Fandom Personan Rhapsody Campaign (Closed)

[NightMovez]

"Bug it is." Kaaru accepted the nickname. It was odd, but rather fitting considering what her boss monster was last night. It would take him a bit before he could say the name without imagining that grotesque beast though. "I ask in return that you call me by my first name though, I'm not a big fan of being formal," he said to the girl, then turned towards Souta. "I'd like it if you did that too Ishida-kun. If you're comfortable with it of course." Kaaru knew that some people weren't too comfortable with using first names, but he had never been one of those people. He'd always been pretty friendly and casual with everyone so it was honestly weirder at this point for people to call him by his last.

He then listened as Souta explained the situation, doing a pretty good job despite just getting into this himself. "Yeah, that's the gist of it. People have been getting sucked into the game pretty regularly since Kage's beta. As far as I can tell, there's been at least 4 victims so far, including the 3 of us. I managed to save Ishida-kun here last week." He shoved a thumb towards the boy. "I'm not sure how victims are chosen and everyone's area is different, but so far each person has had at least one insecurity that their shadow seems to try and use against them."

Kaaru began to tap his finger against the table mindlessly as he paused. He'd had trouble with talking about this last part with Souta as well. "I understand this is a lot, and I'm sure you have many questions. But I think it's important to say that we're not explaining this to you for no reason. Every area seems to be harder than the last...and I don't think Ishida-kun and I can face the next one when it comes by ourselves. You probably felt something inside of you awaken when you accepted your shadow, right?" He paused again, trying to allow time for everything he had said to sink in. "That's the same power you saw Ishida-kun and I use, where we were able to make those monsters fight for us. I called mine Warrior, remember?"

This probably was making absolutely no sense to her. Even Kaaru thought he was crazy, and he'd seen everything with his own eyes. He sighed, he really didn't like getting anyone else involved, but he had to. They needed her. His face was absolutely serious when he said this last part. "You don't have to answer now, but I'd like to ask for your help in doing what we do. Saving the people who have been sucked into the game."

 

[the scourge]

The blindsided expression on Bug's face was palpable, and she looked from Kaaru, to Souta, and then away from both of them. "... Can you give me a sec?" She asked, voice now quieter than before, less full of joy and excitement. Not only was this wild, insane just as a situation, but they wanted her to join. To help pull other people out as well.

And she had felt something. Something deep in her chest, like a warmth returned to her that had been gone for too long. She thought about the monster that had morphed into it, about the entire experience. She was still concussed from it all. Looking at it now, she would have died there. If they hadn't helped her... she'd have died there.

That scarf, hidden away from Kaito, still weighed heavy on her mind. She was surprised she hadn't cried herself to sleep after getting it back.

"I'm... I think I wanna join." She finally agreed, voice barely above a whisper. "All of this... it scares me. It scares me a lot." She admitted, leaning her head back onto her hand, propped up by her elbows. "But I don't wanna see someone in my situation get hurt again. I don't think I was even that bad. I don't want to see what could happen to someone hurting more than me. I'm just scared to give a final answer right now."

 

[Anne Boolean]

Souta listened when the other picked up where he left off. He gave a small, sideways smile when he himself was brought up in the story. And then, when Kaaru's expression dropped, his did slightly as well. It really wasn't easy asking someone to risk their life, even if he wasn't actually the one doing the asking.

"It's your Persona," Souta added on. "Like your Shadow was a part of you that you were ashamed of, your Persona is a part of you that gives you strength." At least that was the connection he made after somehow gaining more mental fortitude from looking at the picture of him and his friends.

A small smile spread across the black-haired boy's face upon hearing her answer. It was unsure but leaned towards affirmative. That was a good sign. He wasn't going to pressure her, but another person along with them would certainly make things easier. He got the impression that she had some sense to her. This was a big deal. Even aside from being fatal, it took time and energy. One of the reasons Souta hadn't hesitated was because he hadn't had much else going on. If Bug had her own hobbies, friends, and family she enjoyed spending time with, more power to her for making the most of this second chance.

"That's okay," he said, assuming Kaaru felt the same. "Give us an answer whenever you feel ready. And it's okay if you change your mind, too."

 

[NightMovez]

"Ishida-kun's right. And I don't want to give you any wrong ideas. It is really scary, and very dangerous. So we'll understand if you don't want to." Kaaru gave a gentle smile to the girl. It didn't seem like he was doing a very good job at convincing Bug to join them, but he wanted her to know exactly what she was getting into. He paused, letting the seriousness of the situation sit in before moving on.

