Chapter Text
It's been 3 years since Kohane started singing on Vivid Street, since she joined An, Akito, and Toya in their dream to concoct an event that was even greater than RAD Weekend. She had graduated from Miyamasuzaka Girls Academy last Spring, and Toya had graduated swiftly from Kamiyama as well. Though Akito and An had struggled against studying, they too, fortunately, graduated much to the amusement of their partners.
Vivid BAD Squad had performed so many shows over the years, Kohane had lost count. Today's performance is at a live house on Vivid Street, the crowd is packed, and wild with enthusiasm, regardless of the first autumn chill shocking everybody this week.
They are currently in the middle of their last song of the night, but Kohane hopes it's not. She never tires of the excitement and adrenaline kick she gets when the crowd cheers after one of their solos, or after the last beat drops when the song ends and Kohane holds her pose and is washed over by the applause.
To Kohane's side, An sings the bridge to the chorus with Akito. An's hair flips radiantly under the stage lights, and Kohane stops her footwork to watch. An’s hair dances like the waves of the ocean had decided to vacation in her black and blue locks. Akito's face is gripped in furious passion as it looks like he's yelling into the mic, but Kohane knows it's just because he wants to make sure his high notes aren't covered by An's thick melodic voice. Toya is on the other side of the stage, and he's completely immersed in his footwork… and with that Kohane snaps back to reality because that's what she's supposed to be doing.
As the bridge is wrapping up, Kohane and Toya get ready to join An and Akito in the chorus. As An turns away from Akito, She catches Kohane's eye and raises her eyebrows at the hamster girl. Kohane’s face heats up in dread. Oh no, if An saw her fluke then Akito definitely did too and she was going to be teased later. Kohane had to focus, she was not going to ruin her Squad’s rhythm, she was not going to mess them up.
They hit the chorus like a party popper and the crowd exploded in cheers, Kohane starts her jaunt to center stage. Their choreography calls for the four of them to sing together at the center, during the chorus, to really sell the picture of their unity. It also helps them stay more in-sync, and as this was Vivid BAD Squad’s last climatic song for the night, they cannot afford a single mistake. Toya has good ears, but Kohane sometimes can’t hear his low voice from across the stage, and if she throws him off… it would be her fault.
She’s halfway there when An cheekily smirks at Kohane-- through her singing-- grabs Kohane’s hand and pulls her to the center. Kohane loses her balance a little bit and ends up leaning right into An’s side. Kohane can feel An’s heartbeat ricocheting off of her ribcage. An’s got her non-mic carrying arm wrapped around Kohane’s shoulders, closing her eyes as she sings. Kohane’s arm grips the back of An’s parka for balance, and grips the mic in her hand as if it’s her last tether to Earth and if she lets go she’s going to soar into the sky. Kohane seemed to always lose her thoughts when An got mischievous like this, but she knew An wasn’t trying to throw her off. She was just as pumped as the rest of them.
On the other side of An, Akito also links his arm around Toya’s shoulders and stands shoulder to shoulder with An. The four are entirely in sync, just like they practiced again and again and again, and it excites Kohane, so much that she squeezes An’s shoulders, gathering close to her partner and feeling out the rest of the chorus.
Alright , Kohane prepares herself for the next part. After the chorus, Akito and Toya have their duet for a verse while she and An have this choreography on the other side of the stage. Kohane is eager not to mess up this time, she’s going to prove to everyone here that she’s just as passionate as the rest of her teammates, and she deserves to be here.
As the four start to separate, Kohane hones in on her body. She’s kicking to the beat, she’s rolling her shoulders in the right direction, she’s isolating her hips just the way that Akito taught her. She deserves to be in this squad. She belongs here, and she’s going to prove it. Kohane is so immersed in her dancing she doesn’t notice how close she is to the edge of the stage. She has to try harder, move faster, focus, focus, foc--
The foot that comes down and is supposed to act as the pivot for her next turn catches on nothing, as Kohane opens her eyes to realize she’s going to fall off of the stage. Shit , not like this. She’s jolted out of her literal spiral downward, as a warm arm is cradling around her waist and another has a gentle grip on her arm.
“Gotcha!” An smiles at her with relief, the skin above her lips is shiny from sweat, probably just as Kohane’s are too.
