Chapter 14: The Concert

...

June Week 3: Friday

"Goodbye daddy! Goodbye Paru-san!" Mimi waved them goodbye as a cab took them away. Coincidentally Mimi's father had a business trip in New York and with persuasion, she was able to convince Paru-san to join her father and take a vacation in the "Big Apple". With even greater persuasion (and begging), Mimi's father allowed her to spend the weekend and following week by herself in their townhome. Although he insisted that she come with him, Mimi and Paru-san argued otherwise.

Walking back into her townhouse, Mimi was expecting Miyako to arrive any moment. For a whole week and two weekends, Mimi was going to be home alone. And she was excited! Already she had plans to invite Sora for a sleepover sometime during the week, but tonight, Miyako was coming over for a girl's evening. Knowing Miyako as well as she did, Mimi knew the topic of tonight's conversation: The Teenage Wolves concert.

Her lavender-haired friend was beyond ecstatic for the four-member band who surprisingly haven't been revealed, or found out yet. It was kept so covert that people—mainly girls—were borderline anxious. There was much speculations on who the four boys could be, but at the end of the day, that was all they were—speculations.

Tomorrow was the day of the concert and Mimi walked home alone... again. As of late, Yamato had been claiming he was been busy with band practice and Mimi found herself missing his presence after school. Walking home together was kind of their "thing". She learned a lot about him when they were alone, things she knew he would never say in a group unless they were all close friends. Still, Mimi wanted to confirm tomorrow's plans. Apparently Yamato knew one of the Teenage Wolves member's brother (or something like that) who gave give him discounted tickets that he gave to Koushiro, Taichi, and Sora. It was honestly quite a surprise for Mimi, but she was nevertheless excited to now be going with not only Yamato, but the rest of her friends.

And when Mimi asked her friends of an after event, Yamato was quick to decline. For whatever reason, he didn't explain any further. So, when she asked the rest for their availabilities, they [Koushiro, Sora, and Taichi] agreed on ramen. But when Mimi informed them that Isha-kun, or Jyou, would be joining them as well, she subtly looked at Yamato's direction—assuring herself that the blonde didn't have any resentment towards her best friend and that Jyou was wrong about Yamato.

She noticed the frown on his face, but the news of Jyou didn't change his mind: he was still unable to join them for ramen. Needless to say, Mimi was disappointed as she wanted them to at least get to know each other. The other three however didn't seem to mind Jyou's inclusion in their dinner. In fact, Koushiro actually looked interested. Mimi guessed the boy had questions regarding the college entrance exams, something she dreaded.

Suddenly, loud pounding sounds came from the door and Mimi quickly moved from her spot on the sofas to the front door. Sure enough, Miyako stood there with a duffle bag on one shoulder and a large grocery bag in the other hand.

"Mimi!" the lavender-haired girl greeted loudly.

"Come in!" Mimi smiled in return and closed the door after her friend stepped in. "I—"

"Kami! You're so lucky your otousan allowed you to stay home alone for a week! Mines would never give me that privilege! And even if I did, my siblings would still be home! Ugh."

Mimi laughed, "Um yeah…" she then proceeded to point at the bag in Miyako's hand. "What's in the bag?"

Miyako raised it higher and gave it a slight shake. "Mostly snacks for tonight, but there's some nail polish. You know, it's been a while since we've done a girl's night Mimi…" Miyako gave her a sideways stare.

"And?"

"We're going to have a lot of gossip tonight!" the younger one squealed with unconstraint zeal.

"I'm beginning to think we're getting a little too old for this," Mimi muttered to herself.

Miyako rolled her eyes and heaved an exaggerated sigh. "So it's only 18:00; what do you want for dinner? I have udon, ice cream, chocolate covered rice balls, and steamed cakes."

"Chocolate covered rice balls, definitely."

"Of course you'd want that."

Mimi giggled. "But seriously, let's have udon. I have some crab and fish we can use for protein, and then we can commence with the gossip."

