Kujou rang the doorbell of the IDOLiSH6 agency. Having been rigorously trained by his father over the years about idol work, nervousness has never managed to bother Riku. Today was different. Riku was not very familiar with such shows like 'Kimi to IDOLiSH6 Night. He was unsure if he could be trained in a few hours before going live.
Tsumugi ran down to get the door. She was surprised to see Riku alone without his manager. His manager would never allow this, but for once Riku wanted to try doing something 'fun'.
I truly am selfish. And I am supposed to be here to help them.
Tsumugi was too nervous to start a conversation with Riku who was following behind her in awkward silence. After all, there are so many bad rumours about Riku's personality, and most of them are true.
The door opened to a filming scene with all the IDOLiSH6 members. Even though I6 were prepared to work with Kujou, they kind of froze a little. Riku decided he had to start. The redhead walked a good distance in to the room and bowed.
"K-Kujou Riku... desu. I am looking forward to working with you." He stuttered at work for the first time in his life. That little slip up seemed to help ease I6's nerves quite a bit though.
"Kujou-san." Iori walked towards Riku. He wished they could have a little chat, but not much time was left for practice. "I hope you are ready to start." He then looked at Tsumugi. "Manager, are all the scripts modified?"
"Y-yes here!" Tsumugi handed the script to Riku. Riku took it gently.
"W-wait, Iori, I've never done a talk show before!" Riku flipped through the scripts. His confidence was not in the high. Riku did not have the heart to be cold towards I6 as a fan of them himself. Plus, his manager was nowhere in sight. The messy Riku was having an internal war with the cold Riku. W-what should I do? How should I act?
Iori seemed to have sensed that Kujou was uncomfortable, so he grabbed and squeezed one of Kujou's shoulders firmly as reassurance. "It will be fine, Kujou-san." Then Iori lowered his voice. "You can be yourself here. We won't tell. Just keep your persona during the show."
"Right." Riku nodded.
"What's going on here?" Mitsuki spoke in awe. *How can my little brother treat Kujou like that? * "Kujou is calling my brother by his first name..."
It's like they are already friends. Wait, don't tell me this guy is....! Yamato thought.
Riku knew I6 were talking about him even when he was standing from the distance. He got that a lot. Whispers and gossip behind his back can be heard on a daily basis. Riku took a deep breath and walked closer to the others.
"I'll be in your care." He bowed and when he looked up, he gave a nice smile. The kind of smile that idols never get to see from Kujou Riku.
Fearless (or partly clueless) Tamaki started a topic. "Your dance is amazing, Rikkun." At that moment, Sougo's heart dropped lower than underground. T-t-t-t-Tamaki-kun!!!! He was not the only one. Tama...! Tamaki! OH MY GOD TAMAKI!
"Rik..kun?" Riku tilted his head. Yeah, he was totally cute. Then he smiled again and said, "Ah, thank you!"
Their moment of breaking the ice was interrupted by Iori, reminding them of the amount of time they had.
~~
"So, after the whole talk section here, Kujou-san will join us to sing 'Perfection Gimmick." All the idols sat in a circle. Sougo was going over the script.
"Eh?!" Riku gasped. "I have to sing I6's song?!?!" I am actually happy, but
Can I do it? Smiling while singing a song. Give off a happy aura to people, bring joy to their lives like they do to me?
"This is bad..." Yamato spoke, not meaning to be rude to Riku. "It was supposed to be Trigger performing with us, but we practised together a lot before."
"And we don't have time to add another song even if we want to sing separately." Mitsuki sighed.
"I'll do it."
Riku shouted with determination. I feel like I can do it. Even if I struggle, I at least have to try! The only thing left to bother Riku was his lung condition. The practice would be intense in such a short time. Then again, his songs had much more vigorous dance routines.
I6 members saw Riku and smiled. "Right! Let's do it!"
~~
Two hours of intense practice passed by. Riku was sitting in the corner, breathing heavily. This is harder than I thought. This is bad. It is not easy to breathe...
"Kujou-san," Iori took notice of Riku's tiredness and approached him while the others were having their water break. "Want to come outside with me?"
Riku followed Iori out of the practice room. The redhead took a puff from his inhaler while sitting down on the bench. "Here," Iori handed a bottle of oxygen to Riku. "You need it, right?" Riku was surprised and wanted to ask Iori how he got that, but his condition pushed him to take it and use it right away.
"Thank you, Iori." It didn't take long for Riku to get better. "But how..?"
"I suspected that your condition is chronic, so I prepared this after contacting you." Iori remembered the first time they met, and the day they met at the cat-themed cafe. Riku took a big set of pills during their meeting. The young boy stared at the exhausted Riku. "Honestly, though, I didn't expect it to be this severe since you work as an idol."
The moment Riku opened his mouth Iori sighed and said, "Don't worry. I won't tell anyone."
~~
"Hello, minna-san. Welcome to our first 'Kimi to IDOLiSH6 Night'"! Iori started the intro as soon as the camera rolled.
"And first means SPECIAL!" Nagi shouted.
Yamato then explained, "Yes, indeed we have a very special guest, KUJOU RIKU!"
Riku stepped into the scene, waving and smiling the best he could.
Several people at home watching the show went "NO WAY!" Or "OMG KUJOU RIKU!" Or "KUJOU RIKU LOOKS SO CUTE WHEN HE SMILES I CAN'T ASDFGHJKL-!" Social media was overflowing with the news.
