During the week after his appearance at Music Festa, Kujou Riku carried out his idol duty as usual. According to Tsukumo, some companies and shows started contacting the agency, requesting Riku's appearance. Seemed like a way to go for his career.

This morning, Riku acted in an energy drink commercial. They saw Riku's fiery appearance at Music Festa and thought his image would suit their theme perfectly. Riku's acting exceeded their expectations since he could summon any expression they asked for while filming. Ryo was happily gaining his money and reputation.

"Kujou trained his dog well, I see." Ryo kept chatting away while driving Riku back to his apartment after work. "He must be a nice man. Taking a sickly boy in, making sure his parents are well-fed, and so on." Ryo used his free hand to brush Riku's face. "In return, you sing and dance for your father. Oh, how simple your life must be." As usual, he kept his super sarcastic tone.

The solo idol remained silent, perhaps a little lost in thought. What Ryo said was true; Riku was merely Kujou's puppet. He sold his emotions to save his family. Was the sacrifice really worth it, though? In the end, he ended up innocently hurting his twin brother. Was this truly the path he should be taking? Ugh, as if he had any choice.

Riku spotted a piece of paper on the table when he entered his apartment. He grabbed it and stared intently at its content. Perhaps his life path could take a turn if he did something he was not supposed to do. One such as Kujou Riku should not care about anything other than his instructions. Kujou Riku should not have any feelings, curiosity included. So what if he was just a tad bit intrigued by Izumi Iori's phone number in his hand? So what if he acted on that tiny whim? He could probably understand more about life in general. The solo idol fully understood the risk if he was to dial that number on his phone. If his adoptive father were to know that he was being naughty, his family could be in danger. Izumi Iori could be caught up in this as well.

Riku thought long and hard. Finally, his human self became victorious over his puppet self. A kind-hearted soul like Riku couldn't bring himself to hurt anyone anymore, especially his beloved Tenn-nii. If being his current self would somehow continue to hurt his precious brother, then he would like to change. The number in Riku's hand was his chance, and a big one too.

And so, Riku grabbed his phone and dialled that number.

"Iori. This is Kujou Riku."

———####################################————

Iori did not know what to expect when he hardly knew anything about Kujou Riku, so he tried not to overthink things. He agreed to meet Kujou at a cafe nearby. After all, he was the one who gave the hurting idol that number. Once he got there, he headed straight to the private room where Riku was sitting and sipping his tea.

"I am quite surprised that an unfriendly agency like Tsukumo would let their talent hang out casually with an idol from another agency." Iori sat down and started his 'interrogation' his own way.

"They don't. Father also would never approve this, so please keep this meeting secret, Iori," replied Riku in a neutral tone.

Iori ignored the fact that Riku was already calling him by his first name after having just met each other since it likely wasn't the point of this meeting. "Father?"

Riku began by explaining how he was adopted by Kujou Takamasa, how they made a deal about making sure Riku's parents would live a life of luxury, and how Riku was trained to adapt or react to situations while keeping his true feelings suppressed.

"I see. Basically, you are Kujou's puppet." This was what Iori concluded after listening to Riku's story, and hell, it was depressing. Not that Iori was the type to be honest with his feelings. He actually sympathised with Riku to a certain degree. 'I was trained to hide my emotions, but it looks like I can't hide what I don't have,' Iori recalled the words Riku said the other day at Music Festa. As Iori had seen then, Riku definitely had feelings. Although, after years and years of not being allowed to show them, the solo idol probably had learned to automatically ignore them completely because they did not matter.

"Yeah."

Not only was it depressing to see those blank, lifeless eyes as a reaction, it was unacceptable.

"I didn't think you would listen to me, Iori."

For a moment, Iori caught the shakiness in Riku's voice. There it is again, he thought. His emotions come and go unpredictably as if he doesn't know how to deal with them properly. "What do you mean, Kujou-san?"

"With me being like this, I could end up hurting you like I did to Tenn-nii."