"Well, on a happier note!" The redhead said as he reached to his side. It took a moment of fighting with the tightness of his jean pocket, but eventually he produced two bracelets. The band was purple, gold detailing lining the sides. Each said VIP on the front in bright gold letters. "I know this might not be your guys' thing, but I managed to snag three VIP bracelets for Aoi-Hime's upcoming concert. So I was wondering if you both wanted to come with me?" He asked as he put the bands on the table.

Just then, the thin-rimmed girl with glasses came back with their finished food. She smiled at the team, giving a particularly large one to Kaaru as he thanked her before leaving to serve a group of noisy girls who had just sat down close by.

Kaaru tossed a hot fry into his mouth, unable to wait any longer. "No pressure if you don't want to though. It'll be noisy, but VIP comes with free drinks and I think it'll be really fun."

 

[the scourge]

Bug took a look at the VIP bands, before giving Kaaru a curious look. She had a feeling if she told him that she had never been to a concert nor had she ever considered going to one, even just to explain why this was entirely out of her comfort zone, she might get the same response as when she told him she didn't really listen to music on the way there. "If I can get my mom to let me go, sure. Thanks, Kaaru-senpai." She gave him a warm smile. She didn't want to tell him no, and she did kind of want to go, but she needed an out and would have to ask her mom anyways. It was mostly true.

She started eating-almost ravenously-once she'd given Kaaru her answer about the ticket. She'd barely eaten at all yesterday, considering she was trapped in what was essentially another dimension, and while she'd eaten breakfast, she was still feeling almost starved from yesterday.

 

[Anne Boolean]

Souta's brow creased slightly as Kaaru went on emphasizing the perils of what they do. It seemed more like he was trying to convince her not to join. Then again, she did deserve to know what she was getting into. The black-haired boy had been fearful about what awaited when he went back in, and it turned out to be worse than he could have imagined. Then again, he had no inclination to stop now.

The sixteen-year-old's eyes widened as the redhead pulled out the bracelet. "Aoi-hime?!" he asked in disbelief. "I heard tickets for her sold out the moment they went on sale!" Then again, maybe Memorandum wasn't a reputable source. "How'd you manage to get these?!" He imagined even scalpers wouldn't want to resell VIP passes.

Souta knew of Aoi-hime, but he wasn't exactly a fan. Still, the answer to the offer was an eager, "yes!" Only a moment after speaking did he realize the hole he had dug for himself. He'd need to show that he was a true fan; he couldn't let Kaaru regret asking him instead of someone who was more hardcore in their love for the performer. He'd need to listen to every album, watch the music videos too, especially for the one that this concert was meant to promote. Should he buy some merch? That would be a huge hit to his wallet so close to concert time. And to top it all off, he'd be spending more time with Kaaru. That was the main reason he agreed to it, but with how he felt butterflies in his stomach when he looked at the redhead, maybe it was a bad idea.

And there was Hina, he realized once Bug brought up her mom. Well, she hopefully wouldn't be too disappointed. He'd have more teasing coming his way, but she seemed genuinely happy to see him out and about with friends. Besides, it wasn't like he was going to a Courtney concert.

He had been starting to feel a little hungrier with the eased tension from moments ago, but when the food came, he was happy to see that what he ordered was small. He found even taking one bite difficult.

 

[NightMovez]

"I know we just had a convo about how you don't really like music, so don't feel like you have to go." Kaaru said with a laugh, a bit of sadness In the otherwise hearty action. As if just thinking upon the memory pained him. "Feel free to give it to a friend or something if you end up not coming." Kaaru said casually before taking on a more playful tone. "Promise it'll only make me a little sad."

When Souta responded with much more enthusiasm than Bug, Kaaru's face lit up. Like a golden retriever who had just been asked if they wanted to go for a walk. "Are you a fan?!" He asked, tone much more excited than usual. "Yeah! They sold out in like a minute. It was crazy! I'm real lucky that I was online when they popped."

"I also go to these kind of things pretty often, so my payment info was already saved." This was great! He was excited that at least one of them had agreed to come. In his experience, going to a concert alone wasn't as fun. And while he could have invited other people, he thought this would be a great chance to get to know Souta and Bug better. Even if Bug didn't end up joining their team.

