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Mayoi sighed as he dropped onto the lobby couch. It was already the middle of the night, and the only source of light was from the moon outside the see-through doors. Mayoi had spent all day wandering around ES grounds doing nothing productive. His bandmates were on a nationwide tour that Mayoi had skipped. Upon hearing about the news, he was immediately terrified of the mere thought of performing in front of that many people, and the rest of the members couldn’t convince him to participate this time. So consequently, Mayoi was lonely and aimless being stuck in the ES grounds all by himself.
“(..I’m...so useless. I’m nothing but a burden to ALKALOID and to everyone around me. Maybe.. it really would be better if I just... disappeared.)”
Mayoi slowly changed his position on the couch and decided to lay down. Normally he’d sleep in the vents, or in some cases, his dorm room. But he felt too mentally fatigued to even go to the vents, or even interact with his roommate, who would undoubtedly ask where he had been all day.
“(I think i’ll just sleep here. Nobody checks the security cameras unless a major incident happens, and security doesn’t really care what idols do in the building, so might aswell.)”
Mayoi closed his eyes shut. A tear ran across his face and fell onto the leather couch.
“(I can’t do anything right. I keep acting like the victim when the only people getting hurt are the people I love. All I am is a coward. I... don’t think I should even show my hideous face in front of them anymore. They’d be much more happy and successful without me. I’ll never understand why they always say that they love me. I may be an idiot but do they really think i’ll believe that? When there’s nothing lovable about a disgusting freak like mー”
Mayoi heard the ring of the front door open and the sound of footsteps were slowly approaching his direction.
(Who could be here... at this hour?!) Mayoi sat up and rubbed his eyes, to see a familiar tall figure with bright red hair staring right back at him.
“R...Rinne-san?!"
"Mayo-chan? What are ya doing here?"
The two stared at eachother in silence for a brief moment. Soon after, Rinne spoke up. “Can I sit here or...?”, pointing at the couch Mayoi was still occupying all by himself.
“Aah... sure. G-Go ahead.” Mayoi responded as he frantically tried to position himself normally so that he wouldn’t take up space.
“Thanks.” Rinne said as he flopped onto the couch.
Rinne proceeded to turn his head to his left and stared at the rest of the lobby while Mayoi stared at his lap, unsure of what to do in this situation. Rinne definitely wasn’t one of the people he’d usually like to run into, but the Rinne he had encountered just now wasn’t like his typical, loud and chaos-loving self. He was still intimidating for sure, but Mayoi felt more comfortable with this calm and quiet side of him.
Rinne turned to face Mayoi, leaning his face against his hand. “Soo... back to my question. Why were ya asleep here again?”
“Um, I just didn’t feel like sleeping where I usually would... I guess.” Mayoi answered with a disappointed tone still in his voice.
“Err, something happened? I know i’m not the most trustworthy person, but if ya need to talk about something, i’m all ears. Plus, i’d probably forget it by sunrise.”
Mayoi hesitated for a brief moment, but there was really no point in hiding it, so he opened up.
“You know the nationwide ALKALOID tour that was just announced yesterday?", Mayoi glanced at Rinne.
“The what now?! My lil’ bro is a celebrity!!?” Rinne stared back at Mayoi in shock.
Mayoi was a bit startled, but soon after, he found himself bursting into a small laughter. Maybe... running into Rinne wasn’t so bad after all. “*chuckle* Y-yep.” Mayoi said, as he wiped a tear of laughter.
Rinne started to form a light smile in his face aswell. “So, what happened next?”
“Uhm.. well.. I was supposed to go with them, but I was too much of a coward and then backed out last minute... S-so I might be sabotaging everyone else just because I was too afraid to come along. Aaah, i’m truly such a good-for-nothing! I-I’m... so sorry for bringing down your brother like that, Rinne-san.” Mayoi explained, looking away and covering his face with both of his hands.
Rinne’s eyes widened for a moment, but his expression slowly turned into something that of concern. Rinne lightly started patting Mayoi’s back. “Hey uh... I’m probably not someone who ya would like to hear this from, but it’s okay to put your own comfort first, Mayo-chan. No matter how many times you do it, and no matter how stupid the reason is. Us humans are wired to naturally be selfish, even the “kindest” people have selfishness in them too.” Rinne tried his best to comfort Mayoi. Mayoi looked back at Rinne, only to find Rinne staring down with a hint of disappointment and shame visible in his face, which Mayoi had never seen before.
“And plus, you’ll never be as selfish as me, Mayo-chan. You’re a good person, unlike me. All I do is live off Niki’s income and cause problems for everyone around me; Every. Single. Day.”
Mayoi looked at Rinne with worry. Shortly after, Rinne came back to his senses. “A-Ah wait! Sorry, I was making this about me just now, wasn’t I?”
“..Don’t be sorry, okay? Even though this is the first time i’ve seen this side of you Rinne-san...I can tell that you’re a kind and considerate person at heart. I’m not any better than you, you know?” Mayoi picked up Rinne’s hand and gave him a warm smile.
Rinne was shocked by how forward Mayoi suddenly was, though he isn’t upset by it. Rinne intertwined their hands and smiled back at Mayoi. “Well... I guess I can’t convince ya, so you do you. But, I guess it is kinda nice knowing i’m not the only one here with the title of “Worst Person in The Universe”.”
Rinne stood up, still holding Mayoi’s hand. “...Wanna go outside? The moon and the stars are looking brighter right now.”
Mayoi smiled and nodded and the two ran outside the ES building. They found a patch of grass to lay on and admired the night sky.
“... I’m glad I met you today, Rinne-san.” Mayoi turned his head to face Rinne.
Rinne turned to face Mayoi aswell. “Same here. But ya know Mayo-chan, if you keep this up, I might have to start stealing ya from Niki and that mint guy.”
“Pffft.” Mayoi started laughing and jokingly hit Rinne. “Ouch! That hurts.” Rinne laughed along with Mayoi, and the two spent the rest of the night under the stars.