Chapter Text
Despite Hiiro Amagi gradually learning more about city life, he still had lots of things he didn’t know about. For example, he wasn’t quite sure how airplanes could fly, or how certain machinery worked. But today, he learned a new term he hadn’t heard previously. Earlier that day, his older brother Rinne messaged him on Hold-Hands, telling the younger Amagi that he will participate in a “rap battle” later this week.
“A rap battle? What’s that? Does it involve fighting?? That sounds awesome!” thought Hiiro. Still, he wasn’t sure if he wanted to watch this “rap battle” without knowing what it meant. But who could he ask that could answer his questions?
Oh, Aira is smart, right? He teaches Hiiro about new things everyday! Maybe he knows what a “rap battle” is! But before asking his friend, he tried to do some thinking about what a “rap battle” was. Well, he obviously knew that a battle was a fight of some sort, but he had trouble thinking of what “rap” meant. He only really heard the term when thinking of bubble wrap…maybe it was a battle to see who could pop all the bubbles in bubble wrap the fastest! He was sure his brother would win, Rinne was really good with his hands, and Hiiro was confident that everyone loved bubble wrap, so his brother would totally secure the victory!
The next day, Hiiro met with the rest of ALKALOID at Café Cinnamon, and he was excited to tell his friends about his brother’s (w)rap battle! He also wanted to show his confidence in the older Amagi, even though he had no idea who the opponent would be. He waited for a similar topic to be mentioned in the conversation, which seemed to work out perfectly, as Aira offhandedly complained about receiving a package that contained a beautiful figurine, only for some of the paint to be chipped due to it being covered in low quality bubble wrap.
“I’m really sorry about that, Aira!” consoled Hiiro. “I’m sure you will be able to fix it again with the right coat of paint!” Similar statements were added by Tatsumi and Mayoi, attempting to cheer up the youngest member.
“Yeah, but it really sucks,” Aira sighed. “I spent so much money on this rare figure, only for it to be ruined by those dumbasses at Amazon Prime.”
“But you should think about how much work the employees do everyday, and they don’t have all the bubble wrap in the world,” Tatsumi added.
Oh, right! Bubble wrap! Hiiro had completely forgotten about it! He’d better mention the (w)rap battle now before someone talks about something else!
“Say, Aira,” Hiiro proposed, “can my brother borrow some of your bubble wrap to practice?”
“Yeah, sure,” Aira huffed with a bit of a sniffle. “But I don’t know why he’d need it, does he even like that sort of thing?”
“Oh, well, he just needs it to practice for his wrap battle, that’s all!” This statement perpetuated an awkward silence between the rest of ALKALOID, who looked at Hiiro in confusion and tried to think of an explanation for what he said, concluding for his request to just be an honest mistake.
“Hiiro-san, I don’t think that’s what a rap battle is…” Mayoi replied, adding an awkward laugh. To this response, Hiiro was slightly disappointed, because apparently a rap battle did not involve bubble wrap, which would have made the experience more fun in his opinion.
“Well, what is it? My brother said he was going to participate in a rap battle, but I wouldn’t want to watch it without knowing what it was!” Despite his disappointment that bubble wrap was out of the question, his eyes were still sparkling with delight, because what was important was supporting his brother and making sure he won this battle!
“I suppose the best way to explain what a rap battle is is that it is a competition between two or more rappers to see who has better rhymes, wordplay, or general skill. They could either boast about themselves or ‘diss’ the other opponent,” Tatsumi remarked. “It’s not something that I actively look into, but I’m sure your brother will do great.”
Hiiro nodded in glee, with his senior’s assurance making him smile! But he wasn’t quite sure he completely understood, so he followed up with another question. “I think I understand, but…what does ‘diss’ mean?”
“W-well…” Mayoi started, hoping to not fuel Hiiro’s disappointment further. “...it’s something…not very nice…”
“It means disrespect . Rappers do this to portray themselves as better than their rival. For example, if I said something like…um…ahem… ’Hiiro-kun, you’re a bad idol!’ ...that could be considered a diss,” Aira clarified, before seeing Hiiro look a bit upset about the aforementioned diss. “It doesn’t have to be true, you know!”
