A/N: Thank you for all your faves, follows and reviews!

Enjoy!

Chapter 6

Trainees III: Countdown to Début

Basketball practice was nothing but hell. Takeuchi was working his boys like mules, ever since they played that well in the Touou match; he deemed that they had more potential. Especially Kise. So instead of waiting until they encounter another difficult team, he was going to draw out their potential by force. Winter Cup was going to be theirs.

Over by Shutoku, the boys were in the same boat. With the memory of Seirin fresh in their memories, they were determined to get their revenge. Midorima never missed a shooting practice, and well, Takao made sure to improve his passes for the shooter. Their partnership was getting better and better, and honestly, Takao felt like they'll be able to move mountains.

By Seirin, Kuroko and Kagami were slaving out. Since Riko knew that they're training to be idols, she decided to include more strength oriented exercises. She was determined to make them stamina monsters for their future live performances. It was only sad that she couldn't get her hands on Takao, Kise and Kasamatsu too. But apart from that, their practices went on smoothly, worse with the threat of a naked confession looming over their heads.

xxxx

Meanwhile the boys were at practice; Kenji sat around his desk with Akamine, Ichinose and Hikaru sitting in the sofas that faced a coffee table. Kenji's desk was covered with documents, and all four of the men looked pleased ―more like, Akamine looked happy, Ichinose was welling with pride and Hikaru looked sinister.

"Well, I think we can begin." Kenji said.

"Alright," Akamine started. "In terms of vocals, Kise should be the Main vocalist due to his extensive range. His voice is more capable of belting out those high notes and can handle the most challenging parts."

"I don't know much about singing, but from his daily shrieks of calling my son's name; I can tell, he's got a good throat." Hikaru joked, although he meant it.

"For the Lead Vocalist, it'll be Kasamatsu. He's got a distinctive voice and is very good with the vibrato more than Kise."

"Pretend that I know what vibrato is." Ichinose said with Hikaru nodding beside him.

Kenji sighed. "Vibrato is a variation of pitch. It can be rapid, or slight, depending on the song." Still, Ichinose and Hikaru looked lost. Kenji decided to leave them in their ignorance, as their field of work doesn't need them to know this.

"However, as time goes by, I believe that Kuroko will be able to become a Main vocalist as well, just that his highest vocal range would be an octave below Kise." Akamine continued.

"Again, pretend that we know what an octave is." Ichinose sighed.

"An octave is the interval between one musical pitch and another with half or double its frequency." Akamine answered. Hikaru and Ichinose were clueless.

"It's a series of eight notes between (and including) two notes." Kenji simplified. "For example, from Middle C on the piano to the next C there are eight notes ―C, D, E, F, G, A, B, C. That's an octave."

"Now you see why I became a dancer?" Hikaru said with a sigh.

"I totally understand, Kuroko." Ichinose agreed. "Actors don't need to stress themselves with this."

Akamine laughed at the two. He continued, "The two rappers will be Kagami and Takao although Kagami will be the main while Takao backs him up occasionally. But of course, they're all vocalists."

"In terms of dancing," Hikaru said, "Tetsuya is the best but Takao and Kise are on equal terms so you can basically say they've tied for second best."

Ichinose nodded. "I have Kasamatsu-kun as the leader for the bunch. He's responsible and is actually able to get Kise and Kagami under control." Ichinose added his bits. "And he's got a level head."

"Plus, Kasamatsu-kun is the captain of his school's basketball team, so he has experience dealing with an idiotic bunch." Kenji said. The instructors laughed at his truthful comment. "Well, now that we have that out of the way, I'll go check up on their set." Kenji sighed.

"Good luck with that." Ichinose and Akamine came out. Kenji let out a distressed sigh as all four men exited the room. Ichinose and Akamine went in one direction leaving Kenji to wonder about Hikaru.

"Let me accompany you." Hikaru grinned as though he could read his mind. "I'm sure you wouldn't mind."