"Oh good! I've been dying to have serious girl talk."

Laughing, Mimi walked towards the kitchen and began retrieving items for their noodle dishes. "What about your sisters?"

"Momoe? She thinks it's dumb. You know how she is… always at the shop helping my parents, not so much a people person."

"That's true," Mimi nodded, "even I don't see her at school often. But what about Chizuru? She's still in Junior high right?"

"No, she's actually a first year at Odaiba High, but I don't tell her this stuff either since it's a little weird. She's only a year older than me and she already knows who I hang out with so I don't want her to get too involved in my personal circle."

"Obviously, it would make sense that I'm the only person you can confide in," Mimi teased.

"Seeing as you're my best friend, Mimi, it's kind of an obligation."

Mimi laughed again as she finished grabbing all the necessary groceries from the fridge. "Okay, quit while you're ahead," Miyako stuck out her tongue, "and I have some vegetables if you want to get all fancy with your udon. In the meantime, I'm going to boil some water."

"You're a good host Mimi," Miyako complimented from the opposite side of the counter.

"Flattery won't get you nowhere in my house, start chopping the fish."

With a playful groan, Miyako began chopping.

After setting the table for a quick dinner, Mimi and Miyako sat on opposite sides of the square table. The older brunette opted for a simple udon bowl with sliced fish and crab meat with minimal green onions. Miyako on the other hand made her udon a bit more extravagant with the addition of celery, asparagus, and mushrooms.

"Oh! The broth is delicious Mimi," Miyako said with noodles in her mouth. "I can't remember the last time I had home cooked udon."

Mimi grinned, "Thank Paru-san, she's a great teacher."

"So…" Miyako began awkwardly, "I have a question for you." Mimi raised a brow at Miyako patiently, but continue to quietly eat. "What do you think of a guy who's really nice to you, and he's always offering to help you with school work and stuff?"

"He sounds like a very sweet guy Miyako. It could mean anything."

Miyako nervously laughed, "Okay, well what if he always sits by you during lunch or asks you how your day was in class or after school or invites you to his football games or—"

"Okay Miyako, slow down," Mimi said calmly. Once she saw that her friend had pacified her rant and breathing, Mimi continued, "Why don't we finish our udon and then make ourselves comfortable on the couch? Paint our nails with the nail polish you brought and then talk boy stuff. What do you think?"

Miyako huffed and laughed, "Okay, sorry about that. I got a little too… excited."

"I can see that."

"Why aren't you gossiping about Jyou-san?" Miyako asked with a frown.

"Because one of us has to have our head on our shoulders."

"Right," Miyako said flatly.

Mimi couldn't help but protest, "You make me sound old and un-fun, which I'm totally not!"

After a short banter, the two girls had clean their dishes and moved towards the couch in the living room. Mimi flipped through the channels and picked a movie that sounded somewhat interesting to provide background noise.

"So what color do you want? I have nail polish remover in case we wanna go crazy!"

Mimi giggled, "I'll go with just pink."

"Un-fun…"

"Shut up!"

"We'll paint your nails first," Miyako declared as she grabbed the small pink bottle and twisted the cap loose. "Hold out your hand."

Mimi did as she was told and raised her left hand first. "Don't ruin the nails, they're perfectly manicured and I want the color to keep the shape," she teased.

"Okay your highness."

"So, tell me about this boy."

"Where do I even begin?" Miyako said, eager. "He's smart, and polite, and athletic, and absolutely perfect, not to mention handsome. He's one of the top students at our school and plays football too. His football skills might even be just as good as Taichi. You know Taichi right? Hikari's older brother in Odaiba high?"

Mimi smiled, "Yes I know him. But what's the boy's name? You didn't mention."

"Ichijouji, Ken." Miyako blushed afterwards.

"Ooh Ken? Sounds like a hot guy," Mimi playfully commented.

