Archive of Our Own ^beta

Chapter Text

Context:

- This takes place post-3rd anniversary (in-game), but only for who’s in what class. VBS still perform at Weekend Garage. Timeline is a little messy ngl
- You are Rui’s younger sister
- Your parents are divorced and you lived with you father and Rui lives with your mother
- You would visit Rui and your mother every so often. As a result you know all of WxS and are very close with them, calling them by their first names
- Your father was very abusive and an alcoholic. Alcohol led to his death
- Your mother, Rui and the rest of WxS knew about the abuse, but couldn’t do anything about it
- Drawing kept you going though, and you became a highly skilled artist
- However, your ‘friends’ and classmates bullied you for having such a hobby
- This, on top of abuse from your father, led to severe trauma
- After your father’s death, you are moving to Shibuya to live with your mother and brother
- You are nervous to start a new life at Kamiyama High

There will be some RuiKasa and AnHane cameos and formality, such as y/n using last names until closer with people. Also the characters that use a suffix for y/n will use -chan, but if you’d like to change this in your head whilst reading, feel free to, I just think this is what those characters would use.

This will be a slow burn, just because I feel it’s more natural that way. It’ll also 2nd person (you/your), with some switches into 3rd person, just for funsies. I will try to update as frequently as possible, but life gets in the way sometimes. I might also upload this to wattpad at some point, but I’ll be sticking here for now. This is also my first time uploading any writing, so constructive criticism is appreciated ^^

Chapter Text

Hurt.

I’ve been hurt.

I was hurt.

I didn’t ever want to be hurt again.

—————————————————————

You stand nervously at the entrance to Kamiyama High School. Mostly terrified, but with a small glimmer of hope.

“Hey, don’t worry. It’ll be ok, I promise. Come on, I’ll walk you to your class.”

You hear the reassuring voice of your older brother behind you and turn to smile at him.

“Let’s go then ^^” you respond.

You follow Rui through the twisting and winding hallways, wondering if you’ll ever be able to find your own way around. Eventually you come to a stop at class 2-B.

Rui flashes you his signature grin, “here we are! Look there’s your sensei.”

He gestures towards a kind-looking man heading your way.

“Ah, the Kamishiros. We’re delighted to have you join our class,” he says while looking at you. After turning his gaze to your brother he continues, “don’t worry Kamishiro, your sister’s safe with us. I’ve selected one of the students to help her get settled.” The math teacher turned to the class before calling, “Aoyagi-san!”

A boy with two-toned blue hair turns to look at the three of you before making his way over to the door. He looks somewhat confusedly at Rui, saying “Kamishiro-senpai, what are you doing here?”

“Fuu fuu~ Nice to see you too, Aoyagi-kun. Your sensei made a good choice with you. This here is my dear sister, Kamishiro y/n.” He replies, placing a hand on your shoulder.

You hastily introduced yourself to the boy in front of you, “greetings, I’m Kamishiro y/n.”

He smiles slightly, “it’s nice to meet you Kamishiro. I’m Aoyagi Toya. I’ll be your guide at Kamiyama. If you need anything, please don’t hesitate to ask.”

You are taken aback by his kindness and smile in return. Perhaps Rui was right and things would be alright after all. Your sensei, clearly pleased with himself, chuckles before going back to the rest of class.

Rui turns to leave, “well, I’ll be on my way then. I know you’re in good hands here.” He nods respectfully at Toya, who returns it.

You’re suddenly nervous again.

“O-oh, ok,” you respond, fidgeting with your bag as you speak.

Rui bends down, puts both his hand on your shoulders and looks you in the eyes. “You’ll be ok, I promise. Aoyagi-kun will take good care of you and I’ll be close by if you need me, ok?”

You nod, still unsure, but wave him off with a smile. Taking a deep breath, you turn to Toya, who’d been patiently waiting for you to be ready. Now you were, he gestures for you to follow him and the two of you walk to your desk.

Toya turn to face you, “if you’d like, at lunch I can give you a tour of the school.”

You nod, saying, “I’d like that,” surprised to find yourself with a genuine smile.

Chapter Text

Why is he being so nice?

He doesn’t know.

Are we friends?

Only because he doesn’t know.

I’ll never tell.

—————————————————————

“And finally the canteen!” Toya finished his tour with a dramatic flourish towards the canteen doors, making you giggle a little. Toya’s tour had been informative and friendly. He was truly making you feel welcome. You had been drawn to the quietness of the library and he practically had to drag you out to finish his tour.

“Of course I dont expect you to remember where everything is, so feel free to ask if you need to.”

With a smile on your face, you respond, “thank you so much, Aoyagi-kun.”

Unsure why, but he finds himself feeling warmer inside due to your words. Happily, he opens the double doors to the canteen and leads you to the table he and his friends always sit at. The two of them look up at your arrival. The girl with stars in her hair smiles, but the ginger notices your striking resemblance to someone he wasn’t overly fond of, and simply scoffs.

Toya introduces you, “Akito, Shiraishi, this is Kamishiro y/n. She’s new to our school and is in my class. I’m helping her get settled into the school.”

You beam at the two students before you, “it’s nice to meet you!”

The girl - Shiraishi - speaks up first, “nice to meet you too, y/n! I’m Shiraishi An. I take it you’re Kamishiro-senpai’s little sister?” You nod shyly. “That’s so cool!” She continues.

An moves up so that you can sit down next to her. “Thank you, Shiraishi-chan,” you said in response.

The ginger looks you up and down as he moves to make space for Toya to sit next to him. “I’m Shinonome Akito,” he says dryly, clearly not bothered about making a new friend.

Your gaze darts towards the table, almost embarrassed by Akito’s nonchalance. An speaks up for you, “oh come on, Akito, why are you being like this? Y/n just wants some new friends.”

Akito replies with disdain in his voice, “she’s related to Kamishiro-senpai, so it’s not like she’ll be normal, is it?”

Oh

You knew your brother had an - interesting - reputation, but you didn’t think it would affect you in anyway. You were different people, at least that’s what you thought.

You must have looked visibly upset by Akito’s harsh words, because An put a reassuring hand on your shoulder, much like Rui had done this morning. “What the heck, Akito?!” She said, “y/n has barely said a word, yet you’re already judging her because of her older sibling? You of all people should know how unfair that is.” Her tone was stinging and accusatory. You‘re grateful for her support. What she said must’ve hit a nerve with Akito, as he grumbles at her words and continued to pick at his lunch.

Toya was glaring at Akito too, almost shocked his friend was just so cruel. He turns his head to you and apologises on Akito’s behalf, claiming that “he doesn’t always think before he speaks.” You certainly saw that being true.

With Toya and An’s attention back on you, you feel your insecurities and fear creeping back in. Thanking them for their kind words, you decide to excuse yourself from the table, leaving to take refuge in the library. You made sure to remember where that was from Toya’s tour.

You spend the rest of lunch drawing, your feelings flowing into your sketches, Akito’s unbothered eyes remaining in your mind.

3rd person pov:

“I hope she’s ok,” Toya mumbled to himself, wanting to go after y/n, but recognising that she needed some alone time.

An had gone back to scolding Akito.

“Why would you say that? That was so cruel! Did you see how upset she was? The poor girl was clearly already nervous, and you had to go and make her fears 10 times worse! What is wrong with you?!”

Akito waited till An was finished before saying his piece. “Look, we don’t know what she’s like. For all we know, she could be even crazier than Kamishiro-senpai, and we’ve all seen how he treats Tenma-senpai. We don’t need that.”

Truth be told, Akito hadn’t thought before he spoke - not exactly unusual for him - and now he was just rolling with it. He didn’t intend on saying something that hurtful, but he didn’t care because it had the intended outcome: the new person was gone. He didn’t care, right? If he didn’t care, why did he have a nagging feeling in his chest, telling him he’d done something wrong, that he should find her and apologise?

With a small shake of his head Akito attempts to brush off this weird feeling. However, it refuses to go away.

Chapter Text

Why’d he say that?

Things were ok.

Things were fine.

I was fine.

But then they all came back.

I hate that they came back.

——————————————————————

The bell rang, signalling the end of school for the day. You’d met up with Toya in class after lunch. As you sat down, you saw the worry in his eyes and reassured him that you were fine, though you could tell that the lie didn’t alleviate his concerns. Now, kind as ever, Toya leads you to the school’s entrance.

“Are you alright from here?” He asks, “I assume you’re meeting with Kamishiro-senpai.”

You nod, looking around but not seeing your brother. Turning back to Toya you say, “thank you, Aoyagi-kun. You’ve been far too kind to me today, but I’m very grateful. I’ll look forward to seeing you tomorrow ^^”

Toya gave a small smile at your words, again feeling that strange warmth. “Yes, I’ll look forward to seeing you too.” He started awkwardly shuffling to one side, “Akito and Shiraishi are waiting for me, so I should probably go.”

You couldn’t help but laugh a little at his awkwardness. “Go on, tell Shiraishi-chan I said hi!”

“I will,” he calls behind him, as he walks towards his friends.

“I told you Aoyagi-kun was nice.”

You twirl around at the familiar voice and grin up at your brother. “Rui! It’s great to see you.”

Rui chuckles at your reaction, “well I didn’t come alone.” He gestures behind him, and out emerges…

“Tsukasa-kun!”

You cry, wrapping your arms around the blonde boy. Tsukasa returns the hug, “it’s so good to see you, y/n. It’s been far too long.”

“You’re not wrong there,” you respond, then noticing another figure in Rui’s shadow.

“Nene-chan!”

You launch another hug, this time directed at the shy girl before you. She returns it happily, quietly sharing the same sentiment as Tsukasa.

You were delighted to see these two again. WonderlandsxShowtime were some of the only people you felt like you could relax around. You even shared your drawings with them. It was refreshing.

“To the Wonder Stage!” Tsukasa loudly proclaimed, cutting through your thoughts.

As the three of you walk out of the school grounds, you find yourself looking over to where Toya went. Your eyes just so happen to meet with those of a certain ginger, his cold gaze locking with yours. You quickly whip your head away, not noticing the change in Akito’s expression.

Unbeknownst to you, the ginger now looked saddened, his cold exterior dropped.

But that was only for a second of course.

——————————————————————

On arrival at the Wonder Stage, the three of you are greeted with the joy that is Otori Emu.

“Y/n-chan!” She cheers, rushing towards the four of you. You greet her with a hug before ✨ wonderhoying ✨ together.

Emu, Nene and Tsukasa were looking forward to talking to you, as they hadn’t seen you in so long. So, the five of you sat on the benches facing the stage as you were flooded with questions from your old friends.

“So, y/n, how was your first day at Kamikou?” Tsukasa asks, completely well-intentioned.

You’re suddenly nervous to respond. “W-well, Aoyagi-kun was very kind and showed me around and introduced me to his friends. Shiraishi-chan was kind too.”

You pause, leaving an awkward silence. Surprisingly, Nene is the one who breaks it, “what about Shinonome-kun? He, Aoyagi-kun and Shiraishi-chan always hang around together, so did you meet him too?”

Freezing up at his name, your face or fidgeting must’ve given away that something happened, because Nene mutters that she shouldn’t have asked.

Realising their concern, you quickly look up and brush it off. “It’s ok,” you say, “I just didn’t really speak to him, so I didn’t know what to say.”

The others clearly didn’t believe you, but no one pushed any further.

“Right, I believe it’s time for practice,” announced Tsukasa.

As WonderShow go towards the stage, you get out your sketchbook and pen. You enjoy sketching them as they practice, as you get lots of fun, dynamic poses to draw.

Rui looks over his shoulder at you, worried about his little sister. Tsukasa notices and holds his hand reassuringly. “Why don’t you talk to her tonight?” He suggests, “you two tell each other everything.”

Rui smiles at his boyfriend’s calming tone, “yeah, you’re right. I will.” He responds, resolved to find out what’s wrong and help you feel better.

Chapter Text

They’re all so nice.

Sometimes I wish they cared less.

But a part of me is selfishly glad:

Selfishly glad they like me,

Selfishly glad they care.

—————————————————————

After practice, you said your ‘goodbyes’ and ‘see you tomorrows’ to Emu and Tsukasa, and started walking home with Rui and Nene. You didn’t notice the concerned looks the two shared or the worry in their eyes. You were too focused on how the majority of your day was far better than you thought it would be.

Aside from him.

But that was ok.

It wasn’t until you get home, hug Nene goodbye and step inside your house, that you notice the anxiety in Rui’s face. You look up at him, worry seeping into your own features. “What’s wrong?” You ask.

A small smile finds its way to your brother, “I should be asking that to you,” he responds.

You find yourself clamming up again. Out of everyone, Rui was the person you wanted to speak to the least. You didn’t want Akito’s words to upset him too.

“Well don’t worry, I’m fine,” you say, attempting to relieve Rui of his troubles, but obviously failing. To avoid any conflict, you hurry to the kitchen, leaving Rui surprised and saddened. You two told each other everything, so why are you hiding this from him?

3rd person pov:

It was late now, a time when everyone should be asleep, but four were still awake.

Rui was one of them. Usually when he can’t sleep, it’s due to an idea for a play that he needs to write down as soon as possible, otherwise he’ll forget it. But tonight was different. He was worrying about his little sister. The two of you were so incredibly close, you told each other everything. You helped each other through rough times and celebrated the good - always together. So why - just why - were you hiding this from him. What happened? He wanted to help you, he didn’t want you to go through any more pain. But he could only do that if you spoke to him.

He was sat, looking out of his bedroom window, wishing on every star that you’d speak to him tomorrow.

Toya was also awake. He knew this lack of sleep would come back to bite him tomorrow - but he couldn’t help it. He was thinking of you. He didn’t quite know why, but he’d been thinking about you all day, all night as well. What Akito said was wrong and hurtful and Toya wanted to comfort you and let you know he was here for you. But why was he thinking this, you’d only just met, you weren’t that close. You seemed ok, you were fine. At least that’s what he convinced himself to think.

Glancing at his phone on his bedside table, he thought about messaging you and asking if you were ok (forgetting he doesn’t even have your number), but there’s no way you’d be up at this time.

The cause of all this concern was also awake. Akito laid on his bed, his head filled with so much, but mostly regret. He wasn’t a cruel person, but sometimes he said things that he probably shouldn’t. But none have ever affected him like this. It was unusual for him to feel such guilt over what he’s said. Thoughts were racing through his mind so fast he could barely comprehend them, but at the base of them all was why. Why, why, why? What was so special about you that he couldn’t sleep over this? You were just like any other new student: nervous, but will soon make friends and be fine. So why did he feel so bad about hurting you ?

He resolved to say sorry to you tomorrow, deciding that that would get guilt and you out of his head.

However, you were also awake. You were staring out of your own window, observing the urban, nocturnal wildlife. You found it calming to see small creatures scuttling around and having fun. How much simpler life would be if you were like them. You wouldn’t have all these concerns and thoughts of your own. You knew Rui was worried about you, but you couldn’t bring yourself to tell him what Akito said because you knew it’d hurt him too. You thought about Toya and the worry he’d also shown for you. It had surprised you, but you were glad he seemed to consider you a friend. It was nice to have a friend. And you couldn’t help but think about those words. You replayed them in your mind over and over. Were you weird? You didn’t know. You just didn’t want people to see you that way. But as much as you thought about his words, his eyes also stuck in your mind. When he looked at you, his eyes were cold and unbothered. But you sensed something more there. For some reason you wanted to speak to him again, get to know him more, and maybe see something else in his olive-green gaze.

Chapter Text

A new day.

But unfortunately there’s no such thing as a second impression.

So I’ll have to keep going.

Maybe things will turn around.

—————————————————————

After walking to school with Rui and Nene, you greet Tsukasa, Toya and An with a warm smile, and give Akito a gentle nod. He returns your nod with a small ‘hello’, and you notice something new in his eyes. Regret? Hope? You’re not sure. Either way, it intrigued you slightly, but today wasn’t the day to worry about that. Today, you’re planning to explore a new part of the school.

Class went as expected. You tried to keep your head down though, not wanting to bring too much attention to yourself. When lunch came around, Toya again offered for you to sit with him, An and Akito. However, you politely declined, partly because you were unsure of how to feel about Akito and partly because you wanted to have a look around. You only told Toya the second part though. He accepted your response, but still looked worried.

Now, you’re walking up the stairs to the rooftop. Toya had shown it to you on his tour, saying not many people went up there, and it interested you. You open the heavy door and peer out. Standing at the fence, looking down at the school grounds, was a girl, who looked to be in your year, with pink hair tied up with a pretty bow.

You turn away, about to leave them in peace, but without turning herself she calls, “Rui?”

