CHAPTER TWENTY THREE: THE CONFESSION
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keita's pov! (1st person)
i don't know if it's just me, or if something has changed. akari was a lot more distant and quiet lately, and she seemed a lot more stressed than usual. i didn't know what's up with her, but i know something is wrong since she's usually really energetic and fun to hang out with. but recently, she seems a lot less happy.
"hey. riri, are you okay?" i squeezed her hand, not knowing what else to say to her. "you've been a lot quieter lately. naoko's antics aren't affecting you, right?" naoko went overboard with the cult rumour. i don't know anything about that at all, but it's the iinuma kids. the two of them are so sweet, i doubt they could be involved in anything so dark. as for the stalking, that was a show of how poor her morals are. like, give people some privacy??
"um... actually, keita, i need to tell you something. i think you might know this already, but i'll tell you again, since you're one of the people i trust the most." akari put down her pen with a troubled expression on her face. curious, i nodded, urging her to continue.
"a while ago, after naoko released that cult rumour, i got a call from my mother. she said that our ancestors were apparently really stupid and somehow got the entire iinuma line entangled into the cult. and she said this cult operates in japan, china and korea." she said, squeezing my hand back. i could sense that she was upset, so i gently stroked her hair. "go on, riri."
"apparently... she said... only two families outside the cult know about the iinuma line's being tied to this cult... naoko's family and the terazono family." she was trembling slightly at this point, and it took a moment for me to realise what she was saying.
"wait, terazono-" i was confused as hell, because i had zero knowledge of this beforehand.
"yeah. my mom told me to avoid these two families if i could, and... she said to stay away from you and naoko." a single teardrop rolled down her cheek, which i quickly wiped off her face.
"i- i'm sorry about this, that i have to trouble you with my own family issues. my father is fucked up as hell and i don't care about him. my mum is trying her best, and this isn't her fault. but she doesn't know that she's making me choose. why must i stay away from you? you're a good person." she says quietly, and i can see the tears threatening to fall from her eyes.
i didn't know about this at all, and this was news to me. "akari, i had zero knowledge about this. my family didn't tell me anything. calm down. please, don't cry. i know this isn't your fault. you're a good person too. you don't have to avoid me. it's okay." i tried to comfort her, wrapping my arms around her, hugging her gently. she returned it, but a lot more tightly.
(i think yall were expecting another kind of confession hehe... sorry but that doesn't happen so soon :) it'll happen eventually though)
"thank you, keita... you're an amazing person, you know that?" she muttered softly. i just kissed her forehead in response.
"now don't worry about it too much. it's not good for you." i swear i could see her blushing a bit, but i decided not to say anything and smiled at her instead.
for the next few hours, we worked side by side, doing our own work. arts school is not just about dancing or doing whatever your major is, you still need to catch up with other things too. this highschool merger has also put me under a mentoring program (stupid naoko), so now i have to come up with a plan for my first lesson. luckily, jihoo, yujin and mun junghyun are all under dance, so there's a good chance they'll be there. at least i'll be familiar with those little kids. but being the person i am, i can't teach for my life. evnne's dance projects were all taught by hanbin.
knowing hanbin, he's probably with his girlfriend right now, so instead of texting him to ask for help, i pull out my laptop and start working on the song i was in the middle of, a piece called "even more". i'm working together with yunseo and jeonghyeon for this one.
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evnne songwriters!
3 members
keita
guys do you have
any other ideas for
even more?
yunseo
all of a sudden??
keita
idk what else to
do in the library lol
jeonghyeon
why are you at
the library..
keita
what's wrong with
being in the library??
yunseo
nothing its just
a bit sudden yk
yunseo
you don't go
there that often
jeonghyeon
wait are you with
akari.
keita
...yes
jeonghyeon
NO WONDER
jeonghyeon
I KNEW IT
jeonghyeon
GUYS THIS IS DORAE PART
TWO THEY'RE ON A LIBRARY
DATE WE CHEERED
yunseo
k damn leejeong chill out
keita
okay can you not do
this i want to finish even
more in the next two weeks
since we still have jukebox
and your text to finish????
yunseo
okay chill out dude
yunseo
tbh you don't have to
panic that much jukebox
is basically finished we
just need to record it as
7 members right
jeonghyeon
yeah we're done with
most of jukebox already
jeonghyeon
*audio file attached*
jukebox_demo_ysevoice.mp3
yunseo
whyd you use seungeon's
voice for the demo 😭😭
jeonghyeon
he's the one with the best
range here idk
jeonghyeon
he did it willingly which
is good bc if he didn't i
would've asked taerae
or smth for help LMAOO
yunseo
NOT TAERAE 💀💀
WE HAVE ANTHONNY
AND HANBIN WHY HIM
jeonghyeon
idk 🤷♂️
keita
hey actually it
doesn't sound that bad
keita
it's just a bit too short.
like 2:20 is not it we should
at least hit 2:50 so maybe
we can do a bridge plus
add the final chorus? chorus
shouldn't be hard right???
also a decent ending to it
so we can make it sound nice
and maybe even hit 3 mins???
yunseo
keita chill tf out
yunseo
why not ask akari for
her opinion? she's with
you right?
jeonghyeon
YEAHH that sounds good
jeonghyeon
a third party opinion
(4th in our case) would
help a lot tbh
keita
jukebox or even more
yunseo
BOTH
keita
k...
keita
wait i don't have the last
even more demo saved
keita
i think it was han jisung
who helped us with recording
since i was busy right
jeonghyeon
yeah he sent it to me
yesterday hold on
jeonghyeon
*audio file attached*
evenmore_demo_draft3
yunseo
can't believe this is the
3rd rerecording of even more
keita
i mean
keita
k thanks ill ask her rn
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NOTES !
kind of half assed this one tbh
but hey how is it