Archive of Our Own

Day 1, Akito Shinonome 

“Oi! Is Toya here?” 

Akito let out a sigh as the student at the library shook his head. 

“Honestly, I thought he was with you. Have you asked Tenma?”

“Yeah. He hasn’t seen him either. I’m getting worried.”

“Did he even come to school today?”

“I don’t know, Tsukasa-senpai’s asking his friend that’s in Toya’s class.”

“Oh, right, that green haired girl. Kusanagi?”

“Yeah, her. Thanks anyway. I’ve got to go.”

Akito waved bye to the student and ran down the stairs. Lucky for him that An was already at Weekend Garage. 

He dialed the number highest on his favorites list again, and got the same message. 

“This is Toya Aoyagi, leave a message.”

He sighed and rolled his eyes. 

“Hey, partner. Where the hell are you? An and Kohane are already at the garage, and I’m heading there. Maybe your ringer’s just off. I guess I’ll see you there?”

He hung up and threw his phone in his pocket. 

It took him a bit to head to the Garage, a new CD that Ena had been waiting for had come out and she’s threatening to drag him around to take a bunch of photos if he doesn’t grab it for her. 

After taking a second to get the CD, he ended up at the Garage. 

He entered to hear Kohane and An starting their vocal warmups. 

As they practiced, Ken looked over at him and asked the question he’s been hearing all day. 

“Where’s Toya?” 

“I thought he came here ahead of me.”

An shook her head as she stopped. 

“He’s definitely not here.” She said, “So if he’s not with you, and he’s not with us, then where the hell is he?”

“That’s what I’ve been asking.”

Kohane chimed in. 

“Maybe Saki-chan knows where he is… I’ll call her up, give me a second.” 

“I already asked her brother.”

“…What?”

“Tsukasa Tenma. He’s a weirdo, but he thinks of Toya like family, so… I kinda have a vague relationship with him.”

“He’s your brother-in-law.” An said, casually. 

“I wouldn’t go that far.”

“Why not? He calls Toya his little brother.”

“Why do you know more about their relationship than I do?”

“Mizuki knows his boyfriend. I’m friends with him thanks to them.”

“…God, this whole thing is so confusing.”

“That’s not even the half of it when you factor in the fact that half the people at Miya Girls or Kamiyama seem to have their own Sekai.”

“You’re damn right. Anyway, let’s get those vocal warmups started, we’ll have to practice as hard as we can so that when Toya comes back we can show him what we’re made of!”

“Whoo! Let’s go!”

~

Day 2, Akito Shinonome

Akito found himself waking up before his alarm and leaping out of bed, full of nervous energy. 

Ena threw a pillow at the wall separating their rooms. Her classic “Shut the fuck up!” signal. 

Well, she’s awake, so no need to bother with getting her up. Time to get the hell out of here. 

Another dial. 

“This is Toya Aoyagi, leave a message.”

“Hey, partner, are you okay? Mind just texting me so I can stop worrying? Or maybe you’re already at school and studying like hell with your phone off. Guess I’ll see! Later!”

Akito found himself zoning out throughout the class. The lunch break came faster than he thought, as he tapped his pen on the desk to a familiar rhythm. 

He found himself dashing over to Class B, An yelling “Akito! Stop running!” Behind him. 

He slammed the door open, and…

Damn it. There’s no way Toya could have left that fast. 

Is he sick? That would explain why the Tenmas don’t know where he is, he wouldn’t want to give it to Saki… but wouldn’t he have at least called?

Akito swallowed back a bit of worry. He’s fine, he can handle himself. Maybe he just got grounded or something and that’s why he can’t call. 

…And the last thing he wants to do is sing right now, but practice is important. 

Still, it just feels… wrong. Singing without Toya. It’s almost worse than the time they split up. Because then he at least thought Toya wasn’t coming back. 

He’s gotta come back this time too, right?

~

Day 3, Akito Shinonome

An and Kohane had a worried look on their faces as Akito third-wheeled on their off-campus lunch date for the third day in a row. 

“He’s still not here?” An said, her brow furrowing. 

“Would I be here if he was?” Akito says, his voice losing a bit of its usual spark. 

“Touché.”

Kohane just stared down at her food. 

“It’s a lot harder to practice without him. Akito-kun, you usually sing with him, so your parts fall flat, and then the points where we usually sing together, I can’t hit those low notes like he can… Ah! Sorry, I was just thinking out loud!”

She’s exactly right. Their singing has gone to hell without him. 

“What if I practice solo, then? You two keep going as the Vivids, and I’ll keep improving for when Toya comes back.” 

“Hey, Akito, we’re not trying to throw you out or anything. Vivid BAD SQUAD just doesn’t work without the BAD DOGS.” An added. 

“Don’t worry. Just keep going. I’ll be fine.”

He’s not going to just admit that the thought of singing right now makes his mouth dry up. 

He’s got some stuff he can sing solo, he’ll push through it. 

Because Toya’s gotta come back at some point. 

He has to believe that, or everything will have been for nothing. 

Third day, and he doesn’t even know how many voicemails he’s left at this point. 

“This is Toya Aoyagi, leave a message.”

“Hey, partner, seriously. Where the hell are you? It’s been three goddamn days. Could you at least tell me if you’re alive?”

He tried his hardest to keep the tremors out of his voice, but this is Toya. He’d be able to tell in an instant. 

“Come on, partner. Call me, text me, anything. I’m… really worried.”

~

Day 4, Akito Shinonome

Fuck it. He’s not even going to get out of bed today. 

He’ll fake being sick or something. It’s fucking impossible to do anything right now. 

No new messages, not even a goddamn text. 

He’s losing his mind, another call to Toya’s voicemail. 

“This is Toya Aoyagi, leave a message.”

“Imagine if this was the day you came back, huh? You’ll probably kill me for this, but I’m faking being sick today. I don’t know, I just… miss you. It’s like someone took all the colors out of my life.”

A sigh.

“Listen. I think I’m starting to get what you meant about the world getting brighter when you first met me. Because when you’re not here… it’s like the sky’s less blue, or the lights are less bright. Things aren’t as… vivid anymore. Will you please just text me? I’m gettin desperate here.”

He hangs up and just closes his eyes again. What’s the point in any of this?

He knew it from the start. He couldn’t surpass RAD WEEKEND alone. And he finally found the guy that he could do it with, and now… 

Is that even the point? 

He’s lovesick or something. 

Ugh, being in love is really more trouble than it’s worth sometimes. 

~

Day 4, An Shiraishi

A quick glance into Class B as she wandered the halls. Gone again? Where could he be?

It’s not like she had his address. And even if she did, breaking into Toya’s window wouldn’t exactly be the best way to introduce herself to his dad, now would it?

Another quick glance, this time into Class C. Akito’s gone too? Damn… 

A quick dial. 

And a quick click, too. 

“…Hey.”

“Hey, Akito! You feeling okay?”

“Nope. Think I must have caught something. It’s a bitch to deal with.”

He sounded completely drained. Not even mildly upset that he was going to miss practice today. 

So he’s lying. He’s perfectly fine, he just can’t deal with everything today. 

“Alright. Hope you feel better. I’ll tell Kohane you won’t be here.”

She said her goodbyes and hung up the phone. 

Fuck, seriously, where’s Toya? At this rate, Akito’ll just die in bed. 

~

Day 4, Kohane Azusawa

“Akito-kun’s sick?” Kohane said, a worried expression overtaking her face. 

Oh no, not Akito too! What’s happening to Vivid BAD SQUAD? 

This is all her fault, isn’t it? She should have just kept her mouth shut and not have said anything. 

“That’s what he’s saying. He’s not actually sick.”

Kohane’s eyes widened and she cocked her head to the side slightly.

“Huh? He’s faking? But why would he do that?”

“Isn’t it obvious? He misses Toya. We’ve gotta cheer him up somehow. Since we’ve got no way to find Toya, maybe we should make him some strawberry pancakes or something.”

“Is there really no way to find him? Maybe we should ask Miku-chan and all her friends.”

An’s eyes widened slightly, and then she smiled brilliantly. 

“…Kohane, you’re a genius!” 

An wrapped her arm around Kohane’s waist, and clicked the play button for Ready Steady on her phone. 

In seconds, they were in front of MEIKO’s Crase Café. 

“Hey! It’s been a bit, hasn’t it? We thought you might have forgotten about us.” Miku said, shaking out her pigtails. 

“Course not, Miku! We’ve just had a bit of a situation recently.” An said, waving her hand. 

“Oh! Are you talking about Toya going missing?” Len asked from the back. 

An’s face dropped, and Kohane asked a question. 

“How’d you know that, Len-kun?”

“Uhhh… sorry… I’ve been kinda listening in on you guys…”

The blonde had a guilty look on his face, and Kohane looked down as An spoke. 

“If you already know, then have you tried to go to his phone recently?”

“Yeah. It’s always face-down, I can’t see anything that’s happening. All I can hear is vague talking, but I can’t make anything out.”

Miku sighed. 

“Toya’s gone missing? That’d do it. I knew I felt something off in the Sekai. He still shares your feelings, I know that, at least.”

MEIKO brought out a plate of cookies, and Kohane gratefully took one. 

“If he still shares our feelings, then what’s wrong with the Sekai?” An said. 

“It’s not him. It’s Akito. Something’s… wrong. I can’t feel his passion for performing anymore. Usually it’s so bright and vivid, but now it’s like… it’s dying.”

“Huh? Akito?”

An had sounded stunned, and Kohane felt herself start to panic. If it’s this bad, then what are they going to do?!

“Kohane. Relax.” MEIKO said. She hadn’t even said a word, but it must be obvious. “I’ve got an idea.”

“H-Huh?”

“The Street Sekai is like… the centerpoint of all five Sekais. All four you have a deep emotional connection with someone in at least one other Sekai. For example, you and An care about Minori and Haruka, right?”

“Of course! I’ve known Minori forever!” 

“And yeah, same with me and Haruka.” An chimed in. 

“Thanks to that deep connection between you two, there’s a link between the Street and Stage Sekais. Akito’s sister and another of An’s friends is in the Empty Sekai, so that’s another link. And Toya, he considers the Tenmas like his own siblings, so there’s your links to the School and Wonderland Sekais. There are more connections within each Sekai, but this one is unique.”

“Unique?”

“You can get to every Sekai from here. You can’t do that in any other Sekai. You could get to the Stage or Wonderland Sekais from the School Sekai, but you’d be out of luck trying to go to the Empty Sekai unless you cut through here. So, that’s the thing. We can invite the Tenmas over here and come up with a plan.”

An cocked her head to the side and thought. 

“That seems like a good idea. If we find Toya, then we’ll fix Akito too. Two birds with one stone.” She finally said. 

Kohane nodded. 

This has gotta work. Toya has to be in trouble, it’s been four days with no contact. 

And Kohane felt her resolve solidify. 

They had to do this. 

~

Day 4, Tsukasa Tenma

“Tsukasa-kun, you’re a little off today.” KAITO said. “Is there something on your mind?”

“Ah, is it that obvious?” Tsukasa said.

“A little bit.” 

“It’s not very Wonderhoy☆ to just suffer alone! Talk to us!” Emu said, shaking her head. 

“I’m just worried about my brother.”

“Oh, right, Aoyagi in my class. He didn’t show up today either.” Nene said.

“He hasn’t called or texted in four days.”

“Did you ask Aki-kun?” Rui said, his usual smile being replaced with a frown. 

“Hasn’t seen him either. And neither have Kohane or An. And obviously Saki hasn’t.”