Hearing your brother’s name stops you in your tracks and quickly turn back around. At no response, the girl looks to see who is at the door. As you lock eyes, you’re suddenly nervous, wishing you’d gone down the stairs when you had the chance to.

“Sorry, my bad.” The girl says, “you’re not Rui. You do look like him though.”

Mustering all the courage you can, you respond simply with, “I’m his sister, Kamishiro y/n.”

“Ahh yes, of course. He talks about you all the time. I’m Akiyama Mizuki, but you can just call me Mizuki. Please, come up.”

Surprised at the sudden friendliness, you tentatively tale the last few steps up to the rooftop and go to sit on the bench. You want to get out your sketchbook and draw, but are scared to under Mizuki’s gaze. Mizuki seems to sense your apprehension and comes to sit next to you.

“So, what class are you in?” She asks, interestedly, “you’re new right?”

“U-um, 2-B,” you quietly respond.

“No way!” Their sudden burst of excitement caused you to jump a little. “Ah, sorry,” Mizuki continues, “it’s just that I’m in that class too!”

Confused, you turn to face Mizuki. “Really? I haven’t seen you there.”

“Yeahhh, about that. I’m not the most frequent or consistent attender. But I do always try to make it for the important classes.” Mizuki quickly excuses away her inconsistent attendance. “Anyway, who have you met so far?”

“U-um, well I already knew Tsukasa-kun and Nene-chan. I met Aoyagi-kun because he’s helping me get settled in and he introduced me to Shiraishi-chan… and Shinonome-san.” You say the last name a little quieter than the rest, hoping Mizuki won’t hear.

Her hearing is better than you thought.

“Ooo, you’ve already made some great friends! Especially An, she’s so nice. Why’d you say lil bro so quiet though?”

You look at Mizuki, confused, “lil bro?”

Realising what they’d said, Mizuki explains, “I mean Akito-kun. I just call him lil bro because I’m friends with his older sister - and because it really annoys him.” They end with a very mischievous look on her face, “anyway, why’d you say his name so quietly?”

If she was already friends with Toya, An and the others, you figure she’ll hear about what happened sooner or later, so it’s probably best to tell the truth than try to beat around the bush. “Well,” you begin, “he just said something that could be taken wrong, so I don’t really think we’re friends. That’s all.”

Mizuki frowns, “that does sound like something he’d do. But I’m sure he didn’t mean it in a bad way. He’s just not the best with words. But then again - who is?” She says, having a solemn look on their face, just for a moment though.

For some reason, you feel like you can trust Mizuki. Not like you’ll be telling her any secrets, but more like you can speak your mind around her. “I’m sure he didn’t intend to be hurtful, but I just don’t think I should encroach on their friend group. The three of them seem very close and I’m sure they don’t want me butting in. I don’t mind, I’m used to being alone.”

Mizuki looks at you closely for a second before replying with a question: “it’s nice to have friends though, right?”

Taken aback by the call out, you stutter a little, “I-I suppose it w-was nice to spend time with Aoyagi-kun yesterday. A-and I do like being with WonderlandsxShowtime. So, y-yes.”

Mizuki smiles. It was a nice, warm, genuine smile. You couldn’t help but smile too. “Why don’t we go find them together?” They offer.

You think for a second. The rooftop will always be open to you whenever you need some alone time - that was for sure. But you’re here for a new start, and true friends will make that better, at least for the time being you decided. And this was your chance, to get to know Akito and the others better. This is what true friendship was.

“Yeah, I’d like that”

Chapter Text

In my class, huh?

I guess I’ll be seeing a lot more of her then.

She seems nice,

Though,

There’s something else.

Something that makes us similar.

And I can’t quite figure it out.

—————————————————————

You and Mizuki are walking to the canteen, figuring that would be where An, Toya and Akito would be. The two of you spoke a little on the way, mostly trading favourites: animals, colours, foods, etc. By the time you reached the canteen, you felt you were a lot closer with each other.

Opening those big double doors, you step inside and head towards the table you were at yesterday. The three look up at your arrival and Mizuki enthusiastically greets them, “Heyyyy, An, Toya-kun and lil bro~” ending with that mischievous look on her face again. You let out a small “hi”, much less enthusiastic than your new pink-haired friend.

Toya and An both smile at seeing the two of you, replying with their own happy hellos. Akito, however, just rolled his eyes at Mizuki’s nickname and muttered his own greeting.

Mizuki continues, “I just met y/n-chan on the rooftop and they said they’d met you guys, so I thought it’d be nice if we came and sat with you.” They said everything with a smile on her face and in such a way that the others couldn’t say no.

Mizuki goes to sit next to An and you were about to sit next to Toya, but then Akito spoke up, “u-um, y/n?” You look over at him. “Would it be ok for me to speak with you? In private.”

Everyone reacts differently: An looks skeptical of the ginger, Toya seems almost hopeful and Mizuki is flashing a thumbs up at you.

You’re confused, but can’t help also being a little curious. This is what you wanted, right. You wanted to get to know them better, right. So this was the correct decision, right? Uncertain, you respond with ‘yes’, and the two of you leave the canteen together.

As soon as the doors close behind you, Akito looks nervous. He gestures for you to walk with him. The silence between you is surprisingly nice. He fidgets a little and seems to be figuring out what to say, whilst you take in the school around you, recognising areas from Toya’s tour.

It’s not until you get to the gardens that Akito finally stops. He sits on a bench and you sit next to him, patiently waiting for him to speak.

“I-“ he pauses. Scared? Worried? You don’t know.

“I wanted to apologise. For yesterday.” He finally says. You look at him, surprise all over your face, speechless.

That only seems to worsen Akito’s nerves. He started fumbling over his words and stuttering, looking away shyly. “I-I, just f-felt kinda bad… a-a-and I’ve never f-felt bad b-before, and e-everyone was, was worried, and I-I-I thought I should apologise, a-and, yeah.”

You can’t help but laugh at his stuttering, it was sweet. It felt like he was being vulnerable with you and you knew you probably shouldn’t laugh, but you just couldn’t help it.

Akito went a bright red, his embarrassment clear. That made you feel bad, so you found your own voice. “I’m sorry, I just didn’t expect you to start stuttering like that. It seems unlike you.”

The ginger nods slowly, perhaps agreeing with your point. You continue, “but thank you. Your apology means a lot and I’m grateful ^^” You’re not sure what to think of this sudden apology, but it seemed so genuine and carefully thought out. It was like you’d seen something not many people did, and that made you smile. Perhaps you could call Akito a friend now.

The boy smiles at your words, happy that you accept his apology. He looks as though a large weight has been lifted from him, but he doesn’t even know why. “Well, umm, I’m glad,” he mutters, still a little red from his embarrassing stutter. You thought he looked cute.

“So,” Akito says, starting a conversation for a reason neither of you could quite place, “what kind of hobbies do you have?”

You freeze. You can’t tell. It would ruin everything. You feel yourself subconsciously reaching for your sketchbook, trying to hide it away. Seemingly noticing your anxiety, but perhaps mistaking it for shyness, Akito answers his own question.

“I sing. With the others. Me, Toya, An and a girl who goes to Miya Girls - Kohane - we’re in a group together. Vivid Bad Squad. And we sing. We’re trying to surpass this epic event me and An saw when we were kids. It’s kinda what keeps me going.” He explains. Throughout his explanation, he glances at you every so often, perhaps to see if you were still listening, or if you actually cared.

You were listening, with great interest. He sounded so passionate about it and his eyes were sparkling; it was nice. You almost forgot about the stress you had before. Trying to make sure this conversation doesn’t come back to you, you change the subject by asking, “could I hear you guys sing?”

The question catches Akito off guard, but in a good way. “Yeah, yeah, of course,” he responds.

“You just seem so passionate is all,” you continue, “it’s nice.”

“Oh,” you surprise him yet again, “yeah, I suppose I am.”

As the bell rings, you flash Akito a warm and genuine smile, feeling good that you are friends now. You were glad that Akito felt he could be somewhat vulnerable with you. It made you feel closer and right now, this was the best you could do to give back. Akito finds himself returning such a smile, something he didn’t think would happen yesterday, but he feels a strange warmth inside about it, and that made him happy.

As the two of you walk back to your classes together, you both feel quite content. But what neither of you knew was that you were thinking the same thing: ‘I can’t wait to get to know them better.’

Chapter Text

This can’t be happening.

This can’t be real.

Are things working?

Are they nice?

It can’t only be because they don’t know.

They must like me.

Right?

—————————————————————

With smiles on both your faces, you and Akito had returned to the others. You told them what happened and Mizuki seemed super happy for you, while Toya and An were both excited for you to come to their practice session. The thought made you nervous, but all four of them reassured you, which made you feel a lot better.

It turns out that Mizuki sat right behind you in class, and they were such a chatterbox. The look of annoyance on Toya’s face made you laugh, which led to all three of you getting into trouble (oops).

You’re leaving school a lot happier than you were yesterday. Mizuki is eager to get home, so you and Toya wave her off. Looking around, you can’t see Rui anywhere, so Toya invited you to hang out with him, An and Akito until he turns up. You agree and you walk over together.

“Kohane said she’d meet us here, so we’ll wait where she can see us,” An was saying.

“Fine…” Akito sighs while agreeing with the starry-haired girl, before noticing you and Toya. “Hey,” he says, smiling a little.

Toya nods in response, “is it ok for Kamishiro to wait with us for a bit?” He asks on your behalf.

An and Akito both nod. “We’re just waiting for Kohane,” An adds.

Kohane. She was the girl Akito mentioned, the other member of their group. You’re intrigued to meet her. Maybe they could even give you a little taste of their singing after she got here.

“So, y/n,” An turns to face you, “what are you planning to do this weekend?”

“Umm,” you stutter a little, “I don’t know. Probably go and see WonderlandsxShowtime’s show that they’ve been practicing for.”

An’s face lights up, “oooh maybe we could go with you! I’m sure Kohane would love to go, she adores PXL, and you could come to our practice beforehand.”

“You’re sure Kohane would love to go where?” A new voice appears and you turn to see a girl in Miya girls uniform, with blonde hair tied into pigtails.

“Kohane!” An squeals, rushing past you to throw her arms around her girlfriend.

“It’s nice to see you to An-chan,” Kohane responded whilst sharing the hug.

It takes a couple minutes for the two of them to realise where they are again, and when they finally break free from the hug, Kohane notices you. “Hello, apologies for not introducing myself. I’m Azusawa Kohane. What’s your name?”

“I’m Kamishiro y/n. I’m friends with…” you gesture in An, Akito and Toya’s direction. “We were just talking about a show at PXL that I’m going to at the weekend and Shiraishi-chan thought you might want to go.” You added, giving Kohane the context of what you were talking about.

Kohane smiles, “yes, I was hoping to go to that show. I heard the WonderlandsxShowtime have been practicing for ages to really perfect it. I try and see as many of their shows as possible, but this one sounds like a must-see.”

Kohane wasn’t wrong there. You recall all the practices you’d been too; they’d been working on this show for what felt like forever. But it really was good.

An’s voice cut into your thoughts. “Well that’s settled then. We’ll have y/n round for practice and then we’ll all go to the show together. You two ok with that?” She gestures towards Akito and Toya, who’d both had little opportunity to speak through this conversation. They both nod and mutter a small ‘yeah, sure’ in agreement.

“Fufu~ what have you been planning, dear sister?”

“Rui!” You smile as you turn around to greet your brother.

He returns the smile, “sorry I’m late, sensei wanted to speak to me.”

“It’s ok,” you respond, realising it actually was because it feels like you’ve made some real progress with your new friends.

“Well you can tell me all about your plans on the way home. I’m very curious,” Rui says, lifting his head to acknowledge each member of Vivid Bad Squad.

“Yeah, that sounds good ^^”

Saying your goodbyes to your new friends and meeting up with Nene, you find yourself feeling a whole lot happier than you did yesterday.

3rd person pov:

Whilst you were certainly happy, Rui and Nene were both happy for you. You told them your plans with a huge smile on your face, and while they didn’t quite understand what happened, it was nice to see you smiling instead of being so down.

Meanwhile, An was filling in Kohane on who you were and why you made those plans, on their way to Weekend Garage. However behind them, Akito and Toya were strangely silent. Little did they know, they had similar thoughts. They were both thinking of you. Toya was looking forward to seeing you at the weekend and you coming to their practice. Akito was wondering why he was still thinking of you. He apologised, yet you were still on his mind, and he had no idea why.

Chapter Text

My heart is pounding.

Rui assured me things would be ok,

I trust him.

I can’t believe I’m doing this.

Deep breath in.

Deep breath out.

—————————————————————

It’s Sunday morning and you’re approaching Weekend Garage. An gave you her number (as did the rest of the squad), and you followed the directions she gave, but still got a little lost. As you stand in front of the door, you’re shaking. You told Rui and Nene all about your plans for today and they were both happy for you. You felt like this was progress too. You reach into your bag and hold your sketchbook. It’s a small comfort, but it does help. Pushing open the door, you hear a tinkle of a bell and step inside.

Four heads turn at your entrance. “Y/n!” An calls, rushing towards you. The starry haired girl embraces you and a warm hug that you accept, smiling. After she released you, she leads you to the stage area of the cafe. There, you greet Toya, Akito and Kohane, as well as someone else.

“Ah, you must be the y/n that An speaks so highly of. I’m Shiraishi Ken, it’s a pleasure you meet you,” he holds out his hand for you to shake.

You take it, “it’s a pleasure to meet you too, Shiraishi-san.”

While the Squad continue setting up their equipment, you take a look around the cafe. It’s warm and cosy and all the patrons seem to be having a nice time, some even seemed excited for the upcoming performance.

Kohane was stood nearby. You walk over to her to ask, “so, are you guys kinda famous around here?”

She chuckles in response, “I suppose we are a little. Our goal is to put on an event that surpasses RAD WEEKEND, which is a legend here. That makes a lot of people interested.”

As you’re listening to Kohane, you don’t notice Akito walk up behind the two of you. “RAD WEEKEND wasn’t just any event,” he says, making you jump, “it was life-changing for so many people. It was moving and powerful. It has shaped our lives. And that’s exactly why we want to surpass it.” That fire was in his eyes again as he spoke; you could feel his passion and almost got swept up in it yourself.

Then you remembered your place. So you smile and nod, acknowledging his unyielding resolve.

As the others prepare to perform, you find a table, not too close but also not too far from the stage. You stealthily take your sketchbook out of your bag, making sure no one sees it. There’ll probably be some interesting poses to sketch and it’ll help lessen your anxiety a little.

However you weren’t expecting this.

The music starts and that alone is enough to send waves of emotion through you. Then they start singing.

Their voices are amazing.

An’s voice is powerful and strong as she puts her all into her singing. Toya’s is compelling, like he wants you to sing with him, with an incredible range. Kohane may sound soft, but her voice has a confident sharpness to it too. And Akito’s voice is passionate and intense, letting you hear all his emotions.

You are blown away by their singing; you feel even more emotions than when it was just the music. You can feel every word and empathise with them. It’s beautiful.

As your feelings overwhelm you, you’re drawn to your sketchbook. You put pencil to paper and draw, glancing up every so often to look at those you are drawing. All these sensations flow into your work. You capture the confidence in Kohane’s stance, the warmth in Toya’s gaze, the pride in An’s steps and the passion in Akito’s eyes. Oh, those eyes. Finally you’re seeing what’s really in them.

As the four of them come to life on your page, you don’t notice Ken behind you until he speaks: “That’s an incredible drawing.”

Panicked, you quickly cover up your art with your hands and arms.

“Why are you hiding it?” He asks, curious, “it’s excellent, you should be proud. I’m sure the others would love to see it.”

You gently close your sketchbook. The drawing was nearly finished and you could easily finalise it at home, maybe even digitise it. After, you look up at Ken, “Thank you very much, Shiraishi-san, but please don’t tell the others about this.” ‘ They can’t know, they just can’t,’ You think to yourself, ‘please don’t ask why.’

Ken looks confused, but seemingly understands that there’s more to it that you don’t want to say. He smiles and says, “don’t worry, your secret’s safe with me.”

As Ken walks away, you release a breath you didn’t know you were holding. You don’t draw again for the rest of the performance, instead enjoying the bewitching music, that almost made you forget everything and live life to its fullest.

Almost.

Chapter Text

I can still hear that music.

I don’t think I’ll ever forget it.

I don’t think I’ll forget those eyes either.

Those striking, passionate eyes.

—————————————————————

After spending the rest of the day at practice with Vivid Bad Squad, it was time for the show at PXL. The five of you are on your way there together. An turns to you all of a sudden, “so y/n, what’d you think of our singing?”