"You have no idea," Miyako replied wistfully.

"So, if what you say is true, why aren't you his girlfriend yet? You make me believe that he's already interested in you."

"He could be, or he could just be being nice to me. And besides, he's a year younger than me and we're only in the same grade because you know how my parents held us back a year after moving to Odaiba."

"Oh right, you're supposed to be a first year in high school."

"Yeah, so I don't really want to be dating anyone younger than me. I like talking to him don't get me wrong, but I think I only have a crush on him because I think he's my ideal type in every way, besides the age of course—that's all. If only he was older than me, then he'd absolutely be the perfect man."

"So you're not considering him because he's younger than you?"

"Yeah…"

"I sort of see where you're coming from, but I don't think you should reject him just because he's one year younger than you."

"That's easy for you to say since Jyou-san is two years your senior."

Mimi shot Miyako a bland look.

"And I'm not 'rejecting' him. I don't even know if he likes me that way. I could very much be misinterpreting his actions simply because I think he's cute. Like super cute."

"Miyako," Mimi warned.

"Okay," Miyako groaned, "enough about me, it's your turn and don't leave out anything." She then pointed to a bottle of nail polish, "And I want the burgundy nail polish with white stripes."

Mimi laughed at the request, "Okay, what do you want to know?"

"My goodness Mimi, have you become rusty in girl talk? You use to always get all giddy when you talk about Jyou-san."

Mimi rolled her eyes. "Alright, alright. Just last Friday, I was finally able to visit Jyou at his university. It was interesting to say the least."

"And what did you do in his dorm," Miyako inquired while wiggling her brows.

"Stop that or I'll spill the nail polish on your blouse." When Miyako did as she was told, Mimi made an "hmph" sound before continuing, "I met some of his friends and they were all very nice. A couple of them jokingly asked for my phone number in front of Isha-kun."

"And what'd he do?"

"He scolded them and blushed afterwards," Mimi giggled.

"Oh! But how did he introduce you though?"

"Uh… his childhood friend." Miyako inhaled air through clenched teeth, but Mimi quickly dismissed it. "There's not anything wrong with it, because it's true. We're not dating, so I wouldn't expect anything different."

"I know, but still, wouldn't it be nice to hear Jyou-san say 'my girlfriend'?"

Blushing, Mimi lowered her head, away from Miyako. "Yes, it would."

"Why hasn't he asked you yet to be his girlfriend? I thought you said you were going to confront him?"

"I've been trying!" Mimi complained. "It's just, I can't ever find the perfect opportunity to talk about it. He's always so busy that he constantly checks his phone at least once an hour."

"With school or work?"

"Yeah," Mimi sighed, "but whenever I don't think about confessing to Isha-kun, I always lose myself with him, with us. It'd be like when were younger: silly, having fun, and he always watching out for me."

Miyako noticed the sentimental smile on Mimi's face and she couldn't help but smile as well.

"Life was so much less complicated when we were younger."

"Tell me about it—when boys use to think we have cooties."

"Not Isha-kun."

"Yeah I suppose so," Miyako tried to remember a time to disprove Mimi, but couldn't. "He was always smarter and more mature than the average boy you'd find on the monkey bars."

Mimi gigged again.

"And here I thought tonight you'd be telling me about how he kisses you and all that."

The brunette smiled, but remained silent as she focused on painting white stripes atop the burgundy base color.

"Oh Kami! I just remembered something!" Miyako shouted, interrupting Mimi's concentration.

"What? What is it Miyako?" Mimi asked, shocked and alert.

"Tomorrows finally the day of the Teenage Wolves' concert! Can you believe it?! We're finally getting to see the four band members!"

"Miyako, if you would please stop moving, your stripes will turn out better."

Fidgeting around in exhilaration, Miyako couldn't hold herself still. "I can't! I'm just so excited! We finally get to find out who they are! I finally get to put a face behind the sexy voice of Matt's. Do you think he's foreign? Foreign guys are hot!"