"I really love music and I'd start talking about my favorite Aoi-Hime songs, but I feel like I've bored Bug to death one to many times today." He laughed again. While he would absolutely love to keep talking about music, he knew it might leave Bug out and that'd be pretty rude. Especially since he had been the one to invite her. This was also rhe first time any of them had time to chat in a casual setting, so he was pretty curious about their interests. "So, what kind of things are you guys into?"

 

[the scourge]

Bug at least had the manners to finish chewing before she spoke, but her eyes lit up when Kaaru asked about her interests. "Uh... stop me if this gets long, but I'm super into outdoorsy stuff." She grinned, talking excitedly and animatedly. "I grew up in the mountains and I still love the outdoors. I'm super into plant, insect and animal identification! I like to go camping or hiking on weekends and I love finding new bugs or animal tracks or plants to identify!"

Her excitement was visible when she started talking, and audible with how her accent started to shine through in her words, and she just. Didn't. Stop. Talking. She almost immediately started into a long winded explanation about taxonomy, which lasted about five minutes before she stopped to breathe, and then looked visibly embarrassed. "Wait, I'm probably boring you two to death myself... Sorry." She apologized, sheepishly.

"Wh-what about you, Ishida-senpai? What are you interested in?" She asked, knowing that if she kept talking, she would never stop.

 

[Anne Boolean]

This hole was already pretty deep, but Souta just kept digging. "... the biggest!" he responded with a grin when Kaaru asked if he was a fan. "Venom is like, my favorite song!" It was one of her most popular songs, but hopefully name dropping at least one would give him some credibility. The statement was false, (although one of his favorite songs did have themes of poison) but Kaaru didn't seem the type to ask him to list a bunch of other songs to prove himself.

He blinked when his senpai said that concerts, with VIP seats, nonetheless, were commonplace for him. "Wow..." Perhaps it shouldn't come as a surprise that someone as cool as the redhead would do things which were, well, cool, but him being able to afford these kinds of outings frequently certainly did. Even if Souta had the drive to led such an interesting life, the funds were severely lacking.

The black-haired boy might have been disappointed in Bug's appearance for this outing, but when Kaaru stated her as being the reason for the topic to change, he couldn't have been more thankful. Unfortunately, the question of interests was posed on him and the girl. He felt himself tense up. What would he tell the others without letting on just how boring or how much of a dweeb he really was?

Bug went first, and her interests, unsurprisingly after yesterday, involved the outdoors. Just how much she enjoyed them, though, was unexpected to him. As well as just how long she could talk. He had gotten the impression of her being quiet before, but perhaps that was wrong. "... honestly, that sounds really cool..." he responded. "I feel like going on a hike with you would be so informative." Perhaps it would be worth braving the dirt and insects as well.

And then, it was his turn. "Um..." How could he spin just schoolwork, Kage, and hanging out with his sister as interesting? Would saying he did ClikTok dance videos be too weird? He cleared his throat. "I... I guess I like music too. Aside from Aoi-hime, obviously, I also like music that's good for dancing. Courtney Grier, Risette... various Spanish songs. I have no idea what they're saying, but... they got a good beat." He let out a small chuckle. "Video games are fun, too. A-and me and my sister do a bunch of cool stuff." He wasn't exactly sure if sitting around watching game shows was cool, but hopefully no one questioned it further.

 

[NightMovez]

Kaaru leaned against the table. Hearing people talk about things they were passionate about was awesome. He could do it all day. Not only did it give him a chance to really get to know someone, you could tell a lot about a person by what they were passionate about, but he often learned new things about the world as well. It was an all around a great experience. Though Bug's monologue went on a little long, longer than their waitress talking about WnC, the redhead didn't mind at all. The only thing he wished was that he ordered more food. He'd been done long before the pink-haired girl finished, wishing for just a couple more fries. He even found it pretty cute how her accent became so apparent as she talked about what she loved. If she hadn't mentioned she grew up outside of the city, he would have been able to tell from accent alone. He wonder how long he'd been in Memori for.

"No! I enjoyed listening." Kaaru said genuinely, a kind smile on his face. He pointed to Souta as he made a good point. "It does sound like it'd be pretty informative, right? Not many people into the outdoors here. We should all go camping sometime. I've uh...actually never been, so you'll have to teach me." He admitted as he looked to the girl. His family had previously been too poor to afford any sort of camping equipment, even a small tent. And his family situation now was...well, they weren't exactly ready to go on any family trips soon. "I'd love to take my little brother. He's a bit of a nerd so I bet he'd love learning more about plants and stuff."

