A/N: Thank you for reading! Sorry about the delay!

Enjoy!

Chapter 19

Completing Songs

...

"Where did you find these boys from?" Akamine asked, folding his arms. After Catal Rhythm had left for home, he went to find Kenji who was with the boys' "dream team". Ren, Kiyotaka and Nobuzane's ears perked up when they heard Akamine.

"Online." Kenji replied, not taking his eyes off the paper before him.

Akamine raised an eyebrow. "Online? Seriously?"

"Yes, Seimei had a competition. They posted a video there and I realized that they could be polished and turned into something beautiful."

The music instructor sat back in his chair and sighed. "I don't know if it was luck or what, but these five boys are special. I gave them an assignment to write songs about the topic of their choice. One verse and a chorus would have been enough."

Kenji paused and finally looked up. Akamine could see that he was interested.

"To be honest, I never expected their songs to turn out that well, since, they've never done anything like this before. But, shit, was I wrong."

Kenji grinned. "What? They blew your mind, didn't they?"

Akamine chuckled. "That's right. What shocked me even more was that Kasamatsu-kun wrote a love song."

"That shy boy!?" Kenji burst out laughing. "Unbelievable!"

"I know right? But cherish these lads. I have a feeling that they'll become a force to reckon with in the future."

Kenji smiled as he looked down on the paper on the table. It was a report he got from Ren and Nobuzane which showed the progress of their songs and mini-album against the other groups of the company. "They already are."

...

Returning home, the boys were a bit beat but they had fun. Kasamatsu faced endless teasing, Kise was tempted to tell his sister of the awesome song that Kasamatsu wrote. The boys knew it wasn't for her, but they just couldn't resist. Kasamatsu gave up trying to deny their claims and just let them have fun.

"Senpai, do you plan on completing that song?" Kise asked as they sat in the sofa. "It'll be a waste not to."

"Ah..." Kasamatsu said, "...I wasn't planning to. Given your reactions..."

"Yu-chan, you could always use it to serenade your girlfriend!" Takao said with glee.

"Or I can just sing "Juliette" or "Baby" or ―"

"Or your song "Wherever you are". I think that'll have more impact." Kuroko joined in. "I mean, those songs are for the public ears, but your song is for her and her only." he added a smirk here. Kasamatsu dragged a hand over his face. They were relentless.

"Kuroko, I never knew you could be such a little shi―" he broke off as they heard screams and cheers coming from outside. Heading into their room, they looked through the window where Kise and Kagami's bunk was and saw a massive crowd out by the front gate. It was worst than the last time, and the five boys couldn't help but wonder what the cause of this was. They wanted to go to their balcony, but if anyone saw them, they'll know that they were idols as only idols lived on the third floor.

"Is there some sort of free ticket distribution going on?" Kagami mumbled aloud. "Their screams are so loud."

"Nope, Diverse is coming back." Takao replied, scrolling though his phone.

"Oh, the group that wasn't able to make it to Ai-Fest. I see." Kise said. He then chuckled, "Good luck to them getting through that. The crowd even blocked the underground parking entrance."

"But just because Diverse are back, they're showing up at their house? What insanity." Kasamatsu sighed. "I'm getting scared."

"You haven't seen crazy yet." Kise laughed. "There are fans that stalk their every move, set up cameras in their hotel rooms, all manner of crazy shit. I'm pretty sure that if idols had to choose, they'd prefer just to have a crowd at their house's entrance."

The others shivered in fear and silently prayed that they won't have to face anything of that level in the future. However, they knew that that's just impossible. But choosing to ignore the ruckus outside, Kagami and Kise started dinner while the others watched TV.

xxxx

The following week, Catal Rhythm were at it again, but they knew it would happen. Kenji had long warned them that the moment they débuted, he'd make sure that they were on every variety show under the sun. That was partially impossible at the moment, but they got a taste of the "evil combination" of Ren and Kenji. For that week, they went to three shootings, and at all these shootings, they made fools out of themselves (unintentionally).