Mimi pondered at the possibilities, "With a name like Matt, I suppose he could be American."

"Oh Kami, I love Americans," Miyako spoke the latter half in English.

"However I doubt it since his English isn't all that fluent," Mimi chimed.

"Who're you are going with tomorrow? You never told me you were going until just this week."

"Oh well, you see, Yamato—Takeru's oniisan—won tickets to the concert and he invited me to go with him."

"EEH!? He asked you? Why would he ask you? You know him that well?"

"Miyako, stop shouting please! And what do you find so surprising in him asking me?"

"You never told me you knew Ishida Yamato."

"Well he is Takeru's oniisan, and we do go to the same high school—"

"Still, but he's so… quiet. Whenever he comes by the shop with Takeru, he never speaks. The only time he says something, it'd be to tell Takeru that they needed to go home."

"He's not so quiet once you get to know him. He's actually a very interesting guy, but he does have this annoying habit of always making me mad. I can't think of a time where we held one conversation without arguing."

"Wow really?" Miyako asked, bewildered. "You actually get mad at him? He seems so serious to even joke around with if you're anyone but Taichi or Takeru," Miyako laughed.

"Then I guess I'm pretty lucky then," Mimi smiled smugly.

"Okay, totally off topic, but don't you think he's absolutely gorgeous?"

Mimi didn't bother to restrain a laugh. "He definitely is handsome."

"So like what? Tomorrow you and him are having a date at the concert?"

The older female choked on her spit at the unexpected accusation, then spluttered, "What? No! He asked me to go with him as friends since we both share a mutual liking for the Teenage Wolves and their album."

"Hmm. What if he likes you Mimi?" Miyako leaned forward.

"Okay, stop trying to pair us up, because it is not happening. I'm in love with Isha-kun remember?"

"Yeah, but last time I checked, which was less than thirty minutes ago, you were still single. And that could mean he's—"

"Yeah, yeah whatever Miyako. Enough about Yamato. Who are you going with?"

"Way to change the subject… and with Chizuru," Miyako wrinkled her nose, "she bought the tickets and it's the seat next to hers."

Mimi giggled, "You'll have fun."

"Maybe we can do something before or after the concert? Since we're all going the first day and not the second, we should hang out!"

"Definitely! A couple of us are going out for ramen afterwards, you and Chizuru should join us!"

"Who's going?"

"Taichi and Sora, Koushiro, and I invited Isha-kun. Yamato couldn't make it."

"Oh wow! All of them are going? Even Jyou-san? Where are you guys sitting?"

"Isha-kun's not actually sitting with us at the concert since he's going with someone else, but he did say he and his friend could make it to dinner afterwards. Taichi, Sora, Koushiro and I are sitting together, though I actually don't remember. It's in my drawers up stairs. Why don't we head to my bedroom and talk in there?"

"Or we could do this: invite Ken and Jyou over and let them watch us as we hit each other with pillows."

"Miyako!" Mimi gasped at the vulgar suggestion, "You've been watching way too many chick flicks!" However, the lavender-haired female only laughed.

[…]

June Week 3: Saturday

"I shouldn't be here right now," Yamato admitted as they sat down in their booth.

"And why is that? It is eight o'clock in the morning, and I haven't the faintest idea why you decided to call and ask me to join you for breakfast. I mean, I only had an hour to get ready!"

"Sorry Mimi," Yamato apologized more out of calling her at seven than asking her to join him. Having woken up at five in the morning, the blonde couldn't get himself back to bed due to a mixture of extreme anxiety and excitement. It was finally the day where he and his band were going to perform live for the first time. The butterflies were undeniably still in his stomach, but he felt more than ready to play live for an hour and a half performance. All the intense practice the weeks prior had prepared him, his bandmates, their manager, and the entire staff for this day. It was judgment day, and he was desperate to go on stage.

