SAVAGE!

Riku always argued that savagely ripping power chords was a very healthy way to vent your emotions. This was why he was in the music room thirty minutes before school.

Only problem being that he wasn’t alone this time. At this moment, it wasn’t about him. When a junior-year boy tepidly approached Riku to teach him how to play a piece, Riku didn’t hesitate.

~KRING!!~

“Wow, that chord sounded way off,” Riku noted, wincing slightly.

“S-Sensei…” The boy looked like he was about to cry. “I am sorry for taking s-so long to get this right. I should’ve p-practiced more.”

Riku's eyes softened. “It’s okay. I don’t mind. And so long as I am not getting paid, it’s Riku to you. Now let’s try again. Doesn’t matter how long it takes to get it right, so long as you get it right.”

The boy sniffled, clutching the fretboard. “Sensei… remember what you said about music as an outlet?”

“Of course.” That was one of Riku’s core philosophies, which allowed him to master his instruments.

“N-No matter how hard I play or practice at home, it doesn’t seem to work. I still f-feel like crap, all the time. Why?”

God, he knew the feeling. “...Did something happen recently?”

“I… I tried to make my first friends since moving to Nagoya,” the boy began. “But t-they rejected me. Actually, more than that, they made fun of me. I only wanted to get to know the girl I sat next to in class… but they teased me, made fun of me. I didn't want to have a girlfriend, I just wanted a friend…! W-Why can’t people just be nice…?”

Tears fell unbidden now.

Riku didn’t hesitate.

The boy opened his eyes to see Riku hugging him. “S-Sensei…?”

Riku didn’t say anything.

The boy didn’t complain.

For a while, neither of them moved. The boy simply rode out his tears. Eventually, they parted.

The boy sniffled, wiping away the snot running down his nose. “H-How can I be cool like you?”

“Me? Cool?” Riku blinked. "Just making sure you aren't confusing me with someone else..."

“Y-Yeah. You look like a Greek statue. And… and I’m fat and chubby. They called me an ogre. I think they’re right."

Riku sighed, resting his guitar on his knee. “Look, if you are trying to make friends who measure character by how they look, you'd be doing yourself a favor by not being friends with people like that.”

“But it's easy for you to say that! You already look so handsome. You must have hundreds of friends... Plus, having any friends is better than having no friends at all—”

“I don’t have many friends.”

The boy paused. “Huh?”

Riku held up his fingers. “I can count on one hand how many I have left. And I still wouldn't be able to form a full hand.”

“But how? What do you mean by… they ‘l-left?’”

“When I was younger… I messed up. Big time.” A pang hit Riku’s heart. Naomi. “I was hit with a bad reputation ever since. That doesn’t just go away. Trust me, your appearance will not matter if you aren't making real connections.”

The boy looked down. “At least you are good at guitar. I’m not. So what does that make me? Just a general loser?”

A sudden voice intruded upon his thoughts.

“And just being a general loser!!”

Riku grimaced. Partly because of the sudden intrusion. But mostly because it was, God help him, one of his most treasured memories. 

That moment had ruined his reputation. It had isolated him. Yet... remembering the raw fire in Naomi's eyes still made his chest tighten in a way he couldn’t at all justify.

He shook it off. Therapists were way too expensive in Japan anyway.

“Look, bottom line, nothing wrong with being a loser,” Riku continued, after thinking for a while. “Take me, for example. Being a loser means shallow people won’t bother us.”

“W-Well…”

Riku grinned, patting the boy on the back. “We can be losers together. What do ya say?”

He meant it.

He felt like a loser because he was pissed. Him feeling like a loser was why he ventured to the music room at all.

“...Riku?”

Riku whipped his head around. Hana stood in the doorway with a backpack over one shoulder and a guitar case on the other. Her eyes scanned the room like a security scanner.

“What are you doing with a freshman?” Hana asked. “Under Clause 12, Subsection C of the club guidelines, non-members are strictly prohibited from utilizing equipment during maintenance hours without a faculty supervisor.”

The boy’s face went pale. “I-I am sorry Namikaze Hana! It won’t happen again!!”

He scrambled to pack his things and bolted past her as if chased by the police. Hana had that effect on people, being the Seitokaicho.

Hana’s goal of becoming a politician never suited someone more.

“You didn’t have to do that.”

“Don’t act so high on your horse. If those rabid fans saw you in the music room when you weren’t supposed to…”

“I know, I know,” Riku relented.

This ‘being famous’ business was entirely new to Riku. He simply couldn’t comprehend how so many people were interested in his life, all from doing those little gestures in front of Miss Kagayaki. COMEDOWN had turned their school into a mini tourist trap overnight.