Kenji and Ren reassured them that that was the essence of variety shows, to make idols look like idiots and show their boyish charms. Catal Rhythm were not amused. While it was fun laughing at each other (which they put each other to shame with their boisterous, unsightly laughter), knowing that the entire nation would be laughing at them was not their cup of tea. But thankfully, they had on their dark glasses so no one could recognize them.

Later in that week when the episode of Idol Trend aired, Catal Rhythm faced endless teasing from Perfect 5th, Starburst, Amari and Hirose whenever they were spotted. Also, at their respective schools, they were the talk of the moment.

At Shutoku, Takao was constantly trying to stifle down his laughter upon hearing the various conversations of the students about his group. One student commented that at the time when he watched it, he was wondering if they were high on drugs especially Kagami and Kise when the redhead was trying to make the female co-host laugh. Using a plastic rose as "Excalibur" and the "Diva-fall" of the demon lord were extremely hilarious. Another student said that "Taka" and "Sunn's" jokes were so corny that it was actually funny.

Kaijou was in its usual state, Kasamatsu was in a similar situation like that of Takao. His classmates and friends knew that he was into rock music, so it would have been totally strange for him to join a conversation about male idols. But hearing what they were discussing (the females especially), made Kasamatsu rethink his choice. In short, he prays that when they reveal their identities they won't be in high school. Just thinking about it is making him break out in cold sweat.

Kise, however, was swarmed by numerous fan girls and other male friends. The moment he entered through the classroom door he was surrounded, everyone talking at the same time, not giving him a chance to even speak.

"One at a time, guys." the blond said which trying to worm his way from them.

"Kise-kun, why are you hiding that you're an idol?" a female classmate came up to him and asked.

"Eh?" Kise was taken aback at this sudden question. Normally, they'd ask him if he's Sunn or not. But this was assuming that they had solid proof.

"I watched Idol Trend yesterday and I realized that Sunn speaks in a similar manner like you do. And his voice, sounds exactly like yours. I don't think there's another guy in Kaijou who sounds like you, Kise-kun."

Kise grabbed the fabric at his chest and nearly broke out in tears. "How-how-how can you be so sure?" he managed to ask. "Have you conversed with all the guys in school?"

He wore a calm and collected expression, but deep down he was praying for the teacher to arrive. He didn't think he'll be able to last this interrogation. And if he should make an excuse to leave, then that'll probably make them think that he's running away (which is right).

"Well, no..." she trailed off and turned her face away. Kise exhaled a sigh of relief until she started up again, "But you two seem really alike."

Kise only smiled and shrugged his shoulders. He didn't want to say anything which may strike up something else. Going to his seat, he sat, took out his phone and unlocked the screen. What he saw for his notifications left him frowning. Ever since yesterday there had been countless of them flooding his phone and he was tempted to delete the apps (again). Sighing, he cleared these messages and proceeded to play a game. He had an inkling of what these notifications were about and didn't want to read them.

Why is everyone fussing over something like this, anyway? Kise thought a bit irritably. Jeez, can't an idol hide his identity for a while without people trying to figure out who he is?

Kise felt strangely stressed out at this. It reminded him of when celebrities are seen out with females and everyone wants to know her identity. It was hard, trying to keep everyone from figuring out his secret. He already has a lot of fans dealing with, he knew he won't be able to survive if that amount triples…

"Why couldn't Senpai be a first year too?"He whined to himself. "That way we could suffer together..."

Out of the group, Kuroko and Kagami were the ones who were totally fine. No one noticed Kuroko, and no one would ever suspect Kagami to be an idol. Their school lives passed by normally ―too normal, as if nothing changed. The only difference was their team would tease them a lot, and Riko would change their regimen into something monstrous, seeming like she wanted to kill them off.

But throughout their interactions, Kagami felt like he wanted to complete his song, and then let them hear it, at least before the Senpai graduate next year.

xxxx

When Saturday came around, after having breakfast, Catal Rhythm assembled in their extra room to have Kasamatsu complete his song. After much pestering and bargaining, the older boy finally gave in, Kise wearing a devious smirk that made Kasamatsu fret. He had a feeling of what the blond ace was up to, but he didn't question Kise. He would deny every claim either way.