“That’s pretty concerning.” KAITO said. “Maybe… Ah, I was just about to ask about her, and here she comes!”

MEIKO quickly appeared, with the Street Sekai’s Miku, Len, and the Vivids. Tsukasa built up his starry smile again and flashed it at the girls. He can’t betray his worry, a performer has to give hope. 

“KAITO, do you mind if we steal your troupe leader for a bit?” She said. 

“Is this about Aoyagi?” Nene replied. 

“Yes, were you guys talking about him?”

“Just now, actually. He hasn’t been to the Sekai?” KAITO added.

“Unfortunately not. Len even tried coming to his phone, but he couldn’t see or hear anything.”

He was about to open his mouth to speak, but An said something first. 

“Tsukasa-senpai, we need your help.”

That was not what he was expecting her to say. 

“You’re like Toya’s brother.” Kohane chimed in. “If there’s anyone that can find where he is, it’s you.”

“…”

Tsukasa bit his lip before reforming his smile. This only made him get more worried. He didn’t want to call Harumichi Aoyagi, and his parents had stopped being friends with him after they learned the kind of things he did to Toya, but maybe it was the only choice. 

“I do have his father’s number.”

An and Kohane’s eyes lit up. 

“Really?!”

“Oh, please! I know you hate him, but this is for Toya!”

…He always had a weakness for when people looked at him like that. They looked just like Saki. 

“Of course I’ll call him! Though, he might not pick up my number. I’ll need to borrow one of your phones. Where should I meet you so we can do this?”

“Weekend Garage! I’ll text Saki-chan the address, okay?” Kohane said. 

“Okay. Is it fine if I bring her with me?”

“Of course. The more the merrier!” An yelled out, her hair bouncing as she practically leaped up in triumph. 

The two girls stopped the song on their phones after thanking him profusely, and he stopped The World Hasn’t Even Started Yet and returned to his room. 

“Tsukasa! Kohane-chan just texted me an address! She said you’d know what it meant!” Saki yelled from the other room. 

Well, no time like the present to explain. He put on his best smile once again, and he walked out of his room. He couldn’t let Saki know how worried he was. 

~

Day 4, Saki Tenma

Saki let out a sigh as she walked down Vivid Street. This wasn’t how she wanted the first day that she was here to go. She wanted to see a Vivid BAD SQUAD live performance, and cheer on Toya and his friends. Not to find out that he was missing.

“Toya’s missing? Why didn’t you tell me until now?!” She’d snapped at Tsukasa, and his smile turned strained for a split-second before he regained his composure. 

He was praying she hadn’t noticed, and she had. 

Tsukasa hadn’t wanted to worry her. 

She instantly felt guilty and apologized. They walked down the street, and things were awkward for a minute until they got back on topic. 

“So, how’s Akito?”

“He didn’t even show up to school today.”

“Ah…”

Saki felt her face fall, and Tsukasa’s voice immediately got more confident.

“Hey! Don’t worry! We’ll find Toya, and then Akito will be fine too!”

“How? You know that his father won’t pick up for us anymore.”

“That’s why we’re going to use An’s phone! It’s a number he won’t recognize!”

“And then we’ll ask him if Toya’s there?”

“Exactly!”

“And what if he is? What can we do then?”

“Uh… we’ll figure that out when we get there!”

Translation: He has no idea. 

He’s trying so hard to keep that smile up. It’s one of the best things about him, he’ll never let anyone see he’s worried. 

It gives everyone else hope too. 

She felt a warm, fuzzy feeling inside her. She was loved by her brother. 

And she knew that in the case that something did go wrong, all hell would break loose. Tsukasa wouldn’t rest until he figured out how to get Toya back. 

Because that’s just the kind of person he is. 

And that’s the kind of person she is, too. 

You don’t fucking mess with a Tenma. 

And Toya might not share their family name or their hair color, but he’s still a Tenma. 

So they’ll find him and get him back. No matter what. 

They arrived at the area the GPS led them to. Weekend Garage. 

“So this is the place Toya’s always hanging out at, huh?” Saki said, snapping Tsukasa out of his thoughts. 

“Oh! Yes, it seems like it.”

They pushed the door open, and Tsukasa put on his vibrant smile again. 

“Hello there, everyone! Your star has arrived!”

An tossed her phone at Tsukasa, and he caught it easily. 

Saki opened up her own phone and scrolled through her contacts. There it is. 

Tsukasa dialed the number and put it on speaker as it rang. 

And a click. 

“Hello?”

Tsukasa swallowed and quickly came up with a lie. 

“Hello, I’m one of Toya-kun’s teachers at Kamiyama, and I just wanted to as-”

“That’s not funny, Tsukasa.”

“E-Eh? Tsukasa? You mean the boy in the year above your son?”

“Drop the act. Your voice is too distinctive to lie to me like that. I’ve known you since you were a child. I’d call your parents and tell them about this silly prank if they hadn’t blocked me.”

“Well maybe they blocked you because you’re a dick!” Saki yelled out, indignant. 

Another click. He’s hung up. 

“Saki, language!” Tsukasa said. 

“But he is!”

“I’m not arguing with that. But you shouldn’t say things like that.”

“Rrgh… fine!”

“We didn’t even get a chance to ask about Toya. We blew it.” An said, a sigh escaping her lips. 

“Is there anything we can do now?” Kohane chimed in. 

“I don’t have any more ideas. Let’s just pray Toya comes tomorrow.” 

An buried her head in her hands, and Saki wanted to punch something. 

This was unfair! And she just knew that he had done something, but she has no proof and no way to know where Toya even is. 

And Saki just bit her lip. 

There’s nothing she can do right now. 

~

Day 5, Akito Shinonome

His throat still feels dry as hell. 

An told him about what they tried yesterday. He almost laughed at the idea of Saki Tenma of all people calling Toya’s dad a dick. He almost wishes he’d been there to see it. Or do it, either way.

He was planning to fake being sick again, but it looks like Ena’s decided to stop taking pity on him and has decided to force him out of bed and to school. 

She didn’t even sleep, then. That’s the only reason she’d be awake at this time. 

Maybe he should just cut class…

But then again, where would he go? Toya’s still missing, Ken would get on his case if he went to Weekend Garage, and Ena’s still home. 

Toya… 

At this point he knew Toya wouldn’t pick up, but god he was desperate to hear his voice. 

“This is Toya Aoyagi, please leave a message.”

…Is there anything he can say that he hasn’t already?

What should he even say?

I miss you so much that I don’t think I can sing again until I see you? 

I love you and it’s killing me that I haven’t heard from you in five whole days?

I’m scared I’ll wake up and I’ll see a news notification saying that they found your body dead in a ditch somewhere and I’ve lost you forever?

In the end, he didn’t say anything. Just hung up and left the sound of his shaky breathing for Toya to maybe hear someday. 

~

Day 5, An Shiraishi

An put the mic down after she and Kohane had finished practicing the last song and turned her attention to the miserable lump of flesh laying down on the bar. 

“Akito, you haven’t even touched your coffee.” She said, with a sigh. 

The redhead didn’t respond. 

She didn’t even know what to say anymore. 

This must be what Miku meant. He seems… smaller, now. As if Toya took Akito’s voice with him when he vanished. 

An walked over and took a good look at him. He’s still breathing fine.

She paced back over to Kohane and lowered her voice to a whisper. 

“We have to get Toya back. I don’t think Akito’s going to last much longer.”

“But how? We don’t even know where he is.” Kohane whispered back. 

“I can hear you, y’know.” Akito said, raising his head. 

Holy fuck, he somehow looks worse now. There are huge bags under his eyes, has he not been sleeping at all? Then what has he been doing with his head down like that all the time? 

And An tries the only idea she has. 

“Come on, Akito. Sing with us.”

“No thanks.”

“Come on! You’ve gotta keep your voice strong for when he does come back!”

Akito lets out another deep sigh. 

“What’s the point…? I don’t sound right when he’s not singing with me…”

An just stood there, stunned. 

She whispered to Kohane again. 

“This is terrifying.” 

“Yeah…”

Another deep sigh comes out of Akito’s mouth, and he lays his head down on the bar once again.

“I don’t think he’s even sleeping. I think he’s just… lying there.”

“What? But why?”

Akito launches up like a rocket, and snaps out “Because there’s no point to my life without Toya, anything else?”

An shakes her head. 

“Nope. Don’t worry.”

And An whispers as low as she can. 

“We need to get him back!”

~

Day 6, Tsukasa Tenma

“Another day, another show!” Tsukasa says, putting on his best smile as he walks over to Nene. 

“He wasn’t here yesterday either.” Nene says, looking concerned. 

Tsukasa’s mask cracked for a split second before he reformed it easily. 

“Ah. Well then, we’ll just have to think of something else! I won’t give up, it’s my job as his brother!”

“…So you’re absolutely terrified.”

Tsukasa sighed and dropped the mask completely. 

“Is it that obvious?”

“Yeah. I appreciate you trying, but…”

Tsukasa just wanted to scream. Six whole days with absolutely no contact to anyone? 

Day by day, his typical cheer was harder and harder to come by. 

It’s impossible to feel okay like this, but he’s been trying his hardest to keep it together. For Saki, for the Vivids, and for everyone else too. 

And now he can’t even do that? He can’t even do the one damn thing he has to right now? 

It’s… dark. Why is it now that Saki has recovered, Toya’s gone missing? Why is it always that his family has to splinter and break?

Can’t they ever just be happy? 

Wait, there’s no point in thinking like that! He’ll be fine, they’ll find him, and they’ll be happy again! It’s going to happen. 

Because it has to. He’s not going to lose anyone. 

~

Day 7, Ena Shinonome

Ena waved her hand in a greeting to Miku, and everyone else quickly appeared. 25:00. It’s meeting time. 

“Hey, guys.”

“Why’d you ask to meet here?” Mizuki asked, their hair bobbing as they tilted their head. 

“My brother’s not feeling well, I didn’t want to disturb his sleep. He hasn’t been having a good week.”

“You’re being nice to him?”

“Hey, just because I constantly want to strangle him doesn’t mean I don’t care about him. His boyfriend hasn’t shown up to school in days and hasn’t even texted him, he’s in a pretty shit state right now.”

“Damn. He must be in a bad state if you’re not complaining.”

“It’s not even any fun to argue with him. He wouldn’t fight back. And that just makes me feel like a horrible person.”

Kanade pulled her laptop out of her bag while she replied. 

“Maybe a good song would cheer him up.”

“I tried. He just rolled himself deeper into a blanket burrito. It’s horrifying.”

“Perhaps he’s just having an off day.” Mafuyu commented. 

“I ate half a cheesecake right in front of him and he didn’t even comment.”

“…Maybe you should take him to the hospital.” Mizuki said. 

“I’m seriously thinking about it.”

Ena saw something out of the corner of her eye. A flash of red light. 

She turned her head to it, but it had vanished. What the hell?

“…Did you guys see that?”

“See what?” Kanade asked. 

“That bright flash of red light.”

“Red light? Ena, you sure you aren’t sleepy?” Mizuki added. 

She saw it again. 

“I swear to god, there’s something flashing.”

“Ena, there’s nothing. Maybe you should go home.”

Miku looked up from the place where she was sitting on the floor. 

“Everything in a Sekai is connected to your feelings. If you’re seeing something, it must be for a reason.”

Another flash. 

“…Guys, come with me. I’m finding out what’s making that flash.”

Miku immediately got up, and Mafuyu followed her. Kanade packed up her laptop, and Mizuki put away the nail file they were holding. 