Then it was Souta's turn. Kaaru put an elbow on the table, leaning into his fist as he listened. Souta's words were much less long-winded than Bug's, but not any less desirable. "You like dancing?" He questioned, his tone laced with interest. Honestly he hadn't taken Souta to be the type, so he found this super interesting. "You've gotta send me some of your favorite songs to dance to, and also give me some dancing tips. It's really embarrassing how bad I am at it." He chuckled, a bit of nervousness seeping into it as he itched at his cheek.

"And I've met your sister, right? She seemed nice, what kind of stuff do you guys do?" He asked, genuinely curious as to what kind of cool stuff Souta was alluding to. He vaguely remembered meeting Soluta's sister the day he pulled the boy out. He'd been so tired he could barely see straight, but he was pretty sure she was there.

 

[the scourge]

Bug kicked her feet as she listened to Souta and Kaaru talk, twirling her framing strands around her index fingers once she finished eating. They curled slightly as she did, a daydreamy expression appearing on her best. She was listening, mostly. She finally put her hands down as she started back into the conversation.

"Okay, first of all-if you two are both such city slickers you've never been hiking or camping, I am going to be so disappointed. If you're such city slickers you've never left the city, I don't even know if we can be friends." She joked. "How am I supposed to look up to a senpai that doesn't even know how to bearproof his supplies, or find a good walking stick, or stake a tent?" She asked, her tone lighthearted. "Also, man, you both have siblings, huh? I've been an only child my whole life, and that's prolly not gonna change anytime soon. My family is just my mom, her husband, and my bird, since my dad..." She trailed off, and then realized a second too late that maybe she shouldn't refer to Midori as family. Or Kaito as her mom's husband. Or bring down the mood by bringing up her dad.

"A-anyways, yeah, tell us more about your sister, Ishida-senpai!" She said, breaking into a nervous smile. She'd definitely said something weird there, and normally she wouldn't care, but she WAS trying to prove herself to these two.

 

[Anne Boolean]

Going camping? That sounded way too out of the box for Souta. He had only mentioned hiking with Bug as being informative. Depending on how hardcore Bug was, he wasn't sure he'd be able to make it through a whole trail with her, much less rough it for a few days. Still, he couldn't stop himself from agreeing. Anything to make friends, he figured.

"... sure! Sounds fun!" he said, plastering a smile on his face. "I've... never been either..." Thankfully, Kaaru had made the same admission before him, otherwise he wasn't sure he would have been able to. Unless spending the night in a tent with his friends' in one of their backyards as a kid counted. He had a feeling it didn't, though.

He blinked at Kaaru's interest in the dancing. He hadn't even admitted that he did, yet the redhead had been able to put it together. "Y-yeah, sure!" he responded, once again almost involuntarily, before kicking himself inside his head. He had seen this pattern before. The interest in dancing is there until they find out it's all ClikTok dances or routines that female performers do. That's when the weird looks come around. What would the chances be that his senpai just... forgets this request? It would be pretty strange if he remembered and Souta just kept deflecting or pushing it off. Maybe he should look into songs by male performers and learn their routines, just to have them ready. That would be quite a bit to do with the Aoi-hime deep dive he had cornered himself into doing.

"Yeah, she came home right after we got out that one day," he confirmed, "and yeah, she's great!" For once, the confidence in his words was genuine. It quickly fell apart when Kaaru pressed on the things they did together. Bug spoke up, much to his relief, and gave them a light roasting about how inept they seemed at roughing it. He would have normally tried to refute some of the claims, but after hearing a list of the things that were involved when it came to hiking, he knew she was right. He calmed down as the girl began expanding more on her own life, assuming the conversation had shifted away from him, but she brought it right back.

Souta blinked, shifting a bit in his seat. He eyed the salad in front of him, wondering if he should just start devouring it as an excuse to not speak. With how small it was, he assumed it would work only for a minute or two, tops. Like Kaaru, he also wished he had ordered more food. His eyes returned to his two peers, shifting between their gazes. Feeling like a deer in the headlights, his lips quivered slightly before the word vomit came out.

