Chapter 2 – Arguments
It took QUARTET NIGHT a little while to put their belongings away, but eventually, they appeared in the kitchen with Reiji leading them.
"I was wondering if you 4 would ever make it here, or if we'd have to go looking for you guys," Shiori commented as the man filed into the room. The girls were seated in various locations. Adryn and Nova were seated at the counter and Shiori and Eclipse were seated at the dining table.
"Take a seat, guys. We gotta talk." Nova spoke up confusing those she was speaking to.
"What do we need to talk about?" Reiji asked as he took a seat at the dining table. His group-mates also sat down at the table. The table could fit 12 people, so there was more than enough room.
"Well, we have no maids or cooks here. We have to do all the cleaning and cooking ourselves." Adryn explained to the men. "So, since you'll be here with us for the time being, you guys have to help out as well."
"That sounds fair, right guys?" Reiji turned to his group-mates and they all nodded their heads in agreement.
"So, which ones of you want to be cooks and who wants to clean?" Eclipse questioned the guys. They all took a moment to think before responding.
"I'll cook," Reiji spoke up first with a smile.
"I'll cook as well," Camus spoke up next.
"I'll clean." Ai simply stated.
"I'll clean too," Ranmaru stated as they all looked to him.
"Cool. Then, Ranmaru and Ai, you'll help me and Eclipse. While Reiji and Camus help Shiori and Nova." Adryn informed the group of men. They all nodded their heads in response.
"Technically, I can cook too. I just prefer not to if I can help it." Eclipse stated simply just wanting to throw that out there.
"I can't cook at all, but I can bake desserts. So if anyone wants any deserts, then feel free to ask me to make something." Adryn threw out there as well.
"Alright, cool!" Reiji responded with a smile directed at Adryn. She blushed and looked away from him, causing him to feel a little confused as she'd been so friendly earlier.
"Well, it's gotten pretty late, so let's have us cooks make food, and the others can either help or just watch," Nova spoke up to the group as she hopped down from the stool she'd been seated on.
"Eclipse, let's go wake up and feel Serenity and Precious." Adryn mentioned to her best friend. Eclipse nodded her head and followed Adryn out of the room and down a few halls to where the cubs' room was. Once in there, Eclipse began to speak to Adryn.
"So, are you going to be able to handle all this due to your health declining? Won't they all see your symptoms show eventually?" Eclipse asked Adryn, causing Adryn to freeze and glare at her best friend.
"Don't talk about it out loud. I don't want them to know about it. Nova was enough, but I don't need Shiori or the guys to know anything about my health issues." Adryn's voice bordered on annoyance, causing Eclipse to frown at her. Unbeknownst to them, Ranmaru had followed after them and heard their entire conversation.
"'Health issues'?" Ranmaru muttered to himself quietly so no one else heard him. He just shook it off and opened the door, startling the two girls and the cubs inside.
"What re you doing here?" Adryn questioned a little harshly.
"I was hoping I could meet the cubs?"
"Oh sure." Eclipse spoke up, causing Adryn to fall silent as she was about to tell Ranmaru "no". Adryn just sighed and walked over to Serenity.
"Wake up, pretty girl," Adryn spoke to her cub, not wanting to startle her at all. Eclipse walked over to her cub as well and spoke to her gently as well. Soon, both cubs were awake and staring up at them. However, as soon as they noticed Ranmaru, they began to growl in their cute little baby growls. Even so, it startled Ranmaru and caused him to take a step backward.
"It's alright girls, he's one of the guys we talked about. He'd a friend now." Eclipse explained to the cubs. Instantly, the cubs calmed down. Precious began to walk over to Ranmaru with Serenity following after her. So, Ranmaru knelt down on the ground to begin to pet them.
"Here, they like this toy," Adryn spoke up as she handed Ranmaru a toy. It was a long stick with a long string attached to it, with feathers at the end.
"Thanks," Ranmaru stated as he took the toy from Adryn. While he played with the cubs, Adryn and Eclipse filled up the cubs' bowls with food and refilled their water bowls. Soon though, the cubs wanted food and lost interest in Ranmaru and the toy, much to his dismay.
