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The open stadium venue was packed to the brim, excited chatter all around and people readying their glowsticks, waiting for the music to start and the band to come on stage. 2 children around the age of seven sat in their parents lap.
Miya Atsumu fidgeted, completely bored and not understanding the excitement of the crowd or why he had been forced to come here. On the other hand, Osamu looked around with breathless awe, taking in all the lights and glowsticks and the stage with the most wonder his little heart had ever experienced.
“Are you having fun, boys~?”
“Mhm~!” Osamu nods, not daring to take his eyes off the lights. Atsumu rolls his eyes and kicks his feet outwards.
“No way, it’s so boring! What are we supposed to get from this? It’s sooooo boring!” His mother taps his nose, smirking.
“Just wait. When the stage lights up, the idols will come out. You’ll love them, Atsumu.”
“Nu-uh, I bet I won’t!”
“The stage lights up too?” Osamu’s curious wonder is answered not by his mother or father, but by the stage suddenly coming to life. His eyes sparkle with all the lights and he leans forwards excitedly as the spotlights sweep upwards into the audience before focusing on the centre of the stage. From below the stage, a platform rises, and there are five boys standing there. They’re probably still teenagers, but closer to their 20’s.
The audience goes silent. Atsumu perches his chin in his hands and sighs, bored as anything. He can’t even remember being this bored in his young life. To try and entertain himself, he looks at the screens above the stage that have zoomed in on each of the members.
There are three who wear black tailcoats, black trousers like they’ve come from a suit, and orange shirts. Orange! Atsumu clicks his tongue against the roof of his mouth, because who would spoil black with such a bad colour?! Black was cool on its own!
One of them, the black haired one in the ‘right’ middle, wears glasses. To his left is a blond, tall with a grin that warns of mischief, as if he’s going to do something astounding to wow the crowd all by himself.
The one standing confidently in the middle, like he belongs there, has blond hair with noticeably dark messy roots, a headband in place to push it back. He exuberates an air of authority, like he’s the leader of the group.
The other two members wear similar outfits but in different colours. On the outside right, a boy with shaven hair a midnight blue tone has a red tailcoat and trousers, and black shirt. On the outer left is another natural blond with sharper eyes than the other two, with a white tailcoat and trousers, a light blue shirt with one button undone.
All five have two little stars on each of the shoulder pads, and one large star on the back of their tailcoats in the same colour as their shirts. Just as he’s growing bored of his observations, all five raise their microphones at the same time.
“We are… Star of Stars! And this is our new song, just for you: Wonderful Wonder!!!” A loud burst of cheers from the audience piques Atsumu’s interest, whilst Osamu covers his ear with a wince.
Then, the music starts. It begins slowly, elegant violin with soft piano notes, but it only lasts for 15 seconds as the stage erupts with lights and techno music, and fun! The idols on stage starts to dance, and Atsumu is already enraptured. Then, they start to sing.
It only takes four minutes for his heart to be completely set, and at the end of the performance, he turns around to his mother with a beaming grin and puts his hands on her cheeks, shouting to be heard over the applause all around.
“Mama! I’m gonna be an idol when I grow up!”
~
Osamu was stubborn, Atsumu would give him that much. At 16, they were here for auditions into Idol☆JUNIOR, a company that specialized in raising young talents to become much loved idols. Only one unit a year made it to the grande stange, where Atsumu had first set his heart upon becoming an idol, but they had to be in a unit for the opportunity to even train for the year.
And Osamu wanted nothing to do with it.
“Come on! I’m begging you, ‘Samu! This is my dream! This is everything I’ve ever practiced for! I need you just to audition! Please!”
“I told you I was only coming for the journey.” Osamu taps on his electronic pad, something he’d more or less renovated into a control panel for the set of equipment in the boot of the car.
As a rule, the idols had to have their own equipment to audition. Most bought a stereo with their backing track. Atsumu brought his twin, who had self-taught himself everything to do with backstage sound and lighting. Osamu was the shadow, the control, whilst Atsumu was the light, the star.
