ｂａｌｌａｄ ｄｅｂａｔｅ
『 your p.o.v 』
Some mornings, I wake up to cute text messages from Reiji or Otoya. Other mornings, I wake up to my alarm going off or Haruka and Tomo-chan trying to quietly whisper to one another while they let me sleep for another five more minutes before we all actually have to start getting ready for class. And then there are mornings like this where I get rudely woken up by a small black fur-ball landing onto my stomach like a cannonball falling from the ceiling.
"Okay, that was uncalled for." I groaned as Kuppuru meowed, making himself comfortable while he sits on my stomach and paws at the blanket. "Are you trying to kill me?"
Once again, the black feline meowed before licking at the back of his paw.
Sighing, I reached over to my nightstand and grabbed my phone. It's only six in the morning and my alarms don't start going off for another hour. Evil cat waking me up earlier than needed...
Gently nudging Kuppuru off my stomach and pushing the blanket away, I reluctantly sat up and stretched a little. Tomo and Haruka are still sleeping while I shoot the black cat a playful glare. "What do you want?" I whispered. "Are you trying to tell me something?"
Shaking his head 'no', I just stared at the cat for a moment before falling back to lying down on my bed's mattress. Oh my gosh- Kuppuru just responded like an actual human. I'm losing my mind. There's no way this black cat is actually Cecil...
Taking one final clawless swipe at my leg, Kuppuru hopped off the bed and stretched a bit himself. I sat back up and looked to the black cat. Emerald green eyes stared right back for a moment before the small feline sauntered on over to my wardrobe and pawed at the wooden doors before glancing back to me.
"No, I am not going outside." I responded with a deadpan expression, being sure to keep my voice low. "It's cold and I have class in like two hours and I'm still searching for Reiji's first jacket that you stole forever ago."
Kuppuru meowed softly and then promptly plopped down onto his stomach just in front of my wardrobe. I sparred the cat a fleeting glance before finally getting up and heading over to the bathroom to start my morning routine. He woke me up this early so I might as well see if I can finish revising my friend's debut song before class starts.
Running about and grabbing this and that, it didn't take me long at all to change into my school uniform and finish making myself look presentable. Kuppuru had passed out about halfway through me getting ready and I made sure to not wake him or my roommates up as I grabbed my sticker-covered laptop from off my desk and then quietly slipped out of our dorm room.
The halls were mostly empty considering most sane students are only just now getting up, though a couple of the early birds offered me smiles and small whispers of "good morning" as we passed by one another. A big difference from how my mornings used to go when school had first started.
All of the harsh whispers, the rumors, the insults, and the jealous glares whenever Ren happened to fling an arm over my shoulders and walk with me through the halls. I had eyes staring me down from every which way no matter where I went within this school. It's so different now when compared to then.
No whispers, no harsh glares, no insults, nothing. Then again, most of the pompous idiots who were full of themselves and tried to pick fights with me when we first came here have long since dropped out. There's probably about half of all of the students left and there's no telling how many will actually manage to graduate after these last few projects are over and done with.
My phone buzzed in my pocket just as I was nearing the hallway to my class. Grabbing it with my free hand, I couldn't help but smile when I saw it was a text from Eiji. He saw some clips of Quartet Night's mini-concert for their fans and he says he loves the songs they sang.
Sending him a quick message back, I went ahead and lazily bumped the door to the S-Class' classroom with my hip, the door opening with a small creak. Though I stopped right in the doorway when I realized the classroom, despite class not starting for another hour or so, isn't empty.
"Oh, good morning hun.~" Ringo sang as he stood up a little straighter, previously leaning down over Ryuuya's desk while the orange haired actor busy's himself with writing down some notes on the chalkboard.
The pink haired idol is dressed far more casually than the last time I saw him. No gorgeous white ball gown in sight and instead one of his more signature outfits; a large yellow sweater that seconds as a dress, black tights, and red heels to top off the look. Honestly, him and Tomo have such similar fashion tastes. I'd love to see them go shopping together some time.
"Morning." I said with a bright smile, walking past the two idols in favor of taking my usual seat in the very back of the classroom just in front of Tokiya's desk. "You guys are here early." I then noted.
Ryuuya scoffed some at that. "Someone has to write down the lecture bullet points on the board."
"I thought the class fairy did that every morning."
