So... I'm gonna be direct with you here XD, Chapter 8 is being a really bad bad chapter so I'll probably won't post it tomorrow (but probably yes... you never know) and after this one i may take longer to post the other ones 'cuz i have exams in two weeks and i haven't started studying yet -.-. But after that, it'll be smooth as normal :P. I hope you are enjoying the story and please review so you can let me know what you think i could improve on :).

Disclaimer: I don't own Uta no Prince-sama or any of its characters.

Otoya just wanted to sleep. He had forgotten about work so when he remembered it was a bit late. But that was not the problem. The problem was that he had to ride his bicycle all the way down to the studio (which was pretty far) and try to get there in time. It was physically impossible, his legs hurt too much. But he still made it somewhat in time. The crew was pretty mad at him not only for getting late but for looking like he had been run over by a truck. But with the promise of never ever doing that again, he was forgiven (given that he never did that before). He had to decide whether to ride his way back home (and keep the bicycle) or to go in the agency car and that someone else took care of his bike. It didn't take him much to make the choice.

As he was heading back, his phone rang. He didn't even know he had it with him. It surprised him that Ringo had called and even more that Haruka had talked to him. What didn't shock him at all was how angry he was at him. But the teacher was not as angry as he was with himself. After all, he was right: he had to go back and apologize, because he truly felt bad, sorry even. He wasn't looking for redemption, he was just trying to make her feel better, to give her closure, anything she needed. He was thinking about all this as he got in the car, thinking about what he could say to her. But fatigue got the best of him. The second he laid his back in the car seat, he fell asleep.

~h~o~~h~o~~h~o~~h~o~~h~o~~h~o~~h~o~~h~o~~h~o~

Ringo ended up in Shining's office in his search for the boys. He knocked but didn't wait for a response and just went in.

"Shining! Where are all the Starish boys?!" The alluded was sitting at his desk checking some papers in an attempt to get something done.

"They must be working" he answered.

"I'm not taking that crap. And what about this 'why don't we let a couple of kids date' out of nowhere? What about the rules?" Ringo was completely furious.

The principal looked up at him, sighed and replied: "I don't know… The boys went out after work, I believe. They should be here any second"

"You still haven't answered! Why letting them break the rules? Didn't they exist for a reason?" Seeing no response, he continued: "Now, as predicted: everything went to hell, are you happy now? I'm pretty sure you have just lost a member of Starish and God knows what the rest of them will do know…"

As Shining heard that, he couldn't take it anymore. "Okay! I'm sorry, okay?! I thought it was a good idea since I'm pretty sure they would've broken the rules anyways if I said 'no'"

Ringo stared at him, and after a moment he said: "What makes him special?"

"… I don't know what you mean"

"Sure you do! Those kids don't have the guts to break the rules if you tell them not to! They are like cute little bunnies that treat everyone nicely!"

Shining took his sunglasses off, stroked his hair and sat back down. He was truly sad about what happened. Some moments ago one of his assistants called to say that Otoya had gotten quite late to work and that he didn't look very good. He had made another mistake. He thought that allowing him to date the girl he wanted would make him happy, that nothing could turn out wrong like it did for him. But it seemed he had been right in the first place when he banned dating.

He was deep in his thoughts when he realized that Ringo was still waiting for an answer. He decided to just come clean and get it over with.

"He's my son" he said looking up at the pink haired man.

"WHAT?! YOUR WHAT?! ARE YOU KIDDING ME?!"

"No, I'm serious"

"WHA-. I can't believe this! Does he know this?"

"I don't think he does…"

"Wow… I don't even know what to say!"

"You don't need to say anything, in fact: I would really appreciate it if you didn't tell anyone about this. But I need your help with him. I don't know what happened, but it seems I ruined it again… So please: help him"

Ringo thought about it for a moment, pondering the possibilities.

"Okay, deal. But you have to do something in return for me, anything"

"Deal. You name it"

"I won't tell you now; I don't need anything at the moment. But know you're in debt with me" and with that, he walked out of the office.

He was making his way to the living room when the front door opened. Ringo stopped in his tracks and stood there waiting to see who would be the next victim of his wrath.

To his surprise (and deception) Hyuuga walked in.

"What are you doing here?!" Ringo yelled.

"Um… Hi, it's nice to see you too"

The pink haired man took a deep breath and then replied: "I don't have time for this" But then he had a thought: "Do you know where the Starish boys are?"

"Oh, they were right behind me. Well, at least some of them were. They should be here any second now"

"Perfect" he said as he rubbed his hands.

"Should I know?"

"Nope nope, move on" With that, Hyuuga walked away as he muttered: "craaazy" Which as strange as it was, made Ringo smirk. 'They'll see who the crazy one is'

He walked all the way to the couch and sat there, waiting.

1 hour later ~

Ringo was so tired of waiting that he decided to change his nail polish right then. But that didn't take more than fifteen minutes and another ten for it to dry. His patience was almost non-existent by that point so he thanked the Gods when the front door opened again.

In walked Syo, Natsuki and Tokiya. They looked worn out and had vacant stares on their faces.

"Oh my! You finally honor me with your presence!" The boys just sighed in response which only made Ringo angrier.

"Where have you been all day?!"

Tokiya muttered "working" in response as both blondes made approving sounds.

"Well, someone's moody today…" Ringo said.