“I can’t audition on my own! I need you with me! You have to be a unit, a unit! And cus we’re twins, there’s no way they won’t put us through. It adds like, 10 aesthetic points. You can drop out straight afterwards!”
“And where would that leave you?”
“They’d put me in a unit with anyone else left over from dropouts, or just add me into an already formed group. But you know the song I want to audition with, and I need you there!” Osamu raises an eyebrow in his brother’s direction, sighing when Atsumu puts his hands together pleadingly.
“Fine… But only for the audition. I’m dropping out straight after and signing up to the backstage course.”
“I owe you a yogurt!”
“You owe me your life.”
“... Will a yogurt suffice?” Osamu shoves at Atsumu’s side as he slides his pad under arm, getting out the car door. Atsumu follows quickly, knowing that if he’s going to stay on Osamu’s good side just until the audition is done, he’ll have to offer his brother an uncomfortable amount of help.
Usually, being twins, they’d just bug each other until it reached a full blown fight.
“Want me to grab anything from the boot?”
“No, you’ll break it.”
“Wha-!? I’m not clumsy!”
“No, but you have a remarkable ability to break anything of mine that you touch.”
“Oh, that’s generally on purpose.” Osamu glares at Atsumu, who smirks and shrugs with no apology.
“You’re such a shit grenade.”
“And you’re a chicken ass.”
"Shut up, scum of the earth.”
“Don’t diss me, I was here first!”
“We’re twins, shit for brains.” Spitting out the last words, Osamu shoves a briefcase into Atsumu’s arms.
“Don’t drop it. That’s your outfit, it took 53 working hours to thread it with E-textiles and add the LED lights with working wires.”
“It’s all programed already?”
“Exactly to your specifications.” There’s a glint in Osamu’s eyes that Atsumu doesn’t want to ask about. Knowing his brother, asking a stupid question would get him an equally stupid, sarcastic answer. Loading up the equipment onto a trolley, the twins head inside to the lobby of the Idol☆JUNIOR building.
“Osamu. Holy shit, ‘Samu.”
“What?”
“Look over there!”
“... It’s a person. Big wow.”
“Not just any person! That’s Mizoguchi Sadayuki, one of the Star of Stars!” Osamu squints in his direction, and sure enough, despite 9 years of aging, it’s one of the members of the legendary idol group.
“Cool.” Atsumu’s face wildly scrunches up in disbelief and offence at the casual comment.
“That’s it? We’ve witnessed a god and all you have to say is ‘cool’? Are you- Are we even related?!”
“Sometimes I do wonder… Besides, I always thought Shimada was the better singer.”
“I’m gonna stab you in your sleep. I just- I can’t believe- The absolute audacity-... ‘Samu, you have to die to atone for your sins.” Osamu snorts with a hint of amusement, swiping some things around on his pad, attention wholly focused on the backstage aspect of Atsumu’s audition.
“So do we have a unit name or are we just ‘Tsumu and ‘Samu?”
“Albireo! It’s a binary star system, so we’re essentially twin stars!” With a weary sigh, Osamu waves a hand towards the bathrooms.
“Go and get changed. I didn’t make that suit for nothing.”
“What about you? I know you just… Adore your shabby little homeless look, but there’s no way we’ll pass the audition if you wear that.”
“It’s technically not my audition.”
“I’ll never forgive you if you ruin this for me.” Atsumu’s chilly, deadpan voice makes Osamu shudder, something which delights the older twin as he carefully takes the briefcase into the bathroom. He holds his breath as he undoes the latches and lifts the lid. His breath leaves him in one awe-filled swoop.
A black military-style suit with white accents, complete with a cape that mimicked the tailcoats the twins had first seen Star of Stars wearing. It was elegant and refined, and Atsumu knew Osamu had made this with his best interests in mind.
Sometimes being a twin wasn’t as bad as he made it out to be.
What really throws him off and stuns him though is that underneath the black suit is another one, in reversed colours. Osamu had been planning on doing this with him all along. He picks up the little note on top of the white suit, unfolding it to read.
