Saturday April 21th – Cloudy – After School
By the time school ended for the week, Yu wasn't sure he wanted to go to this concert anymore. Sure, he was looking forward to seeing Rise, but he didn't care about the people he was going with. And if Rise was predictable—and she usually was—then she was going to make a huge fuss about seeing him, and then the guys would never leave him alone.
Funny, he'd been complaining that he was being ignored, and now he didn't want the attention. In all honesty, it was just the attention that being around Rise garnered that he didn't want. Flashbacks from Marukyu haunted him. No one needed or wanted that kind of attention, least of all him. But...he didn't want to bail on his classmates, and he really didn't want to bail on Rise.
So at the end of the day, he walked down to the gates and joined his classmates, forcing a smile when they greeted him and followed them to the bus.
'''
Luckily, no one tried to make conversation with him on the way there. They were all content to talk amongst themselves, and Yu watched the world go by his window. Suddenly his phone buzzed and he jumped, feeling his heart leap into his throat. Please don't be my parents. Don't let them have picked today to be the one day they care where I am. He tapped the screen, looking for a sender name.
Yosuke. Oh thank God.
HEY! sry I didnt reply yesterday, phone died. BUT w/e u say, dude. u do u
It took a moment for Yu to remember what Yosuke was responding to—and as soon as he made the connection, he felt his face burning. Oh. Right. Sexiest doctor. Luckily (he supposed) Yosuke had let it roll off his back and hadn't made a big deal out of it.
Maybe Naoto was right. Maybe Yosuke wouldn't freak out.
Maybe this bus would start flying too. That was just as possible.
To: Yosuke It's okay. I was talking to the doctor most of the evening anyway. Might be good news.
He'd let Yosuke stew on that for a while, he thought with a smile. How a meeting with a doctor would be good news would confound him to no end.
Just as he was about to slip his phone back into his pocket, one of his classmates turned to look at him. "Almost there, dude. Ready?"
"Yeah, sure." He tapped a quick will be away from my phone for a bit, catching Rise's concert to Yosuke and then switched the phone to silent, tucking it into his pocket. The bus cruised to a stop a few moments later and the group shuffled off.
"So, Narukami." Kato looked over at him. "You sure you wrangled those backstage passes?"
"Yeah, I can go get them. They should be at will call." The group walked over and Yu waited in the line until finally the man working at the counter stared up at him.
"What's the name?"
Yu blinked. He had no idea whose name Rise would have put them under. I guess it wouldn't make much sense if she put them under hers...? "Ah, probably under Narukami, Yu?"
The man flipped through a series of envelopes, eyebrows furrowing. "Don't see that name."
Yu could feel his stomach sinking. Oh no, come on, Rise... "They...well, they aren't concert tickets, I guess. They'd be passes? Rise—I mean, Risette said she'd put some aside for me."
The man's eyebrows rose in disbelief, but he turned in his chair, rising to look at a different table in the back. There were larger packages back there, but a smaller number. A moment passed before he lifted the edge of an envelope and turned his head back to the window. "You said Narukami?"
"Yes, sir." Yu let out a sigh as the man picked up the envelope and headed back.
"Looks like five all access passes?" he asked, and Yu nodded. "Here ya go. Pre-show meet and greet is almost over, but once the concert ends you can head to the door on house right on the edge of the stage and show your passes to the guards. They'll take you back to the meeting area."
"All right, thank you so much." Yu picked up the envelope and headed back to his friends, holding it up with a smile. "No problems."
"You are seriously awesome, Narukami." Yu handed out the passes and Kato clapped him on the back. "We owe you one, man."
"Don't worry about it." Yu shrugged it off. "We'll all get a chance to meet Risette after the show, and you guys don't have to worry about anything. I'm just glad to help." They walked in and found places to stand with a good view of the stage, and waited. It'll be interesting to see Rise live after everything in Inaba. I haven't seen much of her tour on TV.
