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Ever since Kaname had been knocked from his prestigious pedestal of being a special student, he seemed to sulk more often than not. It was common for him to silently enter the Octopus Room and immediately go to sit at the same spot which was in the furthest corner, scrolling through his phone until he left again to do whatever he did during the day.
Jun had heard from Tatsumi that Kaname had recently begun to appear on some TV shows as part of his idol work, so out of curiosity, he sometimes watched whatever programs Kaname was on for a few minutes or maybe longer if they actually interested him.
It was those that made Jun kind of begin to understand why Kaname was so full of himself: he was a talented and entertaining idol. He played off of the hosts and other guests well and offered a surprisingly gentle presence alongside an air of professionalism, at least compared to his young age and actual personality.
In short, “HiMERU” was really cool. Few people would believe that the person behind the face of such a frivolous yet mature idol was actually a brat if they didn’t see it for themselves.
Jun had to admit that Kaname’s effort and success were admirable, though. In a place like the Octopus Room, an idol like him looked out of place as much as he probably felt, whether that be from his arrogance or not.
…Honestly, as irritating as Kaname was, it sucked to see someone who worked so hard have everything taken away from him so easily; the higher-ups hanging it over his head as he desperately did everything he could to try and work his way back up. Reimei really was a hellhole.
In those aspects, the school days hadn’t changed much. Jun always arrived back to the non-special student dorm before Kaname did, so it was a surprise to one day find him there after Jun had returned from his classes.
Not much else seemed different at first. Kaname was sitting in his usual spot, though he did look… tired? No matter what, Kaname always made it a point to have good posture along with other things related to appearance, especially if there would be other people around, so the way his shoulders were slumped was glaringly obvious.
Moving closer until he was maybe 6 feet away, Jun also noticed the dark circles that were beginning to form under his eyes, subtle as they were. That was worrying, too. The idea that even someone as prideful as Kaname wasn’t taking care of himself… It made Jun uneasy.
But then, he had an idea. He had again happened to watch part of a show that Kaname appeared on, and he definitely seemed like the type to get happy over being recognized for his work, so…
“Hey.” Jun called out hesitantly.
Over the days spent in the Octopus Room, Jun noticed that Kaname had a habit. Whenever he was spoken to, he’d first ignore whoever was speaking (unless it was Tatsumi). Then, if that whoever insisted on talking to him, only then would he acknowledge them, just to scowl as if they’d spat at him or something.
Or maybe he only acted that way towards Jun. After all, he’d barely seen anyone else approach Kaname. He couldn’t really be sure.
“HiMERU.”
That got his attention. Kaname straightened up into a stretch and as expected, turned his head to face him with a half-hearted glare. “What?”
Jun strolled closer, inviting himself to sit on the futon next to his. He kept his gaze focused on the wall just so he didn’t get too irritated from the way Kaname was still pouting in annoyance at him.
“I saw you on TV earlier.”
There was a pause. From the corner of his eye, Jun could see Kaname relax and shift around to face him properly, even bothering to place his phone down.
“You did? Like, um, watched me?” He asked as he scooted forward somewhat, voice an odd mix of skepticism and relief.
“Yeah. It was your latest appearance, right? The variety show one?” Jun replied as he looked towards Kaname as well.
Kaname’s face lit up at once, completely masking the signs of exhaustion from just a few moments ago, and that took Jun by surprise. Smug grins weren’t anything new from him, but this was a genuinely happy smile, almost contagiously so. Admittedly, Jun almost smiled too, then—
“I didn’t think you were even capable of having good taste, Sazanami!”
Jun bit back a sigh, wondering why he even bothered to try and comfort him.
“Kazehaya-senpai would have encouraged it,” one of his thoughts helpfully suggested, so he decided to go with that.
“Sure. It’s just kinda surreal seein’ someone I know on television, I guess?”
“Yeah right!” Kaname huffed, “I bet you were just in awe of me. I can’t blame you, though.”
That… wasn’t too far from the truth, in all honesty. Besides, Kaname was still practically glowing from pride and Jun didn’t like the idea of dragging him down from his good mood, so he decided it wouldn’t hurt to go along with him just this once.