"Look who's talking" replied Syo.

"Syo-kun! Did you just talk back at me?!"

"So? What if I did? Are you going to ground me or something?"

"I just might!"

"Syo-kun, calm down" said Natsuki in a worried tone.

"I don't want to calm down! Can't I be angry?!"

"… Is this because of Haruka-chan? Are you all jelly over her and Otoya?" said Ringo smiling.

"I'M NOT JELLY!" Syo yelled and seconds later asked: "What does that mean?"

Ringo giggled in response and answered: "It means you are jealous, dummy"

"I'M NOT!"

"Look honey, I don't have time to talk like I'm ten. I was just waiting for you all 'cuz something happened to Haruka and I thought you'd want to be there for her… Given that you're her friends" They looked to the ground in embarrassment and Ringo continued: "… But I guess I was wrong. All you care about is yourselves"

That made them feel really guilty so they kept quiet looking embarrassed to the floor for a couple of minutes. That is until Natsuki finally spoke up and said: "What happened to Haru-chan?"

"… I'm glad you asked. But I can't answer that, I promised I wouldn't tell"

"Then how could we help her?" asked Tokiya.

"I'm pretty sure just being there for her would be enough. She needs her friends and she honestly thinks that you guys hate her now"

"We don't hate her!" they all said at the same time.

"Yes, I know and you know; but she doesn't. You should go talk to her" They nodded in response.

"Where is she?" asked Syo.

"Oh, she's in-" he got cut off by the front door opening one more time. This time Otoya walked in, looking absolutely horrible. He made a little grumbling noise when he got in and slightly opened his puffy red eyes. When he saw that everyone was staring at him he stopped in his tracks (which were pretty slow to begin with), bowed and said: "I'm so sorry!" Then he lifted his head and as he looked at the boys he said: "I love you guys" and started sobbing. His friends didn't know how to respond. After all that happened they'd have never imagined that Otoya would act like that. 'He has Haruka, after all' was all they could think about. But then what Ringo had told them came to mind. 'What did he do?'

Tokiya was about to start questioning the redhead, ignoring completely the state of mind he was in when Natsuki launched himself in the air and hugged the life out of Otoya.

"And we love you too!" he said as he squeezed the ruby eyed boy. What surprised him though, was that not only Otoya didn't pull away gasping for air, but that he hugged back just as tightly. Feeling that, Natsuki exclaimed "Group hug!" and after a couple of moments of wondering "should we?" everyone else joined in.

When they broke apart Tokiya had gotten emotional. He grabbed Otoya's shoulders, looked him in the eye and said: "I don't know what happened between you and Haruka, but know that no matter how this turns out, I'll always be there for you… And her" The redhead got all teary eyed and yelled "Tokiyaaaa" as he hugged his friend again. It seemed they had made their peace with the situation... Well, everyone except for Syo. He was standing behind them doing a pouty face. Seeing him, Otoya started making weird faces so that his friend would laugh. It didn't matter how much he tried, Syo finally gave in and they hugged it out as he said "I'm sorry too".

1 hour later ~

Ringo had made the boys some coffee since they needed it so much (especially Otoya). They all sat together and talked about everything and nothing, avoiding the only fundamental conversation topic at the moment: Haruka.

But it seemed they were energetic enough to aboard the topic now, so Ringo started giving not-so-subtle hints.

"You know, Otoya-kun, naps shouldn't last longer than three hours" Seeing as they weren't getting what he meant, he continued: "Some people like to take naps after going to sleep late in the evening" The redhead was about to ask what the heck he was talking about when his phone vibrated. Someone was calling him and he didn't have the courage to check if it was who he thought so he let it rang. Of course: Ringo couldn't let that happen. So at the moment the boy got distracted, the pink-haired man took his cellphone and picked up the call before promptly giving him back the phone.

Otoya was about to hang-up anyways, but when he saw the picture of the caller ID he just had to talk; it was a cute little photograph that he and Haruka had taken a couple of moments after breakfast that morning.

"He-Hello?" he answered.

"Otoya-kun. We need to talk. Come to my room" and then she hanged up. Otoya was terrified, she sounded so cold over the phone. He was sure she was breaking up with him, after all: 'She has every right to'

He looked up at his friends as if looking for support and as they smiled in encouragement, he got up.

When he was far enough not to hear anything that being said in the room, Syo said: "If she breaks up with him I call dibs!"

"You can't do that! She's not an object!" replied Ringo.

"Okay, then. You're out. Someone else wants to give up?"

"Well, she really isn't an object... But I understand the sentiment. If she rejects Otoya and wants to be with me later on... I'm not sure I could deny her that" said Tokiya.

"What about 'the friend's rules'? Like: 'You can't date your friend's exes'?" said Natsuki.

"… I don't know man… I'm not thinking clearly right now. But if she wants to be with me, just like Tokiya said: I don't think I can say no. Besides: he already knew we all had feelings for her even before they started dating... So it's not like he doesn't know what he's getting into…" said Syo.

"Boys, I think you are missing the point here. If you all try to date her: You will fight with each other. If you fight with each other, the band gets separated. If the band gets disbanded: bye bye idol dreams. Do you understand what I mean?" replied Ringo.

They all nodded in agreement and made a silent pact not to date Haruka unless every member of the band explicitly stated that he was okay with it.