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"This would look so cute on you!"
A wide-eyed brunette looked back at herself in the mirror as a risque black top dangled in front of her. "B-but that shows so much skin! Isn't there anything a little less revealing?"
"What world are you living in? You can't go to a punk rock concert wearing prim and proper girlie clothes!" A mess of pink curls bobbed beside her, looking through the nearby clothes rack. When Mina Ashido resurfaced, she held up a slightly less revealing tank top full of rip marks. "You gotta dive into the grunge look tonight!"
"What's wrong with what I wear though?" Ochako Uraraka whined, staring at herself with a new top held in front. "I'd feel so exposed in that!"
Mina squinted at her callously. "You will pick one from the next five I pick out or I will choose for you." The pinkette held up another couple hangers and dutifully held them up.
"Fine… but can I at least wear a jacket over the shoulders?" Ochako asked defeatedly. With some grumbling, her friend nodded while lining up several black shirts to go into the changing room.
"Just hurry and try these on while I go find you a jacket and some pants." Barely a moment passed and she was gone, leaving Ochako with several hangers and the changing room. Sighing, she started cycling through them.
She barely had the first one on when a black leather jacket was tossed over the door to her. "Try this on with them!" Then silence as the pattering of feet ran off again.
Grumbling to herself, Ochako grabbed the leather and pulled it over one of the ripped shirts. Surprisingly, it warmed her up instantly. It nearly fit her like a glove, the inside lined with soft fabric leading to a fluffy hood. As she looked into the mirror again, the questionable shirts seemed dramatically less risque and scary to her sensibilities. Turning around, she admired how well it looked, despite not being her usual taste.
She cycled through all the shirts before settling on one with an undead theme. The halter top was mostly black with red fringing and skull buttons. Parts looked frayed and holey along the edges with pictures of ribs poking out on the sides. Out of all of them it was definitely the most modest.
Ochako barely finished putting on her normal clothes when Mina excitedly knocked on her door. "Did you find one?"
"I did! The jacket definitely helps." The brunette opened the door to show her the shirt.
Her friend giggled excitedly as she snatched it and the leather jacket out of her arms. "That's great because the pants I picked out for you have a skull theme too. Let's go, let's go! Before you change your mind!"
Confused, Ochako jaunted after her bouncing friend. "Wait, what? Why are we hurrying?"
"Someone said they think they saw one of the band members we're seeing tonight at this mall!" The pinkette's eyes twinkled dreamily.
"Really?" She glanced out into the open walkway with hundreds of people roaming in and out of shops. "Well then, let's pay and get going to find your guy." Turning back, she saw Mina already slipping a credit card to the cashier and when she read the total, nearly died on spot. "I-I'm sorry, does that say thirty-eight THOUSAND?"
"Yup! I got you on this!" The pinkette the widest grin before accepting the purchases and her card. "Since Kyouka and I are dragging you out there, it's only fair."
Ochako's brain nearly short circuited as she calculated the total in months of rent. "Can I-"
"Nope."
"Just at least-"
"No, and you ask again I'll drive too." Mina smirked with finger guns shooting the air as the brunette made a sour face. Due to easily becoming nauseated from car sickness, Ochako tended to drive her friends… besides the fact that Mina does not understand the meaning of speed limit.
Pouting, Ockako nodded with a sigh. "Fine."
"Good, my other option was to lick you in public and humiliate you, so definitely a better choice. I'm going to put these in the car, meet me at the food court for lunch? You can pay that one." She swiped the car keys and gave a wink towards a fumbling Ochako before heading in the direction of the exit.
Huffing, the pouting brunette meandered slowly towards the scent of food all the while looking at the many window displays. Most things out of her budget, she could only longfully gaze at most storefronts. Clothing stores, jewelry, shoes… No, she had to be good. It’s already bad enough that Mina just dropped all that yen on a single set of clothes, and she only really thought about wearing them once!
Sulking, she kept moving through the crowded mall. Refusing to stop and stare at things she couldn’t have, it only made sense to wait at the food court... At least until she caught sight of something too cute to ignore.
Perking up, she wandered over to the glass display of an eclectic boutique and with every step, her eyes grew wider. Fingertips touched the glass, and her breath fogged the glass. Resting inside on a mannequin sat a wonderfully crafted white hat with nearly life-like cat ears and matching winter gloves with realistic toe beans sewn on.
Ochako sucked in a deep breath. With winter around the corner, she debated ferociously with herself over abandoning her budget. Sure, her friends would laugh and poke some fun at her… but dang it, she would be adorable while they did!
She scanned the edges for a tag, anything to let her know how much it would set her back. Eventually, she spotted a stray white paper hanging off one of the ears, but the price seemed to be written on the side she couldn’t see.
Bending several directions, she tried her hardest to peer at the price hidden from her. She knew if she even stepped one foot in the store, it would not end well. For her or her poor wallet.
