Archive of Our Own

Meaning… there wasn’t much freedom.

The group "Unity" consisted of three members: Kiseki, Shin, and Hebi. They were the oldest. And because of that, they had to follow everything that the agency tells them to. Of course, they followed suit but in the process, they were losing their own identity. All three of them were starting to have doubts with everything that they did, and in things like this, doubts were the last thing that they had to conquer.

"What the…?" Suguru Daishou slams his phone alarm shut, but the ringing was still going. "Shinsuke, that’s yours again…"

Kita Shinsuke turns off his phone, but sees a message on the screen. "…wake up Ushijima. We have to be on set."

Ushijima Wakatoshi just groaned in response as he sits up, rubbing his eyes. "It’s five…"

"…yeah, and we better be there before anything else happens to us." Kita reminds, already standing up to put on a clean shirt and jeans. Daishou follows but he wears an oversized sweater and sweatpants. Ushijima does the same, only wearing a sleeveless shirt and pants.

The moment they arrived at the set they were supposed to be, their manager was already givin a stern glare. "I called you all ten minutes ago. You should’ve been here earlier." She says angrily.

"We only got three hours of sleep." Ushijima says, not even holding back his yawn. This made their manager even more angry. "I have no time for shouting at you three. Get to the trailer van and get dressed. We have rehearsals and afterwards a performance."

They just nodded as their manager left off to talk with the producers. Daishou groaned. “Seriously? Hell, we debuted with mediocre songs. I’m surprised that the company hasn’t let us go.”

Kita hums in agreement. “I’m usually neutral… but these past six years aren’t great.”

Ushijima stayed quiet, then sighed. “I agree. And it’s not helping our manager’s fear.”

Their manager had a fear of change—the company only had concepts such as school and sports. Frankly, everyone has done it but their albums were always about those types of concepts with a few tweaks. It was because their predecessor group went from a school and sports concept to a sexy concept. The bad part? Well, it didn't suit their character and there was a lot of hate and backlash to the point where they had to disband. The company made sure that if groups were to do a concept change, they were going to ask if they really wanted to do this. So far, most groups succeeded. However, with them... it was a no show.

"We gotta get out of the cycle." Daishou says. "But how? The only time we're not being monitored is on our day offs."

"Then let's go busking." Kita suggests. "Actually, I have a song that I've written recently... maybe it'll go with what we're feeling."

"Busking sounds like a good idea." Ushijima agrees. "For now, let's just deal with... all of this."

Sunday. The only time the members of Unity had time for themselves.

Kita, Ushijima, and Daishou were on the streets of Shibuya with a bluetooth speaker and three microphones in hand. They didn't hide their faces this time and they weren't afraid to show them their new concept. 

Their concept was... well, unknown. Kita only had the lyrics for this. Ushijima made the melody and Daishou managed to sing and give out the distributions, but the song was only a minute long. The only thing missing was how the performance would go here on the streets of Shibuya. "You think this will work?" Ushijima asks. While he was fine with change, he was worried about how the producer would think, as well as their fanbase. 

"You know," Kita starts. "Back then, when I first auditioned, I kept pleasing everyone." He admits. "Then one day, a senior noticed me, and told me to just go with the flow."

"In short," Daishou continues. "Stop worrying about what others think, and break the rules."

Ushijima looks at them... then nods. "Are we ready for this?" He asks again, this time letting out a smile. Daishou turns on his mic. "Hey, everybody!" He says and everyone cheers. "We're Unity! And in case you don't know us, or discography and concepts are mostly about school and sports." Everyone cheers again at this. "But!" Kita speaks this time. "We're trying something different now!"

"Enjoy our song, even for just a minute." Ushijima starts. "Fake Love. Composed by us."

Daishou turns on the bluetooth speaker, and music starts coming out. "Kimi no tame nara kanashiku te mo egao de ireta, kimi no tame nara itami sae mo misezu ni ireta... Ai de mina mitasareru yō ni, boku no yowa-sa o kakusu yō ni... Kanawanai yume no naka sakanai hana sodateta..." Kita starts, then averts his gaze to Daishou.

They end the song, and everyone cheers. "Go Unity!" Was being heard as the three bow. Soon, the press arrives and the three make their escape, hiding their faces. They manage to hide behind an alleyway. Ushijima's phone rings, seeing that it's from their manager. Kita and Daishou look at each other, then nod. "Answer it." Daishou says.

Ushijima answers the phone, puts it on loudspeaker, expecting a lecture.

But nothing.

"You guys evolved."

And she hung up. 

A text message arrives after.

"What concept would you like to go for?"