Chapter Text
About 20 years ago, the idol group Eternity Twins took Japan by storm.
Twin 19 year old girls, Ei and Makoto, seemingly blew up over night. The public was fascinated by the identical twins, and completely enraptured by Makoto's endless charisma and love for her fans.
The Eternity Twins continued to climb ranks and become one of the most popular idol groups of Japan, until the sudden death of Makoto Raiden a year later.
What was shown as a completely unexpected and sudden death to the public was, in truth, nothing of the sort.
The truth being that Makoto had died giving birth, leaving behind her two twins to her sister.
Kabuki and Ayame Raiden.
Inazuma Productions @inzmapro ✓
We're proud to announce that 14 years later, the Eternity Twins are finally making a comeback!
In the shadow of their mother, please welcome Kuni and Aya, a set of identical twins taking on the torch with the title Eternity Twins!
See their debut song here >>>>
July 21st, 2018
Attached is a picture of Kabuki and her sister Ayame, they look almost identical to an old poster of Ei and Makoto. Kabuki sets down her phone and sighs, shoving her face into the cushion of the couch.
She and Ayame have spent their whole lives preparing for this. It's time for the payoff.
Idol News @idolnewsjpn ✓
Kuni and Aya's group Eternity Twins has disbanded. Reportedly, Kuni has abandoned the group due to a vast amount of abuse she faced from staff, fans, and her own mother.
Aya has stated she will pursue a solo career. Ei Raiden has given up parental rights and custody of Kuni. Rumors of a no contact order.
January 4th, 2021
aya for eternity !! @mikomiko ↩️
how unfortunate. is there any confirmation that kuni was actually experiencing abuse, or could this be teenage angst bullshit?
shsl otaku @starlight11834 ↩️
kuni was in the hospital like 15 fucking times last year and now she's quitting? clearly she doesn't take this career seriously
shiino @shirobunny8 ↩️
i hope kuni kills herself for abandoning us like this. maybe it'll make aya more popular.
nahida @kusanali ↩️ @shirobunny8
what the actual fuck? kuni is 17 years old?
Alhaitham @feeblescholar ✓ ↩️ @shirobunny8
That "mental health advocate" in your bio seems a little ironic now, doesn't it? I sent this tweet to your employer.
shiino @shirobunny8 (deactivated) ↩️ @feeblescholar
thanks for getting me fired. gonna start praying everyday that kuni kills herself now
I should kill myself. I should kill myself. I should kill myself. I should kill myself.
The words repeat endless in Kabuki's mind. Her reflection stares back at her, it looks so unfamiliar and foreign to her.
She looks like her mother. Like her sister. Like her aunt. Like all these people that turned a blind eye to her pain, who encouraged the pain for their 5 seconds of fame.
Long violet hair, once bright periwinkle eyes now look so dull in comparison to all the pictures of her on stage.
The scars that litter her arms, bruises on her legs, things they'd always hid with foundation and clothing.
I should just kill myself.
Kabuki grabs the scissors off the bathroom sink. Her instinct is to drive the blade into her wrist, or throat, anything to make it hurt.
But she hesitates.
"I'm not an idol anymore," she says, "I won't let these people kill me."
She takes the scissors to her hair.
6 years later, Kabuki Raiden has vanished off the face of the earth. Theories circulate on the internet about her possible suicide, or maybe that she has become a permanent shut in to avoid backlash.
The truth being that Kabuki Raiden is now Kunikuzushi Sapientia, a 23 year old man, adopted by his auntie Nahida. Hiding in seemingly plain sight, attending university as a translator.
Ayame continued her idol career as a solo artist, never acknowledged her twin sister again. Her popularity dropped significantly though, especially with the up and coming idol group 6REEZE seemingly stealing all the spotlight.
Kabuki's Twitter account was deactivated, along with all other social medias. The former idol Kuni seemingly vanished entirely, as if she died.
If you ask Kunikuzushi, she did.
Life was simple enough now. Nahida was an amazing person, who loved Kunikuzushi in his entirety and would do much of anything to make him happy. He'd met a few of her friends, but never made any of his own. Kunikuzushi resided to being a lone wolf, focused entirely on his studies and nothing more.
Wake up, go to classes, get home from classes, eat dinner, study, sleep. Rinse and repeat. Endless cycle so it seemed.
Until he came across an odd poster on campus.
Crudely drawn in colored pencil it seemed, and written in terrible Japanese.
"Indie idol group auditions! Come see us in room 4-B @ 2:30PM if interested!"
"Idol auditions…" He mumbled to himself, "This sounds like a shitshow."
Indie idol groups barely made it out of the organizing phase, Kunikuzushi knew this. And with an ad like this, they definitely wouldn't pull in any auditions.
He pulls the flyer from off the corkboard, saving anyone else from having to see it.
It wouldn't hurt to just walk by, would it?