"Kid, I should fail you."
"What are you doing here so early?" Ringo asked, turning around to face me as he lifts himself to sit on the edge of Ryuuya's desk. His smile widened a bit as he crossed one slim leg over the other while I opened my laptop.
Trying to not look up from anywhere other than my laptop's screen, I shook my head. "My cat Kuppuru decided to wake me up by becoming a furry cannonball and landing on my stomach this morning. Seeing as I couldn't go back to sleep, I figured I might as well finish up my friend's debut song before class starts."
"The duet songs are due by Friday." Ryuuya said as he placed down the small piece of chalk onto the metal ledge. "Have you finished those yet?"
"Yup," I responded as I pulled up the debut song, "finished them a few days into our winter break and I'm pretty sure almost everyone has finished writing their lyrics by now as well."
Ringo looked to Ryuuya from over his shoulder with a coy smile. "I'm jealous, you get to have ___ here in your class. How lucky." He then looked to me with a more alluring smirk. "How about you come sit in my class today?"
I couldn't help but laugh at the absolutely fed-up expression Ryuuya is giving his fellow idol. "I don't trust Syo, Toki, and Ren to actually stay on track with me not around so I think I'll have to pass."
"Aw, what a pity. And here I was hoping to have the cutest composer this school has ever seen in my class for just a day." Ringo sighed dramatically as his head fell ever so slightly, making his long pink hair drape over his shoulders. "Instead this grouchy old man gets to have you all to himself."
"I'm only three years older than you." Ryuuya responded blandly as he sat down at his desk and started arranging his papers for today's class. "Besides, if I'm old then you must be ancient since you never actually take care of yourself. When was the last time you even worked out?"
"Not everyone can be an action movie star such as yourself."
"Yes, well, everyone can at the very least take care of their health for more reasons than just to prevent dark circles under their eyes."
I tuned out my teacher's usual banter as I popped in a single earbud and began running through my friend's debut song. After this week is over, we'll be starting our last project before the debut auditions start meaning I only have maybe another month or two to somehow get my six friends to go from sounding amazing by themselves and in small groups to passing off as an actual band.
At least our next project is going to be trio's so I can just put A-Class and S-Class together and get that hurdle out of the way. If I can get Syo, Ren and Tokiya to sing together as well as creating a song for Otoya, Masato, and Natsuki, then I think this debut song will go off without a hitch. Really the hard part isn't me composing their song but rather all of them figuring out just where they fit within the band we're all wanting to create together.
It's going to probably take some time until everything is settled. I mean, with Quartet Night, everyone just instinctively knew what their role in the band was. It probably helps that their personalities are such stark contrasts to one another that it's not like Ranmaru could suddenly start trying to pull off Camus' butler act that he puts on for their fans and not seem like he's lost his marbles. With my friends though, it's a little more complicated I think since some of their personality traits overlap here and there.
Both Tokiya and Masato are more of the silent cool types. No one can beat Ren at his flirting so I think he's good. Thankfully Natsuki has what I want to call is this wombo-combo factor where he's really tall but he loves everything cute but his voice betrays literally everything you'd ever think when he sings and suddenly he's a Jrock singer. And then there's Syo and Otoya who are literal balls of pure hyperactive puppy energy...
We're going to seriously need to expand their personalities some because at this rate, the fans won't know Tokiya from Masato and will only be able to identify Natsuki based on his height.
"We are not singing a ballad for our debut song."
"She already agreed to write us two songs, Ochibichan."
"Isn't that too much to ask of her though?"
"___-chan can do it!"
"We don't want to kill our composer before we even get to the auditions."
"She'll do it even if we tell her not to."
Glancing up at the sound of my friend's voices, I smiled some when my eyes met Ren's ocean blue ones. "Good morning, little lamb. You're here early." He said.
I glanced over to the clock hanging above the door, both Ryuuya and Ringo no longer in the classroom. "There's only twenty minutes until class starts. It's not that early anymore."
Walking over to my desk and sitting on the edge of it, Syo looked to me with slightly narrowed eyes, his fedora tilting quite a bit and if I had to bet money on it I'd say Natsuki hugged him half to death again. "How long have you been here? Didn't you stay up all night composing?"