He was used to the quiet.

“So whatcha’ doing here?” Riku said, ignoring the rule citation. “Nevermind, how did you know I was here?”

“Other than the fact you don’t vent to another human being like a normal person would?” Hana sighed, stepping into the room and closing the door.

Riku looked down at his guitar. She was wrong. He was venting through music.

If you could describe Riku with one word, it’d be passionate. Once, that passion was for K-Pop. But now? He saw only rot.

That rot was personified by Miss Kagayaki. When he saw her face—Naomi's face—on that… imposter, he didn't just freak out…

He felt betrayed.

Naomi was the antithesis of the art she claimed that she represented. He didn’t care that Naomi went out of her way to ‘stick it up’ to him by tracking him down. He knew that was her way of showing interest, her way of indicating that she ‘sees’ him.

Honestly, if things were different Riku would have grabbed her hand and hugged her. He missed her.

But all of that—every tangled, confusing mess of it—still wasn’t the real reason he found himself in the music room today.

He was in the music room because some part of him reacted positively when she stormed back into his life.

“Riku? Earth to Riku?”

He snapped back to reality. Hana was staring at him. 

“I-I have a good relationship with Mr Hikami-sensei. He allows me to be here,” Riku muttered.

Hana winced. “Everybody in our band knows; hell, the school knows. That’s not what I meant. I just… Riku, it’s been seven years. Why are you still letting her get to you the second she’s back?”

Ah. The ever-present question. Hana knew she’d find Riku playing the guitar because that was his way of venting his emotions.

“Her, specifically?” Riku questioned. “I was more thinking about the industry she represents—”

“Oh, don’t give me that crap. I am not an idiot.” Hana soon sighed, pulling out her phone. “Look, whatever. I know for a fact you’ve been off the internet like you usually are. Have you even seen what’s happening on social media?”

“...No.”

“I’ll hotspot you; it’s fine.”

Riku pulled out his own phone, his fingers fumbling with the passcode.

But he just… couldn't. He didn’t even have a health condition to justify his hesitation. Naomi had a vice grip on him and he clearly couldn’t hide it.

“Ugh, you’re such a bad liar. Just give it here,” Hana cried.

Her hand brushed his as she took the phone.

My god… She smelled like… green tea.

“You’re not even looking.”

That broke Riku out of his stupor.

Hana had already typed in his code from memory and handed it back.

“What am I looking for?”

“Open the app and scroll down.”

Riku did as told. His blood soon ran cold. “...#TeamRiku?” he whispered. “...#TeamYuuji??”

There were two camera angles of the same thing that happened yesterday. Yesterday.

It was already online.

Sunburst probably recruited people beforehand to film her life on campus, he realized. The school principal… is he in on this? How is he not slapped with a thousand corruption charges?

And Yuuji of what? Of where? They didn’t have a Yuuji in class.

He scrolled further. The comments of businesses thanking the mayor for hosting COMEDOWN; the comments from parents feeling grateful that COMEDOWN could potentially inspire their children to pursue greatness; the deluge of COMEDOWN stans vowing to come visit sleepy Nagoya Heights…

COMEDOWN’s presence was viewed as a benefit.

It’d bring more tourists hoping to catch a glimpse of Kagayaki living a "normal life."

Shiiiiiit.

Riku needed to snap Naomi out of Kagayaki. She needed to realize that this path would lead her to ruin!

...But was it even his life to assume? Maybe Naomi liked this non-private life.

“Holy shit," Hana cried. "Are people spying on you?!”

“What…?”

“Look!!”

Hana practically shoved her phone in his face.

A photo of him. Playing his guitar this morning, in this very chair…

Posted thirty minutes ago.

The caption read: He’s kinda mysterious in a cool way… and he’s teaching that cute junior boy! KYAAAAAAA~~!! Riku would lowk be perfect for the Ice Princess. Fire and Ice makes everything nice…! #TeamRiku

Already, there were hundreds of likes and reactions—and there were way, way too many hearts for his liking.

“That’s it,” Riku said. “The police have to get involved. This has to end.”

Hana grimaced. “Unless you want to be public enemy number one, best lay off 119. We know people are already spying on you. They probably are watching you as you speak. They will find out sooner or later you spoiled the party, and when you do…”

~DING-DING-DING-DING!!~

Their first period started soon.

“You are finished.”

As the school bell ebbed away in the background, Riku was getting the sinking feeling he was going to get his questions answered, unwillingly or not.

“Come on, Hana,” Riku said. “We better get to the bottom of this.”