“Honestly, yeah.” Jun muttered, “You really do seem like a proper idol on screen. It’s impressive.”
Kaname paused for a second, blinking in surprise as if he hadn’t expected to hear that. “I— T-That’s because I’m always a proper idol! And soon enough, I’m gonna be the best idol in the world!” He asserted as confidently as ever, despite the stutter.
“Uh huh. Well, you can certainly only get better from here.” Jun said, not so subtly gesturing towards the miserable room they were in.
Probably missing the actual implications regardless, a tinge of pink spread across Kaname’s face and he shifted his gaze away. “...Do you really think so…?” He murmured with an edge of embarrassment to his voice.
…The sudden shift in his demeanor didn’t go unnoticed, but Jun decided not to say anything about it. He also definitely didn’t mind not talking about something related to Reimei, so if Kaname took that statement as just a compliment, he’d welcome it.
“I mean, yeah, you’re still young and it seems like you have potential.”
Even at such a simple comment, Kaname’s blush grew more obvious, a far cuter sight that it really had any right to be.
But now really wasn’t a great time to be focused on something like that, so Jun continued, “Uh, I know you must hate being trapped here and being considered some kind of failure, but… just keep it up, okay? You really do have a lot going for you.”
“Sazanami…”
Scratching the back of his head, Jun awkwardly leaned back. It should’ve felt utterly demeaning to compliment someone who made jabs at him more often than not, but…
“I… I know that already!” Kaname exclaimed, waving his hand dismissively in an attempt to act like he literally wasn’t just embarrassed, if Jun had to guess.
“I’m sure you do. You just seemed tired earlier, so.”
Kaname flinched, lips parting into a slight gape as though he’d been caught in a lie. “...I just didn’t get much sleep last night, that’s all,” He admitted under his breath, “But! Don’t worry, soon I’ll be right back to being my best possible self!”
Hesitantly, Jun nodded, “Just take care of yourself, yeah? It’s easy to fall behind here even if you’re already at rock bottom, so don’t let your work go to waste.”
Kaname looked like he wanted to say something more, but ultimately didn’t reply to that. His hands fell to his lap as he glanced towards his phone. An emotion Jun couldn’t quite read briefly flashed across his face.
“I won’t. I’ll do anything to prevent that from happening.” Kaname whispered, sounding softer than Jun had ever heard him, though it seemed like he was more so talking to himself.
“That’s good, then,” Jun replied anyway, “I’d like to see HiMERU succeed too, y’know.”
That seemed to drag Kaname out of some kind of daze, and he quickly looked towards Jun with a somewhat surprised expression, “You would…?”
Jun let himself smile, “Yeah. You never know, maybe one day I’ll be "his" biggest fan?”
Kaname stared at him for a moment longer before his mood again changed in a snap and he glanced away with a ‘hmph’, “As if someone like you ever could…!”
Jun wasn’t really sure what that even meant, but he chuckled anyway. “Yeah. I’d tune into all of your liveshows and everything.”
“Well, who wouldn’t?” Kaname replied, a proud smirk settling on his face now, “When I debut, my audiences are gonna be so big that arenas wouldn’t be able to contain them, but… Since you’re insisting so much, I guess I can try to make room for you to attend.”
“What an honor.” Jun said, resisting the urge to roll his eyes.
“I’m glad you finally understand, it took you long enough~,” Kaname hummed, either gleefully unaware or ignorant of Jun’s sarcasm. Then, he moved to pick up his phone again before standing up. “Sazanami, I must excuse myself now. Flatter me all you want, but no non-special student could keep me from practice. I need to be at my very best, after all.”
Jun shrugged. “Yeah, ‘course. I’ll see you later, HiMERU.”
“.....See you.” Kaname replied quietly, hurriedly leaving right after.
Despite the rush, Kaname was thoughtful enough to close the door properly behind him. Jun laughed a bit at that; he wasn’t sure why, but he had a feeling that he understood Kaname just a little more now.