CREDITS TO: UTA NO PRINCE SAMA and TOKYO GHOUL

CHAPTER 12

The following weeks passed rather in awkward but enjoyable way for Tokiya who used to be found alone most of the time. STARISH started to meet frequently to practice for their graduate audition. Their principal personally assigned them to debut in a band so they needed to strive harder to meet the legendary singer's expectation.

At least, that was what Tokiya thought initially. But for the rest of the members, they insisted to do a lot of practices on purpose because they wanted to spend more time with Tokiya. They wanted the perfectionist to open up to them rather than treating them solely as his teammates.

The first step was making sure that he knew their biodata as much as possible. They tried way too hard by saying something random like;

"You know what, Tokiya? I love curry! This roommate of yours love curry!"

"Do you want to learn calligraphy, Ichinose? I bet you want to do it. We are twins after all."

"This is the right way to twirl a rose, Icchi."

"Oi, do you want to watch Prince of Fighting with me? It's not fun to watch alone."

"Tokiya-kun, do you want to know which Piyo-chan I love the most?"

"Tokiya, let's do some Agna dances before we start practicing! First, put your hands up and..Oi, Tokiya, don't run away from me! I am not going to snuggle against you like before! Oi, Tookiyaaaaa!"

Thus, after spending more time with them for a few weeks, those were Tokiya's summary about each of his teammates.

1. Otoya – This guy is consistently cheerful, upbeat and friendly. Tokiya has always thought that Otoya must be brought up well by his parents to be this likeable until Syo secretly told him that Otoya lost his parents and aunt which led him living in an orphanage. Since then, Tokiya swore to himself to treat Otoya nicer than before. He even started to join the red head and Syo playing soccer if he had time.

2. Masato – The other blue-haired guy in the academy other than himself. A very calm guy but the personality would be threw to the window the moment Ren got into his nerve. Masato is a conservative guy who enjoyed doing everything that you could think of the moment you described a samurai. He is also a good cook which reminded Tokiya with a typical and loving oka-chan.

3. Ren – Even though it was obvious that he only had his eyes on Hazuki Maaya but this charming guy is also the master of seduction art. His famous line, "all the words that come out of my mouth are love songs. I whisper words of love and they never fail to hit my prey," proved itself when he had no problems whatsoever when it comes to lyrics writing.

4. Natsuki – A genius who just needed to find his inspiration from Hoshi-sama. He is good-natured with everyone and the rare species who would never be called as a pervert for randomly bearhugging girls. Yet, much to Tokiya's surprise, this caring and selfless guy suffered from a split personality disorder due to a childhood trauma and so far, Tokiya never encountered the other personality, Satsuki. All he knew was that guy used to be violent and ill-tempered before he finally promised to Natsuki to let the guy led his life normally.

5. Syo – He is also the rare species who beats a stereotype that a small guy is physically weak. He trained his body after suffering from a heart disease which restrained his daily life. From the others, Tokiya learned that in future, Syo used to join a match against Hyuga Yamato, another idol with a muscular and tall-built (not to mention that he is Hyuga Ryuya's younger brother) which ended in a tie.

6. Cecil – A prince from Agnapolis who was despised by his relatives for being half-Japanese which led them to curse him into a cat. (That was all because once Tokiya heard the word 'cat', he was not interested to learn more about Cecil. The more he knew the prince, the more he wanted to clobber him for being such an immoral cat).

Yet, recently, Tokiya came up with a new conclusion about them as a whole; they love to play games whenever they take a short break from practicing.

And the most recent example was the game of Truth or Dare.

"Eh, me?" Tokiya could not believe his own eyes as the bottle pointed towards his direction. Hi face was utterly in shock as frankly speaking, since at the beginning of the game, he continuously prayed that he would never be the 'victim'.

Yes, they were currently playing Truth or Dare game since Ren said it would be bored if they just practiced for their graduation audition without having some fun. However, unlike others, participating in this kind of game had never been Tokiya's forte. Generally, in Truth or Dare, people expected you as the victim to be frivolous yet the idol was totally far from being 'frivolous'.

