A/N: There are songs used as inspiration for this chapter. True Story by Rise Kujikawa (Persona 4 Golden game) and After the Rain by W (Idolm ster Side M game)
Shout, friends! Just those words you really mean
And let your voice be heard all over the world
Stand up when you hear the knock on the door
It's me, come on out;
As Rise sang the song, the entirety of Shujin's student body cheered as they sang along. A lot of them were waving their hands in support and solidarity.
"Cannot believe that the new Student Council President managed to drag in Risette." A boy cheered. "THE Risette!"
"Forget Risette!" Another student grinned. "They managed to rope in Kanamin and other Idol groups!"
"I know right!" A girl agreed. "They even managed to get HighXJoker and W to perform earlier!"
"Risette!" Mishima cheered. "THE RISETTE!"
"Calm yourself man.' Ryuji chuckled. "I know it's unbelievable."
"Speak for yourself Ryuji." Anne rolled her eyes. "You were just gushing about Risette yesterday."
"Can you blame me?!" Ryuji countered. "It's effin' Risette!" He justified. "At least I know how to control myself more than others." He added as he took a glance at Mishima who nodded enthusiastically.
"Do you think she'll sign me an autograph?" Mishima asked his companions.
"Don't get your hopes up." Ryuji grinned. "They prolly have a lot of security, we won't be able to get close."
Anne simply shook her head and sang along to the song.
Get ready for your True Story.
With a raise of Rise's right hand, the song ended.
"How is everyone doing?!" Rise greeted her audience.
The audience cheered even louder at the question. Some jumped in glee and even shouted in both awe and admiration.
"I see." Rise chuckled. "Is everyone enjoying the show?!"
"YES!" The audience enthusiastically responded.
"Such an energetic bunch." The idol commented. "On behalf of my fellow idols here, I would like to thank the Student Council and the school's administration for making this concert possible." She bowed in front of the audience. "There are a few reasons why this concert was made possible."
The audience fell silent at the announcement. They didn't think that they were special enough to be given a special concert by these top brand idols.
"Last year, Suguru Kamoshida was arrested for sexual harassment." Rise stood up straight. "Recently, a lot of new cases of physical assault and injury surfaced against him."
The peanut gallery were silenced at the mention of the disgraced teacher, as a few of the students looked at the male members of the volleyball team. Mishima felt uncomfortable at the stares he was receiving.
Ryuji simply put his arm over Mishima's shoulders and squeezed them as he ignored the stares he was also receiving.
"The injuries may not have been fatal, but it certainly broke a lot of dreams." Rise somberly added. "To offer some words, please help me welcome back the idol group W."
Two men wearing identical outfits, in different colors, walked on stage. One of them was wearing a pair of eyeglasses.
"Thank you Risette." The man with glasses spoke. "I'm Kyosuke Aoi."
"And I'm Yusuke Aoi." The other twin stated. "But I'm sure you already knew that." He joked.
The audience laughed at the joke the eyeglass-less twin made.
"You knew us as athletes before we retired." Kyosuke continued.
"We retired early because of the injury I got during one of our games." Yusuke admitted. "But before we continue I'd like to call onstage others."
"Other athletes who faced relatively the same troubles as Yusuke." Kyosuke supplied.
"Help us welcome Tomohito Sugino-senshu and Takeshi Yamamoto-senshu" Rise introduced as another set of two athletes walked on stage.
The crowd has gone wild with their cheers as two of Japan's celebrated baseball players were on stage. The largest cheers came from the active athletes of the school, especially the baseball athletes.
"Hello Shujin." Sugino waved at the crowd. "How's everyone doing?"
The greeting from the athlete just made the cheers from the audience even louder.
"What an energetic bunch." Yamamoto chuckled. "Aren't they?"
"That I can agree on." Sugino joined in.
"Is this what an idol really feels like?" Yamamoto questioned. "It's kinda bizarre." He commented.
The people on stage opted to wait for the peanut gallery to calm down before proceeding with their objectives.
"Pretty much." Both members of W shrugged.
"Sugino-senshu and Yamamoto-senshu are here to tell us their respective experiences." Kyosuke voiced out as the audience quieted down.
"Guess I'll start." Sugino grinned. "My career as a baseball player was halted before it even started." He shared.
A lot of people gasped at this information as Karasuma at the back simply shook his head with a small hint of a smile adorned his face.
"I'm not naming any specific schools but one of the middle schools I attended had this stupid segregation policy." Sugino continued. "The failing students of the graduating class were to be separated from the other students and were prohibited from ever participating in any club activities." He supplied. "I belonged to that group of students."
"Cruel." One person from the audience commented.
Anne and Mishima simply looked at Ryuji, who was clenching his fists as they listened to the baseball athlete's speech.
"My grades suffered due to my low self-esteem." Sugino admitted sheepishly. "I just couldn't imitate the power and pitch of a very popular baseball player at that time." He supplied. "Hence why I was put in that class." He added. "But that didn't stop me, a teacher in that class taught me not to give up on my dreams."
Mitsuru looked at Karasuma but the man simply shook his head as if response to an unspoken question.