"A 'sorry' is all I get for being woken up at seven and leaving my best friend to sleep alone in my room without anyone else in the house?" she responded from behind the menu which she held in front of her face.

"Sorry."

Mimi lowered the menu far enough so that she could look at Yamato from across the table. As expected, he was looking at her with amusement (most likely due to her actions) and she truly was glad that he seemed at ease.

Her phone had obnoxiously gone off way earlier than she had set the alarm, but when she was about to silence it, Mimi saw that it was a phone call instead. Her voice was hoarse and ugly, she knew, but she answered anyway. Yet unlike hers, Yamato's voice was a jumble of alertness, restlessness, apprehension and stress. When he asked her to have breakfast with him at any place she wanted, and he willing to pay, she couldn't refuse due to her concern for him.

Knowing Miyako, the girl wouldn't wake up till around ten, so Mimi could leave and return before she even woke up. It wasn't the smartest decision, but what Miyako didn't know, won't hurt her right? As Mimi rushed to meet Yamato—insisting that she could walk there herself, imagine her surprise when she arrived at the nearby café, close to home and one that she approved of, and saw him smiling at her, greeting the brunette with a "hey" and a wave. Yamato didn't look as distressed as he sounded on the phone, but she did notice the initial apprehension on his face that he was trying to conceal.

Now here they sat, getting ready to order breakfast, and three times now that Yamato has not answered her question.

"Are you okay Yamato?" Mimi asked, the fourth time and hopefully the last.

The blonde smiled generously—one that Mimi knew was both genuine and rare. "I'm great! It's going to be an exciting day; I can just feel it."

This was a first for Mimi. She wasn't so use to Yamato being this… enthusiastic about something. But it was still kind of cute, she had to admit that. "But why am I the only one here? Where's everyone else?"

"It's because you're the most accessible," Yamato replied, still grinning from his side of the table. However, the way he described her made Mimi wrinkle her nose which only served to make him laughed again. "Sorry. I meant that you're the easiest person I can talk to right now."

That certainly wasn't what she expected. "What do you mean?" Mimi pressed on.

"Well, between you, Taichi, Sora, Koushiro, and Takeru, I can't speak to Sora or Taichi without gagging," Mimi giggled, and he smirked. "I could ask Koushiro, but he's not nearly as spontaneous to want to have breakfast at eight in the morning on a Saturday with me. And I did ask Takeru, but he slept through all my calls. The bugger probably silenced it or something."

"You've gotten this all planned out haven't you?"

"Yup, now what do you want to eat? And put that down, you look ridiculous."

Still holding the menu up, Mimi refused. "No, I just woke up and I look ugly."

"You're not ugly Mimi," Yamato said so flatly.

"You say that now, but I haven't put on primer yet, and foundation, concealer, or blush."

"What?" Yamato asked, sounding lost.

"I'm just teasing you," Mimi placed the menu in front of her and pointed at one of the items, "I want okonomiyaki."

"Why do you say it like you're five or something?"

Mimi batted her eyes at him. "Because Yama-kun is paying."

Yamato chuckled and ordered accordingly when the waitress came by. He wanted to share with Mimi his extreme excitement for Teenage Wolves' live debut, but that would ruin the surprise. And if he knew Mimi, which he does, she would probably tell the others and there goes every attempt to keep it secret. Still, he talked to her about the concert and informed her that he would meet there—at their designated seat along with Koushiro, Sora, and Taichi. She looked a little confused at first, but with a little white lie he told, she went it. However, she was quite persistent to make him join them for ramen after the concert, but relentlessly declined for two reasons: 1) he needed to stay after the concert and discuss the performance with his members and manager and 2) her guy friend, the one she obviously had a crush on, was going and he had no interest in watching Mimi flirt with him.