But, the universe had something else planned for the five boys.

While Kasamatsu strummed his guitar and the others listened with keen ears, Kenji entered into the room, with three others behind him. The five boys could easily recognize Tobio and Akio of Perfect 5th, but there was another who they didn't know.

"Am I interrupting something?" Kenji asked as he strode in.

"Yu-chan's completing his song." Takao said with a perk. "You have to hear it after!"

"Takao!" Kasamatsu shouted at the boy for him to keep quiet, blushing from the embarrassment.

"What's wrong? Kenji-san can have you sing it at his wedding someday, right?"

"Of course not!" Kise screeched in objection. "Senpai will sing it to Reiko-nee at their wedding!"

Kasamatsu's face paled. What was Kise thinking? At this moment, he regretted accepting the offer and not force Kise to ask Moriyama instead. But knowing how shameless the shooting guard can get, Ryouhei would probably kick him out and end up going as his daughter's date instead.

"Right..." Kenji said. Kise had already informed the manager of the details and he didn't mind. As a matter of fact, Kenji decided that he'll be the one to pick up Reiko, drop them off at the venue and come back for them (more like wait until it was over). He was Kasamatsu's manager after all. Can't have the boy taking trains and taxis.

"Anyway, Alto-kun of Diverse is here to meet you." he started up again. "Tobio-kun and Akio-kun are just here for moral support."

Catal Rhythm's eyebrows rose. Moral support? A member of Diverse wants to meet them? Why? Seeing the confusion printed all over their faces, the young men entered inside, wearing simple T-shirts and frayed jeans.

"Hello." The tall male walked in, his hair was bleached pale blond with brown ends. His eyes were a deep blue, reminding them of the ocean. His face wore a bright expression, as though he was happy to be there. "I'm Alto. I'm not telling you my real name because it's abnormally tragic." he said this in a dramatic way, somehow reminded Catal Rhythm of how Kise behaves sometimes. But they noticed that he spoke with an accent.

"So, what are you doing here?" Kagami asked, curious.

"Well, before we left on our tour, we had met Starburst and D:FI, so I was clueless as to who you guys were." Alto said, bluntly. "I'm just curious about you. Your "Baby" performance at Ai-Fest left an impression on me, you know?"

"Oh."

"And then Tobi showed me you lot singing with Perfect 5th at their concert in the Tokyo Dome." Alto grinned at them. He then looked at Kise, "You've got a voice there. You forced Tobi to harmonize with you and it's his song! How did you do it?!"

"Don't even go there!" Tobio barked, "I'm still peeved about it!" he then huffed, "this blond brat was stealing my thunder!"

Kise didn't know what to say. "I sang?" he said with a bit of uncertainty.

Alto nodded at Kise, ignoring Tobio and Akio who was laughing at his bandmate. But he then looked about the room and noticed that there were only four of Catal Rhythm present. "Where's your fifth member? He's not home?"

"I'm here." Kuroko said, he was sitting beside Alto. The leader of Diverse let out a high pitched scream as he bolted upwards and dashed to the corner of the room in fright. The male was grabbing his chest and panting heavily. Everyone roared with laughter at his reaction.

"You're not a ghost, right?" he asked.

"No." Kuroko replied, Takao continuously poked at his arm for verification.

Alto released a sigh of relief, "Thank God, you scared the shit out of me."

"He scares the shit out of everyone." Akio grumbled. Kuroko could only smile at their expressions.

"But anyway, I'm just letting you know who I am." the young man grinned. "If you have any problem and need any advice, especially with our line of work, Diverse is here. We live across the hall."

"Pfft!" Akio laughed. "They have us already! And if that wasn't the case, Banri and Harutaka are the only ones who'll really understand when they start blurting their troubles!" Akio kept roaring with laughter. "Don't you still have some issues with some Japanese sayings?"

"Are you dissing my Japanese skills!? Huh?!" Alto barked, clearly enraged. "Are you?!"