"Indeed."

The two males then walked towards the elevator and proceeded to the basement floor where all cars were parked. Once there, they hopped into Kenji's car (the younger male won a round of janken) and drove out.

"You know, I've been wondering," Hikaru started. "Why is it that their set isn't being done by your company?"

"Because of Kise-kun." Kenji replied as he turned at a stoplight. "He's already signed to Image One and his contract states that he couldn't have multiple agents."

Hikaru was stunned. "So how did you manage to get him to be a trainee?"

"I made a deal." Kenji answered, seeming like he was going to cry. "Until Kise-kun's contract ends with them, we have to use their agency for set creation anytime Catal Rhythm is going to shoot a video." Kenji made a smile here. "But should Image One need any models for new designs ―be it clothing, footwear, accessories, or if Kise Ruiko needs any models, Catal Rhythm are a priority. I wasn't going to make them get away with murder, as an Aihara, piece of the cake should belong to me."

"You're evil. You even held Kise-kun's older sister as hostage." Hikaru sighed. "It seems like a war went down in that meeting."

"As if you're any better. Plus, she was glad to have her little brother and his friends and her models anytime." Kenji countered. "And yes, it had turned into an awful warzone. I never knew Kise-kun had such a savage manager."

Hikaru gaped at Kenji but said nothing more. Pot calling kettle black, He mused. He remembered the days when Kenji was Perfect 5th's manager…those were some dark days indeed.

Soon, they neared Image One and Hikaru swore that he heard Kenji swearing and mumbling something along the lines of 'they better have my boys' set ready'. Hikaru had to double his lip to not burst out laughing; looking at Kenji's face, one would deem him to be normal, meek and well mannered. Well, he has good mannerisms to an extent, but he sure as hell was not meek. On the inside, Kenji has some sharp fangs waiting to sink into his unsuspecting victims.

Pulling up into the parking lot, the two men exited the car and walked towards the three storey building before them. Upon reaching the receptionist, Kenji flashed his card and with a nod from her, the two men headed towards one of the elevators nestled to the left.

Neither man spoke to each other until they reached their destination. The elevator door opened to reveal a long hallway, but people were darting to and fro, in what seemed to be a rushed manner.

Kenji then hastened his footsteps, and swiftly pushed open a white door. He didn't knock, he didn't call, nothing. What Hikaru saw, left him breathless. The room was huge, and to the furthest of the room, there were three separate spaces which seemed to be a box.

In one of the spaces, there was a bedroom. It resembled a teenager's; the bed was set horizontally to the left, with the headboard resting on the wall. Beside the bed was a small red sofa with orange and yellow cushions neatly placed in it. Beside it, there was a window with was hidden by a white curtain, and across from the bed, was a mini bookshelf which housed many different things, Kenji couldn't see from the distance he was at.

While Kenji was nodding his approval at the set, he and Hikaru were then greeted by a man of average height, who wore simple casual clothing and a baseball cap.

"It's not looking bad at all, Machida-san." Kenji said without looking at the man. His eyes were fixed on the sets. "The others are coming along pretty well, although, I would have loved to see the other sets ready as well."

Machida made a chuckle. "Well, given the fact that your boys haven't begun recording yet, my boss decided we prioritize other groups that are débuting."

Hikaru could literally hear Kenji's rationality snapping. "What was that?" he asked. "Which other groups are those?"

"There were two from Senna Ent., one from Cinq Productions and another from Atom." Machida answered with a shrug.

Kenji made a fake smile before bowing and heading through the door. Kenji nearly sprinted to the elevator but thankfully, Hikaru's legs were long enough to be able to keep up with the shorter man.

"Kuroko-san," Kenji started, picking his thumb's nail with his teeth. Hikaru could see that the man was absolutely pissed. But he knew what Kenji was like; after all, he's experienced it many times prior.

"This means war, right?" Hikaru asked. He liked where this was going.

