Chapter Text
“Look, it's the N Wish team!”
“Oh my gosh, they're so handsome!”
“We're lucky to have handsome seniors.”
“Ah, I want to date one of them!”
“I wonder if they have a girlfriend.”
“But I heard they like each other.”
“Hey, stop spreading rumours!”
“Don't you think Maeda senpai and Tokuno senpai look good together?”
“But I think Oh senpai is a good match with Maeda senpai.”
“No, no, no! Oh senpai and Tokuno senpai are an adorable pair.”
“I like how no one talks about Hirose-san and Fujinaga-san.”
“Because no one can beat their cuteness.”
The N Wish dance team quickly enters the dance studio in their campus after receiving all the attention from the other students—especially female students—when they just came to the college. The N Wish is a dance team that was formed in the Dance Club at Tokyo University. The team has entered various competitions and they have won several of them, especially in Kpop dance covers. Currently, the team consists of five members; three of them are seniors while two of them are juniors, but their skills are crazy and no one can beat their charisma and stage presence.
Oh Sion is the leader of the team and is in-charge of choreographing the choreo and directing the performance. Despite being Korean, he has no problem communicating with the Japanese members because he's fluent in the said language. Well, he has been studying for 3 years after all. He's one of the founders of the N Wish team along with Yushi. Yushi, or Tokuno Yushi which is his full name, is the co-founder of the team and the group's dance center. His aura and stage presence is perfect for the team's image. He's known as a chameleon due to his ability to adapt various concepts perfectly. Both Sion and Yushi are considered the best dancers in the club. Thus, they were given a chance to create a team and made a decision to choose the members.
Maeda Riku was the first one to be chosen by the duo. Before the team's formation, both Sion and Yushi were dancing together with the rest of the club members and thought that Riku was an amazing performer that could elevate the team’s performance to the next level. His oozing charisma while performing could attract the audience. He has a great chemistry with both of the dancers that some people felt like Riku was chosen solely because he's close to the duo, but no one can deny that the Fukui-born guy is very talented and charming.
Fujinaga Sakuya was the second one to be chosen by the two dancers. Despite being the youngest among the club members, his free-styling skill wass the reason why he was picked to be a part of the team. Sakuya has the babiest face out of the team members and many wondered how he would fit in but that should be the last thing people need to worry about. It's not about the visual they cared the most but the way he used his facial expression while performing really shows how versatile he is as a performer.
Hirose Ryo was a wildcard. He was the member that no one expected him to be a part of the team. Most people only knew him as another junior like Sakuya but the fact that he was chosen brought some shocking reactions to everyone. However, Sion and Yushi had observed everyone before carefully selecting their future teammates and noticed that Ryo is a hidden gem. He is a diamond in the rough and indeed, they were right. Ryo has a natural groove and swag that suits hip-hop dance. He has a small and short stature but when it comes to performing, he's a beast.
Sion and Yushi are really proud of their team members and they're happy that they manage to continue their seniors’ legacy.
“Finally, I can breathe,” Riku flops himself to the floor and makes a heavy breathing sound just to act dramatic. Of course, he enjoyed getting the attention from the people around him but sometimes, it can be overwhelming. That's what happens when they are popular on campus.
Sion looks at Riku and chuckles at his remark. He understands the latter’s feelings but what can they do about it? All of them have made their university proud by winning a lot of competitions. On top of that, they are all good looking too. It's not a surprise that all the girls on campus are going crazy over them. Their popularity is higher than idols sometimes.
“I don't understand why there's a rumour of us liking each other? Who created that rumour?” Yushi is infuriated after hearing that. He didn't know how such a fake story even came out? Even to go as far as shipping them?
Yes, there are some girls who are actually shipping the members in real life which is wild considering they're not celebrities and the fact that those people show it right in front of their face without feeling any shame causing some awkwardness between them and that's the last thing they want.
“Because you guys like to stick with each other so much,” Ryo interjects, making the three seniors look at him, who is sitting behind the mirror while scrolling through his phone. Then, they see Sakuya lying on Ryo’s lap while covering his face with his arm.
Yushi frowns at the sight of what he's seeing right now, especially not after what Ryo said. “I think you need to turn around and look at yourself in the mirror,” he utters in annoyance, but Ryo just shrugs as if he's trying to say ‘not my problem’.
Sion claps to gain everyone's attention to stop chit-chatting, “Alright, that's enough. We need to prepare for the university festival. I need everyone's opinion on whether we should do a Kpop dance cover or a new dance.”
