Archive of Our Own ^beta

June 26, 20xx
[6:30 A.M.]

A loud beeping rings out within a dim room. Shuffling can be heard from the bed. Bleary scarlet eyes blink open to the sound. The redhead stretches out a hand from under the covers to shut off the alarm clock. Then he reaches out for his phone next. He clicks the screen to life but the brightness made him squint. He rubs his eyes and checks the last message sent yesterday.

Ah, that’s right. It’s today.

After confirming the time and place they’re supposed to meet, he sits up and prepares to change for the day. He puts on a simple red t-shirt, jeans, and white ASICS sneakers. He also prepares a tote bag filled with the special items he’ll need later when he’s out, especially his inhaler. Once he’s done, he puts on a black mask and heads out of his room. The dorms are still dark and since it’s early everyone should either be sleeping in or already at work. Luckily, he made sure everyone was out today when he made plans for his outing. Today is a Saturday, but most of IDOLiSH7 still had work. Sougo was out working at the radio station. Yamato had an acting job out in the countryside. Iori was out doing a commercial, and Mitsuki was hosting a game show with Mr. Shimooka. As for the younger members, Nagi and Tamaki should still be sleeping in. So he should have no trouble sneaking out early in the morning without anybody noticing. He crept through the halls quietly, even more quietly when he passed by Nagi and Tamaki’s room. He breathed a sigh of relief, so he sped up his pace when he entered the common room. Suddenly a ding comes from his phone. He checks to see if it’s a message from her.

REO
I’m on my way over there. You better not be late or I’ll start ordering without you. [6:46]

He chuckles at her bluff, knowing full well that he’s the one paying. But it seems that he was caught up in the moment that he didn’t notice the sound of a door opening and soft footsteps approaching.

“Nanase-san?”

Riku froze when he heard Iori call him and quickly hid his phone. He turned to look at Iori who was in his usual navy blue pajamas. For someone who just woke up so early, he doesn’t look sleepy at all but it makes sense since Iori is an early riser. Iori was quite surprised about the fact that Riku was up so early on a Saturday. The same went for Riku; isn’t Iori supposed to be out working today?

Riku gave a bright smile. “Ah, Iori! Good Morning! I thought you were going to film that commercial today?”

“I did. Takanashi-san called last night and told me that the director had to postpone it for another day. Anyway, never mind that,” Iori scrutinized Riku’s outfit. “Nanase-san, where are you going so early in the morning?”

Talk about being caught red-handed. Riku didn’t think he was that loud.

Riku chuckled nervously. “Ah, I forgot to mention it, since it’s my day off I decided to go out and meet an old friend.” He discreetly moved closer to the door, “Since most of the members are out working, I’d guessed today would be a perfect day to go out!” Riku grinned childishly. He hopes that his enthusiasm lowers Iori’s guard to avoid any raised questions.

However, it was useless since Iori eyed Riku suspiciously. “You are meeting someone at almost 7 AM in the morning? I’m shocked considering you almost never get up this early except for work, usually it would take someone to go up to your room to wake you.”

Of course he would go for the kill, he thought. Riku immediately pouted. “Hey, I’m not that much of a heavy sleeper!”

Iori froze for a second. Then he covered half of his face and turned his head away from Riku. He mutters something under his hand but Riku knows better. He understands better than anyone how his charm affects others, especially Iori. Although this time it was released unconsciously… this is his chance.

Riku gasps lightly as if he’s realized something, his mouth forming a small ‘o’. Then he claps his hands together in an apologizing manner and bows his head towards Iori. “I’m sorry! I didn’t mean to wake you up. I know you like doing your homework early so I’m sorry for disturbing you.” He looks up at Iori with a remorseful expression.

Iori coughs into his fist with a light blush dusting his cheeks without him knowing. “Nanase-san there’s no need to apologize. It’s true I was doing homework but it was my decision to go out of my room so this isn’t your fault. You didn’t disturb me.”

Riku grinned, so far so good. “That’s a relief. Anyway… I’ll be on my way then and no worries, I won’t stay out too late. See you later, Iori!” He said all in one breath.

