A/N: Thank you all for your faves, follows and reviews! Also, A Guest pointed out something from previous chapters in regards to the whole "10,000" hours for mastery. Thanks for that! It was our mistake!

Anyways, Enjoy!

Chapter 24

First Radio Guesting

…

For the rest of the week, apart from basketball practice and rehearsals for the upcoming concert, Catal Rhythm focused on learning their instruments. It wasn't that much of a pressure given that they were only to perform three songs ―two of which were already committed to muscle memory. The third song was their new single that was going to be released sometime after they shot the video this weekend.

So, after school, the boys would go their separate ways ―Kise headed to Makio at the "Euphoria", Kuroko headed to Akamine at the Complex while Takao and Kagami stayed at home with Kasamatsu. Mitsurou had already delivered the guitars to his son and was somewhat surprised that they decided to go on this new venture. But deep down (and knowing what his son was like), Mitsurou had a feeling that being a band would definitely suit them better.

With the arrival of the guitars ―Kagami got the Bass and Acoustic Bass guitars while Takao got the Rhythm and Acoustic guitars― the boys were able to start practicing what they were learning in theory although they were only able to practice on the acoustic instruments since they didn't have any amplifiers.

But, for everyone, their instrumental practice went fairly smoothly, given that they were all learning from people who knew their personalities and had a flexible lesson time. Still, out of everyone, Kise was the one who was "mastering" (the lack of a better word) his instrument at a faster pace being that he was already familiar with the drums and had been learning from Makio when he was far younger.

And as such, the days ran off quickly and before they knew it, it was the weekend ―which meant―the day of their first radio guesting arrived.

xxxx

"Alright boys," Kenji began as he drove into the parking lot of the NHK Yokohama Broadcasting Station. "Don't be nervous, okay?"

"Ha…" Kasamatsu sighed. "Isn't it a bit too late for that?"

"Look on the bright side; at least you aren't on camera." Kenji smiled.

"True." the five boys voiced out in reason. But even though no one but the host will see their faces, neither have done this before (not even Kise) so it was still a little nerve wracking because they knew ―they just knew―that they might forget their filters and behave like their awful little selves.

When Kenji parked, they exited from the car with a bounce in their steps, well; Kagami looked like he'd just tasted some of Riko's awful cooking. This was a normal thing anyway, as he and Kasamatsu were usually the most nervous of them all. And as usual, the captain did breathing exercises to calm his nerves, Kise and Takao always teasing him that he was behaving like he was in labour.

Of course, he kicked their asses for it.

As they walked to the studio, they were greeted by staff members and other personnel and were led to the studio by a worker who wore a simple jeans and a dress-shirt.

Upon reaching the studio, they noticed that inside of the room felt a bit homily and comfortable. There was a male sitting in a chair at the top of the table, fiddling with his headphones and other equipment. When he looked up, he saw the five boys and the guide who led them there and grinned,

"Welcome, welcome!" he beamed. "I'm the host, Juuzou."

"Pleasure to meet you." They chorused. Juuzou then indicated to them that they could sit as they were standing in the doorway still. And as such, on Juuzou's left were Kasamatsu, Kuroko and Kagami while on the right was Takao and Kise.

Juuzou nodded. "Okay, I just want to get this right," he started. "The blond is Sunn-san, Redhead-san is Taiga-san, spiked black hair is Yuki-san while the other is Taka-san, right?"

"Hai." They nodded, but noticed that he left out Kuroko.

"But where is Sora-san? He's not coming?"

"I'm here." Kuroko deadpanned.

Juuzou let out a high-pitched shriek and fell backwards off his chair. The other four boys erupted with laughter as no matter how many times they've seen him do it; Kuroko scaring people never gets old.

"Wh-wh-where…?"

"He's been here the whole time." the four boys howled with laughter. Kuroko simply nodded his response.

"What? So how come I never noticed you?"

"I have an extremely low presence." Kuroko answered.

"Except on the stage, though." Takao added.

"Oh. Oh." Juuzou nodded as he sat. "Jesus Christ, I thought he was a ghost, you know?"

"I get that often." Kuroko said.