"I actually went to my mom's bento shop to talk for a bit." I responded while playfully sticking my tongue out at the short blonde. "And I've been here for nearly an hour now. Ringo and Ryuuya were here earlier too, but I think they just disappeared into thin air as, you know, idols just do I guess."
Tokiya scoffed as he took his usual seat behind my own. "Yes, because all idols can magically appear and disappear at will."
"You never know."
"Why did we agree to have you as our composer?"
I just smiled over at the navy haired idol from over my shoulder before adding the finishing touches to their debut song. "Anyways, after getting all of your feedback on your debut song yesterday, I went ahead and edited the song and I think it's in a state now where I can hand it over you to six and not be scared of the lyrics you guys will manage to come up with."
Natsuki crouched down right beside my chair and placed his hands on the edge of my desk as he curiously peered up at my laptop's screen. "Can we listen to it?"
"Ha, no. Not until after class." I said with a laugh. "The last time I gave you a song before class Natsuki, you ignored the lecture and assignment completely in favor of just writing lyrics and I don't think Ringo will let that slide again."
The tall blonde pouted as he looked to me with his bright green eyes shimmering some. Playfully rolling my eyes, I went ahead and saved their debut song before closing my laptop. Natsuki giving puppy-dog eyes is a dangerous thing to witness. I don't know how their future fans are going to live what with these handsome idols causing inevitable heart-attacks and uncontrollable nose bleeds left and right...
Clearing his throat, Masato looked to me with his typical stoic expression. "We were wondering if you'd be able to write us a ballad alongside our more upbeat debut song?"
I tilted my head to the side questioningly. "Didn't I already agree to doing that?"
Ren sat down in Syo's usual desk beside my own. "Well yes, but it seems like us boys are still having some mixed feelings about making you compose yet another song for us."
"It's just one more song. I'm not going to end up dead over it." I scoffed. "Besides, all the hectic back to back song composing is over for right now so I can write you guys a ballad and not be overwhelmed."
Some of the other S-Class students began walking in and sitting at their desks, occasionally glancing in our direction since it's unusual for the seven of us to meet like this before class starts. I offered Shizu a small smile when she looked to me and gave a shy wave. Syo seemed to notice our little interaction and immediately grinned over at the other composer. "Hey Shizu, come over here, we wanna ask you something."
I've never seen her eyes widen the way they just did. She looked exactly like a robber caught red-handed and about five seconds from walking right back out of this classroom. Though, with quite a bit of unease, the cute composer made her way over to us and awkwardly stood beside Masato. "W-What's up?"
"Do you think we should debut with just a single upbeat song or have a ballad to go along with it?" Otoya asked, his grin blinding as ever.
Shizu thought for a moment before looking to me with a sheepish smile. "I would like to hear a ballad- b-but that's just me."
I clasped my hands together at that. "Then it's settled, I'll compose a ballad for you guys next. But you all have to promise me that if I compose you this ballad, you won't go slacking on any of our school projects or your idol assignments, alright?" I then asked as I looked between each of my friends.
Ren chuckled as he fake saluted me. "Heard you loud and clear."
"You're the one most likely to slack off." Tokiya teased, just a hint of a smirk tugging at the corners of his lips as the orangette shot him a playful glare.
Soon enough, class was starting and my A-Class friends left so they wouldn't miss their own lecture. Though, even with everything going back to what a typical school morning is for us, Ren stubbornly remained sitting in Syo's desk for the entire class forcing the short blonde to sit behind him and of course not be able to see much to anything Ryuuya wrote on the board. Tokiya found it at least a little amusing, chuckling to himself whenever Ren leaned back in his chair only for Syo to kick the back legs of said chair and nearly topple the orangette altogether.
My friends are really something else. It's fun being together like this though and I hope nothing really changes even after we graduate. I'd hate to see them grow further apart and end up how Quartet Night currently is; a bunch of wonderful idols all working together but not really being friends. Hopefully later on down the road, Quartet Night can take some notes from my friends and learn to be more than just work acquaintances...
When class was nearing its end, I was called down to Shining's office. Ryuuya sparred me a glance as I slipped out the back door to his classroom, me giving a small wave with my free hand while I hold my laptop under my arm and head out.
I wonder what Shining wants..? The last time we talked, it was after I got caught with Eiji at his brother's concert and I asked about AI being related to Aine. I haven't said a single thing to him since. Thankfully I've stayed out of trouble since then, but still...