The question is one you had been expecting, but what you hadn’t anticipated was the expectant faces from Toya, Akito and Kohane, as if they were eager for your answer. “You guys were pretty good. Let’s just say I’ll definitely be listening to you again ^^”

All four of their faces lit up. They were so happy at your answer, and that made you happy too.

As you approach the gates of PXL, Kohane looks so excited. Rui kindly gave you all tickets, so you show those to the guard and make your way to the Wonder Stage.

It’s already packed when you arrive - word about how good WonderShow’s night shows are has clearly gotten round. Luckily, there’s an empty bench in the middle row, seemingly just for you. You point it out to the others and Kohane rushes over. An runs after her and you and the boys follow.

You end up sitting between Kohane and Toya, with An and Akito and on the other side of Kohane. “Do you know much about what this show is about?” Toya asks you.

“Well I’ve been to a lot of practices,” you respond, “so I know the basic plot. But I’ve been trying not to pay too much attention because I always intended on seeing it when it was completely polished.”

The plot wasn’t simple - WonderShow shows never were - but at its core, it was a love story. Extrovert boy falls in love with the shy girl and comes up with increasingly wild ways to win her over.

Kohane butts in, “really? If I watched them practice I don’t think I’d be able to take my eyes off them.”

“Well I’m sure they’d love to have an audience while they practice. Tsukasa-kun actually says that practicing in front of an audience is better because it means there’s more pressure.” You inform her.

“That does sound like Tsukasa-senpai,” Toya adds, a gentle smile on his face.

You smile back, feeling the contagiousness of a smile creeping into your features. Wanting to pass it on, you look down the bench to An and Akito. Both were looking as they’d been listening to your conversation. An immediately smiles back, excitement filling her face. Akito looks a little surprised before beaming back, a warm smile that only makes you smile wider.

Then the curtains rise.

And the show begins.

—————————————————————

“That. Was. Amazing!”

You chuckle at An’s childlike wonder over the show. Her and Kohane were chattering about how good the show was: the emotive acting, the clever directing, the exciting set design, and more.

Toya turns to you, “don’t you think Tsukasa-senpai’s performance was incredible?”

Before you have a chance to respond, Akito butts in, “yeah yeah, Tenma-senpai was the star of the show, but the others were pretty great too, don’t you think? Personally, I thought Kusanagi-san was very good.”

Finally getting a chance to speak, you say, “they’re all very good, especially Tsukasa-kun and Nene-chan, but I always love Emu-chan’s acting. She’s just so cheery and brings so much energy to any role, and it’s so nice to watch.”

It’s then that you hear footsteps running towards you, accompanied by a booming voice, shouting your names.

“TOYA! Y/N! AKITO!”

The future star appeared next to you, a huge smile on his face. “Well,” he begins, addressing the three of you, “what did you think of our performance.”

“Ah, Tsukasa-senpai,” Toya started, “I think your acting was wonderful as always. Every move you made had purpose and when you spoke I could feel your character…”

“Off he goes again.” Akito turns to you,” I don’t think he’d ever get tired of praising Tenma-senpai.”

“I think it’s rather endearing,” you respond, “much like you and Shiraishi-san.”

Akito suddenly gets flustered, “w-what are you talking about?”

You laugh, amused by his embarrassment. “It’s nothing to be shy about. Everyone has someone they look up to, someone they respect, someone they want to be like,” you look over at your brother and smile. The purple haired boy had followed his boyfriend and had eagerly joined in with showering him in praise. “Someone who keeps you going.” You finish your thought, thinking about what a light Rui is in your life.

“Yeah,” Akito continues, even thought he noticed you now lost in thought. “I know what you mean.”

Due to your thinking about how good your life was - for maybe the first time ever, you failed to notice the small smile from the ginger aimed at you, something new in his olive-green eyes.

Chapter Text

I love that smile.

It makes me feel so warm inside.

I wish I knew why.

Why she makes me so happy,

Why she makes me smile,

Why I love seeing her smile.

—————————————————————

After the show, everyone went home together. Chatting, laughing, enjoying the evening. Toya feels particularly happy as he closes the front door of his house. He can hear the sounds of his father’s music drifting through every room. However those sounds fade as soon as he put on his headphones.

With so many positive feelings inside him, Toya thought if he could put those into a song, it’ll hopefully create something that’s a joy to listen to. If he could create such an uplifting track, maybe it would help inspire his friends.

So he got to work. It started off well, but around a third of the way through, Toya started to struggle. Right now, it sounds ok, it gets his point across, but it wasn’t what he wanted. This was meant to be an outpouring of his joyful feelings after such a fun day. The right notes should come to him easily - so why was he struggling?

After about 20 minutes of trying things and nothing working, Toya resolves to go to SEKAI. Perhaps the vocaloids can help him figure out what’s wrong. Hitting play on Ready Steady, Toya transports to the streets home to his feelings.

As he opens his eyes, Toya can already hear the calming music radiating from Crase Cafe. Figuring that’s where help will be, he enters the cafe, the bell alerting those inside of his arrival.

“Welcome Toya-kun!” MEIKO greets him warmly, “what can I get you today, your usual?”

MEIKO was at her usual spot behind the bar. She wasn’t alone though, Rin and Len were both sat at the bar, looking like they’d just argued. However that argument seemed long forgotten at Toya’s arrival.

“Thank you MEIKO-san, but I’m not looking for a drink today.” Toya awkwardly responds.

“Oh really? What are you after then?” MEIKO continued, an inquisitive smile on her face as she gestures for the blue-haired to take a seat at the bar.

He takes it before answering. “I’m here for some advice. I’ve started creating a new song to surprise the others with, but I’ve gotten stuck and I don’t quite know why.”

MEIKO thinks for a second before saying, “well what’s your song meant to be about? And what’s your inspiration?”

As Toya starts telling them about his impromptu song, he ends up telling them all about his amazing day too. And an awful lot about you. When he mentions you, Rin and Len give each other a knowing look, while MEIKO just simply listens.

“…And that’s about it.” Toya finally finishes, “sorry, I didn’t meant to talk for so long.”

“It’s ok, you seemed to enjoy talking about it.” MEIKO responds, a mischievous smile on her face.

At that comment, Toya’s face goes slightly red, which doesn’t go unnoticed by the twins next to him. They both turn to MEIKO, a begging look in their eyes, as if asking her if they can tell Toya how he feels. MEIKO simply rolls her eyes and nods.

“You totally have a crush on that y/n girl.”

Rin’s smug statement makes Toya’s cheeks go even more red and he can barely stutter out a “w-what” in shock.

Len happily joins in, “yeah, I mean, it’s obvious from the way you talk about her. And you talked about her a lot.”

“I-I did?” Is all Toya’s able to say, slowly taking in what the twins are saying.

“That’s probably why you’re stuck. You clearly didn’t know your own feelings for y/n, and you don’t know how she feels.” Rin finishes.

A crush.

Toya’s never had one of those before. He didn’t think his father would ever allow it, for a start. Crushes had always been so strange. He knew other people had them: Shiraishi had confided in him and Akito about her crush on Azusawa, Tsukasa-senpai had confided in him about his crush on Kamishiro-senpai, so many people seemed to have a crush on Akito, but Toya? Toya had never experienced a crush nor had someone crush on him.

This was a completely new experience.

But it made sense, he supposes. He always felt happier and warmer with y/n around. And she made him smile for reasons he could never quite place before. Well now he knows.

He has a crush.

The thought made him feel tingly inside. However his thinking was cut short by Len’s invading voice, “you should totally ask her out.”

This garnered a strong and unexpected reaction from Rin, where she turned around to glare at her brother before saying: “definitely not! He should find out if he likes her too first. Do you want poor Toya-kun to have a broken heart?!”

“Alright, geez, sorry,” Len quietly backed down, hoping Rin would back off.

Rin turned back around to face Toya, who didn’t know what to think at this point in time. “What you need to do now is find out if y/n has a crush on you too. It won’t be easy and it might help if you involve the others, but it’ll be a huge reassurance once you know.”

Toya - still blushing - looks at MEIKO, who only offers a gentle smile, looks at Len, who is still annoyed by Rin’s comment, then back at Rin. “I suppose I could ask Akito for help,” Toya started. His ginger-haired partner would probably know how to help him in this situation.

“And that would be a great start!” Rin enthusiastically added.

A plan of action is slowly forming in Toya’s mind. His song long forgotten - for now, at least - he turns his attention to his newfound crush.

Thanking the vocaloids for their help, Toya returns home, a vivid plan clear in his mind.

Chapter Text

That was fun.

Weird,

But fun.

Maybe it’d be good to hang out more.

—————————————————————

As soon as he got home, Akito had escaped to his room, giving his mother a quick hello on his way past. Right now, it’s late.

Too late.

He knows he should sleep.

But that can wait.

“AMIA YOU CAN’T SAY THAT!”

Either Ena’s too loud or the walls are too thin. Probably both.

Akito had simply been lying on his bed for the past who knows how long, thinking. He has his earphones in, as he usually did when he slept, but even that didn’t alleviate thoughts racing through his mind.

Due to the ambitious goal of surpassing RAD WEEKEND, Akito had a habit of forgetting to just chill and spend time with his friends sometimes. However, thanks to y/n, he’d hung out with his friends, for what felt like the first time in a long time.

Y/n

She gave him a lot of feelings that Akito didn’t know how to understand or how to process. There’s many people he could talk to: Toya, Kohane, An, Ena, the Vocaloids, heck even Akiyama. But was he going to?

No.

Unless it was about music, feelings is not something Akito’s very good at. All day, he’d tried to ignore his feelings, push them down to deal with later.

Well now it was later.

Tic Tok Tic Tok

It’s not like time’s going to stop just to give Akito a chance to work out how he’s feeling. He can still vaguely hear Ena through the wall. She never was very good at being quiet.

Akito sighed, he’s distracting himself again - distracting himself from the problem at hand: what are his feelings for y/n?

Maybe comparing it to others would help. It wasn’t as if she treated him like his sister would, and he’d definitely changed his mind, she wasn’t like her brother at all. Perhaps it was similar to what he felt for An and Kohane, his close gal-pals. He is very good friends with them and trusts them deeply, and while it is close, there is something slightly different. But he can’t quite figure out what it is.

What he does know though, is that it certainly wasn’t like what he feels for Toya. He has such a strong affection for his partner, it would be impossible for him to feel that for anyone else, right?

Ugh, all this thinking and feelings is hurting Akito’s brain. In an attempt to block out all thoughts, he turns up the volume on his earphones to max, not caring about the health of his ears.

He’d thought enough for tonight, now he should rest. Maybe all his problems would vanish overnight and he wouldn’t have to think about this again tomorrow. Maybe.

Chapter Text

What a day.

I don’t think I’ve had that much fun before,

Ever.

Is this what having friends is like?

I don’t ever want to lose this feeling.

—————————————————————

After the show, you had hung out with Rui in his room. You had been praising him for a marvellous show, making sure to point out his directing genius.

“Oh stop, you’re just flattering me at this point,” Rui complained.

Laughing, you responded, “that’s kinda the point!”

You both laughed for a while after that. It was a wonderful expression of your love for each other and how grateful you are to have the other. After your long, joyous laugh, Rui found himself smiling at you.

Somewhat self-conscious, you asked, “what’s wrong? Why are you smiling like that?”

“Oh it’s nothing,” he replied, “I’m just happy for you. I’m glad you have Vivid Bad Squad, it’s good that you have them to rely on.”

Startled, you says, “well I’ve always had you, and WonderShow.”

“Yes, and that won’t change,” your brother continues, “but these are friends you made yourself and who chose to be friends with you. Don’t take that for granted. They like you for who you are. Appreciate that.”

Smiling, you don’t know what to say, instead opting to smother Rui in a hug, which he happily accepts.

—————————————————————

Now it is late.

You had tried to sleep - maybe you had for half an hour or so - but just couldn’t.

You find yourself staring out of the window, thinking. It had been a great day, probably one of the best days of your life, certainly one you’ll always remember. Had you ever smiled so much before?

Smiles.

Everyone’s smiles were so lovely. WonderShow’s you knew by now. Each of them had their own quirks, but all of their smiles were so genuine and radiated an infectious energy that always made you happy and smiley too. However, you encountered some new smiles today too. Azusawa-chan’s was one. It was sweet and kind and fully showed off her caring personality. Shiraishi-chan’s was confident and strong, much like her, but still had a childish side to it. Aoyagi-kun’s you knew a little better, it was so warm - like he was letting out all his positive emotions - and made you feel warm inside too.

And then Shinonome-kun’s. You thought his smile would be like Shiraishi-chan’s, cocky and confident, but today his smile had been different. It seemed unpracticed and clumsy, but that only made it more endearing. It was hard not to smile at anyone else’s smile, but Shinonome-kun’s was different - it made you smile wider than normal and filled you up with a warm fuzziness inside.

What was that?

Looking out of your window, you see the small patches of light under every street lamp. You can’t help but picture yourself and Shinonome-kun sitting together, talking together, being together, just you two in your own world under the light.

What is this?

“Urgh!” You groan, a sound of pure frustration at a lack of understanding of your thoughts and feelings. Lying back down on your bed, you see your phone lying on your desk. Maybe you should talk to someone about this, maybe someone else would know what this is.

But no one would be up this late, surely. And who would you talk to anyway. You couldn’t talk to Shinonome-kun, because this is about him. As much as you wanted to speak to Rui, you didn’t want to burden him with your issues, not now he’s happy for you having your own friends. You could talk to WonderShow, but you didn’t really know how to articulate your thoughts, at least not in a way they’d understand. There was Shiraishi-chan, Aoyagi-kun and Azusawa-chan, but they’re all too close to Shinonome-kun. And that just left…

“…Mizuki-chan.”

There was something off about Mizuki-chan that you noticed back on the rooftop, almost as if she had a secret of their own. It made you feel connected to them from the start. So maybe, maybe Mizuki was the person to talk to. But still, there was no way she’d be up this late. I’ll just send a message , you thought, asking to talk tomorrow, for her to see in the morning.

Grabbing your phone, you quickly type out a message: Hey, hope you’re alright. I was hoping you’d be free for a chat tomorrow. Meet me on the roof at lunch?

After hitting send, you let out a breath you didn’t know you’d been holding in. Feeling a little less restless at the thought of being able to talk to someone, you decide to try and sleep again.

However, you fail to notice a reply pop up on your phone.

Mizuki-chan: Of course, anything for my new bestie <3

You really did have true friends now, or at least until they found out about your own secret.

But maybe that’ll never happen.

Maybe.

Chapter Text

Hey everyone. This is just a quick note to say that there won’t be a chapter this week or next. I’m sorry, but exams have been kinda stressful, so I’m taking a short break from this to focus more on them. In the meantime, I’ve posted a short story, on my profile, that I wrote a while back, so if you want to, I’d appreciate it if you read that. Anyways, I hope you have a great day/night ^^

Chapter Text

What are these feelings?

What is this?

I wish I could figure it out by myself.

I hope Mizuki-chan can help.

—————————————————————

The sound of your footsteps hitting the metal steps up to the rooftop reverberated throughout the whole staircase. It had been quite difficult to get up here, which surprised you. You tried to slip away from An, Akito and Toya, thinking they wouldn’t notice.

You took two steps before Toya asked where you were going.

Not a natural liar, you struggled to come up with a reasonable excuse, eventually saying you were going to explore. However it was clear none of them believed that. But they still let you go, albeit with some skeptical looks.

With a grunt, you push open the heavy rooftop door, and are greeted by the sight of Mizuki. She’s turned her head to look at you, hearing the door open, so you could clearly see their mischievous grin. Not being able to stop a smile creeping onto your own face, you walk over and sit next to Mizuki on the bench.

“Y/n-chan!” They cheer, “it’s so great to see you!” Mizuki wraps her arms around you so tight you can barely breathe.

“H-h-hi Mizuki-chan, g-great to se-e you t-to.” You gasp out, “too tight, too t-ight!”

“Oh, oops,” Mizuki giggles, releasing you from their grip, “my bad. Emu-chan taught me how to give a great hug, and I wanted to test it out.”

“Of course she did,” you respond, rolling your eyes while trying to catch your breath.

“Anyways,” Mizuki continues, “what do you wanna talk about?”

Oh, yeah.
Talking.
That’s what you were here to do.

Struggling to figure out how to word everything, Mizuki tries to prompt you, “is it to do with Toya-kun or An-chan, or has lil bro done something again?”

At hearing Akito’s nickname you involuntarily look up at Mizuki, making unintentional eye contact. Looking away, you respond, “uhh, yeah, it’s about Shinonome-kun… kinda.”