"Exactly." He responded. "For a fact, their songs are ready; well they were given to me today by the A&R team. I want you to choreograph two of those songs."

Hikaru frowned. "Just two?"

"Aren't you a busy man?"

"Not when it comes on to my precious Tetsuya." He grinned. "Plus, I have my wife and assistants and other instructors at my place that has everything under control."

"Hmm." Kenji nodded. "But really, I don't want to kill them off. I mean, other groups get two years or more to train, these boys aren't getting even one year properly."

Hikaru nodded as he understood what Kenji meant. Even though it's war, he couldn't do that to the boys…yet. "Alright, I'll give the songs a listen and choose which ones I'll do."

"Excuse me?" Kenji asked. "I already have the two prepared. And trust me, you won't complain."

xxxx

After basketball practice, the boys headed directly to the Aihara Complex. They weren't going to have any vocal training, but they were to meet Kenji in his office. At first they were excited, but then deflated the moment Kasamatsu speculated that it was probably something to do with their début. Well, Kise and Takao were ecstatic, he and Kagami were nervous, and Kuroko was the usual ―unreadable.

Since Aihara Productions was located in Yamato City, Kise and Kasamatsu always arrived quicker than the boys from Tokyo. Thus, they'd wait for the boys at the train station. Kasamatsu always dreaded this as Kise and Takao are far too energetic for teenagers.

Soon, the train bearing the three Tokyo boys arrived and they dismounted.

"Kurokocchi!" Kise squealed as he made a lunge for him. But sadly, Kuroko side-stepped making the blond crashed face-first into a pole.

"Hello Kasamatsu-senpai," Kuroko greeted, totally ignoring Kise.

"Mou~ Kurokocchi!" he whined as he made his way to the group.

"There, there Ryou-chan," Takao tried to soothe. "I'm pretty sure that Tetsu-chan means well. He's just a tsundere like Shin-chan."

Kagami let out a disturbed laugh as he imagined Kuroko behaving like Midorima; carrying around lucky items every day, bandaged fingers, the whole works. The boys continued their chatter until they reached the bus-stop. When the bus arrived, they took their seats around the back.

"You know, yesterday I was wondering," Kagami started. "How did I get roped into this with the rest of you?"

"It's all because of Tetsu-chan amazing persuasion skills." Takao said with a smile. He was sitting behind the redhead and Kuroko with Kise beside him.

"You mean his amazing jabbing skills." Kagami mumbled.

"I don't have any jabbing skills." Kuroko denied swiftly. The other four looked at him incredulously. Kise, who was on his phone, had to pause and send the light-blue haired teen an 'are you joking?' face.

"You can't be serious, Kurokocchi?" He asked. "Your skills are enough to break some ribs."

"I think you're exaggerating."

"Guys, I realized something." Kasamatsu joined in, he was sitting behind all of them as if to keep an eye out for their antics. Plus, he really didn't want to hear this prolonged argument about Kuroko's jabs.

"What's that, Yu-chan?" Takao asked.

"When we début and start getting famous, we're going to have a lot fans, especially girls right?"

"Yeah, that's a given." Kagami said.

"I've seen Kise fighting for his life against his rabid fangirls and it's not pretty. He comes to school looking like he crawled out of the sewers sometimes." The older boy shivered. "Another time, he looks like he's been mowed over by a truck. I don't think I can manage that right now."

The others including Kise paled.

"I really can't manage my fanbase getting tripled right now." The blond sighed. "It's hard dealing with the current ones. I can't even go shopping in peace."

"You're right." Kagami joined in. "If girls show up to our practices, coach will surely take out her anger and give us tripled training. I'm not about that life."

"I just want to enjoy a normal high school life. Even if it's just for one year." Takao joined. "I want to confess to my crush and get rejected; I want to interact with guy friends without hearing 'could you get this idol's autograph for me?' and things like that."

"You want to be rejected? Why?" Kuroko asked.