"Okay we just kind of sit around watching game shows, reality TV, and trashy dramas while ordering takeout, or we learn popular ClikTok dances and make ClikToks of our own doing them, but she's the nicest, most caring person who has done the absolute most for me, and she's the coolest person in the world in my eyes and I won't her anyone say anything otherwise!" The run on sentence left him breathless. His eyes had closed at some point during his monologue, and he opened them to sheepishly gaze at the other two.

 

[NightMovez]

"Oh no, I'm such a disappointing senpai. I feel so ashamed." Kaaru joked to Bug, a wide smile on his face. "But at least we can still be friends. I may look like some 'city slicker', but I actually grew up in a pretty rural small town. Surrounded by forests and everything."

Then Bug continued on about her family. The way she spoke about it was a bit concerning to say the least. 'Her husband', 'since my dad'. Kaaru could infer enough just from this and her desperate attempt to switch the spotlight to someone else. Something wasn't exactly right there. Whether her father died, her parents divorced, or something else, he didn't know. And he wouldn't pry. It wasn't like his dynamic was much better, and he really didn't want to talk about it. His face fell a bit, the mask starting to crack as some intrusive thoughts made their way to him.

But soon he let the expression lift again, once Souta started talking, just as before. It was pretty cute how the boy just let his sentence run on and on, defending his sister before the other two could even say anything. He couldn't help but give a small chuckle, not at Souta's words, but at how he was acting. "You don't have to be scared I'll make fun of you and your sister. Do I really seem like I've got that bad of character?" He said with a half smile, eyebrows wrinkled with a bit of concern. He'd like to think he was a pretty friendly guy, so it was troubling if one of his kouhai's thought he'd go all bully mode just from mentioning his and his sister's interests.

"Those all sound like cool things to me though. It sounds like you two have a great relationship. Wish I had some stuff in common with my brother." Kaaru sighed. The only thing they ever really did together was go to IMPulse's concerts and since that wasn't happening anymore, they didn't spend much time with each other at all. Which was a real shame considering their circumstances...

Maybe he'd try to follow Souta and his sister's example? Watch some game shows? Maybe film some ClikToks together? "You wanna send me your ClikTok handle? I'm love to see these dances you're talking about."

 

[the scourge]

"Yeah, Ishida-senpai, I'm not gonna make fun of you two either." Bug said, trying to hold her own smile steady. Did Souta already dislike or distrust her? She wasn't normally one to care, she hadn't even realized the name she now used had been some kind of insult at first-she wasn't exactly the pinnacle of social aptitude. But... she did want Souta to enjoy her company. "It's really sweet that you have a good relationship with your sister."

She kicked her legs slightly again, shifting her posture upwards. "Uh.... I'm so sorry, because this is probably a super weird question, but what is ClikTok?" She thought she'd heard the girls in her class mention it before, but she didn't know what it was, exactly. It was her turn to feel like a deer caught in headlights, because she had a strong feeling that was common knowledge. Then again, she considered basic wilderness skills common knowledge, so maybe the boys wouldn't be too horrified with her lack of pop culture knowledge. At least, she assumed it had something to do with pop culture.

 

[Anne Boolean]

While it was probably only a few seconds, the silence between when his monologue ended and someone else spoke felt almost eternal. As he caught his breath, he noticed from the corner of his eye the other table of customers that were in here with them, sure that they were staring at him. His dark eyes returned to the two across the table from him, trying to gauge their reaction. Would they burst out laughing? Usually whenever he had these outbursts, he managed to come off a little intimidating. That was certainly not the case this time.

He blinked when the redhead spoke with reassurance. He felt his heart melt and his lips quiver. Bug's added reassurance also came as a relief, allowing Souta to exhale and relax. Some anxiety remerged within him when Kaaru asked for his social media handle, but he tried to shake it off. Everything had been working out well so far, so why not this as well?

"Uh, sure," he said, tapping on his ARM and starting a message. Before he could actually type it out though, his eyes widened at Bug's question. " ... what?" he asked. "Um... you really don't know, Yama- ... I mean, Bug-chan?" He left the watch on his wrist and instead fished into his pocket for his phone to pull up the app. "It's just a place where people share short videos, and others watch them," he explained, letting his feed play. Unsurprisingly, most of it was dance content with the occasional cute animals, comedy videos, and a few guys thirst trapping. He made sure to skip past the last ones.

