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As the guests entered into the host club that was proudly featuring Ms. Hina one night only concert, Gorou was in the backroom pacing around dressed as Ms. Hina without fully transforming into her. Wearing a dark teal cocktail dress that had brushed against the dark red carpet, the bust of the dress was wide open, showing how flat the male was in comparison to Ms. Hina’s chest size. The middle of the cocktail dress had five peacock feathers embroidered into it with gems, making them shine in whenever light would graze the gems. The train of the cocktail dress was a black see-through mesh that was neatly tied into a large bow to rest on Ms. Hina’s backside. There was a pair of black gloves that rested on the chair Ms. Hina would use later on to put on her makeup.
“Nervous?” Kokomi asked, tilting her head a bit as she hasn’t seen Gorou this nervous in a while. The only recent time that she saw Gorou pacing back and forth was just before the date. “We’ll be fine. I’ll just remember to slow down the pacing to match the music.” Kokomi reassured Gorou, which seemed to cause the male to stop in place.
“It’s not the concert that I’m worried about.” Gorou remarked, moving to sit down with a sigh escaping his lips. “It’s this whole thing with Itto.” Gorou continued, burying his face into his hands. “Why did I have Ms. Hina kiss him? I should have just tried to keep my feelings out of this whole mess. And now I went and messed it all up because my heart said ‘Hey, I really want to kiss this dumb lovable dork!’ and now I can’t take it back!!” Gorou stammered to say all that in one breath. Shaking his head, Gorou felt like he should be beating himself up for letting his heart take control over his actions rather than letting his brain do all the thinking.
“Gorou, you shouldn’t be beating yourself up just because you kissed him.” Kokomi remarked as she went over towards the crossed dress male. “You were just following your heart. And I’m sure he is just as confused as you are.” Kokomi was trying her best to find a way to get through to her male counterpart, thinking of a way that Gorou could fix this as Ms. Hina that wouldn’t completely destroy the poor oni. “How about you text him as Ms. Hina saying that it was meant for the cheek but you accidentally kissed him on the lips?” Kokomi suggested, figuring that it could have just been some sort of accident.
“No, that won’t work…” Gorou trailed off, a blush crossing his cheeks as he recounted what had happened. “It was a direct kiss with the sun hat covering us so people wouldn’t be able to see.” Gorou glanced away as he explained, his cheeks becoming even brighter. “And Itto is the type of fan who always shows up at concerts as well as meet and greets. How can I possibly face him now after kissing him on the lips?” Gorou softly whined, almost dreading the next time he would see that lovable oni again. “I won’t be able to just say that it wasn’t intended because it was!” Gorou continued to whine, burying his face into his hands once more.
Kokomi hummed in thought as she tried to recall any books or articles that could help alleviate the matter, however nothing seemed to come to mind that would help Gorou with his personality being that of someone that comes across as timid when it comes to embarrassing situations. The type who would rather run and hide than face something like a man.
“Then just own it.” Kokomi finally replied, causing Gorou to look at her as if she grew three heads all of a sudden. “Think about it, instead of being fearful about the fact that you kissed him, just own it. Be confident and he’ll be pudding in your hands.” Kokomi finished with a big smile on her face. If one cannot simply accept the fact that they caused an embarrassing situation with another person, simply act with confidence to ease the tension between the two acting parties.
“Own the fact that I purposely kissed him?” Gorou repeated in disbelief at first. But the more he thought about it, the more sense it made. When Ms. Hina had first kissed Itto, Gorou had to act with confidence, so if he continued to act with the same confidence, then surely the tension would ease between the two of them. “I guess I could try that out.” Gorou mumbled to himself, his hand resting against his chin in a small ball.
“Now, come on and let’s get you set up for tonight.” Kokomi smiled at Gorou offering her hand to help the male up from his seat. With a quick nod of his head, and a push of the button, Gorou transformed into Ms. Hina. The dress seemed to fit perfectly, though it was a bit tricky to move around at first with Ms. Hina’s proportions. Once Ms. Hina was in her chair, Kokomi started to work on the idol’s makeup. It wasn’t flashy as a normal concert would have been, but it was enough to get through a couple of songs.