"We should probably head back to the kitchen. They probably could use help or something." Eclipse spoke up, as she gently petted her cub.
"Let's leave the door open, so the cubs can follow us if they want to," Adryn suggested, causing Eclipse to nod her head in agreement. Ranmaru got up from the ground and followed Adryn and Eclipse out of the room, with the cubs following quickly behind them. The girls led them to the kitchen and then headed back to their original seats. "So guys, these are Serenity and Precious."
"Aww! How cute!" Reiji had only seen them for a few moments when they were sleeping, but now that he saw them in a better light, he thought they were completely adorable. However, he was cooking so he'd have to pet them later.
"Hopefully they'll like you all," Adryn stated, however she then saw Serenity make a hissing noise at Ai, much to their confusion. "Don't mind her. She's not good with new humans." However, Eclipse just chuckled causing Adryn to be even more confused.
"Precious will love all of you," Eclipse spoke up after she collected herself. She was very correct, as Precious was walking around everyone and rubbing up against them all.
After another few minutes, the food was done and everyone had a plate. They all sat at the huge rectangle table. There were 4 chairs on each of the long sides and 2 chairs on each of the short sides, making the total of chairs be 12. the members of PURGATORY and QUARTET NIGHT all sat across from each other. The girls on one side and the boys of the other.
"So, how would you girls like your newest songs to turn out?" Reiji suddenly questioned as he ate his food. Each of the girls thought for a moment before Eclipse began to speak up first.
"I'd like mine and Ai's song to be about true love, but I'm afraid people would get the wrong idea." Eclipse explained simply as she paused in her eating.
"Oh, that's right, you have a boyfriend, correct?"
"Yeah, he and I have been together for a little while now. Even though it's supposed to be against the rules for idols to date. It was complicated at first, but then both our agencies decided that we'd make a good power couple and would get more popularity if we worked together. Even now, we are only permitted to be together as long as we don't create any scandals or any negative attention."
"You're still together now, even though you both live in different countries?" Ai questioned, joining in on the conversation.
"Of course. I waited over 20 years for my true love, I'm not letting him slip away so easily. He feels the same."
"That's sweet. I'm happy that you found what you were looking for." Reiji smiled at the girl, who returned his smile.
"She makes it look so easy. We want to find our true loves as easily as she did." Nova pouted causing Reiji to chuckle.
"Don't worry, I'm sure you'll find him one day."
"Actually, I'm into girls."
"Oh! Well... I'm sure you'll find her one day then." Reiji laughed a little nervously, hoping he hadn't offended the girl or anything. Nova however just smiled at him and nodded her head.
"It's Adryn I'm worried about the most," Nova admitted, causing the redhead to snap her head up and nearly choke on her food.
"Excuse me?" Adryn snapped at her friend, who giggled in response.
"I mean, you've had your fair share of failed loves, I'm worried you'll throw yourself into something new and get hurt again."
"I have absolutely no plans on getting into any types of relationships again." Adryn's words were harsh and final and caused the table to fall into silence. Reiji wanted to ask her why, but he knew that with the tone of her voice, she didn't want to talk about it.
"Um, anyway!" Eclipse began, breaking the silence suddenly. "Back to the topic, we were talking about. I don't really mind what my song or songs will be about, as long as we gain popularity." Eclipse paused before speaking up again. "I mean, I just want PURGATORY to be more well known. It's not that I don't appreciate our current fans, it's just that I want my father and sister's dreams to come true." That seemed to resonate with Reiji, causing him to smile.
"Well, QUARTET NIGHT will do everything in our power to help you become more well known," Reiji stated causing the girls to smile at him. Even Shiori was happy about hearing Reiji say that.
"Well, as long as you girls deserve it and are good at what you do," Camus stated causing all the smiles to end. Shiori instantly took that as a challenge.
"Well, PURGATORY is way better than QUARTET NIGHT!" Shiori snapped at her partner.
"That is literally impossible for that to be true." Adryn instantly responded before Camus could say a word. That caused the guys in the room to turn to look at her. She then realized that she inadvertently showed them all how big of a fan she is of them. She knew that they knew, but still, she didn't like them knowing that. So, Adryn's face then turned red and she looked down at her food in embarrassment.
