Chapter 27

Growing popularity

…

Ever since the MusicStock concert, Catal Rhythm has been hot topic. There hasn't been a single entertainment news that didn't talk about them, there hasn't been a single blog that didn't mention what they did, in essence, they were talked about everywhere.

It wasn't because their performance was outstanding and jaw-dropping (in a sense it was, but Yume's far outshone theirs anyway), it was the fact that they left off the stage and entered the crowd and sat on a couple of the audience's shoulders. This was never done before by an idol group, given how crazy these sets of fans were. If anything, the five boys could have been pulled down and stripped or something.

Even their schools were abuzz with it, and strangely, no one suspected that either boy sat on their teammates' shoulders. But that said, the ordinary basketballers were harassed by the populace, all screeching about "how lucky they were that idols sat on their shoulders" or "how was it like to have an idol on your shoulder" and the questions ranged. All they cared about was how crazy the five boys were, and wished that they had been in the audience to get a piece of the action. There were some who didn't even care for Catal Rhythm but just wanted to touch an idol. That said, Moriyama bathed in the attention he received from the girls, and made a mental note to attend all their concerts by the hook or the crook.

"Man! I wish I could have been there!" One girl screamed while gripping her hair in agony. "I would have definitely reached for Yuki's ass!" she continued, "Or, or, slip my hand up Taiga's shirt! Or, run my hand through Sunn's hair! Or, or God! The possibilities are endless!"

"Pffrrt!" Kasamatsu, who was sitting in his seat and chatting with Akagi like always, did a vicious spit-take in the boy's face after which he proceed to choke. He was drinking orange juice.

"Bruh, that's nasty." Akagi grumbled as he used his shirt sleeve to wipe off the beverage. He then turned to look in the direction of the shrieking girls, "Still, I suppose hearing that girls wanted to grab your ass is scary, right?"

After coming out of his coughing fit (their other classmates were wondering about what was going on), Kasamatsu replied almost breathlessly while shifting uncomfortably in his seat, "You think?!" he spat with sarcasm. "Where'd that come from?"

"From the girl's mouth." Akagi deadpanned. He then smirked at the lead vocalist, "But to think that you pulled off what we've seen our precious bands do. What? Did you forget that you were an idol and thought you were a frontman or something?"

Kasamatsu shot Akagi a glare that, if it was possible, the boy would have been dead instantly. "Given the circumstance, it was the only thing I could think of."

"What ―?" but the boy never got to finish his sentence as he heard yet another screech.

"You molester!" Another girl guffawed. "That's groping!"

"I don't care! If they come into our territory, then they should be prepared for the consequences! An idol does not simply enter the audience and leaves unscathed! They have to be groped!" Girl A said with vigour, holding a fist into the air. "I pray to God that they'll do that at the next Ai-Fest!"

"Hell no." Kasamatsu found himself subconsciously saying, shaking his head with fear, fretting for his manly dignity. "Hell no, no, no."

Akagi laughed at his friend's expression and faced the girls, "Well, Asahara, Yuki says "hell no"! He's fretting for his and bandmates' lives so they won't pull that stunt ever again."

"What the ―!?" she ―Asahara― screeched. "Don't play with me Akagi! How'd you even know that anyway?!" she asked with a huff.

"For all we know, Yuki could be sitting in this classroom right now." Akagi put on a smug expression. "He does attend Kaijou after all, and he is our age, am I right?"

The girls let out a gasp and looked about the classroom in fright. In fact, all they knew about Catal Rhythm were their stage names, date of birth and schools attended along with some likes and dislikes. But it never crossed their minds that "Yuki" could be sitting in their midst at the moment. "Yuki" could be any third year male at the school. Add to that the eyes of the males in the classroom were set on them.

"Ah…ah…ah…" Asahara couldn't say anything more at the realization. She sank in her chair in embarrassment while the rest of her friends found their seats as well. After that, the classroom went back to normal, no one hearing about Catal Rhythm.

Kasamatsu on the other hand, silently thanked Akagi because that would mean, he wouldn't have to hear any more disturbing wishes.