With one swing he opened the door and quickly made his escape. Of course, he didn’t miss that last “Nanase-san?!” from Iori. No doubt Iori was flabbergasted about his quick escape.

Riku felt bad for leaving the boy behind like that. Really, he does but he can also see the incoming lecture for when he returns to the dorms. Ah, he really needs to come up with a good enough excuse just in case but… he really can’t miss this meeting. He really can’t. With a steady and even breath, he sped walk until he was a decent distance away from the dorms. Also just in case, Riku sent a quick message to Iori, reassuring him that he’ll be fine and will be back later. Fortunately, he didn’t push himself too hard, so his asthma didn’t act up. He checked the time, 6:56, there was still enough time to reach the station. The residential area where the dorms are is quiet but that makes sense since it’s early and it’s the weekend. The same went true for the many shops he passed, some in the area do not open this early so it was a peaceful walk on his way to the station. Within 12 minutes, Riku reached Hatsudai Station. As he looked around he was relieved to see the station wasn’t as crowded as he imagined. He still had time before his train arrived so he quickly went inside the nearest public restroom.

He went inside a stall and locked it behind him.

Moments later, a boy with black hair, a black cap, and glasses comes out of the restroom. He’s wearing a beige pullover hoodie with a green bomber jacket over it and navy cargo pants. However, the boy wears the same mask and carries the same tote bag. He stops near the platform to wait for his train and minutes later he gets on the Keio New Line. There were a decent amount of people scattered in the train car he was in, so he was able to find a seat. From where he was sitting, he saw a poster of Re:vale’s 5th Anniversary Concert. It’s not surprising to see that their poster is still up, considering their popularity. An hour later, he gets off the train at Bakuroyokoyama Station and walks to the next station. He makes it to Higashi-Nihombashi Station and gets on the Asakusa Line. The amount of people getting on increased. Most of the seats were taken, so he had to stand while holding the handhold. Someone giggling caught his attention, so he turned to look where it was coming from. Across from him, there was a group of teenage girls fangirling over an IDOLiSH7 poster. One of them was taking pictures of the poster, specifically of Nanase Riku’s face. The girls didn’t notice him, so he retracted his gaze. He arrived shortly at Asakusa Station and began walking to the cafe where they decided to meet. In 15 minutes, he arrives at a small urban cafe located at an intersection between old buildings and barren alleyways.

After scouring the internet for obscure and far cafe spots, they decided to meet up at this place in the Taito ward - with him deleting his search history, of course.

FEBRUARY KITCHEN. There were two other cafes near the building this cafe was under. There was also an amusement park located in front of the cafe, which was separated by a tall blue brick wall. He swiftly enters and is greeted by the sound of a chime. There are not many customers inside since the cafe just opened recently. He looks around the cafe until he spots familiar red-violet hair sitting at one of the farther tables. He approaches the table and notices that Reoha is looking at her phone. She glances up and her blue-green eyes brighten up. She smiles and waves in his direction. He smiles in return. For a moment he admires her outfit. A lavender short-sleeved blouse, knee-length black skirt, black skimmer hat, gold-rimmed glasses, and white sneakers.

“Rikki!” She calls out softly. Her eyes sparkled about his arrival

He smiles warmly at her as he sits down across from her. “I hope I’m not too late.”

Reoha shakes her head. “Don’t worry about that, here I got you a menu. If you got here any later, I would have started ordering. I’ve been looking forward to trying this place’s custard pudding!”

Rikki smirks, “Oh really, how thoughtful of you to actually wait.”

She chuckles at his teasing, “Well let’s get ready to order!” She skimmed through the menu and whispered, “Anyway, how’s it been going with IDOLiSH7?”

He sighs nonchalantly and responded in a low voice, “You already know what happened.”

She pouts, “Yeah but I want to hear it from you. What’d you think?”

He crossed his arms and relaxed his body, “Well okay, what do you wanna hear?”

“Hmm, oh, how’s it been going with Iori?” Her eyes glimmered in anticipation.