With all his questions (and knowing that Aira’s ‘diss’ was just used as an example) out of the way, Hiiro began to look excited again! “Well, if that’s the case, I’m going to make sure my brother disses harder and better than anyone else! I confidently think, no, I know that he will win!”
His strong faith in Rinne was met with encouragement from the rest of ALKALOID, as they were happy for their leader to have something to be excited about! They knew that he was adamant on finding out about city life, and their willingness to help out and answer questions made Hiiro’s wonder about what he didn’t know even stronger! There were so many things to learn about that made him anxious about what was next!
As the day was over, Hiiro went to bed absolutely ecstatic about the battle later this week! He couldn’t wait for Rinne to completely embarrass some unsuspecting rapper, and the thought alone could barely make him sleep! But as his dormmates were already knocked out by that time, he told himself that it was time to turn the lights out. He hugged his pillow tight, closed his eyes, and before he knew it, he was already asleep.
As the coming days went by, Hiiro decided to look online to learn more about rap battles. He read some articles, he watched some videos as well, and he found the supposed disses to be a bit silly, such as “your hair is crazy!” or “your outfit is ugly!” It was apparent that this type of thing was just for fun, and not to be taken too seriously. It made him relieved to know this, because he was a little worried that someone would be a bit too mean to his brother, but he was pretty sure that Rinne could handle some mild insults for the sake of brag raps.
The more Hiiro thought about this battle, the more giddy he got! It was going to be something he never saw before, right before his eyes! He was going to cheer for his older brother as loud as he could, so much that his voice was worn out and he couldn’t bring himself to sing…okay, not really, because he can’t lose his voice as an idol (that would be awful!), but he was still going to let Rinne know that his little brother is cheering for him! It was pretty obvious to his dormmates that he was…thrilled, to say the least, as Hinata and Niki confronted him about it.
“Well, it looks like you’re eager,” Hinata teased, adding a slight tinge of cheerful laughter.
“Yeah, I’m hyped! I’ve never experienced a rap battle before, so I hope my first one will go great!” Hiiro beamed, with yet another sparkle in his eyes.
“I’m really glad to hear that!” Niki added. “Rinne-kun would be so glad to have his little brother there, practically screaming ‘I’m rooting for you!’”
“Mhm, it’s great that Rinne-senpai is getting all your support!” Hinata then paused, not knowing the next sentence would finally break the news to Hiiro. “But personally, I’m on Team Vice Prez! He’d need some supporters too, of course!”
“Team…Vice…Prez…?” Hiiro looked a little lost for a few seconds, before finally realizing who Hinata was referring to. “... My brother is battling against Ibanyan?! ”
“Yeah, our Vice President is going to be rap battling against Rinne-kun!” Niki confirmed, seemingly unaware of how this completely changed Hiiro’s perspective. “Well, everyone in CosPro already knew that, but I guess the news didn’t reach out to the other agencies yet.”
Hiiro loved his big brother more than anyone, but he was also a huge fan of Ibara…he felt like he should support CosPro’s Vice President, but he couldn’t not support his brother either. It made him a little nervous, with a few more moments of awkward silence, before Hiiro eventually asked “...can I cheer for both…?”
“Pfft, of course, ya silly goose!” Hinata quipped while understanding Hiiro’s dilemma. “You know, Yuta-kun didn’t know who to cheer for either, because we both love the Vice Prez, but all of the ASOBI club agreed to root for Rinne-senpai as well, so I encouraged him to cheer both of them on! We should all just remember that it’s for fun, and we’ll all have good laughs along the way!”
Hiiro took Hinata’s words into consideration, before realizing that he was 100% right! The videos that he watched were just for fun, so why couldn’t this battle be fun too? To him, it’ll be like a movie. He’ll grab some popcorn, some 3D glasses, and a large soda! He’ll laugh, he’ll cry, and he’ll cheer when the main conflict between the two protagonists is finally resolved.
The rest of the night was anticipation, anticipation, and more anticipation, until finally, the day of the battle finally came! Hiiro sent Rinne a few messages of encouragement on Hold-Hands, but alongside some “thank you”s and “see you there”s, Rinne ominously responded with “I want you to come to the CosPro building extra early.” The younger brother was a bit uneasy, what could his big bro possibly want?