Hesitantly, I raised my hand and knocked on the double doors to the principal's office. I heard a faint "come in" from the other side and, exhaling a shaky breath, opened the doors and stepped inside.
"Ah, Miss ___, come sit." Shining said from where he sits behind his desk as he motioned to one of the two large couches. "I hope you've been well since the last time we spoke."
I nodded a bit as I took a seat near the middle of the couch and glanced to the older man. "I've been good. What did you call me out of class for?" I then asked, wanting to get straight to the point already.
Chuckling, Shining stood up from his chair and turned to look out the windows lining the wall behind his desk. "First off, I'd like to praise you on your latest songs with Quartet Night. Their solo songs are selling even quicker than their debut single so well done."
"Thank you..." I responded a little skeptically.
"Anyways," he said, now turning back around to look at me, "I called you in here to get your take on how those four are coming along as a band."
Staring at the older man, I tilted my head to the side questioningly. "You want my opinion on them as a band?"
Shining walked around to the front of his desk and leaned against it, his sunglasses hiding his eyes completely. "I want to know if you think they're working together well or if there's more problems arising than it's worth."
It took a moment for me to understand the hidden question underlying his words. He wants to know if Quartet Night, with all of their current disagreements and differences, are worth his time and resources in keeping together.
"They're learning to work together." I settled on saying. "You said it yourself a while ago, they're professionals so they'll figure this out in the end. They're working hard to consistently perform well for their fans and sure, they may get into arguments here and there, but overall their differences end up making their songs that much more dynamic and interesting. There's no way I'd say that they're not worth it."
"Now, are you saying that as their composer or because you're Reiji's sibling?" Shining then asked.
My fists clenched around the end of my uniform's skirt. "Just because I'm Reiji's little sister doesn't mean I can't see the bigger picture. They're trying to become a great band and so far they're only growing stronger together. If you were to separate them now, I think you'd be ruining all of their careers."
A small smirk tugged at the corners of Shining's lips at that. "Oh really? You're that confident in them?"
I nodded. "I am."
Shining suddenly smiled and I felt the growing tension in the air disappear in a matter of seconds. "Good, I needed to make sure you were on the same page as them."
"Huh?"
"I called Quartet Night earlier to get their opinion on working together as a band along with having you as their composer and they agreed with everything you just said."
I couldn't help but smile at his words. "They didn't like the idea of becoming a band in the beginning, but I think they're starting to see that their future together is a bright one."
Shining nodded in agreement. "With that being said, I'm planning on sending them off on a vacation of sorts to hopefully grow a little closer."
"How soon?" I asked. "They want to put out their next group song right after the graduation debut stage so wouldn't it be better to hold off until that's been done?"
"I think it would be more beneficial for them to go before then. With you there with them, their next group song should sound even better than their debut song." The sunglasses-wearing man said with a reassuring smile.
Almost instinctively I shook my head. "I can't go with them if it's before the graduation debut stage."
"And why's that?"
"I need to be here with my friends if we have any hope in debuting."
Shining's smile faltered some. "So the seven of you are still going through with this crazy idea of debuting as a band even though the chances of you succeeding together are slim?"
"Of course." I responded without a moment of hesitation. "They're working just as hard as Quartet Night if not more so right now and there's not a doubt in my mind we'll pull through."
"Then what of my planned vacation for Quartet Night?" Shining then asked.
Taking a moment to think, I glanced down to my sticker-covered laptop that's resting on top of my thighs. "Well, how about we put it off until after the graduation debut stage? The Quartet will want a break after releasing their next group song and, whoever wins the debut stage at the end of these graduation auditions, should go along with them."
This caught Shining's attention. "Go with them? What for?"
"A newly debuted band can learn a lot from their seniors. Not to mention that even though Quartet Night has recently just debuted themselves, each of them individually with the exception of AI aren't new to the idol industry by any means. They all have a lot of guidance and advice to offer their juniors when it comes down to it."
Shining stayed quiet as he thought my proposal over. Though, when he cracked a smile, I couldn't help but smile back. "Alright, I'll wait to give them their vacation until they can go on it with whoever their juniors happen to be after the graduation debut stage."
