Chapter Text
"C'mon, Akechi, you gotta keep up!"
"Shut up, Sakamoto! Don't think I don't see you making up moves on the spot!"
"Ouch, man! Won't even call me my name after all our years of friendship..."
Akira couldn't help but chuckle at his group member's bickering. This was a regular occurrence for these two - it had come to a point where he, Yusuke and their manager Sojiro had a constant bet on which one of the two would win their daily head butts. Today, it seemed like Ryuji had left victorious since Akechi had let out an annoyed huff and was now taking a long chug of his water. The group's leader could already see the satisfactory smirk on Sojiro's face. Yusuke could too, it seemed, by the drooping of his shoulders.
"Good job today, guys." Akira nodded, taking a towel from a nearby bench and quickly rubbing it on his damp locks. "But Akechi is right, Ryuji. Whilst your improv is attractive, there's some parts where it's best for us to stay in sync." Ryuji's response was a tad delayed thanks to his focus on their newest song playing faintly around the large dance studio, but once his brain caught up Akira received a light punch against his arm. "Oi! Besides, Yusuke has all eyes on him during the synchronized dancing, I ain't gotta worry!"
Yusuke opened his mouth to respond, but was interrupted by the doors opening and a older voice filling the studio after pausing the faint song completely. "I don't know, Sakamoto. You'd be surprised on the amount of you-based things Futaba sends me." Sojiro chuckled, hands in pockets as he wandered over to the boys. "It's like she's not in a group herself.."
Yusuke smiled a little at that. "I know that our groups are 'rivals'," The group's main dancer made the finger air quote movement before continuing. "but I must admit, her rapping skills are very impressive. I would enjoy witnessing a SKULL vs ORACLE battle."
Ryuji spluttered a little before shaking his head. "Nah man, I ain't that good. Futaba's skills are way above mine, I kinda just bring some hype to the shows, y'know?" The blonde rubbed the back of his neck awkwardly.
“Nah, kid. You’ve got talent, embrace it.” Sojiro gently pat Ryuji’s shoulder before turning to Akira. “Anyway, I have a message. Niijima called me up and told me that her group are wanting a chat with you guys. Didn’t say why, just that Takamaki requested it.”
The boys raised their eyebrows. Their group, B-THIEF, had been ‘rivals’ with the girl group LUVRS4 for almost 2 years now. Ann had declared to Akira one day that she was going to make a pop idol group and Akira liked that idea, causing him to drag Ryuji and eventually Yusuke and Akechi along for the ride.
B-THIEF had grown to become pretty popular.
Akira, their leader and main vocals, was a passionate singer and his voice could fit many styles - which Sojiro had insisted was quite difficult and something he should be proud of. A vast majority of their fans had started calling him ‘Joker’. Ryuji constantly confirmed to Akira that his looks played a large part of their popularity; “C’mon man, who wouldn’t fall for a dreamy mess like you?! I definitely did!”
Ryuji had taken the role of rapper, and as Sojiro had mentioned, he definitely had skills. He was already a pretty fast and loud talker, so shifting his words to a tune wasn’t a large difficulty for the blonde. He did bring a lot of hype to their shows, with fans always getting excited when they knew a solo of his was coming up. On stage and during plenty of interviews, he did enjoy the name SKULL. He claimed it made him feel ‘badass.’
Yusuke mainly ‘hogged’ (Ryuji’s words) the camera during music videos because of his natural beauty. As the group’s main dancer, he basically glided across any stage or studio. Whenever he danced, it was like he got lost in the rhythm, as cool as ice, his hands perfectly shaped. His seemingly effortless movement had caused many fans to, like Akira, call him a different name - ‘Fox.’ Yusuke also had designed a few of B-THIEF’s outfits, with Sojiro hand-making them when their group was still small.
Akechi was the last member to join the boys. He at first started as a light technician during practices, simply because Akira wanted him involved in any way. Eventually, Akechi decided he wanted some spotlight and joined as B-THIEF’s sub vocal and sub rapper. His and Akira’s voices wove together well, and he and Ryuji surprisingly were an incredible duo on the rapping side of things. Fans had dubbed him ‘Crow’, though he wasn’t exactly sure why.
In response to Sojiro, Akira nodded. “Sure, we can all meet this weekend if they can.”