"I don't mean it literally! It's just that high school confessions don't really work out, right?" he asked.

"You're looking at a bunch of girlfriend-less guys, what answer do you expect?" Kasamatsu said. "But back to the issue at hand, what are we going to do?"

"Can't we wear face masks?" Kagami asked.

"Then might as well we just be a dance group. If people can't see our faces, how will they know if we're the ones singing?" Kise said. "But the mask idea isn't bad."

"Aren't you contradicting yourself there?" Takao asked with Kagami nodding in agreement.

"Onee-chan designs fashion masks for masquerades a lot of times. Couldn't we use those to hide our eyes only? That way, people will still see us but won't be able to tell who we are exactly. Add to that, Kurokocchi, Kagamicchi and my hairs look unnatural. They wouldn't even guess that it's our real hair colours."

The other four looked at Kise like he saved their lives. Well, in a way he just did. The blond was taken aback by this sudden show of emotion and wondered if it was something he said.

"You are a Godsend." Takao said. "Who knew having a model as a friend would be so helpful?"

"Hey!" Kise shouted. "What are you trying to say?!"

"But you're right," Kuroko joined. "Also, given our personalities, there's no way anyone would guess that it's us." He then paused. "Well, maybe Kise-kun and Takao-kun are possibilities."

"Hey!" both boys shouted.

"What? Kise-kun you're a model and Takao-kun, your vibrant personality makes it possible, right?"

The two were silenced after that. But they knew that the small teen was right, and didn't try to refute his argument. Kagami and Kasamatsu just laughed at them, and not before long, they reached their destination. They headed directly towards the administrative building, where all the offices were located.

With a wave to the receptionist, they entered the elevator and headed up to Kenji's office. It was located on the third floor, where the rest of the other managers' offices were. Walking briskly, they got to Kenji's office, and knocked.

"Enter." They heard his voice say from the other side of the door. But this time, he sounded different. He didn't sound like what they were used to, if anything, he sounded as though he was upset and was talking through gritted teeth.

Kasamatsu pushed the door open and with gestures from Kenji, the five boys took their seats in both of the sofas present, in front of a coffee which was covered with packages addressed to them.

"I'll cut to the chase," Kenji started, "You have to prepare for war."

The boys looked at each other before looking back at Kenji.

"War?"

"Yes," the older man nodded. "The first thing you should know is that you'll be débuting on February tenth at the Aihara Music Festival." But knowing that the boys were probably clueless about this event, he then explained, "The Festival takes place in our theatre where all our idols, well the ones present in the country, perform couple songs for the fans that come. It is also here that we début upcoming groups and soloists."

"Oh…" they all gave out. But Kenji could see Kagami and Kasamatsu looking the most nervous out of all five.

"The second thing, I have your songs ready; take the time to listen to the music so that you'll be able to sing the lyrics with emotion. Your choreographies are being worked on."

Kise and Takao let out squeals of delight as they hugged each other. Kagami who was beside them, changed his seat to move over to sit beside Kuroko who was on the other sofa with Kasamatsu.

"The third thing is that you need to give me your basketball schedule, because I want you to record the first two songs next week."

They nodded but then Kise asked, "First two songs? How many are we recording?"

Kenji grinned. "Five. And these five songs will make up your début mini album."

"EH?!" They screeched, Kuroko sat and stared through. "Mini-album!?"

"Don't worry; I explained everything thoroughly in your packages." Kenji said. "The fourth thing is your positions. Kise-kun is the Main vocalist, Kasamatsu-kun is the Lead, Kuroko-kun is the Main dancer, Takao-kun and Kise-kun are his leads, the Main rapper is Kagami-kun, the Lead is Takao-kun. But, you all are vocalists."

"A minute," Kagami said. "What's the difference between Main and Lead?"

