Disclaimer: Quixotic Colors does not own anything.
They all looked at the red-haired teen with confusion except for Haruka and Reiji; meanwhile, he looked at Shining Saotome with determination.
Could the man standing in front of me be my legitimate father? Otoya thought.
"Possibly," the principal replied.
"You mean you don't know?!"
The eccentric man gained a solemn expression as he took the picture of his younger self and the redheaded girl from Ringo's hands. He glided his fingers through the flat surface of where her hair was placed.
"The love of my life left me one day without an explanation," he replied.
Everyone was silent for a couple seconds before Shining Saotome snapped out of his daze, "Now is not the time. We must discuss about your competition and performance at the Kazumi Festival!"
"Competition? Performance?" Cecil questioned.
"Aren't we only attending the event to gather new idols?" Ren asked.
Reiji shooked his head, "Celebrities don't get in easily. It's rare for them to be able to attend the Kazumi Festival."
"Eh? Doushite?" Natsuki wondered.
"Celebrities are already well-known for their talents worldwide. The KazuFest people go there for fresh entertainment and enjoyment. Idols will only steal the show," Shining Saotome told them, "That is why if you want to be included, you must provide them an event that will be prized by you."
He took out the remote again and pressed a button. The T.V. screen presented famous idols like Miyamoto Konatsu*, and famous musicians like Hino Kahoko**. They were sitting at a judges' table, watching as contestants performed, or they were giving out lectures and advice to motivated students.
"You must create only ONE event with a prize that captures their attention. ALSO! You must perform a song whether it is for your song or not, you must perform," Shining Saotome stated, hinting that they can't get out it.
"Can we participate in other competitions and events?" Syo asked.
"Mochiron! Shikashi, not on the day of your event, and you are not allowed to join the Kazumi Royal Events."
"Royal events for commoners?" Camus questioned.
"On the last day of the festival, each event category holds a final competition where they crown the winner. For example, two girls have won the Foreign Song Event," Shining Saotome explained, "This is last year's winner for the Rock Song Royal Event."
On the screen, a teenaged girl who looked older than the STARISH members but not as old as the QUARTET NIGHT members except for Ai. She resembled Tokiya with her long messy dark blue hair. She walked onstage with an electric guitar, her green eyes screaming with joy. Unbestowed to everyone else, Tokiya's eyes widened at the sight of her.
She started to play the electric guitar with a bass guitar coming in later within the song. Soon, drums join in the background.
"Kinou mita yume wa mou wasureteshimatta kedo
Kono kodou wa mada dokidoki shiteru yo"
The teenaged girl sang with confidence that Haruka found similar to the pink-haired girl from earlier.
"Pocketto ni arittake no koin o tsumekondemiru
Kakata o narashi semai heya o deyou"
Then they felt that sensation again - the intense passion in the girl's voice. It was empowering, full of strong, uplifting emotion that would make people follow her words. It was like the girl had a self-assuring, fearless aura that couldn't bring her happiness down.
"Saa hashirinukero kinou to kyou mada minu mirai e to go!
kakumei o okashi ni ikou yume o kanae ni ikou"
The girl walked around the stage with no hesitation within her movement. She touched the fingertips of the people in the crowd, and it became hard for Haruka, STARISH, and QUARTET NIGHT to believe that they weren't watching one of her concerts.
"Kakedashitara doko made mo ikou
Ainshutain no riron mi bukkowashite tsukisusumo***"
When the song ended, the crowd cheered the girl with standing ovation. A smirk of satisfaction was placed on her face before the screen goes dark.
"Did you feel the pulse? The strong, self-confident appearance within her?"
They were all silent. It wasn't easy for them to admit that the girl had a bright future if she continued towards the path of becoming an idol.
"She's a good guitar player," Ranmaru commented reluctantly, "but whoever played the bass needs to practice more."
"The girl gathers the attention of the crowd easily," Ai noted.
"If she became an idol," Masato started.
"She could gain popularity easily," Ren finished.
"These are the kinds of people you must recruit," Shining Saotome announced.
"Now. Plan your event!"
After Shining Saotome, Ryuuya, and Ringo left, everyone turned to Reiji.
"Nandeshouka?" he asked warily, his eye was twitching at the attention.
"Why is this Kazumi Festival top secret?" Cecil wondered.
"Well if it was public, there would be agencies trying to recruit those who perform as idols. Oh, wait, that's exactly what we're doing. I can just imagine them all running away once the topic comes up," Reiji said in a bitter tone.
"Oi! What's with your attitude?! Do you not want to win any of those Wakana Awards?!" Ranmaru barked out at him.
The brown-haired man sighed, "I do, I mean who wouldn't. But I disapprove with Shining's idea of recruiting from the Festival. It's supposed to be a place where people do not have to worry about having to become an idol or anything they are passionate about and could still follow another path. There will be some who will be nervous and get scared about the whole ordeal..."
"I'm sensing a but coming along," Masato said.
"...but there will be people who might consider being an idol," Reiji told them, "Anyways, we should start focusing on planning out event."
As he was about to walk away with the rest of QUARTET NIGHT behind him, Tokiya stopped him.
"A-Ano, Kotobuki-Senpai," the dark blue haired teenager started to say.