“An-chan!” But before the blonde can thank her, Kohane is turned in An’s arms back onto the stage. An releases the hand that had been snake around her waist, and as it trails over Kohane’s stomach, she feels chills run up her back. An gives one last reassuring smile to Kohane before they both improv a dance out of their mistake, quick to getting back on track. Kohane doesn’t miss the way An’s eyebrows are slightly furrowed in worry. They’re professionals though, and she doesn’t say anything else. Her heart beats loudly in her ears.
The rest of the performance goes off without a hitch, they get through the chorus two more times and stop at the end. Kohane holds her fist in the air, the pose that they all areholding, but instead of the audience she can only hear her own heartbeat, so loud and so fast. Oh god, was she dying? Was this stage going to be her final resting place? She at least wanted to see King Pearl one more time before she died! But Kohane manages to shake herself out of her thoughts long enough to thank the crowd, say goodbye, and walk confidently backstage. The cool shadows calm her enough, and she thinks she’s out of the woods.
“Kohane…” Akito from behind her. She realizes she forgot about her original mess up, and nervously turns to her squadmate.
“What was that stop during the first bridge? You were doing so well, Don’t tell me you got cold feet.” His tone was disappointed, but Kohane could tell from the way his brow was slightly indented that he was worried for his friend. He handed her a bottle of water, and she thanked him.
“Oh, give it a rest Akito! You know that Kohane did great up there!” An called, the other two finally catching up with them. An punched him in the arm, and Akito inhaled in pain.
“I am not! I was just wondering-- Hey! Quit it!” An punched him again, and this time, Akito stood where Kohane was between him and An. “I hate when you get like this after shows, you have so much energy, Besides what was with that stunt you pulled during the Chorus!” He points an accusing finger at An now.
“Wha-at? I thought our chorus went really well!”
“Y-Yeah, it did but when you and Kohane were smushed up against each other, you threw off our symmetry! I had to improvise with Toya!” Akito is almost shouting now, Kohane starts to worry about his face being so red and pinched.
Toya blinked at him, “Oh, I didn’t know that made you uncomfortable, I thought you just wanted some support, Sorry Akito.”
“Tha-!!” Akito bites his tongue, and inhales. “I never said that… whatever.”
An laughs, elbowing Akito in the same arm she punched him in. “C’mon you could stand to lighten up your stage persona just a bit~”
“--And let people think I’m a casual softie like you? Not a chance.” Behind An, Toya chuckled. Kohane smiled at them, but then cleared her throat to get their attention.
“Thank you An-chan for defending me, but I did forget the dance sequence once. And I’m sorry I know we want to achieve greater heights, and all the mistakes I made today are unacceptable if we are going to beat RAD Weekend, I’m sorry.” Kohane tried to bow, but An’s soft hands stopped her shoulders.
“Kohane, I saw how stressed you were out there on that stage. You know our goal is greatness, not perfection.” Kohane looked up into An’s eyes. Their orange irises fuming like the setting sun, such a serious look on her An-chan … “None of us are perfect, and none of us will be perfect when the day does come, but that’s why we do it together…” An’s serious face shifts to absolute joy as she says, “Though If I had to say if there was a perfect person for the job it’s you! You still improved and pulled it off like a pro! And those moves you were shaking! It more than makes up for if you forgot the dance during the bridge.”
“But it didn’t look like you forgot the dance, you just stopped.” Akito pointed out, handing a bottle of water to Toya.
“Oh that was because--” At that moment Kohane’s brain turned back on, and everything that hadn’t been setting off alarms did. She had stopped because she was watching An. She was admiring her singing, her hair, her muscles rippled with energy, which she should have seen a thousand times because they had practiced this thousands of times. Wait a second. Did Kohane just think of An as “her An-chan”? It’s not like she’s exclusively her partner or anything, a-and what was up with how all of her thoughts stopped when An called her perfect, that way too immodest for her! Why was she so giddy for An’s touch after she caught her? --Oh god did she get a fever? Is she dying? Her face feels like it’s boiling, she really must be dying .
Neither An or Akito heard her as An starts to argue why she didn’t get a water bottle, and Akito spits back how she punched him. He counters with, “Besides, have your partner look after you!”