They didn't wait long, with the lack of customers considering the time and day, for their food arrive. Yamato's dish consisted of something you would find in Western countries: hash browns and two slices of toast—finger food items because he didn't want to bother with utensils at the moment. Everything on his plate was cooked perfectly seeing as how the hash browns were that golden color and the toast had a buttery smell and crisp, brown roast to it. Yup, today was definitely going to be a great day.

Mimi began to cut her okonomiyaki when she noticed Yamato grabbing one of his hash brown. Initially, she wanted to scold him for not using his fork, but the sight of the metallic rings on his finger captivated her like they had done so before. He was wearing them… again, and god did it add to his charming appeal. She watched the fingers glide through the air, from the food to his mouth, and she then realized just how observant she was to those little rings. However, like a deer caught in headlights, she snapped back to reality when Yamato called out her name. Oh did she blush fervently.

"What?" she responded, almost too defensively.

He grinned at her with a certain cockiness that she didn't enjoy too much. "You want a bite?" he offered his bitten hash brown with an innocence she knew was an act.

"No thanks," she muttered and took a sip of water out of her cup.

"You sure?"

She looked up at him and soon regretted it when he licked his lips after taking another bite. She should have noticed that the hash brown was now half way finished, but instead, she looked at his now moist lips. She swallowed, "Uh… just a bite please."

He reached over and dropped the piece of food over an empty space on her plate—for a second, the brunette imagined him feeding her that hash brown and she suddenly remembered the last night's conversation with Miyako saying Yamato likes her and even before Takeru suggested it; Mimi couldn't think straight as her neck and cheeks were burning.

"You okay Mimi? You haven't had a single bite yet," he commented to which Mimi nodded. The blonde actually seemed completely oblivious to the entire situation.

What exactly was going on?

They were both confused.

"Mimi?"

She began to panic, her thoughts jumbled in a chaotic whirlwind.

"You okay?"

"I'm going to tell Isha-kun tonight!"

"What?"

Mimi only realized then the foolishness she just committed. In an effort to distinguish what she knew certain of her feelings and other emotions, she blurted out the one thing she knew she was sure of—that Tachikawa Mimi is in love with Kido Jyou… and not that Yamato had any feelings towards her in that way.

[…]

There was nervous tension everywhere: two of his band mates were restless, one of them was complaining, and here sat Ishida Yamato, soon to be "Matt" in the entertainment world, eyes closed and offering words of self-motivation. His hands clutched onto his bass guitar and very silently ran a finger across its strings.

"You're going to be great out there aniki."

Yamato opened his eyes and saw Takeru standing before him, a smile on the younger blonde's face and flowers held with both hands.

"Okaasan got you these," she gestured the bouquet towards him, "she wishes you luck."

"Is she…" Yamato left the rest unsaid.

"Sitting with otousan somewhere in the crowd? Yeah."

It was Yamato's turn to smile, "Thanks. You don't want to watch from out there?"

"No, I'm good. I can support just find from back here. I got water and towels ready for you and the others during breaks."

"Thanks Takeru. It means a lot that you're standing here beside me."

"Of course," Takeru then gave a cheeky grin, "When you become big and famous, I want a fifth of what you make."

With a comeback in mind, Yamato kept quiet when he saw a man walking to him and his bandmates. "Alright, gotta go. I'll see you in a bit, and go ahead and put the flowers on the table over there." He stood and gestured at the table; Yamato then walked past his brother but stopped briefly to poke him in the forehead. Takeru made a cry of indignation, but did as he was told as his older brother walked further away with a chuckle.

"Ten minutes till debut," came the terse announcement of their manager and publicist, Hitoshi, Hideki. He was a man of few words, much like Yamato's otousan, but worried a lot more about his career and spoke more when his career's on the line. In his late twenties and many experiences that molded him into the man that he is today, Hideki was very proactive with problem solving. Whenever the Teenage Wolves would face dilemma, the man would not tolerate any of it for more than an hour. It was quite hard to keep him sane with all the disagreements between Yamato and Akira.