Even though the N Wish has their own team and practice, they still attend the club activity every Wednesday but most of the time, they were quietly observing everyone to see if there's any potential member for the team. They're not just fixed with these five members only. They can add anyone who seems to be a good fit and bring something new to the table but so far, they haven't found anyone yet.
N Wish is not the only team that exists in the Dance Club. Sion, the co-president of the club suggested to the president that they should have another set of teams for a certain performance. That way, everyone can have their own experience to participate in performance so that they can get merit marks.
Today is just another day for a club meeting but since the university festival is going to happen in 3 months time, they need some ideas for a performance on that day. At the same time, Sion received an info from the president that there will be new members joining the club. The N Wish members came to the dance hall and sat scatteredly among the club members. The teammates don't usually sit together as they don't want to draw the attention from the others that caused other people to think that they're superior or something.
Yushi sits silently at the corner with Riku behind him but slightly on his left side. To be honest, he doesn't find the weekly meeting to be something that he looks forward to the most, but today, he finds someone that catches his eyes the most. He darts his eyes to a certain guy who is wearing glasses and seems to be dressed up neatly among the rest. Everyone here is wearing t-shirts and sweatpants or anything that suits for dancing but this particular person is the odd one out. He has never seen that guy before so he assumes that that person must be the new club member.
‘What is he wearing?’ Yushi thinks to himself. Is he really going to dance with that? He looks like he's going to the lecture hall and teaching the students instead. Yushi wonders if that guy is coming to the wrong place for his club meeting.
15 minutes have passed and Yushi's eyes never left that guy at all. He didn't hear whatever Sion or the president was blabbering about in front of him because his attention is hundred percent towards that glasses guy. He's observing his reaction just to know whether that guy realized that he's actually in the wrong club meeting but surprisingly, he listened to the speech attentively.
This shoots up Yushi's curiosity. He doesn't mean to judge but there's something about that guy that makes him not leave his eyes on him. If possible, Yushi wants to get close to him with his eyes near to the latter's face. He imagines that meme image of a cat staring intensely at the sweaty dog because that glasses guy looks like a dog to him. There are thousands of questions in Yushi's brain and he desperately wants to know the answer now.
Tap tap
Yushi snaps out of his thoughts and swiftly turns his back because someone is tapping on his shoulder, probably to call him. He sees Riku who is looking at him with a questionable look.
“Who are you looking at?” Riku whispers while asking out of curiosity. He tries to speak as low as he can so that he doesn't interrupt the president who is speaking in front of the club members.
Yushi looks away and his ears turn red because he's so embarrassed that he just gets caught by Riku for staring at someone. He doesn't want to answer even though Riku lightly hits his shoulder, demanding an answer from him. In the end, Riku gives up but his instinct says that Yushi is definitely looking at the guy who has slightly longer hair with a little hint of blonde and he's wearing big glasses. He's also dressed very formally compared to the rest of them. If Riku isn't wrong, he might be the one that Yushi was focusing on because he's also the same as Yushi. He also took a few glances at that glasses guy because he's the only different one out of them all but he believes that maybe that guy will surprise them.
“By the way, we have new students joining us today. Please come here,” Sion calls for the new members to come to the front for an ice-breaking session.
There are a total six new members here and all of them are gathering in front of the club members accompanied by the sound of clapping and cheering from the current members. They’re standing in line and facing everyone. The newbies are evidently looking so nervous but try to hide it either with a smile or following along the cheer. From his place, Yushi is still looking at that glasses guy as he notices that the latter is smiling shyly while scratching his head when the rest of them are looking like they’ve been waiting for this moment.
From his instinct, Yushi knows that this guy is coming to the wrong place but he’s dying to know why he’s here. Why did he join the Dance Club? He has a great physique and he’s pretty cute too. Wait, what? Yushi mentally slaps himself and shakes his head hastily to shake that thought. Now it’s not the time for him to admire someone’s figure and face, but why does his heart keep beating so fast? Why does his hunch ask him to go and protect that guy at all cost? What is going on?
Riku, who noticed that Yushi suddenly shakes his head, frowns at the sight of that. He has been feeling weird with Yushi’s behaviour and he thinks that it’s because of the glasses guy. As his best friend, he knows that Yushi is not someone that you can impress easily, especially for someone new. It took him a while to open up to the rest of the dance club members because Yushi's personality is cold on the outside that can cause misunderstanding to many people when he's actually very warm inside. He has no interest in other people unless they approach him first. Even so, it's hard to break through his wall.