Her attention was so focused on the hat, she barely registered the reflection of a man behind her. A brief glimpse of purple, tattoos, and piercings reflected at her before she felt the pressure of his hand on her shoulder.
“Hey, it’s better if you-- ho-shit !”
Ochako didn’t even allow him to explain as her self-defense training kicked in. Clamping her hand over his, she turned into him and quickly wrapped her arm over the man’s head while her leg reached past his. She then used her free hand to apply leverage to his shoulder, forcing him off balance until she could swipe his knee. Once he buckled, she leaned with the momentum to throw him into the ground.
A pained grunt, followed by wheezing escaped from the man. She took a quick mental snapshot of his face before bolting towards the food court before he could get back up. Purple hair under black beanie, purple eyes (contacts?), black tank and pants, tattoos everywhere and piercings all over his face. Good enough description to make sure to steer clear or at least give to a security officer if she sees him again.
Part exhilarated, part terrified, the brunette kept sprinting until she could get lost in the crowd at the food court. For several moments, she sat at one of the tables in the middle to catch her breath and calm down. She never really got to use her self-defense training, but she hopes the creep learned his lesson to just grab girls.
A few minutes passed by and she saw neither hide nor hair of the guy, or Mina for that matter.
Just as she pulled out her phone, the pinkette waved and beckoned her to a mochi stand. She bobbed and weaved to her friend, giving her a firm hug when within arms reach. “What took you so long?”
Mina shrugged with a cheshire smile. “I was on my way, promise! But then I saw these perfect shoes that would go with your outfit… And! They are super comfy too! So you can wear them more than once.”
Tears welled in Ochako’s eyes. “Minaaaaa, I can’t accept those! It’s too much with the clothes already.”
Her friend stopped her blubbering with a hand to her face. “Nope, don’t even start. You deserve all this, and I’m not even going to accept ‘no’ as an answer anyway.” Overcome with emotion, the brunette hugged her tighter.
A ding interrupted both of them, and Mina fished out her buzzing phone. As she read her text, her hand flew to her mouth. “Oh my god. Someone just assaulted the band member that was here!”
Ochako perked up from her emotional meltdown and felt an instant surge of anger. “What is with this place today? I was nearly assaulted earlier too! By this gangster creep!”
Mina’s eyes grew wide. “Whaaat? Did you beat the guy up like Midnight-Sensei showed us?”
“Yup!” The brunette grinned proudly at her friend.
“Awesome!” Mina grinned back and fist bumped her in approval. “Man, today is just getting started and it's already pretty eventful. Let’s get some food and we can head over to Kyouka’s place to get ready for the concert.”
Ochako grinned ravenously. “Great I’m starving!” Then a sudden thought furrowed her brows. “Wait, will the band person be okay to perform tonight?”
Looking back to her phone, Mina gave a smirk as she read. “Yeah, he’s fine, just shaken up. Looks like he wants to find the person responsible though.”
The brunette shrugged. “I guess that’s reasonable. So what do we want for lunch?”
“I thought you went to the bathroom!” Ochako shouted at Kyouka Jirou over the hum of people gathering before the show began at Yuuei, the hole in the wall bar that the show was taking place in.
“I did and then I bought us these,” she shoved drinks in both of her friends’ hands. Ochako grimaced as she kept count of how much was spent on her today, knowing she’d never be able to pay her friends back. “On me!” Kyouka winked as Ochako groaned into her beer. Before she could say anything, the lights dimmed and the opener walked on stage.
Out of her element, she watched Mina and Kyouka for what to do next. Both whooped in encouragement, so she followed suit.
The opener was a two person act, a guitarist and a drummer -- the guitarist, a guy with silver hair and the drummer, a woman with orange hair. The guy spoke into the mic, “Hey -- I’m Tetsu. This is Kendou and we’re Steel Fist.”
After his brief intro, Kendou immediately began banging on her drums and Tetsu came in with what Mina called some “sick riffs.” Kyouka was impressed with the drummer’s skills. There was a point when she put her sticks down and did some pounding with her fists to give a really unique sound. That combined with several other odd tools she used must have been part of the reason they had the name Steel Fist.
Ochako had no idea how to dance to this kind of music. She was used to heady tunes that she could sway to or poppy stuff that made her want to shimmy in front of the mirror and sing into her hair brush. The more she listened though, she began to understand why people enjoyed it. She started jumping along with Mina and Kyouka, shaking her hair out and even headbanging a little. It was the first time she felt free, felt genuinely happy in weeks.
Ochako was constantly wound up, stuck in the stressed out mindset of work 24/7. This was the release she needed, especially after the incident earlier today too.
As Steel Fist’s set came to a close, the girls were already a little sweaty from dancing. The reprieve gave Mina the opportunity to run away and grab a second drink which she shoved in her friends’ hands.
“Guyyys. I can’t keep taking freebies from you!” Ochako whined.
“You can and you will! All we want in return is for you to have a good time. We never get to go out like this.” Mina gave her a warm smile, melting her pitiful wall of pride.
