My Crown: Reimagined [IDOLiSH7 Fanfiction]

07: My Friends

Selfish, ah, how selfish he could be towards the guy who needed help from a friend. Riku knew his lack of emotions could ruin the whole show for IDOLiSH6. Why did he ever agree to that? Did he only want to try something 'fun'? He was supposed to be there for them, not to fulfil his own desire.

His heart was beating so quickly that he felt light-headed. Even after years of rigorous training he had been put through, nervousness managed to best Riku. Once he got off a taxi in front of the filming studio, he was greeted by Takanashi Tsumugi.

"K-k-k-k-kujou-san, thank ywou so much for helping us out." The poor lady was so nervous she couldn't seem to pronounce anything right. She also was not sure if she should be relieved or worried by the fact that Riku was there without his manager.

"Thank you for having me." Riku bowed, unsure of what else he should say. He soon followed Tsumugi inside. The two did not say anything to each other. Tsumugi was too stiff to do anything about the awkward silence, and Riku's head was empty. Good thing it didn't take long for them to get to the filming area.

"Everyone." Tsumugi opened the door and proceeded to announce the guest's arrival. "Kujou Riku-san is here!"

The idols stopped whatever they were doing and turned their heads towards a single direction.

"My God! It IS him!" Nagi was the first to shout. "It is Kujou Riku!"

"Kujou R-" Riku paused in the middle of his self-introduction. Damn. He wondered why he found the presence of several people intimidating. "Riku." Riku bowed to the idols gathering around him. "Looking forward to working with you." His eyes locked on Iori when he stood back up. Thump. Thump. He felt like his heart was going to burst out of his chest. Why would a living doll like him be so nervous? Iori's sharp gaze reminded him of his adoptive father's. The high school centre possessed a commanding presence. Pressure. That was it. Riku felt pressured since he had to perform this task without fail.

"Kujou-san" Like a warrior, Iori stepped forward, ready to order his underling to charge. "I hope you're ready to start." He then turned to Tsumugi. "Manager, are all the scripts modified?"

"Y-yes, here!" Tsumugi handed it over to Riku, who took it gently.

"W-wait, Iori." Riku's heart sank as he flipped through the scripts. The texts described the setting of each scene, including some loose dialogue and the direction the talk was going. That meant nothing to Kujou Riku. He could memorise all of it in no time, but he would not know how to act. "I've never done a talk show before!"

Iori narrowed his eyes. It was as he feared: a guy not used to having feelings couldn't possibly act without specific instructions. Iori at least anticipated that Riku would be uncomfortable taking on this job. Hmm. He went into a deep-thinking mode. Riku was innocent and naive, but he wasn't totally oblivious. In fact, him being so concerned about other people must mean he could at least read the room. "You can at least tell how people feel by looking at them, right?"

Riku nodded. In fact, he was pretty good at it. He could also vaguely tell how people felt by listening to their tones of voice, even though he did not understand those feelings.

"Good." Iori smiled for the first time today.

Somehow, Riku could feel his heartbeat slowing down just by looking at it.

"Then please memorise the script. When we do our first rehearsal, pay attention to how we react to the topic or the question. There are 6 of us, and Nii-san is the MC, so each of us will react differently." Iori paused to make sure Riku followed. "As long as you try to match the tone and expression of any of us, you'll do just fine, Kujou-san." He placed his hand gently on Riku's right shoulder and squeezed it reassuringly.