Entering into the host club with granny beside him, Itto was impressed that it looked like a pretty upscale host club compared to some of the ones Itto was told about. With his long hair pulled back into a ponytail, Itto felt a bit uncomfortable wearing the silk shirt that granny had picked out for him. It was a dark red silk button up shirt that had a breast pocket. In the pocket was a black handkerchief in case the oni needed to use it. The blazer he was wearing was draped around his shoulders with the matching pantsuit. Granny was wearing a more traditional kimono since this was going to be a formal meeting between the yakuza gang members. It was a yearly tradition that Itto had gotten used to, but it didn’t mean he didn’t like having to dress the part.
“Let’s head up to the v.i.p area and start to mingle.” Granny spoke, gently tugging against Itto’s blazer. “Just make sure that you’re in the conference room around nine. That’s when the meeting will start.” Granny reminded Itto, knowing that there have been a couple of times in the past when she was scurrying around to find the young oni.
“Yeah granny, I know. But um, I’m gonna go and get myself some water before I join ya” Itto replied, making his way over towards the bar to order himself some water since it was free. Glancing around the place, Itto could see the hosts and hostesses doing their job to entertain some of the clients for the night. Either they were pouring expensive drinks that cost hundreds of, if not thousands, of mora for their clientele or were being touched inappropriately when no one was looking. Itto couldn’t understand why people would grab someone they barely know and feel like they could simply have their way with them when no one was looking.
“Hey pal,” Itto greeted the bartender before taking a seat at the bar. “Can I just get some water?” Itto asked politely as he glanced towards the stage. Seeing as how Ms. Hina’s face was on board next to the stage, Itto was surprised that she would be singing in a place like this. It wasn’t her normal haunting spot, so why was she going to sing in a host club like this place? And wasn’t it announced on the official Ms. Hina fan page? Surely there should have been some of her fans excitedly waiting for her to sing.
Looking around, Itto couldn’t find a familiar face from the fan page. There was no one waiting up close to the stage with some glow sticks in hand or had official Ms. Hina merchandise in hand. The only familiar faces were from other gang members that Itto and the boys had some beef with a few years ago. Seems like a few of them had some additional scars on their faces from the last time Itto had seen them. Thankfully Itto didn’t have to worry so much about getting scratched since oni’s tend to heal faster than humans.
Once the glass of cold water was placed down in front of him, Itto figured that he might as well as the bar keeper if he knew what was going on with Ms. Hina singing on the stage later that night. “So um, what’s with the little Ms. Hina concert you guys got going on?” Itto asked, taking a sip of the water while listening to what the man behind the bar had to say.
“Huh?” The bartender first spoke up before looking at the stage. “Oh, just some popular idol chick who agreed to sing for the club for the night.” The man continued before placing his hands on the bar. “The boss had been trying to get her in here for a while. Paid out a lot to get that chick in here to sing too. Hopefully the revenue will be worth bringing in that pop chick.” It seemed to Itto that the bartender didn’t have a clue as to who Ms. Hina was.
“You don’t say…” Itto trailed off, finishing his water in a couple of gulps before placing the glass back down. “Guess my night just got a lot more interesting.” Itto mumbled to himself before turning around in the chair. Heading towards the V.I.P section, Itto looked around to find that granny oni was already socializing with some of the other gang leaders. It seemed that she was having a serious discussion that would have been insulting if he tried to get granny’s attention. With a sigh, Itto headed towards an area that looked over the stage. If Ms. Hina was indeed going to be singing here tonight, he wasn’t about to miss it.
As the concert started, Itto kept his spot while watching Ms. Hina turned her normal poppy music into smooth jazz. To think that he would be able to hear this while the rest of the fans who usually went wherever Ms. Hina went, would be left in the dust. It was truly a unique experience. The first few songs had Itto humming the music to himself, knowing the words inside and out. But when it seemed like this would take longer than the usual three minute songs, Itto began to wonder if he would be able to make it in time for the meeting.