"Alrighty," the host absentmindedly said as he scribbled on his paper. But what they didn't know was that the older male was drawing arrows to point at each other, so that he could remember who was who. After he was done with that, he got them to wear their microphones and positioned their mics properly in front of them.

"It might sound funny hearing your own voice, but you need to keep the headphones on, okay?"

They nodded.

"I'll do a volume test now so tell me whether or not your headphones are too loud or too low. You'll need to speak into the mic."

They nodded once again.

One by one they spoke into the microphones, Juuzou adjusting the volumes for Kuroko and Takao while with Kasamatsu; he had to turn the mic fader down since there were a couple distortions with the leader's. But, they never knew that all this was needed to be done before they went live. Inwardly, they realized that they learned something new every day while in this field of work.

And after everything was ready and set, Juuzou prepped them saying, "We'll be going live in one minute. So get ready."

"Hai!"

xxxx

"Oda-san, turn the radio on!" A teenager screeched as he flew into the van. "I wanna listen to ZYP!" He had short black hair and grey eyes, and was somewhat baby-faced.

"Oh shut up, Takuma." the other hissed in annoyance. He followed Takuma to sit at the back of their van. He was taller than Takuma and looked older as well. His brown hair was straightened, his sidebangs framing his face perfectly. His name was Nobuhiro and went by "Nobu" on stage.

"Don't tell me to shut up, asshole." Takuma snapped as he shifted in his seat so that Nobuhiro could get enough space.

"You little shit." Nobuhiro hissed but continued to read his manga.

"Now, now, don't start with your bitching." Another joined in with a snarl. He was black-haired like Takuma but he had red highlights in his hair. His eyes were dark as well, typical for a Japanese. He was Osamu but the others teased him by giving him the nickname "Osu" but his stage name is "Sam". "We all know that Taku likes to listen in so deal the fuck with it."

"Oo…" the last boy whispered. He was the shortest of the four, with coloured green hair and brown eyes. He was Enya but on stage he goes by the name "En". "Someone's crabby today."

Osamu snorted, "You all know why I'm in a bad mood."

"Calm down," Takuma fanned. "So what if that group from Aihara is performing before us? They'll just be appetizers. They'll rile the crowd up for us. That's it."

"I can't stand them." Osamu spat. "I mean, how dare they? Some group that crawled up out of the fucking mud managed to get their song in a higher ranking than ours? Don't joke with me."

Oda-san, their manager sighed around the steering wheel. He was sorry the day he'd step foot in Cinq Productions, but since there hasn't been any job vacancies elsewhere he has to stay put and suffer with these idols. So, trying to ignore their conversation, he turned up the radio almost to the max and tuned it to the station that Takuma wanted.

"Yo, everyone! What's up? It's your boy Juuzou!" the host's voice rang out with a cheerful tone. "But before I start, I must say, today is a great day." He started. "You know why?! It's because I have special guests in studio with me ―Catal Rhythm!"

Oda-san had to slam on the brakes so as to not crash.

His boys behind him weren't in the least perturbed by his sudden brake, but the announcement coming from the radio. He knew that his boys didn't like the boys from Aihara and to hear them on the radio, on Takuma's favourite program was like adding fuel to an already blazing fire.

"Aren't they…?" but Takuma didn't finish his sentence as they started to introduce themselves individually.

"Hello, I'm Catal Rhythm's leader and lead vocalist ―Yuki." Kasamatsu started.

"Geez Senpai, couldn't you add a little flare to your intro?" Kise asked teasingly. "So bland."

"Shut up." Kasamatsu said, the listeners oblivious that the captain was twitching with annoyance.

"And ignoring those two, I'm Taka ―lead rapper and vocalist! Pleased to meet you!"

"I'm Taiga, main rapper."

"Nice to meet you all, I'm Sora, main dancer and vocalist."

"I'm Sunn!" Kise chirped. "Main vocalist!"

"Well, aren't they perky?" Nobuhiro spat with sarcasm as he rolled his eyes.

"Unlike the other début groups who all have had web-dramas or have been in the media before they hit the stage, you guys were still unknown trainees then. So tell me, what was performing at the Ai-Fest like? Was it nerve-wracking? Scary? I mean, given how packed the theatre gets during that time…"

It was Takao who took this question. "Actually, it wasn't that nerve-wracking because we had already conditioned our minds that we're going to do our best. And our manager gave us some motivation before he left."

