels?! Stop pretending to understand me! You make me sick! You're nothing but artificial!" Syo screams, turning his head slightly, just enough for Ai to see his face.

Ai was stopped cold. Syo's face was twisted in pure anger and anguish. And in that instant, Syo turned around once more and ran off at full speed.

Ai fell to his knees.

"I.."

He bit his lip.

"Wow, that hurt."

He felt something warm slide down his cheek. Reaching up, he brushed it with his finger.

"Huh? T-That's strange, I don't have a program for crying. I wonder... Why...?" Ai says shakily as more tears began to fall.

The bluenette clutched his chest. "That one really hurt, Syo." He breathed.

Soon after, Reiji and Ranmaru ran out to look for Ai. They spotted the bluenette in the field, seemingly unconscious.

"He must've shut down! Ah jeez~ just what I had expected." Reiji whines. A few steps ahead, Reiji made it to Ai before Ranmaru. He lifts up the bluenette and blinks, surprised at what was on Ai's face.

Tears?

But, Ai doesn't have a program for tears.

Reiji hurriedly wiped them away with his own sleeve before Ranmaru got to them.

The silver haired tched. "This isn't at all my fault," He snaps, "Oi, Ai! Wake up!"

The addressed idol did not.

"Aha~ a full shutdown, hmm? I could only guess what happened." Reiji snorts, "After my glorious plan seemed to be shedding light, Ran-Ran had to ruin it all!" He dramatized in a silly manner, trying to pick Ai up.

"I did no- urmph." Ranmaru's complaint was cut short when a hand was shoved in his face.

"Ah, be quiet and help me lift him up, will you?"

"Tch. Pain in the ass." Remarked the silver haired, heaving Ai onto Reiji's back.

Ranmaru followed as Reiji brought Ai back to Team Reiji's dormitory.

"What are you planning to do?" Ranmaru asks as Reiji hopped to get a better hold of Ai, who consistently seemed to slide off.

"Well, we won't be having another meetup like that for a meal, since that ended so well, so I'll order some pizza and keep Ai in my room."

Ranmaru turned his attention to the sleeping idol on Reiji's back.

"Keep Ai in your room?" He mutters, but frowned slightly in concern, "Reiji, he's out cold."

Reiji grins giddily. "I'm sure he'll wake up in an hour or so. In the meantime..." Reiji opened the door to the dorm. "You're going to apologize to Syo-chan!"

Ranmaru steps back. "What?! Why the hell would I do that?!" He snaps. Reiji simply smiled at him, but the look on the brunette's eyes confirmed to Ranmaru that he was dead serious.

The younger idol rolls his eyes. "Whatever."

Reiji places Ai down on Tokiya's bed, wondering if he was comfortable in his unconscious state. He then returned his attention to Ranmaru, who was moodily stalking off down the corridor.

"Mu-chan should be back by tomorrow afternoon!" Reiji calls after him, "AND DON'T FORGET TO APOLOGIZE TO SYO-CHAN, OR I'LL BE MAD~"

Ranmaru groans.

His mind utterly refused to go 'apologize.' His stubbornness, on the other hand...

"Waste of time..." He growled as he walked down the hallway towards Team Ai's dorm. The rock idol raps on the door.

"Oi! Midget! Open up!" Ranmaru demands, only to be met with silence. His anger boiled.

"I said open up, you shitty brat!" He yells once more, and louder.

"Shut up!" A voice from the other side of the door shouted. Ranmaru felt a vein bulge on his head.

"OPEN THE DAMN DOOR OR I'LL KNOCK IT DOWN!"

There was a long pause, before Ranmaru heard the lock on the door click. The door slid open so Ranmaru could see half of Syo.

Syo stared at him with no expression; just a cold demeanor. For some reason, this caused Ranmaru to snap.

"Listen here, you little shit!" Ranmaru spat, grabbing the blonde by the collar and hoisting him up so they met eye level. "The maracas freak told me to apologize, but I don't got to do damn shit for you!" Syo's eyes narrowed, but he couldn't find a reason to retaliate. "Now, I don't give a flying fuck about what happened between you and four eyes, and honestly, I don't give a shit what he's done to you! What pisses me off is your incompetence!" He tightened his grip on Syo's collar so much that Syo could feel his fist against the bottom of his chin.

"So you have it tough for the first time in your perfect little life!" Ranmaru mocked sympathy, "Aww, poor you. Why don't you go call up your mom and cry to her?! The fuck is wrong with you now?! Aren't you always going off on how you're a man?! Stop acting so pathetic, like a spoilt kid! Ai was only trying to help you! You should be hella grateful!"

Ranmaru threw Syo back into the room, Syo landing hard on the ground.

Syo almost laughed out loud, tapping his chest, where his heart was.

First time in my perfect little life?

But he had to admit, the silver haired had a point. Syo hadn't been acting like himself anyway. Despite his utter disgust and anger towards Ranmaru, he knew Ranmaru was right. He had feigned patheticness and contradicted his virtues. To make it worse, he had hurt Ai as well.

Besides the burning pain in Syo's legs and the destructive headache that came to Syo, the rock idol's words resounded in his mind.

Syo smirks. "Apology accepted."

The taller idol folded his arms. "That's a better look." He comments, beginning to make his way back to his own dorm. Syo got up, slamming the door shut and concealing himself in the darkness once more. Syo walks over to the table, picking up his smartphone. He tapped in a number quickly.