“Kinda? Well what’s that supposed to mean?” Mizuki jokes. Seeing how nervous you are, she rests her hand gently on your shoulder. You look up at them, intentionally this time, and they smile back reassuringly. “You can talk to me, I promise.”

Feeling better, you let out a small laugh, “I’m gonna sound so stupid now.”

“No you’re not,” Mizuki gives you a playful nudge and you laugh a little together.

Now relaxed, you open up to Mizuki. “It’s just, I feel differently about Shinonome-kun than I do about Aoyagi-kun or Shiraishi-chan. When I think about his smile, I feel all warm and fuzzy inside. And I have no idea why. That’s where you come in.”

You turn to Mizuki and find her staring at you, eyes sparkling.

“W-what’s wrong?” You ask, “why are you looking at me like that?”

Mizuki looks thoughtful for a second, as if deciding what to say. When she finally decides, she says, “how many couples do you know?”

Startled, you think a little. “Well Rui and Tsukasa-kun, of course, they’re so sweet together. Ummm, oh and Shiraishi-chan and Azusawa-chan too. From what I’ve seen, they seem to care about each other a lot.”

“Perfect!” Mizuki states, “I know an awful lot about those two too.”

“But wait,” you ask, “what does this have to do with anything?”

“Hehehe~” Mizuki uses her evil laugh, immediately worrying you, “you’ll see.”

Speechless, you simply continue to look at Mizuki, waiting for them to continue.

“So you’ve seen An-chan around Kohane-chan, right?” You nod.
“So you’ve seen how she gets all clingy, and can’t stop staring at her and praises her all the time, right?” You nod again. “So it’s pretty obvious how much she loves her, right?” You nod for a third time.

“And how do you think that makes Kohane-chan feel?”

After a few seconds of thinking, you respond, “well she must feel very happy, and wanted, and loved.”

“Exactly!” Mizuki grins. At your confused face, her grin falls, “you don’t get it do you?” You shake your head, saying no. “Alright then,” Mizuki continues, “we’ve still got another example.”

“So you’ve probably seen Rui tinkering away, making lots of little presents for Tsukasa-senpai, right?” Once again, you nod.
“He works so hard on them, making sure they’re absolutely perfect for Tsukasa-senpai. Soooo, how do you think that makes Tsukasa-senpai feel?”

“Well he always gets a massive grin on his face; he looks overjoyed,” you smile at the memory, “he takes precious care of everything Rui gives him because - and I quote - ‘this is a symbol of our love, so I will treasure it dearly’ . And then he looks at him with the warmest smile.” You trail off, getting lost in the sweet memories of your brother and his boyfriend. You were happy for them, but a part of you wanted that for yourself too.

Mizuki grins again, “so, do you get it yet?”

“Get what? Come on Mizuki-chan, just be clear with me, please.” You answer, irritation making its way into your voice.

“Fineeee,” Mizuki sighs, “the feelings you described Kohane-chan and Tsukasa-senpai as having is similar, and kind of the same, as how you feel about lil bro.”

You stare.

You blink.

You stare again.

“What?”

Mizuki giggles, clearly amused by your reaction, “it’s called a crush, y/n-chan. The feeling you described sounds like a crush.”

You sit there, speechless and in shock.

Wrapping their arm around you, Mizuki is still giggling quietly. “I mean I could be wrong, of course,” she added, “but I usually have a pretty good eye for these things. Even so, obviously don’t rush into anything, let your feelings develop naturally and maybe check for any small hints of lil bro liking you back. If he doesn’t now, I have a feeling he might, eventually.”

Still in shock, but a little less speechless, you quietly ask, “how do you know?”

“How do I know what?” They respond.

“H-how do you know that he’ll-“ you smile softly, “t-that he’ll like me back?”

“Oh that? Well how could he not? I mean, you’re beautiful, for one, and have you seen the way he looks at you? He totally likes you, even if he doesn’t know it yet,” Mizuki reassures. “But, if you don’t mind me asking, I’ve got a question for you.”

As she retracts her arm, you look at them smiling. “Of course,” you say, “you’ve helped me so much, answering a question for you is the least I can do.”

“Thanks,” she continues, a nervous tone to her voice. “I appreciate you trusting me with this, but I can’t help but be curious. Why’d you ask me for help? It’s just, you get along so great with Toya-kun and An-chan and of course WonderShow - especially Rui. So…

Why me?”

Chapter Text

Mizuki:

She told me so much.

She trusts me so much.

What if she finds out and hates me?

What if she regrets talking to me?

I just have to know,

Why me?

—————————————————————

“Why me?”

Why Mizuki? Well you weren’t really sure yourself, to be honest. Talking to them just felt, right. As if you knew they’d understand and wouldn’t judge you. But why? All you could come up with was that you thought the two of you might be able to relate, because of secrets.

Realising you’re leaving her on edge, you turn to Mizuki. She looked so nervous, scared, almost. You open your mouth, trying to speak, but not sure if it’s the right thing to say. You have to say something, you decide, and this is all you can think of.

“Do you have a secret?” You ask. It’s subtle, but Mizuki visibly flinches. “Something that you’re absolutely terrified to tell anyone, so you just don’t, and hope for the best.”

Looking stunned, all Mizuki can say is, “h-how do you know?”

Smiling a little, you respond, “because I do too.”

“O-oh,”

There’s silence for a while. It’s almost nice with the two of you sat together. It was peaceful. It didn’t take too long for it to be broken though.

“Does really no one know?” Mizuki said, all their usual cheekiness gone.

“Rui and the rest of WonderShow know,” you answer, “but that’s only because they were around for the worst of it.”

Images flash through your mind: your father shouting and waving a glass bottle at you, sketching until you physically couldn’t, your ‘friends’ calling you awful things and the cuts that still scar your hands from cleaning up the broken glass.

When you come back to the present, Mizuki is looking at you worriedly, her hand back on your shoulder, “you ok?”

“Hopefully,” you laugh back, trying to sound cheerful.

Mizuki was not buying it.

They looked conflicted, as if they wanted to ask you something, but didn’t know if they should. After a moment of silence, they spoke, “I can’t tell anyone my secret. Like you, only those who were there for the worst of it know. But, if it would help, if I could help, you can always talk to me. I promise.” She said, smiling.

Well that was unexpected. How could you have known that Mizuki would be so nice and caring, it almost made you want to tell her. They wouldn’t judge, you knew that, they’d probably be encouraging even.

Feeling confident, you get your sketchbook from your bag. “My dad was an alcoholic,” you start, “and he-“

The bottle got closer to the wall. It smashed. You picked up every bit of glass. Your hands stung. You missed some pieces. You got slapped.

“-he wasn’t great.” You finish, letting Mizuki’s imagination fill in the blanks. “So, to try and feel better, I drew.” You open your sketchbook, revealing all your drawings. Most of them were of WxS, but more recently there were drawings of Vivid Bad Squad too.

Mizuki gasps, “why have you been hiding these?” She asked, “they’re beautiful.”

You blush a little at the comment, not knowing how to respond to praise about your art. “Th-thanks,” you stutter. After Mizuki’s done looking, you put your sketchbook away before answering their question. “When I showed my friends at school my drawings, they bullied me…”

‘What a loser!’

‘Drawing isn’t a proper skill’

‘That **** won’t get you anywhere in life!’

‘What a waste of your intelligence’

“…But I couldn’t stop. Drawing was all I had.” You say, shrugging as if to emphasise that that was all you could do.

“So you hide it, so you don’t get bullied again,” Mizuki finished for you.

You nod, “exactly…   Ahh!”

Mizuki wraps you in a tight hug, as if to say, don’t worry, you’re safe now .

Happily, you accept it, leaning into it, feeling the comfort Mizuki was offering.

After a while, you part, the cold air hitting you. Standing and smiling, Mizuki offers you her hand. That’s right - you’d almost forgotten - it was about to be the end of lunch. Taking their hand, you stand up too.

Together, you walk back to class, in silence until you reach the door. It’s then that Mizuki turns to you. “I know you might never want to tell anyone else, and that’s ok,” she starts, “but if you ever do, I’ll be here to help.”

Grinning stupidly, you give Mizuki a wink and cheeky smile, “thanks, bestie ^^”

Chapter Text

Sorry, but there’s no chapter this week. It’s been very stressful and emotional, but next week things should hopefully be back on track. I hope you don’t mind and look forward to next week’s chapter ^^

Chapter Text

Feelings are so odd,

I don’t know if I’ll ever understand them,

But this isn’t as scary as I thought.

Being open isn’t as scary as I thought.

Maybe things will be ok after all.

—————————————————————

The rest of the day went smoothly, class was easy and Mizuki provided some comedic commentary on the annoying kids, though something seemed off about Toya. He was distracted and seemingly lost in thought. It took Sensei three tries to get his attention too. You couldn’t help but be worried.

After class, while packing up your stuff, you try talking to Toya, but he’s still too out of it. Mizuki gives you a hug before saying she needs to get home, mentioning something about an anime they need to watch, leaving you and Toya to go and meet the other members of VBS outside school. Toya was oddly quiet and the most awkward he had been since you met. Maybe the others would get him to talk.

“Y/n! Toya!” You can hear An’s voice from the other side of the grounds, and speed up your walking to reach her faster. Getting there, you’re greeted by An, but also Akito and Kohane.

“Y/n!” An cheers again, “how’d you feel about joining us at practice again? You did say you would.”

You can feel a smile creeping up your face, so happy to just be genuinely invited to something. “Of course, Shiraishi-chan, I’d love to come,” you respond, “I’ll just have to let Rui know, he should be here soon.”

“Okay~!” An smiles back, “and please, call me An,” she finishes, before resuming her conversation with Kohane.

Your smile widens at the unexpected offer, that you happily take. Turning around, looking for Rui, you see Toya. He’d taken longer to get over here than you and still seemed deeply distracted. Worried, you turn to Akito. The two boys were close friends, so maybe he’d be able to help him.

“Shinonome-kun,” you start, unintentionally making eye contact as he looks over at you. Flustered, you continue, your voice quiet to not alert Toya, thought he probably wouldn’t hear anyway, “Aoyagi-kun’s been really off today. It’s like he’s distracted by something and can’t properly pay attention. I tried talking to him, but he’s just so distant. I was wondering if you could get through to him.”

Akito thought for a second before giving you a small smile, “I’m sure he’s fine, but I’ll talk to him, don’t worry.”

You breathe a sigh of relief you didn’t know you were holding, “thank you ^^” you respond. Nervous about holding eye contact for much longer, you look for Rui again, seeing him walking over.

Rui offers you his hand after he reaches you, “well, y/n, are you ready to head home?”

“Actually, A-An-chan asked if I wanted to go to practice with them, and I said yes. I hope that’s ok.” You respond.

You watch as your brother’s eyes widen in surprise and are scared for a second that he’ll say no. But then you relax as a soft smile settles on his face. “Of course that’s ok, I’m happy for you,” he says,” just make sure you’re back for dinner.”

“Thank you, I will be, you’re the best!” You say, rushing back over to the Squad, leaving Rui smiling after you.

—————————————————————

As you’re walking to Vivid Street, An and Kohane enthusiastically include you in their conversations. The whole way there, you chatted about school, WonderlandsxShowtime, the latest songs and more. It was so nice to just chat away with friends.

Little did you know, Akito was trying to talk to Toya, but he saw what you meant. His friend, who usually held intelligent conversation, could barely answer a single question. Determined to find out why, Akito punched Toya, not enough to hurt, but enough to knock him out of whatever daze he was in - it was kinda all he could think to do.

“Akito! What was that for?” Toya exclaimed.

“What do you think?” Akito irritatedly answered, “you’ve been so out-of-it, I’m worried.”

Toya looked back at him, surprised, “I have?”

“Yes, you have. It’s clear something’s up,” as much as his tone was annoyed, Akito was clearly concerned, “you can always talk to me, y’know. Is it about your dad?”

“No no, it’s nothing bad.” Toya said, trying to put Akito’s worries at ease, “it’s just-“

‘What you need to do now is find out if y/n has a crush on you too. It won’t be easy and it might help if you involve the others, but it’ll be a huge reassurance once you know.’

Rin’s words echoed in his mind. “I need to tell you something, but you can’t tell the others.”

Mildly suspicious, Akito nodded, “ok, your secret’s safe with me.”

Toya took a deep breath, he looked nervous, then said, “I think, no, I know that, I have a crush on y/n.”

Akito stops walking.

“It’s weird, I know. I’ve never had a crush before, it’s normally your thing…”

He heard Toya less and less. What was happening? Why did hearing Toya’s confession make his heart stop and his head spin? Why did he feel hurt…?

“…Akito?”

The ginger looked over at his friend

“You ok?” Toya asked.

“Yeah, I’m fine,” Akito responds, shrugging off whatever that was, “come on, let’s catch up with the others.”

As Akito went on ahead, he failed to see Toya’s disheartened face, confused at why Akito had frozen when he told him about his crush. He’d thought Akito would be the best person to confide in, because they’re best friends, but maybe he’d been wrong.

—                          —                         —

You hear footsteps approaching behind you. You, An and Kohane were laughing about a joke An told (that was so bad it was good), so you failed to turn around.

It wasn’t until you heard your name called that you knew who was behind you. “Y/n!” Called Akito.

Leaving An and Kohane to continue their laughing fit, you fall back a little bit so Akito can catch up to you. “What’s up?” You ask him, friendliness in your voice.

“Just, uhh, keep an eye on Toya for me,” he responds, seemingly nervous, “he’s not feeling too great.” Is all he says before walking on, staying slightly behind An and Kohane, to give them a moment.

You look back at Toya, he looks disappointed and upset. Walking over to him, you intend to hurry him up a bit, to at least catch up with Akito, but also to try and talk to him, seeing him all sad like this was making you sad too. Though you couldn’t help but wonder why Akito had just palmed him off to you. The two boys were very close and Akito always stood up for his friend, usually anyway. Not wanting such a beautiful friendship to end, you were going to find out what happened.

Chapter Text

I’m looking forward to this;

Spending time with them is so much fun.

But Aoyagi-kun…

I’m worried about him.

And Shinonome-kun,

Why doesn’t he care?

—————————————————————

Approaching Weekend Garage, you take a look at the people around you: An and Kohane are still laughing together, but Akito looks… frustrated, and Toya looks hurt. You didn’t know what happened between the boys, but you’re determined to fix it.

The bell jingles as An opens the door. Stepping inside, you hear the welcoming voice of An’s father, “there you are! I’ve already set up the equipment for you, figured you’d want to start as soon as.”

“Thanks dad!” An cheers, “come on guys!”

You’re excited as the group make their way to the stage, even though the boys are a bit down. Maybe singing would help cheer them up. Well, you certainly couldn’t wait to be enveloped by that glorious sound again. Taking a seat, not too close, but also not too far from the stage, you get out your sketchbook and prepare for the show.

But the show did not go how you expected. After about ten minutes, you put your sketchbook away and instead just watch your friends. An and Kohane were singing as they normally would, even encouraging the crowd to join in. But Akito and Toya were… off. Akito sung harsher than he had before and Toya was quieter and reserved. You guess Ken has noticed too, as he makes his way towards you.

“I don’t suppose you know why the boys aren’t sounding like usual?” Ken asks.

Sighing, you respond, “well Aoyagi-kun’s been like this all day, and when I asked Shinonome-kun to help, he became like this too.”

“I see,” Ken muses, “thanks for telling me, I’ll have a chat with them later, see if I can get to the bottom of it. Why don’t you carry on with your drawing, you look like you enjoy it.”

As he walks away, you feel almost embarrassed, but get your sketchbook back out anyway. You did enjoy it, and you felt better now you knew Ken was going to talk to the boys. So you doodle and draw, trying to capture each member of Vivid Bad Squad perfectly.

—————————————————————

Aside from Akito and Toya feeling off, practice had gone well. An and Kohane are still bouncing around, giddy and smiley. And while Akito stands with the group, he seems lost in thought. And Toya is keeping his distance.

Ken walks over to the group, only to ask Akito and Toya to follow him. In the same moment, a song comes over the speakers that An and Kohane clearly recognise, and sounds somewhat familiar to you (perhaps because it was from a certain idol group).

The girls rush towards the stage, but not before dragging you with them, leading to you dropping your bag. They know all the moves, teaching you as the song goes on. An then edits the playlist her dad left on, so it’s just lots of songs from this same group, and the three of you danced until you could dance no more.

Exhausted from all your dancing, you glance at the clock on the wall.

Make sure you’re back for dinner.

Rui’s words echo in your mind as you realise you are about to be late.

