Chapter Text
Fukase has always admired Len. You could even say, he was his idol. So when he got an invite from Crypton to join the same idol group Len was in, he jumped at the offer.
Fukase was always an outcast, from the day he was born. His physical “injury” caused others to be rather… intense towards him. His mother and father were horrific people, always on business trips and when they weren't, they were making sure to be assholes to their only son. Fukase's father was the reason for his large burn scar… after they had gone camping, Fukase did something to piss his father off which caused him to get halfway-almost cooked to death. Fukase was eventually put into a foster family, but he didn't care much for them either; it's not necessarily because they were terrible, but it's more so because they didn't care either. All they did was the bare minimum, and since Fukase was around the age of 6, the bare minimum just isn't enough.
Eventually, he had to learn to entertain himself. The only thing his foster parents let him do without their permission was watch TV, which ended up in him finding the “Child Star Sensation” Kagamine Len. Him and his sister, Rin, were the youngest members in the history of Crypton to ever make it; since Crypton is rather hard to get into. The actual youngest idol in an idol group is Kaai Yuki, but she's not as popular as the Kagamine Twins… sadly. Her voice is actually quite unique for her age!
Fukase was mesmerized by Len's performances. His erratic movements, his voice, everything just made Fukase feel little butterflies in his chest. The way Len interacted with the reporter whenever he was on the news just made him feel happy. Sure that might be a little parasocial, but at least he's not like some of those fans.
Seeing Len be a member of Crypton at 14 made Fukase think he could do it too. So every day, Fukase would practice his singing voice, and he made a secret –anonymous– NicoNico account where he'd post covers of popular songs, specifically Ms. Hatsune songs. He did this for years while trying different idols’ songs to cover, and one day, one of his covers gained… a little too much traction.
It was a cover of one of Len's songs, named “Butterfly on Your Right Shoulder.” Fukase had covered plenty of Len's songs before, so the fact that this one got so much love and support, (compared to his normal covers usually gaining around 10k views and on a good day 1k likes) despite it not being that much different from the rest, was odd, but not entirely new. Things go viral all the time, it's nothing new. What really bugged him was the fact that that was all it took to be considered by the higher ups of Crypton…
Onto the present, what was being handed to him is a letter by Crypton, from his fosters.
“Sais i's from…. Cry-pon..?” His “father” said, mouth full of rice from still eating his breakfast. “...I -on't mnow why som-one like you wou-d get a letter from ‘em.”
“Thanks, Orokana.” Fukase said, practically snatching it from intrigue.
“I thought I told you to stop calling your father that name.” His “mother” figure retorted. “It's disrespectful, we raised you, you know! Now, open the letter! I want to see.”
The room was silent, you could only hear the faint police and ambulance sirens and chatter of their downstairs neighbors constantly partying, and then, the sound of ripping paper filled the room.
“It says…” Fukase had already read what it said, but he didn't want to tell the truth as to what it is to his “parents.” Containing his excitement was a hassle though. “That they admire my work, and they would love for me to help produce a song with them.” Which was a truth of its own… just not the entire truth. The actual letter said, “We admire your work and devotion to music, so we are inviting you to produce music with us and move into our headquarters. To accept, go to Crypton HQ, to deny, do not come within the next 3 weeks.” in verbatim.
“Really…?” His “mother” asked. “I didn't know you sang, Fuka.”
“You don't know a lot of things about me.” Fukase continued, “Anyways, I'm going to do this. I don't care what any of you say.”
“We weren't planning on saying anything in particular.” His “father” said. “I just want you to still have an education.”
“Yes, your father's right.” She inserted herself. “You can do as you please, but stay in college, for your own good.”
Which makes no sense whatsoever considering the fact that being a Crypton idol is basically like a full-time well paying job with living benefits, but whatever, maybe they didn't know! It's not like Fukase was going to tell them anyway!
After his parental figures exited the room, Fukase could finally let out all of his excitement.
“OHMYGODOHMYGODOHMYGODOHMYGOD–” Fukase squealed. “WAIT- I have to start packing… and practicing… Is this a dream?! Lemme pinch myself! OW!”
As soon as his little emotional outburst was done, he immediately started packing. Seeing Len in person and being a well-known singer was a huge dream of his, and now that he finally has the chance to, he will.
. . .
Two weeks passed; mostly because Fukase was a little nervous to move out, but also because he wanted to make sure he was actually mentally prepared for this. He was going to have to leave his friends, some of his belongings, and even his home town for his dream career. But he's
made his decision. He's going. And he's going today. But obviously he needed to call his best friend, Oliver, before doing so.
“Come on… pick up pick up…” Fukase said before hearing a buzz. “Heyyyy Oliver! How ya been?”
“Fukase… what did you do…” Oliver knew that tone. That was the “I just did something and it's going to change my whole life” voice.
“Whattt… I didn't do anything.” Fukase sarcastically answered. “Besides, it's not what I did, it's what I'm going to do.”
“Fukase…” Oliver was cut off.
“Okay, so you know how I made that cover of that one Kagamine song?” Fukase started. “So… I got invited to go to the idol agency of the guy that made that song around two weeks ago…”
“Wait WHAT?!” Oliver shouted. “And you waited until NOW to tell me?!” Oliver was absolutely flabbergasted.
