Yag has absolutely zero empathy lol.
don't be mean. he's trying.
UwU
Iori Yagami crossed one leg over the other as he ripped open his first cigarette package of the week and lit up. The hotel lobby was dim and modern, with plenty of nooks and crannies for parties to talk in relative privacy. Upon returning to the hotel, after making all his necessary phone calls, paying everyone who needed to be paid, and signing everything that needed to be signed, he collapsed into one of the lobby couches and stared at the ceiling for a solid fifteen minutes before he felt enough motivation to sit up and smoke.
The other band members had left the venue about four hours before he did. Athena had handled the clean up for Australia (which, Iori imagined, everything just telekinetically folding itself up and teleporting to the places they came from), and supervising Hong Kong was his responsibility. The piano had to be shipped back to the rental store. The equipment had to be packed and marked for Shanghai. He needed to arrange for people to deliver their cargo, and coordinate with Athena's managerial team to receive it. It was a nightmare, but Iori slugged his way through. By the time he finished, it was 8pm, and by the time he arrived in the hotel, it was 9.
He wasn't unhappy though.
The concert was finished, and had been quite a success. Iori would never imagine he'd end up singing a duet with Athena, but it came together pretty well and the crowd loved it. He had to change his style a bit to fit the song (since their voices didn't meld that well), but he got no complaints from her afterwards.
He did his best not to bother Athena too much... at all actually, since she likely wouldn't tolerate being told what to do. He didn't want to set anyone on fire, or end up being thrown out a window - so he gave her the professional cold shoulder and just ignored her existence. Besides, her vocals were none of his business. As long as she was in tune (she was) he didn't care what she did.
Her 'boyfriend' was a different story altogether. Thankfully Athena didn't seem to mind him screaming his lungs out at Kensou, because hell did Iori lay it on thick with that guy. The bastard was a pretty decent drummer when it came to his technique, but he couldn't hold a beat steady for the life of him. During their very first rehearsal, Iori was about ready to strangle him.
He improved pretty fast, thank god… I might have gone crazy otherwise.
Seems like he took Iori's constant talk about metronomes seriously, and actually started practicing with one. He was only slightly off beat during yesterday's rehearsal, and during the concert - Iori could find nothing to complain about.
In fact, there was such an improvement. Iori had even considered going over and congratulating Kensou after the concert, but decided against it. It was probably better to keep him on his toes. The last thing Iori wanted was his drummer getting complacent.
I'll save it for when this whole thing is done.
Concerning the rest of the musicians, Shermie and Yashiro were good as always. They were looking excessively devious this morning, so they were probably plotting something idiotic. Recently, Shermie was getting off on sexually harassing Rock Howard, so the two heavenly kings had likely planned something embarrassing for the poor kid. Since Shermie didn't seem to be hurting Rock physically, Iori didn't bother intervening. He told himself that Rock was an adult, and didn't need his employer nosing in on his business. Besides, he was busy with logistics and really didn't have the time to deal with teenage drama.
Perhaps that was a mistake.
Because Rock was supposed to be getting more confident and comfortable on stage, not more jittery. That was the whole purpose of this tour. During the Australian concert, anything was permissible. If Rock tottered off stage crying, Iori wouldn't have thought any less of him. If he froze and just stood there gaping like a fish - that was okay too. But his first attempt went much better than expected - it was almost miraculous.
A real natural that one…
So naturally with the first performance going so smoothly, Iori was expecting even more confidence from his bandmate during the second.
Instead, he got an absolute nervous wreck. The teen hardly spoke that morning, and he looked unsettled and ill. He had no energy in him while they were setting up, and only did anything when Iori asked him to. Once the performance was well underway, every time Iori spared him a glance, he looked ready to bolt. He was pallid, exhausted, terrified and his body language said 'I would rather die than be here'.
He was also fucking off pitch. Did he even tune his instrument?!
Of course, Iori was making all of these observations in retrospect. During the pre-concert set up, he was entirely occupied with getting everything done, and had no attention to spare for his junior. With the Ivory Coast mission screwing with his brain, and Riot being a little nutsier than usual, Iori was in no state to tend to other people's mental healths. However, whether he was qualified or not didn't matter. Iori was well aware that emotions were running high in his little entourage. There were all sorts of things happening right under his nose which he had no idea about. If something was making Rock so uncomfortable that he couldn't perform, then that needed to be dealt with.
Hm… should I get a coffee? We fly tomorrow at 11, so the caffeine should be no problem…
Iori was no detective, and frankly, he was too tired to try and snoop around for details. He decided to get the facts from the source, and had called Rock's phone to demand his presence for a one-on-one debriefing in the lobby. It was scheduled for 10pm.
Hopefully the issue would be small and easily resolved, because frankly, Iori's brain wasn't going to tolerate anything remotely complex. Maybe he'd get a quick nap before Rock arrived. It was only 9:40, and his could seriously use one...
R: OhShitOhShitOhShitOhShit
I: Zzzzz
^spoilers for next chap.
Yag just tryna be nice, but nobody notices.
Rock gonna punchy again?!
nah