Pulling himself from his spot, Itto started to leave the V.I.P section and head towards the back area. However, as he passed by the bathrooms, he noticed that the backstage door had been opened partially. Peeking inside, Itto noticed that there wasn’t anyone around. Perhaps he could use this as a chance to see Ms. Hina before he had to go to the meeting. If he got the chance, he could ask her privately about what the kiss was all about. After that night, Itto hasn’t been able to concentrate on anything else. He needed answers!
Pulling the door open, Itto snuck his way into Ms. Hina’s dressing room. Thankfully everyone had been so concentrated on making sure that the show went smoothly that the oni was able to slip in without much incident. Finding the private bathroom, Itto closed the door most of the way, pressing himself against the wall as he watched through the crack in the door. It wouldn’t have been much longer until Itto noticed a familiar person walking into the backroom. It was that fox lady that he beat in the eating contest. What was she doing here?
“I don’t want anyone to be disturbing my lovely little idol, is that clear?” Yae Miko remarked, crossing her arms as one of the clubs’ attendants seemed to be bowing towards Yae in an apologetic manner.
“Yes ma’am! Sorry about earlier ma’am!” The attendant bowed, causing Yae to smirk. “Would you like us to remove some of the gifts from the manager while we’re at it? We didn’t know he would try to sneak in while Ms. Hina was on stage to ambush her with these gifts.” The attendant asked, causing Yae to wave a hand dismissively to the man.
“No need. I understand his desire to tell Ms. Hina how much he adores her, but next time I won’t be so lenient.” Yae spoke before waving the man away. With a turn of his heels, the man disappeared, leaving Yae alone in the dressing room. “So many people want to see my darling little idol.” Yae mused to herself as she walked over towards the makeup mirror. “To think that they would even resort to stalking my little idol. Guess I should make sure that the door is locked whenever she’s out performing.” Yae continued to talk to herself as she pulled out some of her lipstick to touch up her lips.
Glancing towards the bathroom door in the reflection of the mirror, Yae noticed that it had a small crack in it. Humming a little tune to herself as she put the cap back on her lipstick, Yae turned towards the bathroom, her gaze seemingly piercing as if she could tell that Itto had been hiding himself in the bathroom. Pressing her back against the counter of the makeup dresser, Yae crossed her arms once more.
“Either you show yourself, or I’ll be calling security.” Yae started to speak, causing Itto to gulp as he was caught. “You have to the count of three before I call security to have you thrown out and banned from any interaction with Ms. Hina.” Yae threatened, but Itto couldn’t budge. “One…” Yae started to count, taking a long time to get to the next number. “Two…” She spoke in a firm tone. Pausing longer to give Itto time to muster up his courage, Yae started with the last number before Itto fell forward, opening the door to the bathroom and his face landing on the carpet.
“Well,” Yae spoke in a rather surprised but taunting tone. “I wasn’t expecting to see you here.” Yae continued as she walked towards the fallen oni. “I didn’t expect you to be a stalker of all people.” Yae finished, standing somewhat over the fallen oni.
“I-” Itto started to speak, trying his best to pick himself up until he was on all fours and gazed up at Yae Miko. “I wasn’t trying to be like some crazy stalker, alright?” Itto started to defend himself as he moved to rest on his knees. “I just wanted to ask Ms. Hina something…” Itto didn’t want to get the manager involved with the incident of Ms. Hina kissing him.
“Is it in regards to her kissing you?” Yae asked, figuring that would be the only reason why this oni would go as far as to stalk Ms. Hina. After all, she was there and had witnessed it for herself. It was rather fun watching these two awkward love birds fumble around in their confusion.
“You know about that?!” Itto asked, his astonishment was amusing to the fox. “Are you psychic or something?” Itto asked in his bewilderment. It wasn’t like he could have known that Yae was in the vehicle that pulled up after the kiss. “I mean, I was doing my best to be as respectful of Ms. Hina as I could. I would have never in a million years tried to kiss her!” Itto was trying his best to explain himself.