Kise snorted. "It was more like us showing D:FI how we slay."

"Hmm? What's this?" Juuzou seemed interested here. People liked to hear a good beef story these days and Juuzou felt like entertaining the drama queens out there.

"Ah, it's just that we have a pretty good relationship with Kyouya and Ari. So, you know…" Kasamatsu jumped in for some damage control while glaring at Kise. He was really glad that their friendship with Hirose and Amari came in useful today. "…we have this competitive thing going on."

"Oh. Must be nice to have friendly rivalries." Juuzou nodded.

"It is." But here, the boys weren't referring to having a rivalry in the idol industry, but on the court in basketball.

"You all seem pretty close to me. What was your first impression of each other when you first met?" the host then asked to change the subject. "You weren't always this close, right?"

Laughter rang out in the room as Kise and Takao caught the look on Kagami's face, while Kuroko gave him the stink eye.

"Hmm, I met Soracchi in middle school and honestly, I thought he was useless." Kise started. "We met in club, and he was assigned to me as my instructor, so I thought, he was must pretty good because we had the best team in the tournament." He then chuckled, "But lo and behold, as the days went by, I was wondering, is he for real?! He couldn't do anything. Hence, my view on him as useless."

"Seriously?!" Juuzou gasped out. "You viewed him as useless?"

"I'm very serious."

"And he was pretty obvious with it too." Kuroko added. "He didn't even try to be discreet."

"Soracchi!" Kise whined. "I did! You were just too perceptive!"

"Please." Kuroko's eye roll could be heard by many.

"And the rest of you?"

"Like Ki ―Sunn," Kagami started, almost revealing Kise's identity. "I thought he was useless too. I mean, he was pretty flimsy and didn't smell like anyone strong on the court."

There was silence in the studio for couple seconds. The boys looked at each other with disgust, wondering what Kagami was going on about.

Wanting to find out, Kise asked, "What? Smell?" There was a sound like a chair grating on the floor, which many could attribute to Kise shifting in his seat. "Soracchi, this is news to me. What's he talking about smelling you?"

"Oi! You're twisting my words!" Kagami defended.

"How am I twisting your words? Isn't smell, smell? It's not a homophone, now is it?" Kise asked with a raised brow.

"It's similar to having aura, you know? Imposing people have an aura about them, but for me, I use my nose, because…"

Takao, Kise and Juuzou howled with laughter, Kasamatsu doubled his lips to prevent himself from behaving like the other three.

"What?"

"So, Taiga-kun, for whatever your reason may be, you smell people?" Juuzou asked with a confused look on his face. "Isn't that a bit…odd?"

"I don't go around smelling everyone I pass! It's only for when I'm searching for…you know…"

Kasamatsu couldn't hold it in any longer. "Searching? What are you? An Alpha or something?!" He laughed.

"Then that would mean Soracchi is a…"

"Beta! No scent!" the two ―Kise and Takao guffawed as they gave each other high-fives.

Takuma laughed at this conversation. Nobuhiro had long put down his manga and was listening in. Even Enya and Osamu were somewhat interested.

The poor host, Juuzou, couldn't take this. He doubled over with laughter as the boys were too much.

"Let's...let's…" Juuzou struggled to start his sentence. "...get back on track, ne?"

"Hai~!"

Juuzou cleared his throat, hoping that would somehow quell his laughter.

"It seemed like you had it rough, Sora-kun." Juuzou started up again. This was a follow up question and not one that was planned.

"Yes." Kuroko nodded. "But it's not like their first impression was any better."

"Uh oh." Kasamatsu unwittingly said. He, like the rest of them, knew how dangerous Kuroko's bluntness was.

"How so?"

"Well, Taiga-kun is an animal, through and through. Sunn-kun seemed like an idiot and Taka-kun was creepy."

Kasamatsu exhaled a sigh of relief while the others flew up.

"I'm an animal!? You little…" Kagami trailed off, holding his tongue.

"Soracchi! How could you?!" Kise whined.

"Creepy? I'm not creepy!" Takao defended.

"You couldn't keep your eyes off me. Which was creepy in my view." Kuroko deadpanned.