"Well, onto other important matters," Akagi started. "We need to start preparing for Summer Sonic."

"Yeah, getting merch and tickets, huh."

"Before we actually get to that, since you now live elsewhere, how are we gonna meet up with Mikki?"

"Dad is going to drop him at the venue so we'll meet him there."

"Cool."

"But, the other guys will be coming with me."

"Other…guys…?"

"Kise, Kuroko, Kagami, Takao."

Akagi looked horror struck. "Why? I thought Kise didn't know squat about rock music!? Is it safe for them to enter in such chaos?! They'll die!"

Kasamatsu sighed. Akagi did figure out him and Kise, so there's no harm in telling him of their side project. "Well, we plan to be a rock band, so they wanted to tag along to see what a rock concert is actually like. Of course I didn't want to bring them to Summer Sonic, but they insisted." He added, "look on the bright side, at least Summer Sonic is out in the open and not in an arena or any larger venue."

The brunet's jaws dropped in shock, totally ignoring the last sentence. He stared at Kasamatsu for some minutes before he leaned forward and said, "Is that even possible? Pop idols ―pretty boys and cute shit― becoming rock stars? Bruh, are you serious?!"

"I am. Would I joke about something like this?"

Akagi leaned back in his chair and folded his arms. "That's true." He then perked up again and rest his elbows on Kasamatsu's table and grinned, "All the better. Guess what?"

"What?"

"The squad was planning on being a band too. We planned to tell you at Summer Sonic, so act surprised when Koba tells you, okay?"

"Eh?! Really?!"

"Yes, they want you to join as well, you know?"

"Huh?"

Akagi grinned. "They want you to be the frontman."

"Eh?! What? I don't remember telling them that I can sing."

"That's it. They don't know." Akagi laughed. "Koba was like, "with his superb crowd control and addiction to crowd-surfing, he's the best to be our frontman! We just have to get some vocal coach to train his voice or use autotune", end quote."

Kasamatsu was not amused. "That's the reason why I'd be your frontman? Just because I like crowd-surfing?" he mumbled. "Koba's awful."

"And your crowd control abilities. Don't forget that important fact."

Kasamatsu sighed. "As much fun as it would be ―"

"I know, you can't. That's why I never asked you." Akagi nodded. "Plus, with you guys making your own band as well, that means, we can always do collabs in the future and drive our fans into blissful insanity."

It was Kasamatsu's turn to grin. "Indeed."

…

Like Kaijou and every other high school, Yotsuka Sogo was frantic with news of Catal Rhythm. Everywhere they turned, three of the boys from D:FI could only hear about their fellow co-workers, and Yume. In his class, Nakajima was questioned relentlessly by the female populace and couple males as well, if he knew whether or not they'll do it at the next Ai-Fest. When the third year answered in the negative, they begged him to convince them to pull off such an act. It was endless torment.

Hirose was in a similar position to that of Nakajima, and it had gotten so bad that he feigned sickness just to escape to the Nurse's Office. The main rapper felt as though he couldn't breathe at one point.

Amari, on the other hand, he didn't go to class because he knew what was going to happen. He stayed on the roof until for the entirety of his class, but then when he realized that he might get into trouble if any delinquents decide to skip their classes as well, he trotted off to the Nurse's Office, surprised to see Hirose lying in bed and playing a mobile game.

"Did you see Yume's performance at MusicStock?!" one girl screeched. "They were so cool!"

"It's Yume. They're always cool." Another joined in. "But who caught my eye before was that new group from Aihara…Rhythm was it?"

"I think they're called "Catal Rhythm"." A third said. "What did they do?"

"They left off the stage and entered the crowd! They sat on the audience's shoulders and sang different lines to their song "Hello"! How did you not see that?!"

"Well, excuse me for being a Dreamer." Girl A said with an eye roll. "Plus, I wasn't at the concert. I only saw clips and snippets on the internet." Cue the screeching and the fangirling from the group of girls who seemed to be ignoring the others around them.