"Listen everyone," Hitoshi started, "this is it. Here's the moment we've all been waiting for. Out there," he pointed towards the direction of the stage, "are 5,000 people waiting to see your beautiful faces and I would greatly appreciate it if none of you faint on me got it?"

The four replied in a choir of yeah's. Now was not the time for jokes, and even Akira knew it.

"It's been a pleasure being your manager up till now, and here's where all our lives change. For better or worse, know that I believe in you. I wouldn't have scouted you boys out if I didn't see that your band can make it. Now, just like we've been practicing for the past couple of months, there shouldn't be anything different to your routine. Only difference now is that you'll be playing live." Scrutinizing the boys once more, thoroughly and with good faith, he sighed and shook his head with a broad grin. "Alright, altogether, Wolves on three." The boys came together and formed a circle with their manager. With fists held to the center, Hideki proceeded, "One… two…" and the five of them shouted in unison, "Wolves!"

"Now get out there you lot! My career depends on you." Laughter erupted between the band members and left to stand in place on stage. From where he stood, he looked at them and muttered to himself, "Can't believe my career is completely dependent on the performance of four teenagers."

As the four stepped onto the stage, being led by staff members with miniature flashlights, their entire surrounding was nothing but a shroud of darkness. The members couldn't see the crowd nor could the audience see them. For all it was worth, they really wanted the revealing to be as jaw-dropping as possible. Despite not seeing each other in the blanket of black, the stage was sized perfectly for the four of them. Originally, the stage had a walkway extending further to a smaller platform, but since the Teenage Wolves weren't planning on walking that far into the crowd, the coliseum staff removed it to allow the fans to sit there instead. So, the rectangular stage was set up in a way that all members and their instruments could be seen.

Providing the main vocals, Yamato was obviously centered-stage with his electric bass guitar on him. Yutaka was staged right, holding onto his own electric guitar. For one of their special performances, he was set to play his violin in—what he considered—an epic violin riff with a piano melody provided by Takashi. Speaking of whom, Takashi played keyboard, stage left, leaving Akira behind them all with his drum set on an elevated platform.

The cheers were astounding and seemed to have multiplied as the melody for "Sunrise" began to play. The five second synthetic background instrumental began which led to the simultaneous start of Takashi's keyboard and Akira's drums.

Twenty seconds and the lyrics begin; Yamato starts singing. It's still dark and the crowd is screaming, but the Teenage Wolves hear only the sound of the song through their ear pieces.

"Come closer to me/ Try to trust me more," Yamato began, his voice low and husky and the screams began to pierce through the ear piece. He smiles at the audience.

31 seconds, Yutaka strums his electric guitar and the sounds adds to perform a hard, edgy rhythm to the song.

"You are laughing innocently/ I adore your smile/ But I know that tears were shining/ On your cheeks until a while ago."

55 seconds into the song and the pace of the music begins to increase. Yamato sings faster as does his heart. The jubilance was overwhelming.

"I don't say easily, 'Show me your true colors'/ Or something like that/ But I'm confident about accepting you/ Whatever color I may see in you."

One minute and seven seconds, the music stops and the band is now silent. Their heart's racing and sweat begins to form. The audience is confused, but cheers regardless.

"Mina-san," Yamato shouts into the standing microphone, "are you ready?" He waits for the audience to respond in what he could only explain as wave of sound, urging him to continue. "On the count of five! One!"

"Two!" cried the audience and Yutaka.

"Three!" cried the audience and Takashi.

"Four!" cried the audience and Akira.

"Five!" The entire stadium erupts in an explosion of sound.

A magnitude of blinding lights blink towards the stage revealing the four members of Teenage Wolves. A flood of heightened screams come in a way that ignites Yamato's passion tenfold and he sings; Akira bangs, Yutaka strums, Takashi plays.