As she sighed into her drink and thanked her friends, coming to terms that this was just how it was going to be, the featured band began to come out onto the stage and lights got darker. The room erupted in anticipation.
Ochako’s eyes adjusted as the lights settled on the four-person electropunk band in front of them. Her eyes were immediately drawn to the frontman. There was something about him that looked oddly familiar. Not just something -- his piercings were memorable; his purple hair shaved into an undercut was seared into her mind; his arms covered in tattoos, particularly the cat paws on his neck, were unmistakable. The man on stage, standing in the spotlight at the microphone, was the man who had touched her in the mall, the man who she had flipped onto his back, the man she had run away from. She paled as she recognized him.
He began to speak and she almost couldn’t comprehend it as a swirl of emotions kicked up inside of her, “Hey Yuuei. It’s great to be back. We’re Sleepless Panic.”
She turned to her friends, “Guys, I don’t feel so good.”
“What!? You were fine just a second ago. The band is starting!” Mina screamed at her over the first set of chords, but the blonde drummer dropped the beat. Any reply Ochako gave was drowned out, leaving her friend to look at her questioningly with wide worried eyes.
Kyouka grabbed them both and led them over to the side where they could kind of hear each other, “What’s going on?”
“T-That’s the guy!” Ochako pointed to the stage, flustered. Both of her friends looked confused.
After a beat of watching the band, Mina turned back to her, “Sleepless Panic? What guy?”
“The guy I flipped at the mall!”
Kyouka looked like she had no idea what was going on, but Mina gasped after putting the pieces together. “You’re the one who attacked him!?”
“A strange guy was touching me in public! He attacked me ! What was I supposed to do? Midnight-Sensei always said to react swiftly. We have to leave now ,” she said sternly, looking uncomfortably back at the stage.
Almost immediately Mina responded, “Let’s not let this ruin girls night. We got you this outfit and these tickets so we could have a fun time tonight. So far we’ve enjoyed the music. It’s not like he’s going to see you from the stage. Let’s just keep having fun. We can leave in a little bit, but I want to hear my favorite song first… even if he might be a creep. Is that okay?” She nudged her friend, did a little bit of light headbanging, and smiled.
Ochako smiled back. “Fine.”
The trio hung closer to the back now and didn’t dance as hard as they had during the opener, but still managed to keep up good spirits and prod Ochako into moving around a bit.
As they were considering leaving, the band began their introductions with the frontman speaking, “Hey everyone. I’d like to introduce you to Sleepless Panic. I’m Hitoshi Shinsou on vocals and guitar.” Everyone cheered for him while Ochako felt the urge to bolt out the door, but looked at her friends who were captivated and thought maybe she could wait just a little bit longer.
“On drums, you’ve got Katsuki Bakugou,” the angry looking blonde in a skull t-shirt gave a brief, explosive drum solo.
“Next up we’ve got Denki Kaminari on synths and keyboards.” A blonde with choppy hair put out some trippy sounds that were quite unlike what the band plays, and when they all looked at him with what-the-fuck faces, he only shrugged.
“And finally, on bass we’ve got Eijirou Kirishima.” A candy-apple red head plucked a few strings on his bass and she felt Mina’s hand tighten on her arm.
“Now that you’ve met the band, I have to tell you a story. I know some of you saw on our social that I was at the mall today. I was picking up some strings for my guitar since one broke at the last minute this morning and we had no backups because someone used the last pack and didn’t pick up any extras.” He looked at Denki, who shrugged and mouthed ‘Sorry!’
“On my way to the guitar shop, I saw this really cute girl admiring this rad cat hat.” Both Mina and Kyouka turned to her and her face heated with embarrassment. Cute? Who the hell does he think he is? No wonder he tried to grab me! “You know I have a soft spot for kittens.” The crowd uncharacteristically ‘awed’ -- Isn’t this a punk show?? , “I tried to talk to her, and boy was that the wrong move. I put my hand on her shoulder and she laid me on my ass . This chick was deceptively strong. Holy shit!” The crowd laughed. “I mean, I just wanted to tell her I admired her fashion sense. Maybe try to get her phone number,” he smirked and the crowd laughed again.
Her friends looked at her and nudged her. She blushed as he continued, “But shit, guys, I knew just by the looks of her she had already knocked me off my feet, but then she literally laid me on the floor and took off. I was so fucking stunned that I laid there for like 5 minutes until some old guy offered to help me up. Embarrassing. But let me tell you, being taken down a peg like that made me even more attracted to her. The irony,” he laughed and shook his head as he continued, “Man, I just wish I could find her and explain to her what happened from my point of view. Fat chance of that, huh?”
Mina’s mouth was wide open with excitement at this point and Kyouka poked her side, giving her a measured look. Ochako, knowing what was going through her friends’ heads, shook her own. This wasn’t happening. No no no no no.