"Waaaa, it's finally Tokiya's turn!" Otoya shouted in thrill. As if Tokiya is the funniest guy ever and would guarantee the best joke or show ever to them.

"I'm glad it's Icchi's turn, though," Ren smirked. "Well, Icchi. Truth or dare?"

Honestly, what's wrong with these people? They don't expect me to do fun things, right? Tokiya instantly felt the pressure.

"Dare.. I guess."

"What should we give to him, huh?" Otoya rubbed his chin, obviously enjoyed the situation.

"Otoya, don't you ever..."

"Hey, Tokiya. Actually I have a request," Syo added, drawing attention to himself.

"What is it, Syo?" Tokiya's face brightened a bit. Knowing Syo who is much more sensible, he believed that Syo would not make him do quirky things.

"I was wondering if you can show me how to act like Tsukiyama Shuu from Tokyo Ghoul. His character resembles the role in my latest assignment but Hyuga-sensei said that I have a long way to go," Syo added, excitedly. "It made me sad but just now, I think that learning from you how to act as a crazy bastard is a good idea compared to the anime itself."

The others gave a 'wow, that's awesome! We gotta see Tokiya's acting right in front of us!"exclamation except Otoya, Cecil and of course, Tokiya.

"Tsukiyama what?" Tokiya stared blankly at Syo.

"Ehhh, Tokiya, you don't know him?"

"Is he someone that I supposed to know? Then, sorry for my ignorance."

"Nah, you don't need to be so serious," Syo chuckled. Now, he knew the reason why Ren and Otoya turned into mischievous brats when it comes to Tokiya. His reaction is always proper in entertaining way. "He is only an anime character but he is one of the famous roles played by Miyano Mamoru-san."

"I see.." Tokiya already gave a gesture that he would do as Syo requested. If it was only an imitation, he was sure that he could help the boy. After all, imitation is part of acting, which is his another talent besides singing.

"Wait, Syo.. I don't think that's a very good idea.." Otoya whispered to the said boy.

"Eh, why? We sure can learn a lot from the flawless Tokiya.."

"Otoya, this is an acting lesson, the practical one. There is no way I will teach him straight from books," Tokiya interrupted calmly, caused the said boy jumped slightly out of surprise.

"Eh, Tokiya... how do you know..."

"As if it's not obvious enough," Tokiya clicked his tongue, feeling slightly annoyed.

"Hehe.. Sorry," Otoya just grinned like an idiot.

"So, Tokiya, can you.."

"Okay, then," Tokiya answered. "I'll help you, Syo."

"Thanks, man!"

Yes, this was what he wanted. Being challenged with something that he is already expert in.

They sure are persistent for something like this, Tokiya's mind talked as he saw Otoya and Syo browsed the internet, trying to search for the scene that they requested him to act out.

"Found it!" Otoya shouted ecstatically. "Tokiya, this is the scene!"

Tokiya's blue eyes widened a bit. Obviously, he was fascinated as he watched the scene where Tsukiyama Shuu, one of the antagonists in Tokyo Ghoul anime kidnapped a girl named Kimi in order to lure Kaneki, the main character of the series.

"Miyano-san is really something, isn't he? How can he talk so creepy like that? It really gives anybody a chill," Tokiya rubbed his chin. His smart brain analyzed the voice of Miyano Mamoru thoroughly.

"I know right," Otoya grinned at his roommate. "Why don't you demonstrate it to us now?"

"Wait! Don't you think it's too sudden? Tokiya has to memorize the lines first.."Syo interrupted, realizing how demanding Otoya could be all of sudden when just a few minutes before, he was the one who went against this idea.

"No sweat. Tokiya already memorized the lines. Come on, Syo. Get ready to be Kaneki," Otoya pushed the small frame of Syo to the centre of their circle.

"How come you are so positive? He doesn't even say anything."

"Just trust me, Syo. Cecil, can you be Nishio for while?"

"Eh? Me?"

While the real victim (?) of this situation, Tokiya just stared at them, particularly Otoya from the corner of his eyes, feeling curios about something.