Partner, partner, Aibō. Those words ring in her ear, had they really been using Aibō this entire time? Wasn’t that also used by spouses? Were they acting like spouses? Partners for life? She started breathing faster as thoughts started colliding, but they weren’t making sense, and it was all so overwhelming, and she was so tired. A cool hand tapped her on the shoulder and broke her free.
“Azusawa are you alright?” Toya peers innocently down at her, ignoring the other two squadmates arguing behind him. She struggles to smile, she still had no idea what she was feeling, but at least she had her friends looking out for her. She reassures him, and Toya points out how the Live House Staff were hurriedly rushing around them to prepare for the next live performance. Kohane flushes with shame and calls the other two out of their argument so the four of them could stop loitering in the hallway. Kohane doesn’t wait to get a response, she knows they’ll follow, and she and Toya walk swiftly to their room to pack up their equipment.
When the four enter the room, they are surprised to see a woman in a suit sitting waiting for them, currently talking with one of the managers of the live-house that Kohane recognized. When the woman sees them enter, she stands up, introduces herself as a Manager of a popular and well-liked record label from the area, bows, and then asks if they would all listen to what she had to say.
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“A Record label! Isn’t that amazing!” Kohane was ecstatic. The Squad was now finally leaving the Live House, very very late at night. They walk through the parking lot and they should be dragging their sore limbs drowsily. However the weight of exhaustion does not register in them as the four young adults were infused with the excitement from the proposition. The manager said that she wanted to strike a contract with Vivid BAD Squad, and help them get their music out in the world.
Toya nods next to her, “I can’t believe it either, Azusawa, but I’m really happy about it.” He turns to look behind at Akito. “Don’t you agree, Akito?”
Akito rubs the back of his neck absentmindedly, “...We should definitely not jump so quickly to the chance.” Beside him, An was reading the details that the manager had sent to them, on her phone. Silent as she concentrated in her sudden sober state.
“This could be huge for us, but we should also be careful,” Akito continued, ”She approached us after we’re all pumped up after a show, with our heads high in the clouds… who knows what kinda details there could be if we just accepted the offer and asked later.”
The four of them finally make it to Akito’s car… or well the car he apparently shares with his sister. Akito always drives… Usually, unless he was too tired, then Kohane got the keys, but tonight Akito settled into the driver seat. Before Kohane could open her mouth, An was already settling in the backseat, so that left her and Toya to figure out who was in the front.
“You can have the front, Aoyagi-kun.”
“No, you can have it, Azusawa-san.” Kohane smiles lightly, hoping Toya could see it through the darkness of the dimly lit parking lot at two in the morning. Why were they the normal modest ones? Kohane shook her head, and gestured to the passenger side.
“I want to sit with An-chan, so you can have the front.” Toya nods, and minutes later they were on the roads of Shibuya again. Usually after a live show, the four squadmates are talkative, loose, and loud, but tonight they were quiet. Toya and Akito were talking in low voices about the live show, something about the choreography and the song. Kohane was looking out the window, but she wasn’t watching the streets. Her mind lingered on that stage, but not in the performance.
Scenes flash in her mind; the warmth from being crooked in An’s elbow, the gentle squeeze from the chorus, An’s smell of coffee and mint at the start of a show in their backstage room, the look in An’s eyes when she called Kohane perfect, Something about it. She must be too tired from the show, and the manager, she’s never felt like this before.
Kohane glances at An. She was no longer reading the details of the contract but texting. It looked like she was texting Haruka, by the blurry photo of a girl with blue hair as the profile pic. Kohane involuntarily smiles to herself, as if An senses this, she looks up right at Kohane.
“Kohane?” She whispers. Akito’s (sister’s) car was small so there wasn’t much distance between the two in the backseat.
“Sorry, I just thought it was funny how you have a blurry photo of Haruka-chan as her photo. I think she would be humored that out of all of the professional idol photography of her swarming the internet, you-- as her dear friend-- chose something so unpolished.” Kohane smiles fondly, “It really shows how you like her not for her stage persona, but as her real self you know?” When An was staring with a blank expression, Kohane’s face fell.
“An-chan, you do have other pictures of her right?” Kohane leans forward, and An purses her lips.