“She’s here!” Mina yelled. Ochako was stunned with shock and her face immediately changed to one of fury, tomato red. She tried as quickly as she could to hide behind Kyouka. “She’s right here!” She yelled again.
Hitoshi squinted, holding up a hand, adjusting his eyes to look into the lights of the crowd to see where he was being yelled at. Mina grabbed Ochako’s arm and pulled her out from behind Kyouka, who did nothing to stop the madness. In fact, she had a small smile lingering on her lips as she stood there with her arms crossed.
“I hate you,” Ochako grumbled as everyone in the bar looked at her.
“You’ll thank me later,” Mina whispered.
With a big shit-eating grin, Hitoshi looked out into the crowd, “No fucking way. So it is. Don’t go anywhere, kitten. This next song’s for you.” Mina gaped at her. Kyouka choked back a laugh. Then they started playing one of the crowd favorites, as everyone yelled louder than they had all night.
Mina was thriving on the tension in the room, more excited than ever, jumping up and down and hugging her. Kyouka headbanged and jumped around the two of them.
Hitoshi couldn’t take his eyes off of her. Ochako oddly couldn’t stop looking at him either despite her previous emotions and the wall she had built up. It was as if it was crumbling down, causing everyone else in the room to disappear but them. That was until she felt a tap on her shoulder as the song came to an end and another one spun up.
“Excuse me,” a tall woman with long dark hair tapped their shoulders and leaned close. “Can you three come with me?”
“Who are you?” Kyouka asked.
“I’m Sleepless Panic’s manager, Momo Yaoyorozu,” the woman responded. “This way,” she gestured to an inconspicuous side door.
Upon entry, a large man wearing a shirt that said “Band Security” in glasses with hair so dark it almost looked navy let them enter and then stopped some people trying to follow them with a chop of his arm.
Momo led them up some stairs to view the show from the side of the stage.
“Oh my god! We’re backstage,” Mina hissed in Ochako’s ear.
“Have fun! The greenroom is that room here,” Momo pointed. “You’ll find drinks and snacks in there if you want.”
The trio marveled at the backstage area and the musicians on stage as they played, but didn’t have long to gawk before the band traipsed towards them. Mina tried to contain her squeal.
Guitar hanging off him casually, Hitoshi flipped his hair out of his face to address Ochako, band members flanking him, “Hey, so can we talk?” He reached towards her arm, but pulled back thinking better of the gesture and rubbed the back of his neck instead, “I’ve got to go do this encore, but then we can talk in the greenroom?”
“I don’t really have much to say to you,” she looked off to the side.
“I- I just want to apologize. Please let me make it up to you.”
Mina nudged her side. Ochako looked at the ground and shuffled her feet, “Okay.”
“We’ll see you all in the greenroom soon then,” he was smiling ear to ear. He strutted back onto the stage with a newfound confidence.
The ladies took in the greenroom as they entered -- from the various instruments strewn about to the snacks and drinks, couches, and vanities. It was comfortable for a small band, but as soon as too many people entered, it could easily get cramped.
“So this… this is where the magic happens!” Mina gawked around the room and stared at her friends, as she stood in the doorway.
“Psh,” Kyouka pushed past her and beelined for the instruments. “Nah. This is where they wait and practice before anything good happens. Real magic happens at the homebase or bus, this is just a waiting room.” She began inspecting the keyboards.
Mina immediately grabbed a drink and made herself comfortable on the couch as if she herself was a celebrity. She kicked up her feet, while Ochako walked the line of vanities looking at herself in the mirror thinking how surreal the situation was.
Before long, a flurry of tattoos, abs, and stench stormed through the doors. The band, topless and sweaty with wet shirts in hand, waltzed through the doors, energy surging from their encore. The hot mess in front of them was a lot to take in -- Denki had lightning bolt tattoos going up his side, Eijirou had one big tattoo that said ‘RIOT’ on his arm nestled in a bunch of rocks, Katsuki had a grenade exploding on his chest, while Hitoshi was covered in tribal tattoos and peppered with a couple of cat paws.
Mina’s jaw instantly dropped as the beef cakes entered the room with a small squeak slipping out that luckily went unnoticed. Ochako’s eyes flickered towards the sweaty army and flushed, but quickly turned back to the mirror to faux-inspect something on the vanity. Kyouka played it cool, glancing up as they entered and continued to mess with the instruments.
Some of the guys worked on getting clothed -- well, Hitoshi and Denki did. Katsuki leaned against the nearest wall, while Eijirou decided to sit on the other end of the couch from Mina, feigning exhaustion. Mina straightened up trying to bottle in her excitement, by taking slow sips of her drink and looking at Eijirou out of the corner of her eye.
Before she could pounce, Momo walked into the room to make an announcement. “Great job tonight, team. The show was excellent and I --”
She was cut off by Katsuki who came up behind her and bit her neck.
“Katsuki! We! Are! Working ! Right! Now!” She huffed in between each word and turned beat red. He lifted his face up to view his audience with a smirk.
