-I do not own anything-
I am dearly sorry for the late update. I have no excuse. Good News. I have school in two weeks. August 20th which means more frequent updates. To me, School plus those yapping girls gossiping about my sis equals stress. To me, stress fuels my need to write stories now.
-Amu's POV-
"Why did I have to say that to Ikuto?"I whimpered into her pillow; I was currently in my bedroom, pondering over today's event.
Suddenly, there was this weird noise coming from the desk; it was my phone vibrating. At first, I decided to ignore it, but I decided against it. Reluctantly, I stood up, walked to the desk, and looked at the Caller ID, Souma Kukai.
"Yes?" I brought the red iPhone to my ear.
"Hinamori-san, please come to the office," I noticed Kukai's tone was off. It seemed as if he was troubled.
"What's wrong?" I no longer cared about my problem right now. There was something wrong.
"…P-Please just come," Kukai's voice croaked. He croaked. What could have made a happy-go-lucky guy like Kukai croak?
"I understand. I'll be there right away," I hung up the phone and stuffed my phone in my pocket, rushing out.
-Time Skip-
I burst through the office's door, panting. I looked around, seeing grim faces. With troubled expressions, Kukai and Nagi were where they were last time, and Nikaidou was standing next to his chair. Ikuto was also there, but his expression was indifferent. The shocking thing was that Yamabuki Saaya was holding onto Ikuto's arm, sitting as close to him as she could. There was a man who she had never seen before in Nikaidou's chair.
"Wha-"
"Hinamori Amu, I am the director's secretary," The brown haired, middle aged man cut me off. "I have come to make a proposition."
"Continue," I said.
"I've decided it was unfair for Yamabuki-san here to not have a chance to be in the band," He gestured towards the twisted red head.
"…" I stood there silent,
"The concert will be postponed to next month. This concert will be more like a contest than a concert. You will be paired up with a partner. You will have to write a song that your partner has to sing and a song for you yourself to sing. The concert is live. The fans will vote for either you or Yamabuki-san at the website. The results will be out two days after the concert. Whoever wins will be in the band, but the loser will not," He explained.
"Who's my partner?" I asked, not knowing what to feel.
"Hotori Tadase," He said, gesturing towards the blond who was behind me. I freaked out a little when I found out someone was behind me this whole time unbeknownst to me, but what he said next shocked me. "Yamabuki-san's will be Tsukiyomi Ikuto."
I panicked right there. There was no way my song writing skills could match to Ikuto's, and I was hoping to gain some guidance in the song writing from him. I looked at him, begging for something. Ikuto noticed my gaze and looked at me. He turned his head away from me, looking at the girl at his side.
"Ikuto, you have to come to my mansion every night so that we can practice, okay?" Saaya smiled at the man.
I thought Ikuto would shake her off his arm, insult her, or something cold, but I was wrong. He nodded at her. The atmosphere between them seemed a little too friendly for my tastes.
My aching heart stopped beating. I could not tear my gaze away from them. I don't know what was happening. Suddenly, someone turned my body around.
"I'll be taking Hinamori-san now," The blond with red eyes grabbed my hand and began running.
My mind was too deep in thought that I didn't understand what the blond was doing. Before I knew it, we were in a small room. It had black walls, black ceiling, dark wood flooring, a karaoke machine, a long couch that went along the wall, and a coffee table with two glasses of water, a device that looked like an iPad, and a microphone.
"Where are we?" I asked, sitting down at the couch.
"Sorry for forcing you to come with me. We're at a karaoke place," Hotori-san answered, setting up the machine.
"Why?" I was bewildered.
"Well, I guess it was because you seemed kind of sad. I wanted to cheer you up," He said, grabbing a microphone.
"Oh… I-I'm really o-okay," I forced a smile on my face, trying not to worry him.
"Your tears are contradicting your words," He pointed at my teary eyes, causing me to try to wipe them away. "I heard some singers drown out their sorrows through singing. Care to give it a try?" He offered me the mike.
After a few moments of contemplating, I grabbed the mike from his hand.
"Well, how does this work?" I asked, examining the microphone.
"Here," He gave me the device on the coffee table. "There are 20,000 songs. You choose one of them and sing what are on the screen there," He pointed at the screen opposite of them. "I'll choose a song for you."
-Normal POV-
Tadase scrolled through the songs and quickly chose a song.
-Stand in the Rain by Superchick(Don't Own)-
The song began as Amu brought the mike near her lips, inhaling a deep breath and exhaling it.
She never slows down.
She doesn't know why but she knows that when she's all alone, feels like its all coming down
She won't turn around
The shadows are long and she fears if she cries that first tear, the tears will not stop raining down
[CHORUS]
So stand in the rain
Stand your ground
Stand up when it's all crashing down
You stand through the pain
You won't drown
And one day, whats lost can be found
You stand in the rain
She won't make a sound
Alone in this fight with herself and the fears whispering if she stands she'll fall down
She wants to be found
The only way out is through everything she's running from wants to give up and lie down.
[CHORUS]
So stand in the rain
Stand your ground
Stand up when it's all crashing down
You stand through the pain
You won't drown
And one day, whats lost can be found
You stand in the rain
So stand in the rain
Stand your ground
Stand up when it's all crashing down
Stand through the pain
You won't drown
And one day, whats lost can be found
[CHORUS]
So stand in the rain
Stand your ground
Stand up when it's all crashing down
You stand through the pain
You won't drown
And one day, whats lost can be found
You stand in the rain
At the end, Amu offered Tadase the mike, but he shook his head.
"We came here so that you could cheer up, nothing else. I prefer watching anyway," He smiled. "You can choose the next one."
She did as he had said and chose a song. After three more songs, she came to this song.
-I Caught Myself by Paramore (Don't Own)-
Down to you
You're pushing and pulling me down to you
But I don't know what I
Now when I caught myself, I had to stop myself
From saying something that I should've never thought
Now when I caught myself, I had to stop myself
From saying something that I should've never thought of you
Of you
You're pushing and pulling me down to you
But I don't know what I want
No, I don't know what I want
You got it, you got it, some kind of magic
Hypnotic, hypnotic, you're leaving me breathless
I hate this, I hate this, you're not the one I believe in
With God as my witness
Now when I caught myself, I had to stop myself
From saying something that I should've never thought
Now when I caught myself, I had to stop myself
From saying something that I should've never thought of you
Of you
You're pushing and pulling me down to you
But I don't know what I want
No, I don't know what I want!
Don't know what I want
But I know it's not you
Keep pushing and pulling me down
When I know in my heart it's not you
Now when I caught myself, I had to stop myself
From saying something that I should've never thought
Now when I caught myself, I had to stop myself
From saying something that I should've never thought of you
I knew
I know in my heart it's not you, I knew
But now I know what I want, I want, I want
Oh no, I've should have never thought!
Trying to catch her breath, Amu laughed a humorless laugh as tears rushed down her cheeks. Her passion for music brought her back to reality. She and Ikuto didn't have the intimate relationship she had thought.
He didn't like her in the way she did.
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