Rikki’s eyes crinkle in amusement at her excited figure. “Iori, huh? Ah, about that…”

He stopped when a waitress came up to them. Her dark hair is tied up in a classic bun and is wearing a green uniform with the cafe’s motif. She greeted them with a business smile; thankfully, she didn’t recognize Rikki in his disguise.

“Hello, what can I get you both?” She held a notepad and pen at the ready.

Reoha perked up with her order ready, “I’ll have the Napolitan spaghetti with a cafe latte and custard pudding.”

Rikki quickly skimmed the menu when Reoha started ordering. Quickly eliminating the egg dishes from his options, he settled on the avocado toast.

“I’ll get the avocado toast with the salad and an Americano. Thanks.” He handed both menus back to the waitress.

The waitress quickly left with their orders and peace settled on their table. They were silent for a moment until Rikki spoke up.

“Anyway, speaking of Iori, he caught me when I was sneaking off this morning.” He lowered his cap when someone walked by their table.

“Really? I thought you said he wouldn’t be in the dorms today because of that phone commercial.”

He chuckled, “That’s what I thought too, but it turns out that it got canceled. Manager must have told him in one of their secret meetings.” Suddenly, there was a familiar ding coming from his bag.

He took out his phone and huffed in amusement at the apparent message. Reoha was surprised by his reaction until she realized who it could be. She grinned.

“I doubt it’s Yoshiaki so… Is it Ayumu-kun and the others?” She guessed with a confident smile.

As always, she’s on point with these things. He met her gaze, “You’re half right, I also got a message from Iori. He’s asking where I am and if I have my inhaler with me. Let’s see, why I ran out, who I’m meeting with-”

She interrupted, “Wait, ran out? You ran away when Iori caught you. I thought you gave him an excuse this morning.” She giggled at the mental image of Rikki running away from Iori. As she thought, any interaction between them is always entertaining and wholesome.

Meanwhile, Rikki admits that he might have been over the top with his getaway. But it was necessary given the purpose of his outing.

He leaned forward, “Yeah, but I felt if I did tell the truth then he might not have let me go out. Even worse, he might suggest tagging along to make sure.” At the same time, he sent Iori a quick text. Honestly, Rikki understands that Iori is only worried for his safety, but after months of working together, the boy should realize he can take care of himself just fine.

Consequently, Reoha lowered her gaze since she understood the implication. IDOLiSH7 is now a famous idol group; moreover, a group that rivals both Trigger and Re:vale. Rikki is a popular idol because he is the center of the group. So a picture of him secretly meeting with a girl would create a scandal; most of all, it would ruin all of their plans. However, both of them knew the risks when they continued to scarcely meet like this.

She perked herself up, “Hmm, I wouldn’t mind Iori tagging along since you haven’t properly introduced us. This might’ve been my chance.” She joked, but the former was very true.

Since Rikki’s debut, Reoha has never had the chance to meet his sub-unit partner. It makes sense because they have no reason to meet each other, but a glimpse would have been nice. The only instances were when Rikki mentioned him in their messages. The only ones who know of her existence are Nagi and Tamaki because of that abrupt trip to Akibahara and those two have sworn to secrecy. After all, Rikki made sure of that.

He mocked a sigh, “If that happened, my ears would have fallen off from all the nagging he’d give me.” The image of a stern Iori nagging popped into both of their heads. Both of them chuckled at the image until the waitress returned with a tray full of food and two cups of coffee.

“Sorry for the wait. One Napolitan with a cafe latte and custard pudding and an Avocado toast set. Enjoy.” The waitress set down both plates and left with a polite smile.

Reoha clapped her hands together and marveled at the sight, “Ah, this looks so good! I can’t wait to dig in!”

Rikki smiled warmly at her excitement and then looked down at his dish. She’s right, the food looks appetizing. Both said, “Thanks for the food” and began eating. Reoha immediately grinned after the first bite. Her dish was a classic Napolitan pasta mixed with mushrooms, green bell peppers, sliced sausages, and a sunny-side-up egg on top. While Rikki’s avocado toast looked simple enough, it was topped with red pepper flakes and dolloped with cream. He picked the avocado toast because it looked simple enough to eat; however, he was fine with how it turned out. Once Rikki was spreading the cream on the toast, Reoha had already moved on to the custard pudding. She’s always had a sweet tooth, he mused.