“Well… Yeah, Here I’ll show you.” An shuffles closer so she and Kohane could look at the phone. Kohane watches as An pulls up her camera gallery, and together they scroll silently through An’s photos. A blurry photo of her mint plants, a blurry selfie of her and her pink-haired friend from school, Akiyama-san, if Kohane remembers , a decent shot of a latte that MEIKO made one day. Then they finally made it to several blurry photos taken from the sidelines of a basketball scrimmage and Haruka was blurry every time. An has been silent, and Kohane could feel the weight of An’s eyes watching her, waiting for a response. Suddenly Kohane crookedly smiles at An, hiding her giggle.
“You move around too much with the Camera, An-chan! Where have the tips I taught you gone?” She jokes.
“It’s one thing when Kohane-sensei tells me something, but how am I supposed to learn from just words!” An whines, and Kohane giggles for real this time, “Kohane stop laughing!” But An was already breaking into a smile.
“Sorry, sorry, I just think it’s charming. Don’t worry An-chan, I would never prescribe you homework for my Azusawa-Photography curriculum.” Kohane gestures to herself in an act of faux-prestige.
“You think it’s charming?”
“Mm hm! It’s like the outcome of the photos doesn’t matter to you, but the content of them does!” An pouts, and instead of whining again, she huffs and turns away from Kohane. Her chin jutting in the air.
“W-Well, sometimes I do want to have non-blurry photos! Mine just aren’t going to be as good as yours, because I don’t have your skills, so you can’t criticize me Kohane! It will break my heart!” Kohane sighs away her giggles, and decides to finally let An off the hook. She gently squeezes An’s forearm to get her attention.
“As your partner, and photographer friend, I promise to get you those non-blurry photos. Whatever you need, I’ll take the photo!” Kohane jokes, giving An the chance to poke fun at her now.
“Really?”
“Y-Yeah, Wait--”
“Kohane,” An suddenly slumps tiredly on Kohane’s shoulder, “You promise?” Kohane had originally prompted as a joke, but An sounded so sincere and open right now. Something in Kohane couldn’t resist.
“Y-yes, I promise.” Before Kohane could register that, she suddenly hears Akito scoff in the driver seat.
“Doesn’t that defeat the whole purpose of learning how to do photography?” Yes, It absolutely does . Kohane thought.
“Shuddap, nobody asked you!” An kicked lightly at the back of Akito’s seat, and Kohane thought she could audibly hear him eyeroll.
“Well, I was kind of wondering…” Toya said in Akito’s defense, looking back at An. He had previously been leaning his head against the window, Kohane was surprised he wasn’t asleep by now. An blew a raspberry in Akito’s direction.
“Just because your Toya came to the rescue, and saved you today, doesn’t save you tomorrow.” An squints at the back of the headrest Akito’s head was against, making sure he felt the heat from the holes she was drilling through his head. Kohane and Toya met eyes, and sigh quietly to themselves. They knew that their partners didn’t actually hate each other, but goodness did they bicker like it was all that mattered to them.
Akito huffs, “Whatever, go back to your wedding proposal,” and with that he went back to silently driving. An’s head was still resting on Kohane’s shoulder. Thankfully An didn’t look up at Kohane’s face because if she did, she would be met with a frowning hamster girl.
Her promise to An…It was not even close to a wedding proposal, especially not one fit for her An-chan. An deserved bouquets of roses, she deserved early morning kisses over coffee, she deserved the best god-damn photos in the world, and her phone camera was totally at fault, because her An-chan was perfect. Her An-chan would also never carelessly throw out a proposal like this, she was casual, yes, but An was sincere and so full of kindness and love. If, hypothetically, An proposed to her, An would spend many days scouring for the perfect ring. She would start the day with Kohane’s favorite drink, Serenade to her at an afternoon picnic, and then…
And then.
Kohane froze.
An… proposing to her. Oh, no she didn’t think of An that way. No, Kohane inhales nervously in the attempt to laugh off that sudden thought. She shakes her head tiredly but careful not to hit An with her pigtails. She then remembers An is there and snatches a glance at her,... and her breath catches.
