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Yuu is always willing to take whatever media appearances she can get, but sometimes, she’s less pleased with what she ends up with than others. Mainly, if she ends up doing something where she isn’t even visible, and if she ends up doing anything at an inconvenient time, then she’s left wondering what the point was to begin with, but she always tries to be gracious, because any attention is good attention.
Still, she regrets accepting this interview almost as soon as she does. Put Your Hands Up is a fairly high profile show for it’s late time slot, but that doesn’t change the fact that it’s still a radio show that airs in the middle of the night, and it doesn’t change the fact that the very eccentric host commands quite a bit of attention wherever he goes. Even if she manages to get listeners while she’s on air, she isn’t so sure that she’ll be able to make much of an impression with him screaming next to her.
So, on the night of the interview, she’s not in the best mood. In fact, she’s a little angry just going into it, and even though she knows that she shouldn’t go in with such a bad attitude, she can’t help it. More than anything, Yuu just wants to get this over with.
“And how’re you doing on this lovely night?” is the first thing Hizashi Yamada asks her, using his “host” voice even though there’s no one around to hear him but her. She’s hard before that he lives every moment like he’s broadcasting, even going so far as to refer to those he’s in conversation with as his “listeners”.
“I’m doing great,” she replies with a bright, forced smile.
“Let me tell you, it’s such an honor to have a new, popular hero like you coming on the show!” he says. “We mostly focus on music here, but I know most of my listeners are big fans of the pro hero scene, so I like to get as many special guests as I can.”
She supposes it’s flattering that he thinks she’s such a big deal, but, then again, she knows that she’s fought tooth and nail to make such a name for herself right off the bat. Whether it be exploiting her sex appeal or stealing whatever credit she can, Yuu is absolutely cutthroat when it comes to getting ahead.
They settle into their interview, and she's glad that, though she's the main attraction of the night, her interview still comes early in the show, after only a few songs. Yamada tells her beforehand that he's got a few questions he's picked out, as well as some sent in from listeners, and she has a chance to look them over and plan her answers while she waits. There's nothing weird or too personal in the bunch, so she's fine with all of them.
“First up, I think all of want to know what made you decide to be a hero?” he asks, and she goes into a generic description of a desire to help others inspired by watching pros on TV as she grew up. Only about half of what she says is false.
“It’s pretty safe to assume that you’re a big fan of the spotlight, am I right?”
“Well, I’d say any hero looking to succeed doesn’t shy away from it,” she replies.
“But you’ve got a pretty big reputation! Pardon my puns,” he says with a laugh. “I think a lot of people would say it’s more than not shying away from the spotlight.”
“Well, I want to make it big,” she replies, matter-of-factly. “Pardon my pun.”
Things continue on as usual, but she can’t help but notice the grins Yamada gives her, and the almost knowing stares from over his sunglasses- but she isn’t exactly sure what it is that he thinks he knows. She also isn’t sure why he’s still wearing those shades inside, this late at night, when there’s no one here to see him but her, but she decides that it’s better not to question more of his eccentricities. The interview eventually winds down and he goes back to playing music, and she assumes that she can take her leave as soon as it becomes polite to do so.
“That was pretty painless, huh?” he asks, once they’re off the air.
“Thank you for your time,” she says politely, already starting to stand.
“I did have some other questions for you,” he says, stopping her short. “But I’ll be the only listener, so don’t worry about any of your beloved fans overhearing!”
“What kind of questions?”
“Why do you really love the limelight so much?” he asks, his voice strangely serious. “If you could answer with one hundred percent honesty, I’d really appreciate it!”
“What’s there to tell? It’s just the generic, ‘I didn’t get enough attention in my childhood’ bullshit,” she says with a shrug, not even sure why she’s going so far as to tell him that much.
“Did you ever feel like it didn’t matter how loud you got, nobody ever listened anyway?” he asks, in that same serious voice that sounds so weird coming from him.
“That’s a little personal, don’t you think?”
“You have every right to ask to move on to the next question!” For a moment, his usual bravado returns, and she wonders if he’s feeling hurt now.
“So, how’d you guess that?” she asks, deciding to cut him a little slack.
“That’s just why I’m such a spotlight hog,” he replies. “A little fun fact for such a great listener!”
“It’s kind of hard to imagine you needing attention,” Yuu replies bluntly, and he laughs.
“I bet it is! But I really, really did have a hard time when I was younger, and that’s half the reason I’m so obnoxious.” He leans forward and stage-whispers, “The other half is that this is just my personality.”
“Are you still insecure about it?”
“Are you interviewing me now? Well, I do love taking questions from the audience! If I’m answering completely honestly, then of course I am! Why else would I spend so much time talking on a music focused show?” he asks, giving her another wink over his glasses. “It was worse when I was younger though, and any time I’d get excited about something, it totally killed my mood once I figured out no one was really listening. I would have given anything to have someone just listen to me ramble, and I really valued the few who actually did!”
“Yeah, I can...relate to that,” she confesses. Now, she’s kind of glad she didn’t rush out of there, though she never expected to bond with him over something like this.
“So, what I’m getting at, is that I’ll listen to you whenever you need it,” he says, grinning at her. “In fact, I’d love to listen to you, and do another one of these little private interviews. So? What d’ya say?”
Initially, the idea of agreeing to spend any more time with Yamada would have been absolutely terrible to her, but now, Yuu finds herself ready to agree. What little time she’s spent with him tonight has given her a different image of him, and she supposes she’s not had enough to base her opinion of him off of. She even feels a little bad for judging him before she got to know him and she tells herself that that’s the reason why she doesn’t hesitate much before saying, “That sounds good. What did you have in mind?”
“What about dinner?” he asks. “Unless that’s too forward?” But the grin never fades from his face, and something tells her he doesn’t care how forward it is at all.
“I think I can manage that,” she replies, and is much more excited by the idea than she’d ever admit.