"Keep calm, bro." Akio chuckled, leaning over to Tobio for support. But the main vocalist shrugged him off and scooted over closer to Kise.

Catal Rhythm looked to Kenji for an explanation. The manager mouthed "after" to them, which meant that they'll probably hear a description of the group on a whole when their guests left.

For a little while more, Alto spoke to Catal Rhythm and the boys found out that he was really nice or rather...extremely friendly. He actually gave them his number to show that he was serious. When Kasamatsu asked the reason for this, Alto had replied that he grew up in an extended family and was one of the "middle" ones, having older brothers and cousins to offer advice, and having to look out for the ones younger than himself.

Within a couple minutes, Alto, Akio and Tobio left, leaving Catal Rhythm with their manager.

"Diverse is a multinational group of Japanese, Chinese and Korean. Alto-kun is one of the Chinese members." Kenji said, answering his boys' earlier question. "The group consists of six members, two of each nationality. And it was entirely coincidental."

"Oh, that's why they're called Diverse." Kuroko nodded in understanding. "I was always wondering."

"But why did Alto need "moral support" from Akio-san and Tobio-san?" Kasamatsu asked.

Kenji laughed. "Alto-kun is extremely shy. And because he's Chinese, he likes when someone is there in case he unknowingly offended someone or says something out of context."

"He didn't seem shy to me." Kise mumbled, "Especially when Akio-kun commented when he offered his advice to us."

"As I said before, that's because his "moral support" is here." Kenji shrugged. "The others of Diverse usually are there for him, but it seems they went out or something."

"Oh." the boys said.

"On that note, I'm here with good news!" Kenji perked whipping out his phone from his back-pocket. After scrolling for a short while, he read, "Your EP: Hello, is ranked #8 on the Oricon Monthly Albums Chart."

Kise and Takao gasped, "No..." after which they proceeded to squeal with glee. Kasamatsu nodded his satisfaction, Kagami and Kuroko looked indifferent. But they were all shocked that they achieved such a feat. They were basically unknown.

"That's not all. Your song: "Hello" is ranked #12 on the Singles Chart." Kenji smiled. "Out of 50."

All five boys erupted into hoots and cheers, Kenji letting them revel in their joy for now. The coming week wasn't going to be easy, and all the times that will follow.

"Now, for the good news that you won't like." Kenji started up again. Catal Rhythm looked at him with confusion. He explained, "Next week, you have a photoshoot and will receive your next song."

"I like the "next song" part but the photoshoot..." Kasamatsu trailed off.

"Onee-chan designed some stuff and we're her models." Kise said in a rather calm voice. "Don't worry guys, I'll help you get through this with ease." he then grinned.

"That's great!" their manager perked up. "After lunch, come see me in your office to go into further details. And your dream team wants to see you, especially Ren and Nobuzane-san." he further added, "Bring your lyric sheets and Kasamatsu-kun, bring your guitar."

"Yes Sir!"

With that, Kenji left, leaving his boys to reel in all he just told them. But, he was glad that they weren't freaking out at the mention of a photoshoot as in days prior, they'd be a mess when he mentioned anything like that. But, he still couldn't wait to see their expressions come later on.

xxxx

Just as Kenji had instructed, the boys left their house after they had lunch and left for the Complex. Before they left, they placed their lyric sheets into Kasamatsu's guitar case and headed out. They decided to walk there, the boys from Tokyo taking in the sights of their new environment. Although, often times, they lost track of Kuroko which sent them into a frenzy.

When they reached to the Complex and headed to the office, they were immediately greeted with congratulations and raining confetti (although it was a little given that Kiyotaka was the only one with it).

"You managed to best D:FI's "Trespass" and Starburst's "OK" in the Singles Chart!" Ren chirped. "I'm so happy!" he pretended to wipe a tear.

"We did?!" they ended up screeching.

"Oh. Ken didn't tell you?" Ren asked sheepishly as he looked over at Kenji. "My bad." he said as he playfully placed two fingers on his lower lip. It was no secret that there's some bad blood between Catal Rhythm and a couple members of D:FI.