 

[the scourge]

As she leaned forward to look at the screen, her expression went sour. "... oh." Of course it was a social media platform, she should have guessed, it made sense. While nothing about her had come off as at all judgmental before, it was seeping into her face now. That was the thing Bug hated the absolute most about cities, about living there, was this weird obsession with social media. She hated everything about the concept of social media, really.

"...Sorry, senpai." Bug apologized, leaning back. "I'm just not a fan at all of social media. It's... a whole thing you probably don't want to hear." She shrugged. She was hoping Souta wouldn't go on the defensive at her comment, but she simply couldn't pretend to like the idea of it.

 

[NightMovez]

- - -About A Week Later- - -

It had been a calm spring day, a mild breeze occasionally blowing about. There were a few fluffy white clouds in the sky, but it was otherwise clear. An almost infinite void of blue. The station had been a lot more crowded then usual, likely due to the concert the small group of persona users were about to go see. It was so bad that even though Kaaru was leaned up against a wall, out of the way of main foot traffic, his shoulder was constantly getting bumped. It didn't seem to bother him though. With how frequently he went to these kinds of things, he was used to it.

The redhead wasn't dressed in anything fancier than usual. He wore a different Aoi-Hime shirt than the night of Bug's rescue, this one sporting art from Venom's animated music video. Black skinny jeans covered most of his legs, just a bit of knee showing through a few rips in the fabric. And on his feet were some black combat boots that cut off right above the ankle, jeans haphazardly tucked into them. Riz, the drummer, fashion stylist, and makeup artist of his ex-band would have been pissed if she saw him as he was. They used to dress all out for these kinds of things, even somehow managing to drag Kaz along, but Kaaru just wasn't feeling it. He didn't feel like dressing up, and he wasn't sure if he could even call Riz and Kaz close friends anymore. Everything was all messed up since, well...everything.

Kaaru was trying to keep himself busy with his phone, but it wasn't working out too well. People in the Memorandum music thread were getting off-topic in a bad way and it was just putting him in a fouler mood. Hopefully attending the concert of one of his favorite artists would make him feel less bad. But for now he put his phone away, looking to Bug. They had been waiting for Souta about 5 or so minutes, nothing crazy.

"Hey, so I've been wondering" He said to the girl, trying to start any sort of conversation to keep him from his thoughts. Normally he'd have put his headphones in, but felt it would be rude considering he was in company right now. "You must like bugs quite a bit, considering the nickname, you gotta favorite?"

 

[the scourge]

Bug had gotten the okay from her mom and then immediately felt obligated to go. She'd agreed soon after, but she wasn't sure what to expect. The crowds were far bigger than she expected, and she couldn't help but be nervous. It was loud, and busy, and she was so short she had been struggling to keep her eye on Kaaru while walking with him. She'd ended up latching onto his arm, both of her own wrapped around it.

She'd put a little more effort into her outfit. The only skirt she owned, a black flared one that fell to her knees, and a plain tshirt in a pastel purple, with a fluffy white cardigan over it. She had still work her hiking boots, though, her good ones, and the mudstained grey and brown boots clashed heavily with the white tights she had on under her skirt. She'd actually put some effort into her outfit today-concerts weren't jeans and jacket events, right? Still, she hadn't gone for any more makeup than coloured chapstick.

"I'm a big fan of beetles." Bug said, breaking into a smile as she looked up at Kaaru. "Scarab beetles especially, but other kinds too. Whenever my mom would take me into town when I was a kid, I'd watch the boys that lived there pit rhino and stag beetles against one another, and I picked up a love for them too, even if I could never pick a side in the debate. There's just so many beetles, and I love them all."

-

I am not ready for this fucking concert.

Aoi's thoughts were simple as she stared into the mirror. She didn't have her makeup on yet, and she was supposed to deal with that now. She pulled at the skin under her eye with her thumb, the dark circles stretching out and revealing the skin inside her eyes. She let her hand fall gently to her side, sighing and looking away from her reflection. It was always the same, nothing ever changed. She ran a hand through her ponytail, sweeping the curls back off her shoulder, and started on her makeup, her expression blank, her stare dead.

She glanced at her phone, before clicking it open and promptly turning it off. She couldn't keep talking to Pascal and getting distracted. She had to get this done, and had to get onstage, but she was exhausted. She just wanted to collapse into bed, stare at her phone and zone out. But, this was life. And here she was. "Stupid fucking eyeshadow..." She muttered, and sighed.

Aoi wasn't ready. She didn't want to do this. But she had to.