"Yes, Toki?" Reiji questioned, but he was still facing towards the hallway and not at Tokiya.
"I-Is there a chance that you know that girl? T-the one who we just watched a moment ago?"
For a couple seconds there was silence before Reiji replied softly, "Yes."
He continued to walk away, the rest of QUARTET NIGHT following in toll, as Tokiya froze where he stood. Haruka and the rest of STARISH looked at him in concern and wonder.
"Ichi, do you know her as well?" Ren asked him.
Tokiya didn't answer, instead replying with, "We should start planning out event now."
Haruka and STARISH sat on the couches and thought about what their contest should be.
"Ne, Ne! What about a 'STARISH'S CUTE OUTFIT' contest?" Natsuki beamed out.
Syo was the first one to reject his idea.
"I suggest a contest where we see which fan knows the most information on us," Masato suggested.
"What kind of questions then?" Otoya wondered.
"For example, we should ask questions like which member was in this recent movie or which member likes this type of food," Masato provided.
"That doesn't sound too bad, it looks like easy work to me," Ren agreed, sliding his hand behind his head, orange-toned hair falling onto the red cushions on the couch.
"And the prize?" Haruka asked.
It was silent as everyone began to think of ideas. Footsteps leading to where they were gradually started to increase bringing QUARTER NIGHT into the room.
"That was a quick meeting," Syo commented.
"We already discussed what our event is and the reward," Ai stated.
"Maji?! It hasn't even been an hour!"
"I told them some of the typical events that guest starred idols made up, and we just made a couple edits," Reiji boasted out.
"We're using this event to find our songwriter. If they can provide a great song with only an hour to work. They win," Ranmaru told them, "No more useless music."
"And the prize is spending a week after the Festival with QUARTET NIGHT to mostly discuss what will be happening with the song," Reiji added in.
"That's it!" Cecil exclaimed, "Our prize could be having our winner spend a weekend with us!"
"Oi! Aijima! Don't go stealing our ideas!" Camus barked out.
"Eh? How am I stealing them? You're having it your prize be a full week, our's would be a weekend. Yours would be after the Festival while ours could be during the Festival," Cecil countered.
Reiji shook his head, "That won't work. It's a six day festival that's within two weeks. Monday, Wednesday, and Friday are the days the festival are consisted on. The 'special day' as Shining calls it, would be on the Monday of the third week. All the no-festival days are for the members to prepare for the events and competitions that they want to compete in. Hardly anyone uses that time to do anything else beside get ready."
"Then the weekend after the Festival then," the brown-haired prince said happily.
A vein was able to be seen on Camus's forehead and before he could argue with his kohai...
"Ne, what's wrong with Tokiya?"
... The attention turned to Tokiya who was thinking deeply in space.
"Oi! Tokiya!" Otoya tried to call out to him.
He snapped his fingers in front of the dark blue-haired teen's face, waking him out of the clouds.
"Eh?"
He noticed that everyone is looking at him, "Nani?"
"Daijoubu desu ka, Ichinose-san? You've been unusually quiet," Masato pointed out.
"Ah, iie. I've just been thinking about that girl we just watched," he confessed .
"She was better than most paupers," Camus commented.
"Eh? Camus praising someone?" Reiji teased, but if they listened closely, they could have heard the hint of possessiveness.
"She does look like you," Haruka adds, "Are you sure you don't know her?"
Tokiya flinched as he could feel Reiji's eyes on him before saying, "I don't know."
"As much as I'd like for this discussion to continue," Masato said, "We should finish talking about this event as a couple of us have work today."
"Ah, gomen," Tokiya apologized.
Before the blue-haired teen (Masato) could tell him about their chosen competition idea, the dark blue-haired teen spoke.
"What about the fans covering one of our songs and see who performs it the best?" Tokiya advised.
"We already have an idea," Masato paused, "Demo. That isn't a bad idea. It will help find idols who have a good voice and a happy pulse as Gakuen Kocho had said."
"So our event is a STARISH song covering contest, and our prize is allowing the winner to hang out with us on a weekend after the Festival?" Otoya wanted to make sure.
"Hai."
"Ja. Then what about our performance? If they're covering our songs, then we don't really need to perform do we?" Syo said.
"Ne, what are you going to be doing with your performance?" Natsuki asked his senpais.
"We're performing during event to let those songwriters know what kind of music we sing to," Ranmaru said.
"Mou, then what will we be ending up doing?" Syo complained.
"Well Munchkin," Syo grimaced and glared at Ren as he continued to speak, "It looks like we have to participate in their events then."
"Looks like we have everything settled," Masato stated, "Now, I have to leave for a movie rehearsal."
Everyone all left, each having something important to do. Meanwhile, at the Shining Academy, a man sat at his desk holding a photo frame of a woman with red hair smiling.
"Kotomi..."
I apologize for not being able to update on Sunday which is when I will usually be updating this story. Thank you for those who have favorited this story, are following this story, and have reviewed. I am just glad to know that there are people who are enjoying my first story.
Miyamoto Konatsu is from Tari Tari.
Hino Kahoko is from La Corda d'Oro.
*Shine Days by LiSa.