“Despite having the same face, we both know I’ll look better than you. Put the damn suit on and come watch over the equipment so I can change. Hurry up, idol nerd.”
“... I don’t know whether to hug him or hit him…”
“Hit him. That’s always the fun option.” Atsumu spins around to see a stranger leaning against the sinks on the other side of the bathroom, using the mirrors to apply make-up. Just a simple eye-liner, mascara, and fuckton of pearlescent glitter powder.
“I would, if my audition didn’t rely on him.”
“Oh? Are you dragging someone along just for the audition? He’ll drop out afterwards? You’ll get added into a group?” Atsumu almost chokes on his own spit whilst changing.
“How did you know?!” The stranger smiles, closing his make-up box and flashing up a peace sign.
“Because I’m doing the exact same~. My kouhai and I came together, but as any idol knows, 5 is the golden number, so we brought three friends. I had to bribe Iwa-chan with keychains! Godzilla keychains! I just hope the brute doesn’t completely flub my choreography.” Holding back a snicker, Atsumu tucks the little box for his electronic suit into a pouch just inside the trouser leg.
“Good luck with that. Hope you get put in a good group.”
“You too! Bye bye~.” The stranger flits away, a skip in his step, and Atsumu wonders if he knows the back of his skirt is tucked into his underwear. Too late to tell him now. Besides, if that means he loses points, it also means Atsumu’s competition is annihilated. That’s just the way the idol world works.
Atsumu strives to be a star, no matter how many others he has to make fall.
Humming, he walks back to Osamu, handing over the briefcase. Osamu smirks because he knows from Atsumu’s expression that the first part of the note wound him up, strutting away to get into his white version of the outfit he created for his brother.
His very bored brother. His very bored brother with a habit for never sitting still and getting into trouble. Glancing at the equipment, Atsumu reckons he can spare a few minutes… So he walks across the room to the water fountain, pouring himself a cup of cold water. He’s gotta keep his voice lubricated.
“Don’t worry, Kageyama~. Just because you don’t know the names of the moves, doesn’t mean you can’t dance them.”
“Are- Are you sure? There won’t be a quiz?”
“No, no, just an audition. Why don’t you run through the moves now quickly? Before Hinata, Noya and Tanaka get back.”
“Okay, Suga-san.” Atsumu quietly shuffles to peer round the corner, watching two people dancing out what must be their choreography in perfect synchronization. The one in the dark blue suit with silver hair has a more approachable air, like a true idol, refreshing smile and a gentle sway to his dance.
The one in a black suit with black hair is much more enthusiastic in his dancing, making everything look twice as dramatic. He’s obviously a dancer more than a singer, but every idol group needs balance. Some sing better, some dance better, but they all come together in the end.
“That’s it. I have no idea why you were so worried, Kageyama. Even the guy peeking around the corner is impressed~.” Atsumu suddenly reevaluates his first impression. Refreshing, my left foot. Satan, more like.
He puts on a grin as he emerges, holding his plastic cup up in greeting.
“Mhm, it was incredibly good. I can only imagine the song that goes with it.”
“Thank you!” Whilst Kageyama - as Atsumu realizes his name is - turns to check through their paperwork at Suga’s suggestion, the silver haired beauty leans in with an air of mischief.
“Next time you want to watch someone, just ask~.”
“... Tch...” He walks off, leaving Suga to laugh at his bashful departure and Kageyama to shout at someone else as they approach. As he enters back into the lobby, Atsumu freezes. He chucks his water in the bin, not even caring to finish it, and speedwalks over.
Because there’s a group around Osamu’s equipment.
“Hey!” At his cry, they look up in his direction, but none of them back off or look guilty. In fact, one of them, with hair like a rooster has the audacity to raise a hand as if saying hello to an old friend.
“Yo~. Interesting set up you got here.”
“What, you stealing ideas or something?” Rooster-head stares with wide eyes, then barks out an ugly laugh.
“No way, no way! I’m not really into this idol thing like Kenma and Akaashi.” He gestures to the short one with badly dyed hair, and another person, who is just as stunning as the stranger he met in the bathrooms. He has green eyes. Green eyes. That’s a surefire ticket for an idol!