Mina was in shock whispering under her breath, “The rumors are true!”
The rest of the room pretended like they saw nothing, looking off in different directions, which ignited the fire in Katsuki further. He spun her around, grabbed and hoisted her over his shoulder.
“Katsuki Bakugou, you put me down this instant,” Momo squirmed.
“Hah! Make me,” he retorted. She hit him with her clipboard, which only seemed to egg him on further. His eyes went dark with lust and he cackled as he hauled her out of the room.
When they were outside, the group could hear Momo seductively saying, “You’ve been a bad boy, Katsuki. You’re going to pay for that.”
The room fell silent for a few moments and then erupted in laughter, everyone except the staunch bodyguard by the door who seemed too serious to be amongst this crowd.
Eijirou was the first to speak after regaining his breath from laughing, wiping his eyes, “Guess we can’t go to the trailer for a few hours. So what do you want to do?” His eyes panned the room, stopping on Mina on the couch next to him. She was visibly excited by their eye contact, beginning to hyperventilate.
Kyouka took the pressure off Mina by saying, “I’m sure we’ll think of something.”
She started playing “Come Sail Away” by Styx on the keyboard she had been admiring, immediately drawing Denki’s attention. After playing a little, she noticed one of the notes was off. It was now one of the guy’s turns to be awed.
Motioning to the room for a minute, she pulled a switchblade out of her purse, popped off the top of the electric keyboard, and unscrewed the questionable key with the blade’s tip. She gave it a good blow underneath and used her shirt to clean out any grime. Like a pro, she screwed it back in and set the top back on with ease. She pressed back on the key again several times, making sure it sounded to her liking, nodded, and continued playing her song.
If Ochako had ever seen a look of love at first sight, it was the look on Denki’s face right then and there. He inched closer to her through the rest of her song until he was standing next to her. When she was finished, she was mildly startled to find him standing there.
“That was… really cool,” Denki breathed.
“It was nothing,” Kyouka shrugged.
“I’m Denki.”
“Kyouka.”
“Can I show you one of my favorites?” He leaned a little closer to her and she let him invade her space. He began playing, “A Thousand Miles” by Vanessa Carlson.
“You’ve got to be kidding me,” she looked at him, giving him an incredulous look.
“Nope,” he smiled. “It was my little sister’s favorite song growing up. So it was the first song I learned to play on the piano. We’d duet it every chance we got at family gatherings.” By that point, he’d reached the end of the overture and began to sing, “Makin’ my way downtown, walking fast, faces pass and I’m homebound…”
Kyouka reached over, unintentionally brushing her arm against Denki’s chest and grabbed the synthesizer on the table next to him as he continued to sing, nearly stuttering the lyrics. He seemed mildly distracted with his hands shaking a bit, but kept going with the song as she turned the synth on and started creating beats. To both Ochako’s and Denki’s surprise, they actually started going with the song -- it was a different kind of duet than the guy was probably used to. He just stared at her in surprise; a woman of many musical talents.
Mina decided to use this as her chance since she scooted over closer to Eijirou as all of this was going on, turning on her charm. He locked eyes with her, which gave her more confidence to turn on the flirt within. “You were super manly on stage tonight. Has anyone ever told you that you have great pecs? I’m Mina, by the way.”
She dragged her finger down his toned arm and was met with a toothy smile as he puffed out his chest and individually flexed his pecs several times. It was her giggle that drew out his blush. “I’m Eiji.”
While Denki and Kyouka continued to jam out on the piano and synth, and Mina and Eijirou grew closer, Ochako was left alone, and boy did she feel it. At least during Kyouka’s initial song, everyone was entranced. Now -- she was trying not to look too awkward by herself, or even noticed for that matter… but it was too late. Before she could even pull out her phone and open Twitter, Hitoshi had approached her, but not before grabbing something hidden from behind the couch.
Moving too fast to see what it was, she tensed up ready to fight or run. She feigned a smile as he stepped closer, glancing at her unfortunately occupied friends.
He must have sensed her apprehension or at least noticed how uncomfortable she looked, because he stopped well outside of arm's reach with a sheepish grin. One hand still behind him with whatever he plucked, he nervously rubbed his neck.
"Um, hi. I’m really sorry about today. I did not mean to scare you at all. But I have to say, you have amazing reflexes.” He chuckled through a widening grin. “I have definitely learned my lesson not to touch random strangers. I saw so many stars.”
Ochako nodded with a slight warmth, unsure how to take the apology or the compliment. For a second, Hitoshi's eyes widened. "Oh! I wasn’t sure I’d ever see you again, but I got this in case I ever did. You seemed to really admire it.”
He finally held out his other hand, a black paper bag hanging from it. Her eyebrows furrowed as she stared, at least until he gave her another smile… this one scared and sincere. She cautiously took the bag, noting his hand immediately withdrawing back to his side.
Taking a deep breath, she peered inside.
A gasp left her as white fur and toe beans filled her view. Pulling out the bigger piece, she gaped at the cute hat she desperately wanted before he showed up.