How come he knows that I already memorized the line? He is surprisingly observant, his mind wondered as he also took his spot, right in front of Syo.

"Okay, action!" as Otoya's loud voice resonated in the room, Tokiya inhaled deeply, totally grasped the gruesome ghoul's role into his mind.

When he opened his eyes and registered Syo as Kaneki Ken alias his food, he smirked creepily, enough to make Syo, Otoya and Cecil flinched while Masato, Natsuki and Ren gasped in disbelief.

"Kaneki-kun, do you love Beethoven?"

"Tsu..Tsukiyama!" Cecil tried to look offended but he sounded like he was going to cry instead once he met Tokiya's piercing eyes.

"Nishio, I don't remember inviting you," Tokiya's talking voice which usually sounded calm and soft changed drastically. It even chilled their spines as he approached them. His cool expression also was not there to be seen. Just in the blink of an eye, he was filled with the feeling of hunger. He really wanted to eat Syo a.k.a Kaneki Ken.

"Give me back Kimi!" Cecil wanted to sound agitated again but to no avail. This was the first time for him to see Tokiya being in such a mess.

"Unfortunately I can't do that. She's here to add spice to tonight's banquet. I want to let Kaneki eat her at her maximum freshness," Tokiya replied as he pointed out at poker-faced Masato who suddenly became the said Kimi since they did not pick anybody in particular to be the female character.

"To be more precise, I want to eat Kaneki while he eats her! That's what I want!!"

"Er.. you nasty.. I mean.. you dirty bastard..." Cecil started to mix up with the dialogues for a while as he could not bear with the sight of the psychopath version of Tokiya.

"Y..you're perverted," Syo started to tremble hard.

Tokiya is not possessed by any random demon, right? He's just acting, right? Syo asked himself as he started to perspire out of fear.

"Perverted? That's surprising. Supposing that's how you feel..." Tokiya swiftly approached Syo and for the athlete, to be this close with a bigger guy with an abnormal appetite and a desire to eat him like a lunatic was the worst thing ever. "Kaneki-kun, you're the one who's making me do this, so you bear responsibility for it. You'd better realize how delicious you really are."

How delicious you really are? Both Syo and Cecil's legs started to wobble as Tokiya whispered with a rather sinister voice.

"That's all you guys need to do," Tokiya's poker face returned to its place yet it was not enough to restore the peace in that room. Instead, he could see the ashen faces of Cecil, Syo and Otoya (who out of nowhere, joined the hugging bunch with the other two). The other three who were sensible enough to perceive his imitation as a mere acting just gave a round of applause.

"That's cool,Tokiya-kun!" Natsuki exclaimed as he was totally in a fanboy mode.

"Guys, what happened? Why are you guys..." as Tokiya approached the scaredy cats which consisted of Syo, Otoya and Cecil, they stepped even further from him. It was like they were afraid that the normally-herbivorous Tokiya who just turned into a barbaric carnivore a few minutes ago would jump and eat them senselessly .

"Please.. please stay away from us.." Syo said desperately while waving his hand towards Tokiya like getting rid of mosquitoes.

"Why?" Tokiya almost exploded with their regular dramatic responses every time something happened.

"Waaaaaaaaaa!!" unable to endure the ultra scare, those three idiots hugged each other. Their scream got louder and too dramatic, begging for the 'monster' in front of them to spare their life before...

"Tokiya's scary!!!" Otoya screamed again before storming off for his life, followed by Syo and Cecil. As fast as lightning (with their athletic ability as a bonus point), they disappeared from Tokiya's sight.

"Guys, why are they.." the purple idol turned to his other three teammates, expecting a sensible explanation.

"They ran away after seeing your acting, Tokiya-kun," Natsuki being his usual self, in a fanboy mode with a cheerful tone. "Totally saw that coming."

"Wait, what's that even mean, Shinomiya san?"

"Your acting is way too perfect, Icchi.. It gave them goose pimples," Ren chuckled, feeling entertained to see the dumbfounded and discontented face of Tokiya.