 

[Anne Boolean]

The concert was a week after Kaaru gave them the tickets. Souta had a week to prepare. And yet, last night was the night he decided to binge all of Aoi-hime's songs and music videos. How much sleep had he gotten? To say he was exhausted was an understatement. He was pretty sure the only thing he had eaten today, if it could even be called eating, was coffee. The caffeine may not have worked as well as he would have liked it to during school, but the side effects of irritability and increased anxiety were still there.

They would need to take a train to get to the venue. The line to get there fastest for him would be separate than the one that Kaaru and Bug would have to take. Unfortunately, it was a line that was much more popular than he expected, and the train was packed. He found himself packed in with the others there like sardines, and whenever someone bumped him, his immediate nervous reaction was to get defensive and shoot them a glare. Like him, many of the other passengers were wearing Aoi-hime shirts and other merchandise. Thankfully, he had had the foresight to ask his sister to order one the day Kaaru gave them the passes. He wore it today, but underneath his usual tracksuit and sweatpants, he didn't quite look as if he was doing anything out of the ordinary.

When the train finally arrived, Souta pushed his way past the crowd, his reluctance to seem rude mixed with his fear of not making it out in time probably making him push past harder and faster than normal. Unfortunately, the station wasn't exactly less crowded. He was relatively tall, but still found himself walking on his toes to try and see if his friends were nearby. Once a familiar redhead and the top of a head of pink hair caught his eye, he made his way over to the two.

"Hey, sorry for the wait. The train was del-" His dark eyes fell onto Bug, who was latched onto Kaaru's arm as if they were the main characters in a rom com. He felt his teeth grit and did his best to prevent his brow from furrowing. "U-um... this is exciting, huh?!"

 

[NightMovez]

The redhead smiled as Bug began talking. "Beetle fights? That sounds pretty fun. I used to do something similar in my hometown, but we'd race worms and different types of caterpillars. Most of the time they would just squirm out of the lanes." He moved his free arm in a wriggling motion and laughed at the memory. Simpler times. "But it was still pretty fun. We also use-" He'd begun to say something, but dropped it off as he heard Souta's voice. It was just some casual conversation while waiting for a friend, so he didn't bother to finish once the brunette had arrived.

"Uh...yeah." Kaaru said to the boy absentmindedly, wondering why Souta was talking a bit strange. He glanced to where he'd looked for just a moment. At the girl latched to his arm? He'd been quite glad when Bug had done that. He'd almost lost her in the crowd several times. A pretty easy thing to do with how short she was. And that would have really sucked. Maybe Souta was worried about the same thing? Though Souta was much taller than the short girl, and with such big hair, that likely wouldn't be a problem. Either way, maybe he just wasn't comfortable with these kinds of crowds?

"You wanna hold on too?" The redhead asked, offering his other arm to Souta. "This crowd is pretty crazy."

 

[Anne Boolean]

Fuck. He knew something was up. If it wasn't obvious enough from the tone change, the glance over to Bug was a complete giveaway. Maybe they hadn't picked up on Souta being upset, though. Maybe they just noticed that he noticed. Maybe it would just be an explanation of what he already knew, and their day would continue like normal.

But Kaaru's actual words left Souta slack-jawed, wide-eyed, and speechless. He felt his lips tremble as his face heated up. He glanced around at the people passing them by, somehow sure that Kaaru's question was more interesting than any vocals Aoi-hime could sing. His dark eyes fell on the arm the redhead offered. Of course he wanted to, and of course he knew he shouldn't. But... with all the things it could imply, how could he refuse?

"U-um... okay..." the black-haired boy said. He latched his own arm, shaky in comparison to Kaaru's, around the one the redhead offered. At first, it was just one arm, but as they walked, his eyes were once again focused on the people passing by, and some people did give looks. On the inside, he wanted to pull away and disappear into the crowd, but instead he reacted by shooting them back a glare and clinging on to Kaaru's arm in the same fashion that the pink-haired girl was. Only when the particular onlookers passed did he realize how close he was to the redhead. He pulled away, at least a little and only for a moment, before slowly returning to the position he had been in before.

"Er... you're not... embarrassed, Senpai?" he asked. His cheeks were red and he was unable to meet the other's gaze.

 

[the scourge]

"Hi, Ishida-senpai! This IS pretty exciting." Bug agreed with a grin, not noticing Souta's glare. "I've never done this before, and I wasn't expecting it to be this busy." She admitted.