Quickly she tucked it back inside before shoving the bag towards Hitoshi with a loud sigh. “I really appreciate this, I do, but I can't accept this.”
Brows furrowed with a deep frown, Hitoshi gingerly took the package. He mumbled as his hand found its way back to his neck. "Sorry, I assumed when I saw you staring at it that it was something you wanted before I scared you."
Before her, he almost looked like a kicked puppy, and sent Ochako fumbling for words. "I do want it, but today has been nothing but people buying me stuff. It's just been really overwhelming and I'm still trying to figure out how to pay people back.”
An odd look crossed his pierced face and he sighed. "Have you considered that maybe you deserve it? You don't owe me anything. If anything, this is part of my apology.”
Ochako silently cursed herself as she felt the pinprick of tears welling up and her chest heaved -- she was working herself up. His words definitely hit a cord. Everyone was always getting her things, but she never asked herself if she deserved them… It was more wounded pride that people were spending money on her.
A worried look crossed his now blurry face as she sniffed loudly. Before she knew it, a pink blob entered her vision as she tamped down the salty drops with a quick swipe.
"Oh hey, what's that?" Mina's overly eager voice cut through the gloomy atmosphere. The purple haired singer barely mumbled any words before she snatched it from his fingertips. "OH MY GOSH! THAT IS SO FLIPPIN’ ADORABLE! Did you just give this to her?"
Hitoshi rubbed his neck and looked away with a slight nod. "Yeah."
The mess of pink curls bobbed back towards her, an evil grin directed at Ochako. "You would look so freaking cute in this!" She clutched the bag tightly against her. "I'm going to hold onto this for you! Don't want it dirty before you get home."
Ochako didn't miss the not so subtle wink Mina flashed the singer. Or the thankful smile after the initial shock from him as she waltzed away with the package.
"Yo, Toshi!" The red headed bass player waved him over towards the instruments, a distracted Denki captured in the other arm. "I'm starving, man. It's not manly to live off granola bars like a gerbil."
As the singer moved closer to his band mates, Ochako seized her opportunity to slip away towards her friends hovering near the couch. As she nestled between them, a growl rumbled in her stomach.
Mina, being ever so helpful, piped up. "We're starving too!"
The boys glanced between themselves, wordlessly coming to an agreement before smirks spread across their faces. Eiji gave the girls the toothiest grin. "Y'all wanna go out then? It's not like our manager can say no right now." A round of hearty chuckles left the guys as they waited for an answer.
“I know just the place,” Kyouka chimed in for the group.
“It’s my duty to accompany you to make sure you stay out of trouble. Momo wouldn’t have it any other way,” the security guard butted into their conversation.
“Thanks, dad,” groaned Denki.
“I’m sure we can manage without you, Iida,” Hitoshi responded.
“Absolutely not! If you will be drinking, as I am sure you will, I must come along for your safety. Can you imagine headlines if you were to get into a problem? Yui would kill me with the PR nightmare she’d have to deal with.” He chopped his arm in frustration.
“No press is bad press, am I right?” Eijirou quipped, smirking at Mina, who grinned back widely.
“Ugh. Just hurry up and get dressed so we’re not out too late,” Iida said with exasperation in his voice, as if he was at his wits end always ferrying around these guys.
Eijirou was certainly unhappy about this development. He clearly would have been happy traipsing around half-clothed. Before he could protest too much, another voice was speaking up on his behalf.
“Oooh! I’ll help,” Mina got up and skipped over to the clothing rack near the guys, shuffling through the options. With a giddy look on his face, he sidled up next to her.
She dug through the rack, picking up pieces, holding them up to him and shaking her head. Finally, she settled on one she liked -- a black t-shirt, ripped in places so that you could see some of his tattoos peeking out. She handed him his signature red jacket with patches on it and they were ready to go.
“That’s the fastest Ei’s ever gotten ready before. You should come around more often,” Hitoshi honestly blurted out, causing both himself and Eijirou to blush at what the implication could mean. He looked over at Ochako who pretended not to notice.
Mina giggled in response, “Let’s get out of here.”
Kyouka was always in the know. She found the trendiest spots and was always taking them out to drinks at the placest with the best food and atmosphere. This izakaya was no different. Apparently it was an “industry place” aka where people in food service came late night to hang out, get food and have drinks… so you know it’s good. These were the types of places that always became popular a couple months down the line once word got out.
They found an area big enough to accommodate the group and ordered rounds of drinks and items to be shared. Yakitori, karaage, edamame, tsukemono, yakisoba, kushiyaki, and more made their way around the table. Beer flowed freely. And with the beer, so did the stories.
Eijirou snorted, “And do you remember the time that Denki electrocuted himself while trying to fix his instruments?”
Kyouka brought her hand to her mouth trying to keep her calm demeanor, but her composure was slowly unraveling as Mina pried for more details.