“Nice to meet you. Pardon our behaviour, Kuroo-san was just nerding out over the rig.”
“Crazy nerding out. This stuff’s expensive and fine as hell! I would kill to have anything like this!”
“Glad to see someone appreciates it.” Osamu approaches in his white suit, an opalescent shine to it as it catches the light from a window. Kenma stares in horror at it, almost as if he’s questioning why someone would want to stand out so much. Kuroo whips his head around like a hound catching a scent, and moves forwards like a dart to shake Osamu’s hand.
“This is your stuff? It’s incredible! You- You must be professional!” Osamu shakes his head, although his cheeks flush with the praise.
“Not at all. I taught myself and worked many hours to save up for base materials.”
“You built this?” As his brother’s eyes light up, Atsumu groans. This means Osamu is going to go on one of his massive geek monologues, explaining every single last detail. It’s probably the most excited he ever gets.
But this time, Atsumu doesn’t have to pretend to listen. Kuroo engages in the conversation, and the two nerds are shooting weird words back and forth that Atsumu pulls a face at.
“Either of you two understand this?”
“No.”
“A little… Kuro makes me help him learn it…”
“Does it come in a Japanese version?” Kenma huffs a tiny laugh, although his eyes never stray from his handheld console.
“No~... Not unless you’re interested in technical stuff… Like them.”
“Akaashi!!!!” Another person come over, material over their stretched out arms and the brightest golden eyes Atsumu has ever seen, which he finds almost right in his face as the new person tilts his head curiously in Atsumu’s direction.
“Bokuto-san, this is, ah…”
“Miya. The older one.” Osamu breaks from his conversation for a record 0.5 seconds to smack the back of Atsumu’s head before going back to technical stuff, showing Kuroo his rig and electronic set.
“Nice to meet you, Miya!!! I’m Bokuto! I did these guys costumes, don’t they look great?” Atsumu glances over the shrine maiden inspired costumes, but in different dark colours - navy or Rajah ruby - with bright glittery spots that Atsumu supposes are stars.
“They’re great! I love the large sleeves. You got a lot of exaggerated movements in your choreography?” Akaashi smirks and tilts his head down to shadow his eyes.
“That would be telling, Miya-san~. We’ll share details after the auditions. I’m sure we’ll all get through.” He lifts his arms up as he talks, Bokuto down on one knee and wrapping a gold silk sash around his waist and stitching it in place, holding the needle and thread in his mouth as he manipulates the clothes folding to a degree of perfection.
Bokuto must be solely along for support, as he isn’t in the same costume as the other three. Kuroo, like Osamu, is probably just auditioning to help his friends though. A lot of the groups have odd numbers, and Atsumu is starting to wonder if he should have blackmailed Suna into joining them…
“Alright, can everyone hear me?!” The booming voice at the front of the hall followed by a high pitched squeal has many cover their ears, and Osamu almost bolts. Ever since the Star of Stars grande stage performance, he’s hated any loud noise he doesn’t create or programme himself. Atsumu gives his shoulder a comforting squeeze.
“Ukai, I really don’t think you need the megaphone…”
It’s them.
Star of Stars, prevailing celebrities in the idol world, reaching far beyond the oceans surrounding Japan, are right here, in this room. Ukai Keishin frowns, glares at his megaphone, and passes it off to Takinoue Yuusuke to place on the counter next to him.
“Can you hear me at the back?” Those furthest from the idol group sound their agreement, and Naoi grins as he pulls a list out from his jacket.
“Alright, we’re gonna start the auditions! All of you have your unit number on the acceptance forms you should have printed off. If you didn’t, please talk to Mizoguchi and he’ll sort you out.” Naoi nods at Takinoue, who clears his throat.
“As you know, there are limited places. Only half of you here will get into Idol☆JUNIOR academy, and even then, only one unit can perform on the grande stage at our annual event.” He passes off to Shimada by nudging his upper arm. Glasses slipping down his nose, he takes a moment to push them back up before putting on a dazzling smile.