Of course, this would not go unnoticed by Riku's manager.
The show went on for a while until it was time for the performance. "Who would have thought a powerful idol like you would appear on our show." Mitsuki touched Riku's shoulder in a friendly manner.
"I am glad to be here. Even I need a refreshing moment from time to time, you know?" Riku winked. That probably killed half of the people watching the show. "And tonight, you can't tell me to leave without singing one of your songs!" If this was an audience hall, the room would be full of girly screams. "KYAAAAAAAAAAA!"
The 7 sang "Perfection Gimmick" perfectly. Riku's voice and dance blended in extremely well with the I6 members. His voice was like the last piece of the jigsaw puzzle needed to finish the picture. I6 were already perfect, but Riku made it so that someone needed to invent a word to describe something more incredible than perfect.
It's like he's been here right from the start. Sougo thought.
Kujou-san... Iori had a hard time not eyeing Riku, even though he put 100% (ppfftt) focus into the song.
This feeling... this is... fun? So this is how it feels to sing with other people! Riku once again discovered another one of his hidden feelings he never knew he possessed. I wish I could do this again.
~~
When the camera stopped rolling, every I6 member gathered around Riku. "Kujou-kun, your voice is really lovely." Sougo spoke. Looks like Riku had gotten a new fanboy.
"Please, just call me Riku." Working with a lovely group for hours, Riku felt like he could fit in better.
"Minna-san, your performance was great!" Tsumugi ran in. "We got a lot of views." Tsumugi turned to Kujou and bowed. "Thank you so much for your help, Kujou-san."
"It's alright. I enjoyed that" Riku smiled. Even though it was hectic, stressful, and tiring, Riku had one of the most enjoyable times in his life and he wasn't sure he would get to do that ever again.
"I don't get why they call you 'the demon idol', Rikkun." Tamaki spoke. "Sure, you seem a bit uptight, but you don't seem like a bad person." The others seemed to agree with Tamaki.
Riku looked down. He knew he could not tell them. What hurt him more was the thought that if I6 ever crossed paths with Riku again, Riku would cause them pain and suffering.
Yamato, being the oldest member, sensed that the question made Riku's heart heavy. "Well, I'm sure you have your reasons. You don't have to tell us now."
"But we hope you can one day." Mitsuki gave his energetic smile to Riku.
Iori, you are so lucky to be surrounded by these people. Riku thought and looked at Iori. Their eyes met and that made Iori blush before quickly looking away.
"Come to think of it, Ichi. So Riku is the guy you've been texting, huh?" Yamato teased their youngest member. Of course, the rest of I6 quickly joined in the fun.
"Holy-! Yeah! Gosh Iori, of all the people you've been texting HIM?!?" Mitsuki went to give Iori a brotherly hug.
"IORI, you are VERY BRAVE!" Nagi gave the young boy a thumbs-up.
"Iori-kun Is this true?" Sougo squeezed Tamaki's hand. True, we just worked with Riku, but this...! Tamaki whispered to Sougo, "Ow, Sou-chan you're crushing my hand... Sou-chan..!"
Iori was pushed until he yelled "YES!" and ran out of the room, his face as red as a tomato. Riku didn't quite understand the scene he witnessed. He only watched it with a black stare. Why did Iori just bolt out?
"Riku-kun, why not stay for dinner? I'll cook." Sougo offered, but Tamaki, while checking if his hand was broken, quickly protested, saying Mitsuki should be the one cooking. "No one can eat your food, Sou-chan!" Yeah, Sougo made everything RED with his favourite Mexican-style HOT sauce.
"Ah, I am sorry. I really should get home." I6 except for Iori then said thank you again to Riku. They wanted to see Riku out, but Riku insisted that he would be fine. He walked down the quiet stairs alone.
Goodbye, IDOLiSH6
Riku was about to open the door when he heard loud and quick footsteps. "Kujou-san! Wait!" It was Iori. He was holding a small polka-dot bag with a ribbon in his hand.
"H-here!" Iori handed the gift to Kujou. "The souvenir from Okinawa."
Instead of taking the gift like someone normally would, Riku grabbed both Iori's triceps and pulled him into a hug. It took a minute for Iori to realise that Riku was crying.
"*sob* *sob* I never told my manager about taking the job. *sob* I don't know... I don't know if I will...*sob* will see you again. A-and I6." Riku's breathing became rough. His emotions were running out of control. Iori was in shock too. Of course. He thought. Kujou-san's manager would never permit him to take the job. Iori felt so much pain in his heart. He felt like he was being inconsiderate. He only thought about his own situation, not Kujou's.
Iori hugged Riku back tightly. So firm of a hug that it gave Riku peace of mind, even just for a few minutes. "Ku... Riku, I am so sorry. I am so, so sorry." Riku shook his head. He wanted to tell Iori it was him who acted on his own. He wanted to say that he had no regrets. And that he had the best time of his life today, but his words betrayed him. None of that came out. Instead, Riku tried to express his feelings by taking the gift...
And gave Iori a gentle kiss on the cheek.
"Goodbye, Iori..."
I hope I can see you again... as the 'messed up' Kujou Riku.
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Teehee~ I hope that was enough to make you lovely people roll and scream >////< (lol okay I'm dreaming). Next chapter is still in the works so it will take a while nyan~