75 - Vignette - Post-Neo TWEWY [Contains NTWEWY End Spoilers]

xxxxx

It's a Deal

"I'm telling you, I can't sing!" Shoka insists as Rindo attempts to pass the mic to her. "I'm perfectly happy to ya know. Sit around and cheer." She picks up one of the tambourines from the table. She taps it once, frowns, then taps it once more. "See? So, much fun."

"C'mon, don't be a downer." Rindo does a not so subtle nod towards Shiki. "I'm sure it'll be fine."

"Don't worry about it, Rindo," Shiki says, offering to take the mic. "I don't want to feel like she has to if she doesn't want to. I can go again!"

Shiki invited all of the Twisters and Rhyme for karaoke but the Bito siblings have other plans already. Nagi is swamped with work at the moment, so is cramming in a last-minute assignment. The mood maker, Fret, has come down with a cold.

Rindo has already taken his turn - he's a…stiff singer, to be honest. He chose one of the songs charting at the moment so it was easy to follow along, at least. Since Shiki's already taken her turn, that leaves them with Neku and Shoka.

And Neku is usually the one to spectate at karaoke. The tambourine is usually his thing.

Unless …

"Hey, Neku," Shiki says, drawing the last syllable as she leans over to his side. "You want to give it a go?"

He looks at her, then looks over at the screen, which has started playing the default scenic backgrounds since they've run out of queued songs. Then back at her. "...Sure."

Neku picks a song, some obscure j-rock song that no one else in the room knows and starts singing. She already knows he can sing but Shoka and Rindo's jaws drop.

"Wow. Never took him for a singer," is Rindo's comment.

Shoka covers her mouth. "This is, amazing, for real."

"He still prefers listening but he used to refuse to sing point-blank. He changed his mind one day, though," Shiki recounts, fondly. She watches as Neku, eyes closed, gets really into it as he always does once he's started.

"How did that happen?" asks Shoka, dropping her hand.

"Oh, it was something silly," Shiki says. "I told him if he sang a song that I would let him record me singing. And that would be super embarrassing for me, since I don't really like getting videos taken of me."

"And that worked?" Rindo gets a gleam in his eyes. "So, Shoka, what do you think? I'll let you record m -"

"Deal."

"I was joking," he says, with an awkward laugh. "I know you don't want to sing so, you shouldn't have to."

"Too late, a deal's a deal. Go on, then Rindo. You go first," Shoka says, as Neku finishes his song. She's already got her phone out, whipping that thing out quicker than Shiki has ever seen. "Love this. I'm going to get a lot of mileage out of this one, Rindragon."

"Riiiight," he sounds defeated. He gets up and picks up the mic again. He chooses another easy song.

When he begins singing, Shoka starts to snicker.

Shiki keeps a straight face but…yes it is funny. It's not that he's terribly off-key. But for some reason it sounds very monotone. He isn't like that when he talks but Rindo's singing is completely void of any expression.

"Made the same deal as me, huh?" Neku notes, as he sits back down. "I remember that…you really wanted to hear me sing."

"Yes, 'cause I was so curious as to whether you could," Shiki says, laughing at the memory.

"It was worth it," he says, "I wanted a recording of you more than I didn't want to sing. I've still got it. You were very cute." He seems to consider something. "Not to say that you're not anymore. You still are."

Her boyfriend can be so off the cuff with his affection sometimes but it does make her smile. "Oh gosh, I knew you took that deal way too easily."

She looks away and then notices Shoka's hands are shaking her phone and she's muttering to herself. "Cute? That's stupid, I don't think Rindo's cute. This is just 'cause it's funny. It'll go in the group chat. Like look at his dumb little face, he's barely moving his mouth. What's he even staring at?"

Shoka continues to talk to herself and Shiki watches as Rindo finishes his song and plops back next to Shoka. "Well, hope you enjoy your recording."

"What -? Who says I'm going to enjoy it?!" Shoka says loudly, face red.

"Uh…you did? When you said you were going to get mileage out of it?"

"R-right. Duh, 'course I am," she gets up quickly. "Just give me the mic so I can get this over with."

She grabs it from him and wastes no time picking a song and starts. Shoka's a pretty decent singer, compared to Rindo.

"She said she can't sing but look. I told her she'd be fine." Rindo rolls his eyes. "And what was that just now about? Sometimes, I really don't get her."

"Don't worry, Rindo," Neku says. "It might take a while to really understand her," he smiles at Shiki, "but you'll get there eventually." He holds Shiki's hand.

Rindo blushes. "I didn't mean it like that but…I guess that would be nice."

The song ends and Rindo begins drinking his orange juice, quietly, avoiding Shoka's eyes. Shoka's still got a bit of red in her cheeks and has decided to attack the snacks they ordered.

Oh, dear.

Shiki exchanges a look with Neku and he shrugs.

"Hey Shoka, want to head over to Gatto Nero next? I've got an incoming line I want to ask your opinion about?"

The awkwardness is forgotten as Shoka jumps at the suggestion, with a sincere 'yes!'.

They begin to leave and Shoka begins to tell Rindo all about why the next new line is so important.

As much as she's flattered to hear that, Shiki's more relieved that they resolved that quickly.

"Were we that bad?" Neku asks.

"I don't know, I think Rindo's handling it better than I did, I was in denial and panicky for a long time. And I think you're a little less stubborn about having to keep your cool than Shoka. Not by much , though," she says, playfully.

"Yeah, okay. " He nudges her. "Despite that, glad we got there in the end."

"Yeah." She holds his hand tight. "Me too."


A/N: Tadaa! I have about 10 minutes to midnight but I'm updating this because I wanted to have something in Stitched Graffiti for Neshiki Week. SO here's day 7!

A simple one, for the theme Double Date aaaand I might have done karaoke before for this collection lol but hope you enjoy!

- Dina (12/12/2021)