"Haa…there they go again." Nakajima sighed as he along with Amari and Hirose headed to the school gym. "When will it end?"

"When something else pops up." Hirose replied, taking a sip of his beverage. "I mean, the concert was Saturday, obviously it's going to be fresh in everyone's mind."

"And then they released Lucifer the other day on top of that." Amari said. "Their management ain't playing. I mean, getting a spot on MusicStock? I wished Kenji-san was our manager, I hear he's frightening when it comes onto things like these."

"I know right? They got the demonic Ken-Ren duo." Hirose agreed. "And what, we're just starting our recording for Rush. I think they might overtake us in popularity one of these days."

"That's preposterous." Nakajima snapped. "Before we débuted we already had a fanbase, but they didn't have any when they débuted. So how is it that they'll overtake us?"

Amari shook his head. "You might be right with that, but you're not keeping up at all with the times, are you Egao?" he smirked.

"Wha…?"

"There are more and more people gravitating to Catal Rhythm because they're "real" as they'd put it."

"Real? What do you mean?" Nakajima twitched slightly with anger. "Are they implying that the rest of us are fakes?"

Hirose and Amari laughed. "No, not like that!"

Amari then said, "Unless you're from Cinq," which caused Hirose to howl with laughter even more. Nakajima understood what his bandmate meant, but he couldn't bring himself to laugh although there was an obvious smile on his face.

"Didn't you listen to ZYP the other day when they were interviewed by Juuzou?" Hirose asked. Nakajima gave him a feisty look which indicated that he didn't. "Well, someone posted the audio ―God knows how they got that shit―and honestly, how they answered some of the questions really wasn't "idol like" so to speak. They didn't hide anything." He said. "Absolutely no filters."

"Isn't that dangerous?!"

"I don't know, but people are liking them." Amari shrugged. "So whatever they're doing, it's working."

They then rounded a corner and reached the locker rooms of the basketball club. They entered the room and greeted the boys present, although not all are fond of them because they're idols and most of the girls are gravitating to them. By the time, the boys were done changing; they went to the gym, to do their warm-up exercises.

"Why do we have to do this anyway?" Nakajima grumbled as he jogged.

"It's your fault." Amari spat. "If you had just kept your mouth shut then we wouldn't be in this mess."

Nakajima didn't answer at first. But after a couple seconds, he said, "But it's infuriating and unfair." He started. "I mean, the boys in the club are doing this with their whole hearts and here we are, half-assing it because our boss told us to. And we don't want to lose our jobs."

"You do have a point, but guess what?" Hirose said with a smirk.

"What?"

"It's still your fault."

Nakajima twitched and shoved a crackling Hirose to the side. "Die, bastard."

Some more minutes and the coach blew his whistle to have them assemble before him. When they were gathered, the middle-aged man started, "Well, we all know that we've qualified for Inter-High, so that means, the regulars will be going on a training camp to improve their skills."

The boys let out a groan.

"I don't want to hear your complaints! I'm sure you haven't forgotten our match with Kaijou in the leagues?" he asked with sarcasm. "And while we've escaped meeting them again first thing in the tournament, there's a possibility that we can meet monsters like Touou, Shutoku or even Seirin, all from Tokyo. Or, if I were to go even further, we could meet schools like Rakuzan and Yousen." He said with a stern voice, "So you understand what I'm trying to say here?"

"Yes Sir!"

Meanwhile the coach was giving his speech; Nakajima had no idea how dangerous the aforementioned schools were. He really didn't want to do this, so he never puts out the effort to learn about basketball. Apart from the different positions, techniques and areas on the court, Nakajima is almost ignorant of the monsters that lie in high school basketball. Amari and Hirose however, were all too knowledgeable. They've watched the matches, they've heard the stories from Catal Rhythm, so they knew what the courts were like.

And frankly, they were dreading the day they made it to bench and had to play in one of those matches. They got goosebumps just thinking about it.

After the coach finished addressing house-keeping matters, they got into their regimen and started off with push-ups. Luckily, the three idols were able to do this given that in their field of work one must be fit and exercise. Following that, they had sit-ups to do, then back and forth sprints.