That's when it dawned to Mitsuru that the teacher the athlete was talking about was the very same assassin that disguised himself as a teacher.
"He also taught me that I should also have another goal." Sugino continued his spiel. "'Life is too unpredictable' was what he always said and there may be a possibility that our dreams won't ever come true."
Sugino paused for a few moments and gauged the audience's reaction, He noticed that some of the boys were slack jawed while the girls were covering their gasps at his revelation.
"So instead, he asked us what we would want to become if our ultimate dreams were to be, for lack of better term, cancelled." Sugino let his other hand hold the microphone. "He never did let us answer that question, instead he offered a piece of advice." He smiled as he reminisced on the teacher. "He simply told us to also work towards our other dreams so that we may live a successful life even if our primary dreams were nulled."
The audience simply did not expect that the Slithering Sugino would've faced problems as dire as he did.
"Guess I'm up next." Yamamoto chuckled. "I am more of an average student." He laughed. "I slept in class, failed in school and all that."
This got a lot of chuckles from the students.
"I used to believe that the only thing I'm good at was baseball." Yamamoto shared. "Then came a time when I broke my wrists from practicing so much." He smiled.
Another round of gasps were heard in the gymnasium.
"Because of that, I tried to take my life."
The entire school were surprised at the revelation. Some people were covering their mouths, some were even slack-jawed at the information.
Out of all the students, Anne was the most affected by the information. She remembered the day her best friend jumped off of the school building just to escape Kamoshida's cruelty. The pain and grief that event caused her came back with full force.
Ryuji, the ever supporting friend, simply placed his other arm over Anne's shoulders and squeezed it tightly.
Anne simply clung to the boy's uniform like a lifeline.
"As ridiculous as this would sound, I thought that the baseball god had no use for me and decided to throw me away." Yamamoto gave a hearty laugh.
But nobody saw the humor of the statement.
"I was saved by my best friend." Yamamoto grinned. "Well he really wasn't my friend at the time." He chuckled. "Anyway he saved me by being his self-deprecating self." He added with another chuckle. "He had told me before that effort was the only way that's why I broke my hand practicing."
Elsewhere a man with brown hair smiled at the words.
"That was when my dad approached me." Yamamoto wasn't finished. "He told me that I shouldn't focus on one thing and one thing only." He continued. "We swooshed, swished and bam the sushi's complete." He laughed.
"I didn't understand the last part." A few murmured.
"His dad basically trained him to make sushi." A few of the athletes answered to their peers.
"That and he basically pushed me to be my savior's friend." Yamamoto smiled. "He's got me a lot opportunities both in and out of sport events."
"That means I'm up next." Yusuke voiced out. "Well we already told you our story." He chuckled. "But there were things we left out."
"Yusuke and I promised to be on the same team always." Kyosuke supplied. "That's why I also retired from playing." He added. "But back then I had nowhere else to go to."
"Then we met someone." Yusuke smiled. "He proposed the idea of being idols to us." He admitted. "We were reluctant at first."
"But the prospect of being on the same team was enticing." Kyosuke admitted. "In the end we accepted the offer that's why we're here."
"So basically what the four of us are trying to tell you." Sugino began.
"Is that you do not need to focus on one dream only." Yamamoto added.
"Think of other dreams." Yusuke supplied.
"And have something to fall back." Kyosuke continued.
"To live a fulfilled life even if things do not go as planned." Sugino added.
"Because nothing in life ever goes the way we want it." The four of them chorused.
"Wow what an inspiring message from our athletes." Rise praised. "I hope everyone present will take their words to heart." She added. "As sad as I am to announce this." She voiced out. "But we're almost at the end of this concert." She announced.
"Before we end, Risette, do you have something to fall back to?" Kyosuke hurriedly questioned.
"Of course!" Rise affirmed. "My grandma taught me how to make tofus." She shared. "If I'm not an idol now, I'd be inheriting our shop in Inaba," She announced. "Oops sorry grandma, I hope my fans wouldn't hound the area." She sheepishly added.
"I'm sure your grandma can handle the customers." Yusuke assured.
"Oh she definitely can." Rise nodded. "To end this on a high note, W will sing their song 'After the Rain'".
"I would like everyone backstage and for Yamamoto-senshu and Sugino-senshu to join us for this number." Kyosuke asked his idols and athletes. "Sing with us."
The different idols at the back walked on stage at the prompt as both Yamamoto and Sugino looked at each other and shrugged. They faced the former athletes and nodded, delivering their answer.
"Is everyone ready?" Rise questioned.
The people on stage cheered in affirmation.
"On one!" Rise started.
"Two!" Kyosuke and Yusuke yelled in unison.
"Three!" Everyone finished.
The speakers started blaring the opening tune of the song as everyone on stage started clapping their hands.
WE GO! Every time.
KICK OFF! We can start this now.
WE CAN! Run forwards to the goal we are aiming for.
The Idol twins began to sing as their fellow idols and the two athletes clapped in the back.
An indication of rainfall somewhere in the sky
is a bit of a troublesome time!
Rise continued the song as she spun in her place then raised her hand, pointing towards the ceiling.