Saying your goodbyes to An and Kohane, you grab your bag and run out of Weekend Garage, desperately trying to make it home before dinner, even though you knew you couldn’t.

—————————————————————

“Hey, An-chan?”

“Whaaaaat~?” An groans in response as Kohane moves to stand up, disrupting her peaceful nap on her girlfriend’s lap.

“What’s this?” Kohane asks, picking something up off the floor.

An lumbered over to her, “it looks like some kind of book.”

It was then that Toya and Akito appeared from the back room, neither looking happier than they did before.

“Whatcha got there?” Akito asks from the other side of the room.

“Some kind of book, though it looks pretty used,” An responds.

As the boys get closer, Toya notices something, “oh, that’s Y/n’s.”

“It is?” An and Kohane exclaim in unison.

“Yes, she was using it today, though I couldn’t tell what she was doing in it.” He explains.

Kohane looked nervously at the book before her. “Should we look inside?”

An uneasy silence settled among the four of them, no one sure how to answer. After a couple of minutes, An spoke up, “I think so, surely it would say something on it if it was private.”

That seems to convince Kohane, who nods in agreement. But Toya looks conflicted, “but wouldn’t she tell us about it if she wanted us to know?”

“What do you think, Akito,” An asks, “should we open it or not?”

Akito ponders for a bit, weighing up both options in his mind. Look inside and find out something Y/n potentially doesn’t want  them to know, or don’t and maybe never know what’s inside? Screw it, I’ll just take the blame if things go wrong, at least then she’ll still have Toya and the others.

“Go for it,” he concludes.

And so, Kohane opens up your sketchbook.

—————————————————————

It’s not until you get home that you realise something’s missing. You were in such a rush to get back, and you did not get back in time for dinner. With rushed apologies to Rui and your mum, you go to put your bag in your room before eating.

It’s then that you notice your bag’s lighter than it should be. Confused, you look inside, and your heart sinks. Panicked, you fling everything out of your bag in the hopes your sketchbook is hidden at the bottom. Unable to find it, you run downstairs, perhaps it fell out on your way up. You check the stairs, the kitchen, the hallway, everywhere.

It’s not there.

Rui comes up to you, “your food is ready~” he announces, his smile falling after he sees your distress. “What’s wrong?”

You’ve become more and more stressed as you realised what could’ve happened. When they dragged you. When your bag fell. What if they saw it? What if… they looked inside?

Rui’s hands are on your shoulders, lightly shaking you to bring you back to the present. “Y/n, what’s wrong?”

“My sketchbook,” you mutter, “I think it fell out of my bag.”

“Where?” Rui questions, “do you know where it fell?”

“Weekend Garage,” you say, “I think they have it.” Looking Rui in the eyes, worried about what will happen, you ask him a simple question, “what do I do?”

Chapter Text

…

What do I do?

—————————————————————

You lie in bed with no wish to get up. Last night, you’d broken down, terrified at your secret being out. Rui had been great, holding you, comforting you and trying to make you believe things will be ok.

Did you believe him? Your current state would suggest not. You were supposed to be getting up for school, but you couldn’t bear to go. Even the thought of seeing them was too painful.

You’re scared. So scared. You hadn’t felt scared like this since… since…

Knock knock knock

“Good morning, it’s only me.” The gentle voice of your brother reaches through the wooden door.

You sigh before answering, “come in.”

Creaking fills the room as the door opens. Since you’re facing away from the door, you don’t see Rui walk towards you, but you can hear him. He sits on the edge of your bed and you can feel his eyes on you.

“I take it you’re not going to school, then?” He asks.

“Can’t,” you mutter, “can’t face them.”

“That’s fine. Don’t worry y/n, I’ll get it back for you…” he pauses, causing you to look up at him.

“Rui?”

“Come here, let me give you a hug,” he requests. You oblige, sitting up and wrapping your arms around your brother. He squeezes you back, in a true Emu-style hug, “it’ll be alright, y’know,” he reassures, “I’m sure it won’t be like what you think.”

Unable to answer, you just squeeze him back, letting out a couple of tears as you do.

—————————————————————

Rui left an hour ago.

Only now had you gathered enough energy to drag yourself downstairs for some breakfast. Your mum left for work before the two of you went to school, so it was just you in the house. You didn’t want to be lonely - you hated it in fact - but who could you call?

You ate, showered and dressed, feeling a least a little bit fresher. As you flop onto the sofa, your phone falls out of your pocket, lighting up with a message:

Mizuki-chan: How you doing ♡?

Of course! How could you have forgotten? Mizuki was the one you could call.

—————————————————————

You hear Mizuki knock on the door. She said she’d come over immediately after you asked them to, even though you hadn’t said why. Maybe they just wanted out of school, who knows? But she’s here now, and you practically fall into their arms as you open the door, both due to your lack of energy and being swept into a tight hug.

But this time, you don’t mind being squeezed to death, in fact, it’s oddly comforting. After you part, you lead Mizuki to the sofa, the two of you sitting down together: you, drained and upset, and Mizuki, concerned and worried.

“Look, I love skipping school as much as the next person, but, what’s wrong y/n? You look so upset, and it’s making me sad too.” Mizuki’s words make you realise how you must look, and you quickly look away from them.

Tears prick at the corners of your eyes as you think about what happened and at the thought of talking about it, “I’m so stupid, Mizuki-chan.” Is all you mutter out before tears flow freely down your face.

They quickly wrap you in another hug, holding you close, “no you’re not,” she reassures, “I think you’re one of the smartest people I know.”

“If I was smart then they wouldn’t have it,” you retort.

Confused, Mizuki asks, “who, and what?”

“Vivid Bad Squad. My sketchbook.”

“Oh y/n,”

And you two were like that for a while, Mizuki holding you as you sob and cry, tears covering your face. You even managed to set Mizuki off, so you were crying together. The only sounds were your sobs, as words weren’t necessary, Mizuki knew too well how you felt.

Neither of you know how long you were like that for, but when you eventually pull away, both of you looked a mess. Mizuki laughs first, breaking the sad silence, and you follow shortly after, your sobs turned into smiles.

You don’t know how they did it, but Mizuki was so effortlessly able to make you smile, even though you were despairing, she could do it. Is this what a best friend is? If so, you liked it.

“See,” Mizuki’s voice makes you look up, “it’s possible to smile, even when you think you can’t.” The soft smile they offer you proves their point. “I know how it feels to have your secret be out of your control, so I know that you won’t be able to see the light at the end of the tunnel, but,” Mizuki puts her hand on your shoulder and looks you in the eyes, “I promise it’s there.”

“Thank you,” you say, “I’ll try my best to believe that.”

“Well that’s better than nothing,” they chuckle, “An-chan and the others are all wonderful people, so I’m sure you have nothing to worry about.”

“But,” you start, “but what if you’re wrong? What if they hate me for not telling them, or they think I’m weird for drawing them without asking, or-“

“Stop.” Mizuki’s bluntness startles you. “I know how easy it is to think of all the worst things that could happen, but that’ll just make you feel worse than you already do. You can expect the worst, but you should always hope for the best.”

“Expect the worst, but hope for the best… huh.” You take a second to think about what Mizuki said. She was right, of course. Thinking about every way this could go wrong would only make you feel worse. I promise it’s there. If they were right about this, maybe they were right about the light too.

“Okay,” you say, “I promise I’ll try. I’ll try to hope for the best and believe the light is there.”

I’ll try.

All you have to do, is try.

Chapter Text

Everyone,

I’m sorry.

—————————————————————

Akito is kicking rocks on his way to school, thinking far more deeply than he usually does. Checking his phone again, he sighs after seeing a familiar sight: no new notifications.

Both him and the rest of Vivid Bad Squad had sent you many messages, about your sketchbook, your drawings, your lack of a response, you. You. Akito is very worried about you, more than he realises.

Reaching Kamiyama High, he looks up from his rock-kicking, still lost in thought. Noticing his friends, Akito heads towards them, hearing the end of their conversation:

“Are you sure she’s not in?” Asks An.

“Absolutely. She’d definitely be here by now if she was going to be in,” there’s Toya, trying to relieve himself with facts.

“At least Kohane’s not here to panic,” An adds, reminding Akito of Kohane’s flustered words and actions after y/n didn’t responding to their messages. “Oh, Akito, you’re here. I don’t suppose you saw y/n on your way over?”

Akito looks both his friends in the eye before dryly saying, “I think you know the answer to that.”

“Oh no, she must be so upset, I wish she’d just speak to us. I wonder why she can’t.” An starts muttering to herself, trying to figure it out alone.

However, Toya simply stands there, messing with the cuff of his sleeve, clearly too anxious to think straight.

Akito sighs at seeing his friends such a mess. Truthfully, he felt just as worried and confused, but he masked it with irritation and sarcasm. Raising his voice slightly, he says, “well she’s obviously not coming in, so we may as well get to class. Honestly, you’re acting like she’s gone missing or something.”

And then he left, expecting his friends to follow. They do, unable to do anything else. An and Akito drop Toya off at his class, trying their best to comfort him before heading to their own. On the way there, An watches Akito, looking for signs of caring.

As they reach the door, she turns to him. “You look like you don’t care about all this,” she starts, “but I know you, and I know that’s not true. So… so stop trying to hide your feelings! We all care about y/n, so talk to us, rather than bottling everything up.”

After his third sigh of the day, Akito just cryptically responds with, “I don’t care like you do.” He then proceeds to open the door, finishing his sentence in his thoughts: I care more than I should.

A confused and frustrated An was left outside the classroom. She let out a quiet - but irritation-filled - scream, before angrily following her classmate.

—————————————————————

Rui had had a stressful morning. He’d been so worried about y/n, hoping she was alright at home. On top of that, he’d been thinking about the best way to confront Toya, Akito and An. Rui didn’t want to worry them more than they probably were, but he also didn’t want to say anything y/n didn’t want him to say. On top of that, he was in school, so there was work to do.

It was obvious that he was very distracted, as Rui was consistently getting questions wrong, which was very unlike him. At break, he remained at his desk, brain working overtime. Concerned, Tsukasa approached him.

“Hey, Rui?”

Hearing the worried voice of his boyfriend, Rui looked up, and found himself staring into Tsukasa’s sunset eyes, making him even more distracted than before.

Breaking eye contact, Tsukasa sat next to Rui and shared his concerns. Upset that he made Tsukasa worry, Rui told his dear boyfriend what was happening with his litter sister and her sketchbook, and how it was weighing on his mind.

Trying to calm down and de-stress Rui, Tsukasa enveloped him in a tight hug (an Emu special, of course), and promised him that if anyone could help y/n, it was Rui. Things would be a-ok.

Things would be a-ok.

That thought had kept Rui going, until now. Now, it was lunch, and Rui had to approach Toya, Akito and An about y/n’s sketchbook. They’d understand, right? It wasn’t too hard to find them, they sat at the same table every lunch. So, Rui takes a deep breath, and walks over to them.

—————————————————————

At seeing familiar purple hair, Akito feels his heart race, before he looks closer, and realises it’s only Rui.

“Greetings, Aoyagi-kun, Shinonome-kun, Shiraishi-kun.” Rui says as he walks up to their table, “would it be okay if the four of us could talk outside? It’s awfully loud in here.”

Questions raced through all three of the younger teens minds, but they knew they wouldn’t get answers here. Nodding to Rui, they follow him to a quiet area of the school grounds.

As soon as they stop walking, An jumps into Rui’s face, letting out all her questions: “where’s y/n? How is she? Is she ok? Why isn’t she answering our messages? Is it to do with the sketchbook we found?”

Stepping back, Rui responds, trying his best to stay composed, “y/n is fine, she’s at home. About the sketchbook, I need that back please.”

“But-but, why isn’t she responding? What happened? Did we do something?” An’s relentless questions are just her way of showing how concerned she is.

“I understand that you’re worried, but I’m afraid I can’t give you answers. Please, can you just give me y/n’s sketchbook?” Rui asks, as gently as he can.

“Sketchbook? B-but, but-“

“An!” Akito cuts in, “that’s enough. He’s clearly not going to tell us what we want to know, so we may as well just give it to him. At least it’ll make y/n feel better, right?” The last part was directed at Rui, who nods in response.

Defeated, An turns to Toya, who was the one taking care of y/n’s sketchbook. Carefully, he brings the worn book out of his bag, gliding his hand over the front cover.

—                               —                             —

And so, Kohane opens up your sketchbook.

“Woahhhhhhhhh…”

Vivid Bad Squad marvelled at the drawings in y/n’s sketchbook. Page after page was filled with incredible illustrations in such a unique art style.

“These are so cool!” An smiled, “there’s no way y/n would want to hide these from us. She’s such an amazing artist.”

Then Kohane noticed something. “Wait… isn’t that us?” She asked, pointing to a drawing of four singers.

All four of them butted heads while trying to look closer. “Yes,” said Toya, “it does seem to be.”

“And before,” continued Kohane, “there were a bunch of drawings of WonderlandsxShowtime.”

“Well that makes sense,” Akito started, “she’s known them for ages. But why’s she drawing us? Isn’t that a bit weird?”

Toya glared at Akito, “what do you mean? I think it’s an honour to be drawn by a friend, and so beautifully as well.”

Startled, Akito stuttered, “I-I suppose. They are quite pretty.”

“Look! There’s little chibis of us too!” Giggled Kohane.

“Oh yeah,” An joined in, “Akito’s is actually pretty cute.”

“It is?” Asked Akito.

“Yeah!” An continued, “speaking of you, there seems to be extra care put into all the drawings of you. Of course there’s detail in all of us, but you in particular seem to be drawn really carefully. And you really suit y/n’s art style. Don’t you guys think?”

“Now you mention it, there really is extra care in the drawings of Shinonome-kun,” said Kohane.

Toya took a closer look at the drawings before shuffling back a bit and nodding, “I suppose so,” he agreed.

“What do you think, Akito?” An asked, bringing the sketchbook up to Akito’s face.

He took the sketchbook from her and moved it away from his face a bit, before taking a good look at the drawings in front of him. At first glance, Akito failed to see what his teammates did, he thought he looked just as good as the rest of them.

But after a closer look, he began to see it. The extra detail in his clothes, the personality in his poses, the sparkle in his eyes.

The more Akito looked, the more he felt his cheeks start to burn, and he realised they were going red. At this realisation, he slammed the sketchbook closed and hastily returned it to An, then turned away from the others. “U-uh, yeah. I s-see what you mean,” he mumbled.

An and Kohane snickered at Akito’s embarrassment, while An passed y/n’s sketchbook to Toya. “Here Toya, you take this, you can give it to y/n in class tomorrow.”

“Y-yes, o-of course,” responded Toya, startled.

“And I’ll message y/n, let her know she left her sketchbook here and that Toya’s got it,” An continued.

Kohane sighed, “I really hope y/n doesn’t mind that we looked at her drawings.

“Don’t worry, Kohane,” said An, giving her favourite person a comforting hug, “I promise it’ll be just fine. I don’t see why she’d mind. Anyway, it’s getting late. I’ll go and find my dad, but you guys should probably start heading home. See you guys tomorrow!” She finished, before heading into the back room, in search of her dad.

“Bye An-chan~!” Kohane said, after her girlfriend. “Alright then, I’ll see you two tomorrow at practice,” she said to the two boys.

“Yes, see you tomorrow, Azusawa,” Toya responded.

“Y-yeah, see you, Kohane,” added Akito.

As Kohane left, the boys turned to each other. “You’re right, it’s nice she drew us,” said Akito, quietly.

“Yes, I am very grateful,” stated Toya, “perhaps you should introduce y/n to Ena-san, I’m sure they’d get along.”

“U-uh yeah, maybe,” Akito fumbled. “Look, Toya, are you ok?”

Toya sighed before answering, “as ok as I can be,” and, not giving Akito a chance to respond, said, “come on, we should get home before it gets too late.”

“Alright then,” Akito agreed, not wanting to push his friend further.

So the two of them went home together, y/n’s drawings vividly in their minds.

—                               —                             —

Toya stares at the sketchbook in his hands before taking in the scene around him: distressed but defeated An, angry and frustrated Akito, quiet yet pleading Rui.

Taking a deep breath, he passes the sketchbook to Rui. Before he lets go, he says, “please, tell her we think her drawings are wonderful.”

“Thank you, Aoyagi-kun, and I will, I promise,” Rui responds. He nods to An and Akito, then leaves the three of them to go and eat lunch with his boyfriend.

An starts crying, mostly due to confusion, but also because she’s scared. Through her sobs, she mumbles, “but I promised Kohane things would be fine.”

Wanting to comfort An and mask his anger towards Rui, he goes over to his classmate and lightly puts his hand on her shoulder. “I’m sure they still will be,” he says, “Kamishiro-senpai said y/n was ok, so I’m sure she’ll be in contact soon,” he continues, not knowing whether he’s trying to convince An or himself.