It was the sprints that killed them, as being idols, there isn't going to be a time on stage when they'll need to do such brutal sprint sets. Probably running away from their crazy fans, but at the moment…not so much.

The trio felt like they were dying, and this was just the "warm-up".

"Good God, what did I do to deserve this?" Amari wept.

xxxx

At the end of their day, after basketball practice, and after their Foreign Language class with Ichinose and vocal training with Akamine, Catal Rhythm went to meet their team at the office. Earlier, they had gotten a message from Kiyotaka, stating that he had a surprise for them ―but it was still work.

"Well boys, guess what?" Kiyotaka grinned as he looked at them. Seeing the grin, Catal Rhythm knew that they were in for something. They shrugged their shoulders, indicating that they didn't know. "You're requested to be on a game show."

Kagami groaned aloud. "So we'll be making fools of ourselves again, huh?"

Kiyotaka smiled. "Nope. This is a quiz game show."

Kise and Kagami nearly fainted. "Quiz?! We can't go on that!"

"Why not? Your grades are really good." Kiyotaka leaned back in his chair and folded his arms. "You think that if you were idiots I'd set you up to meet your doom like this?" He made an over-dramatic gasp. "How could you think of me in such a manner?"

"No…but…our grades are good because we study for the tests." Kise admitted. "Right, Kagamicchi?"

The redhead nodded in agreement with him and added, "Plus Kasamatsu will kick us into oblivion if we had failed anything."

"Actually, their grades are good because I threatened them at the beginning of the school year." Kenji said from his desk without looking up from the papers before him. "If it weren't for that, then they would've been hopeless."

Kiyotaka blanched. "Seriously?" however, he put that thought away and smiled at his five boys, "But anyway, this game show isn't so bad. Plus, you have Kasamatsu-kun with you."

"Don't tell them that!" Kasamatsu nearly screamed. "You'll be putting more pressure on me!"

The booking agent laughed at his expression. "No not really." He said as he shuffled through the papers. "There are specific subject areas that the quiz masters ask from ―Math, History, Literature, Japanese, English, the Sciences, and Music related things. So, I'm pretty sure that the five of you can focus on one subject area, am I right or am I right?" he added, "Of course I'm right."

"Yeah, Ryou-chan is frighteningly good in History!" Takao chirped, "We can leave that to him!"

"Hey!" Kise retorted. He then looked across to Kasamatsu, "Senpai can do math. He's good in it."

"No need to tell me." The captain grumbled. For some reason, he had a bad feeling about this, but decided not to dwell on it. He just silently prays that they won't look like dunces on national television.

"Literature and Japanese is definitely Kuroko, I can take English." Kagami said.

"Why do I get two?" Kuroko asked with a frown. "We all can take Japanese. Well, except you."

"You little bastard…" Kagami snarled as he grabbed the Shadow in his hair. He realized that Kuroko was still hanging onto his first year proficiency test grades.

"So the problem is, who's going to take the Sciences? Or at least one subject area out of them?" Kasamatsu asked.

Kiyotaka chuckled at them becoming flustered. "You know, you guys could just ignore the Science questions. It won't kill you."

"But I don't want to lose! It could be the deciding factor between life and death!" Takao screeched. "Especially in the first round! How humiliating that would be if we lost in the first round!"

"It's not a big deal. Imagine the teams that you'll kick out in the first round."

"We don't care." all five gave out coldly.

Kiyotaka drew back at their viciousness. Currently, they were making a fuss about losing the first round, but didn't care about the teams they'll put in the same situation. These boys are as cold as ice! He thought.

"Alright, alright." The bleached blond calmed. "It's up to you. Can't say I didn't warn you. So ―"

"It's my turn!" Ren sang as he pushed his swivel chair towards Kiyotaka's cubicle. "Remember Lucifer?"

"Yeah, it's our song isn't it?" Kagami deadpanned.

