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“Uwagh~ I just can’t get this part of the dance right,” Niki complained, collapsing onto the floor of the practice room. Today, the Date Plan Idea Squad chose to focus their energy on perfecting the dance for the promotional video’s shoot. Chiaki and Kaoru had outlined the choreography the day prior; now, the boys were practicing said choreography. However, one hungry bee continued to make mistakes throughout the day.
“Don’t give up, Shiina! I’m sure you’ll get the moves down soon. Keep working hard at it ☆” Chiaki lent a hand to Niki, helping him up into a sitting position. Then Chiaki went off to bother Mitsuru and Natsume, putting his arms around both of their shoulders and praising them for their hard work.
“Are you alright, Shiina-kun? Don’t be offended but I noticed you botch your moves during the chorus yet do fine in the other parts,” Kaoru conveyed, taking a seat next to an exasperated Niki, “Are you hungry? I can grab something for you to eat.”
“Surprisingly, I’m not hungry at the moment… but I feel embarrassed…,” Niki lamented, bringing his knees up to cover his face.
“Are you feeling bad about your mistakes? We aren’t used to performing with each other, so it’s fine if you slip up,” Kaoru gave Niki a comforting smile (He also wanted to give Niki a pat on the back, but touches like that, especially with a man, were still out of his comfort zone. He was no Moricchi after all).
“N-no! It’s not like that at all,” Niki stuttered, “I feel like you’re going to think I’m weird if I told you the reason.” Niki huffed, turning his head to look at the rest of their group chatting away on the other side of the room.
I feel like I’m getting nowhere with Shiina-kun… I have to find out what’s bothering him to ensure the success of this project, Kaoru determined, thinking of a way to coax the answer out of Niki.
“Shiina-kun, as the Captain of the Date Plan Idea Squad,” Kaoru turned pink when he referred to himself in that way, “I’ll be willing to listen to whatever is bothering you right now, no matter how strange it is.” Niki glanced back at him; Kaoru could tell he was still tense, but he looked ready to open up.
“Are you sure?” Kaoru nodded in response to Niki’s question. With one final glance at Chiaki and the others, Niki spilled the truth quickly.
“Am I hallucinating or does Morisawa-kun have… um for the lack of a better term… a big butt?”
Kaoru’s face rapidly became red once he processed Niki’s words.
“I’m sorry if I’m making you uncomfortable, but I can’t help noticing his round butt. It’s worse when I’m dancing behind him during the chorus… that’s probably why I keep messing up...” Niki looked more and more distressed the more he spoke.
“I feel horrible! I shouldn’t be staring at Morisawa-kun so much, but when he’s right in front of me, I can’t help it. It’s just there and… it kind of makes me feel hung-”
“I think I’ve heard enough Shiina-kun,” Kaoru brought his hand up in front of Niki’s face, gesturing to him to stop talking. Then, Kaoru quickly looked back to where Chiaki and Mitsuru were cheekily smiling at an annoyed Natsume.
“It was weird, wasn’t it Hakaze-kun? I’m so so sorry,” Niki sounded like he was about to burst into tears. Kaoru only gave him a blank stare in return.
“I don’t think it’s weird,” Kaoru sighed. This was going to be a lengthy explanation. “Just, listen to what I have to say.”
“You weren’t a Yumenosaki student, so you wouldn’t know about this. But back at Yumenosaki, Moricchi kind of had a reputation for having that… No one ever said it to his face directly and I’m 100% sure he’s remained oblivious to that fact for all these years. It’s just the type of guy he is.”
Kaoru gestured in Chiaki’s direction, “Most of us just learned to ignore his assets or pretend it’s not there. It’s just become a habit for us Yumenosaki kids.” Kaoru added the “pretend it’s not there” part because it applied to him. There was no way he would look at a guy’s butt… nope not ever!
“Ah, I see the situation now… well I’ll try my best!’ Niki replied, standing up with a newfound vigor.
“Eh?” Kaoru seemed surprised by Niki’s enthusiasm.
“If you guys ignore it, then I’ll do the same nahaha~” Niki looked back down to Kaoru, giving him a wide grin.
Well, that takes care of the problem. I’m rooting for you, Shiina-kun, Kaoru thought to himself. Then he got up to join the rest of the shuffle unit and brought everyone back together to continue practicing.
♪♪♪♪
Unfortunately, Niki was unable to resist Chiaki’s round butt. And worse, the ES used a take which contained a few mistakes on Niki’s part. Luckily, these mistakes are only noticeable if one were to look close enough at the footage. But once seen, it is difficult to forget them.
Almost all of these mistakes can be found during the chorus of the song. It looks as though Niki raises his arm a bit higher than everyone else. Then he proceeds to use his right arm twice in a dance move where the rest of the idols start with their left arm then switch to their right. Later, during the outro of the song, Niki seems to be the only one who does the “Z” differently.
And yes: all of these mistakes happened every time he was positioned behind Chiaki.
Kaoru could only sigh to himself when he checked the footage on a later date.