Chapter 13: I Don’t Care-oke

Ishi was disappointed, but not surprised. His times of peace were usually short lived. Now stuck with the chatter from his fellow classmates who always seemed to show up where he was. This was going to be an inconvenience to him. Perhaps he could leave for the beach they just abandoned, but the sun was beginning to set and the only lights shining were at this bar. So unless he wanted to spend the rest of the night in total darkness, he was going to have to be trapped here.

“Another drink would be good about now.” He took solace in the only thing to go his way today. That being the wonderful drinks served here. The bartender got to work, as the boy still had enough money in reserve to continue paying it. While sipping from his glass, a certain boy nearly leaped onto him, nearly causing the contents of his drink to be spilled.

“Figures you hid yourself here.” Otoya greeted him with a rub over his hair. “Looks like for once, you were the one ahead of the curve.”

“That’s one way of putting it.” He responded dejectedly as the crowd of people passed by with Rinse in the middle of it all. Most of his grade was here, so this place went from empty to packed in mere minutes.

“So, since you’ve been here first. There’s gotta be some details you got for us.”

“There’s a microphone here.” He pointed to the center of the spot, which contained an elevated platform complete with a karaoke machine. “So it looks like my ears will be blessed with the sounds of terrible singing.”

“Eh eh eh, I think you forgot something.” Otoya said as if Ishi actually forgot, rather than pretend wasn’t a thing. “But we actually have a real idol in our midst.”

“Right… How could I forget.” He was dead in his voice, barely bothering to play along with this act. At this rate, he was going to call it a night early and head back to the hotel. “Look, I paid for way too many drinks. So why don’t you sit down and relax a little.”

“You’re too kind sometimes.” His best friend took the offer with no hesitation. While it was nice to take a kind gesture from a friend, there was another not-so-wholesome reason for this. “Hey, Hattori, Ishi got drinks for us.” He was fortunate enough that the girl was walking by them.

“He does?” That offer drew her towards them. “Doesn’t really sound like something he’d do.”

“Because I’m not.” Ishi set the record straight. “But I won’t stop Otoya over here if he wants to share his half with you.” The boy made a mental note to never offer his friend drinks for free for the rest of life. Rinse decided to accept anyway, since free was always good. Even for someone with her fortune.

“Where’s Hanada?” She asked. The last time she had seen that girl was with him, when they split for the shop. “Did she not stay with you?”

“Apparently despite all my warning signs, you still want to talk with me.” He quipped. “But I left her when we got to the beach to go here. So I would’ve thought she was with you.”

The way he acted continued to perplex her. Of all the people she ever saw him interact with, Youna was the only one never to suffer his wraith. In fact, she would’ve thought he actually cared about her given all his actions. The small talk on the bus being the major factor that she couldn’t understand.

Having to listen to someone drone on for a couple of hours ended up leading the girl to wander her mind onto others. Which is how she noticed him being the one to start the conversations with that girl. Why? That boy was never one to begin talking to someone so normally. In fact, he always wanted to avoid idle chatter. So what made that quiet meek little girl so different?

“I’m sure she’s fine.” Otoya leaned forward to talk with her, blocking her view of Ishi. “I think I speak for everyone when I say that we’d all love to hear you sing.”

“You’re not speaking for everyone.” Ishi commented, obviously referring to himself. “Personally, I don’t care either way. But I’m sure you’re good at it, seeing as it’s your job and all.”

“That might be the nicest thing you’ve ever said to me.”

“Call it a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity.” He took another sip, not paying any mind to her. Rinse pouted at his nonchalant answer. He always had to be so cold towards her. More than that, he was pretty mean as well. The girl wasn’t used to this behavior from anyone else before. Usually, when she chatted with most people, they had nothing but praise for her talent.

Yeah… All those fans during the meetups and concerts. Her managers and agents who would tell her about well liked her music was. Those things hardly changed when she came to this school, even despite her request. He was the only one to treat her differently. She felt it must’ve been his feelings on idols, or perhaps even jealousy. “Actually you know what, I don’t think I want to listen to you sing.”

“Did I hear someone say sing?” Someone among the student asked.

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“Oh, is Hattori going to sing!?” That question was more than enough to get the crowd excited over the prospect.

“Looks like you’re a little alone in that belief.” Otoya gave him a hearty pat on the back and laughed. “So, will you accept our request?” She was flattered by how much excitement was generated by the idea of her singing. It would’ve been nice to simply accept them, but she wanted to have a little bit of fun with it.

“I could.” The cheers erupted before she stopped them by lifting one finger up. “One on condition.”

“What is it? We’ll do anything.”

“Hirose has to sing one song.” Immediately, the boy felt all eyes fall on him. He took one deep sigh and put a palm to his face. The begging was very audible in his ears as the students asked him to follow through on her request for their sake.

“No.” He answered. Ishi had no intentions of making a fool of himself on stage.

“But it’s only one song.”

“No.”

“Please, we all want to hear her sing.”

“No!” He was angry, and slammed down his drink to the table. “No. No. No!” Now this was it, all of his frustration building up over this week was ready to boil over. Normally he’d walk away, but he just needed to say something. “I’m not some ticket you can use to listen to an idol concert.”

All this week it was all about how his seatmate was an idol. How his neighbor was an idol. If he never heard that word again, it’d still be too soon. “If you want to listen to her sing so much, go search for her songs online. But stop acting like that’s all she is. She’s annoying, irritable, and I wish she never came to this school so. At least then you all wouldn’t be acting like fools.”

“How can you say something so mean!?” Someone asked. The entire crowd was in shock over his outburst.

“Because that’s how I feel.” He continued on. “And it’s about time I say it, so you can all just stop bothering me.” Ishi stopped himself, he knew if he continued that perhaps there would be some regretful words said. In his rage, he stormed off from the bar away from everyone. He was done here.

“…” Everyone was utterly speechless as they watched him walk off into the darkness. Rinse felt terrible, she never meant for any of this to happen.

“Just to let everyone know.” The bartender was the first person to break the silence. “I didn’t put any alcohol in his drinks.”

Rinse was put into a moment of introspection. This was the first time she had ever made such a poor blunder. Her heart tightened at seeing the sad faces on everyone. This was all her fault, and it was her responsibility to fix this before things went truly wrong.

“Everyone.” She spoke up, trying her best to put on a smile. It came easily thanks to all that practice. “I know that perhaps Hirose isn’t feeling well enough, but that shouldn’t mean we should all be down because of it.” Her words were enough to brighten the mood. In a sense, she felt worse about it. They were able to move past him so easily. Did no one really care about him? Not even his so-called best friend?

Wait… Why did she care? She didn’t even like him because of his attitude. Her mind should be saying that he deserved all this, but her heart knew that wasn’t the case. A part of it came from her belief as an idol, to make everyone around her smile. But the major part was that she knew he wasn’t a bad person. Not with everything he showed with his actions, his knowledge of his fellow classmates.

She shook her doubt away and gave everyone her signature idol pose, a peace sign over her eye, with tongue hanging out off to the side. An apology was owed to that boy, but right now she had a crowd to please. So she needed to be at her best to give them a performance to please everyone. Then the girl took to the stage.

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