The Brute Ruins the Princess

“Bukit…?” He wasn’t so completely offline that he didn’t know what the other members of COMEDOWN looked like, even though Kagayaki took all their spotlight.

“That’d be me,” she replied.

Damn, her voice was deep.

As the official rapper of a K-Pop group, their voice must possess at least a modicum of aggression. Bukit was what happened when you took that project to its logical extremes.

Bukit must’ve been here because she came from a run.

“I take it that you are the fabled Riku,” Bukit continued.

“My… reputation already precedes me…” Riku snarkily replied, unable to look away from the terrifying grace of her posture.

“Hard to ignore it. It’s all Kagayaki is capable of thinking about.”

Riku froze. “What’s that supposed to mean?” Probably the fact I'm a thorn in her side…

“What’s your name? You clearly know mine.” she said, hoisting him up.

“Riku.”

“Wow, your fingers are calloused.” Ah. She pulled him up using the hand that gripped the strings. “You play guitar, bass…?”

“Electric, acoustic, four-string and six-string bass,” Riku answered automatically.

“Cool beans.” Bukit let go of his hand, wiping hers on her towel. “Oh, fun fact you might not know: Kagayaki has not gotten any better at playing the guitar.”

“W-What…?” Riku blinked, confused. “What are you saying?”

“She’s tried multiple times to pick it up, and they get me wrong; she can play… but she can never make it sound good. I figured that motivation had to come from somewhere. Now I’m staring him in the face,” Bukit smirked. “The amount of times I heard ‘if Riku could do it, why can’t I?’ was enough for me to get higher-quality earplugs.”

Riku stared at her. Man, she was so cool.

But just as well…

Bukit… didn’t hate him?

She was talking to him like a human being.

“I didn’t realize the rapper of COMEDOWN had such an interest in instruments…” Riku stammered. “W-Which—which is very cool, and…”

“To get to where I am, I had to be good at everything, not just wordsmithing,” she said. “Fact is, Sunburst probably would have considered me too high a risk if I told them I didn’t know how to sing, produce, play, etcetera.”

“There is… blatant disregard for other nationalities in K-Pop.”

“...What do you mean?”

“A shade darker than pale, and for some companies, you were already on the chopping block. And that’s before nationality biases.”

Bukit blinked. She actually stopped wiping her neck to look at him properly. “Many people around here—least of all Japanese guys—actually acknowledge that. You get it.” She looked him up and down, re-evaluating. “You have... potential... to be a good guy, Riku.”

Riku felt the air leave his lungs. For a moment, he simply stared. Then he realized he was still trapped outside. He needed to get in. He needed a contact if he got lost.

But he needed to preserve what they had between them…

“Can I...” Riku stuttered, his heart hammering against his ribs. Don't screw this up. Don't be creepy. “Can I get your phone number?”

Bukit paused. She stared at him. With the way he was sweating, he looked like a kicked puppy holding a miniature water bottle.

“Excuse me?” she teased, arching a brow.

“No! I mean—I don’t have socials!” Riku panicked, suddenly realizing the error of his ways. “I need to... call people to know where to go! I’m a ghost!”

Bukit laughed. She took his phone, typed in her digits, and tossed it back. “Fine by me. Though if you call past 10 PM, I will block you.”

She scanned her hand, opening the door for him. “Come on in, Stone Age.”

Riku walked into the cool air of the compound.

He looked at the new contact: Bukit Astria.

Tears started flowing down his cheeks. He wiped them away quickly before she could see.

I… I made a friend today.

His first new friend since the day Naomi left.

\\

“Master Kagayaki’s room is down the corridor and to the right.”

“T-Thanks.”

The servants were being weird. Their smiles were way too earnest, and one might mistake them for actually liking being in this kind of work environment.

The rumors were true then. Workers’ rights weren't just a slogan here; at Sunburst, they were practice.

As such, that explained the tension between him and the servants.

Surely they saw the videos. Riku acted out of turn in front of their goddess. They were probably thinking about how it was a mistake for Kagayaki to invite a brute like him over at all.