As Souta grabbed onto Kaaru's arm, Bug wasn't one to notice the stares of onlookers at him. Her obliviousness to other people was a blessing and a curse sometimes. "Kaaru-senpai offered me his arm because he kept almost losing me." She explained, laughing a little at herself. "Too big of a height gap between you guys and me, I guess."

 

[NightMovez]

Souta's expression and hesitation made Kaaru wonder if offering his arm had been a good idea. He personally didn't see any issue with it. Though he supposed it wasn't often that you saw a guy hanging off another in public. At least not when they were of high school age.

Kaaru opened his mouth to say it was okay if the other didn't want to take it, but the raven-haired boy beat him to a response. One that surprised the redhead, but was welcomed. "Alright. Let's get going then!" He said after the other boy latched on, starting to make his way through the crowd.

"Honestly I thought I had lost you more than once. But I just couldn't see you riding in my blind spot." Kaaru said with a laugh in response to Bug's reasoning. There had been a few times where she had walked just diagonal from him, and it'd been hard to see her over his shoulder. He was just thankful for her bright pink hair.

As they walked, he caught a few people throwing less than desirable expressions at the trio, but Kaaru didn't seem to mind. Whether they were upset with the fact that a guy was clinging to him or that he had a guy AND a girl clinging him, he didn't know. Nor did he really care to think about. Honestly, there were only two things that he was able to focus on right now.

One was making his way through the crowd without jostling his companions too much. Two was how close Souta was clinging, both arms wrapped around his. Although Bug was doing the same thing, the other boy's touch felt...different. Bug was so small, feeling more like a child clinging to their older brother. Souta, on the other hand, tall with dark hair, warmth pressed against him. Kaaru couldnt help but swallow and would be lying if he said his heart rate hadn't quickened just a little bit.

"Embarrassed? No." Kaaru said truthfully, glancing to Souta for a brief moment. He noticed the boy looked a bit flushed and uncomfortable, likely embarrassed himself. By now they had reached the line to get in to the concert, and were now stalled as they waited for the long line of people in front of them to make their way through security.

"You don't have to hold on if it makes you uncomfortable. Though I am enjoying it."

 

[Anne Boolean]

The clarification from Bug brought some relief. Anxiety was still the name of the game for him, though. If they were so comfortable getting this close already, what would be next for them?

"Uh... yeah. You and me, both," Souta responded when Bug mentioned this being her first concert. He had seen them televised and on various video hosting sites online, and from how packed the stadiums and venues were, he imagined things would be quite crowded on the way. It was a whole different beast experiencing it, though.

Whether it was because Kaaru was good at hiding it or Souta was just that oblivious, he was unable to pick up any sort of reaction from the redhead in response to their closeness. Perhaps that was because his own was probably ten times more intense than anything Kaaru would have. On top of that, the teasing from the other certainly wasn't helping. His eyes widened slightly as his lips quivered for a second. His brow then furrowed.

"W-well maybe you're not the only one enjoying it!" he blurted out before realization and a look of dismay hit. As he glanced around, he noticed that the crowd had formed into one line. There was no risk of getting lost in it, although one may be banished to the back should they step out far enough. That being said, he wanted to keep holding on. Kaaru had issued a challenge with his previous words, and he had to live up to it. That was the absolutely only reason, of course. With a determined expression, he wrapped himself even tighter around the other's arm and pulled himself closer. It only took a moment for his face to change back to one of insecurity and embarrassment. He had to turn away, but he certainly wouldn't let himself step away again.

 

[NightMovez]

"It's crazy you two have never been to a concert before." Kaaru commented, though he couldn't say much. Just the other day Bug figured out that neither of them had been camping before. And she had looked equally as shocked as Kaaru felt. He knew that not everyone lived and breathed music like he did, but it was still interesting to know how little it mattered to some.

He could go on a music obsessed tangent in his mind forever, but Souta's words broke the thought process like an airhorn. Especially once he drew himself even closer to the redhead. Kaaru's heart began to beat even faster and a grin spread across his face. "Oh yeah? I'm glad to hear I'm not the only one." He said, his tone lower, teasing. They were moving a bit in line, but nothing that Kaaru had to pay attention so so he noticed when the other boy looked away.

"Cute." He thought to himself before tightening his own grip on the boy's arm, hoping that it might earn him even more of a reaction.