Toya just stands there, a small distance from An and Akito, full of worry. Rui had clearly been hiding something, but what? Toya’s head was racing with thoughts about what could be wrong with y/n or her sketchbook, but each one only left him more confused.

For the rest of lunch, that’s where the three of them were, each one full of concern for y/n, but showing it in very different ways. However, one thing they had in common, was that they all wanted y/n to get in touch, even just a small message, and they’d feel so much better.

But one thought couldn’t escape Akito’s mind: would she get in touch ever again?

I really don’t know…

Chapter Text

Hey everyone, I hope you’re doing good. This is just a little announcement to say that this story is going on a hiatus. It hopefully won’t be too long and it will be returning. I’ve had a lot going on these past few weeks and have been feeling very unmotivated to write. Going on holiday was a nice break, but it made me realise I need a longer one. This doesn’t mean I don’t want to write - because I do - just that I don’t have the energy to write now. Call it writer’s block or call it unmotivated, I don’t mind, but I want to stress that I will come back, I am determined to finish this story, no matter how long it takes. 

I hope you understand 

Chapter Text

I feel awful.

They’re worried and I’m ignoring them.

What am I doing?

If they don’t hate me for drawing them,

They must for ignoring them.

Right?

—————————————————————

22:00

Rui had returned your sketchbook to you after he got home from school. When he gave it to you, he’d told you how worried and upset your friends were, and honestly it’d made you feel worse.

You wish he hadn’t told you.

Now you’re sat in bed, drawing, to try and take your mind off it. Mizuki, after agreeing to sleep over, had gone home to get her stuff and told the rest of Nightcord they wouldn’t be able to work tonight. She’d done that to, in their words, ‘focus on you’, however she was already asleep. Guess all those late nights must be catching up to them. You glance at Mizuki, curled into her sleeping bag on the floor, feeling mildly better knowing you’ll always have her, at least.

Turning back to your sketchbook, you don’t even fully take in what you’re drawing, just moving your pen, trying to alleviate your anxiety. What have I done? Is all you can think, over and over.

You’ve ruined it.

You had friends,

And you messed it up.

All because you were scared.

23:00

You’re surprised you’re not even the slightest bit tired yet. Over the years, you’d actually developed a pretty good sleep schedule. Oh well, you could make up for it another night.

Right now, you’re still drawing. You feel like you can draw for days. It’s actually working though, you do feel a little less anxious. The repetitive stokes of the pen on the paper are comforting and familiar to you. Familiarity is safe and good and doesn’t ruin friendships, unlike you.

You ruined your friendships.

You.

It’s your fault they’re worried.

You.

You ignored them.

You.

00:00

It’s late and you’ve been drawing for more than 2 hours straight. You feel achy and decide to stretch. You certainly aren’t sleeping, that’s for sure, so instead, you go to your window and look outside.

The night was always so beautiful and tonight isn’t an exception. The nearby streetlight is duller than usual, but that made it easier to see the moon and stars. It’s a full moon with a clear night, meaning it’s oh so bright.

While staring at the moon, your mind wanders, eventually landing on Akito. What’s his view of the sky tonight? Can he see the moon? Is he even awake? Is he thinking about you too?

‘It’s called a crush, y/n-chan.’

Mizuki’s words ring in your ears. Is that why you’re thinking of Akito now? Because you have a crush on him? Probably. You think. But after the way you’d treated him and the others?

That’s never gonna happen now.

02:00

Your eyes are finally giving in and you can feel them closing more and more with each sketch. As you settle down to go to sleep, you finally take in what you’ve been drawing over the past few hours: your friends.

The worst part was that you hadn’t even realised you’d been drawing them until now. It was as if your brain had finally understood that these guys were different and wouldn’t bully you, so had tried to tell you that through drawing them.

A tear falls down your cheek as you realise how worried they must be and how ignoring them made this whole situation so much worse.

You think about sending them a message on your group chat, but fall asleep before you get the chance. In the morning, you think.

In the morning…

Chapter Text

What do I do?

What can I do?

Surely it’s too late now.

Unless…

—————————————————————

Sunlight pouring through your open curtains is what wakes you up. You check the time, startled to find it’s already 10am. Dragging yourself out of bed, you notice Mizuki’s not in your room, and then hear some loud noises from downstairs. However before you can head down, your phone buzzes. Looking over, you see the screen covered in notifications. Guessing who they’re from, you decide you don’t have the strength to deal with them right now, so leave to see what Mizuki’s up too instead.

Walking into the kitchen, you’re surprised to see Mizuki and your mum working together to make a delicious smelling breakfast. “Ah, Y/n! Why didn’t you tell me about your wonderful new friend?” Your mum exclaims after noticing you.

You’re unable to respond as Mizuki envelopes you in a tight hug. “Good morning Y/n-chan! How’d you sleep?”

“Uhh, alright, I guess,” you answer, “where’s Rui?”

“Oh he went to school ages ago,” Mizuki answers, before heading back to their cooking. “I wanted to cheer you up,” she continues, “and nice warm food always cheers me up. Buuuut I’m not great at cooking. But I can do tasty rice and miso soup! Your mum’s just here to make sure I don’t set anything on fire.”

“That’s right,” your mum adds, “Mizuki-chan really wanted to see you smile.”

Unable to fight the growing grin on your face, you give up and head to the table, “okay then,” you say, “I’ll be waiting for my gourmet meal.”

“One super-delicious gourmet meal, coming right up!” Mizuki declares.

—————————————————————

“Oh wow, that really was delicious!” You exclaim.

Mizuki nods in agreement, “yeah, it actually came out better than I thought.”

Turning to Mizuki, you find yourself able to give her a warm and genuine smile, “you were right, Mizuki-chan. Some nice warm food did make me feel a little better.”

Your comment made Mizuki grin far too wide, and they once again jumped on you, wrapping you in a cozy hug. “Now come on, I wanna show you some cute clothes I brought.” She excitedly says, grabbing your hand.

“But you’re already dressed,” you state, confusedly.

“Yeah, but I brought extra, obviously. We look about the same size, I’m sure something will take your fancy.” She winks, before dragging you back up to your room.

Once in there, your best friend starts pulling a bunch of clothes out of their bag. She looks at each one, trying to decide if it would suit you or not. Due to the distraction, Mizuki fails to notice the buzzing phone on your side table. The screen is still covered in notifications, even more than before. Sighing, you grab your phone and put it in the drawer, hoping that’ll mute the buzz.

Hearing the thud of the drawer closing, Mizuki looks up, “what’s that?”

“Oh, just my phone,” you complain, “it won’t stop going off.”

“Well who’s messaging you,” she inquires?

You sigh again before responding, “a few from Rui, a few from Azusawa-chan, some from An-chan, and too many from Shinonome-kun and Aoyagi-kun.”

“If they’re messaging you that much, then they must be pretty worried,” Mizuki pries, “especially Lil’ bro and Toya-kun.”

Feeling guilty, you look away, “y-yeah but I’ve ignored them for a while now, they’d probably be annoyed if I suddenly responded,” you mutter, making excuses.

“Hmmmmmmm,” Mizuki hums, staring you in the eyes as they do, making you a bit uncomfortable.

“Uhhh, d-do I have s-something on my face?” You nervously ask.

“No, no,” Mizuki huffs, “you really are just so oblivious sometimes.

“Hey!” You cry, getting defensive, “what’s that supposed to mean?”

Rolling her eyes, Mizuki responds, seemingly trying to speak as quickly as possible, “nothing… except that it’s obvious that everyone cares about you and just wants to know that you’re okay because they’re nice people. Also, it’s super interesting that it’s Lil’ bro and Toya-kun who’s messaged you the most, like, I knew Lil’ bro had a crush on you, but maybe Toya-kun does too! Wouldn’t that be interesting, oooh the drama ✨✨✨!”

Mizuki’s words went straight over your head, so you stutter out, “w-what? You said all that way too fast, none of it made any sense.”

Sighing, Mizuki jumps up to sit next you. “Basically, I’m saying you should talk to them, because they’re worried about you. I know what you think, but they’re not the kind of people who’d be mean to you or hold a grudge, especially when one or two of them might have a little crush on you.” You feel yourself blush a little at Mizuki’s words, your thoughts landing back on Akito. “I’m sure you want to talk to them too,” Mizuki adds, “remember what you promised me before?”

“I promise I’ll try. I’ll try to hope for the best and believe the light is there.”

“I promised I’d try,” you answer.

“Exactly!” Mizuki cheers, “they’ll have practice today, right? An’s told me before how they practice like, every day. So you can go speak to them there!”

Suddenly nervous, you shuffle back, “a-are you s-sure I should?”

Mizuki follows your shuffle and continues trying to be motivational. “What did I say before? It’s okay to expect the worst, but you’ve always gotta hope for the best, right?” You nod reluctantly. “And I’ll come with you, of course. It’s always nice to see them.”

Seeing that you still look unsure, Mizuki adds one last thing. “Look, if it all goes wrong - which it won’t - but if it does, you never have to speak to or see any of them again. But you’ve got to try now, first. Okay? How’s that?”

After a bit of mulling it over in your head, you decide it’s a fair deal. “Okay then, I’ll try,” you mutter.

“Yayyy!” Cheers Mizuki, “now, back to the important stuff. Which clothes do you want to try on first?”

Chapter Text

Deep breath in,

Deep breath out.

In,

Out.

Everything will be okay.

Right?

—————————————————————

Mizuki had pulled out a bunch of clothes, you don’t even know how she fit all of them in one bag. It had taken a while, but they did have an outfit you really liked. Luckily, it fit you as well. Mizuki said you could keep it, saying she has enough clothes, but can’t help but make more.

Now, wearing that outfit, you’re walking up Vivid Street, towards Weekend Garage. You knew Vivid Bad Squad would have practice after school, so Mizuki suggested you speak to them then. You’d panicked a little, but Mizuki calmed you down, and her being here with you helped you feel a lot better.

The door to the cafe felt taller and scarier than it had before, but taking a deep breath in and out, you open it. The ringing of the bell alerts everyone inside to the new customer, and Ken is the first to recognise you.

“Y/n!” He calls, a large smile on his face “it’s good to see you again.”

At hearing your name, the people you came to see all turn in unison. An’s the first one to rush over, almost jumping into a hug. She’s closely followed by the other three, though.

After An lets you go, the four of them all face you, worried, yet relieved looks on their faces. However, the silence was beginning to be deafening. It’s like you’re all too scared to speak. So, silently, Akito gestures to nearby table, for you all to sit down.

Taking the nearest seat, you find yourself sat between Mizuki and Toya. It didn’t help much with the awkward atmosphere, but at least you were all more comfortable. Annoyingly, Mizuki decides to give you a nudge, encouraging you to speak. It frustrates you, but you know she’s right, that’s what you are here to do after all.

Taking a deep breath in and out, you muster up all the courage you have and say, “I guess you’ve all got some questions…”

Pushing aside your anticipation and worry, you tell them everything. From your abusive father, to your solace in drawing, to the bullying from your ‘friends’, and even the guilt you felt from ignoring them. Throughout your talk, the others were still silent. Mizuki held your hand reassuringly as the expressions of the others grew sadder and sadder.

After you finish, you lift your head to look at everyone, and see pity and sadness in their faces. You want to run, you hate seeing their pity and it makes you want to get out of there. But Mizuki’s touch grounds you and soothes you. You still shuffle in your seat a bit, but you don’t leave. You just wait for their response.

After a second, An’s the first to speak, “Y/n, I’m sorry that you felt like you couldn’t trust us, I hope you can forgive us.” She finishes by bowing her head, and the others follow, agreeing with her while bowing.

“W-what, n-no! It’s not your fault, none of it is! If anything, all this is my fault.” You answer, flustered by their bows. “You have all been so wonderful and far too kind to me, and I was too afraid to just trust you.”

From across the table, Akito gives you a warm smile, “well I guess it’s no one’s fault then,” he says, “I think I can speak for all us when I say we’re just glad you’re here and you’re okay.”

“Shinonome-kun…” You mutter, feeling relief wash over you as the other three agree, nodding and smiling at you too.

“Seeeeee! I told you everything would be just fine ♥︎” Mizuki loudly proclaims as they squeeze your hand.

Toya also reaches out, gently placing his hand on your shoulder, “from now on, you can tell us anything, ok? We’ll be by your side, no matter what.” He says, though something in his eyes made you think that he was really just talking about himself. It’s strange, but it gives you a sense of comfort, knowing that Toya in particular was keeping an eye out for you.

“Thank you, Aoyagi-kun,” you respond, a bright smile on your face.

“Now! Who’s ready for some singing?” Akito’s powerful voice breaks through your thoughts as you’re reminded of what was going on here before you turned up: Vivid Bad Squad’s practice.

Raising your hand, you answer him, “me!” Mizuki joins you, raising her hand with yours and giving you a high five, “me too, Lil’ bro!”

“Heyyy, I told you to stop calling me that,” Akito says, annoyed, but still with a smile on his face.

“Yeah, but you can’t stop me,” Mizuki gloated back, sticking her tongue out at him as she did.

At that, Akito gets up from table and gives Mizuki a light slap on the head as he walks past. As he passes you, he throws a scrap of paper in your direction, with a note on it: just call me Akito, please. You giggle, reminded of the stuttery and nervous Akito who once apologised to you, and almost blush. Turning, you see the ginger smiling at you as he heads to the stage. The other three follow him, Kohane giving you a smile, An wrapping you in a side hug, and Toya squeezing your shoulder while giving you a warm look.

Mizuki wraps you in a true Emu-style hug telling you how proud she is of you, but also not hesitating to remind you how right they were. And she was right, things were okay, and maybe even better than they were before. You’d hoped for the best, and the best had almost definitely happened. Everyone had been so understanding and kind. This is true friendship, and you are so much happier for it. Relaxing into Mizuki’s embrace, you prepare for what was likely to be your favourite Vivid Bad Squad performance yet.

—————————————————————

“From now on, you can tell us anything, ok? We’ll be by your side, no matter what.”

What happened to me back there?

“Now! Who’s ready for some singing?”

Why was my voice so loud, I-I didn’t mean to shout?

‘Just call me Akito, please.’

Why couldn’t I just tell her, like An did?

Thoughts raced through Akito’s head as he walks towards the stage. His own actions confused him so much. When Toya had been speaking to Y/n, he reacted without even thinking, unknowingly raising his voice. The way they were looking at each other, it had just irritated him. But why?

It reminded him of when Toya told him he has a crush on Y/n. But he doesn’t, does he? Even if he did, it would never lead anywhere, right?

Standing on the stage, Akito has a view of everyone in the part of the cafe. Yet his gaze still lands on Y/n. As his sings, all he can think about is Y/n. He thinks about Y/n so much he almost forgets the lyrics.

As Vivid Bad Squad finish their set, Akito can’t help but look at your beautiful smile. Wait, what did I just think? His head swirling with thoughts of you, your drawings, how worried he was about you and relived he was when you came back, Akito finally comes to a conclusion he realised he should’ve made ages ago.

I-I do have a crush on her, don’t I? God, I feel so stupid for not realising it earlier.

Laughing to himself, Akito refuses to just accept his fate. Now he’s finally realised his feelings for you, Akito’s determined to win you over. Not even Toya would get in his way.

Chapter Text

Mizuki was right.

Rui was right.

They were all right and I was just too blind to see it.

They are my friends,

But they always were.

I’ll never let them go again.

I’ll cherish this forever.

—————————————————————

“Thank you all for coming to see our show!”

“We love seeing your smiles!”

“So we hope you’ll come again soon!”

“Until next time… ✨Bye bye✨!”

WonderlandsxShowtime’s cheerful closing remarks ring throughout the park. Since you’d been out later than expected, Rui invited you and Mizuki to come and see their evening show at PXL. Their shows were always fun and entertaining, designed to put a smile on your face, but this one hit different. The smile on your face is larger than any had been in a while and you feel like a young child again, giddily swinging your legs and clapping along with the rest of the audience.

Perhaps it’s because you’re already in a good mood, after all, the impromptu concert at Weekend Garage was a blast. Vivid Bad Squad’s singing was as beautiful and powerful as it always should be, and it gave you a bunch of ideas for drawings. You’d neglected to bring your sketchbook with you. Due to your low expectations, you hadn’t expected to be out so long. But you aren’t disappointed, in fact you’re happy, very happy. Ecstatic, some might say.

As the audience begins to disperse, you run up to the Wonder Stage. “Everyone, you were all so good! Your shows are always so exciting, thanks for another amazing one!” You hurriedly say.