"Aww, come on! We were in a match and you were my marker! Obviously I couldn't take my eyes off you!"

"Guys, calm down. We can argue about this when we're home." Kasamatsu quickly said, hoping that they got what he intended.

"Sorry."

Juuzou sighed loudly. "I'm the interviewer here, boys. Don't forget."

They nodded.

"Right. So seeing how quirky you lot are, tell me about your band's name. "Catal Rhythm" is quite the unusual name. Why did the President give that name to you?"

Kise took this question and he was brimming with confidence. "Well, the President isn't the one who named our group. We did."

"Oh! Interesting!" Juuzou perked. Really, he was surprised as idol groups and stage names are usually done by the President of the company. So to hear that these boys named themselves is an anomaly.

"Rhythm" in our name suggests how well we dance to our songs' beat and rhythm. "Catal" on the other hand…" he trailed off for dramatic effect, leaving the others wondering what he'd answer.

"Catal is the abbreviation of Catalyst." Kise continued. "And as we all know, a catalyst is something that "causes an important event to happen". We're going to be that dramatic change that will shake the idol world."

A moment of silence passed before Kagami spoke, "Wow, I never knew you were capable of such deep thinking."

"Don't compare me to yourself, Taigacchi." Kise said with an eye roll.

"You wanna go pretty boy?!" The redhead snarled.

Takao then looked to Juuzou, "Don't mind them, they're always arguing like a dog and cat anyway."

"You five sound like stress."

Everyone stopped and laughed at his comment. But, for a fact, Juuzou was prepped by Kenji and the dream team of their "filter-less moments" and told him to be on guard.

"So, back to business, do you have any celebrity crushes?"

"Hina-chan from Triple Threat!" Kise shrieked with too much vigour. "She's bae."

"No way, Sayo-chan is far better." Takao huffed while folding his arms. "She's wife material."

"You wanna die, don't you?" Kise started to crack his knuckles. "Hina-chan is the best."

"Huh?! I think it's going to be the other way around." Takao hissed. "Sayo-chan is a goddess."

"Oi! Oi!" Juuzou said, frantically. "You aren't going to be arguing over girls, now are you?"

Before the two could reply, Kasamatsu came in and said in a very serious tone, "Of course they're not." He then looked to the two boys, "Right?"

"Of course. We know better." The two said quickly, knowing full well how bad it would be for them if the captain's temper came out.

"My, my, you all have too much energy." Juuzou sighed, raking a hand through his black hair. "What are you being fed?"

"Healthy foods." Takao quickly said.

"Hmm, so what's your diet like?"

The boys started sweating bullets. They knew Kenji was listening in, so if they don't answer this question properly, he'll kill them.

"Senpai, I think this is a question for you." Kise said quickly.

"What?! No! Taiga, you take this. You're the one who cooks for us anyway."

"Eh?" Kagami froze and started to panic. "But I don't cook all the time. Sunn does it when I'm too tired."

But throughout this back and forth, Juuzou could deduce that something was wrong. And judging by their reactions, he had a feeling that they weren't following their diet.

"Boys, is there something you don't want your manager to find out?"

"What? No…" The five gave out.

"It's just that we have really high metabolisms and as such, we tend to eat a little bit more than the regular idols." Kuroko swiftly said to save their hides. "We've got nothing to hide." He lied. In fact, Kenji couldn't see what lies in their fridge because he'd either faint or slaughter them or both.

"Heeh? Those expressions say otherwise though." Juuzou grinned.

And so the interview continued in a very lively manner, both Juuzou and his listeners enjoying every moment of it. It was supposed to be a typical idol interview, but with these boys' personalities, the host found himself asking follow-up questions instead of what he intended on his script, Kise and Kagami's arguments were abundant, Kasamatsu had to be calming them down with his glares and threats, Kuroko sometimes set-off Kagami with his blunt replies, Takao was just a ball of energy with Kise.

There was one instance where Juuzou had asked, "Are you single?" for mischief making purposes, since the entire world knows that Aihara doesn't ban their idols from dating.

"We're all still single." Kagami responded.

"Why?!" Juuzou asked, sounding disappointed. "I mean, you wear masks or dark shades so no one knows who you are, plus your real names are withheld! For all I know, you guys could even have a harem without paparazzi ever finding out!"