Ena took a step towards where she thought the light came from, and it flashed again. 

“…Okay, I definitely saw it that time.” Mizuki added. 

So she’s not crazy. There’s something there. 

Ena broke out into a mad dash towards the light, Mafuyu and Mizuki keeping pace while Kanade lagged behind a bit. 

It’s not flashing anymore, but it’s there. It’s so bright, so vivid in this cold and empty world. 

She reached out to touch it, and she found herself on a moonlit street with the rest of her team next to her. 

“It’s so bright… it reminds me of Vivid Street.” She whispered, almost awestruck.

“Where are we?” Mizuki asked, and Miku answered. 

“We’re in another Sekai. This is the Street Sekai.”

“Street?” 

“Your feelings led us here, Ena.” Miku said. 

“So we’re just not going to answer my questions then? Okay.”

“My feelings?” Ena said, completely ignoring Mizuki.

“You were worried about your brother, so it looks like it led you to his Sekai.”

“Oh, so we’re answering her ques-”

“Amia, please.” Mafuyu said, cutting Mizuki off. 

“Right, right, I’m sorry.”

Ena rolled her eyes and continued. 

“So if what Akito told me is right, we’ve gotta head to somewhere called ‘Crase Café,’ right?”

“Yes. MEIKO’s place should be down that way.”

Miku pointed down a street, and they walked down it until they reached an empty café. 

“It’s late at night. No one’s going to be here until the morning. But then, why did the Sekai…?” Miku said, shaking her head. 

And while they were staring at the empty cafe, a lightbulb burst. 

And then a second one followed it. 

And a third. 

The Crase Café’s floor was covered in glass, and the lights inside had vanished. 

“I’m not an expert, but if this place is made from the feelings of people, isn’t stuff randomly exploding a very bad thing?” Mizuki said, their eyes widening as they crossed their arms.

“Yes… someone’s emotional state has just reached a breaking point.” 

“It’s my worry about my brother that brought me here, right? …Could it be?” Ena said, her brows furrowing. 

“Most likely.”

“Ena. Go home. Now.” Kanade said, worry evident in her eyes as well. 

“I’m going.”

She clicked stop on Composing The Future, and she found herself at home again. 

She checked the clock. 3 am. Fuck, did all that really take two hours? Whatever, she’s got something more important to think about right now. 

She runs out of her room and bursts into Akito’s, and she finds him curled up tighter than she’s ever seen him and his phone lighting up on the floor. 

~

Day 7, Akito Shinonome

Sounds like Ena’s vanished into the Sekai again. Time to call Toya for… oh, how many times was this? Who cares anymore?

One ring. 

Two rings. 

Three rings. 

And a… click?!

Akito suddenly felt happier than he had all week.  

Everything was brighter, and he suddenly couldn’t stop himself. 

“Toya! Partner, where have you been?! It’s been a week since I’ve seen you. Are you coming to school tomorrow? Ah, shit, I’m probably a bit out of practice too, I haven’t sung in like… three days. It’s hard to sing with the Vivids, we don’t have any three-person songs so we usually sing one of the few songs that An and I have or I just get left out because… yeah, you get it, and I’m rambling way too much right now, how are you?”

The other line is silent for a second, and then he finally hears something. 

“…Hmph.”

Akito stiffened up. 

That’s not Toya. So then…

“Aoyagi-san?”

Akito’s theory was quickly confirmed by the man’s next words. 

“I see. Still so desperate. You haven’t figured it out yet? He doesn’t wish to speak with you.”

“H-Huh?” 

“He finally realized that the music you make is worthless and that it’s time to return to classical music.”

Akito felt himself starting to get heated. There’s no way in hell he’s biting his tongue now. 

“You’re lying, he’d never-” Akito practically growled, before Toya’s father cut him off. 

“Oh, but he did. Remember? You punched him for that.”

Damn it, he knew that’d come back to bite him someday. 

“He never forgot it. And now he’s realized that he never truly loved you. He was just doing everything he could to spite me.”

“N-No. You’re lying, you have to be! I won’t believe it until I hear it from him!”

“He’s refusing to speak with you. I’m doing this for the both of you. Give up. Or I’ll call the police for harassment.”

A click. The conversation is over. 

He felt so much pure rage within him, he just chucked his phone against the wall. He’d be surprised if something didn’t break. 

And when all that rage burned away, all that was left was… sadness. Pain. 

Akito doesn’t think he’s ever felt worse. 

~

Day 7, Mizuki Akiyama

Ena had asked for a favor, and so Mizuki had dressed in their best uniform and was actually going to school today. 

They thought back on their conversation with Ena that they had a few minutes ago. 

“Mizuki, could you please go to school today? I know you really hate it, but…”

“It was him, huh?”

“Yeah. He was so bad last night. I had to physically pull him out of bed this morning. He… he looked like he was going to cry. I haven’t seen him cry since he was a little kid. Akito doesn’t cry, he punches things. So I don’t know what the fuck happened here. Just… do this for me.”

“Okay. I’ve got your back, Ena.”

They ran a brush through their pink hair and put it down on their desk. 

Eventually, they ended up in homeroom. 

They locked eyes with An, who looked at them with surprise. 

“Ena told me to come.”

“She did? Why would she?”

“Okay, something weird happened last night. We were in our Sekai, but Ena saw this flashing light. We all chased it down, and we ended up in your Sekai somehow.”

“Huh? I don’t remember that.”

“It was three in the morning.”

“Oh, so any sane person would be asleep then.”

“Hey! But, anyway, some shit went wrong. We were in front of that café place…”

“Crase Café?”

“Yeah, there. But anyway, suddenly, out of absolutely nowhere, three lightbulbs just exploded! Our Miku said that it’s probably because someone’s emotional state just went to hell, and seeing as how we knew that Akito was kinda fucked right now, Ena went home, and apparently we were right.”

“Akito’s mental state got fucked that badly? Maybe we should go check on him.”

“Yeah, definitely.”

Mizuki grabbed An’s arm and started dragging her to Class C. 

And nothing that Ena could have said would have prepared them for this. 

Akito just looking… defeated. It’s like he had completely lost his glow. 

And it looked like he was desperately trying to hold back tears. 

Something was wrong. Very, very wrong. 

The bell rang. Fuck. 

Mizuki pulled their phone out of their pocket, and they sent Ena a message. 

Amia: Enanan, you sent him to school like this?!

Enanan: I tried to stop him! He said something about having to go because now he knows that he was an idiot and he has to get over it! I just let him go because it’s only a half-day. 

Amia: Seriously, what happened?

Enanan: If I knew, I’d have told you.

Amia: Ugh… I’ll keep looking after him until after school. Did our Miku manage to tell all the Street Sekai Vocaloids what happened?

Enanan: K and I went with her. We ran into MEIKO sweeping everything up. 

Amia: Ugh, wish her luck for me. That’s gonna be a bitch to clean up. 

Enanan: I will. Turns out we can get there at any time now through that same path. 

Amia: Cool. Could you tell Yuki to tell Kohane? I think this is something that should be told in-person and I don’t want her to be too shocked. 

Enanan: Already done. 

Amia: Great. Later!

Enanan: Later! Tell me if I need to pick him up. 

Amia: I will. 

This is the exact opposite of what they felt the first time they met him after the festival. They were having a team sleepover, and Ena had roped Akito into being their model. He rocked it! He was constantly griping and complaining, but he had this… presence. He was the perfect model, even if he was annoyed as all hell. 

But that presence had vanished. Completely. They had thought Ena was exaggerating about how bad of a state he was in, but she wasn’t. She may have actually understated it. 

…What were they going to do?

~

Day 7, Saki Tenma

Nothing stays secret in a school. 

Kohane had been told by Mafuyu, and then she told Shiho. 

And Shiho was now saying it to her. 

“Oh no…”

“Seriously, you have no idea where he is? Kohane’s super worried about both of them.” She asked, unconsciously messing with her hair. 

“I wish I knew! If I did, then I’d be dragging him home!”

Shiho looked at her with a sad look in her eyes. Vivid BAD SQUAD performed at the Live House she worked at quite a bit, so she was friends with all of them. She must have been worried too. 

Ugh, she hated this! Toya…

Tsukasa had told her so many stories about him back at the hospital. It was hard to keep meeting him until recently, but now she remembered why she and Tsukasa cared about him so much all those years ago. 

He really is a good person. He’d practice with Tsukasa for hours on end so that he could beat her at games, or sit with him and be his audience as he practiced his new shows for Saki. 

She realized that a lot of precious memories she has would have been impossible without him, even if they didn’t know each other that well for those years. 

But then, where is he? What are they supposed to do now?!

Saki always hated waiting. She felt like life was passing her by. Every minute she spent worrying was a minute she’d never get back. 

So… she really hoped Toya would come back soon. She didn’t want to spend any more time being sad. She wanted to go to the arcade with him and Tsukasa again, she wanted to watch him absolutely decimate the crane games and then beat Tsukasa at the rhythm games. 

She made a promise. When she finds Toya and brings him home, she won’t take another second with her brothers for granted. 

So… he has to come home. He has to. 

~

Day 7, An Shiraishi

“…Akito? I made you strawberry pancakes.” An said, putting the plate next to him on the bar. 

Akito doesn’t even respond. He just… sits there with his head down. 

“Come on, it’s your favorite! Just have a bite, maybe you’ll feel better.” She says, trying to cheer him up. 

“Nothing can make me feel better right now, An.” He finally replies, and he sounds so dead inside. It’s terrifying. 

“Maybe talking about it will?” Kohane chimed in. 

An glanced over at her. She had an intensely worried expression that An was sure she mirrored. 

“Hey. Kid. Come on. It’s better to talk about things than to keep it all in.” Her dad said, shaking his head. 

“I’m fine, Ken-san.”

“You don’t have to just lie straight to my face like that. Just tell us what happened so we can try to fix it.”

“You can’t.”

“Come on. Everything’s fixable.”

“Really? So you can fix the fact that my partner couldn’t even be bothered to break up with me himself and instead sent his dad to do it after ghosting me for a full week?”

An and Kohane locked eyes and shared shocked glances. 

An mouthed “Call Saki!” 

Kohane quickly dialed her number, and ran to the back of the store so Akito couldn’t hear her. 

Meanwhile, An quickly turned her attention back to Akito. 

What can she say, what can she say…?!

“I mean, he could be lying! We all know how much Toya’s dad sucks!”

“I didn’t believe him, but he kept saying details that he wouldn’t have known unless Toya told him. As far as I know, Toya was lying to my fucking face about his dad knowing nothing about our relationship other than that we were together. So, yeah, I don’t know if it’s real, but it’s sure gettin’ convincing.”

“Ngh…”

An closed one eye and winced. 

What the fuck do you even do here? He won’t even eat the strawberry pancakes they made for him! That's literally his favorite thing to eat! 

Rrgh… what can they do now?!

Is there anything to do at all? Mizuki told her about the lightbulbs. Maybe Crase Café could figure a way out to cheer him up, Miku said she knew that Toya still shared the same dream with the-

Her phone flashes, snapping her out of her thoughts. It hasn’t done that since Ready Steady appeared, and that was a while ago now. 

She pulls it out of her pocket, and she stares at her phone. It’s open to the tracklist, and it looks like something’s happening to Ready Steady. 

She looks at it for another second, and it turns black. 

By the time the darkness vanishes, it’s turned back into Untitled. Well, fuck. That can’t be a good sign. 

Akito’s phone starts ringing. He denies the call. 

It rings again. It’s the same number. 