“But even with the seriousness of the event, there’s one thing to keep in mind. This is an audition, not a trial! There’s always another year, and the most important thing is to have fun! We’ll be looking for those who are truly enthusiastic about the idol life!”
“I have nothing to add.”
“Aww, c’mon Sadayuki! Say something encouraging!” Pushing Naoi off him, Mizoguchi puts a finger to his lips before nodding at his own thoughts.
“Don’t fuck up.” The other four practically tackle him, screeching about how that’s not encouraging at all, they were supposed to lighten the mood, idols aren’t supposed to swear in public, etc etc etc.
Atsumu is slightly crushed to realise his idols are just… Normal people… They’re just a group of 5 boys - now men - dorking around and being friends like anyone else… But, in a way, it’s also a relief. He acts like that with Osamu most of the time. They’re brothers, of course they tease and wrestle and wind each other up, so knowing that he can be an idol and keep all that is a blessing in disguise.
Star of Stars regains their composure, and Ukai snatches the paper from Naoi.
“Unit 001, Lovely in Lilac, please come through for our first audition of the day!” Atsumu breathes out a long, slow exhale, finding a seat to sit in whilst he waits. He’s not nervous, but as group after group emerges in tears he starts to feel the pressure.
Trying to stave it off, he talks with Kenma and Akaashi as much as he can whilst Bokuto fixes little bits of their costumes. Kuroo and Osamu are still talking in that weird nerd language.
“Unit 036, Blue Castle, come on in.” As Atsumu looks up at this group, he notices the stranger from the bathroom and the stranger notices him. He waves, flaunting off his confidence, though his hand grips that of whom Atsumu can only guess is his nervous kouhai.
“Good luck!” The stranger laughs, giving him a salute.
“Thanks~!” They disappear into the audition room. Atsumu twiddles his fingers as he watches Suga and Kageyama’s group running through their choreography again and again, quietly singing along. It’s hard to tell which song is which as all the idol hopefuls rehearse in the last few minutes.
“Want to run through your routine, ‘Sumu?” Atsumu looks up at his brother and shakes his head.
“Nah, I don’t want to waste energy.”
“Okay. Let me know if you change your mind.”
“I won-” He cuts himself off, looking back towards the audition room as the door opens. Blue Castle steps out, and whilst three of them seem perfectly fine, relieved almost, and say their goodbyes to walk out, the bathroom stranger and his kouhai return to their seats with confusion. Pushing himself up, Atsumu goes over to them.
“Hey, what happened to that good luck I gave you?” Bathroom stranger snorts, not in a mean way, but too upset to be a laugh.
“It stopped us getting rejected off that bat, but… We were asked to wait here until the end. Iwa-chan, Watacchin and Makki went to get milkshakes. I- I don’t know what the waiting means. Oh, I’m Oikawa, by the way~. This is my Kouhai, Yahaba!” Yahaba raises an eyebrow.
“Is all black really a wise choice for an idol audition?”
“Well, Excuse me!” Oikawa laughs, pinching the bridge of his nose.
“Sorry about him~. He gets pissy when he doesn’t know what’s going on.”
“How are you so cheerful about this?” Oikawa smiles, a hint of sadness, as he looks back to Yahaba.
“This isn’t the first company I’ve auditioned for. Waiting is better than a solid no, that’s for sure.” Sensing that they need time and space, Atsumu returns to his own place. Kenma, Akaashi, and Kuroo are gone, and Bokuto hovers outside the audition room.
“Welcome back. Stand still, I need to check your LED fibres work.”
“Shouldn’t you have done this earlier?!” Osamu gives him a pointed look, and Atsumu sighs before standing still. Painstakingly, his twin tests each and every threaded fibre, and the lights within them. Atsumu is well aware of two other people watching them, one with an awful fringe cut diagonally, and the other with brown/black tips to his silver hair, a shade lighter than Suga’s.
They must have something that lights up too, because Atsumu can clearly make out the electronics box in the top pockets of their shirts. Amateurs, don’t they know to keep it completely out of sight?