“I have my ways of knowing certain things.” Yae spoke as she knelt down to be face to face with the oni. “Relax, you’re acting like I’m Ms. Hina’s father. It’s not like I caught you trying to break into her bedroom late at night for some nefarious plans.” Yae spoke with a smirk on her face. “Or, are you trying to do something with my little idol?” Yae asked, raising a brow at the oni.
“N-No ma’am!” Itto quickly remarked as he shook his head. “Like I said, I just wanted to simply ask Ms. Hina why she had kissed me is all.” Itto continued, his gaze moving down towards the carpet. “It’s been on my mind since that night and I didn’t know when I would be able to see her again.” Itto explained, causing Yae to take in everything that the oni had said.
“Well,” Yae spoke as she stood back up. “Are you sure that you’re ready to hear her answer?” Yae asked, watching as Itto gazed back up at her. “You might get more than you’ve bargained for. Are you sure you can handle having your heart broken?” Yae could see this ending in one of two ways. Either one of the pair would have a broken heart, or both of them ending up with a broken heart.
“My heart broken?” Itto asked in a confused tone. “Why would Ms. Hina break my heart? She’s not that kind of person.” Itto added, knowing the kind of person Ms. Hina was through their limited interaction between each other.
“Oh you poor, dumb but sweet oni.” Yae spoke, reaching down to pinch Itto’s cheeks. “I really should have security escort you out before you get your heart broken.” Yae added, knowing that if Itto learned Gorou’s little secret of being Ms. Hina, he could ruin their whole plan. But then again, if Itto tried to say anything, Yae could swoop in and have anything he says discredited in order to protect Ms. Hina’s secret. “But I’ll tell you what,” Yae spoke before Itto could rebuttal her previous remark. “If you give me back my seat at our little ramen place, I’ll give you your chance to talk to Ms. Hina.” Yae was one who could always hold a grudge against anyone who bested her.
“Ramen place?” Itto asked in confusion before it dawned on Itto where he had seen her before. A while back these two had a ramen duel and he was the victor. Sure he was sick like a dog for a month or so, but he had won the spot. “Oh yeah, kitsune ramen chick!” Itto chimed up, glad to at least see a familiar face. “Sure! If you’ll let me stay to talk to Ms. Hina, I’ll gladly give you back the seat!” Itto finished, reaching out a hand to accept the deal. If it got him answers, then Itto was willing to do anything.
As soon as the concert was done, Ms. Hina was starting to make her way backstage with Kokomi. The two walked side by side as they talked about some of the highlights of the concert. When the two had spotted Yae Miko standing outside of the door, Ms. Hina was surprised since she never saw Yae standing outside after a gig.
“Kokomi dear, I need to talk to you about a little incident. Do you mind coming with me?” Yae remarked, catching the two off guard at first. The only time that there had been some sort of incident was earlier in their idol path when someone snuck backstage and almost saw Kokomi singing for Ms. Hina. Did someone try to sneak backstage again?
“Oh, okay!” Kokomi spoke, turning to Ms. Hina. “I’ll fill you in on everything later. I’ll wait for you out by the car.” Kokomi smiled at Ms. Hina before leaving to go with Yae Miko. Watching as the two walked away, Ms. Hina went inside of the dressing room with a soft sigh.
Closing the door behind her, Ms. Hina headed towards the makeup counter. Starting with getting some of the jewelry off first, Ms. Hina closed her eyes as the bathroom door opened up behind her. With a twitch of her ear, Ms. Hina opened her eyes to see that it was Itto standing inside of the bathroom door.
“Itto?” Ms. Hina gasped before turning around. “W-What are you doing here?” She asked, moving to cup her chest as if the oni had walked in on the idol being topless. Gorou’s heart was pounding against his chest, he didn’t expect to see Itto here of all places. Was Yae Miko even aware that Itto was here? Surely she wouldn’t have known, right?
“Ms. Hina, I…” Itto started to trail off, his voice sounding almost somber. “I’m sorry to have snuck into your dressing room.” Itto apologized as he lowered his head a bit to show he was remorseful for doing it. “But after the kiss, I couldn’t stop thinking about why you did it. I mean, I’m just an oni. Wouldn’t it hurt your reputation if people knew that you kissed an oni of all people?” Itto asked, the question finally spilling out of his lips. Hearing the question, Ms. Hina’s ears lowered in guilt. It seemed that both of them couldn’t stop thinking about that kiss.
