Chapter 31

A few days later, Misaki took a deep breath as her stomach flipped, staring at the microphone in the studio with the lyrics to one of their new songs in front of her.

"I don't know if I can do this." She adjusted the headset and glanced at the brothers on the other side of the glass.

"Of course you can, Misa," Ren's voice came through the headset. "It's only the three of us here, and we can do as many takes as you want."

"But... what if none of it is good or usable?"

"Then we try again. You're getting into your own head too much over this. We've all sung this song together during practice the past few days, and it's gone well."

"One moment," Shun said and turned to Ren.

I'm causing trouble for them again... This shouldn't even be hard; I've done it so many times before.

Shun pointed at the door to the recording room. "Go in there with her."

"You want to record both at the same time?"

"If that's what it takes to make it work, let's do it."

Ren nodded. "Here's hoping I can help her relax." He crossed his fingers.

Misaki stared at them, wondering what they were talking about, since their mics weren't on.

Ren entered the recording room and sat beside her. "We're doing this together." He took her hand and kissed the back of it.

Her heart rate spiked, a blush forming on her cheeks. Is this supposed to help?

"My voice is the lead-in to where your vocals start, so it should be easier with me right here." He smiled at her and tightened his grip.

"Tell Ren to quit flirting and put his headphones on," Shun said through her headset.

"Shun said to h-hurry up," Misaki said, averting her gaze.

"Yeah, yeah." He put his headphones on with one hand, not letting go of hers.

"D-do we need to be holding hands for it?" I can't tell if they're warm and comforting, or making me overheat with nerves.

"Technically, no, but it makes me feel better and more confident, so I like it this way. Is it a problem?"

"Uh..." Might be distracting. "I guess not..."

"Good." Ren swirled his finger in the air, gesturing to Shun to start.

Their upbeat pop music played, including her keyboard playing from before, and Ren's smooth voice entered with their lyrics to 'Rising Stars'.

So beautiful... She zoned out, watching him, and missed her line.

"Misa?" Ren glanced at her to find her staring at him. He struggled to hold back his smile and cleared his throat.

"Oh! I'm so sorry. See, I'm messing up already!" Misaki tried to pull away, so he shifted his seat closer to her, scraping it across the floor.

"No worries. I know my handsome visage and perfect voice can be distracting sometimes."

"Quit having such a big head," Shun said. "Let's go from the start. Misa, are you ready?"

"You've got this, Misa." Ren winked at her. "You know the song; just follow my lead."

Focus. You can do this.

The song restarted. Ren's voice came in the same as last time, but she stayed focused, and when her part started, she nailed it.

Her voice flowed out naturally, soft and bright, and when his voice came back in, it weaved together with hers in harmony.

When the song finished, both Ren and Shun clapped.

"That was excellent, Misa," Shun said.

"See? Our voices meshed together so well it's making me overheat." Ren fanned himself.

Misaki's eyes widened, and she stared at Ren, stunned. What am I supposed to think of that?! Wait, don't think about that!

"Cool your jets, Ren. Misa, if you'd prefer, I could sing with you."

"Hey!" Ren complained, shaking his fist at Shun. "Don't take this away from me."

"Then be a good little boy and set up for another run."

Misaki covered her mouth, hiding her laugh as her shoulders relaxed. Shun is an expert Ren wrangler.

"Fine," Ren grumbled. "But I think that one was perfect."

"Maybe, but I prefer to have a few to go over later, no matter what I think in the moment. Are you okay to continue, Misa?"

Misaki took a deep breath and nodded, giving him a thumbs-up. "I'm good to go."

Exhilarating and exhausting at the same time, but better than I remember when I recorded with Aki hovering around... Misaki leaned back on the couch in the living room after emerging from the studio hours later with the boys, her throat still warm.

Shun wandered off to talk to Daichi about their album progress along with their plans for marketing, which he'd let Ren in on later.

Ren sat on the couch beside her, his arm resting behind her. "I don't remember a recording ever going quite that well." Ren sighed, a content smile on his face as he leaned his head back and closed his eyes.

"I'm sure that's not true for an expert like you, considering I messed it up in the beginning."

"But after you gazed lovingly at me during my first run through, and let yourself enjoy the moment, it was smooth sailing."

"G-azed..." She swallowed hard and looked away from him, her heart rate spiking. "I don't know what you're talking about." She clutched her hands in her lap. Did I do that? I know I zoned out while watching him. Oh my gosh... Did I?! "It was just awe of your vocal abilities..." That had to be it.

"I know the look when I see it, Misa, because it's the same look I give you." He turned his head, still resting on the back, to look at her. "I know I shouldn't say it yet, but it's getting harder to hold back." He gripped his chest over his heart.

Misaki froze. This has been him holding back? "I..." She trailed off, unable to form her words. How do you respond to that? Her heart thumped hard, and she looked away, nibbling on her lip.

"So cute," he muttered.

"A-are you teasing me?"

"As much as I love to, no; I meant it." He sat up straight and rested his hand over hers on the couch. "Since you came back into my life, I've been excited and eager to see you every chance I get." He rubbed the back of her hand with his thumb. "And hoping you'd finally look at me the way I look at you." Ren held back from mentioning how she used to look at Shun. "Today I finally saw it, and I can't stop thinking about it."

"Ren..." she whispered his name and swallowed hard. What is he going to do? Butterflies formed in her stomach.

"I know it's probably bad timing because of everything going on, but I'm not sure there's ever going to be a proper time. And I'm terrified that you'll run away if I say it," his voice wavered, and he cleared his throat. "But I want to make it abundantly clear that I am head-over-heels, hopelessly in love with you."

Misaki gasped, and their eyes locked. Oh my gosh! He just... He said love, didn't he? I didn't mishear, right?

A rare, shy smile formed on Ren's face. "There she is." His gaze softened as he reached out to caress her cheek with his free hand. "Don't worry; I won't rush you to respond to my confession. It's just... after everything that's happened and that amazing recording session today, I was bursting with emotion, and had to get it out. Besides, how else can I be certain you know the truth? Okay?"

Misaki nodded automatically, still lost in thought at the repeating moment in her head. I knew he liked me, but hopelessly in love? With me? How? Why? Where do we go from here?

"I'm sorry if it was too much, but someone brought it to my attention that I may have shown it with actions, but not enough with words..." Ren sighed, worried about her response, or rather lack thereof. He laughed and looked away. "Never been on this side of the confession before..."

"Guys, what do you want to eat?" Shun entered the living room, having been avoiding it because he'd heard Ren confessing.

"Shun..." Ren turned his attention to him in the kitchen doorway. "Anything. Maybe something hearty, with ice cream for dessert. I feel like I need something to help me cool down."

"Come help me choose."

"Okay..." Ren frowned, unused to Shun asking for more help than that, and headed into the kitchen.

Smack.

"Ow! What was that for?" Ren rubbed the back of his head, grumbling.

"I know what I said earlier, but what the hell was that? Springing it on her," Shun hissed.

"Eavesdropping?"

"I wasn't even trying to, but I could hear you clearly once I got off the phone."

"And what was wrong with my confession? That was hard for me!" Ren patted his chest over his heart.

"But you put it on her when we still have the rest of the album to complete!" Shun rubbed his face and groaned.

"Well, too late; it's out there. She can't reason her way through my actions anymore."

"Oh, so you noticed."

"Of course I did." Ren puffed his cheeks out.

"And now we both shall have to live with the consequences."

"Things won't go that bad, right?"