'''
Unsurprisingly, Rise's show was flawless. It was clear she was more comfortable in her skin than she had been before, and her smile looked so much more natural. Yu still didn't know most of the words to her songs, but she played "True Story," so he hummed along under his breath. He couldn't tell if she could see him from the stage, but it did look like she'd grinned at him a few times. It was hard to tell.
When the concert ended, he and his classmates dutifully tromped over to the house right stage door and showed the security working there their passes. He let them through, indicating a room at the end of the hallway on the left. The other guys insisted that Yu walk in first, so he tapped on the door, hearing a very familiar soprano voice respond, "Come on in!"
He stepped in, letting the others file in behind him. Rise was seated at a lighted dressing table, peering at something on the shelf in front of her, but as the door opened she looked at the mirror, seeing Yu reflected back at her. A wide smile spread across her face as she turned to the group—but Yu could tell that it wasn't her standard smile. She had something up her sleeve. "Hi hi! You must be Narukami-kun and his friends!"
Ah. She's pretending not to know me. Thanks, Rise... "Ah, yeah." Yu turned and introduced his classmates, who all gave short stunned bows.
"It's so good to see all of you! Inoue-san told me all about your visit. I'm glad you could all come! Sit down, guys. Do you want anything to drink? I'm dying of thirst after that set. How'd you like it?" And with that, Rise was off and running. Yu was content to sit quietly, listening to Rise natter with the other guys, occasionally pointing a question at him, but mainly just keeping conversation going herself.
Yu had no idea how long they were sitting there, but it seemed like both ages and mere moments when Inoue-san, once again Rise's manager again, poked his head in. "Risette? I hate to break this up, but we really need to get you ready to move."
"Awww, okay." She turned a pouting face to the guys. "Sorry the party's over, everyone. I had a really fun time talking to all of you!"
"Thank you, Risette," they all stammered back, standing to leave.
Yu had managed to get to his feet when Inoue pointed at him. "Narukami, if I can have a word with you before you go? Just some paperwork for the passes."
To his credit, none of his shock made it to his face. "Um...sure." He turned to his classmates. "I'll see you guys later, okay? Don't wait up. I don't want you to miss the bus because of me."
"You sure, Narukami?" Kato asked.
"Yeah, I'm sure. Go ahead. I'll see you in school on Monday." Yu waved to them, and they all nodded, waved back, and vanished. Once they had all left, Inoue just smiled at Yu and shut the door.
It didn't take Rise an instant to fling herself into Yu, wrapping her arms around him in a tight hug. "Senpai, ugh that was the worst acting I've ever had to do I hope you appreciate all of that because it was awful and I hated it."
Yu chuckled, returning the hug. "I'm very grateful, Rise, thank you. I wasn't looking forward to going from a nobody to the biggest somebody in school overnight."
"Ugh, okay." She held on a moment longer and then let him go. "It's so good to see you, though! Did you like the show?"
"It was wonderful, of course." Rise's smile widened at the compliment. "I wouldn't have expected anything different."
Now the two could chat in a more relaxed fashion, catching up on what had been happening on tour, and what they'd heard from their friends back in Inaba. It was nice, Yu decided, to have someone else to talk to who understood the pain of leaving their friends behind after that year. Rise was missing Inaba almost as much as Yu was, and was incredibly jealous that Yosuke had come to visit.
"Man, I wish I could just bring all of you out here on tour with me. I guess that'd be pretty obvious though, right? And you've all got school."
"Unfortunately." Yu gave a sad half-smile. "It's too bad you're touring over Golden Week."
"I know, right? It's a huge draw, though, since everyone's schedule is free so it's always a great time for shows. I wish I could come visit. Are you going back to Inaba?"
"Well...actually, I'm not sure." He explained the situation with his parents, and then the conversation he'd had with Meg the day before. "I'm not sure what her plan is, but if she even has a small idea, I'm willing to go along with it."
"You totally should! Your parents are being awful. I'm surprised they even let you out to come here." While he'd managed to hide the shock earlier, apparently the sheepish guilt wasn't being hidden as nicely, because Rise clapped her hands over her mouth. "Senpai, do they know where you are?"
