HEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEEELLO! I'M BACK AFTER A MILLION YEARS :D ALSO: HAPPY BIRTHDAY OTOYA! :D :D
Ummm so yeah, i've been correcting and/or rewriting old chapters and trying to figure out where the story is going omg. But yeah, i think i figured it out.
In other topics: what's up with now? i tried to do the whole 'copy and paste' deal to upload the chapter but it completely ruined the format and i had to upload it as a file? idk what's up with that.
Anywaaaaaaaaaays please enjoy this chapter and if you're reading this then i love you 'cuz you're a trooper omg i haven't updated in soo long ;A; (also thanks to everyone that reviewed, favorited and followed the fic )
Three days of hard work and no music whatsoever to put up with the suffering, the Starish boys were allowed to have a little break: going to the opening act of the Utapri music festival to cheer on Tomo-chan. But perhaps what they looked forward the most (as well as feared tremendously) was seeing their lovely composer once again. She had been absent during their punishment, naturally, and they truly had missed her.
The first day had been hell for them though: they were forced to play horrible board games that were supposed to get them to bond. At first it had all been awkward and silent, but as the day progressed, what had once been boring became incredibly hilarious, and before they knew it, they were playing "cards against humanity" and laughing at how many profanities they could fit in the same sentence.
The second day was "trust day". Ringo urged them to do some "trusting exercises" whatever those were. So they began with the usual "let yourself fall and I'll catch you", which, needless to say, was weird. But when Syo had to catch Tokiya and instead got squashed because of the height and weight difference, it all became fun and games once again. Later that day, they had to tell embarrassing and awkward stories about themselves and their feelings about certain situations and it happened to be heartwarming and not at all discouraging despite of what they originally predicted.
With all the progress in mind (and not forgetting for a second that the most important matter couldn't be ignored any further), the third day consisted in talking about their relationship with Haruka and how they should approach it to avoid any conflict. Somehow they agreed not to cause Otoya any problems as long as he promised that no PDAs would occur around them and that he wouldn't physically assault them whatsoever. When all was settled, the senpais agreed to let their apprentices assist Tomochika's concert as a test somehow. If no conflict was held between the members of Starish with their composer around, then that would've been a great advance and perhaps –just maybe- their punishment could finally end.
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Tuesday
They all arrived at the arena at different times and from different vehicles to avoid being recognized.
Using a disguise (as well as the rest of the boys), Otoya was the first one to arrive. He made his way through the aisles in search for his girlfriend, walking up and down stairs but ending up back at the start, completely lost as to where else to search.
Just as he was making up his mind, he felt a couple of hands covering his eyes leaving him momentarily blind. "Guess who?" the owner of said arms asked. He smiled brightly and spinning to face her, he grabbed her hands and leaned in to kiss her. "You didn't guess" She said as he pulled away.
"You're right! You're my beautiful, wonderful girlfriend. The most amazing composer to have ever crossed the surface of the Earth" he replied with the most exaggerated hand gestures possible.
She giggled and said: "You're too much" To which he responded by giving her a quick peck on the lips and running up the nearest stairs. "I'll go get our seats, see if you can catch me!"
Laughing, she moved to follow him, but was promptly stopped by her cellphone buzzing. She received a text that read: "HARU. I NEED UR HELP. CAN'T CALM DOWN. ;A;" It seemed Tomo-chan had a bit of stage fright.
Instead of going behind her boyfriend, she texted him about the change of plans and ran to aid her friend.
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Entering Tomochika's dressing room, she found the redhead sitting in a corner of the room, full-on fetal position as she leaned in back and forward with incessant and crazed whispering.
"To-Tomo-chan? Are you okay?"
Hearing her friend's voice, she looked up from her reverie and didn't hesitate replying: "No, of course I'm not! I'm going to get there, and then I'll open my mouth and no sound will come out and and and then people will throw me things and… I can't do it!"
Haruka crossed the room in a dash and sat right next to her friend with a calm expression. "You know that's not true. You've been working really hard on this! And you love performing for people, I know you do, we all do. You'll see you'll be fine. Next thing you know, you won't want to get off stage!"
"You… You… No! What if my outfit rips and everyone can see my underpants!? What if I slip and fall in front of millions of people?!"
"Millions?"