It rings a third time, and Akito finally picks it up because it’s annoying him so goddamn much. 

“What?” He snaps, ready to fight whoever was bothering him so much. 

And An’s close enough to recognize the voice on the other line. 

“Akito!” 

~

Day 1, Toya Aoyagi

“It’s about time you realized your full potential and abandon that trash that calls themselves musicians.”

Toya internally steeled himself. This is going to be another fight. Damn it all, this wasn’t a good time. 

“Can we please just handle this after school?”

“We can’t. I’ve transferred you out of Kamiyama.”

“…What?”

“There’s a prestigious arts school that has a very good classical music program. Kosei. I pulled some strings and got you transferred there.”

What the fuck, what the fuck, what the fuck?!

“Alright, let me just call Akito and tell him I’ll be lat-”

“That’s another thing. I’m taking your phone away until you’ve proven you can be responsible with it and you won’t run straight back to that garbage.”

Toya bit his lip. 

“You won’t be able to stop me.”

“Oh, but I can. If you’re not home by 3:30 every day, I’ll add another hour to your at-home practice sessions.”

“I’m not some child you can force to practice anymore.”

“You think you’re so grown-up and mature, but you’re not. You’re still a child. My child. This is what’s best for you. You’ll thank me someday.”

He doesn’t think he’s felt this much pure rage in his life. 

This is quite possibly the worst thing he’s had to deal with thanks to his father. 

But… he was right. There was nothing more he could do right now. He took the new uniform he was handed and got dressed again. 

This could not end well. 

~

Day 4, Toya Aoyagi

The days here are far too monotonous. It’s the same thing every day. He doesn’t know how grateful he’d be to see one of Rui-senpai’s robots running around or to see Tsukasa-senpai perform an impromptu show. 

He sighed, tapping his pen to the beat of RAD DOGS. No matter how stubborn he tried to be, his father had known the perfect ways to break him. 

He’d definitely been planning this for a while now. Toya’s constant avoidance of his father had given him the time to set this up. Toya had thought he was preventing fights, but instead he had just been playing right into his father’s hands. 

He should have known that something was up when his father had stopped arguing with him about being a member of Vivid BAD SQUAD and Akito.

He wonders how the Vivids and Akito are doing without him. Practice might be tougher, as far as he knew they didn’t have any three-person songs and An and Akito are very hit-or-miss when they try to sing together. He winced remembering their cover of Gimme×Gimme. They’d promised never to sing that again. 

It’s a bit tough to return to the rigid structure of classical singing after working so hard to break out of that rigidness for his street performances. He finds himself slipping into some of his street habits, like covering for other students when they mess up. Most of them don’t even react, but occasionally he’ll get a grateful glance when the teacher doesn’t chew them out. 

But the sky outside seems less bright every day he’s away from the rest of the team. From Akito. 

It’s incredibly hard to go from seeing him practically every day for two years to literally not being allowed to see him. He constantly finds his mind wandering back to Weekend Garage. 

To perfect coffee and delicious food, to a stage that the four of them have practically taken over when it’s not bar hours…

And how vivid and bright the sky seemed every day when he was with Akito. And now that he’s gone, it’s back to the same dull colors. 

He’s pretty sure he told Akito this at some point, but he’d always felt like the day he met Akito was the day he was reborn. The day when he could actually see the brightness in the world. The day he saw that the world wasn’t just work and pain. The day he could see the world how other people saw it. 

And now that he’s apart from everything that made him see those vivid colors, it’s like everything’s slowly dulling again. 

Every day, the sky gets a little less colorful, the flowers are less vivid, and the fact that there’s a goddamn peacock in the lounge of this school gets a little less surprising and his feathers seem less bright. 

Class is immensely boring too. He knows all this already, it’s been drilled into him since he was a child. He gets called on almost constantly by the teachers and each time they’re surprised that even though he’s clearly unfocused, he knows exactly what they’re talking about. 

God, he wishes they’d just leave him alone. 

There’s this one boy that enjoys his company. Yusuke Kitagawa, a second year. He’s eccentric and focuses more on painting than music, but he tends to just sit next to him as he’s sketching. They haven’t said much to each other, but there was one comment he made yesterday that surprised him. 

“I don’t think I could draw you, Aoyagi.” He had said, making a finger-frame motion and looking at Toya through it. 

“Hm? Why not, Kitagawa-senpai?”

“There’s something… missing.”

Missing? There’s so much missing, he didn’t even know what Kitagawa-senpai was referring to. 

“What do you mean?”

“It’s as if the sadness I sense from you has been forcibly placed upon you. Like you’re separated from your other half, in a way.”

“I wasn’t expecting you to be that observant.”

“I can’t explain it. But it feels like anything I make won’t be you until I see you with that other half.”

Toya places an arm on the table in front of him and rests his head on his hand, staring at absolutely no one. 

After a second, he responded. 

“…His name is Akito.”

“Ah. I see.”

Kitagawa-senpai fell silent after that, doing a quick finger-frame and suddenly becoming laser-focused on his art. 

At lunch today, Kitagawa-senpai once again took his place next to Toya and showed him his sketchbook. 

A perfect drawing of Toya as he sat yesterday. 

“I thought you said you wouldn’t be able to draw me.” Toya said, staring at the page. 

“That’s what I thought as well, but then you mentioned his name. That lovestruck look you had on your face for that split second gave me the inspiration I needed.”

Lovestruck? Was that really how he looked? Staring at the paper, he couldn’t tell. 

“People usually tell me I’m tough to read.”

“I have a friend like that. I simply focus on the little details to figure out how he’s feeling, and now I’ve figured out your little details. Like the way your lips quirked upward the moment you said his name, and the way your eyes widened a touch.”

“I see.”

Kitagawa-senpai put his pencil behind his ear and closed his sketchbook. 

“Would you like to talk about what happened and why you transferred here out of the blue?”

Toya sighed. 

“So, it started like this…”

He went on, and Kitagawa-senpai seemed to get more upset by the second. After he finished, Kitagawa-senpai thought for a second before replying.

“My guardian was… somewhat like your father. I only wish I had the courage you did to break out of his expectations like that.”

The bell rang, and Toya felt his eyes widen. Had he really gone on that long?

“Ah, Kitagawa-senpai…”

“Please, Yusuke. It feels… strange to have people calling me Senpai.”

“I see. Then please, feel free to call me Toya. 

“Thank you, Toya.”

Toya shook his head, and continued his thought. 

“Well, Yusuke, it looks like we’ll have to continue this conversation tomorrow.”

“Yes, of course. What did you say your father’s name was, again?”

Toya saw a look in Kitaga- Yusuke’s eyes that he couldn’t recognize. Resolve, perhaps?

“Harumichi Aoyagi. Why?”

“No reason. I just… wanted to see if his art was truly worth all the pain he’s put you through.”

A blatant lie. He knew then and there that he’d probably never know the real reason Yusuke wanted to know. 

~

Day 7, Toya Aoyagi

It was three in the morning and he was supposed to be asleep, but he heard a noise downstairs.

His curiosity got the better of him, and he stalked out of his room and looked down the staircase. 

His father was on the phone, and it was on speaker. 

Wait. That wasn’t his father’s phone. 

That was his! 

The case containing the photo strip of that time that he went to the arcade with Akito, the Vivids, and the Tenmas was absolutely unmistakable. 

And that voice on the other line, he’d know it anywhere. It’s Akito!

But why would his father be talking to Akito of all people? He hates Akito. 

He didn’t know, but he did know one thing. It felt so damn good to hear him. 

The sound of Akito’s voice was like music to his ears, and the way he rambled on made his heart flutter. He tried to memorize every word so that he could think back on it later. 

“Toya! Partner, where have you been?! It’s been a week since I’ve seen you. Are you coming to school tomorrow? Ah, shit, I’m probably a bit out of practice too, I haven’t sung in like… three days. It’s hard to sing with the Vivids, we don’t have any three-person songs so we usually sing one of the few songs that An and I have or I just get left out because… yeah, you get it, and I’m rambling way too much right now, how are you?”

God, how he just wanted to scream out that he was listening and stay up all night talking to him like they were doing just a few days ago. How much things have changed in the span of a week, huh?

But he bit his tongue. He wanted to hear the rest of this conversation. If he said a word, his father would hang up on Akito before he could say anything of relevance. 

“…Hmph.”

He could practically feel Akito stiffening up from here.

“Aoyagi-san?”

Ah, he’s figured it out. 

“I see. Still so desperate. You haven’t figured it out yet? He doesn’t wish to speak with you.”

…What the fuck did he just say?

“H-Huh?” 

“He finally realized that the music you make is worthless and that it’s time to return to classical music.”

His grip on the railing solidified. Seriously, screw this. It was one thing to keep them apart, but another entirely to outright lie to Akito like that. 

“You’re lying, he’d never-” Akito practically growled, before his father cut him off. 

“Oh, but he did. Remember? You punched him for that.”

He knew he shouldn’t have said anything about where that bruise came from. 

“He never forgot it. And now he’s realized that he never truly loved you. He was just doing everything he could to spite me.”

“N-No. You’re lying, you have to be! I won’t believe it until I hear it from him!”

“He’s refusing to speak with you. I’m doing this for the both of you. Give up. Or I’ll call the police for harassment.”

His father hung up, and he couldn’t bite his tongue anymore. 

“What was that?”

“Toya, you’re supposed to be asleep.”

Toya felt his hand curl into a fist as he moved it from the railing. 

“No. Tell me what the hell that was. Because from here, it sounded like you were telling Akito that I didn’t want to see him.”

“It’s for your own good. If he knew about this, he’d be on our doorstep in an instant.”

“Maybe that should tip you off that what you’re doing is wrong.”

“He doesn’t care about you. He only needs your voice so he can surpass that little event he’s obsessed with. He knows he can’t do it without you. Those voicemails he’s leaving were pathetic, so I-”

“Voicemails? He’s been leaving voicemails?”

“You get at least seven in a day from him. He’s obsessed with getting you back, they just all say that he’s upset at you for missing practice.”

“Really? That’s all they say? Why don’t you play one for me?”

“I won’t. It’ll just serve to distract you.”

A glare came at him from the bottom of the steps, and Toya responded in kind before turning on his heel and returning to his room. 

He took a second to think about the sound of Akito’s voice on that call. 

At first, the sound filled him with a kind of vivid ecstasy, the kind that made him feel like he could sing better than he ever had before. 

But as he had listened more, it all drained away. 

He didn’t think about the words, just the cadence of his voice. Concern, pain, and… something missing. Like the vivid colors he’d been losing had also been leaving Akito’s life. 

And there it was. The resolve he’d been missing. 

He snatched up the necklace he had left on his desk and stared at it in his hands. 

Tsukasa-senpai had gotten it for him when he declared he was getting into street music. It has always been a strength for him, knowing that Tsukasa-senpai was always behind him. And after Saki had gotten out of the hospital, she’d taken quite a shine to him as well. It was… nice. He was never close to his brothers, they were so much older and had their own lives while he was stuck here, but Tsukasa-senpai and Saki had added him to their own sibling relationship. 

He put it next to his uniform and went to bed. He was going to need that support on his back if this damn plan was going to work. 

The next morning couldn’t have come soon enough. He left a little early, he wanted to catch Yusuke before class started. The sky seemed slightly more vivid. Kamiyama had a half-day today, and those ended before lunch started here. Which means that he just needs to do one thing. 

Yusuke waved to him near the entrance, and he walked over to him. 

“How are you doing today, Toya?”