"Why are you so embarrassed to admit that you are a fan of us?" Ai questioned Adryn, causing her to look up to him. She was about to respond, but Shiori butted in first.
"It's probably because of the ridiculous amount posters and merchandise of Reiji that Adryn has in her room." Shiori's words instantly caused Adryn to stand up and walk out of the room. Eclipse instantly reached around her sister and smacked Shiori's shoulder.
"You went too far! You know Adryn doesn't like to admit to who she's a fan of, especially not to their face!" Eclipse snapped at Shiori. The blonde girl just smirked at Eclipse causing her to get up from her chair. Eclipse instantly went after the upset Adryn. That left the guys confused and slightly worried about Adryn now, well Reiji was worried, no one else.
"You see, Adryn is a fan of Reiji specifically, but she also loves you guys as a whole. Her favorite is clear though." Nova explained to the group of guys.
"Her being a fan of Reiji is seriously bordering on obsession," Shiori stated but Nova just shook her head.
"That's just how Adryn is. It isn't bad or anything. It's just how she shows that she adores something." Hearing that, Reiji couldn't help but feel strangely honored to be liked by someone to that extent.
"I guess it's fine to a point, but I mean, Adryn listens to QUARTET NIGHT to help with her 'crippling depression'. Adryn is bipolar and has a ton of issues, so your guys' music helps her."
"Shiori! Shut up!" Nova was too late though, the damage was done and of course, Adryn had walked back into the room at that very moment. The guys and the 2 girls turned to look at Adryn and Eclipse behind her. Adryn looked mortified and was frozen in her spot.
"Everyone has their issues, so it isn't anything to be ashamed of or anything like that." Reiji began, but Adryn just looked to Shiori with pure anger in her eyes.
"If you keep blabbing about my personal life, I'll kick you out of my home," Adryn growled at Shiori. The anger was full in her voice and eyes. It shocked QUARTET NIGHT a little bit, as they hadn't seen her that angry yet.
"I have nowhere else to go!" Shiori yelled back at Adryn. Though, the redhead didn't care one bit. Even so, the anger faded from her face as nausea began to take over. She hoped it didn't show on her face though.
"I'm not hungry anymore." With that, Adryn spun around and moved around Eclipse. The pink-haired girl sighed and moved back to her seat, beginning to eat like nothing was wrong.
"Is she alright?" Reiji questioned, to which Eclipse just shrugged her shoulders. That told Reiji to not keep asking, so they all just went back to eating, but in silence this time. It didn't take long for them to eat up their food and then clean up the kitchen.
During the process of eating or cleaning, Eclipse wasn't sure, the cubs had wandered off. She hoped they weren't getting into anything and breaking things again.
"Oh, you know what, we should watch a movie in our theater room," Nova suggested after everything was cleaned up and as they all had it before.
"That's a good idea. Let's go!" Shiori then left the room, causing the others to just follow after her.
"You have a theater room?" Ranmaru questioned as they walked down the hallways.
"Yup. It's not too big, but it can fit maybe 50 people?" Nova's words caused Ranmaru to pause for a moment.
"'Not too big', huh?" Ranmaru was in disbelief, but soon they were there and entering the room.
"Oh, Adryn's here." Shiori pointed to the redhead who was wrapped up in a blue blanket in the 3rd row of seats. Hearing Shiori, Adryn turned to look at them.
"I guess we had the same idea," Adryn stated as she sat up.
"Were you watching anything, because the screen is blank," Nova questioned to which Adryn shook her head.
"I couldn't figure out what I wanted to watch, so I just sat here."
"Weird," Shiori commented as she made her way to the 3rd row. The rest of the girls went to sit with Adryn, while the guys sat in the row behind them.
"How are you feeling?" Eclipse questioned her best friend as she sat down next to her.
"I'm fine now," Adryn responded as she shifted her blanket so Eclipse could get under it as well. Nova, to Adryn's, left curled up under the surprisingly large blanket as well.
"So, what are we going to watch?" Reiji asked from right behind Adryn.