“Ha ha ha! You should expect nothing less from a future star, such as myself,” Tsukasa proudly exclaims.

“Really, Tsukasa? She was complementing all of-“

“Thank you -✨wonderhoy✨ Y/n-chan!” Nene’s complaining was cut off by the ever-cheerful Emu.

As almost all of the audience is now gone, Mizuki decides to join you at the foot of the stage, “she’s right though. You were all super good.”

Rui jumps down from the stage to be level with the two of you, “fuu fuu~ Well thank you very much, you two. We did work awfully hard for tonight, so I’m glad you enjoyed it.” Turning to face you, he says, “and you certainly look a lot happier than you did when you left the house. I assume everything went well with Shinonome-kun and the others?”

“Yeah, yeah it did,” you respond, “it went really well. You two were right all along. I really should’ve listened to you.” While you’d been speaking, the other three troupe members had come down from the stage.

“Yaaaaaay, Y/n-chan’s all friends with everyone again!” Emu cheers while jumping on you, a true Emu-style hug, from the girl herself, was truly a privilege.

Laughing a little at Emu’s childish response, Nene adds, “I’m glad you made up with them too. You were so excited when you made friends and you get on so well together.”

“Me three,” Tsukasa states, “Toya seemed particularly upset when you didn’t respond to his messages, so to see both of you so happy again warms my heart.”

At the mention of Toya, you’re reminded of his words from before: from now on, you can tell us anything, ok? We’ll be by your side, no matter what. The way he’d looked you in the eyes then… It was as if he was just talking about himself. His voice said ‘we’, but he really meant ‘I’. It had been strange, but you brushed it off at the time, too caught up in the moment. Now, with Tsukasa mentioning Toya in particular being downcast at your silence, you remember the strange moment.

“Ummmm, hello? Earth to Y/n-chan?” You come back to the present with Mizuki’s hand waving in your face.

“Ah, sorry, guess I zoned out for a second there,” you excuse.

Mizuki dramatically places their hands on her hips, “more than a second. Did you hear anything we just said?”

“Uh, would you be mad if I said no?” You jokingly ask. At your silly response, all six of you have a little laugh together, enjoying spending time together.

Suddenly, an all too familiar mischievous grin found its way onto Mizuki’s face. Your laughter turning nervous, you ask, “what’s up Mizuki-chan?”

“Hehehe, I bet I know what you were thinking about.” She cryptically responds.

Even more nervous, you tentatively ask again, “a-and wh-what might that be?”

“Oh, I don’t know, perhaps a certain ginger…” Mizuki teases, their mischievous grin growing by the second.

You instantly realise what Mizuki’s about to say, but it’s too late:

“Shinonome-kun?”

“Akito?”

All four members of WxS also instantly realise, much to your dismay.

“Ahahaha, I’m sorry Y/n-chan,” Mizuki giggles, “I just couldn’t help it.”

“I wasn’t even thinking about him!” You frustratedly complain.

“But you are now, right?” Mizuki snickers.

You feel your cheeks flush as Shinonome Akito invades your thoughts. His kindness, his caring, his voice, his eyes, his beautiful olive eyes…

“N-no!” You stutter out, clearly lying.

“Oo oo, I know! I know!” Emu chants, flapping her hand in the air as she does.

“Know what?” Questions Nene.”

“Is it not obvious?” Emu questions in response. The other three shake their heads, oblivious of the obvious.

“Y/n-chan has a crush on Akito ☆!”

At Emu’s proclamation, you shuffle behind Mizuki embarrassed. However, she takes a large step to the side, revealing you to the three shocked faces. Well, two shocked faces. Nene didn’t find the news all that surprising, she was more annoyed that Emu figured it out before she did.

Tsukasa’s bold voice emerges through the silence, “Y/n, is this true?”

“Umm, y-yes,” you mutter, still embarrassed and very annoyed at Mizuki. You hadn’t even been thinking about Akito, you’d just been confused at Toya’s odd behaviour. But since Mizuki had mentioned him, you couldn’t get Akito out of your mind. It feels like you’d never be able to not think of him again, would that really be a bad thing though?

“Oh Y/n, why didn’t you tell me?” Rui’s disappointed voice cuts through your orange-tinted thoughts.

“I didn’t realise myself until Mizuki-chan mentioned it,” you say in your defence, “if I’d have realised before, I would’ve told you, you know that.”

Rui relaxes, still a little upset that he wasn’t the first to know, but content, “well it’s even better that you’ve made up then, isn’t it?”

“Yes!” Tsukasa cheers, “you could be like us!” He claims as he wraps himself around Rui, resting his head on the taller boy’s shoulder. Rui affectionately pats the blonde boy’s head, lightly blushing at the sudden hug.

“Yes,” he agrees before turning to you, “wouldn’t that be nice?”

—————————————————————

The moment you and Rui get home, you find yourself flopping onto the sofa, absolutely exhausted. It had been a longer day than you’d anticipated, and now you’re done.

You two had walked home with the other four, slowly saying goodbye to them all as you had to part. Now it’s just the two of you. Your mum’s already asleep as she has to get up early for work the next morning, so you’re fairly quiet as you make your way round the house.

“Hey, Y/n,” Rui’s voice makes you look up, “here, take this.” You follow his gaze and see your favourite snack in his hand.

Eagerly, you take it from him, “thank you so much!” You beam up at him.

Together, you sit in silence on the sofa for a while, quietly eating your snacks. After you finally finish munching away, you find Rui looking at you.

“What is it this time?” You ask. “No wait, lemme guess: you’re happy for me?”

“How did you know?” Your big brother responds, “is it really that obvious?”

Chucking, you answer “no, I just know you, and I know how much you care.”

“Well, you’re right.” Rui states, ruffling your hair, “I am happy for you because I do care. I was so worried when you didn’t want to see them. A part of me knew things would turn out all right in the end, but I couldn’t help but be concerned. You are my little sister after all.”

“Oh Rui,” you sigh, “I get that you can’t help it, but you really don’t need to worry so much. You were right all along. Akito-kun and the others are wonderful and I’m honoured to have actual and amazing friends.” Looking back at Rui, you see a sneaky smile on his face, not dissimilar to Mizuki’s mischievous grin. “Oh no,” you start, “not that face. What’re you thinking?”

“Me? Nothing.” Rui innocently says, “just hearing that you’re on a first name basis with your crush makes me smile, it’s definitely a step in the right direction.”

Feeling your cheeks heat up once again, you try to protest, “i-it’s not that b-big a deal! An asked me too!” But it was to little avail. Rui didn’t believe your feeble protest in the slightest. Amused, he simply started laughing.

At your brother’s laughter, you feel your cheeks get even redder. You love sharing moments with Rui, but he certainly tested your patience at times. This was one of those times.

Frustrated, you get up, going to head upstairs. “Don’t go, Y/n! You know I’m only messing with you.” Rui calls.

“I know,” you answer, “I’ll see you in the morning.”

Heading up the stairs, you really are shattered. However, you didn’t feel the tiredness as much as you usually do. This time, you fully accept why: your head is full of Akito. His bold and powerful singing, his fit and strong physique, his beautiful, shining, magical eyes. You can’t help but imagine what being in a relationship with him would be like.

But surely that’s never gonna happen, you tell yourself, shaking your head to get out of your fantasy. Yet a small part of your brain wouldn’t be quiet. He said you could call him Akito. Even though you’re the same age, it felt like such a privilege. There must’ve been a reason for that, a reason why he told you.

Maybe, just maybe, it was because he likes you too.

Chapter Text

I was hurt.

But that’s exactly it:

Was.

Finally,

That pain,

Is beginning to heal.

—————————————————————

You walk up to the entrance of Kamiyama High School, walking in step with your older brother: Kamishiro Rui. Something that once made you so nervous now warms your heart, as you look and see all your friends waiting for you.

Tsukasa’s hiding from a bug behind an amused Nene, An’s rambling to Mizuki about her girlfriend and even Emu’s there, trying to teach Toya and Akito how to ✨wonderhoy✨.

That was until they notice you. Tsukasa slowly comes out from behind Nene, who smiles at you, An’s rambling slows as she and Mizuki both frantically wave at you, Emu jumps up to say hi as Akito and Toya successfully wonderhoy, both of them blushing in embarrassment, before waving at you.

You feel a tear prick at the corner of your eye; you’d never feel lonely again with all this attention. Grabbing Rui’s hand, you rush towards your friends, eager to go and speak to them all.

Rui goes over to Tsukasa and Nene, as you say hi to Emu. She hugs you before dashing off, trying to make sure she’s not late at her own school. Laughing, you wave her off before turning around to see Akito and Toya in front of you.

“Akito-kun! Aoyagi-kun! I can’t believe you actually ✨wonderhoyed✨, you were pretty good at it too,” you joke, making the two boys blush once again.

“Yeah, Ootori-san can be very convincing when she wants to be,” Akito laughs off.

“Yes, she is a good teacher though,” Toya adds.

“Haha, I’m glad, it’s always more fun to ✨wonderhoy✨ with frien-“

You get cut off as An and Mizuki loudly head over, “Y/n-chan!” They shout in unison.

“An-chan! Mizuki-chan!” You cheer in response, happy to see them, “how are you?”

“Good, good,” says Mizuki, “but how about you?”

Pausing for a second, you find you can genuinely answer, “I’m good, pretty good, thanks.”

Mizuki and An high-five each other in excitement, happy that you’re happy, before Rui comes over, “I hate to break up this fine moment,” he says, “but we’re all going to be late if we don’t get to class soon.”

Mizuki looks unbothered, but Rui’s words seem to worry An, who starts fidgeting slightly. “We better get going then, come on Akito!”

“Oi, An!” Akito shouts, trying to fight as An drags him away. Nene quietly waves bye before following the two of them.

Tsukasa and Rui also turn to leave. Your brother smiles at you and warmly says, “I don’t think you need help getting to class anymore.” Then the two of them walk to their own classroom, hand in hand.

That just left you, Toya and Mizuki. Being almost alone with Toya reminded you of his odd words and what Tsukasa said about him. “Hey, Aoyagi-kun,” you start.

The blue-haired boy looks at you, “yes?”

Looking him in the eyes, you just can’t figure out how to question him, so you brush it off with a ‘nevermind’. “Come on, we better head to class too!” You say instead.

So the three of you stroll down the corridor together, quietly chatting away. Mizuki being the ball of energy she usually is and Toya taking a close interest in seemingly all you said. It was strange, but nice.

“This reminds me of my first day,” you say, “except this time we’re already friends.” You turn to look up at Toya and smile. “And of course you’re here, Mizuki-chan.”

Toya smiles back, though something makes you think your comment made him sad. “Yes,” he agrees, “I’m glad we’re… friends.”

“Me too!” Cheers Mizuki, “you guys are so nice and I’m honoured you call me your friend.”

“Ah, Akiyama-san, how nice to see you in. And with Aoyagi-san and Kamishiro-san, no less.”

The joyful voice of your sensei enters your conversation, as the three of you realise you’ve reached the door to your classroom.

Laughing, the three of you bow and head to your seats, happy to be together.

—————————————————————

“Annnn, why’d you have to drag me away like that?”

Akito’s complaining could be heard all along the corridor as An was practically dragging him to their class. Nene was walking a bit further forward, not wanting to disrupt their conversation.

“Because you would’ve made us late!” An exclaims, “why’d you want to hang around anyway?”

“Well maybe I wanted to speak to Y/n,” the ginger irritatedly grumbles in response.

An just huffs before saying, “well, you can talk to her later.” But then, her face lights up, as if she just realised something groundbreaking, that made her stop in her tracks. “Unless, it’s because you’ve got a crush on her…”

An’s voice changes to have a much more teasing tone and Nene pauses to look back at Akito, who’s turned slightly red.

Feeling his cheeks burning, Akito turns away from the two girls, however that only fuels An’s teasing. “Oh no way, you actually do!” She says, surprised.

“No I don’t, shut up!” Akito responds, still turned away.

An’s teasing soon turns into them bickering. Amidst the bickering, Nene realises she might know something that could change everything, but she has to be sure.

“Shinonome-kun,” she’s too quiet.

“Shinonome-kun,” still too quiet.

“Shinonome-kun!”

Nene finally got through to the bickering friends, who both turn to look at her in shock. “W-what?” Akito nervously asks, surprised by the usually quiet girl’s outburst.

“Do you actually?” She questions.

“D-do I actually what?”

“Do you actually have a crush on Y/n?”

Completely and utterly flustered, Akito just responds with a mumbled ‘maybe’ before turning away again, his face very red.

An jumps in to ‘translate’ Akito’s response, saying, “that totally means yes, by the way.”

Based off Akito’s reaction, Nene couldn’t help but agree. At the realisation that Y/n and Akito have a crush on each other, she laughs softly to herself. When her two friends look at her with surprise again, Nene just says, “come on, we’re gonna be late,” and continues walking.

Even though they’re confused, An and Akito follow Nene anyway.

—————————————————————

On your way to Weekend Garage, you couldn’t be happier. You’d been surrounded by you friends all day, and that wasn’t about to stop now. You couldn’t remember the last time you’d spent so much of your day with real friends - it was like a dream.

Kohane had met you guys at Kamikou to walk with you, and her and An are now much farther ahead than the rest of you, quietly chatting away, An hanging off Kohane’s arm.

So you’re left with Akito and Toya, two boys who are some kind of the kindest people you know. Though as much as you think Toya’s great, you can’t help but get distracted by Akito. Every time he talks, you feel yourself drawn to his voice.

Like now. Akito’s talking about their latest track, and you’re hanging off his every word. That is until Toya taps you on the shoulder several times, drawing your attention away from the ginger.

“Hey, Kamishiro?” He asks.

Curious, you nod, making it clear he’s got your attention.

Toya goes into his bag and rummages for a second before pulling out a keyring. Passing it to you, he says, “I saw this a-and I thought of you.”

Taking it off him, you see it’s a keyring of your favourite animal. You look back up at Toya and he’s smiling at you, “I hope you don’t mind, I-i just thought it’d be nice, especially after everything you told us.”

“Oh Aoyagi-kun,” you say, “you really didn’t have to, but thank you so much.”

Now distracted by your new keyring, you fail to notice Akito’s downcast face, clearly disappointed that Toya drew your attention away from him.

But Toya notices. Suddenly, Toya realises why Akito had acted so strange the last time the three of you were walking to Weekend Garage together. I’ll talk to Akito later, he decides, that’ll help clear the air.

But you just continue to bumble along, blissfully unaware of how much you’re wanted, but happy with how much you have.

Chapter Text

Spending time with everyone is great,

But sometimes,

I wish it was just me and Akito.

I feel bad for thinking it,

But I just can’t help it.

He’s just that amazing.

—————————————————————

It’s been a week. You can’t believe time’s gone so quickly. You’ve had a tone of fun hanging out with everyone, but Toya’s made a particular effort to spend time with you. Even though you’ve enjoyed the kindness you’ve been shown, you couldn’t help but notice the tension between Akito and Toya.

An and Kohane had been going on a ton of dates together, leaving just you and the boys, however Akito stayed a bit longer in school most days due to his lacking grades in certain subjects. It saddened you because you wanted to spend every second with Akito, but it couldn’t be helped. Strangely, when you suggested helping Akito with his studies, to Toya, he just brushed you off, saying Akito would be fine, and instead suggested you go get a drink together.

You could cut the tension with a knife, but you didn’t dare go near it, too scared to stir the pot. Instead, you just pretended it wasn’t there, and maybe the two would rekindle on their own.

It’s now one of those days. You’ve spent most of the afternoon with just Toya, missing Akito, but enjoying your time with Toya. He’d gone home now, but the Wonder Stage sits before you, proud and strong, and you admire your detailed drawing of it in your lap. You let out a small sigh, recalling the time you came to see a show here with the others. Akito’s smile had been so beautiful that night, it was a wonderful memory.

Caught up in your daydream, you don’t notice Rui coming over to sit next to you. “What’re you thinking about?” He asks. When he doesn’t receive a response, he tries poking you instead. When that still doesn’t work, he waves his hand in front of your face, before lighting hitting you on your head, finally knocking you out of your thoughts.

You give Rui an apologetic smile before he once again asks, “what’re you thinking about?” His voice much more mischievous than it was the first time.

“O-oh, n-nothing,” you stutter out, but the blush on your cheeks tells a different story.

“Ah, is that your new nickname for Shinonome-kun?” Rui jokes.

“Yes, yes, verrry funny,” you reply.

Rui laughs, enjoying teasing you, so you give him a small bonk on the head to bring him back to reality.