"Well, for me, I love basketball. So if I were to have a girlfriend, we probably wouldn't last because she'd think I love the sport more than her." Kagami shrugged.

Kuroko joined in, "As I told you earlier, I have an extremely low presence normally. So even if I express my feelings, she'll think I'm a ghost and run from me."

"I model as well so I have a lot of fans. So, I'm unable to tell who'll love me for who I am and not for my status and money." Kise sighed.

"I confessed to a girl on the school roof and she shot me down so hard I could hear my heart shattering." Takao sniffed.

"I'm shy." Kasamatsu said.

Juuzou looked extremely heartbroken. Hearing the responses of the boys was not only funny, but it was pretty sad.

"You poor things." He gave out in pity.

"But Senpai, aren't you in the process of getting a girlfriend?" Kise blurted out, wiggling his eyebrows up and down so fast that Kasamatsu thought that if he continued, they'd seriously jump off his face.

"Wha ―wha―what?!" Kasamatsu spluttered in shock.

"That's right, Yuki-senpai." Kuroko joined in, with a small mischievous smile on his face.

Juuzou was grinning from ear to ear at their interaction. So, he let them be. After all, many listeners were probably drooling in delight from this information.

"What's gotten into you all!?" Kasamatsu shrieked, his face beet-red from the embarrassment.

"But we're not the ones who are texting and calling her every day, now are we?" Takao added his bits, effectively sending the captain to his grave.

Kasamatsu gasped. "You! What about you!? Aren't you the one who's in the same class as your prospective girlfriend?! What do you have to say for yourself?!"

"Hmm? That's indeed, right." Kise grinned, leaning forwards on the table. "You see her every day and I think you say that she has the same classes as you, right? And don't you walk her home too?" Kise grinned. "You ―Takacchi―have no means of escape."

Takao shrieked, "Don't bring Ai-chan into this!" he defended. "She's a really good friend of mine."

Juuzou decided to intervene here. With a lively screech, he said, "Heeh! Her name is "Ai"?" he then howled with laughter. "What a revelation! Shutoku is going to be in an uproar come Monday!"

"Juuzou-san, you have no idea! When you see them interacting, sparks fly!" Kise teased. "Some seriously blinding sparks!"

"No! No!" Takao denied quickly, hoping to save himself from Kise. "You traitor!" Kise only batted his eye lashes and smiled oh-so innocently. Takao rolled his eyes at the blond before addressing Juuzou. "Her name isn't "Ai". I just call her that." He waved his hand in dismissal. "I couldn't live with myself knowing that she got mauled because of me."

"Aww…so she's special to you, huh?" Juuzou asked, once again, only for mischief purposes.

"Yeah, she is." Takao nodded with a solemn smile.

"Look at that face, folks!" Juuzou said in a deepened voice for emphasis as noise erupted in the studio as the other four was glad to hear this response. It was some sort of confirmation for them, as whenever they saw Takao and Aika interact, like Kise said, it was almost as though sparks are flying.

"Guys, stap!" Takao whined, but it was futile.

"I swear, you boys are meme-worthy." Juuzou laughed. But after a minute or so later, his laughter died down as he asked, "So aren't you afraid of what fans may think?"

"Think what?" Kagami asked.

"That, you know, you're idols and are "falling in love" so to speak."

"Uh, well, we're human beings first so I think it's a natural process." Kagami replied. "I mean, which normal and healthy high school student doesn't have a crush or whatever at some point in their high school lives?" But sensing the oncoming danger, he quickly said, "Although not everyone will experience that." Kagami had a feeling that either Kise or Takao (or both ―the bastards) would have questioned whether or not he had a crush. And really, he wouldn't want to be put under their radar (not that he had any crushes either way).

"That's true. That's true." Juuzou nodded.

"So, last year November, you débuted with a MV titled "Hello" and a mini-album with five tracks. They've been doing great, so tell me, what's next for Catal Rhythm."

Takao pretended to clear his throat to answer. "Well, we have a new single coming out~!" he said in a sing-song voice. "We've finished recording, and after this we'll be shooting the music video!"

"I'm so excited!" Kise added.