"Yeah, I forgot." Kenji said with an eye roll. It was clear that he didn't.

"Anyway, let's discuss your next photoshoot." The publicist said as he pushed them playfully towards his cubicle. When they were all seated, he began, "The theme for the shoot is "Spring: Beginning" since it begins next month. Unlike the last time, you'll be shooting on location."

Catal Rhythm nodded.

"Once again, it's Image One and..." he leaned forwards to whisper, "...Takeda Yoshino will be there. Do your best and keep him away from Ken. They don't like each other." he especially looked at Kise.

"Oh, right..." the blond groaned out.

"What's the matter?" Kasamatsu asked.

"Yoshino-san is my manager." he responded. "I heard from my stylist that for me to become an idol, the meeting turned into a warzone between Yoshino-san and Kenji-san."

Ren laughed. "It was World War III! Armageddon, if you may!"

"Ren!" Kenji shouted from desk. "You traitor!"

The dark-haired young man stuck out his tongue teasingly. Kenji twitched at this, but said nothing more. When Ren was finished with the boys, Nobuzane came for them and they headed off to the recording studio. Entering the room, they noticed that there was hardly any lighting, and there were many mixers, and synthesizers and sorts of equipment nearly arranged in the space.

"I'm sure you've heard that you'll be receiving your next song, next week, right?" He asked. Catal Rhythm nodded.

Nobuzane grinned. "Well, we're here at the moment to become best friends."

"Eh? How so?" Takao asked.

"Akamine told me about the songs you wrote. You have the music sheets now, right?"

Wordlessly, Kasamatsu opened his guitar case and handed the papers to the man. He looked at each critically until he asked the boys to sing. Of course they all perked up at this, well, everyone except Kasamatsu. They sang their songs with much emotion even Kasamatsu. Of course, this got him teased (again) but for once, he didn't mind. What he minded was the mortified look on Nobuzane's face.

"I didn't know you were all this crazy. I thought Kenji was just exaggerating." he confessed.

Kuroko chuckled. "We can get even crazier."

"Please don't around me. I already have Kiyotaka, Ren and Kenji to deal with." he sighed. But changing his mood, he said, "How do you feel about completing your songs?"

The boys' faces lit up. "Seriously?!"

Nobuzane nodded. "These songs are the first that you've ever written right?" they nodded. "I'll help you to complete them and put it on a CD. It's your first song, you should at least finish it to reminisce later on."

"Let Senpai go first!" Kise shrieked.

"That's right," Kagami said in realization. "He has to take out Reiko to her ball soon, so it'll be cool if he manages to sing it to her."

"You…!" Kasamatsu roared, face turning a deep shade of red from the embarrassment. "Why are you so hell bent on this?!"

"Because you need a girlfriend." All four deadpanned.

"What? What about you?! Don't you all need girlfriends as well?! What's so special about me?!" he countered. He then turned to Takao, "Aren't you going to confess to Aika!?"

It was as though time froze. Kagami, Kise and Kuroko slowly turned into Takao's direction with questioning looks.

"What's this?" Kise asked with a raised eyebrow. "Hmm?"

"How did she get into this!?" Takao asked, trying to defend himself. "She's a friend! A friend!" he screeched, waving his hands in dismissal.

"Alright! Alright!" Nobuzane said to get back their attention. "Bicker all you want about girls when you get home. Right now, let's finish your songs." He then spun around in his chair and looked at his equipment, pushing buttons and connecting cables that the boys didn't know the use of.

"I have to ask, why do your songs sound like rock songs?" he started. "Don't get me wrong, they're pretty good songs, but I get the rock and roll feel from them when you sang."

"Yeah, we realized from the first time." Kuroko confessed.

"How odd. A pop idol group's first ever songs are of the rock genre." Nobuzane chuckled. "You boys really are special." with a clap of his hands, he then said, "let's begin, shall we?"

Thank you for reading! Don't forget to leave a review! Note: The idea for Diverse being multinational is taken from a real group called "Cross Gene".