"What a cute person..." Iori accidentally said it out loud, but how terribly cute! Iori wasn't sure if it was the work of Riku's messed up emotions that made Riku adorable, but for a guy who couldn't really feel anything to be worried about other people's feelings? It was cute, and Iori was terribly weak to cute things. "A-ahem!" Iori cleared his throat, hoping his little mental adventure went unnoticed as he returned to his icy prince self. "At least I know it probably isn't your intention. Even if it is, then I know it's because of your screwed upbringing."

"Iori?" Riku's eyes widened. "I can't feel anything, but you could hurt someone really badly with those words. Maybe you are a bit like me? Are we friends now?"

Flinching, Iori choked on his hot chocolate upon hearing that. "B-baka! Are you saying I'm screwed???" How could this guy say such embarrassing things with zero feelings? "But um, I suppose we are..." In the end, all his logical thinking was slain by Riku's cute charm. "Kujou-san, if you need someone to talk to, j-just let me know." The high school boy looked away. Oh, how embarrassed he was. "It's not like I care or anything. It's just not mentally healthy!"

"Thanks, Iori." Riku took another sip of his tea. "Then I have one question for you now."

"What is it?" Iori took a deep breath in, bracing himself for a hit of idiocy.

"Why are you not calling me Riku?"

"Hah?" The high school boy was caught off-guard regardless.

"Didn't you just confirm that we're friends now? So call me Riku."

"Friendship has to develop over time, you know?!? G-give me some time!" Not being able to take any more of the adorable moronic madness Riku had to offer, Iori went out of the dining room and slammed the door shut.

———####################################————

TRIGGER continued to bring out their best potential, refusing to drown in their one and only mistake. Tenn saw Riku on TV every single day, but their paths never seemed to cross. Despite what happened between them, the older twin wished he could have a good talk with Riku. When he saw that Riku announced his debut song, Tenn couldn't help feeling hopeful that he would have more chances to meet Riku.

A few months after Music Festa, TRIGGER ended up in Okinawa for a 'Thunder Dry' beer commercial shoot. They happened to be staying in the same hotel as IDOLiSH6, who were there to film their 'Natsu Shiyoze!' music video.

"As soon as you finish that glass, I'm refilling it with juice, Ryuu."

TRIGGER members were having refreshing drinks in their hotel room after a tiring day of hard work. Ryuu and Gaku ordered some cocktails. Unfortunately, Tenn was too young to drink alcohol. Gaku went out to buy a large bottle of apple juice for TRIGGER's centre to make up for it. Well, he wasn't expecting Tenn to drink the whole bottle. It was so he could make sure Ryuu wouldn't go over his alcohol limit. There were several occasions when Ryuu got so drunk that he would start speaking all his sentences in Okinawan dialect and no one would understand any of them.

"Ahahaha! Don't worry, Gaku. I'm not planning to drink a lot today." Ryuu laughed, but clearly, Tenn and Gaku didn't buy it. "By the way, have you guys heard? Once I6 make their debut, we will be working with them a lot more." He quickly changed the topic.

"Hmph." Gaku huffed. "Must be my old man's plan."

"It makes sense. I6's popularity is rising slowly but steadily. Considering how we represent different kinds of images, we can expand our fanbase." Tenn thought of the last time they met IDOLiSH6, which was at Music Festa, and it brought up an unpleasant memory. "Plus, we can't fail anymore..."

"Tenn, don't be so hard on yourself." Ryuu patted Tenn's back lightly.

Thinking about Music Festa made Gaku's blood boil. "Good thing we don't have to work with that jerk Kujou Riku."

Tenn's eyes widened in shock. While he understood Gaku's rage, he wished he could argue that his brother wasn't a jerk. In fact, Riku used to be nice, sweet and loved by everyone around him. Ahh... whatever happened to that sweet child?

"I'm sorry, Tenn." Realising he had hurt his centre, Gaku quickly apologised. Come to think of it, Tenn once mentioned that Kujou Riku was a 'sweet boy'. Gaku wondered if something was indeed amiss here. "Hey, actually, why don't you tell us more about that little brother of yours, Tenn?"

"About Riku?" The youngest was expecting anything but that. "I-I can't say that I know him anymore."