“Sometimes I like to tinker with my synths to make the sound funkier. This one time, some wires got crossed… and uhh. Zap! That’s how I got this black streak in my hair.” Denki pointed to the black bolt that looked seared through his locks. “A few months after that incident, this baby just grew out. I kind of like it.” Kyouka was now just staring at his hair with a look of awe. “But hey! If you’re going to embarass me, I’m going to embarrass you! Ei wears crocs. So not punk rock.”
“I’ll let you know. Crocs are manly, thank you very much.” The red head crossed his burley arms and looked away proudly.
Hitoshi leaned in to the ladies and whispered, “He doesn’t just wear them. He has a sizable collection with tons of jibbitz to mix and match.” Ochako found herself laughing at the guys’ antics. Everyone was thoroughly enjoying themselves that she almost forgot about everything that had led up to this.
Mina looked at him with horror, “Oh, sweetie. Jibbitz?”
“Hey! They. Are. Stylish. And manly. And comfortable! Fine, Toshi, what about you?? Your folder of cats, hm?” Eijirou’s bright red face nearly matched his hair. He was clearly grasping at straws, trying to come up with anything that would embarrass the purple haired singer.
“Nothing I’m ashamed of.” He shrugged and pulled out his phone, opening his photos app to show them pics of adorable cats. “I took a lot of these myself when I was at the pet rescue volunteering.” Mina’s audible ‘awww’ drew daggers at Hitoshi from Eijirou.
Something about his genuine affection for the cats he showed them drew Ochako in. He didn’t seem like he was bragging. He seemed like he genuinely cared for them, and it was really cute. Maybe she had misjudged him? Clearly, they had things in common if he liked cats as much as she did. He appeared softer than before, like someone Ochako could actually get to know, get to like, maybe? She smiled as he talked about the cats. As they made eye contact, he blushed, but kept talking about the shelters and cat cafes he’s volunteers at around Japan and how it was the only thing that kept him sane when they were touring. He preferred the ones in Tokyo though, which is why most of their shows of late had been here. A funny reason to stay central.
He trailed off, but it was during the tail end of his story that Denki tried to put his arm around Kyouka. As perceptive as she was, she didn’t miss a beat, serving him side eye instead of a welcoming aura. Instead, he went for a stretch and fell off the bench they were sitting on, eliciting a scolding from Iida. It couldn’t be helped; Denki, like everyone else, was drunk enough to pull silly and not-so-subtle stunts like that and not be able to keep his balance when he got caught.
Always on the ball, Mina snapped a picture of Denki on the ground, splayed out. “This would be gold for your social.” She then proceeded to give them pointers on how to grow their following. Considering she had organically grown hers 150% in the last month alone and only did it as a hobby, her friends felt good in supporting her advice.
Unfortunately, their social media manager happened to be Iida. He took offense to her advice at showing their “wild” side, chopping his arm at them. “We need to put out the best possible image for them!”
“I’m sure their PR manager would think differently after talking with me. What was her name? Yui? Have her give me a call.” She laughed at how flustered Iida got. But there was no use for him in arguing with drunk people. He was the only sober one out of the bunch.
The conversation died down a little until the next round of drinks came. Then Denki wanted some reciprocation, “So we shared our embarrassing stories. Why don’t we get to hear some of yours?” He elbowed Kyouka.
She looked mildly annoyed, but gave in to his request. “So we all roomed together in college. That’s how we know one another. One time in the dorms, we got locked out of our rooms in towels during a fire drill. We had to go outside in front of everyone and stand there in the cold fall weather for 30 minutes. We ended up huddling together as people just watched us . Who does that?? We begged someone to let us in and finally they did. Mina caught a cold since her hair was wet.”
“It was embarrassing,” Ochako said. “People talked about it for a week!”
Mina had a mischievous look on her face. “You know what else people talked about for a while? The Anything But Clothes party!”
“No no no no no,” Ochako quickly felt the words pouring from her mouth as her face heated. “Don’t tell that story.” Her anger was somewhat feigned, but her embarrassment was very real.
Variations of yes came from the guys who were eager to hear the story, so Mina began. “Ochako was quite the crafty lady in college. She still is, mind you. She helped us make all of our costumes. Her top was made out of aluminum foil with a skirt constructed from beer boxes and neon duct tape. Kyouka had an outfit made from trash bags and guitar cables for a top and a hollowed out speaker box for a bottom. Then we made my top from straight duct tape and a skirt from straw. We looked fab-u-lous. Better than the Zoolander’s Derelicte models.”
Mina wore a wide toothy grin in her drunken giggliness, taking a moment to drink a bit more as the guys’ laughter died down.
“Anyways, as she was dancing, let’s just say aluminum foil is not the most structurally sound of materials. It tore right down the middle while some guy was grinding up on her.” Ochako got even more red as Hitoshi spared a glance at her, and she heard Kyouka snort next to her. “But hey - it’s a party with no clothes, right?? Little miss genius here goes to the bathroom and makes a new top out of paper towels. She wrapped them around her bra!”