They settled into a comfortable silence, only music from the radio on the counter top being played. Reoha was savoring her desert until Rikki remembered what he wanted to ask earlier.

After taking a small bite of his toast, he casually asked. “By the way, Ayumu asked if I’d be able to make it on time for the meet-up with the club. Know anything about it?”

Her eyes widen in surprise, “Ah, did you forget we’re meeting up with the others at Weekend Garage at 9:30? Turns out Ayumu-kun and the GFI Club are planning a collab concert with VBS, so they want our help on this.” She took another bite of Napolitan.

His face cracked into an amused smile, “So that’s why Ayumu mentioned Akito getting a stage prepared already.” Then his expression became thoughtful, “It must have slipped my mind with all that’s been going on these last few weeks.” With everything that’s happened these last few weeks it makes sense. Reporters have been hounding the Takanashi Pro building over IDOLiSH7 using Sakura Haruki’s songs without “permission.” Some even going as far as waiting outside of their dorms. This has made it difficult for Rikki to go out on his usual outings. While he doesn’t mind rooming with six other boys, he still prefers some time for himself. Half of the group are teenagers and the other half act like idiots when alcohol is involved, so most nights end up pretty eventful.

Reoha studied his expression, well aware what thoughts are running through his head. She set down her coffee as she gave a reassuring smile, “I know and I’m sure the others would understand too. With something like the Zero fiasco and Re:vale’s Anniversary concert, anybody would feel stressed, especially with Kujo Tenn involved.” She seethed out his name coldly.

Rikki didn’t mind her cold attitude. After all, when she gets this protective over him it warms his heart. He’s already used to this side of her whenever Trigger’s center is brought up so he didn’t intend to stop her and let her vent. Thankfully, there wasn’t anybody around when she spat out his name or they would have heard a whirlpool of insults about Japan’s modern “angel”.

“That guy didn’t ramble on about the same shit to you again, did he?” She began to glare, not at him but at the image of Kujo Tenn demeaning Rikki. It isn’t in her nature to cuss, but the rare times she does is when something absolutely pisses her off. In this case, Kujo Tenn is at the top of things she hates dislikes.

He expected this to come up eventually, “It’s always the same thing with him. Tenn did come over to the dorms that night. He was friendly at first, asking me strange questions until he flat-out started patronizing me. It was the same annoying nonsense as always; actually, it was the most ridiculous conversation I’ve ever had.” He observed her expression only to see her mouth set in a hard line. He slightly lowered his gaze.

Truthfully, Rikki thought they were getting along well, even with their strange circumstances. The night IDOLiSH7 won Black & White Fantasia, they both agreed not to let their past relationship as brothers change anything between them. As coworkers in the same industry, they’d at least maintain a professional and friendly relationship with each other for their image and idol groups. However, ever since the center change was announced, Tenn had returned to his cold behavior. Rikki had been too busy making sure his condition didn’t worsen even more to notice Tenn’s change.

That night became the tipping point for them. Fortunately, Reoha warned him ahead of time about Tenn’s visit to start a “fight.” Her words, not his. At first, he was puzzled why Tenn would visit so late but he was willing to hear him out. What a mistake that turned out to be. It was the same thing with Tenn: Quit being an idol. If it had been any other day, Rikki would have just ignored him, but Tenn crossed a line that night.

Anger strongly surged through his body.

HOW DARE HE.

“YOU HAVE NO RIGHT TO JUDGE ME!”

“Riku…”

“Just because you took care of me all those years ago doesn’t give you ANY right to tell me what to do! Remember, it was you who cut off contact years ago and left the Nanase family! Don’t suddenly act like we’re close, Kujo Tenn.”