"Yes, millions! Did you know that the arena has a capacity of 1 million people, and that this whole festival will be shown on tv for more than 40 countries?! I'M DYING, HARUKA!" Tomochika's nervousness had gotten to such an extent that she had started grabbing onto Haruka's arms strongly enough to make bruises without even realizing it. This prompted her friend to do the first thing that came into mind to try and make sense out of her: slapping her.
"Ow! What was that for?"
"You need to calm down! I've looked up to you when we were in Saotome Academy because you were calm even during the exams! You weren't even faced when we had to pick a partner to compose with, and that was something that seriously stressed me out. You've gotten this far, you're this close to accomplishing your dreams! To be truly acknowledged as an idol! And you're going to give up now?"
"But-but…"
"She's right. Pull yourself together, Shibuya-san" said a certain male voice coming from the hallway.
"Masato?!"
"Are you past calling me 'Blueberry', now? That's quite a relief, I hate that nickname" he replied, walking closer to the sitting couple.
"Well… I told you to call me 'Tomochika' as well so…"
"What are you doing here, Hijirikawa-san?" Haruka asked.
"Otoya said something about you having some issues? I didn't really know what he meant, but I felt it necessary to come here and check on you, see if everything was okay. I guess I made the right decision"
"What do you mean?" Tomochika asked as a couple of tears made their way down her cheeks.
Feeling uncomfortable in appearing taller than the two of them, Masato crouched at Tomochika's left. Without even thinking about it, he took a handkerchief out of his coat pocket and carefully dried her face with it. She hadn't even noticed she had started crying so the soft touch took her by surprise. Had it been someone else, she would've told him to stop and rinse her face on her own, but Masato's kind expression made her freeze in place. She stared back into his eyes, as he focused his on the various wet spots on her face. Her newfound concentration made her oblivious to everything else that was happening at the time, but it only became a problem when she realized his lips where moving and she wasn't hearing a thing.
"Umm… Sorry?" she asked in confusion.
"I said: are you okay, now?"
"I uumm… yes yes, I'm awesome… Amazing, let's rock this show!" she said as she jumped up from the floor and ran across the room to get a hold of her stage outfit. "You guys go back to your seats, I'll… I'll be performing soon" She was nervously looking down to the clothes, and to the mirror in front of her, but never facing them.
"Are you sure you're okay, Tomo-chan?" Haruka asked.
"Yes, yes… I'm… great. Now go! I don't want you to miss my incredible perfection"
"I'd expect nothing less from you, Shibuya-chan" he replied.
"Well… that's… one step closer to Tomochika, but ok… I can work with that… Maybe next time you'll call me by my first name, then…" He had made his way closer to the entrance, so she could see his reflection on the mirror, but that only prompted her to look down at her hands. For some reason she couldn't understand, she just couldn't look at him then. Suddenly, she realized her heart was beating incredibly loud, but it wasn't the stage fright this time, and that only terrified her more. She heard his voice making some ridiculous quip that would only seem funny to him, but she laughed half-effortlessly at it non-the-less. Seconds later they were both gone, and she was left alone with her thoughts once again. This time she raised her head, looked at herself in the mirror and as the thought finally crossed her mind, she whispered: "Oh, no"
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After monumentally freaking out and somehow calming down with the help of her friends, Tomochika found her way backstage. The show was five minutes from starting and both her anxiousness and excitement about the whole thing had her jumping in her place. As she did so, she watched as the various workers ran around putting the final touches and doing the last checks on the scenography, the sound and the instruments. She could hear someone warming up not so far from her, and she felt like joining them, but she didn't have time for that anymore.
"3 minutes!" a crew member told her as he walked by with a chronometer in his hand.
'This is really happening! I'm going to perform in front of all these people! I can't back down now, Haruka and Masato were right… I'll finally accomplish my dream!'
Right as she was finishing her train of thought, she started hearing the audience doing a countdown. Her anxiety when to the roof when they reached twenty, but slowly and surely, they continued: 19, 18, 17, 16… and so on. When it got to ten she ran to her platform and waited to be propelled into the stage.
Surely enough, as lights marked her appearance, the full stadium cheered for her. All the hard work had been worth it, she had finally made it.
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One week later ~
Haruka walked through the door and sat on the nearest chair, panting as she tried to control her emotions. She was so upset that she wasn't sure about whether she wanted to punch a wall or to scream and cry at it.