"Hey, it's been a while, Kaoru."

The rest of the day continued in an anticlimactic fashion; Syo lazed around on his laptop after making the phone call, alone in the dorm. His eyes darted towards Ai's desk.

How am I going to make it up to him?

Syo sighs. Even if he was so confident earlier in his thoughts on apologizing to Ai, he was now reconsidering his plan. Groaning unhappily, he fell back on his bed, staring up at the ceiling.

"Apologizing won't just be enough." Syo muttered aloud. He reached up at nothing.

Ai...

Just as Reiji expected, Ai woke up a half-hour later, dazed and depressed. As Reiji managed to calm him down, the brunette somehow convinced Ai to sleep over in the dorm. Reiji knew that Syo and Ai needed to spend time alone and away from each other, so they had time to think.

The two spend the hours away playing video games. Reiji had ordered a few boxes of pizza. He left a two boxes on the kitchen counter for Ranmaru, and also dropped one off in front of the door of Ai's dorm.

A few minutes later, Reiji checked the hallway, and was satisfied to see that Syo had seemingly taken the pizza into his dorm.

The night ticked away. The trio were asleep, but Syo tossed and turned in his bed.

He wondered why Ai hadn't come back to sleep, though he was quite relieved. He hadn't thought yet on how to make it up to Ai, and seeing him would only make it awkward. But, he felt slightly lonely sleeping alone in the dorm.

The next morning, the seniors were up and setting up for breakfast. However, Syo didn't join them.

Ai looked restless as Reiji served the pancakes.

"Something wrong, Ai-Ai~?" Reiji chirped. Ai looks at him in surprise, then felt his cheeks flare.

"A-Ah, it's nothing. I was just wondering if Syo had eaten yet..." He mumbles.

Reiji grins widely.

That's the cutest thing ever~ Ai-Ai cares so much about him.

"Don't worry, Ai-Ai!" Reiji winks, "I dropped off some breakfast for him at the doorstep."

Ai immediately looked relieved, and Reiji chuckles.

They ate in a comfortable silence, except for Reiji's occasionally cheerful humming.

Ai set down his fork. "Hey, Reiji, could I ask a favor?"

The brunette beams, "Of course! What is it?" Ai almost never asked for favors.

"Could you give me a ride to the hospital? I want to see the professor."

Reiji's grin faltered slightly.

Aww, how disappointing.

Nevertheless, he nodded. "Sure then, what time?"

"Eleven."

"Okay, then. Just come find me when you want to leave. Ah, but should I wait for you when we're there? But Mu-chan needs someone to cook, and he returns at 12:30..." The frivolous brunette's speech drifted off into a rabble of statements.

"No, it's fine. I'll get back on my own." Ai responds.

"Aha, okay..." Reiji replies, getting more depressed over Ai's lack of a favor.

Syo waved frantically in the direction across the street.

Syo only slept for a few hours due to all the thoughts in his head, but to his advantage, he woke up far earlier than the senpais and escaped the building without confrontation.

Syo's wave was greeted by a person, who looked identical to him. The figure hurried across the street, nearly glomping Syo.

"Nii-san!" They exclaimed happily. Syo returns the embrace by patting them on the head.

"Yo, Kaoru." He says with a smile.

Kaoru got off him, but he beams. "It's been so long since I've last seen you! I really missed you!" He laughs.

Syo smiles sheepishly.

I missed you too...

"Are you hungry?" Syo asks his little brother, who responds with a shrug. Still, Syo decided they would stop at a cafe nearby.

"Have your studies been okay?" Syo asks as he sipped his iced tea.

"Ah, well, I told you, right? We were all sent off to various places for apprenticeships. But the professor I'm assigned to is... A little weird... I mean, yeah, he's strict, but also super unorganized." Kaoru mutters, pouting slightly at his misfortune. Syo chuckled in response.

"Pft, sounds like my senior. He's insanely strict, but unlike your professor, he's so organized that it's... Weird. But," Syo smiles, "He's caring."

Kaoru stares at him, then laughs. "I'm glad!" He giggles, then blinks. "Oh, that reminds me! How are things between you and Natsuki-kun?"

Kaoru knew of the relationship only cause Syo told him, although Kaoru still believed it was a genuine dating relationship and not just a sexual one.

"WHAT?! What happened?! Are you okay?! Please tell me you didn't cr-" Kaoru's onslaught of questions were quickly stopped by Syo.

"Ah, jeez! Can we just not talk about it, please?" Syo sighs.

Kaoru stops and looks at him.

"Are you really alright, though?" His little brother asks. Syo stares at the crepe sitting in front of him.

"Yeah..." He murmurs, though it was really anything but the truth.

Kaoru sighs, then smirks, "Oh, so the only reason you called me up was for a check-up?"

"Hey, the last time we met up was just so you could get free tickets to my concert!"

"But the tickets were so pricey!" Kaoru whines. He continues to dramatize it, "How can you expect me, a meager high school student, afford such luxuries?" Truthfully, he wasn't that shocked; Syo regularly called him for check ups, and though he hadn't really done so recently, Kaoru was used to it.

He had already noticed his brother's distinctive fatigue, bus since his brother didn't seem to want to talk about it, Kaoru avoided the subject. Then he quickly remembered what he had to do.

"Ah, Syo! Do you mind if we stop by Ohirigaya Hospital later?" Kaoru asks. Syo blinks, then placed the straw of his drink at his lip.

"Sure." Was his short response.