Kyouka chimed in with her facade crumbling down, “It’s not fair to only rag on Chako here. That’s not even the best part of the night! Mina’s straw skirt caught on fire at the bonfire and she ran around on fire screaming, ‘I AM THE FIRE GOD!’ until someone poured beer on her. I just stood there cackling.” Kyouka laughed for the first time that evening. You could tell Denki was smitten by the look on his face if you couldn’t tell already based on how many times he had gazed at her over the evening.
Ochako took a big sip of water to try to calm herself down, having had one of her most embarrassing and not so flattering moments outed in front of strangers, somewhat famous strangers at that. Her face felt blistering hot, and she was definitely going to kick Mina on her way home.
As she was trying to calm herself down, she heard a text chime and Iida pulled out his phone. “Jig is up. Momo wants to know where everyone is. We need to leave right away so you’re alive for the merch signing tomorrow morning.”
The guys groaned, but followed orders and paid up. A walk to the train station for them all in the night air with their new friends was full of laughter, over embellished hand gestures, and even more ridiculous stories. Ochako was surprisingly glad the night had turned out the way that it had.
At the train station, the air was thick with awkward tension as they said their goodbyes. No one particularly wanted to part ways, but they had separate trains to catch.
Ever the extrovert, Mina was the first one to break the tension, turning to Eijirou, “Can I see your phone?” She snagged the smartphone encased in a protective covering with red holes to type her phone number into it. “Call me if you need social media advice.” She handed it back to him with a wink.
“Uhhhhhh,” Eijirou didn’t know how to respond, a confused look settled on his face. Denki saw him struggling and whispered to him (not-so-quietly) so that he understood what was going on. “Oh, yes! Definitely,” Eijirou nodded, “I’ll call you for that advice.”
Denki quickly scribbled his phone number on his receipt from the izakaya for Kyouka and said, “If I ever need help tuning my instruments, do you think you could give me a hand?”
Kyouka quirked an eyebrow, “You mean so you don’t electrocute yourself again?”
Denki flushed red as the guys burst out laughing and the other girls’ smiles danced across their lips. Kyouka loved to tease. She deadpanned, “I'll think about it,” and put the number in her pocket. Ochako knew that was pretty much a yes.
Now it was just Hitoshi and Ochako who had to wrap things up between the two of them. He looked at her hopefully. She couldn’t stand this awkward tension. Not while everyone was watching. “Walk with me for a second,” Ochako looked up at him and said.
As they walked a little ways down the platform, she slowed and leaned against a pillar. “You know, you really surprised me tonight.” Hitoshi looked taken aback at the remark. “I expected you to be a creep.”
Hitoshi feigned being hurt, clutching his heart, “You wound me, Ochako.”
She rolled her eyes with a smile and scoffed at him. “I didn’t mean it like that.”
He shuffled his feet and with a slight smile, “I’m just teasing you, but you can make it up to me.” She gave him quite the skeptical side eye look to convey her feelings on what that could be.
He clearly understood all the wrong ideas that could be going through her head because he quickly responded, “Nothing like that! I meant that I wanted to hang out again! Tonight was fun.” He gave her a big warm smile, one that she found actually gave her a funny feeling all over for the first time, like she enjoyed being around him.
Like she adored his pierced smile.
Like she wanted to see it and his lavender eyes again.
He continued, rubbing the back of his neck, “Can I give you my number? You can call me when you’re ready.”
“I think… I’d like that,” she hands him her phone, hesitating slightly. “But no more surprise gifts.”
“Fine, if you insist.” As he took the phone out of her hands, their fingers brushed and her heart unexpectedly lept in her chest. Time seemed to slow as their hands touched for just an instant, an instant that she wanted to last longer. And yet, as quickly as it happened, in a flash it was gone. He had pulled away to take the phone from her hand, as intended. But she felt a buzzing on her skin from where they touched. Already she craved another accidental collision, or better yet, something intentional, longer lasting.
Unfortunately, it was not to be as he handed her phone back to her. Timing was not on her side, and it only left her wanting more. When she took the device, she saw that he put his name into her phone as “Hitoshi” with a cat emoji next to it.
She smiled and pocketed it. “Let’s head back.”
Turning to walk back was like being on stage, they had an audience. Their friends stared at them until they pretended like they weren’t, busying themselves talking with one another or just straight staring off into nothing or whistling. Hitoshi and Ochako laughed with one another; something like “idiots” slipping out of his mouth as he shook his head.
She looked up to see the smile on his face, framed by piercings, tattoos, and a wild purple undercut. He didn’t look so scary anymore, not after everything she’d learned about him and his friends tonight. If anything, she now saw the soft guy underneath, the guy that she wanted to unbox, the guy who had so many layers. Each time she peeled back a new one, she was thoroughly surprised. This newfound amazement made her feel more open to so many new ideas and possibilities. He was her wake up call in more ways than one.