"Of course I have to do it in a perfect way. Or else, how do you expect me to teach them?"

"Well, in the future, you used to help me to act out a hugging scene. You played a role as my lover. Just like what Jinguji said, your acting was way too perfect. It gave me a chill to the point of we failed for so many times. So, as one of the victims, I can relate to them. Such poor souls," Masato said with a sympathetic voice. He made it as if Tokiya just abused them physically, much to the blue-haired boy's dismay.

"Just so you know, I wasn't the one who offered myself to teach them from the first and yet, when I really tried to help.."

"Tokiya-kun?" Natsuki's eyes widened a bit, feeling unsettled with how Tokiya's voice sounded.

"Such a waste for my time. I should do something else instead of trying to teach those who cannot be professional," with his dark purple aura, he walked out from the training room, much to their surprise.

"He's mad. What should we do?" Natsuki asked the other two.

"I guess that we should let Ochibi-chan, Cesshi and Ikki or perhaps Hijirikawa himself to comfort Icchi," Ren answered nonchalantly.

"What? Why me?" Masato's jaw dropped to the sudden suggestion.

"You said that you're one of the victims. Icchi must feel that you don't appreciate his favor at all," Ren's answer made Masato lost his usual power to argue back with Ren's irritating remarks. Reluctantly, he knew Ren was right.

"Ah, Hijirikawa is so mean. I deliberately asked everyone especially Icchi to join this game since I know Icchi still feels awkward around us but Hijirikawa totally ruined the atmosphere."

"Oi, Jinguji!"

"This is the first time Tokiya-kun fought with Masato-kun, right? This is interesting. Well, fighting with your friends is a normal thing so good luck with your apology seeking, Masato-kun," Natsuki patted Masato's shoulder even he received a scowl from his classmate.

"What are you waiting for, Hijirikawa? It's not nice of you to let Icchi's anger lasts longer.." Ren and Natsuki grinned at each other, obviously enjoyed themselves to make Masato felt guiltier.

"You guys... why are you guys targeting me now? Wait, where are you going!?" Masato got anxious as Ren and Natsuki casually left the training room.

"I had promised Ren-kun to play a table tennis today so see ya, Masato-kun!" Natsuki waved happily before leaving Masato.

"Hijirikawa, if you want to apologize to Icchi, please inform us. Shinomi and I really want to be your supporter," Ren shouted before excusing himself from Masato'sight, following Natsuki.

Those jerks... Masato sighed angrily.

What a ridiculous turn of event, Masato exhaled in dissatisfaction while walking along the corridor with the upset face of Tokiya in his mind. He recalled what on earth he and his teammates had been doing recently.

How did it end up like this again? He rubbed his chin slowly, trying to generate clouds which consisted of events that led him, out of those people to apologize to Tokiya.

They practiced for their graduation audition.

They played Truth or Dare since Ren suggested it.

Syo challenged Tokiya to play a role as Tsukiyama Shuu since Tokiya is the most experienced actor among them.

Being as perfectionist as he is, Tokiya did his best in guiding Syo but it turned out that his acting was too impeccable, much to those three idiots' fright.

And when the puzzled Tokiya needed an acceptable explanation, he, Masato, alias the one of so-called Tokiya's victims said something that offended the purple idol.

Stupid Masa! Still unable to believe that he was the one who needed to apologize at the end, he mentally facepalmed while calling himself with one of his nicknames, given by Otoya.

Finally he arrived in front of Tokiya and Otoya's shared room. He inhaled nervously before knocking the door.

So this is the feeling when you have done something wrong to Ichinose. It does feel tense, he agreed in his mind. Compared to other members in STARISH, he never offended Tokiya and vice versa. Like others always acknowledged, these two so-called twins that are separated since birth are very alike so everything that they did together always ended up smoothly.

"Ichinose, can I have a talk with you for a second?" he made his baritone voice a bit louder, feeling worried that Tokiya might be way too focused on his reading (the verb that he most probably does once he is in his room) to hear the knocking sound coming from the door.