"Not...exactly." Yu scratched his head. "I didn't exactly come home from school. We caught the bus straight after school."
"Senpai!" Rise smacked his arm. "You're gonna get in so much trouble!"
Yu shrugged. "All the doors on my side of the house are locked, and the only spare key is locked inside. For all they know, I'm asleep."
"What if they got home beforehand and know you didn't come home?"
He shook his head. "I'll worry about that then. Maybe I can just say I was meeting with Meg again. I bet she'd go for that."
"Man, Senpai. I never knew you were such a rebel." She winked, then leaned in to give him a hug again. "It's so good to see you. I miss you so much."
"It's good to see you too, and I miss you too." He set his chin on Rise's shoulder.
"How's Chie?" he heard her murmur, and in spite of himself, he tensed at the question. Rise leaned back, brows furrowed. "Oh no, what happened?"
Yu cleared his throat. "We broke up a while ago, back when I moved. I'm surprised you didn't hear about it before you left."
"I was so distracted at the end of the year, I think I missed a lot. I'm sorry, Yu. I know you two really liked each other." Yu shrugged, and Rise just set her head on his shoulder. "Are you dating anyone new yet?"
He shook his head, despite the fact that she couldn't see it from her vantage point. "No, not yet. I..." He didn't want to say too much to Rise, because he knew how badly she kept secrets, but... "I've got an idea. Someone I'm interested in."
"Oooh!" She perked up automatically, lifting her head and beaming at him. "Who is it? Is it someone I know? C'mon, tell me!"
Yu bit back the smile. "I'd rather not say anything until something gets a little firmer."
"Oh come on, Senpai, you can tell me! I won't say anything." Yu raised his eyebrows and Rise sighed. "Okay, I know I talk a lot but I can keep a secret! Come ooooon."
Yu shifted in his seat. "I'd really rather not, Rise. It's...complicated."
"Is it a guy?" The sentence dropped on Yu like a bag of bricks, and it must have shown on Yu's face, because Rise cracked up. "Oh come on, Yu, it's not that big of a deal. Seems like everyone's a little bit bi out here. I don't care who you want to date. I'll just always be jealous it's not me."
Yu was glad not only for the words, but for the genuine smile that meant she was mostly kidding about that final sentence. "Y-yeah, okay. Thanks." He coughed. "And besides, I don't think I'd do well as your boyfriend, Rise. Too much of the spotlight is bad for me."
"Sure sure." She just heaved a long-suffering sigh and set her head back on his shoulder. "Well, whenever you're ready, you can tell me who the lucky person is, okay? I promise I can keep it quiet."
"Thanks, Rise. I will." And now I have even less reason to hide talking to Yosuke. Not with both Rise and Naoto being in on some element of this...when did I get such a blabbermouth? He didn't think he was one to talk nervously, but maybe something in him needed the outlet. He hadn't really talked to anyone since he'd gotten here; he could be in some kind of withdrawal.
They talked a while longer before Rise arranged for someone to drive Yu home. Rise cried, Yu felt like he wanted to, but they exchanged promises to talk more often and hugged again. The car ride home seemed like it took forever, and when he got home, all he could be thankful for was that the house was dark, and his parents' car wasn't in the driveway.
He climbed the stairs, unrolled his futon, and flopped onto it. One more week. One more week, and then whatever Meg's plan was could start. One more week and he could be back in Inaba, and for just a moment, he could forget that he'd ever left. One more week.
As an afterthought, he grabbed his phone, checking the messages and turning the ringer back on. He had three messages from Yosuke.
gud news?! awsome! wut she got planed?
o OK hav fun th concert. tell rise I sed HI.
dont kno wen u ll be home BUT slp well. miss u, partner.
Yu felt the tears that wouldn't fall earlier pricking at his eyes, and he swallowed hard.
To: Yosuke Good night, partner. I'll fill you in tomorrow. I miss you too.
More than he could possibly put into a text message. He plugged his phone in and closed his eyes, trying to ignore the wrenching in his heart.
He had to say something, or he'd drive himself mad. Now that he knew...he had to say something.