"In terms of vocalists, the difference between these two are simple, the Main sings the most challenging parts, such as belting out high notes, keeping the long notes and the runs. The Lead sings the less challenging parts but backs up the main and can act as a substitute should anything happen." Kenji explained. "It's essentially the same thing for rappers. The Main is the better rapper; the lead is the second best. You get it, right?"

"Totally," Kagami smirked.

I just love how they seem excited. Kenji thought. "Another thing is your stage names. It's usually the company who attributes stage names to their idols, but you lot are an exception."

"Really? I've always thought that idols are the ones who come up with it themselves." Kuroko said.

"Yus!" Takao and Kise squealed once again. "Stage names!"

"Are stage names that important?" Kagami asked.

"Who wants to be called by their family name on stage anyway?!" Kise shouted with too much enthusiasm.

"You said it my brother!" Takao agreed.

And so the meeting continued with them discussing about pre-début promotions, so as to make prospective fans get to know them even before they hit the stage. Kenji had planned to have them star in a web drama series, and it was then that Catal Rhythm told Kenji of their plan to withhold their identities for a sane and peaceful high school life. When Kise recounted his daily struggles, Kenji felt sorry for the blond.

At first, he thought that it was a bit absurd, but when he looked at the possibilities that can arise by having an 'idol group in masquerade masks'. People are going to talk about them; people are going to be curious to find out their identities. Yes, Kenji deduced, having an air of mystery around his boys may not be so bad.

In addition to that, Kenji briefed them about other things as well, such as the company's official release about these new groups on their social media (Catal Rhythm aren't the only ones débuting). This would include pictures and profiles of each member along with the announcement of their groups' names.

Kise was excited for this aspect, since he's a model, this would be his domain. They were also briefed about their teaser that they'll have to film as well as their music video. Kenji knew that they (Kise and Takao especially) were motivated to do this, but he underestimated them. They were literally screaming with joy.

"Keep the enthusiasm going my precious little war potentials." Kenji cooed.

xxxx

"Wow…that was a lot to take in." Kagami said as they walked towards the elevator. "I'm even more nervous now than before."

"I can't wait for the photoshoot!" Kise squealed.

"I just can't wait to hit the stage!" Takao cheered. "Although it's going to be pretty tough."

"Right?" Kasamatsu said. "It's as Kenji-san said, we have to prepare for war ―get rid of the obstacles in our way, and dethroned the reigning Kings."

"That's right." Kuroko grinned.

"I'm so excited!" Takao then sang.

"Oh yes I am!" Kise joined in with an adlib.

"And I just can't hide it!" Takao continued.

"Damn right I can't hide it~!" Kise said likewise.

"I'm about to lose control and I think I like it!"

"Will you two shut up!?" Kagami roared.

"I see someone's crabby." Kise teased.

"Tsch, I'm just hungry that's all." The redhead murmured. "I feel for a burger."

Takao laughed. "Didn't we go to Maji's a few days ago? How could you want more?!"

"Hoh?" they heard a voice behind them say. Immediately, they froze in their tracks. "You ate the forbidden food?"

When they turned around, they saw Hikaru wearing a sinister smile. He made couple steps towards them and stopped at Kuroko.

"Did you boys really eat at Maji's?" he asked his son. The dark aura seeping out his body left poor Kuroko paralyzed. Even the others were frozen stiff. "Well?"

"Hai." Kuroko said in a small voice. Their fate was sealed.

"Okay." Hikaru then said. "How about we go dance or get some extra practice?" he smiled, but his eyes weren't smiling at all. Hikaru then walked off and beckoned the boys to follow him.

"I'm not excited~" Takao sang in a whimper.

"Oh no I'm not~" Kise joined in.

"But I have to hide it~"

"'cause I don't want to die~"

"I'm about to burst out crying and I don't like it~"

"Heeh?" Hikaru spun around with a smile. "You haven't started crying yet, my babies. Just you wait."

The boys let out soft whimpers of despair, and knew that they were going to die this evening. Hikaru was a merciless sadist after all.

Thank you for reading! Don't forget to leave a review!