"Damn Kagami-kun, I was trying to lighten your mood." Ren said as he rolled his eyes. "Anyway, a journalist wants to interview you five."

"Are we going on TV?" Takao asked.

"Are we going on radio?" Kuroko added.

"Nope. Just a regular interview. No cameras, no studios, just you and the interviewer in a nice setting. Probably in some rich restaurant." But catching the look on their (Kise, Kagami and Takao's) faces, Ren quickly said, "And no, I don't think you'll be getting free food."

Instantly, they deflated.

"Come on, look on the bright side, it's for Idol Monthly!"

"What's that?" Kasamatsu asked.

Kise and Takao screeched in shock, causing Ren to forget Kasamatsu's question. "How did you manage that?!"

"Boys calm down."

"Calm down? Isn't that one of the most top-notch magazines?!" Takao screeched. "Wow!"

Ren smirked mischievously, "You obviously don't know who your publicist is."

"I told you boys before, with Ren and Kenji working together; you're in for a wild ride." Kiyotaka said from his cubicle. "They're a wicked combo."

"Kiyo-san! You're scaring them!" Ren huffed as he rose to his feet. But, in fact, Catal Rhythm were far from being scared. Sitting back down, Ren continued, "Anyway, these are the questions they plan to ask you." He handed them two sheets of paper and grinned as the boys read through. They then heaved a sigh of relief, actually grateful that these questions were fairly normal.

"We can handle this." Kagami grinned. "I'm actually glad that we're doing something normal for a change."

"But discuss your answers with Ken. I realized that you bunch are too truthful and innocent for your own good. You may even blow your covers and make everyone know who you are."

The boys sweat-dropped, "Hai…"

"Or…you may cause yet another stir." He added for even more effect.

"How so?"

"Oh, I don't know…" the publicist started off in sarcasm, "…like rattling off each other's prospective romantic lives on the radio. Or entering the Lion's den without protection." He grinned. "You've been hot topic on the internet, you know?"

"It wasn't intentional. It's who we are." Kagami defended. "Plus, these two are quite…" he said as he looked Kise and Takao's direction, who were feigning innocence.

Ren laughed. "I know. I know. But…just be careful." He cautioned. "Even if one of you get a girlfriend, do not let her name slip. And don't enter the crowd again if the circumstance doesn't call for it. As a matter of fact, think of something else! You're idols not a rock band,―"

"Yet."

"―so don't go doing those stunts again." Luckily, Ren didn't hear what the five mumble out out of instinct.

"Yeah, Kenji-san gave us a briefing on that." Kise groaned out. The five could vividly remember how their manager explained in great detail how what they did was dangerous, life-threatening and etc. And if push comes to shove, even if they'll look tacky, they should still follow the stage director.

"Great! Now Kise-kun, you have a photoshoot next week. I assume that Takeda-san had informed you?"

"Yeah he did."

"Good. But you'll be going with Ken. And once again…"

"Keep the two away from each other. I got it covered." The blond grinned.

"I love how you catch on fast."

xxxx

After they were finished, Kenji dropped them home before heading back to the office. They were given two days off, being that they had the concert on Saturday. It was a relief for them, but the five realized something quite important ―they still had a long way to go in terms of performing and not sounding like they were struggling to breathe at the end of it all.

In comparison to their fellow idols ―Perfect 5th, Diverse, Triple Threat, even Starburst and D:FI could sound smooth and little less raw when performing. But, with Catal Rhythm, the audience heard every catch of breath, every pant, everything that came out of their mouths. Thankfully, they didn't sound like shit, but still…

"So…" Kise hummed as he scrolled through his phone. "…I've thought about something that I think may be useful to our future endeavours when singing."

The other four looked at the blond in momentary shock. Then, Kagami, Kuroko and Takao looked at Kasamatsu as though silently asking for an explanation of the blond's behaviour.

"What?" Kise asked, given the stares he was getting.

"Are you alright? Why did you sound so intelligent not too long ago?" Kagami asked.