Shining had pushed her once again about making more hits for Starish.
After all those weeks of hard work on the songs she had already written, she couldn't help but feel pressured.
Tomo-chan's concert had eased her mind as much as possible, but after it finished, she had to face the reality of her situation again.
And the reality was that she was still walking on thin ice. Her relationship with Otoya and with Starish had suffered a horrible blow as of late, and the feeling that something could go horribly wrong once again was always the first thought on her mind.
She had promised Shining to finish a new hit single by the end of the month and the truth was that two weeks had already passed and nothing that she wrote satisfied her employer. Perhaps it was her worries blocking her, or maybe it was something else, but she needed to write something good and fast and she couldn't afford to waste any more time.
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While enjoying his bandmate's company and drinking a cup of coffee, Otoya's phone vibrated. He got a text from Haruka that only consisted in: "". But he already knew she had a meeting with their boss so he could gather what it was about.
He excused himself to his friends and got up to walk towards the direction of her room. Mid-way there though, a very serious Reiji stopped him. "Where do you think you're going?"
"To see my girlfriend, of course"
"I'm afraid that won't be possible right now"
"What? Why?"
"Because Shining wants to discuss some things with you and it can't wait any longer"
Otoya stood there, staring at his senpai as he felt both cornered and incredibly confused. "But… Can't I just… It'll take a minute, I promise"
"Otoyan…"
"Pleeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeease!" he said as he pouted.
Reiji looked at him trying to stay serious, but he just couldn't any longer. The meeting was going to have to wait at least a couple of minutes. It wasn't as if Shining didn't go late to absolutely everywhere. "Fine"
Otoya was about to jump with joy when Reiji gestured for him to stop. "But, you have five minutes. I'll be right outside her door. If you take any longer, I'll walk in"
"Okay!"
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When they arrived, he knocked and waited for a response. They could hear rumbling coming from inside, but it quickly stopped as she opened the door.
She smiled at the sight of her boyfriend, but the other male's presence took her by surprise and erased every sign of comfort, instantly.
"I'll stay here, you do your thing" Reiji said, breaking the ice.
Haruka was too confused to even respond or move, but Otoya didn't want to waste what little time they had, so he placed his hands on her shoulders and pushed her until he was inside. Being there, he closed the door behind him and sighed in relief.
"What's going on?"
"I kinda have to go to a meeting with Shining, total bummer"
"Then why-. You know what? Never mind, you're here now" she finished smiling. Haruka took a step closer to him in order to hold one of his hands.
"I'm, yes. Not for long, though… What happened at your meeting?"
"The usual: he said he didn't like anything that I wrote and that I had to do better" she said, and then sighed. "I only have two weeks left before his deadline, I don't know what to do" She clenched her teeth and hoped he wouldn't mind too much, but she didn't want to cry anymore, she just wanted to punch her boss in the face. But he had been right in one thing: she had done this twice before, she surely could write another hit, right?
"Haruka…" his voice came out in almost a whisper, but it was just loud enough for her to hear. She raised her head just as he moved his free hand to caress her left cheek. "I know you can do it"
She leaned into his hand and closed her eyes. She tried to calm down, taking deep breaths, almost tasting his scent. Otoya had always smelled to soap which made sense considering how much he showered with all the exercise he did. But he also resembled freshly cut grass and the salty aroma of the air by the ocean. Sometimes she thought she just kissed him to get a better taste at it, but whatever it was, every time he got close to her: she felt safe. And thanks to that, she had connected that scent to comfort. So any time she would go to the beach, or walk by a field, she would think back of him and smile at the air.
"Hey, don't fall asleep on my hand" he whispered, yanking her out of her thoughts.
"Oh, sorry… I didn't realize what I was doing"
"It's okay" They were already fairly close so it didn't take him long to lean down and kiss her lips. She sighed happily through her nose in response to it and moved her free hand to take a hold of his hair as she kissed him back.
There wasn't a moment that they didn't pass away from each other in which they didn't miss the other, so every time they kissed, or hugged or even just stood in the same room: they would feel eternally grateful. And feeling the warmth of the other's lips, the softness of her cheek, the silkiness of his hair… It was all truly wonderful.
"Time's up!" Reiji yelled from outside. And just as quickly as he said that, the door opened and Otoya was forcibly pulled away from his girlfriend at the speed of light.