A few seconds passed before the door in front of him was opened by a red head, not a blue head like he expected.

"Ittoki?"

"Masa?"

Baka! He almost wanted to shout but at the same time, he insisted to not draw any attention to himself. He really needed to be alone now, to clear his head.

Tokiya sighed heavily. Frankly speaking, the stupid one was him. How could he sulk over Masato's honest opinion about his acting? How could he become upset when Syo, Cecil and Otoya felt so scared with that Tsukiyama Shuu version of him?

No, he did not sulk over that or to tell you the truth, he did not sulk in the first place. He just...

He just felt like cursing himself for not being able to get along with his friends.

They played the game because they wanted to have fun but him...

Being the party pooper as some people used to call him before, not only he could not entertain them when it was his turn yet he succeed in scaring them instead. He also felt frustrated since he failed to help them when it seemed like they really banked on him.

Ahhhh, how useless and idiotic could he be in terms of being sociable? Can somebody just knock some senses on him now?

Anyone can be...

"Tokiya-kun!" a bubbly voice hit his ears.

"Yo, Icchi!" a super seductive voice (according to many articles written by female reporters in the school) followed, causing him to turn to the direction.

It seemed like Kami-sama granted his prayer on the spot.

"You guys.."

"What are you doing here, Tokiya kun?" Natsuki asked before sitting beside Tokiya.

"That should be my line, Shinomiya-san," Tokiya did not have any intention to sound mean in the first place but he was in desperation to not let anybody seeing through his feeling.

How much he felt like slapping himself for not being able to get along with them despite of being part of STARISH.

"Well, we just wonder if you want someone to talk to," Ren interrupted, much to the blue-haired idol's annoyance.

"Talking about what?"

"About how you think that you still cannot get along with us," Tokiya's eyes widened as he heard the sincerity and seriousness in Natsuki's voice.

"Icchi, Shinomi and I can somehow figure out what are you thinking now. Come on, don't be so secretive. It's not good to hide your feelings all the time," Ren's voice filled with concern even though it still sounded playful.

Tokiya sighed. "I hate how a pair of pranksters like you guys are the one who said something smart like that..."

"Hihi," both the bigger guys just grinned, feeling proud with the 'prankster' title.

"Tokiya is not here. We also tried to find him to apologize but he was nowhere to be seen," Otoya shrugged.

"You jerks," Masato did not waste any seconds to put the blame on Otoya. "Don't you think that all this nonsenses happened because of you guys?"

"Yes, we know," out of nowhere, Syo interrupted their conversation, looking guilty with Cecil behind him.

"And I need to apologize to him as well.."

"Ehhh??? But why??" those three shorter boys shouted in unison. For them, it would be the end of the world if Masato was the one who fought with Tokiya.

"Because I said that you guys were scared of his flawless acting just like how I was when he used to play a role as a girl to help me."

Instead of making them guiltier, Masato's answer gave a totally different and absurd effect.

"So basically, all of this happened because of Masa?" Otoya asked, innocently.

"Erkk?"

"Hijirikawa is the one who made Tokiya exploded," Syo pointed his black-nail finger to Masato, much to the lad's shock.

"I don't know Masato can be mean sometimes, let alone with Tokiya, his twin," Cecil shook his head in disbelief.

"Hey, please just don't come up with such a random conclusion. Just so you know, you guys are also responsible for this!"

"In any case, we should find him and apologize," Otoya said, followed by Syo and Cecil's nods. "I know Tokiya long enough to guarantee that he forgives people quite easily. Just believe in me."

"Let's find him!" Syo exclaimed, resembling a warrior who was determined to start a vendetta.

"And when we finally find him, Masa will lead us in order to apologize to Tokiya."

"Yoshh!!"

"Oiii, why me!?"

"It's easy for you guys to say that. You guys are naturally sociable, Ren, Shinomiya-san. I cannot be like you both," Tokiya currently opened up to those said guys. He hates to admit it but when he initially disapproved Ren's flamboyant personality and Natsuki's over cheerfulness, he still feels comfortable with them. They are surprisingly mature and easily notice every single change among the members' personality.