"Oh? Care to share a little piece of this single for my listeners?" Juuzou asked playfully.

"Sure~!"

Suddenly, the sound of drum beat was heard, and listening keenly to it, Oda-san and his boys (and by extension the millions of listeners) could tell that it was one of them creating a beat in the studio on the table top with his hands. Of course, this was Kise, putting his drumming skills to good use.

"Even if I try to avoid you, I can't find a place to hide.

I can't even deny you."

Kasamatsu was the one who started off the song, and he followed Kise's beat perfectly, since the blond was basically using the same drum beat from the song.

"I'm trapped by you."

Kuroko came in quickly with a single line before Kise's explosive voice sounded, seeming to build up to something amazing.

"If I was love, if you really loved me,

Don't do this to me,

Her whisper is the Lucifer."

But they didn't go onto the chorus, instead they stopped here, after all, this was just a sample.

"Nice. It sounds extremely catchy." Juuzou nodded.

"It is." The five gave out.

"Well folks! That was Catal Rhythm!" Juuzou then announced. "Thank you for coming boys; it was a pleasure meeting you today!"

The five boys laughed. "Thank you for having us!"

"Okay everyone! You can catch these five energetic boys at MusicStock in Kyoto on May 12! Make sure to be there!"

But throughout the interview, Oda-san was fretting about the boys from Aihara. While, in his opinion, Catal Rhythm were a lively bunch, and he liked their behaviour in this interview. It didn't seem rehearsed, although, he could tell that many of the questions ended up being follow-ups due to their answers on previous questions. But still, Oda-san could feel that their reactions and behaviours were genuine, and not in the least pretentious and fake (well, it could be that because he's working with Cinq, he knows how to spot a fake idol group from a mile away).

It was a very different interview, especially the part when they were talking on whether they were single or not. Idols tend to shy away from this, trying to keep up the whole "pure" and "innocent" image. But Catal Rhythm, they were ruthless with each other and it seemed as though they didn't care.

However, he glanced upwards briefly to see the faces of his boys and blanched.

Nobuhiro looked extremely peeved.

Osamu was in a worst mood than before.

Takuma seemed to be sulking.

Enya looked irritated.

Oda-san knew what was coming. He silently prayed for Catal Rhythm's well-being, but then again, he'd have to visit a shrine for extra reinforcement. He knows his boys are merciless when they set their minds out to ruin someone.

"Oda-san," Enya's soft voice called out to him.

"Ye-Yes?" he unknowingly stuttered since he knew what was coming next.

"We hate them." They said in unison.

Ah. There we go.

xxxx

"I had so much fun!" Takao chirped as he hopped into the car with Kise following behind him.

"Me too!" Kise perked with a squeal. "Juuzou-san was so lively!"

Kenji sighed. "You were the lively ones if you asked me."

"Never again am I answering a relationship question with these two around." Kasamatsu said with an eye roll. He had entered after Kise and sat in the seat in front of Takao with Kagami coming in beside him.

"Why not?" Kise asked with a whine.

"You very well know!" Kasamatsu snapped.

"But Kasamatsu-senpai, you already got your revenge with Takao-kun, so what's the big deal?" Kuroko joined in as he sat in front of Kagami.

"You know what the big deal is."

Kenji started to tune them out after that. While prior to them actually going to the guesting, they were given the questions that Juuzou would have asked and prepared answers, but oh no, they decided to be themselves and this caused the host to ask a lot of follow-up questions, which in his view, weren't so bad; it just showed up Catal Rhythm for who they really are.

Kagami and Kise had lots of rage moments with each other, Takao laughed the others to scorn sometimes, Kuroko was his usual blunt self, and Kasamatsu…he was actually the only normal and sane (well as sane as he could get with the others around him) one there. Although he had gotten a bit flustered and out of character when Juuzou asked if they were single and Takao and Kise brought up that he was "in the process of getting a girlfriend"...

Kenji swore he could feel Kasamatsu's embarrassment seeping through the radio but more so, his bloodlust to murder the two boys. It was entertaining no lie, but he wondered how people will react to them being so open. But, he took his mind off that as he drove to Image One for his boys to start shooting the music video for "Lucifer".

"The following weeks are going to be quite interesting."

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