Though An is leaning on Kohane’s shoulder, Kohane can still peer around to be mesmerized in how An’s hair tumbles around her collarbone, frames her jawline, and curls on her soft cheeks. Her bangs fall against Kohane’s neck, a teasing touch against the arteries that are pumping loudly in her ears. An must be slightly dozing, because she breathes evenly into the fabric of Kohane’s shirt. Kohane is startled by the feeling but she wants An to keep breathing against her. To keep involving her existence, with her own.
Her heart squeezes in her chest, and she holds a breath that hadn’t been there because she had stopped breathing several seconds ago anyways, but she lets her mind fall away. Any sensation of dry mouth falls away. The hum of the car, the rumble of the road beneath, the whisper of the wind against the windows, it all falls away. While everything was falling out of her reach, Kohane felt like she was falling out of her body. No, not out of her body, but like she was falling out of the stratosphere of herself and towards the girl next to her because An was the giant ball of mass and gas and stardust that Kohane was falling towards. And falling, and falling, and fa-
Kohane coughed violently. She had not been breathing for the past minute. After a fit of wheezing, she can finally see through tears that Toya had turned around in the passenger seat to look alarmingly at her. He was saying something about water. She could vaguely hear Akito huffing.
“Good Idea! Kohane, Here drink some water” An pats her back, and hands her a water bottle. Kohane feigns needing it, drinking only to save herself from embarrassment of explanation. She tries not to think about how close An was, but it was definitely better now that she had retreated her hand. Kohane feared that if An’s hand lingered on her, if it rubbed gentle circles into her back, and if she cooed reassurances, that Kohane would explode.
As the water squeezes down her esophagus, a realization swirls itself in her chest. As if the water was somehow spelling something in her ribcage, and Kohane can’t tell whether to laugh or to cry because--
She has a crush on An Shiraishi.
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Kohane is in a daze. She barely remembers last night when Toya got dropped off at his apartment, then when Akito pulled up to the Azusawa family apartment and An asked if she was going to be alright. She barely remembers when she said goodbye to her other squadmates, and reassured them that she was okay, and tried not to look An in the eye. In a muddle of pajamas, toothpaste, eye contacts, and hair brushing, Kohane had ended up lying in her bed staring at the ceiling. Images circling in her mind over, and over again.
The images would start with the memories of that day. An pulling her by the hand on stage. An catching her by her waist from her fall. An smiling reassuringly at her when she waved goodbye. Then the images would distort themselves. An grabbing both of her hands and pulling Kohane to her. An bringing Kohane’s hand to her lips and kissing them sweetly between the knuckles, and on the palms. An snaking her arms around Kohane’s waist and leaning to touch their foreheads together. An smirking at Kohane with her orange eyes set afire, shuffling into Kohane’s space, picking her up, setting her on a table and then- and every time Kohane is ripped out by the sudden heat in her flushed face. Caught up in the avalanche, she groans to herself, and chides that she’s going to not think about An, and instead go to bed, but this process repeats several times until she finally passes out after having focused on thinking the alphabet backwards.
She needs to get in control of this . This cannot be happening. She is in a professional squad, and that is her professional partner, and friend. So why doesn’t she want to?
Kohane knew she liked girls, though she never got the crushes on Girl Idols that her best friend, Minori, did, she still would flush and think they were cute. Hell, she and Minori dated for a month back in Junior High, but they realized they liked each other more as friends, and that was that. She never denied liking girls, but she hadn’t really had something this serious afflict her…
Now, Kohane was struggling to stay awake, as she sat in a booth at Weekend Garage. When Vivid BAD Squad got out of their meeting with the manager last nigh, they all agreed to meet up that next morning (or really, early afternoon, as it was 1 pm) and discuss the contract. However she felt like she was a million miles away, her mind groggy and exhausted. She hadn’t even noticed when her eyes had slid shut until Akito slid next to her, in the booth seat.
“Oi,” She flinches, Akito squints, “What’s got you so out of it? You look like your snake or whatever left something unpleasant on the porch."
Kohane immediately brightened up, "Oh, Count Pearl would never leave anything on the porch! She would finish all of her meals, and mice in one swallow!! Ah she's so cute, here I got some new pictures--"
"I, uh, forget I asked." He looked a little green, until he recoiled and sharply turned to face her again, "--Hey, You still didn't answer my question!" He looked fiercely worried now. They had been friends for 3 years, and along they way he could tell when she was avoiding the fucking question. Just as she could now tell the fine line where his teasing from a place of criticism met with his teasing from a place of love. Her love for Count Pearl be damned, Akito knew she was usually more upfront and honest. Kohane smiles tiredly at her friend, looks over his shoulder at Toya and An who were making their coffee, and talking with Ken. Kohane sighs and tries not to look at how An is extra vibrant today. Is it her imagination? No it’s definitely her imagination, or the fact that they have a very exciting contract to review, because they are all professionals.