“Fine. I have an idea, but I need your help. Could I borrow your phone during the lunch break?”

Yusuke cocked his head to the side, his blue hair flowing down with the motion.

“Of course. Will you tell me what’s going on?”

“I can’t explain right now, I’ll explain at lunch. Just… trust me. I know that’s a lot to ask since we only met a week ago, but…”

“I already trust you. Just tell me who you’re going to call.”

“Oh. That was easier than I thought. I just need to call Akito. Something happened last night, it’s a lon-”

The bell rang, and Toya was cut off.

“Ah, we’ll have to get through this later.” 

“Perhaps we should meet on the rooftop for lunch. It’s not very crowded up there.”

“Alright. Thank you for this.”

Toya paced to class slowly. He barely cared if he was late at this point. He just needed to get to lunch. 

He found himself staring at the clock, just counting the seconds until he could get out of here and put everything into action. That’s the one free point in his day, and today’s the day it works out. 

Finally, finally it was lunchtime, and he could barely restrain himself from bolting up the stairs and alarming someone. 

When he finally got up there, Yusuke was waiting with his sketchbook. 

“You got here quickly, Yusuke.”

“I assumed you wouldn’t want to waste any time. Here you go.”

Yusuke’s hand held Toya’s salvation within it. A cell phone. 

After taking a second to thank him and remember Akito’s number, he plugged it in and sent a call. 

A single ring, before a voicemail message. 

“Hey! It’s Akito! Leave a message after the beep! Or don’t, who leaves voicemails in this day and age? Just text me.”

He didn’t bother leaving one. Akito had denied the call. Maybe he had assumed it was spam. He didn’t want to think about the alternatives. 

Another call, and the message repeats. 

One more try, and after that he’s calling An. 

This one rings longer than the first two, so that’s a good sign. 

And then the line connects. 

“What?” Akito snaps on the other line, and he sounds half-dead. That’s… not a good sign. 

But hey, he’s already here. What else is there to say?

“Akito!”

He hears the phone crash to the ground and the sound of An yelling “Put it on speaker! Kohane, get over here!”

Toya felt himself begin to break out into a smile. Hah… a second of hearing familiar voices and he’s already feeling better. He could probably sing stronger than he ever has before right about now. 

He pulled the pendant out of his shirt and started fiddling with it as the sounds of people running hit his ears. 

“Uh, hi! Toya, you’re still there, right?” An said, a hint of worry in her voice.

“Yes. I’m here.”

“Thank fuck. Seriously, where have you been?! Also please tell me that what your dad said to Akito last night was a lie.”

“It was. And for where I’ve been… uh, well, Kosei High.”

Everyone stayed silent on the other line for a second before Akito voiced what all of them were thinking. 

“Partner, what the fuck are you doing at Kosei High?!”

“Alright, where do I start…”

“Did your father do something again?” Kohane said. 

“Do we need to fight him?” An added. 

“Please don’t.”

“So this is his fault?” Akito said. 

“Yes.”

“I’m going to deck him.”

“Akito, no. Also I only have twenty minutes before I’m stuck in class again, so can you please let me explain?”

“Ah! Right! What happened? We were so worried!” Kohane said. 

“Alright, I think you know my family situation is… complicated.”

“That’s an understatement if I’ve ever heard one.” Ken added. Ah, so he was there. They must be at Weekend Garage. 

“That’s very true. Anyway apparently my father’s been planning this for a while, he took away my phone and has started keeping track of me for pretty much every moment of the day so that I can’t get out to Weekend Garage, and I obviously couldn’t call you. I did make a new friend though, and he’s the one who lent me his phone. He’s right here.”

“Make sure you thank him for us!” An yelled out.

“I will. So… that’s pretty much what’s happening. I’m sorry that it took me so long to call you, I just… probably can’t continue to be a member of Vivid BAD SQUAD.”

“What?!” Kohane’s voice rang out.

“No way in hell, Toya!” An added.

“Like hell I’m letting you quit on me again!” Akito said.

Ah, right. They’re stubborn as hell. That’s something that they all have in common. 

“Well, unless you have a plan to get me out of here, I don’t know what to do.”

Oh no. He could practically hear the lightbulb turning on in Akito’s head. 

“That was a joke. Please don’t take it seriously.”

“…Course not, partner. So, you can talk on your lunch breaks?”

“As long as Yusuke allows me.”

Yusuke makes a motion signalling that he’s okay with it. 

“Well, that’s great. So your lunch breaks are around this time, right? Guess I know when to cut class.”

“Akito, are you really sure you should be saying that in front of An?

“Whatever, she’s like the worst hall monitor ever.”

An chimes in with an offended “Hey!” 

Before he knows it, the bell is ringing. Lunch is over. 

“Ah, there’s the bell. I have to go.”

Toya could practically hear everyone else frowning from the other line. 

“I know, I know. I’ll miss you guys too.”

“We’ll figure something out! We promise!” An yells out. 

“I know you’ll try. I’ll try to talk to you all later.”

A chorus of goodbyes came from the other line, and he hung up and handed Yusuke his phone back with a thanks. 

He took one last glance at the sky before entering. Once again, it’s such a vivid blue. He wondered if it would stay that bright after a few days. 

~

Day 7, Akito Shinonome

Akito had to bite back a laugh. 

Toya was fine. Toya still loved him. 

He felt… relieved. Like everything that had gone wrong was finally going right. 

But that relief didn’t last very long. He’s decided. 

He’s going to get Toya the fuck out of there. 

Ken walked to the back of the café, and An pushed the now-cold strawberry pancakes towards him. 

“Hey, eat up. If you want to come up with a plan to break Toya out, you’re gonna need something to eat first.”

“So we’re in agreement that we’re getting him out of there?”

“Fuck yeah.”

“Hey, don’t forget about Tsukasa and I!” A voice said from Kohane’s phone.

“…Oh, right, I told you to call Saki.” An said, clearly having completely forgotten. 

Kohane nodded, before adding “And she heard the whole thing!”

“Yeah! I’m gonna go now, I’ve gotta grab Tsukasa and tell him everything! Can we come over?”

“Sure, if we’re gonna break him out we need everyone we can.”

Within minutes, the bell on the door rang and the Tenmas bolted in. Saki’s pigtails bounced as she sat down at the bar, and Tsukasa-senpai followed her. 

“Saki-chan, Tsukasa-senpai!” Kohane yelled out, leaping up to give Saki a hug. 

“Ha ha ha! I knew it all along! Of course he was fine!” Tsukasa-senpai said, putting on a bright smile. 

“Tsukasa, don’t act like that. We all knew you were ridiculously worried.” Saki said. 

“Of course not! It’s a performer's job to keep his confidence so his audience is also confident!”

Akito looked over to An, who rolled her eyes before smiling. 

Akito grabbed the fork off the plate of strawberry pancakes and took a bite. They’re cold now, but they’re still so damn good. 

The flavors danced on his tongue like a song.

He wanted to sing. 

No, that’s not right. He needed to sing. 

He started going through his head for songs he could sing alone later. Cinema, Fragile, and Pomp and Circumstance come to mind first. He’d have to practice them at home later and hope his voice doesn’t fail him now. 

But right now, they have bigger problems. 

“So, how do we break him out?” Saki asked. 

“Hmm… Maybe we could get him out the window?” Kohane said. 

“Do you not remember what happened on the camping trip?” An said. “He almost fainted before he fell out of that tree.”

“Maybe if we tell him to close his eyes and jump, and promise to catch him once he gets down.” Tsukasa-senpai said. 

“Kohane and Saki have absolutely no upper body strength.” 

“Akito’s easily carried him on his own more times than I can count.”

“Yeah, he’s honestly not that tough to carry.” Akito finally added, and An shook her head.

“That still doesn’t help when he told you to shoot him if he ever tried to go to a high place again.”

“I can get him to do it. Just trust me.” 

“Are you sure? Because if something goes wrong here, we’re not getting a second chance. And we can’t let him know, he’ll try to stop us.”

Akito bit his lip, and felt himself straighten up. 

“Yeah. I can. Let’s get him the fuck out of there.”

~

Day 7, Kohane Azusawa

“Mom! Dad! I’m home!” Kohane yelled cheerfully. Her parents could tell she was excited, but she couldn’t explain yet. They’d just get worried.

She didn’t like hiding things, but this just couldn’t helped. 

She pulled out her phone and searched her playlist. An had told her that Ready Steady had turned back into Untitled, so that’s what she looked for. 

When she finally found it, it flashed with a white light. 

Untitled is Ready Steady once again. So, it looks like Akito’s not faking it. He really is back! 

She tapped the play button, and found herself in the Street Sekai again. 

“MEIKO-san! Len-kun! Miku-chan!”

MEIKO popped out from the back, her hair bobbing and holding a broom. 

“Did something happen?”

“Oh, yeah, Ena-san and Mizuki-chan told us about the lightbulb thing. Uh… where do I start…?”

“Maybe with why you’re here?”

“Right, uh… okay, so Toya’s dad…”

Len cracked his knuckles. 

“…He’s kinda holding Toya hostage?” 

Rin appeared from out of nowhere and cracked her own knuckles. 

“Oh, Rin-chan, where did you come from?”

“I sensed that I needed to kill someone.”

“Please don’t.”

“We’ll find a way into your world and kill him.” Len said, almost growling. 

“Please don’t! You might make his father even more upset and then he’ll take it out on Toya!”

The Kagamine Twins fell silent at that.

“Okay, but what happened with Akito?” Miku said. “He’s the reason the bulbs shattered, right?”

“I-Uh… well… you know how he’s been in a bad state recently, right?“

“Yeah?”

“Uhm… so what happened was that he called Toya again and his father picked up.”

Rin and Len shared matching angered looks. 

“And… uh… he just kinda told Akito that Toya was the one who didn’t wanna see him and that he never loved him he was just doing everything to spite his dad.”

Miku and MEIKO seemed concerned while Rin and Len looked about ready to throw something. 

“But! We got a call from Toya today and he explained everything! Turns out his dad was lying completely and he was actually just stuck! And now we kinda have a plan but… uh…”

“What?” Miku said. 

“It hinges on Toya willingly throwing himself out a window.”

“…Oh no.”

“Yeah…”

“He’s scared of heights, isn’t he?” MEIKO said. “Isn’t there a better way?”

“Not really. It’s happening tomorrow night. I thought I’d just tell you guys.”

“Well, if you need anything, just come here for a drink or a snack. Is there anything you need right now?”

“Actually, I do have a question. If we have to get Toya a new phone or something, what’ll happen to Ready Steady?”

“As long as the phone is his, it’ll appear. Don’t worry.”

Kohane sighed. 

“I’m pretty worried. We haven’t ironed out all the details, but we want to do this fast. We know where to take him afterwards, at least. And I’m really happy that he still cares about us, but…”

“…There’s something else.” MEIKO replied, bringing out a plate of cookies. 

“…Toya sounded really defeated. I don’t think he noticed it himself, but the rest of us did. He sounded happy, but there was a broken part in the back of his voice. It was almost too obvious. He even told us he didn’t think he could be a part of Vivid BAD SQUAD anymore.”

“I see…”

Kohane grabbed a cookie from the plate before continuing. 

“And that’s why we need to do this quickly. So he doesn’t think we’ve all given up on him.”

“Hmm… okay. We’ll be waiting. Don’t forget to bring him over here. We miss him too.” 

The conversation was over. It felt so good to tell someone about this. An wasn’t telling Ken-san, the Tenmas weren’t telling their parents, and Akito’s not telling his parents, but she still felt bad about hiding this.