Tenn hesitated. What if that sweet boy no longer existed? What if the bright smiles were just good parts of his childhood memory that he happened to remember? He was afraid; afraid that he wouldn't be able to accept his little brother's current self. He still held onto the hope of seeing Riku's smile, and so he decided to talk about their childhood. He described Riku as a little sunshine, and that was enough to make an angelic smile appear on the youngest's face. I won't give up on seeing your smile, Tenn thought. Not until I get to talk to you, Riku.

———####################################————

"TELL ME IORI I NEED TO KNOW!!"

Nagi begged Iori to confess who he had been texting for the past month or so. "You can tell me, tell us. Who is your secret girlfriend?"

"Oh right, right!" Mitsuki joined in. "Iori's been on his phone a lot more recently."

"Onii-san wants to know as well," Yamato smirked. The trio continued to pressure Iori during the whole morning.

Iori sighed, cursing himself for being too careless. IDOLiSH6 lived in the same dorm, and so the boys, including Iori, generally spent their free evenings in the common area. One night, he sat near his big brother and (pretended to be) browsing stuff on social media as usual. Too bad Nagi jumped onto the couch right next to the youngest while he was on Rabbichat screen. Iori reacted by quickly closing the app, which made it stupidly obvious that he was hiding something. Being a loudmouth, Nagi shouted to everyone that "Iori is texting his girlfriend!" You could perhaps imagine how the other boys react after hearing this juicy news.

The boys were at Okinawa as of now, and Iori was exhausted. He lied down on the hotel bed as soon as the day was over. Being both a centre and a manager of an idol group was hard work. It was a good thing Mitsuki went to hang out with Yamato and Nagi in the room next door. He was thankful for this much-needed alone time.

Ah, but was it not a little too quiet? He checked his phone; no important notifications. Iori began to feel quite bored. There was nothing for him to do. No homework. Preparation for the next day was already done. He was too tired to hone his skills. He spent enough time with I6 boys today. Iori was out of things to do, and that was a disaster!

And so Iori ended up thinking of his new 'friend', Kujou Riku. He wondered how the guy was doing after announcing his debut. They had been contacting each other regularly, sure, but their conversations never lasted long. Mostly, Riku would send congratulatory messages whenever he heard about I6's good news. Iori could imagine Kujou saying those in a robotic voice with no emotion whatsoever, but it was cute that Kujou took the time to write them.

Iori told himself, "I'm just a little bored," as his hands began to type a message to the solo idol he was thinking about.

Iori: So there was this stall selling Okinawa mascot keychains. I accidentally bought too many, so you can have one as a souvenir.

Iori blushed hard as he waited for Kujou's reply. He couldn't believe it when he went ahead and bought two cute matching keychains. He thought long and hard before he made that purchase, but still... Ugh! What was I thinking?, Iori thought. What the perfect high school boy did not realise was the fact that he did not have any friends, not counting IDOLiSH6 members. Maybe this was him trying to enjoy the moment of building a friendship with another pitiful guy who also had zero friends.

Riku: Souvenir? Thank you.

Sigh. What did he expect? Iori knew full well that Riku wouldn't be jumping for joy after hearing Iori got him a souvenir. So why did the whole thing feel so wrong when he could clearly see Kujou's blank stare in his mind? Iori face-palmed. This guy is truly hopeless.

Iori: Shouldn't you be more excited, Kujou-san?

Riku: Excited? Why?

Iori: Aren't you curious what it is? Or grateful that you got a gift from someone? Or happy that someone cares about you?

Iori: That was just a hypothetical question, obviously!

In the end, Iori got frustrated over someone who didn't get excited about getting an unneeded extra object from him. Frustrated enough that he typed out such embarrassing stuff that he normally would never say to anyone, but hey, that was simply a lecture! Iori was just teaching Riku about proper conduct! Riku went quiet, and Iori wasn't happy. No, the icy prince wasn't sulking; he was angry that someone ran away in the middle of the conversation!

All of a sudden, the phone in Iori's hand buzzed, and it didn't stop after the first time. Iori's mouth dropped when he saw his phone screen. He's calling me?!?

———####################################————

Hewlo lovely ppl, I'm back with another chapter! So I don't have a lot to say for this chapter, just that it marks the start of IoRiku, I guess? Enjoy! Teehee~