“Sorry, teasing you is just so much fun,” he excuses, “I like seeing you having fun with your friends, but I haven’t seen Shinonome-kun around lately, is he okay?”

Sighing, you answer, “yeah, he’s getting kept behind in class more because of the exams coming up.”

“Ah, I see,” Rui nods, “and how does that make you feel?”

Startled by Rui’s question, you respond truthfully, “well, sad. I wish I could spend more time with him. I don’t mind spending time with Aoyagi-kun though, he’s always very nice. And he has great taste in cafes.”

Rui looks thoughtful for a moment before giving you another question, “are you sure Aoyagi-kun doesn’t have any other motives for spending time with you?” When you don’t respond, Rui continues, “it’s just, I’ve been thinking about how Tsukasa-kun described him before you told them about your sketchbook, and the way he’s given you a present and bought you drinks. I could be thinking about this too much, and I probably have, but it’s maybe just something to ask him about”

After Rui finished speaking, you recalled Tsukasa’s words: Toya seemed particularly upset when you didn’t respond to his messages. You’d thought it was odd at the time, but hadn’t been able to ask Toya about it.

Turning to Rui, you have a more determined look on your face, “I’ll ask him tomorrow,” you say, “and I’ll get to the bottom of why he’s been acting so strange.”

—————————————————————

Toya had loved the past week. Spending time with you had become one of his favourite things to do. He enjoyed showing you his favourite cafes, letting you in on his songwriting process and learning more about you as a person. The more he learnt, the more in love he fell.

A week ago, he’d spoken to Akito at Weekend Garage, out of earshot of everyone else. He’d been worried for his best friend, but that concern was soon replaced with conflict. Akito had told him that he had a crush on Y/n too, and Toya wasn’t going to get in his way. Toya didn’t want to ruin their friendship, but the way Akito had spoken, scared him.

So he’d been far too happy when Akito had been getting kept back in class. Normally, he’d use it as an opportunity to help his friend and tutor him, but this time he jumped at the chance to spend more time with you. Alone time, too.

The past week had grown Toya’s confidence, especially around you. It felt like the two of you had become a perfect match. That’s why he’s decided he’s going to do it. Tomorrow.

Tomorrow’s the day Toya will ask you out.

It’d taken a lot of hyping up and self-praise, but Toya knew he was ready. That, and he didn’t know how much longer he could hide his feelings from you.

Bzzt bzzt

Kamishiro: Hey, wanna meet up at that cafe tomorrow?

Perfect, Toya thought, I can ask her tomorrow!

Of course, he responds, you can count on me to be there.

—————————————————————

Akito sighs heavily. Another extra class that’s just as boring as the last. He couldn’t help but think about what you and Toya were doing - without him.

It really hurt Akito to think about the two of you, but he couldn’t help it. And it wasn’t your fault that you couldn’t hang out with him. If anything, it’s his own fault.

Groaning, Akito buries his head in his hands, trying and failing to pay attention to the work. You consume his thoughts, and that’s just not fair.

When the teacher tells him to ‘lift his head up’, Akito opts to look out the window instead, imagining the fun you and him could have together, if you just got the chance. Looking away, Akito sighs again. You hadn’t offered to help him study, which he was kinda betting on because you’re super smart. He simply missed your presence, and it hurt how much time you were spending with Toya.

Maybe you just like Toya instead.

It’s a thought Akito had tried not to let cross his mind, but at times like this, he couldn’t help it. He really did wish he could control his thoughts sometimes.

It did make sense, as much as it felt like Akito was getting stabbed through the heart. Toya had told Akito of his plan to confess to you, so all Akito could do was look out of the window and hope that, tomorrow, you say no.

—————————————————————

Tomorrow

You arrive at the cafe a little early, hoping to grab a good seat before Toya gets there. You succeed, getting a cute booth by the window. When the waitress comes over, you order your favourite drink and a coffee for Toya, remembering which one he ordered last time you came. Toya arrives shortly after, coming over to you with a bright smile on his face. He looks excited, and you wonder why. You’d only asked him to meet for a drink after all.

“Hello Kamishiro,” he warmly says, “have you already ordered?”You nod as the blue-haired boy sits opposite you. “I’m glad you asked to meet,” he adds.

Surprised, you respond with, “you are?”

“Y-yes,” Toya says, suddenly looking nervous, “I-I wanted to ask you something.”

It’s then that the waitress returns, drinks in hand, and places them before the two of you. You both thank her before she leaves, and the two of you start to take small sips of your drinks. You relax a little as the warm drink fills you, helping you feel a bit calmer.

“I wanted to ask you something too,” you say, once you had a few sips, “but I think you should go first.” Call it intuition, but something told you that Toya’s question would answer your own.

“W-well,” Toya stutters, putting his coffee down, “I guess I should just get it over with.” You watch for a few seconds as Toya seemingly works himself up to something, before he looks you dead in the eyes.

“I-I have a crush on y-you, and I wanted to know if you feel the same.”

The blush on Toya’s face deepens as he quickly looks away in embarrassment, staring out of the window instead.

You’re absolutely shocked. You love Toya, but it’s purely platonic. You wince when you realise your intuition was right. This was why Toya had been acting strangely: it was a crush. How you feel towards Akito is how he feels towards you.

You want to speak, but nothing comes out. Thankfully, Toya seems to be lost in his head, allowing you to gather your thoughts. You feel awful, but you can’t tell him what he wants to hear, that would just be a disservice to both of you. But, you don’t want to hurt him and you don’t want to lose him. Toya’s such a dear friend to you and you care about him.

Needing to speak, you get Toya’s attention, “A-Aoyagi-kun?”He turns to look at you instantly, which only makes you feel worse. “I’m sorry,” you say, “but I only see you as a friend.” As Toya’s smile drops, you try to make things better, “b-but you’re one of my best friends and I really value and appreciate you. I don’t want to lose you as a friend, a-and I know you’re upset, but I don’t want this to completely change things between us.”

Toya looks downcast, his smile completely gone, as he takes a small sip of his coffee. He squeezes his eyes shut, maybe holding back tears, before trying to give you a smile again. It’s not as bright as it was before, but you can see how much he’s trying. “That’s okay,” he says, “I understand. Of course I’d like to still be friends.”

You feel like the worst person in the world, as you watch Toya quickly finish his coffee. He then gets up and takes his leave, saying goodbye to you first. You’re left, staring blankly out of the window, quietly finishing your drink. You can’t believe you’ve just done that, you just hurt Toya like that. You only hope Akito’s worth it.

—————————————————————

Akito’s strolling down Vivid Street, enjoying all the beautiful sounds, when one sound in particular catches his ears: sobbing. Hearing crying on Vivid Street was quite unusual, so Akito decides to go find out what’s wrong. He follows the sound to a small alleyway, and is beyond surprised when he finds,

“Toya?!”

The blue-haired boy quickly wipes his face, trying to make himself look more presentable, before muttering out a, “hey, A-Akito.”

Akito goes into the alleyway and grabs Toya by the shoulders, looking him in the eyes, “dude, what happened? Why are you crying?”

“I-, it’s-“ Toya starts, struggling to get his words out.

“Hey hey, it’s okay, man. Just try to calm down,” Akito comforts.

“It’s so stupid,” Toya mutters.

“No it’s not,” contradicts Akito, “nothing that makes you cry is stupid.”

“She said no.” Toya finally says, “Kamishiro doesn’t feel the same about me, she just wants to be friends.”

“Oh, Toya,” Akito murmures, trying to comfort his friend more.

Toya looks Akito dead in the eyes, “so good luck to you then.”

“C’mon Toya, don’t be like that.” Toya just huffs. “Why don’t we have a battle together? That’ll help you feel better, right?” Akito suggests.

“I suppose…” Toya begrudgingly agrees.

So the two walk out of the alleyway together, one certainly happier than the other, though he wouldn’t let it show. Akito would comfort Toya, help him feel better. But this had changed everything for Akito. You’d said no to Toya, so maybe, just maybe, you’d say yes to him.

The thought made Akito so very happy inside.

Chapter Text

Hey guys,

Just wanted to apologise for not posting yesterday. I’ve had an unexpectedly busy week and it’s caught up with me a bit. Also, I’ve actually only got two or three chapters left, unfortunately. So, I was wondering if you still wanted those spaced out, or you wait a bit and get all of the last chapters together. Lemme know which you’d prefer and I’ll do it. Anyways, sorry again, I’ll be sure to try and get it out soon.

Chapter Text

I can’t wait for the holidays!

I’m gonna have so much fun with Akito and the others.

Especially Akito.

I want to spend as much time with him as possible.

—————————————————————

One more week.

One more gruelling week of school.

And then you’re free.

The school holidays are fast approaching, and you can’t wait. Because the holidays are so close, the amount of tests had been picking up, and you’re exhausted. It felt like every second of your day was spent studying, and you know your friends feel the same.

Glancing behind you, you see Mizuki, half-asleep on her desk. You’re impressed that she made it into school today, but they keep sleeping through most of it anyway. Looking next to you, you see Toya. Still attentive as ever, but you can tell he’s ready for a break.

Surprisingly, not much had changed since the two of you had talked. You’d half-expected Toya to never want to talk to you again, or at least not want to hang out as much. But that hadn’t been the case at all. You still talked, probably the same as before, and you still hang out together, just not usually alone. It was really nice and you’re happy that the two of you can still be friends. You did wish you could read his mind sometimes, though. Toya had always felt somewhat mysterious to you, and now that was only amplified. Sometimes you catch yourself wondering what things would be like if you said yes. Only sometimes though.

As the bell rings to signal the end of the day, you’re knocked out of your thoughts. Behind you, Mizuki jolts awake and groans, complaining about not being able to sleep. Slowly, the three of you head to the school entrance together. The walk seems to wake Mizuki up a bit, hopefully giving her enough energy to get home. You  and Toya wave goodbye to them, wishing them the best, as you wait for the others. You two had developed a comfortable silence. Thankfully, it’s never awkward, and today’s no exception.

It takes a while for An and Akito to emerge, and when they do, they both look excited. An rushes over, while Akito keeps a slower, more chill pace. When she reaches you, An starts cheering, “we don’t have to do extra classes in the holidays!”

“That’s great!” You smile back.

“I know right!” An continues, “we did enough extra work in the term and it all paid off!”

“Well done, Shiraishi, Akito,” Toya complements as Akito approaches the group, smiling at you as he does. “We better get going then,” Toya finishes and gets up, ready to walk to Weekend Garage.

An bounds ahead, likely looking forward to meeting Kohane, while you fall in step with Akito. Toya walks ahead of you, but behind An. You teasingly nudge Akito, “bet you’re glad you get the holidays off,” you say.

“Yeah, yeah, pretty happy,” he says, “means I get to hang out with you more.” The ginger looks at you as if what he just said was no big deal, and you look back, outwardly keeping your cool, but inwardly bursting with excitement at the thought of Akito wanting to spend time with you.

You look back at in front of you just in time to avoid a lamppost dead ahead of you. You step to the side, avoiding the lamppost, but bumping into Akito instead, making him drop his bag. “Ah, I’m so sorry!” You apologise picking his bag up and passing it back to him, only to see a smirking face in front of you. That face was more damaging than any tease could be.

Flustered, you turn away and continue walking, taking care to avoid any lampposts without bumping into people. You hear Akito giggling behind you, so you speed up, walking in line with Toya.

“Oh come on, Y/n, don’t be like that!” Akito calls from behind.

“What happened?” Toya asks, curious.

“I bumped into him and he made fun of me,” you sigh.

Much to your annoyance, Toya starts giggling too, clearly finding your embarrassment amusing. You look ahead, hoping to see An so you could walk with her instead, but An’s stupidly far down the road. She’d spotted Kohane waiting for them on the corner and rushed ahead to speak to her.

Frustrated, you try to stride ahead of the two boys, but Akito catches up, with Toya still laughing behind him. You look over at Akito, who’s grinning at you, and find your frustration calming. Akito just has that effect on you. You give him an affection punch before giving in. “Go on,” you say, “tease all you want, I deserve it.”

For the rest of the trip to Weekend Garage, Akito (and sometimes Toya) made very unfunny jokes about you ‘getting so distracted by Akito that you fell into him’. You pretended to be annoyed, but inside, you actually enjoyed it all too much.

—————————————————————

The rest of the week wasn’t much different. You and Vivid Bad Squad hung out together, at Weekend Garage or elsewhere, singing, drawing and chatting. You made sure you spoke to Akito a lot, trying to learn all about him. You found out about his obsession with pancakes, his fear of dogs, his strict training schedule, and you made note of it all.

You weren’t sure what exactly had drawn you to Akito initially, whether it was his beautiful eyes, his amazing voice, his tough persona, you didn’t know. But you know exactly why you like him now. He’s kind and funny, but also strong and determined. He has a tough side, but his soft side is very fluffy, like the pancakes he likes. And his passion is very attractive. The look he gets in his eyes when talking about singing, is when he looks his best.

And throughout the week, the more you spoke to him, the more you felt yourself falling more and more. It made you dream about being together more often, but you’re still too scared to ask, no amount of teasing from Mizuki would change that.

But unknown to you, Akito’s confidence was building, day by day, and now, he thinks he’s ready.

—————————————————————

The holidays are finally here, and Akito’s gonna do it. It’s his turn now; Shinonome Akito is going to confess his feelings to you.

Over the past week, you’ve spent more time together than ever before, so Akito had gotten to know you better. He’d made a mental note of your favourite colour, animal, food, subject and more, all so he can buy you things you’ll like, just to make you happy.

He just had one problem now: he wasn’t sure how to confess to you. Akito knew he didn’t want to go to a cafe, as that’s where Toya had confessed, but he wanted it to be somewhere meaningful to both of you.

Suddenly, he laughs, remembering something. He’s got it now, the perfect place.

Now, all that’s left is to go buy the finishing touch.

—————————————————————

Sighing, you walk into the Kamiyama High School gardens. It’s the holidays, and yet you still have to turn up to school. But it was Akito who’d asked you to meet, so you couldn’t exactly say no. You’d got the message late last night, and it’d surprised you.

Btzz btzz

Akito-kun: hey, can we meet at the school gardens tomorrow? I gotta talk to you about something

It’d surprised you, but not in a bad way. Spending time with Akito was always super amazing, but you just didn’t know why it had to be at school, especially during the holidays.

You take your time walking through the gardens though, enjoying the beautiful flowers, and even taking pictures of the ones Rui takes care of, to show him how well they’re coming along. The sun is shining and the birds are singing, the air feels almost romantic.

Finally, you find Akito, hidden within the gardens, and see him pacing around, seemingly nervous.

“Hey Akito-kun!” You cheer, startling the ginger, who turns around and awkwardly waves at you.

“Hey, Y/n! How you doing?” He responds, going to sit on a nearby bench.

You join him before answering, “yeah, I’m good. Kinda annoyed that you made me come to school in the holidays though,” you add, teasing him.

“W-well, I just th-thought it’d be an appropriate place,” Akito stutters, making his nervousness evident.

Wondering why he’s so nervous, you decide get on with what you came here for. “So,” you start, “why’d you wanna see me? And why so nervous? I’m not scary, I promise.”

“O-okay, so,” he says, before stopping mid-sentence, taking a deep breath.

“Sooooo…” you prompt, trying to get Akito more relaxed.

“So,” he tries again, taking a final deep breath before quickly saying, “I have a crush on you and wanted to ask if you wanna be my girlfriend.”

You watch Akito’s face go a bright shade of red, and feel your own go a similar colour. You smile as you realise why Akito wanted to meet here, it’s the place he’d awkwardly and nervously apologised to you, all that time ago. You smile wider when you think about all the daydreams you’ve had about you and Akito spending time together, and that now they could come true. You can’t help but laugh when you realise Mizuki was right. Your feelings were reciprocated.

Akito takes your laughter the wrong way, as you see his face fall. Hurriedly, and without thinking, you put your hand on his shoulder, getting his attention back on you. Suddenly, time stopped. Your eyes had met and you could feel yourself getting lost in them. Whoever said that eyes are the windows to the soul, certainly wasn’t wrong. In this moment, you feel like you understand Akito more than you ever had.

That’s when you suddenly realise you haven’t responded. “Yes,” you say, smiling, “I’d love to be your girlfriend.”

You see Akito’s eyes light up, shining as your words settle in. Immediately, he turns to his bag, which you hadn’t noticed before, and pulls out a box of your favourite chocolates.

“I-I thought we c-could share these,” he stutters out, offering you the box.

Grinning stupidly, you take it from him and instantly open it, offering Akito the first chocolate. He takes it, and you two spend the rest of the afternoon together, basking in the sun, sharing chocolate, and maybe a little hug or two.