Professionals don’t get crushes on their business partners.
"I'm just tired. I didn't get enough sleep last night, cause I had to wake up early to help my dad with some of his photography stuff, so I only slept for… uhm.. not that long.” Kohane wasn’t lying, she did have to wake up early to help her dad, because she had borrowed some of his equipment last week for a photo shoot for Minori. Yet, she still felt empty after the words left her mouth. Perhaps she would feel better if she talked about the turmoil growing inside of her, but she wasn’t about to admit her confusing feelings towards her partner right now, everything was too confusing.
Regardless, Akito nods slowly at that. His brow unfurrows but he’s still frowning. He opens his mouth like he wants to say something else, but closes it and turns to watch Toya and An. Kohane closes her eyes and sips her chai latte, trying to reign in all of her brain cells so she can focus on the contract in front of them. This will change Vivid BAD Squad’s future, their music, their show, their present, and Kohane can’t mess it up by being airheaded, now of all times. Either way if all goes well, the Squad will meet up with Manager-san tonight and officially sign on. All Kohane has to do is pay attention, and not fall asleep into her nice, warm latte.
A few minutes later, An and Toya finally slid into the booth seat across from them. An sits across from Kohane and talks about how Ken was showing off his new roaster, and Kohane fights off being hypnotized by how An’s earrings jingle excitedly as she talks about how the roaster extracts a darker coffee. Toya nods along and as they all settle down, and An finally pulls out the contract packet that Manager-san had left them with last night. She whiffs it, and the packet unceremoniously settles crookedly in the center of the table. For a second they all stare at it. Kohane rereads the title over and over again, Akito fiddles with his earrings as if to check if he’s not dreaming, Toya takes a long sip of his coffee, and An drums the table with her fingers. Who knew, the squad’s shared weakness was a duofold packet of papers.
An breaks the silence, “Usually there’s supposed to be a lawyer or something present, right?” Akito shrugs at that.
“Yeah, there’s going to be a third-party reviewer at the reading tonight. The company’s trusted, I believe, but we don’t know what kind of cards they might try to pull.”
An points a finger at him, “You’re always so cynical of others motives.”
Akito crosses his arms, “I just want to make sure they won’t try to change who we are, An.”
“Yeah, Thanks for that Akito.” An comments genuinely. Akito nods. The silence returns
Toya exhales after his coffee, “I can read it.” Kohane is already reaching for the packet though, she’d be lying if she doesn’t feel nauseous about the whole thing, but the sooner they start the better.
“I’ll start us off, Aoyagi-kun, we can take turns, if that’s alright?”
“Sounds good, take it away.”
Kohane reads through the contract, with her and Toya switching every few sections. An and Akito make comments, jointly putting together their knowledge of the industry. It takes them almost an hour to get through it, and discuss. The contract is pretty good in their favor. They get an album release, music video, a great margin of shared profit, and they get to keep their image. The contract seems pretty ordinary by standards but one point does take both An and Akito off guard.
“What the hell is an ‘organized living junction for efficiency?’” An gawks as Kohane finishes the line. Kohane has no time to overanalyze how An waited patiently for Kohane to finish the section before talking, because she herself is busy rereading.
Akito glares at the paper, “That sounds suspicious, what, are they gonna do? Pack us into tubes and rally us like we’re in military squads?” Toya’s eyes squint a bit at that.
“Sounds like something out of a science fiction novel.” He says, smiling in the way that Toya smiles, which is barely.
“From the context… it sounds more like… they are going to have us live together, so organizing schedules will be easier?” Kohane surmises, which is indeed what it sounds like. An brushes her fingers through her hair, as her mouth twists in thought.
An says, “I guess that makes sense, Otousan lived with Aunt Nagi and Uncle Taiga when they were performing together. But they were living together before they started their professional career, so I never really thought of it as a professional decision.” They all look bewilderedly at each other.
