Chapter Text
There must be something wrong with his eyes and ears and just about everything in the world right now. There’s just gotta be!
Seiya rewound the video from the point he had hastily pressed pause and pushed play on his cellphone… maybe, with a little too much force. He hit his knee against the table when he reached for the device when it almost tumbled down the table. It never fell down though, and that spoke volumes about his great catching abilities even when in times of panic.
The feeling of triumph disappeared when, on the small screen, Kojima started talking again…
“De-den! Ah, it’s here! A new one, first appearance,” Seiya closed his eyes again, but he heard the words that would come after this, even though Kojima hadn’t repeated them again. It was obvious his ears were playing a trick on him because of the dread he felt. Probably. Definitely. Still, there was a chance he had heard it wrongly that first time, right? Right? “Confessing in a sudden. So, the member I’m gonna pick now will confess suddenly to another member-”
He put the video on pause again, right on the same point. Then, sighed. Deeply. And then exited the video player app altogether.
Was there any point in watching the whole thing, to be honest? He had received the damned video from Kojima, right? So that could only mean he had been the unlucky bastard to confess to another member.
Seiya sighed dramatically once again and threw himself backwards on his bed. He had 24 hours to comply with Kojima’s crazy, stupid request.
“It’s not me!” Kojima had defended himself back then when Taisei had complained. “It’s all the Ae!Ohako’s fault.” And with that, the whole issue was over.
At least for Kojima.
Seiya sighed again, louder this time, and then he started to growl. The members were not around to mock him about how much of a Mad Dog he actually sounded like, anyways.
Kojima wouldn’t dare to orchestrate this whole stupid dare as a way to give Seiya a “little push” on his back. There was just no way… But yet again…
“It’s Kojima we’re talking about here,” Seiya covered his eyes with his arm as his pitch rose to a new octave. “Who knows what the hell he was thinking about!”
It was indeed Kojima Ken, the man living in his own world 24/7. Even senpais had reached the same conclusion! There was no use in trying to understand him, so Seiya was better off deciding what to do.
There was always Richard.
Richa was the obvious, logical option. Fans loved their interactions from ages ago, ever since the old golden days of Funky8 and touring with Yuma. And, for starters, Seiya fell comfortable enough around Richa to joke about being married or even in love. There was no racing heart when Seiya was around him, not even if they held hands or stayed too close.
That would be the easy way out.
But did Seiya want the easy way out, as logical as it might be?
It’s not like he was the biggest masochist ever, but wouldn’t this be a good chance to test the waters with….?
“With the straightest, most airheaded guy in our group,” he sighed dramatically yet again.
While Richa might be the safe, logical and obvious choice, it was definitely not the correct one when it came to a love confession. There was only one guy on Ae!group —in the whole Japan, or even the world— that Seiya actually liked enough to wanting to confess... And it was Masakado Yoshinori.
Seiya stopped himself before he would sigh for the umpteenth time. There was no point in wasting energy sighing when he had more important things to deal with. Choosing Richa was the logical answer, but seeing how Masakado would react to an actual confession also sounded logical to him. Somehow.
Who was he kidding? It was a golden opportunity.
He placed his camera in front of himself and brushed his hair with his hands a couple of times, didn’t even think about changing clothes. He’d better do it now before he lost heart. He pressed record and just…
“Hello, I’m Ae!group’s Suezawa Seiya! This is an Ae!Ohako video, so I got a message from Kojima. The theme is «Confession. »” He shyly looked down. There was nothing he could do to hide his nervous smile, as much as he tried. The hell with fans noticing his edginess and apprehension! They’d love it, for sure, even if they didn’t know they were about to witness the real confession of his feelings. “I have to confess to a member through a phone call. So, let’s get onto calling him…”
Seiya reached out to his phone, which was out of sight, with a big nervous, bitter smile, and started going through his contact list. This was his last chance to back out.
“Will he pick up?” he scrolled past Masakado’s name, and then went back up on his list, almost sure he would end up pressing Richa’s instead. “I’ll call him!” He’s blinked like a thousand times in the few seconds his finger dances back and forth from one name to the other, but ultimately ended up pressing Masakado’s name.
His heart was hammering against his ribcage, so loud he was sure his fans would hear it.
“Hello?”
And then it just stopped.
“Hello, Masakado?” He couldn’t even imagine how fans would react to hearing Masakado’s voice and name instead of Richard’s and he was thankful to his brain for supplying such irrelevant questions to ponder when he was pretty much about to die.
“Yes, hello?”
“You have time right now?” He wished the other would say yes. But he also wished Masakado would just say no.