"Well, I know you are an introvert and these kind of people need space and time for themselves but my point is, when you have problems, you can always come to us. You don't need to suppress them anymore, Icchi..." while busy twirling a rose that came out of nowhere, Ren offered him a good advice as a friend.

"That's what friends are for, Tokiya-kun. Honestly, I feel sad if you only see us as teammates instead of your friends.."

"Ren, Shinomiya-san..." words could not describe how he felt so warm as he heard the sincerity from those two pranksters' words.

"Ichinose!"

"Tokiya!"

The trio turned their heads, feeling a bit shocked to see Masato, Cecil, Syo and Otoya suddenly stormed towards them.

"We are sorry!" their shouts and bows made Tokiya flinched while Natsuki founded them so cute.

"We know that we are wrong! We are ignorant! We are sorry!" It was like Syo, Cecil and Otoya already wrote a script for their apology. "You tried so hard to help us but we ran away like that. It was so rude of us to do that."

"Ichinose, I am sorry for offending you. I don't mean that your attempt to help me was totally useless. To tell you the truth, all this time, I really look up to you. Please, don't get angry anymore," Masato's deep voice sounded more dramatic than usual.

For a few seconds, Tokiya remained silent before making eye contacts with Ren and Natsuki. The taller lads just nodded and smiled chummily.

"Well, since all of you guys are here, I want to confess something. Thanks to Ren and Shinomiya-san, the light finally dawned."

Masato, Cecil, Otoya and Syo gave a confused look before Tokiya continuing.

"Well, frankly speaking, I don't get angry with you guys. I mean.. you guys don't need to apologize because the problematic one here is me. I have a hard time to get used with this STARISH idea, let alone getting along with you guys. You see... I am so used to be alone. I took care of everything all by myself because of some unavoidable circumstances and that reason alone made me thinking that I didn't need friends. But, since I have met you guys, starting from Otoya who I treated as a nuisance at the beginning, I sing with you guys, doing some crazy things like cross-dressing, I think that my perception about you guys or friends in general has changed."

He encouraged his eyes to make contact with theirs. "Just now, Ren and Shinomiya-san told me everything. They told me that all this time, you guys are concerned about me, you guys want me to open up.. Thank you very much but I need to admit to something," apparently, it was surprisingly good to be open up."Making new friends is not my strong point since I was small. In fact, I was called as antisocial many times by people around me. But, since I have met you guys..I.. I just love everything when you guys are around. It's hard to say (Ren: or rather, it's embarrassing to say), oh, shut up, Ren..but you guys have changed my life in any ways that I can think of and now, I can see why STARISH is so meaningful to you guys. That Tokiya who was dead from protecting Nanami-san... I know he felt so lucky to have friends like you guys."

All of them smiled warmly at him. All of sudden, the longing for Tokiya that they suppressed so hard in their hearts appeared but instead of coming in synch with a pain, the longing felt much cozier. They were so grateful that they could return to the past and made this 17 years old Tokiya happier.

"Waaaa, Tokiyaa, you made me feel touched! Can I hug you?" Otoya suddenly cried but his voice clearly showed that he was delighted.

"What? No!"

"It's a yes then," Natsuki took the lead as he bearhugged Tokiya tightly. "Tokiya-kun, you look so cute when you blushed like that!"

"Tokiya is so cuteeee!" Tokiya was sandwiched between Otoya and Natsuki and it made him hard to catch oxygen.

"Waaa, let me go!"

Syo and Cecil chuckled before joining the hugging bunch. Masato and Ren just smiled gratefully from their spot. 

Thank you Blondefox910-san to add my story into your library!

And about this chapter, I included a bit of Tokyo Ghoul on purpose because since both Tsukiyama and Tokiya shared the same voice actor, I just wonder what happen if Tokiya acts out as Tsukiyama? His soft and deep voice voice will be higher and creepier of course!

I hope you enjoy this story. Please let me know what do you think about it or other chapters. Arigatou!