But it’s all for Toya. Once they get him back, it’ll all be worth it. She’ll take any punishment right now as long as Toya’s safe. 

The BAD DOGS are as much of a part of the team as the Vivids. They can’t be Vivid BAD SQUAD without all four of them. 

So Kohane stopped the song and tried to fall asleep, doing everything she could not to panic. 

~ 

Day 8, Toya Aoyagi

Apparently Yusuke had been getting texts from Akito, and he was told to pass on a message. 

“Your partner says to tell you that they have a plan.”

“Huh?”

“That’s all he said. He said you’d understand.”

A plan… oh, god damn it. He told them not to try anything!

Lunch here doesn’t line up with lunch at Kamiyama or at Miyamasuzaka Girls’, so it’s tough to get in contact with them again. He just hoped they didn’t do anything stupid like show up on his lawn at one in the morning. 

No, there’s no way they’re that stupid. 

…Please, for the love of god, they cannot be that stupid. 

…

He should pack a bag, just in case. 

~

Day 8, Saki Tenma

“Sorry guys, I can’t attend practice today.” Saki said, picking at her food. 

“Seriously, Saki? Just because we don’t have a gig soon doesn't mean you can slack off.” Shi-chan said. 

“I swear I’ll practice twice as hard tomorrow!” 

“Is something wrong, Saki?” Hona-chan asked. 

“Huh? Uh, no, Hona-chan! Of course not!”

The less people that know, the better. So, Icchan, Hona-chan, and Shi-chan absolutely cannot know. They’d try to stop her or back her up somehow. 

Though it hurts to lie to their faces like this…

And they clearly know something’s up, but they’re not prying. 

That’s a good thing, but Saki feels horrible for worrying them.

She made a promise to herself. She’d explain everything to them once they got Toya back.

~

Day 8, Tsukasa Tenma

“So, you can’t attend practice today?” Rui had said. 

“No, I’m sorry. You’ll have to do this without me.”

Rui raised an eyebrow. 

“So, you’ve figured out where he is.”

Tsukasa bit his lip. Rui was ridiculously observant sometimes. 

“…Don’t tell anyone. Not yet.”

“I won’t. Do you need me to build you a robot or something?”

“That won’t be necessary. The plan is happening tonight, and it will go perfectly!”

Rui softly laughed. 

“How could it not? It has to. Call me if you need anything.”

“Of course. I’ll explain everything later.”

“I don’t doubt that. Maybe a new show will come out of this. The Prince and his sister save their brother from a dragon with the help of the younger prince’s knight in shining armor and best friends. I can see it now.”

“Ha ha ha! You always know how to make me feel better about things.”

“It’s an entertainer’s job, isn’t it?”

Rui’s smile dropped before he continued.

“Just make sure you do it right. No retakes tonight.”

Tsukasa felt the flicker of resolve in his chest as he spoke.

“I know.”

~

Day 8, An Shiraishi

“Dad, I’m gonna be home late tonight.”

“Hm? What’s up?” He replied. 

“…I can’t tell you. Just trust me.”

“Is it drugs?”

“No.”

“Sex?”

“Nope.”

“Both?”

“Absolutely not. It’s nothing… too dangerous. I can promise that.”

“Alright. I trust you.”

“Thanks. You’re the best dad ever.”

An turned around to leave Weekend Garage, but she was stopped by her father throwing a couple more words at her. 

“Bring him home safe, An. Call me if anything goes wrong.”

She bit her lip before replying.

“I will.”

~

Day 8, Kohane Azusawa

“Mom! Dad! I’m having a sleepover with An-chan tonight!”

After a quick agreement, Kohane started packing her bag. 

She was just going to drop it at An’s before going, she wasn’t actually going to need most of this stuff. 

She just had one thing she really needed to bring. 

A bag of pebbles. They were going to do this the old-fashioned way. She’d spent all day picking them up around the school. 

She threw her bag over her shoulders and walked out the front door. This was the first time she’d actively lied to her parents. 

It was terrifying. But… they wouldn’t let her go if they knew. They’d say it was too dangerous. 

So she lied. She’d take her punishment later. 

She just kept repeating one thing to herself. 

It’s all for Toya. 

~

Day 9, Akito Shinonome

“Ena, I’ll give you my entire next paycheck if you just cover for me if Mom and Dad ask where I am.” Akito said, bursting through Ena’s door. 

“What the fuck? Where are you going?”

“Where do you think I’m going?”

Ena took a good look at him.

“You found Toya.”

“Exactly! And I’m gonna go get him and take him to the Tenmas.”

“Well, what are you waiting for? Go.”

“Thanks.”

“You’re literally bribing me to do this. Don’t thank me.”

“Not for that. For the last few days, I mean.”

Ena crossed her arms. 

“It was nothing. You’re welcome.”

Akito didn’t know what more he could say, so he just moved his gaze towards Ena’s window. 

“I’ll see you later, then.”

After a few moments of scrambling, Akito was on the ground and Ena had shut the window above him. She’d probably be awake if he came home tonight. And if he didn’t… well, he’d figure something out. 

He just stared at the address the Tenmas had texted him. This definitely isn’t how he imagined going over to Toya’s house for the first time. 

He checked the GPS, and found himself running there. He knew he shouldn’t tire himself out before he was even there, but he just couldn’t help himself. An and Kohane were waiting a block away with the Tenmas. Looks like they got here before him. 

“It’s almost one in the morning. Let’s get over there.” An said, a serious look in her eye. And from the way she was looking at him, he knew that he had that same look. 

It’s time to crush this. 

The Tenmas led the way, clearly knowing this area. And before they knew it, they were in front of a large house. 

“Here we are.” Saki said. “I haven’t been here in a while, I almost forgot where it was.”

“Neither have I, don’t worry.” Tsukasa-senpai replied to her. “Toya’s room is at the back of the house, on the second floor.”

Kohane handed Akito a bag full of pebbles. Honestly, he had meant that as a joke, but at least now they wouldn’t have to search around the yard for them. 

He pulled one out of the bag, and chucked it at Toya’s window. 

Nothing. 

Another. 

Still nothing. 

And another. 

…Still nothing.

They tried a few more times, but it clearly wasn’t working. 

“Okay, new plan. Kohane, get up on my shoulders.” Akito said, and Kohane looked stunned. 

“Huh?”

“If we do that, I think you’ll be able to see in his window and knock on it.”

“…Uh… okay! Let’s do this!” She replied, and Akito felt her begin to climb onto his back. 

After a few seconds, she was securely on his shoulders and was looking into Toya’s window. 

“I see him! Looks like he’s reading something. He must not have heard us.”

Kohane lightly knocked on the window, and she started smiling. 

“I think he heard me!”

She gave another light knock on the window, and Akito heard footsteps. 

And the window opened. 

“Kohane? How did you get up here?!” Toya whispered. 

“Look down!”

“…I’d… rather not.”

“Please?”

Kohane gave him a sad look, and Toya couldn’t say no to her. He took a gulp, and looked down.

And seeing Toya lock eyes with him and break out into a smile was the greatest thing he’d ever felt. God, he craved the way Toya looked at him. 

Kohane climbed off his shoulders, and he reached up. 

Toya reached down, and their fingers just barely brushed. 

And that was literally electric. He couldn’t wait to hold him again. 

“Why did I feel like you’d do something like this?” Toya said, and god it was so much better to hear his voice in person instead of over the phone or a pre-recorded message. “What’s the plan?”

Akito bit his lip. 

“You’re going to absolutely hate this.”

“Hm?”

Tsukasa-senpai stepped forward and explained it. 

“We’re… going to need you to jump.”

Toya’s eyes widened, and Akito could see his face starting to turn pale. 

“Are you guys insane?!”

“Come on! You can do it!” Saki whisper-screamed. “I know you can!!”

“No! No, I can’t! You guys are absolutely insane!”

“Relax! I’ll catch you! I promise!” Akito said. 

“Come on, Toya. Would you rather be stuck in there for the rest of your life? Or would you rather have some leverage over your father? He can’t keep doing this to you if he knows that you’ll get over your fears to get the fuck out of here.” An said. 

Toya sighed, and Akito wasn’t sure what they were going to do. 

~

Day 9, Toya Aoyagi

Toya bit the inside of his mouth and tasted iron. They’re insane, they’re so insane!

He felt everything start to spin as he kept looking down. 

He started to shake. Fucking fear of heights. This really isn’t going to end well for him. 

And Akito’s looking at him pleadingly. He’d have sold his soul just to see him again a few minutes ago. 

“…Are you sure about this?” He whispered, and Akito smiled brightly at him while holding out his arms. 

“Have I ever let you down before?” 

That smile. That damned smile. 

And An was right. He’d been looking for a way to show his father that he wasn’t going to just sit there and take this, and here it is. 

Here’s his one and only chance.

Toya got up, grabbed his bag and hoodie, and stood on the little ledge outside the window. 

He stared at Akito, focused as hard as he could on him and not on how high up he was…

And he jumped. 

But within seconds, everything went black. 

~

Day 9, Akito Shinonome

Shit! Toya fainted in mid-air!

He found himself running as fast as he could, if he could just catch him here-! 

It’s like things were moving in slow-motion. 

He couldn’t let Toya just hit the ground, he promised that he’d catch him!

He promised! 

He could see him, he was right under him, he just needed to…!

Akito reached up, and he just barely felt Toya’s body against his fingertips. 

He attempted to wrap his arms around Toya, but he felt himself falling back. 

Agh, god damn it! 

Next thing he knew, Toya was crashing into him and everything went black. 

~

Day 9, An Shiraishi

“Oh, you have got to be fucking kidding me.” An said, staring at the heap in front of them. The plan didn’t account for two unconscious teenage boys. 

The sound of the crash was loud too, they had to get the hell out of here. 

An grabbed Toya’s bag and hoodie and threw them both on before she started barking out orders. 

“Tsukasa-senpai, Saki, do you think you two could carry Toya?”

Tsukasa-senpai and Saki shared a glance, before rushing to grab him. They can carry him, good. 

“Kohane, that leaves you and I. We’re taking Akito.”

Kohane gave a nod, before grabbing Akito’s feet. An rushed over to grab his arms. God damn, he was heavy. Kohane could barely support any of his weight, but as long as it worked out. 

She heard a man’s voice from Toya’s open window. 

“What was that…?”

Oh god, oh no, oh fuck. That had to be Toya’s dad. 

“Guys, we gotta get out of here.”

~

Day 9, Saki Tenma

“Tsukasa! Is that park still there?” Saki asked. 

“…It is! Saki, you’re a genius!” Tsukasa replied. 

“Park?” An asked. 

“It’s right over there. There’s a lot of trees and bushes! We can hide there!” 

Saki let go of Toya’s leg for a second to point in the direction they needed to go. 

She grabbed it again, and Tsukasa yelled for the Vivids to follow them. 

They went as fast as they could, but Saki could feel herself start fading. 

Damn it, not right now! If she falls now, they’re all screwed!

She just has to get to the park, then she can rest! She just needs to push herself a bit longer! 

She feels her phone vibrate in her pocket. No time to check right now, she has to go!

She saw the familiar trees appear in her vision. Almost! 

The edges of her vision started to blur. She needed to focus on anything else!

Uh… Singing! That’ll work! 

The tears melt away at night, the sky becomes distant again today

It’s as if the future’s closed and it’s full of darkness

Ah, ugly hearts and words that could be snatched

The stars were shining as if they could see through everything

Just focus on the song and let Tsukasa lead the way, come on!