However, it seems like the glasses guy has caught Yushi's interest from what Riku has seen from behind. That's a first. Well, he's going to tease Yushi after this is over. Then, he looks to the front again but his eyes naturally drawn to the glasses guy whom he finally realizes how tall he is—even taller than Sion—and has a good proportion. He should be a model instead. Riku also notices that he always glances at Sion and notes that his cheeks suddenly turn red. Riku blinks before glancing at Yushi. From the corner of his eyes, he can see that Yushi's eyebrows furrow so deep, that maybe wrinkles will appear if he doesn't stop. He wants to nudge him but at the same time, Yushi looks like a beast that is about to unleash its rage so Riku decides to step back.
“Okay, the last one! Introduce yourself,” Sion gestures to the tall glasses guy to present himself in front of everyone.
With a big smile, he waves his hands to everyone, “Hello, everyone! My name is Kim Daeyoung and I'm from South Korea. I just came here as an exchange student.” Everyone lets out an ‘ooh’ sound after finding out that he's Korean and Sion jumps out of excitement after learning this fact. No wonder his Japanese has a bit of an accent while speaking.
“Hey, a fellow Korean!” Sion immediately goes to Daeyoung and gives him a friendly hug, totally unaware of the angry gaze from someone in the audience, before asking him something in Korean that no one could understand.
“Where is your hometown? I'm from Mokpo.”
“I'm from Daegu!”
“Oh that's cool!”
Both of the Koreans are in their own world and of course, they're happy to meet with people who came from the same country as them. However, the president stops them because Daeyoung hasn't finished introducing himself yet.
“Ah, I'm sorry,” Daeyoung chuckles awkwardly due to the interruption earlier. Then, he continues to say something, “Actually… I didn't intend to join the Dance Club. In fact, I don't know how to dance at all.” Daeyoung scratches his non-itchy head because he's really embarrassed to admit the truth about his dance skill. Of course, he has a reason why though.
“AH-HA!”
Everyone turns to the owner of the voice who suddenly shouts out of nowhere. Riku facepalms so hard because he’s feeling the secondhand embarrassment right now due to Yushi. His best friend did not just let out a loud exclamation after Daeyoung said that he didn’t know how to dance. Yes, Riku has that suspicion too but he’s not going to say anything when he gets the answer. He tries to avoid any eye-contact from everyone, including his teammates. If possible, he wants to pretend that he doesn’t know Yushi.
Meanwhile, Yushi stiffly looks around and flashes a strained gummy smile to the people. He’s way too focused on that glasses guy whom he now knows his name is Daeyoung, that he has forgotten that he’s surrounded with the Dance Club members rather than his N Wish team members. No doubt, his reaction was so genuine but usually, it only came out around his team members. No one knows this side of him yet.
“Tokuno-san, do you have anything to say?” Sion wants to know the reason why Yushi suddenly shouted out of the blue. It’s really surprising because it’s coming from Yushi, someone who talks in the lowest decibels possible. Of course Yushi did talk in a high volume before, especially among the team members, but even then, his scream is equivalent to the sound of people talking in normal volume.
Yushi’s face is turning red pretty quickly. He doesn’t like when the attention is all on him as if he had done something wrong. However, he can’t miss this chance to ask Daeyoung the reason why he joined the Dance Club, so he asks, “Why did you join the Dance Club?” Was it too strong? He won’t feel offended, right? His question is purely out of curiosity with no malicious intent, but he fears that some people might take it the wrong way. Heck, he’s scared that Daeyoung might interpret his question as ‘why did you join the Dance Club if you don’t know how to dance?’
Daeyoung smiles shyly at Yushi’s question. He knows everyone is curious about this too so he explains to them, “Initially, I wanted to join Singing Club or Music Club but unfortunately, I was too late to register. The lecturer in-charge of clubs said only Dance Club is available and I guess I have no choice then.”
Everyone nods and understands Daeyoung’s reasoning. Perhaps, Daeyoung wasn’t aware of the deadline of the club’s registration since he’s still new.
“Now that I’m joining the Dance Club, I think I should try to learn dancing too…” Daeyoung softly adds but it receives a huge applause and reaction from everyone.
“We will support you!”
“You can ask for our help!”
Daeyoung feels happy to see how supportive everyone is. To be honest, he was afraid of getting laughed at for entering a club that he himself has zero skill in, but what’s life without a challenge, right? Daeyoung was disappointed at first when he missed out the registration for either Singing Club or Music Club but he tried to think positive. Who knows? He might have a hidden dance skill? But the most important thing for him is to enjoy his journey in a Japanese university.