“It’s because…” Ms. Hina started to speak, only to let out a small sigh as she lowered her arms. “It’s because I actually like you, Itto.” Ms. Hina continued, a soft smile landing on her face. “And it’s because I like you that I can’t continue to lie to you.” Ms. Hina added, moving a hand up to the collar around her neck. “You see Itto, Ms. Hina is nothing more than a lie.” She added, causing Itto to look at her with a confused expression.
“What do you mean by a lie?” Itto asked, not sure what the idol could have meant by that. There was nothing fake about Ms. Hina. She was so kind, her body was so soft when pressed against his, and the kiss was real enough to make the oni do something as crazy as to sneak into the idol’s dressing room.
“I’m nothing more than a simple illusion, Itto.” Ms. Hina started to speak, her fingers brushed against the button but not enough to trigger the transformation. “You see, Ms. Hina is like a lavender melon. Supple, sweet, and curvy.” That seemed like the best way to describe what most people saw Ms. Hina as. “But the real me under all of this is like a onikabuto. Small, a simple bug that looks like everyone else, and nothing special.” At least that’s how Gorou saw himself.
“Don’t say that about yourself Ms. Hina!” Itto yelled, causing Ms. Hina to jump slightly at Itto raising his voice. “Even if the real you is like an onikabuto, that doesn’t mean you’re not anything special.” Itto continued, taking a few steps towards the idol. “Each and every single beetle is special and beautiful in their own way. And just like you, each onikabuto out shines each other in their own way.” Hearing Itto talk so much about how a simple beetle could be special in their own way caused the idol to smile.
“That’s sweet of you to say Itto…” Ms. Hina spoke softly, closing her eyes as she pressed the button, filling the room with the cloud of smoke. As Itto coughed and waved his hand in front of him to try and clear some of the smoke, Ms. Hina was no longer there. Instead was Gorou with the top of the dress bent forward revealing his flat chest. “But unfortunately, it won’t change the fact that Ms. Hina isn’t real.” Gorou spoke, the smoke starting to clear to show the oni that the idol he loved had turned into his friend.
“Wait…” Itto started to speak, his eyes taking in the fact that Ms. Hina was no longer standing there and that it was Gorou. “But…how?” Itto asked, his mind wasn’t wrapping around the fact that his new friend had been the idol that he adored for so long. “How are you Ms. Hina?” Itto asked, taking another step forward.
“It’s because of my collar.” Gorou started to speak, figuring that he at least owed Itto an explanation. “I use it to transform into Ms. Hina. And at the end of the concerts, I press the button to change back.” It came in handy to avoid the wannabe stalkers who wanted to see Ms. Hina. “I’m sorry Itto, I really didn’t want to trick anyone. It just sort of happened because I was helping a friend who always wanted to be a pop singer, but was too scared of crowds to do it for herself.” Gorou explained, knowing how Kokomi loved to sing but was too embarrassed to face the crowd of people that came with being an idol.
Itto stood there, silent as Gorou explained everything. If Itto hadn’t just witnessed it for himself, he would have never believed it. There was always some kind of theory that there were two Ms. Hina’s, but it was a conspiracy theory. Or rather, was a conspiracy theory. Itto brought up a hand to scratch the back of his head while he tried to process this information. As he did, he noticed how close the time was to nine. He wanted to talk this out with Gorou, to get to understand why the male had done all of this, but he didn’t have the time.
“I…” Itto started to speak, only to let out a small sigh. “I gotta head out Gorou…” Itto trailed off, looking at the idol one more time before stepping towards the door. “I’ll text you about this later, kay?” Itto spoke over his shoulder. He couldn’t just simply leave the other male there without some kind of answer. It would make the oni out to be a bigger monster than most people saw him as. Besides, Itto needed to process this information away from other people. Is this what both Shinobu and Yae Miko meant about learning the idol’s secret and heart break?