If we could fly high in the sky like a nighthawk

People would have told me I was beautiful and it would make me feel special

Yes, I can only see the longing in your downcast eyes

Someone wrote a map, I can’t find a place to light it

Almost, almost!

Ah, our current situation is flat and pathetic

If I’m not careful, the day after tomorrow will be yesterday

Tsukasa bolted into the park, and Saki kept focusing on the song. 

This is the story of the reason why I didn’t give up today!

Resonate the windbreaker and aim for the sky

She said she was tired of being miserable and she dreamed of shining

The feathers that made it possible grew long ago

Tsukasa found a little area surrounded by trees, where they used to play together all those years ago. 

The Vivids quickly followed with Akito, and everyone collapsed onto the ground. 

Saki’s vision kept swimming. Ugh, she needed to stay awake. 

Tsukasa reached for something in his pocket, and pulled it out. A granola bar. He held it out to her. He must have noticed it. Was it that obvious that she was seconds away from collapsing?

She gratefully took it, she didn’t think she could speak right now. 

Ah, right, her phone. After taking a couple of bites, she pulled it out of her pocket. 

Icchan: Saki, what happened today?

Icchan: I couldn’t sleep. I was really worried about you. 

Icchan: …I guess you must be sleeping. I’ll see you tomorrow, I hope. 

Saki couldn’t think up a response. Her head was still spinning and her vision was barely steady enough to read all of her texts. 

Would she be there tomorrow? 

She can’t help but think that this is exactly how she felt that day when they revealed she’d have to stay in the hospital indefinitely. 

Please, god, no. Not again. She had missed so much. How much will she miss this time? A decade? 

…Will anyone even remember her this time around?

No! She can’t think like that! Not right now! She just needs some sleep, she must have overexerted herself. After some rest, she’ll be right as rain! She just needs to get Toya home first!

She noticed Tsukasa had his own phone out, and he was typing something. 

She couldn’t bring herself to ask him who he was texting. She was simply praying to every god she could think of to give her enough strength to get Toya home tonight. 

~

Day 9, Tsukasa Tenma

The gods are toying with him. He gets his brother back, he faints in mid-air. Saki tries to carry him, and she’s in a horrible state. 

He just needs to get them all back home. That’s all. He’s the oldest, he needs to come up with some sort of plan. Saki can’t keep carrying Toya, but he can’t carry him alone. And the Vivids have their hands full with Akito. 

…Guess it’s time to call up a favor. 

Tsukasa: Rui, do you remember when you told me to call you up if I needed help?

Rui <3: Yes. So, what do you need?

Tsukasa: Everything went wrong, it’s too much to explain over text. If I drop you a pin, would you be able to come here right now? And bring something healthy to snack on. 

Rui <3: I’ll be right there. 

Tsukasa quickly shared his location with Rui, and he relaxed as much as he could. All he could do now was pray that he could help. 

A few minutes passed, and Saki seemed to be getting worse. Her breathing was getting shallow. Please, god, no. He knew he shouldn’t have brought her, he should have just left her at home where she’d be safe. 

Even the Vivids were starting to notice. They were sharing nervous glances between them. 

He heard a twig crack, and everyone stiffened up. An’s hands had balled up into fists. 

But then Tsukasa saw that familiar flash of blue-streaked purple hair. 

“Rui! You came!”

“You told him?!” An yelled, before realizing she had to be quiet. 

Saki clutched her head. 

“Ngh…”

Rui took in the scene in front of him, and he was clearly shocked. 

“You weren’t kidding. Everything really did go wrong.”

“Yeah. And I didn’t tell him, he figured it out on his own and offered his help.”

“…Oh. Sorry.” An said, sheepish. 

Rui asked what happened, and Tsukasa quickly filled him in. 

“…Ah, I see. You need my help carrying everybody home.” 

“Saki’s barely going to be able to carry herself home at this rate.” Tsukasa whispered.

Rui pulled a bag of baby carrots out of his pocket, and handed them to Saki.

She fiddled with the bag for a second before An motioned to it and opened it for her. 

“I don’t think you expected it to go like this, did you?” Rui whispered. 

“Not even close. I knew it wasn’t going to be easy, but to have all this go wrong?”

Rui sighed. 

“Well, this is when we have to stay strong. It’s almost over now, and I’m here to have your back.”

Rui grabbed Tsukasa’s hand and threaded his fingers with his own. 

“Let’s do this.”

After a second, Rui released his hand, got up, and pulled up Toya’s feet, and Tsukasa grabbed his arms. The Vivids returned to pick up Akito, and Saki shakily stood up. She gave a nod. Tsukasa had to trust in her right now. 

Tsukasa led the way as they made their way out of the clearing. 

Saki’s walking was shaky at first, but she started mumbling something as she walked, and she grew slightly more steady. 

It’s not too far from here. Just a bit more. 

He was thinking. What’s the best way to lift up everybody’s spirits?

A performance would work, but you can’t perform like this…

So, a song then! 

He looked at Rui, and clearly he had the same idea. Time to do this. 

Locking up the clever one before they die

You, hey, you know that it’s a pain to get you to be obedient, darling

Don’t lock me up! It’s not like I knew

Give me a break! You’re so cruel

Saki started cheerfully nodding along as much as she could, a smile starting to form on her face. 

The Vivids were starting to smile too, clearly cheered up by their singing. Perfect. 

How could he ever have forgotten that this is what he always wanted? 

~

Day 9, Kohane Azusawa

Akito is… really heavy. 

She guesses it makes sense, physically he’s the strongest member of their group, but also it really sucks to carry him. 

Even with Tsukasa-senpai and Rui-senpai cheering everyone on with their singing, it’s painful. 

Kohane’s arms ached, but she didn’t really think she had any right to complain when Saki-chan was over there looking dead on her feet.  

Eventually, Tsukasa-senpai stops singing and smiles. 

“Here we are!” He yells out, motioning to a house. 

Finally!

Saki gathers up enough strength to speak. 

“Toya’s room… well, technically the guest room, is upstairs next to Tsukasa’s and my rooms.”

“Saki, you just go to bed.” An adds. “We’ve got this.”

“I’m fine. I won’t be able to sleep unless I make sure he’s in bed safe and you all didn’t collapse on the way up.”

Saki pulls a keyring out of her pocket and unlocks the door, letting everyone in.

Kohane walks through the door, and Saki leads everyone upstairs. 

“Right here.”

She pushes open a door, and Kohane and An dump Akito on the bed while Tsukasa-senpai and Rui leave Toya there as well. 

Saki leans on the wall, her breathing getting shaky again, and Rui rushes downstairs and returns with a glass of water for her. 

She takes it gratefully and makes sure to sip it slowly. She clearly needs rest from the way she’s shaking. 

Kohane’s entire body was sore, but she could barely feel it anymore. She felt such a sense of accomplishment.

They were all tired, they were all hurting, but everyone was okay. They were all together again. 

Tsukasa-senpai and Rui-senpai each took one of Saki’s arms and slung them over their shoulders as they took her to her room. 

Kohane didn’t know what to do now. She didn’t think she could make it home like this, but Tsukasa-senpai gave them a wave and told them to stay as long as they liked. He must have known.

An pulled her close, and she pulled Kohane’s hat off.

“We did it. We actually did it, Kohane.” 

“Yeah.”

With one arm securely around Kohane’s waist, An used her other hand to pull Kohane’s hair out of their signature pigtails. 

“You know, you look pretty like this.” She whispered. 

“Th-Thanks.”

An put her forehead against Kohane’s, and sighed. 

“Why don’t we just go snuggle up somewhere and try to fall asleep?”

“That sounds… nice…”

And An tilted her head slightly and kissed Kohane. 

She felt all the blood in her body rush to her face. 

She thinks this is probably one of the best times she’s ever kissed An. High off victory, soaked in sweat, and so sore… but also so perfect. 

~

Day 9, Rui Kamishiro

After putting Saki into her bed, Tsukasa had led Rui to his own room before promptly collapsing onto the bed. 

“You invite your boyfriend into your room and you’re tired already?” Rui teased, while Tsukasa just rolled his eyes. 

Tsukasa got up, and Rui realized he was getting serious. No time to joke around then. 

“Hey, Rui? Thanks. I couldn’t have done this without you.”

“No problem. What kind of stage manager am I if I let my actors suffer all on their own?”

Tsukasa sighed, before throwing himself back on his bed. 

“I don’t think I’ll be able to join practice tomorrow either. No offense, but I think you might kill me in this state.”

“I wouldn’t expect you to after that. Do you want to explain what happened to Emu-kun and Nene, or should I?”

“I’ll do it.”

Well, that’s it. Nothing else is happening tonight, so Rui should probably stop imposing and get home. 

He turned to leave, but he was stopped by Tsukasa’s voice. 

“Where are you going?”

“Home. I assumed you’d like to get some rest.”

“Who said you had to go for that to happen? Stay a while.”

Tsukasa looked at him, and that bright look reminded him of the moment he fell in love. He couldn’t resist the blonde and his charm.

“Well, if you insist~”

~

Day 9, Toya Aoyagi

Toya found himself waking up in a cold sweat. 

Shit, where was he? The last thing he remembers is…

He felt himself start to shiver a bit as he remembered the night before. 

He must have fainted in mid-air. God damn it. 

He felt something next to him shift, and he felt arms wrap around his body. It was… comfortable. 

…

Wait, what?

Toya shifted slightly until he could get a look at whoever was next to him, and he couldn’t help but smile. 

Akito. He really did catch him. 

He must have taken him here. 

And here was…

He shifted his eyes to the walls. The Tenmas’.

He took a second to admire Akito. After all these days of not being able to see him, he was close enough to touch. 

He ran his fingers down Akito’s jawline and his neck, and he kept going until he reached his shoulder. 

Akito’s eyes fluttered open, and it didn’t even take him a second to slam his lips into Toya’s. 

The kiss was desperate, bright, vivid, and it was the best thing he’s ever felt. 

After Akito pulled away slightly, he ran a thumb over Toya’s lips. 

“You have no idea how much I missed you.” He whispered. 

“I missed you too.”

“I couldn’t sing. The thought of it made my throat dry up.” 

Akito? Not singing? 

The surprise must have been evident on his face, because Akito kept talking. 

“I know. It’s kinda surprising. I don’t know what happened, but when I got torn away from you, it just… broke me.”

“I’m sorry.”

“Why are you apologizing? It’s not your fault.”

Toya logically knew that he did everything he could. But emotionally, he felt horrible. If he had been around, Akito would have actually been able to sing. Akito looks happiest when he’s singing, and he just hates how long it took him to make contact with everyone again.

Akito spoke again, and snapped him out of his thoughts. 

“You’re overthinkin’ again.”

“It’s that obvious?”

“Maybe not to everyone else. But definitely to me.”

That’s right. Akito could read him easily. 

When anyone else told him he looked expressionless or like a robot, Akito would immediately go to bat and tell everyone exactly how he was feeling. 

It was… nice, having someone be able to read him like that. 

Kohane and An had begun to learn to read him too, and Tsukasa-senpai and Saki had always known, but Akito was the first one to learn it. 

He always said that someday he’d learn how to read Toya, and then he did. 

Maybe that first time Akito looked at his face and recognized how he was feeling was the moment he fell in love with him. He wasn’t sure, there were hundreds of moments like that.

Toya’s fingers flew up to Akito’s face. He wanted to memorize every detail. Those gorgeous green eyes, that vividly bright orange hair. It was a complete mess right now, but he was sure his own hair was just as bad. 