“Unit 073, Albireo!” With a gasp, Atsumu shoves Osamu away from him and grabs the cart all their rig is in.
“That’s us, that’s us! Come on, ‘Samu! I’m gonna be an idol!”
“I’m coming, geez…” They enter the room, and the door closes behind them.
It goes by in such a flurry, Atsumu isn’t even sure he remembered to sing, or he got the lyrics right, or he remembered to dance, or the costume and rig worked or-
“Hmm… If it’s alright, Albireo, we’d like you to wait in the lobby until the end.” Atsumu’s heart plummets into his stomach and is promptly dissolved by acid. Osamu has to pull his shellshocked brother out of the room by his sleeve.
“I- I don’t get it… Did I do something wrong, ‘Samu? Was- Wasn’t I good enough…?” Osamu drags him over to a quiet corner, gently pushing him into a chair.
“Get a grip. You were amazing. You were born to be an idol, ‘Tsumu, they’d be stupid to turn you away.”
“But- But…” Osamu slaps him. Slaps him. Atsumu glares at him with a heavy pout.
“There’s that asshole expression I’m used to seeing~.”
“Hey!” Osamu laughs, patting his hand roughly against Atsumu’s cheek.
“At least we’re not alone in this.” He nods towards the bathrooms, where Akaashi and Kenma have just walked out of. There’s no Kuroo or Bokuto in sight. In the short waiting time, it can be said they became friends, so the duo comes over to the twins and sits on the floor around them.
“Kuro got a flat out no. We were told to wait.”
“What did Kuroo do to get a no?” Kenma hides a snickering giggle into his sleeve whilst Akaashi sighs, expression pained.
“He forgot walls exist. That’s what the pain in the ass did.” Kenma’s laugh increases until he finally regains use of his voice.
“He turned the wrong way during the dance and smacked straight into the wall, fell onto his back, and lay there groaning about a possible broken nose for the rest of the performance.” Akaashi huffed as he ruffled Kenma’s hair.
“I’m surprised you held your laughter in until the end.”
“Pfft~, so am I.” Osamu shakes his head with a quiet laugh.
“I’m guessing that’s why neither he nor Bokuto is here?”
“Mhm~. They’ve gone to the closest doctors for his nose.” As Osamu and Atsumu laugh, setting Kenma off again and drawing Akaashi into it, the group with Kageyama and Suga in enter the audition room.
Atsumu would be lying if he said he wasn’t highly invested in seeing what happens. Alas, he gets caught up in conversation with Akaashi, low-key picking out idol groups and individuals that are definitely not going to make it. Osamu might be snarky, but he’s oblivious to anything idol unless Atsumu forces him to listen to it. Having Akaashi to be salty and judgemental with is wonderful.
“What about those two? I mean, their electric boxes are clearly on display.”
“Hmm… I’d say they’d lose marks for that, but they’re certainly unique. Especially the pirate themed outfits. I haven’t seen anyone else with that kind of design.”
“Yeah, but… That fringe… It’s like his hairdresser sneezed…” Akaashi snorts, looking down to the floor so he isn’t caught laughing at someone.
“True, true… Oh. Suga-san, Kageyama-kun.” As the duo are about to walk past - Not the Atsumu noticed - Akaashi lifts up his hand in greeting.
“You know them?!”
“Mhm~. We met back at a dance training camp.”
“Akaashi! Good to see you again! And the corner guy.” Osamu blinks, staring at his brother with a rising surge of dread.
“What did you do.”
“Geh! ‘Samuuuuuu! I was just checking out the competition!” Clicking his tongue in disapproval, Osamu pinches Atsumu’s cheek and tugs.
“How many times have I told you not to snoop?! And you were supposed to be watching my stuff!”
“Ow, ow, ow! I was getting water! That’s not illegal!”
“What if someone had stolen something?! What if they’d taken the pad that controls all this?!” He sweeps his free arm towards the rigging and Suga makes a highly impressed sound of approval.
“That’s a good setup. We had a few props, but nothing like that. Your audition must have rocked.” Atsumu rubs as his sore cheeks as Osamu smiles placidly and pulls out his pad to show Suga.