There's shuffling and giggling in the room. For some reason, this makes Kunikuzushi's hands sweaty. The paper in his hands has essentially become a napkin.
Sitting on the tile floor outside room 4-B, he can make out a few different voices. He's surprised there's more than two people.
" Kazuha! These lyrics are beautiful, holy shit! " Calls one voice, loud and seemingly hyper.
" Thank you," comes a softer, more bashful voice. Kazuha, apparently.
" Xiao, are you gonna be okay with these?" Says the louder voice again.
Xiao seemingly doesn't respond, not that Kunikuzushi can hear at least.
" I'm sure we've got this, even if it's just the four of us. Don't worry your pretty little head, " a new voice says.
" I'm going to go get water, I'll be back," Kazuha says, and immediately goes to open the door.
Quickly, Kunikuzushi gathers his book bag and stands up to avoid looking awkward. A second too late, the door to 4-B slides open and Kunikuzushi is left with direct eye contact with Kazuha.
Flyer in hand. Probably dripping with sweat.
Worst of all, Kazuha is impossibly gorgeous.
Fuck.
He has long white hair, a strand of red in his bangs. Sparkling, ruby red eyes and a soft, almost innocent looking face.
His brows furrow.
"... Are you Kuni? From the Eternity Twins?" He says.
Kunikuzushi is going to piss his pants.
He opens his mouth to say something, but nothing comes out. Sheer panic and adrenaline run through his system.
Okay, can't say anything. Plan B.
Kunikuzushi drops the flyer and runs for the nearest exit.
He can hear Kazuha yell out wait , but Kunikuzushi has already pushed open the exit door and made a dash off the campus.
He's never been recognized in public. Never once. Why would this happen now? Why would this random guy recognize him of all people?
The adrenaline rush seems to fade off once Kunikuzushi makes it to the campus field.
And he promptly collapses in the grass out of exhaustion.
Everything is awful.
There's another bruise on his leg and his ankle feels particularly weak now. But at least the grass feels alright.
Kunikuzushi contemplates texting Nahida and asking if she could come get him, though the idea of that seems embarrassing. Even though he definitely shouldn't be trying to walk home on his ankle.
Since his idol career and all that led up to it, leg injuries became far too common for Kunikuzushi.
Doing choreography as soon as you start walking will do that to you, he thought to himself. Nonetheless, dancing, walking, and running despite the pain was something he was also very used to.
The grass beside him begins to rustle, he sits up in panic once more. Far too alert.
If you didn't leave yourself vulnerable, maybe this wouldn't happen to you, brat, a voice rings in his head. He ignores it.
It's Kazuha again, he's holding a textbook in his hands as he sits down beside Kunikuzushi on the grass.
"You dropped this on your way out," he says, handing the book back to Kunikuzushi.
Introductions to German , fuck, that would've been awful to lose. He quickly puts it back in his book bag without much word.
"I didn't mean to scare you earlier," Kazuha starts, "I used to be a really big fan of the Eternity Twins, you looked a lot like one of the twins. I apologize."
He's soft spoken, definitely genuinely remorseful as well.
"... I've never been recognized in public," Kunikuzushi explained, "Not after vanishing about 4 years ago, though I don't go by Kuni anymore."
"Kunikuzushi, with the kanji for 'eternity' and 'dancer,' right?" Kazuha replied, "It was written in your textbook."
He nods along. The panic has faded, but the tension most certainly remains.
"Oh, I suppose I never told you my name," Kazuha continues, "I'm Kaedehara Kazuha, mostly just a poet, but somehow got wrapped up in this idol group."
"I overheard, when you were talking to someone else."
"Venti, probably. He's a music major, transfer student from America. He wanted to start this indie idol group for fun I guess, he liked my poetry though and asked me to join," Kazuha replied.
Venti. Kunikuzushi recalls a Venti in his math class, with turquoise braided hair and usually wearing a frog hat. Probably the same guy.
"Were you there to audition, by chance?"
Heat comes to Kunikuzushi's cheeks as he shakes his head.
"Fuck no, I haven't done idol work in years. I probably can't even fucking dance anymore," Kunikuzushi answered.
Kazuha giggles, it makes Kunikuzushi's heart melt a little bit. He's too cute, this is awful.
"I'm sure you can, it's not like a skill you lose overnight. Even so, the rest of us mostly certainly can't dance, even something mediocre would probably look good next to the rest of us."
Kunikuzushi thinks back to being on stage. Practicing for hours on end, covered in bruises, barely being able to stand at the end of each practice.
Falling off the stage the first time. Broken bones. And then the first time he threw himself off stage.
He can't remember the last time he had fun dancing, instead of just pain.
"We're just here to have fun, if you want to observe, I'm sure Venti wouldn't mind," Kazuha reassures.
"Sure, why not," Kunikuzushi gives in.
It's not like he has anything better to do.