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When he woke up from his coma, he didn’t know what to expect. He didn’t think the world would stop just for him and his injury, he didn’t think that everything would be the same, not even close.
What he didn’t expect was to wake up in a very nice hospital, surrounded by flowers and balloons, even some stuffed animals and with his older brother by his side, looking almost exactly as he did the day before he went into the coma.
The man before him mirrored him in every sense of the word, except for his height and obviously his age with minimal differences.
The man wearing his face clearly was older than him in many senses. Golden eyes wide and cold, an impassive face that didn’t let anything slip from years of practice and well dressed as an adult with money could only do, not a highschooler like himself.
“Kaname?” He cleared his throat after speaking, taking the glass that the older him held out for him.
“No, I am HiMERU.” The younger one blinked at the words. That wasn’t HiMERU, no matter how one looked at it.
He was Himeru. It was the name his mother gave him when he was born, the one he went to school with, the one everyone knew him as.
Himeru was his idol career that should’ve been put on pause when he ended up injured and in the hospital.
“I’m sorry, but you’re not.” The bed bound teen looked down and fiddled with the blanket. “Your name is Kaname, my older brother. You’re in your twenties, you already finished college and have a sustainable job and don’t even like idols. You hardly visit home and dad chose to be in your life, not mine. My name is Himeru, I live with mom, I’m seventeen almost eighteen and I’ve been an idol for the entirety of my highschool life. I built my name up and even had a company I was going to work for.”
“Yes, HiMERU is working for CosPros as planned.” Kaname(?) nodded stoically, turning to pull out a folder and placing it on his lap. “HiMERU is no longer a solo idol, but is now part of Crazy:B, a unit under Vice President Saegusa Ibara’s jurisdiction and control, though our leader Amagi Rinne hardly listens to a word spoken to him.”
The recently awoken comatose patient blinked, opening the folder and looking over the photos of the four members of this Crazy:B. Amagi Rinne, the leader and oldest at 21, HiMERU second oldest, Shiina Niki third eldest of the group and part time chef, Oukawa Kohaku youngest and also a member of Double Face in another company’s name.
Interviews with answers that sounded like him, while at the same time didn’t. His face and name plastered over billboards, at meet and greets and other idol activities.
A phone was placed in his hands and with trembling hands he picked it up and looked at the screen.
One of Crazy:B’s performances, it seemed, Kaname(?) singing and dancing smoothly, almost like he was born to do so with a mysterious smile as he looked at the crowd, his unit mates moving and singing with him.
“W-What is this?” His hands moved frantically, sifting through picture after picture, contract after contract, magazine article after magazine article. “What is any of this?!”
“This is HiMERU’s hard work, my hard work.” Kaname (HiMERU?) smiled, head tilting slightly. “HiMERU, no, I would like to say that I’ve done good for myself this time around. This year has been the most fun and exciting year yet.”
He (Kaname or Himeru?) licked his dry lips. “But…this was supposed to be my life, my idol career…my unit and memories, my name! All of this is supposed to be mine!”
HiMERU (Kaname?) smiled, the light in his eyes going cold and his expression plastic. “No, this is HiMERU’s life. My life.”
“B-But…”
“Enough, Kaname. You’re acting like a child again.” A sigh blew past the plastic smile, keeping the pretense of kindness, despite the dry and annoyed tone. “You aimed too high and too far before your accident with Kazehaya. You both suffered, but I think it’s time for you to rest.”
“I did everything for my dream!”
“Your dream is gone, this is mine now.” The plastic kindness and patience finally fell away to reveal a glare. “Everyone cared so much about you before your accident. Mom, dad, our family and the fans. But you only cared about your dream. When dad told me to stand in your place as ‘an older brother should’ I did so out of obligation, but now that I see what it is, what it has…I wanted it. I did everything to become the HiMERU you were. I changed my hair, cut it to the exact style you wore it, I learned how to sing and dance perfectly before making my debut. I ran as a solo idol for a couple of months before signing onto CosPros as you planned and then I made myself HiMERU. I saw what I created and I wanted it.”
“What would this accomplish? Mom and Dad wouldn’t agree to this!”
“Mom and Dad can’t tell me what to do anymore!” HiMERU (Kaname?) stood up, the papers on his lap fluttering to the floor. “I’m an adult. I see what’s mine and I take it. So I’m taking this. The name, the image, the history, it’s all mine now. You are Kaname and I am HiMERU.”
Kaname (Himeru) blinked, feeling tears well up in his eyes as his older brother smiled coldly down at him. He was right. If he pressed charges, then their parents went to jail for fraud and identity theft. They lost everything and HiMERU (Kaname) would be backed up by the lawyers in CosPros because it was his signature, not Kaname’s (Himeru's).
The wouldn’t defend a teen they had never met before, they would defend the idol that was signed under them.
Kaname (Himeru) would lose everything and would have to try and scratch his way back to the top…
“I’m glad you understand your new position. Now, Kaname, I will be leaving. I have a job in about twenty minutes and Lunch with my boyfriend afterwards.” HiMERU turned to leave, Kaname staring at his back blankly. “When I come back, we can look into schools and the like. I’ve been handling your hospital bills and all, so no need to fret over bills.”
“...what about Tatsumi? He would’ve known something was different about you from me.”
“Ah, right, you’re ex-boyfriend.” HiMERU paused for a moment. “We broke up and I began to date Shiina, while he moved onto his own unit mate, Ayase. Ayase is a good man, I hope Kazehaya doesn’t ruin him like he ruined you with his filth.”
‘So even Tatsumi has moved on from me…I see I have no place as Himeru anymore…’ Kaname sat in the cold and quiet hospital room and lamented on the life he’d officially lost.
He was Kaname and HiMERU was the new Himeru…