“It wasn’t much. Just a few lights, smoke machine, holographic display, and electronic fibres.” He presses a button and slides a few switches, and Atsumu’s black costume lights up, not just glowing, but with different colours making patterns and images of all sort. He almost misses Osamu’s grin until his twin pauses the display.
Right there, blazoned across his chest is “Daddy’s little princess~.”
“OSAMU!!!!” He could hear laughing from across the hall and whipped his head around to Oikawa and Yahaba, neither of them bothering to hide the fact they were laughing at Atsumu.
Scowling, face as red as a cherry, Atsumu landed a heavy punch to Osamu’s shoulder. But it seemed like he wasn’t embarrassed in vain. The incident had broken the ice, and Oikawa and Yahaba came strutting over, just as their friends returned with milkshakes and cakes. Oikawa happily takes his own milk bread from the spiky haired one, pressing a quick kiss to his cheek.
The group grows even more when Suga and Kageyama’s friends return from putting their props in their car, bringing noise and chaos and fun with them. Even though they’re all unsure about why they were asked to wait, it’s easy to relax when there’s plenty of people to talk to, many friends to make.
As it turns out, most of those who seriously want to become idols are highly snarky, because Atsumu finds himself starting his judgemental game with Akaashi and a few comments from Kenma, and it ends up with himself, Akaashi, Oikawa, Yahaba, Suga, and a interjection every so often from Kenma. Kageyama is much too busy fighting with the little orange gremlin.
The numbers of those in the lobby dwindle, more idol groups getting through, others being rejected, but no more join them. Kenma starts to get antsy, and the nerves are building as the very last group goes in.
“So… What do we do now…?”
“What we’ve been doing this whole time. We wait.”
5 minutes later, Atsumu almost squeals and faints. Because into the empty room walks Star of Stars, in their iconic tailcoats. Ukai grins when he sees the waiting idols all amassed into one large group.
“Glad t’ see you’re all getting along, because I have some good news. Bad news too, but mostly good.” From the back, Shimada and Takinoue lead out the idol duo that Atsumu had been making fun of earlier.
“These two - Semi and Shirabu - were both accepted into Idol☆JUNIOR, on one condition. We’re going to expand them into a group.” Mizoguchi steps forwards with a piece of paper in hand, waving it proudly.
“If I read out your names, congratulations, you’ve made the group.” He takes a deep breath, and Atsumu feels his heart stop beating. Osamu nudges him roughly and pinches the back of his hand to remind his twin to breathe.
“Akaashi Keiji, Kageyama Tobio, Kozumu Kenma, Miya Atsumu, Oikawa Tooru, Sugawara Koushi and Yahaba Shigeru.” They look around at each other, somewhat in disbelief, before Naoi makes a ‘come here’ gesture and they slowly rise, with disbelief and shaky excitement, and come over to Star of Stars. Shimada pushes Shirabu and Semi towards them.
“Take some time, get to know each other, and congratulations on becoming idols! We have a feeling, with this combination, you could be the best idol group we’ve ever had!” Atsumu glances back at his brother, trying to comprehend what’s going on. Osamu gives him a thumbs up with an encouraging smile.
“As for your name… If you don’t mind, there’s one we have in mind.” The idol wannabes look up to the legendary idols with bright eyes, and in the end, it’s Oikawa who gathers his thoughts and finds his voice first.
“Oh? What kind of name?” The five look at each other with grins, stepping back and taking the same positions they used to on stage. They extend out their hands and pop out with their hips, an air of professionalism, leaving their audience starstruck and sparkling against a backdrop that doesn’t exist.
“Set Star!” The newbies glance at each other, varying degrees of excitement and nodding in agreement. Once more, it’s Oikawa who takes centre stage, answering them with a cool and calm grin, though he flashes a peace sign.
“We’ll take it! We are…” Catching on, the others strike a pose of their own, one massive group that somehow, in the mess of auditions and huge lobby, managed to find each other. In unison, they announce;
“Set Star!!”