Takao groaned, Kuroko sighed and Kasamatsu dragged a hand down his face as they saw Kise twitched with anger. These two were always quarrelling, always fighting over something that it became a natural thing to the others that when these two started up, leave it to Kasamatsu to knock some sense into them.

"Well, Kagamicchi, I'll have you know that I'm not always sunshine and rainbows over a meadow of beautiful flowers." He hissed. "I have my serious moments too."

"Hmm…feisty much."

"Anyway, what did you want to tell us?" Kasamatsu asked quickly.

"Well…" Kise started as he typed speedily on his screen. "…in terms of singing while dancing, we could always practice when we go for our jogs. We could jog and sing our lines, and that way, we could improve our breathing and stuff."

"Not bad, Ryou-chan, not bad." Takao nodded in agreement. "Couldn't we test it out after we've done our homework?"

"Sure, I don't see why not." Kuroko shrugged.

"And…" Kise started up again, still not looking at them but at his phone screen. "…I've also thought about re-painting this place. So I asked Papacchi to bring over my paints and other materials tomorrow."

Kagami twitched. "Do you have any idea of the work that'll take?! We have to move the furniture and everything!"

"That's why we never did it in the first place." Kasamatsu added.

"Senpai, calm down. I'll be using mostly spray paint." The blond grinned as he looked to Takao. "You know what you must do, right?"

The hawk-eyed teen smirked. "Say no more." He whipped out his phone and started to type speedily at the screen. "I'll tell Dad to bring my brushes and stuff too. We'll remake this house into something beautiful!"

Kasamatsu sighed. "Do what you want, just don't have any paint wars in here. It'll be a hassle to get all that paint off us."

"Yes Sir!" The two boys chirped happily before screaming and squealing at each other in delight.

"Well, how about we actually go jog?" Kuroko stood up and said. "I'm feeling restless."

Kagami followed suit and chuckled. "You're only restless because we have Inter-High, right?"

The light-blue haired teen smiled at his Light. "You know me too well."

Kise joined in with a laugh, "Ha! I can't wait to exact my revenge on you two." His brown eyes were burning with excitement. "You better pray we don't meet in the first round."

That ignited Kagami. "You're the one who should start praying."

Takao sat back and folded his arms with a smug look on his face, "I see you all are getting fired up at the mere thought of meeting each other…" all eyes looked at the smug teen. "…but let me tell you this," his face darkened, "Shutoku isn't called "The King of the East" for nothing."

"Alright, alright." Kasamatsu said to get them back on track. Their competitive spirits were being alighted. "Let's get jogging." He was heading towards the genkan where the shoe storage was, and put on his running sneakers.

"Right." The others said as they followed suit.

Within a couple of minutes, the five boys were heading out and jogging around their new neighbourhood. They didn't go far, being that it was late evening and they still hadn't gotten used the area as yet.

"So which song are we going to start off with?" Takao asked as they rounded a corner.

"Can't we just do them in order?"

"Yosh!" Kise chirped with excitement. He then started to sing "Hello", given that he's the one who starts off the song.

…

By the time the boys reached back home, their lungs felt like they were going to burst. At the outset, they planned to do only brisk jogging while singing. However, somewhere along the line, they all started to sprint as though they were racing with each other. The only reason they managed to stop was because Kuroko was nowhere to be found.

"Let's…" Kise started, panting heavily. His head was thrown back on the arm chair, his mouth sucking in air like a vacuum. "…never do that again."

"It was…" Kagami started in a likewise manner to Kise. "…your fault."

"No…it…wasn't…"

"Whatever." Kasamatsu joined in to prevent them from quarrelling, again. "Maybe…next time we could…use a treadmill or something." He panted. "That way, we won't start…sprinting and kill ourselves off."

"That's right because I think Tetsu-chan is dead." Takao said, fanning the near unconscious Kuroko. "Look at him, he's beat."

"I'm alive." Kuroko said as he gave them a thumb's up. The only replies he got from the others were smiles, given how tired they were. When they felt a little bit better, Kasamatsu ordered take-out, as no one had the energy to cook. Of course, Kenji didn't know about this because he was busy at their office.