“I know it sounds wrong a-and weird, but I can still visit you…!” Oliver sat in silence. “And you can visit me…?”
“...I don't mind visiting you.” Oliver finally said after a minute or so of quiet. “I just… wish you told me sooner.”
“I'm sorry Ollie. I really am.” Fukase said. “I was nervous to tell anyone about me having to move, especially my foster parents.”
“No, no, I get it.” Oliver's voice faltered for just a moment. “Just be safe Fuka, okay? You're the brother I never had, I would hate to see anything happen to you.”
“I will. Thanks for worrying.” Fukase could tell Oliver wasn't entirely supportive of his decision, especially since Oliver hung up the phone without saying goodbye. Nothing Fukase can't handle, though! As long as Oliver still keeps in contact every now and then, it wasn't a big issue! And even if he didn't, he still has reason to. He's still in high school, it wouldn't make sense for them to contact each other every day.
. . .
Getting all of his bags out of the house without his parental figures noticing was relatively easy. All he had to do was turn off the cameras exiting the house temporarily so they couldn't see and try to reel him back to that hellhole. He knew the way to the train, since he had to take it almost every day to his college. He knew every stop, every person that frequented the place, and almost every quirk about them. Nosy, yes, but it's nice to know everybody so he has at least one person to talk to.
“Where ya headed to today ‘Kase?” A white haired man started, sitting down next to Fukase. “Same old same old?”
“Eh… not really.” Fukase replied, hoping Piko wouldn't pursue further.
“Oh? Where to then?” Piko inquired, putting his finger on his cheek. “I hope you're not going to try to go to the club again… haha…” What a terrible excuse of a joke. That was one time!
“No, definitely not.” Fukase said, monotonously. “I'm uhm… going somewhere kinda secret so I'd rather not say.”
“That's fine! Just curious.” Piko finalized before putting his ear buds in, not noticing the bags belonging to Fukase.
The solemn and melancholic sound of the train was almost soothing to Fukase. He never had to hear constant bickering over small things while trying to equal the noise by playing loud music, and he never had to deal with older people looking down on him. He could just work on his music or college assignments in peace. That is, until he remembered what he was doing.
“(Holy shit I'm actually doing this…)” Fukase thought. “(I'm actually leaving my home to live with the most famous idols in the industry… I'm going to see Mr. Kagamine in person!)” He had almost started bouncing around in glee before he caught himself.
“(Right. I'm on a train.)” Fukase sighed. “(Keep calm… you can squeal when you get there…)” The rest of the train ride consisted of Fukase being insanely melodramatic or dreading what would happen if his family found out.
. . .
Arriving, to say the least, was the most what-if process ever. It was always “what-if” and never “I should go in because I probably look so stupid pacing outside the HQ of a 163,000,000,000¥ company!” But hey, judging is a social construct.
After 10 or so minutes of constant pacing and looks that say “I don't get paid enough for this,” He finally opened the doors.
“Hello, welcome to Crypton Headquarters, how may I assist you?” The receptionist said. “By the way, we aren't doing any visits today, if you are here for that, I will kindly ask that you exit the building.”
“I- uhm… was told to come here by letter.” Fukase hesitated.
“Name?” The receptionist looked as if she's gone through this a million times.
“Fukase. Satoshi Fukase.” Fukase replied.
After typing, the receptionist's voice immediately changed, “Oh! Mr. Satoshi! Please head to floor three as soon as you can! Apologies for my haughtyness.” She gestured her hand towards another lady, seemingly a maid, standing nearby signaling her to escort Fukase to the correct floor.
The elevator music was quiet and nice to listen to. Fukase couldn't help but do a little dance, which caused the maid to giggle.
“Hehe, you'll fit in here perfectly.” Her hands ushered him out of the elevator and she started leading Fukase towards the main office.
The hallways felt glossy, if that makes sense. The floor was marble, the walls were brick and covered in expensive glossy paint. It was below freezing, or at least, that's what it felt like. Exclusive vinyls decorated the walls with labels stating the date and time of which it was purchased and made. There was a long, extremely long even, carpet leading to the final door.
Once they finally reached their destination, the maid created the door open, entailing the CEO of Crypton, Hiroyuki Itoh.
“Thank you for accepting our offer, Mr. Satoshi.” Itoh said. “I want to explain to you what you will be doing here, where you will be staying, etcetera.”
“Thank you for having me, It's truly an honor.” Fukase said, trying and failing to hide his nervousness.
Everything Itoh said was basically the letter reiterated. “You're going to produce music!” and “You're going to attend concerts!” Nothing serious. What Fukase really wanted to hear was if Crypton's security was tight enough… who knows if his fosters would try to break in or do something.
“Anyways, You're probably bored out of your mind.” Hiroyuki spoke the truth. “Your room is on the second floor. It's the only empty card there. You should be able to set yourself up in peace since your new coworkers are out in a meet and greet; they should be back soon.”
“Ah, thank you.” Fukase responded, taking in all of the information given to him, while excusing himself.
. . .
Before going into his new room, he looked around to see where he was positioned.
Right next to Len and Rin's room.
How could he be sandwiched right between them?!
This can't be a coincidence…
. . .
♡