“I-I think we could live together…” Kohane starts.
“It would make it more efficient for practice and scheduling.” Toya adds.
“This would also build our bonds! Make us strong teammates.” An chimes in.
“I wouldn’t have to drive all around Shibuya anymore, that would be nice.” Akito finishes.
They conclude, the contract looks good. An calls up the Manager and they arrange to meet at the office in a few hours. In the meantime, the squad discusses future shows, their album songs, and even manage to tell Miku, over Kohane’s phone, about the ordeal. Honestly, they should be more celebratory, but the four young adults are all too nervous and too ambitious to even consider relaxing now.
When the time comes, the four pile into Akito’s Sister’s car, again, and head to the office.
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“That concludes the overview. Thank you again for accepting our company’s offer, we promise that you’re in good hands.” Manager-san smiles at them genuinely. At first the four singers had felt like a fish out of water, as the Manager and the Third-party reviewer were dressed in suits and lavishly sitting in armchairs, while the quartet were in casual street clothes and squished together on the leather sofa. Kohane didn’t miss how An kept fidgeting with her shirt, and posture, so when she knew nobody was looking Kohane brushed her shoulder with An’s as she again tried to brush dust off that wasn’t there. An flinched, ever so slightly, but smiled softly at Kohane. Then she leaned into Kohane’s ear and whispered “Thank you.” and then turned happily back to paying attention.
It wasn’t the words that Kohane was spacing out over, it was the way that An, who had been more than an arm’s distance away from her all day, now suddenly forced to be joined at the hip. The heat from both of their bodies created a comfort that brought her down to Earth, more than anything else from today. Then when she had leaned in close, Kohane swore she could almost feel the shape of An’s lips caressing her ear.
And so, Kohane really hadn’t been listening for the past 10 minutes, and now that the overview was done, she was supposed to have questions, but the only question that was funneling out of her head was “Why was she such an unprofessional fool?” Luckily her squadmates had been paying attention, and they offered questions about several things.
“We also had questions about this ‘organized living’ thing, can we have some more details about that, Manager-sama?” An asked stiffly. Trying to pull a Toya-level-serious tone, but either way the three other members perked up, as they were curious to what this entailed.
Manager-san nods understandingly, “I’m glad you asked Shirashi-san, We, as a company, have found it is easier to organize the bands under our label when they’re living together, or at least in the same building of residence, that way scheduling is easier to conduct and so is transportation and security.” She counted off on her fingers. The four group members look at each other with a little bit of pride, as they had figured the arrangement was for the same reasons. Akito and An must really be rubbing off on her and Toya, Kohane thinks.
“So, if we sign on to this label we’ll be living in an apartment together?” An asks.
“Indeed, we’ll provide the expenses for the apartment rent, and performing equipment, but otherwise the furniture will have to be provided by yourselves. We guarantee you four will have great commodities, and up to date utilities.” Manager-san checks a stack of papers in a manila folder before looking back at the four of them, “If you give us a week we can find a listing that suits your needs.”
“That’s… really soon.” Toya mumbles from the other side of the sofa, then he apologizes. “Sorry, I guess reality just settled in my mind… that we are doing this.” He said more to his squadmates, than to the Manager. Akito stops tapping his foot, and turns to Toya.
He whispers in a low voice so that the Manager and the Reviewer can’t hear, “Is that okay? If you aren’t comfortable just say the word. I know you’ve only really been living with family, or the Tenmas.” Kohane also leans around An to nod at Toya. Giving her friend her support. They all knew Toya had the most trouble with representing his feelings, and they would all fight tooth and nail to make sure he had the time to compose his thoughts.
“It’s good, actually,” and Toya smiles a bit at the three of them, “I’m really excited. I think this will be fun.”
An nods enthusiastically, “Yeah, I’m excited too Toya! Think of all the singing and dancing time we have now that we’ll be under the same roof! All that practice time means we can really grow even stronger to overtake RAD Weekend!” Kohane giggles to herself internally. She’s glad that An loosened up, it looks so much better on her.