When all was done, they crawled into their beds, and tried to sleep. However, neither boy could.

"I can't believe this is actually happening." Takao ended up saying out loud. "I mean, we're idols. Who would've thought?"

"Certainly not me." Kagami joined in, rolling onto his side.

"Well, that's quite obvious, Kagamicchi." Kise snickered. Kagami was tempted to kick his bed, but he thought of the worst-case scenario. Kise's bed could drop right in his face; he couldn't deal with that.

"But I can remember the day when Senpai and I headed to Tokyo to buy sneakers." The blond started up again.

"Which we didn't even get." The captain added his bits with a grumble.

"Right, and then we headed to Maji's and we saw the three of you guys." He sighed. "Everything happened so fast…"

"I know right?" Takao agreed.

"But look on the bright side, at least this brought out a side to us that we never knew existed." Kuroko said, rolling onto his back. "I never knew Kasamatsu-senpai could write such amazing lyrics."

The captain blushed from the praise. "Well, I never knew either. I listen to rock songs, so maybe I'm subconsciously influenced?"

"Whatever the case, your writing ability is phenomenal."

"I totally agree! I can't wait for when we perform "Clock Strikes"! Or that painful heartbreaker "Et Cetera"!" Takao chirped, ignoring Kasamatsu's counter of 'I'm not even done writing Et Cetera yet!' But then, he, as so too the others, realized something important. "When are we actually going to start performing as Alter-Ego?"

"Shouldn't it be as soon as we can play our instruments?" Kagami replied. "Right?"

"And where will we even start?" Kise asked. "I don't know much about rock bands, but I'm pretty sure they don't get chances like idols do, right?"

Kasamatsu sighed loudly. "You four have a lot to learn." He said with a chuckle. "Anyway, rock bands usually start performing in Live houses at open mics or something of the sort. Places like Makki's "Euphoria" is where most bands start. And then as they grow they perform in larger places like arenas, Budokan etc."

"So…how do we actually perform at live houses?" Kagami asked.

"There are different ways to go about it." Kasamatsu said in a matter-of-factly. "For things like open mics, we'll have go to the owner or manager or whoever running the place, and sign up to perform. For things like actually booking the place and stuff…" Kasamatsu shook his head. "...let's not delve into that at this point in time."

"Oh. That's how it goes?" Kuroko asked with a raised brow.

"Yeah. Well, that's for independent bands that aren't signed to a label. But of course, most, if not all bands started out like that before they signed to a label."

"Oh. You sure know your stuff, Kasamatsu." Kagami said in awe. "You sounded a bit like Makki there."

The captain twitched, "Well, I've been a fan of rock for almost all of my life, I've heard the stories. Plus, Makki used to be in a band, so he'll know these things."

"By the way, what made him quit?" Takao asked. "Do you know why Ryou-chan?"

"Their vocalist died."

"Ouch."

"So…couldn't they have found a replacement?"

"He said that it wasn't just about vocals. If that were the case, then they still would have been together. But, there was more that they were looking for and just couldn't find the right one so they disbanded."

"Damn. I feel the pain and I haven't known Ma-chan for that long." Takao gasped.

"On that note about vocalists, I don't want to be the sole vocalist." Kasamatsu said. "I mean, you guys said that you can't let my voice go to waste, I can't let yours either."

"Well…" Kise started. "…I'm a drummer so I can't sing. Probably little backing vocals here and there, but I have to focus on getting those beats in."

"I'll stick to backing vocals. I'm quite content in playing the bass." Kagami hummed. "I really prefer to rap."

"Hmm…well, how about "hidden tracks"? You know, Yu-chan's albums all carry hidden tracks. So couldn't we do it like that?" Takao suggested. "Yu-chan's voice will be the main one, but on the hidden tracks will be ours."

"It could work, but it's best if we actually leave that alone for now." Kuroko yawned. "When we get to that bridge, we'll see how best we can cross it."

"Right you are."

Turning off the lamp light, the five boys finally headed to sleep.

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