Granted, he did get a little heated himself and shared more than he should’ve but it was enough to get Tenn to back off. Honestly, that was such a stressful night adding that everyone being at the dorms made it more chaotic.

He smiled. “I gave it to him straight, so I think he won’t be bothering me for a while with the same stuff. Honestly, it feels good knowing he won’t ‘lecture’ me the next time we work together.” At that, Reoha let out a satisfied smirk.

Rikki gave a long sip of his coffee before speaking. “I almost forgot, I watched the live stream of Phoenix Wonderland. Tsukasa and the others’ performance was spectacular, so I’m glad they were able to keep the park open.”

She blinked in surprise. “That’s right, their light show at the end was amazing and they built up the suspense really well! I’m just glad I was able to help them out a bit.” After all, that amusement park holds a lot of special memories, for them and their friends, so he really is happy that the park is staying.

He gently smiled at her and reached out to hold her hand. He affectionately rubbed the silver ring on her ring finger with his middle finger. “I’m sure your posters and promotional videos were a big help to them. I have no doubt about it.” He was really surprised when he saw her name in the credits from the park’s promo videos. It was by chance he saw the promo video that he watched it out of curiosity because it was about WxS troupe. While watching it, he immediately realized it was her work. After all, he knows her art and style like the back of his hand.

A faint blush settled on her cheeks. “… Anyway, let’s finish this up quickly so we can meet up with the others.” She said it while almost halfway through her meal. Rikki glanced over at her plate, then couldn’t help but notice how different it looked compared to his. She’s already ahead of him when he still has the salad and a half-eaten toast. He chuckled quietly.

They both ate quietly while chatting about small things. Reoha shared that during a dance class at the studio, Shiki-san mixed up the choreography, so she had to help him out without the kids noticing. Rikki commented on how typical it was of Shiki to mess up a kids’ dance. He also shared a time when he was looking for Iori in his room only to find a plushy key chain hidden under his pillow. He thought it was cute Iori was still hiding his affection for cute things. Reoha squealed like he knew she would whenever these types of topics came up. Soon they finished eating and were about to stand up from the table when a song began to play.

A familiar voice played out from a small radio set on top of a counter.

“I’ll like it I’ll like it like that
I’m feeling something madou kurai
me ga kuramu hodo no hikari
kiri no naka e michibiki
Even hibana yori atsui blue”

Reoha blinked in surprise, “Huh, I didn’t think this song would be played here…” She was taken by surprise when something held her hand. Rikki lightly squeezed her hand.

He proudly smiled. “Goes to show how good you are.” Her cheeks flushed under his compliment and returned his smile with a bright one.

They separated their hands and walked towards the front counter to pay their bill. Quietly Reoha started humming the same song being played, seemingly lost in the tune. She isn’t the only one, he thought as he was handing the money to the cashier.

“Will-O’ The-Wisp babe
Oh baby It’s blue flame
Will-O’ The-Wisp babe
That that that is faction”

The customers inside grew restless once the song reached the chorus.

“Hey isn’t this…?”

“No way! I love all her covers!!”

Rikki was filled with immense pride. Even if Reoha isn’t an idol like Riku, her voice will always draw people in. However, she has no desire to enter the music industry even when she is clearly talented in singing. A fact he’s very thankful and happy for. Still, he respects her wishes. No matter what she wants to do, he’ll always support her.

The same went for her too. She’ll support him in any way she can, despite their current situation.

Once Rikki finished paying the bill, Reoha happily led him out the door. There was a hop in her step as she quickly fished out her phone and dialed a number.

She laughed. “Come on or we’ll be late!” The call went through, “Hey Natsumi-chan, tell Ayumu-kun and others we’re on our way!”

Rikki couldn’t help but laugh out loud along with her excitement as they raced to their next destination. Noticing this, she gleefully smiled in his direction.

He may be an idol and she may be a college student, but for today they are just two 18-year-old teenagers spending the day out with friends. Since tomorrow they will return to their seemingly “normal” lives. Lives that would have no reason to cross.

No matter what happens, they’ll keep walking towards their goal. That was their PROMISE.