"I would say you guys can pick, but I want to see a specific movie right now," Eclipse spoke up first in response.
"What movie?"
"Have you guys seen Labyrinth with David Bowie before?" Eclipse turned around slightly to see the guys behind her.
"That's a movie in English, correct?" Ai questioned in return.
"Yeah. Is that alright? It's one of my favorites and I'd love for you guys to watch it as well."
"Sure! We'd love to watch it, right guys?" Reiji asked as he looked to his group-mates. One by one they all agreed, whether it was just a shrug or a nod of the head.
"Great, I get to watch this... again!" Shiori sounded completely bored and annoyed at Eclipse's choice of movie, but was also completely ignored by the pink-haired girl. She grabbed the remote from Adryn and turned on the screen. She then sighed and got up to go put the movie in. after a minute, the movie began to play. The Japanese guys and one girl were actually a little relieved to see that the movie had Japanese subtitles. They all could understand a decent amount of English, but it was nice that they could understand it in their own language, for the most part.
Once the movie was over, Eclipse turned to look at the guys behind her, for any indication that they liked the movie.
"Well, that was different." Ai's voice was as calm and collected as usual, but the way he looked away from Eclipse when he spoke gave his true feelings away. He enjoyed the movie quite a bit but just didn't want to admit it to the others.
"The movie was amazing! I can see why it's one of your favorites!" Reiji then spoke up, taking the attention off of Ai. "Ran-Ran! You loved it, right? I saw you moving to the music during the movie!"
"I don't see how anybody could like that." Camus snapped before Ranmaru could admit that he found the movie enjoyable.
"Same! I can't believe they ever made a movie like that!" Shiori responded as she turned to Camus who was now looking at her.
"Your opinion is invalid," Eclipse told Shiori instantly. Shiori gasped, clearly offended by Eclipse's words.
"Exactly, Shiori you aren't allowed to watch any movies with us anymore," Adryn responded immediately after Eclipse. Shiori went from looking at Eclipse to looking at Adryn.
"Why isn't Camus getting into trouble!?" Shiori yelled at the best friends.
"He doesn't know any better," Adryn replied simply causing Camus to look to her.
"What, am I a child?" Camus questioned annoyed at the redhead.
"Bitch you might be!" Adryn responded immediately. Camus was about to respond, however, Ranmaru began to laugh at that, causing Nova to giggle which caused everyone else to dissolve into laughter, minus Camus and Shiori. That pair didn't find Adryn's response funny. "I... am sorry. That's a... instantly reaction... to being asked a question like that..." Adryn spoke up during fits of laughter. That just caused Camus to frown even deeper. Shiori was the one to speak up though.
"Oh just shut up! It isn't funny!" The blonde snapped, trying to get the others to stop laughing. Suddenly, a phone went off, which turned out to be Adryn's phone. She pulled her blue phone out of her pocket and checked what her phone went off for.
"Oh damn. It's time to get ready for bed." Adryn spoke up after silencing her phone.
"You set an alarm to tell you to go to bed?" Ranmaru questioned curiously.
"If I don't, then I'll stay up super late without even realizing."
"What a loser, right?" Shiori laughed wanting someone to join in with her, but Adryn just threw her blanket over the blonde as Adryn got up from her seat.
"Shut it, Shiori. I have a schedule that I have to follow." Adryn then began to walk towards the exit of the room.
"It has gotten late, we should all head to bed now," Reiji spoke up as he as well stood up from his seat. The rest, following Reiji's suggestion, got up him out of the door. Adryn was waiting for Eclipse and the two girls headed to find their cubs and tell them goodnight. After that, Adryn and Eclipse followed the others to the bedrooms.
"There's another thing we should warn you about." Eclipse began as she opened up her door.
"What is it?" Ai questioned as he paused in opening his door.
"Keep your doors closed and locked. Our cubs sometimes open up doors. We wouldn't want anyone to be mauled in their sleep, right?" Adryn smirked at the group and then opened up her door. "Goodnight. Sleep well." With that, the redhead was in her room and heading to get ready for bed. Her last thoughts of the night were that she hoped that nothing else would surprise her the next day.