Mending the Heart (UtaPri)

「 Idols 」

"Haruka is having a meeting with the President right now so she asked if I could come and deliver the song she wrote for you instead."

Digging into your bag, you rapidly surfaced and distributed the four songs to each member of QUARTET NIGHT. Even after you retreated and watched as they scanned over the sheets, a knot formed at the pit of your stomach. And when Ai retreated the paper from his ray of sight and faced you, despite his poker face it was easy to identify he wasn't impressed.

"Did you even look these over?" he asked, resting his arm by his brown trousers.

You dropped your head guiltily. "Yes. . . "

"There's no way she expects us to sing this garbage," Ranmaru scoffed, nonchalantly tossing the score on the coffee table before him.

"That peasant has lost her touch," Camus sneered, furrowing his brows at the sheet. His voice was a lot deeper than you were accustomed to hearing. Rather, the Camus you knew online was a lot more princely and flirtatious, identical to Ren in that sense. Perhaps offline that wasn't the case.

"She must have it hard," Reiji continued this time, the semblance of a wistful smile upturning his lips. "She wasn't even close to capturing us at all."

"If they have potential, raise them. If they don't, drop them," Ai recited almost robotically. "Not only Haruka, but all of STARISH have been behaving unprofessionally. Tokiya is probably the only one who shows up for work but it's like the rest of them have fallen off the face of the planet. It's giving a bad name to the agency. Shining definitely isn't happy."

"Those guys are such babies." Kicking out his legs on the sofa and folding his arms behind his head, Ranmaru set his jaw. "They won and performed at the Triple S, didn't they? Why the hell are they are they sleeping on such a golden opportunity when they should be taking advantage of their success then?"

Camus exhaled, eyelids pressed shut. "Honestly. They made such a huge fuss about surpassing us and reaching greater heights and yet look how far those fools have fallen."

Reiji forced a chuckle, tinkering with his fedora's brim. He tilted it slightly in your direction. "(First Name), do you know anything about it? You stay in the Master Course don't you?"

You avoided his gaze and straightaway regretted it. It only piqued his curiosity further. In fact, the rest of his good-looking band were in one form or another paying you an attentive ear also. Knowing that these guys actually mentored STARISH since their debut until almost recently, there could be no harm in disclosing the truth. Then again, it wasn't exactly your business to be spreading around. Besides, QUARTET NIGHT recently lost against STARISH. Telling them the reason they have been so MIA stemmed from something like heartbreak could only paint them as pathetic.

Therefore, instead of running your mouth you instead went with the next best alternative—switching the subject.

"How do you all feel about the abolishment of the 'no love rule'?"

For a while, silence filled the apartment. You swallowed hard as even Reiji grew almost sullen.

Ai was probably the only one who didn't flinch.

"Nobody knows why Shining implemented that rule in the first place. It makes sense to think it was to keep his artists from succumbing to the turmoil that comes with romantic relationships," Ai mused. "But even with such a superficial rule gone, it shouldn't really change anything in regards to our careers. We didn't become idols to pursue romance, after all."

"But isn't it all so sudden?" you asked, unsatisfied with Ai's reasoning. "That rule has been around nearly as long as the agency itself, dictating what emotions can or can't be expressed. The President must've had a reason for implementing it so strictly, so what would change his mind about it now?"

"(First Name), I know you're new here, but Shiny is someone even we can't understand," Reiji confessed, shrug in tow. "Sure it was constricting, but as idols, it's our job to put our emotions into our work. We've learned to channel our love into our fans and what we do."

"So you're saying it doesn't affect you guys at all?" you concluded.

"Damn straight it doesn't," Ranmaru said. "So tell those idiots to get themselves together before we have to step in and smack some sense into them ourselves."

"And tell that composer to hurry up and produce a song worthy of my vocals," Camus said. "No matter how long you stay here to try to arrange it, it'll be futile so long as the composition itself is lacking."

"Maybe I'll bring the kiddo and Tokki a Kotobuki bento to cheer them up," Reiji chuckled.

"Don't," Ai retorted pointedly. "You have work."

"But it's for a good cause, Ai-Ai. They're the ones getting all the heat from the rest."

You stiffened. Wait. . . He was referring to Haruka and Tokiya, right? As if already aware of their struggles. But. . .

"Do you all. . . know what's going on with them?" you questioned tentatively.

There should've been no way. You didn't give it away that easily did you? Of course not. There was no way the one thing you knew shouldn't have slipped ended up reaching them anyway.

And yet, QUARTET NIGHT brushed all that hope away with their according responses.

"Obviously," Ranmaru spat from his seat.

"Those fools are terribly revealing," Camus agreed.

"I'll probably never understand it, loving someone as much as they love her," Ai stated, blankly.

Reiji laughed the more your jaw fell from shock. "Sorry, (First Name). We wanted to make sure you knew before we spilled anything. It's cute how you thought you could hide it though."

Well that was just great. . . Then again, these guys were their mentors at one point in time. It made sense they'd catch on to this all before you could.

"We can understand where they're coming from," Reiji told you. This time, although there was minuscule nonchalance in his voice, it carried an unexpected serious undertone. "Loving the amazing kiddo. We all do as well."

You almost choked on your saliva. "What—"

"Reiji," Ranmaru snapped, body lurching upright with a murderous glower.

"You're mistaken to think that to be the case," Camus snapped.

"She may give my heart odd palpitations, but I don't love Haruka," Ai agreed.

"Ai/Mikaze!" Ranmaru and Camus shouted in unison.

Ai clamped his mouth shut, impassive, as if knowing he wasn't helping his case, or theirs. Regardless, you were gaping. Not only STARISH, but QUARTET NIGHT. . .

"Shiny's abolishment of the rule isn't only affecting them," Reiji went on anyway, slipping off his fedora. "But we're idols. We came this far because after our struggle, this is all we have left to cling to. We'll always want to continue singing and appreciating our fans who've supported us every step of the way. That fact won't change because of the change of a little rule."

You soon collected your composure, his words catching you by surprise. Reiji wasn't one to be serious most of the time, but if he was, that meant it was just that important to him. "Rei-chan. . ."

"If STARISH chooses to disband because of the kiddo, that just means their conviction of being idols wasn't strong enough. This isn't something we can blindly step into and fix."

It certainly wasn't to your expectations for Reiji to drop his hat onto your head. Your heart skipped a beat as another one his cute laughs filled the air, ridding his sullen mood from earlier. Then, leaning over, he sent you a signature heart-stopping wink and grin.

"Do you understand, my girl? This is their trial to overcome. All us spectators can really do is cheer them on and hope everything works out in the end."