Chapter Text
“Let’s go perform outside of Shibuya!”
An’s shouting would have attracted customers if WEEKEND GARAGE was open. As of now, though, only Ken and the rest of Vivid BAD SQUAD are lounging there. Kohane tries to match her partner’s energy with a touch of nervousness, whereas Touya smiles at their antics. Akito looks so done with life, which is actually just his resting bitch face.
“And I’m telling you, we’re not that good yet, An.” The girl only pouts, glaring at the ginger, “C’mon, weren’t you the one who said we had to believe in ourselves? Take your own advice, dude!” Behind the counter, Ken chuckles as his daughter and boyfriend banter.
“Ken-san, what do you think?” Touya asks. The man hums, furrowing his eyebrows. The kids all but wait for his final verdict. “I suppose there’s no harm. You kids have improved since the first time you performed together. Plus, with the addition of that YouTube Channel you created to promote your songs, there’s nothing about your music or reputation to worry about.”
An squeals and hugs her partner tightly, the blond looks close to suffocating, and Akito’s usual resting face lit up, his eyes a tad bit wider and the corner of his lips curving upwards as he smiles and fist-bumps with Touya, who looks satisfied with Ken’s answer.
“But there’s one problem.”
“What is it?” Kohane questions a bit frantically.
Ken stares at every one of them in a serious manner, “We have to choose a place to perform.” Everyone deflate a little at that. “You kids can’t really perform out of Japan yet, you still have schools, and it’ll be too much of a hassle to manage everything needed to go abroad, assuming most of you have never been anywhere out of the country.”
Everyone— sans Touya— looks a bit down. Ken glances towards the split-haired boy, “Father used to bring me abroad, mostly to America, to see him and other professional musicians perform. I have a passport, but I probably need to renew it.” A nod from the man is what he receives, and Touya glances back towards the others. An is thinking and groaning occasionally, Kohane is muttering to herself— probably listing off possible locations they could go, and Akito is in a similar state. After a minute or so, their brainstorming session is interrupted by a finger snap from the ginger.
“What if we perform in Okinawa?” he quickly adds before anyone interrupts, “I have a cousin there who knows a lot about the place. He’s got connections, though not much, considering he’s just in the same year as my sister. I could ask him for possible places we can book to perform while the rest of us do our research. In the meantime, he can also help us in looking for accommodations and stuff.”
“Wait, you’re half-Okinawan?” An asks incredulously. Mistaking the tone as something else, the boy glares harshly. “Yeah, what about it?”
The tone of his voice makes the star-clipped girl sputter in surprise, but before she can reply, her partner rushes to do so. “It’s nothing, Akito-kun! We’re just surprised. You never told us about your heritage, after all.” Kohane, ever the savior of any misunderstandings.
An nods vigorously and Touya nods with one of fourth of the energy that An’s extorting. “Right! Like, I told you my mom’s from The Philippines. If anything, I totally understand how you feel.” Touya adds a cent of his input, “That’s true, most Japanese are still close-minded towards others that are a bit more different than them. Taking an example of my father, which I’d like to apologize right now if my father ever finds out, his traditional view of classical being the only true music worth listening to is similar to those who think that because you were born with a different tradition or ethnicity, automatically makes you 'less Japanese'.”
Hearing this makes Akito blushes in embarrassment, “Geez, guys, you’re so sappy and cringe it makes me wanna barf,” he chuckles. “Okay, that’s enough for now. What do you think of my idea of performing in Okinawa, Ken-san?”
Right, back to business.
The reasoning makes sense, still they glance towards Ken, the adult and their supervisor. His brows are furrowed and he’s humming in consideration. “That would be a good start. We have to manage with financials. Would your cousin mind if all four of you stay in his house for a few days?”
A headshake, “No, I don’t think so. But his house isn’t that big. I’ll ask if he has a guest room.”
“Alright, then what do you think?” the rest of them nod enthusiastically.
“Hell yeah!”
“I- I’m in!”
“Count me in.”
“It’s settled then. We’ll be performing in Okinawa.”
Loud cheers erupt, mostly from the brunette’s own daughter. Ken can only quietly chuckle at them. They’ve really grown…
The door to Joe’s restaurant slams loudly, giving most of the patrons a near-heart attack. The culprit, lo and behold, Reki Kyan, just smiles sheepishly and apologizes profusely as he walks towards a booth. Cherry takes one glance and looks back to his wine, sitting elegantly while he waits for the others. “Sorry ‘bout that. Oh, where are the others?”
“They will be late. Hiromi had an errand to run and Miya was called upon for receiving his award. I’m surprised Langa didn’t tag along with you,” he gives the redhead boy a side glance.
Said boy only chuckles, “Yeah, he had to clean the classroom. It was his schedule and he’s been skipping them for too long. Our class rep literally dragged him by the collar, you should see the look on both of their faces.”
Comfortable silence ensues, and soon they wait patiently for the others to arrive. Joe takes their orders and goes back in. As the silence stretches, Reki grows restless and starts to talk about his day at school, complaining about how boring the day is, how their History-sensei gave them an individual project this morning that was due next month, and anything not at all important yet Cherry still listens to intently, occasionally slipping some comments here and there.
Soon, Miya comes, and behind him Shadow enters. Langa comes bursting in with heaved breaths, as if he had just ran and didn’t catch a break. He probably did. All three of them take a seat and chatters fill the booth.
Joe comes to sit with them, and Reki remembers what he wants to tell. “By the way, my cousin and their friends are going to come visit Okinawa in three days. Figured I’d tell you before the due date. Do you wanna meet them?”
Choruses of “yes,” and, “of course,” echoes, and Joe persuades Reki to bring them over to his restaurant. “I’ll even give them a discount, if you want,” which makes Reki feel grateful, but he doesn’t need to do that. Joe keeps insisting, though, saying it was a “Friends-and-Families’ Special” or something along the lines, he doesn’t get to finish once Cherry hit the man’s arm with his fan and they start bickering.
“Where are they from?” Langa asks. “They’re from Shibuya, so it’s gonna be a pretty long ride for them.” The bluenette nods, and stares at… Something on Reki’s face.
“You have sauce on the corner of your lip.”
‘Ah’.
“Do I?” The other merely nods again, then leans in and wipes the stain off with his fingers. “You’re really pretty, Reki.” Blood rushes upwards, and he is pretty sure steam is coming out of his ears. He fumbles, trying to formulate a word at which he is failing miserably.
Stupid Langa and his stupid smile makes it worse. He can hear Miya gag and scream to, “Get a room—!” He can also see Shadow trying to hold the kid back from scratching them like a cat.
Whatever, that’s a problem for later. Right now, he has to work on restarting his brain.