Akito was always what made those colors so much brighter. He never knew what orange properly looked like until that hair. Didn’t know what green looked like until those eyes. 

Those eyes, those eyes that stared down at him with such affection. He always wished that he could show that kind of emotion with only a look. 

Akito’s fingers danced around his body, making him shiver with just slight touches. 

Toya shut his eyes as Akito’s fingers ran down his face and his neck, and he vaguely remembered doing this to him just a few minutes ago. 

Hah… it was almost funny how he felt such an ecstasy just from Akito touching him. He’d always been weak for how Akito just casually slung his arm around his shoulders to show him something or how he’d practically lift him up in a hug whenever they won a battle event, even if he barely knew how to show how much he appreciated it. 

And this, god, this might have possibly been the best thing he’s ever felt. Nine days without seeing him, without talking to him, without touching him, and thinking he’d never be able to do any of those things he began to take for granted again… and now he gets to. 

And he’s going to savor every goddamn second of it. 

~

Day 9, Akito Shinonome

Vivid colors. Burning, bright, vivid colors. 

That was what he saw when he looked at Toya again. 

He’d never liked purple. He thought there was no one that could properly pull it off, but then Toya appeared. 

And now he’s pretty sure it’s one of his favorite colors. 

He brushed a hair out of Toya’s face to look at his eyes, and he’d be lying if he said he wasn’t enjoying the way Toya was shivering under his fingertips. 

Akito didn’t think he would mind if they stayed like this forever. 

But, they can’t. They’ve gotta get up and greet the world at some point. 

Akito attempted to retract his hand, but Toya caught it with his own before he could. 

Why did that feel familiar? 

…Oh, right. Toya did the exact opposite back when they temporarily broke up the group. He reached out, and Toya had slapped his hand away. 

And now here they were, so much later, and Toya’s stopping him from pulling away. 

There are so many things he wants to say, but there aren’t any words to express it. 

But, hey, who needs words when you have a song? 

Akito found himself singing in a low voice, definitely not perfectly, but it’s the best way to express how he’s feeling. 

If possible, please don’t go too far away

If at all possible, please spare me the pain

Akito didn’t think it was possible, but Toya seemed to relax even more at his voice. He was practically melting. 

Akito shut his eyes and buried his face in Toya’s neck. 

Maybe another five minutes. 

~

Day 9, Tsukasa Tenma

Tsukasa almost yelped when he felt a weight next to him, but he quickly remembered what had happened last night. 

Right. Rui. 

Who was currently scrolling through his phone. 

“Oh, you’re up.” He said with a smile. “I ended up going through a bunch of scripts and looking at stage directions for ideas.”

“Ngh… Saki…”

“She’s fine. No fever.”

Tsukasa let out a relieved sigh as he stretched out his sore muscles. 

“Then looks like I’m not going anywhere today.”

Rui let out a laugh. 

“Of course, a Prince needs his beauty rest. Did it spark a play idea?”

“Give me a day or two and I’ll see what I come up with. Plenty of inspiration came from last night.”

“That’s what I like to hear. Emu-kun and Nene might forgive us for missing practice if we bring them a play.”

“Us?”

Rui smirked before putting his phone to the side and running his fingers over Tsukasa’s face. 

“Now, what’s the point of going to practice if my star is here?”

~

Day 9, An Shiraishi

An woke up to a familiar head of blonde hair laying on her chest. She was still asleep. 

She took a second to look at Kohane. To just stare at her. 

She slowly raised her hand, ignoring the soreness, and patted Kohane on the head. 

She was probably going to have a hell of a time getting around after she got up. Her new contacts were in her bag. Which was at An’s house. 

But hey, she’d run across town like this to get it for her. 

She guessed that was what love was like. Doing such a thing just so that Kohane wouldn’t have to suffer. 

“Mm…” 

Kohane shook her head as she woke up, and god she was adorable. 

“An-chan…”

“Morning, gorgeous.”

Kohane flushed red, and An smiled. She’s so damn cute.

Kohane shifted a bit, and moved off An, clearly in pain. 

“Ow, ow…”

“Do you need me to get your bag from my place?”

“No, it’s fine. I brought my spare glasses with me.”

Kohane pulled a case out of a pocket inside her hoodie and popped it open. She slipped them onto her face, and An was stunned.

…Glasses and open hair looked good on Kohane. Really good. An couldn’t decide what looked better. Maybe Kohane just looked good in everything. 

Or maybe things just felt brighter today. 

Even through the soreness and the pain, today just felt so, so much more vivid. 

Vivid Street, the Vivids, and all the vivid colors that were on Kohane. 

And she realized that was her favorite word. Vivid. 

And she liked it best when describing Kohane. 

~

Day 9, Saki Tenma

Ugh…

Saki opened her eyes and felt absolutely horrible. 

The memories of the night before flooded into her mind, and-

Wait, shit! She needs to tell her parents!

She ran across the hall to her parents’ room, throwing the door open. 

They’d just barely woken up, but they got up quickly after seeing Saki run in. 

“Did something happen?” Her mom asked. 

“Long story short, we found Toya, we broke him out, and he’s in the guest room with Akito. Also Rui, An, and Kohane are here too.”

Her parents shared a glance, and they rushed across the house to Toya’s room. 

They opened the door, and noticed Toya and Akito snuggling in the bed. 

“Toya! Where have you been?” Her mom said. 

“We’ve been worried sick!” Said her father. 

Toya scrambled away from Akito, and Saki almost laughed at how stunned he looked. 

“I-uhm…” 

Toya very rarely gets tongue-tied. Akito noticed it too and let out a chuckle. 

Toya finally took a breath and composed himself. 

“My father again.”

Saki looked over at her parents, who both looked upset. 

“Go on, darling.” Her mom muttered. 

“He transferred me out of Kamiyama and took away my phone, and he started forcing me to practice again. He put it together perfectly.”

Akito chimed in with “And he lied to me and told me that this was all Toya’s idea at one point!”

Saki didn’t even need to look. Her parents were pissed. 

“We’ll be back.” Her mom said, and her dad followed her back to their bedroom. 

She knew she shouldn’t eavesdrop, but she broke so many rules already, so what’s one more? 

She put her ear to her parents door, and she heard the sound of a phone dialing. They’re calling someone?

She recognized the voice on the other line. 

Toya’s dad?! Oh god, they’re not going to send Toya back, are they?!

“Ah, you finally called me, did you?”

“What the fuck is wrong with you, Harumichi?”

Oh shit, her mom’s cursing. 

“What? I don’t have time if you’re just going to yell at me again, my son’s gone missing.”

“We know.”

“…You didn’t.”

“We did. He’s here, and by god he’s staying here.” Her father said. 

“I can’t believe you. I’m coming over there.”

“Don’t you dare. Stay away from him. I don’t know what possessed you to go insane like this, but until you gain some semblance of sanity back, we’re not letting you anywhere near our kids.” 

“I don’t want to be anywhere near your childre-”

“That includes Toya. Back the hell off. I cannot believe what you did.” Her mom added, cutting him off.

Oh shit, they’re going to fight! Saki internally cheered her parents on. 

Their voices lowered. She couldn’t hear anything anymore.

But she felt relieved. They’re not gonna let Toya go. 

Saki leaned back on the wall before realizing something. 

They need to celebrate! So, what should they get…?

Oh! Hona-chan’s favorite store! They didn’t just sell super good apple pies, they sold other pastries too. Apparently the cheesecake there was to die for.

Saki grabbed her keyring and wallet and ran outside, staring at the world around her. 

It snowed during the night? But it’s only fall…

However strange it was, it was definitely gorgeous.

She noticed something next to her.

A falling leaf and a snowflake, dancing around each other. So fleeting, but so beautiful. 

It somehow reminded her of Toya and Akito upstairs.

She looked at her phone, and she started running across town. It opened in twenty minutes and she wanted to get there fast! 

She felt sore, but the cold air soothed her muscles. 

It had just opened as she got there, but there was already a line with people trying to get breakfast. As she waited, she checked her phone. 

Oh, right, Icchan’s text!

She settled for a small message. 

Saki: Sorry it took me so long to respond! A lot happened last night, why don’t you guys just come over to my place so I can explain it? I’m buying stuff from the store!

Icchan: Are you sure?

Saki: Of course! Come on! There’s already half a party there!

Hmm, she’d need to buy more than she expected. Emu and Nene will probably show up soon too, so…

~

Day 9, Toya Aoyagi

Toya didn’t know what he expected when he and Akito finally got out of bed, but it certainly wasn’t this. 

The Leo/need and Wonderlands×Showtime girls were all downstairs along with the Vivids, Tsukasa-senpai, and Rui-senpai. And then there was Saki, pulling a ton of sweets out of a bag she was holding. 

A blonde girl with glasses was looking at him, and it took him a second to realize that it was Kohane. She must not have a new pair of contacts on her. 

Saki noticed him, and she clapped her hands together. 

“And here he is! The guest of honor!”

Saki showed off a purple-frosted cake that she had clumsily written Welcome Back! on in orange. 

Toya hadn’t even opened his mouth to thank her before she spoke again. 

“Aww, you love it!” 

A girl — What was her name? Mochizuki? — looked surprised, and An took the liberty of filling her in. 

“Toya’s bad at emotions, it takes a while to learn how to read him.”

Mochizuki nodded to An at that, and gave Toya a smile. 

Toya shook off his surprise and nodded back to her before sitting down. Akito sat next to him and wrapped an arm around him. He’s clearly not in a mood to let go right now. That’s fine. He didn’t want to either. 

Saki and Tsukasa were regaling their friends with tales of last night, and Toya settled in to listen. He didn’t exactly remember much after fainting. 

Tsukasa-senpai performed a dramatic flourish, flinching for a second before continuing. 

“And as Toya leaps out the window, he faints in mid-air! Akito runs over, like a knight in shining armor, about to catch him… and he misjudges the angle, Toya falls on him, and he gets knocked out!”

Toya’s eyes widened slightly, and he looked over at Akito, who put a hand on the back of his head and winced. 

“So, it was up to us!“ Saki said. “Tsukasa and I grabbed Toya, Kohane and An grabbed Akito, and we made our way to a park and hid! Tsukasa calls up Rui for backup…” 

Saki motions to Rui, who does a bow. 

“And he shows up to save us all! Thanks for the carrots, by the way.”

“No need to thank me, I hate those things.” Rui says with a smile, and Toya doesn’t even need to look to know that Akito’s agreeing with that statement.

“But anyway, I’m barely standing, so Rui helps Tsukasa get Toya back home! Everything’s a blur, but they cheer us up with some singing, and soon we’re finally home!”

The Leo/need and Wonderlands×Showtime girls were on the edges of their seats as Saki and Tsukasa continued their tale, and Toya leans back on the couch. 

He knew one thing today. And that was that all these mixed emotions and vivid colors would absolutely come out in his singing. 

Saki grabs a small box with a pair of mics from near the TV. She must have read his mind. 

“Since everyone here loves singing, how about some Karaoke?” She cheered, and the party suddenly got a lot more lively. 

And as Toya got handed a mic and Akito the other, they shared a look. 

So, that’s what they’re doing. 

The School Sekai’s Miku appeared on the TV screen, and a new song appeared soon after.

He’s been dying to sing this, but he just couldn’t do it alone. He turned to Akito, and he nodded. 

He put the mic up to his mouth, and took a breath. 

Vivid BAD SQUAD is back. And he’s not going to waste another second. 

Time to get back to practice. Their event that will surpass RAD WEEKEND awaits!