“Yeah…” Seiya had to suppress a chuckle at the fact that at least one of his wishes came true. It was ‘do or die’ now.
“There’s something I, like,…” the beginning was super important. Could his lips and voice stop trembling already? “Want to tell you.”
All his nervousness suddenly concentrated on his nose and he couldn’t stop picking at it. But well, at least he had been able to set the mood and Masakado’s “Hai, hai, hai…” confirmed Seiya that he had his full attention for sure.
“How should I say it… It’s not like consulting you, but…” words had never failed him as much as they were doing now. “It’s something serious… Well, after we formed Ae!group, there’s been a lot of times we talk seriously about work, right?”
“We do…”
“Well, so, I think we’ve built a nice relationship…” the next words were crucial and, yet, so difficult to pronounce that Seiya had to sallow the lump forming in his throat at the mere thought of it. “I was thinking what you think…”
“Oh, oh, oh…” said Masakado to indicate he was following the other… But he wasn’t. Not really. He couldn’t be, because he didn’t tell Seiya what he thought about their relationship. Seiya would have to poke him further.
But he had to swallow again.
“I want to ask what you think…” Seiya was not planning to remain in the dark. He would get his answers. And he would get them fast. If he was putting himself in an embarrassing situation, he would get that much in exchange.
“What I think?”
Seiya couldn’t utter anything but a weak “Mm!” and an awkward silence followed suit.
“Eh? That’s difficult!”
It had been a while since he had last felt the urge to kill Masakado. He was always cute, but this wasn’t the moment to show his airheaded side.
But Seiya wouldn’t let him get away so fast, so he cut him off.
“Well, um, how should I say it…? I was thinking if this staying in this type of relationship is good,” those little true facts weren’t so difficult to tell; they would just slip from his mouth. Now, if only he could get his lips to stop trembling! “I want… our relationship to get closer.”
He was not dying of utter embarrassment over a phone call! He was just not!!
“Of course,” Masakado said in all seriousness.
And Seiya perked at that and looked up from his very interesting lap.
“So, well, um… How should I say it?” What the hell!! If Seiya had decided to test the waters, he was going to do just that. “I like you, Masakado.”
Seiya couldn’t believe the bastard had the balls to laugh at his confession while he was just dying! There was no use in denying it anymore: this was the most embarrassing moment in his entire life.
“Hai, hai, hai, hai… Well, I-” he could totally picture Masakado’s expression at that moment and it wasn’t making things any easier. “What happened?”
“Eh?”
“What happened?” Masakado sounded equally confused, amused and concerned.
Seiya couldn’t blame him for it.
“No, no, no, no… I can’t really say that face to face usually…” and that was the understatement of the year!
“Um, yeah…” but it was clear that Masakado stressed every syllable with discomfort though he wanted to remain polite.
“Yeah, so, I was thinking a lot while being home…” Seiya could feel his eyes blinking on their own accord, his throat itching and the muscles on his cheeks and mouth clenching and unclenching, as if suddenly all the tics he never had before had decided to attack him, all at once. “Well, so, I thought I want to tell you now. So, um… I want to make our relationship better and closer… So, I was thinking if you’d go out with me.”
His mind had gone mad and he blanked out. Had he just asked Masakado to go out with him?
His hand had landed on his mouth as if he were a cute, innocent young lady, blushing at one look from her crush… Seiya didn’t feel like one, though. At that moment, he was just utterly mortified.
Masakado let out a confused “Hm?” but then he was laughing yet again.
Seiya had to compose himself; but what a difficult task it was proving to be when Masakado was just cutely chuckling at him.
“No, but this is um… serious. It’s serious,” Seiya still had his pride.
And yet, Masakado had the nerves to keep on laughing, the bastard.
“Wha- Hm? What do you mean by going out?”
Was he trying to force Seiya to spell it just for him? Just for his entertainment?
“Well, um… It’s what it sounds… I don’t want you to ask too much about it…”
Seiya was glad he had to do this over the phone. Not because he was embarrassed to death, no, but because he would have punched Masakado on his stupid face otherwise. Would have definitely punched Masakado’s silly laugh away.
“Well, my feeling is that.”
“I’m very happy that you like me,” Masakado sounded serious and Seiya got himself ready to listen to anything the other would say. Well, anything except for “…and I really like you too.”
Though he knew it was not the same «like», a smile escaped past Seiya’s lips and he couldn’t help to blurt “Really?” as an answer.
“Yes.” Masakado actually said yes. He did. And, yet… And yet, Masakado didn’t share his feelings; he had to remind himself that much —he did—, but that didn’t mean he wouldn’t take this chance to make something happen.