Akito’s gears tick as he starts, “Yeah, we can practice singing in the morning, dance at noon, team choreography in the afternoon, team singing at night…”
“B-but!” Kohane interrupts, “We’ll still need plenty of time for rest, and recharging! Don’t forget that An-chan and Shinonome-kun!” The two both suddenly shut up in embarrassment. They were cool and casual on the top, but deep down, An and Akito were two RAD Weekend nerds, with nerdy moments like this.
“I’m glad you four aren’t opposed to the idea,” Manager-san says, “I know the four are you are still relatively young, and this is all so new to you, but I see potential in the four of you, and I’ve been a fan of your work ever since your Squad became a whisper on Vivid Street.” She nods to herself contentedly, like she remembered something.
With that the meeting concluded, they signed off, and were given scheduling details, contacts, files, and paperwork to work through. In exchange she would go searching for an apartment listing in the area.
Two days later, Kohane and Toya are working the rounds at Weekend Garage while An and Akito are purusing through paperwork, and talking about new outfits at the coffee bar. It was normal for the four of them to take over the Café on slow days, or when Ken was feeling under the weather. Kohane kind of liked the steady rhythm it brought, and plus she was kind of sad to be moving away from this place. Weekend Garage had really turned into a second home for Kohane, and she was going to miss it.
As Kohane finishes an order at her table, she spots that An is looking at her. When An notices Kohane has nothing more to do, she motions her over, smiling brightly. It’s only then, that Kohane realizes Toya and Akito are peering at the laptop in front of her. Their expressions are… a weird mix of emotions. Which now has Kohane interested.
“Manager-san sent us this listing, she wants us to look at it.” An explains, and scoots over to give Kohane room to peer in between her and Akito’s shoulders. However, just as Kohane’s about to function like a normal human being, She trips on her shoelace. She’s close enough to the table that she can catch herself on the edge, her palms bracing against the side with a THUNK-THUNK , however because An had swiveled and moved, Kohane found her arms boxing around An. Her head mere inches from An’s face, and An’s face of alarm is quite a sight. Her lips are pursed in surprise, and even though An’s knees are digging right into Kohane’s stomach, she wishes she could stare at that face forever. Kohane is breathless for a moment, before she remembers she is a living person, and time is not stopping for the living, and she pushes off hastily.
Her voice squeaks, “M-m-my bad! S-Sorry An-chan! I um I uh!” Kohane saw that Akito was looking at Kohane with a raised eyebrow. Could he tell how hot her face was? Forget that, what about An? Kohane couldn’t look at An’s face. Anything to forget how An looked so unarmed when Kohane got close, Oh god this was so unprofessionally, what was she supposed to be doing?
“The! Listing! Right, L-let me see the listing.” She stepped tentatively in between her and Akito. Leaning forward enough so that none of her squadmates could see her face. She peered at the stats, clicked through the pictures. An coughed beside her, and started talking about the kitchen utilities, the living room. Everything seemed fine, but --
“Where are the other bedrooms?” Kohane frowns, regaining her composure.
“What do you mean, Kohane?” An questions, and Akito exasperatedly sighs.
“See? An, you’re the weird one about this. Don’t call me and Toya weird, when Kohane also expects everyone to have their same bedroom.” Akito frowns, but there’s something weird about his expression. He keeps glancing at Toya and quickly looking away. Kohane was thoroughly confused.
“So, this listing only has two bedrooms?” Kohane asked. An nods.
“How is that going to work?”
“Well obviously,” An leans forward on one arm and grins like she’s the greatest mastermind in the world, “The Vivids get one bedroom and the BAD DOGS get the other! It will be like the fun college roommate experience I keep hearing about from Mizuki!”
An continues to ramble on, but Kohane starts hearing echoes in her mind. Sharing the same space with An-chan. Sharing the same sleeping quarters with her partner. Being the last person to see her fall asleep, and the first person to see her wake up. Oh no, she was going to implode. However Kohane realized that if she quoted her reason for why they can’t have this otherwise great apartment because ‘She will explode at the closeness of domesticity with the girl she has a c-c-crush on,’ is not a valid excuse.
Kohane doesn’t even feel her mouth move, but she hears the words, “Yeah, let’s do it.” fall out in her voice.
It’s fine, Kohane’s definitely just making mountains out of molehills, they’ll probably be so busy, she’ll forget this crush on her professional partner and friend in no-time.
She’d be fine, piece of cake.