"Thank you. I know if and when my friend's debut, being able to look up to Reiji and the other's will be a real help since it's not easy being an idol in the least bit." I said with a bright smile.
"I'm going to trust you on this Miss ___. Now get going. I'm sure you have better things to be doing than talking with me." Shining said with a laugh, moving to sit in his desks chair as he begins going through some documents.
Thanking him for hearing me out once more, I took my leave with a hop in my step as I walked into the hallway. I can't believe Quartet Night have actually been seeing progress in themselves as a band. Like, wow. I know it's still so early in their career together, but this is amazing. I wonder what this vacation with them will be like when my friends debut? Probably a mixture of a ton of stress and a ton of fun.~
Ren might get himself killed if he messes with Ranmaru or Camus now that I think about it...
Walking further down the many hallways of Saotome Academy, I stopped when I noticed a certain tall blonde walking about one of the dorm area's kitchens. Natsuki was gathering this and that from cupboards, grabbing the eggs out of the fridge along with the flour. I placed my laptop down on a nearby countertop as I walked into the kitchen. "What are you up to, Natsuki?"
The tall blonde jumped a little, his bright green eyes widening as he looks to me before a smile breaks out over his face. "Oh ___-chan! I was just going to make some brownies.~" He practically sang as he quickly placed down his ingredients and grabbed the nearby flashcard that has the recipe written down on. "Syo-chan's mom bakes the best brownies and she gave me her recipe this year for Christmas and I really want to try and bake them."
"Want some help?" I asked, smiling as he wordlessly grabs the nearest pink apron and hands it to me as his answer. "Also, I thought you weren't allowed to bake since the last time you made cookies, you gave Syo food poisoning?"
"That was an accident I swear." Natsuki pouted before crouching down and grabbing a large mixing bowl from under the sink. "I'm trying really hard to get better at baking! Satsu-chan is trying to help too, but he can't taste test for me so I'm kind of on my own." He then laughed shyly.
I shook my head with a fond smile. "Well, with me here we should be able to cook some brownies that won't get anyone sick." I mused.
Natsuki's smile was positively blinding as he looked to me and ruffled my hair a bit. "I'm so happy you're going to help me bake ___-chan! I've missed spending time with you."
"I'll be a lot less busy for the next few weeks so we'll have a lot of time to hang out." I reassured. "Now bend down a bit so I can tie your hair back for you."
The tall blonde did just as I told him too and crouched down a little so I could use one of my extra hair ties to help keep most of his hair back and out of his way. Natsuki's hair isn't too long, but I think he just looks really handsome when he has his hair pulled back some- and it's just a bonus that it'll keep it from accidentally going into the batter if things get messy.
I started reading off the ingredients on Syo's mother's brownie recipe. "Okay, so we need 2 eggs, some vanilla extract, confectioners' sugar..."
As I read off the ingredients, Natsuki ran about the kitchen grabbing all of them so we could get right to the baking while I made sure to start pre-heating the oven. With the two of us working so seamlessly together, it was no surprise that when we did finish baking the brownies, they came out great. For as horrible as Natsuki can be when left unchecked in the kitchen, his baking isn't that bad when there's someone here to keep him from going absolutely insane with extra ingredients.
All in all, I think this was a pretty sweet way to end the day, pun intended.
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When you meant for Natsuki to get far more screentime this chapter and instead everything else happened so now you're just like :'{ time to start writing more Natsuki scenes into the next couple of chapters I guess jfkdlsjaflks;
Question of the Chapter: Between Ryuuya and Ringo, who are you rooting for more? I'm team Ringo till the day I die and I have no regrets :P
This chapter was yet another filler chapter kind of deal since I need some transitions in order to get to all the cute fun stuff in the next couple of chapters :3 At least we got a little bit of cute Natsuki at the end though! I'll be sure to fit in some more cute moments with him since he's seriously lacking in the fluff department recently (which is kind of surprising since Natsuki is one of my top three boys from the starfishy's lul)
ALSO HAPPY NEW YEARS EVERYONE it's still 9:30pm for me right now but I know it's already new year's for some of you so imma say it now cuz why not lol hope you all have a wonderful year and cheers to all of us for being anime fandom trash ^^ myself included ofc lmaoooo
I love each and every last one of you lovely cuties and thanks so much for taking the time to read this chapter <3
~ ｋａｔ ♡