"I want to send a greater love to you/ In a louder voice/ I want to reach your heart/ If I shout out a greater love for you/ In a louder voice/ I wonder if it will reach you just a little/ It's even better to take a roundabout way/ I know we'll be able to understand each other." Yamato sucks in a quick breath of air and quickly says, "Mina-san, sing!"

1:43, the audience and his fellow members join him in the post-chorus follow up. "In a louder voice/ With a greater love/ In a louder/ With a greater love."

1:55, the song drops to a slower pace and Yamato takes the opportunity to scan the massive crowd before him. He knows where his friends and family are sitting and he glances to their direction. There they sat (or rather stood), his friends utterly surprised but cheering him on with moving lips and hands in the air. Next to them were his parents, otousan and… okaasan—both smiling, one proud, one fondly.

2:30, the second verse was about to lead into the second chorus and the music speeds up again. He sings with unrestrained passion and when appropriate, urges the audience to sing with him.

4:32, the song ends with Akira and Yutaka hitting their final notes. Yamato rocks his head at the sound of that note and says into the mic "Yeah!" followed by a never-ending onslaught of cheers. At long last, Teenage Wolves finally debuted! The excitement from the entire coliseum brought Yamato into a state of euphoria where nothing could affect him. The jubilation was evident in his broad smile and even on his bandmates as he turned to look at them.

It.

Was.

Amazing.

Yamato turned to look at the audience again and gave them a bow of appreciation. "Mina-san, arigatou gozaimasu!" He waited for the excitement to die down before he continued. "We just performed 'Sunrise' from our first album. We hope you enjoyed it," again, more cheers of approval, "and I bet you're all dying to know who we are." He chuckled at the audience's response.

First to introduce himself, Ishida, Yamato, "Konbanwa, Matt desu! It's going to be an amazing performance with all of you here tonight!"

Next was Mojiretsu, Takashi to introduce himself. "Minasan! Ash desu! I finally get to meet you all! No more secrets!"

Then Shindo, Yutaka, "Kobanwa minasan! Yuu desu! Please lend us your energy tonight, we're going to need it."

And finally Akira, Sutikku, "Yo! Akira desu! Please enjoy enjoy the rest of the performancesa—we've been working our butts off to be as perfect as we can be!"

With Teenage Wolves now fully introduced and out in public, they have finally made their presence known in the entertainment world. With the looks of tonight and tomorrow night, they already have a solid fan base.

"Who's ready for the next song?" Ash asked the audience and started playing keys of his keyboard.

"Who?" Yuu asked again, plucking strings off his electric guitar, and the audience responded with even greater rapture.

"The Wolves are!" Akira stated, hitting his sets.

And Matt started sing the lyrics for the next song.

[…]

The concert ended with a bang and there was no doubt in anyone's mind that it was not only a financial success, but a strong debut into Japan's mainstream music. The never-ending practices paid off, the members were on point, and the crowd loved them, especially their female fans. It was like a dream come true for Teenage Wolves, and Hideki—the man shouldn't need to worry about his career now.

Having excused himself to meet his family, Yamato shared encouraging words with his okaasan, otousan, and Takeru. Having only given them access backstage, they came together for the first time in months… years? However long, it only matter that they were together, here and now, smiling and happy. If only his parents were still actually married then it'd be… but Yamato gave up that wish a long time ago.

"Thank you okaasan," he finally addressed her in that fashion to which she smiled contently and hugged her eldest son.

"I've always been so proud of you Yamato. And I'll support you always."

"You did great son," Hiroaki placed a hand on Yamato's shoulders.

Meanwhile, Takeru snapped a picture.

[…]

A/N: Finally, they performed! No more secrets. And again, the song, "Sunrise", is by Ayumi Hamasaki, so all rights to her. And I adore her!

*Mina-san: Everybody/everyone

*Arigatou gozaimasu: Thank you

*Konbanwa: Good evening

And I chose to use Japanese because it just seemed to sound better than saying it English. Not much else to say, but reviews are appreciated and loved!