“Well, I want to go out with you.”
It was easier to say it this time and Seiya was actually feeling encouraged, until Masakado laughed again, and suddenly Sei-chan didn’t know whether to kill Masakado, or kill himself, or bask in the sound for years to come. It was a good sound, dammit, heavenly even… If only he weren’t laughing at the expense of Seiya’s feelings…
“What is this about?” Masakado still asked.
Seiya perked at that. Was he showing some form of interest?
“Eh?”
“Going out? What?”
“I want to ask you about your feelings… Well, I don’t want to keep holding on to it, so I wanted to tell you my feelings.”
“Hai, hai, hai, hai…” he had Masakado’s undivided attention once again.
“Yeah, so, I want you to go out with me.”
Say something, please.
Seiya started questioning his decisions and how on Earth had he ever fallen for Masakado when the guy was even snorting in between his chuckles now!
The scale was slightly tilting towards the «Killing Masakado» option.
“Well, um, oh… I like you a lot too, of course. But… hm? Going out meaning?”
“Eh?” Seiya got too caught up on the “I like you a lot too, of course” part.
“Eh?”
“I don’t want you to ask too much about it…” he wasn’t begging.
“But I’d have to ask.”
As upset as Seiya felt and as much of an airhead as Masakado has always been, Seiya had to concede the other was right about it this time.
Asking was the least he would have to do.
“Yeah, but, understand me… Understand me! Understand how I feel!” now he was begging, pleading even in a high-pitched yell, letting out the voice of his heart.
Nothing could have prepared him for Masakado’s next question.
“Are you on that side?”
He had to laugh at that. It was always easier and less embarrassing to laugh than to cry, and crying in front of Masakado Yoshinori had never been an option anyways.
Not even if it was only a phone call.
“What do you mean by ‘Am I on that side’?”
Masakado, God bless him, was just laughing super hard then, enjoying his own joke.
“Eh?”
It was just painfully obvious Seiya would just end up hurting —more than he already had— if he continued probing and testing the waters. He was not that much of a masochist, and this had been more than enough. It was time to put an end to his own torture.
“Well, but, I… think you’d be confused getting told this all of a sudden…” he said in an understanding tone.
“Yeah…”
“I’ll definitely wait… I have to do things properly on my side too, so…” it was time to resort to the easy joke. “I’ll talk to Richard properly.”
He hoped fans would mistake his pissed-off tone and face for a serious attitude.
“No, no, no, no, no, no…”
“So…”
“It’s not about that!” he could tell just how much Masakado was actually enjoying the whole situation, being included in a fake love triangle with the other two. He was always up for some fan service.
“I’ll finish things up on my side as well, so…”
“So you two were actually dating too? It’s nice of you to finish things up…”
Seiya had stopped listening to Masakado long ago, he just wanted to get over this whole thing and move on with his life.
“So, please, give it some thought…”
“What is it? What is this about?” he could barely make out any word Masakado was saying; he just uttered a quick “Thank you. Sorry about this all of a sudden. I’ll be waiting for your answer” over Masakado’s voice and nervous laugh.
“Wait? Not what?”
“Sorry, thank you!”
“What is this?”
But Seiya had already cut the line. He couldn’t hear anything from Masakado anymore, though each and every one of his words got stuck in his head. He would hear more of the other as soon as he finished recording, and for the next couple of days, that was for sure.
Seiya managed to wipe the tears out of the corners of his eyes before any fan would catch him crying.
“So…”
That was right, even though the call was over, there was still a camera recording. The show must go on.
“I’m sweating so much. So hot!” he used the back of his hand to wipe out the weird sweat his face had collected throughout the call. There were only his honest thoughts whirling in his head, he couldn’t think about anything else to say… So why not say the truth? “Is this okay? Of course Masakado’s reaction would be like that… Being seriously confessed at by a member all of a sudden, he would have that kind of reaction…”
Seiya shouldn’t be as disappointed at that as he actually felt, right?
Was he actually expecting something different?
“Yes… So, this was «How would member react if I seriously confessed to them…» Please, look forward to the next Ae!Ohako… Bye, bye!”
He waved goodbye at the camera and pressed stop. After a few minutes gathering some air in his lungs and wiping the rest of the sweat on his face and neck, he sent it directly to the manager-san, as usual, before he would lose the heart to do it.
He noticed there were a couple of messages by Masakado on his smartphone, but he seriously had no energy to deal with it just then. Masakado and the rest of the world would have to wait.
He swept his notifications aside and turned his smartphone off and threw it next to himself, before falling back on the bed.