Riku kept his head down, walking until he found the heavy oak door. Kagayaki was there, sitting on a plush swivel chair, furiously typing on her phone. She looked up, her eyes sharpening instantly.

"You're late," she snapped.

"I got locked out.”

His eyes scanned the room. It was less a bedroom and more a shrine to music production. But in the corner sat a pristine acoustic guitar.

Bukit’s words echoed in his head.

Riku walked over to it. He picked it up, feeling the weight.

Top of the line stuff.

"Put that down," Kagayaki commanded. "That's probably worth three times your net worth."

"Bukit says otherwise," Riku said, strumming a G-chord. It was perfectly tuned. "She says you try to play. But you can't."

Kagayaki stood up, her face flushing pink. "I can play perfectly fine!"

"Prove it."

Riku held the guitar out to her. Naomi glared at him. She snatched the instrument, sitting back down with a huff.

She positioned her hands. Her posture was rigid, like she was posing for a magazine cover.

She started to play. A simple progression. Technically? She was alright. She hit every note. The timing was metronomic. There wasn't a single mistake.

But it was awful.

Riku listened for ten seconds before he reached out and muted the strings with his hand.

"Stop."

"What?!" Naomi cried. "My tone wasn’t even that scuffed. My fingers were inch-perfect!"

"Yeah. And that's a problem a lot of beginner guitarists make," Riku said. "Even though the notes are correct, your tone is all over the place; you sound unsure of yourself. You're not pressing piano keys, Naomi." He leaned in. “Let me show you.”

"W-W-What are you doing?!"

Riku didn't answer. He stepped around the chair and sat on the edge of the desk behind her. He leaned forward, his chest hovering inches from her back, encompassing her. “This is literally how you teach people new to the guitar. Unless you want me to hold your hand from across the room?"

"Mansplainer.”

"Crybaby.”

He reached down, his calloused hands covering her soft, manicured ones. He pressed firmly on her delicate fingers, forcing them to flatten against the fretboard. She flinched at the contact.

Riku hoped she liked the factory smell of his clothing. He didn’t have cologne to put on at home anyway.

"Is this really necessary…?"

"Relax your wrist," he murmured, right by her ear. He strummed the chord for her. The note this time was clear and resonant. "See how that sounds so much better?"

Then something cracked.

Naomi scrambled up, shoving the guitar into his chest as she retreated. "No! I see how you are two steps away from getting a friggin’ restraining order!!"

She backed away until her legs hit the production desk. She was cornered. Her face was bright red now.

"Why do you always do this? Why do you always make me f-feel like this?! I am Miss Kagayaki! I should feel untouchable," she seethed, her voice trembling. "Why do you always have to pick me apart?"

"I'm just telling you the truth."

"I don't want your truth!" Naomi shouted. "Don't you know? I detest you. I hate you! I hate how you look at me, I hate how you talk to me, and I hate that you're even here!"

Her eyes were almost wet from the frustration. She was trying so hard. Riku, though... he didn't feel hated. He watched her chest heave, watched the fire in her eyes that she reserved only for him.

A twisted, warm feeling bloomed in his chest. It kept him going.

God help him, he loved it.

He took a step closer, entering her personal space.

"You could have kicked me out," he countered, stepping closer again. "You could have let me hang out to dry while I recorded on a laptop mic. You didn't have to bring me here."

"It was strictly for my benefit!!" she cried, pressing herself back against the desk.

"Is that right?"

"Yes!"

"You are such a bad liar," Riku said, the words slipping out without thinking.

“Hngg…” she squealed. “HNNNGGG…”

Then she wrapped her hands around the lapels of his work jacket with the unexpected strength of her youth and yanked him down to her level.

"Then prove it! If you think you know me so well, then prove I’m a liar! You made me like this! You made me feel like this!”

Hair strands fell above her face as she pulled Riku closer to her face.

“So. Take. Responsibility."

But then the door handle turned.

"Kagayaki-san? We're ready to start the—"

Yumi and the camera crew walked in, and promptly and quite understandably froze.

Riku was inches from Naomi, trapping her against the desk.

Kagayaki’s eyes snapped to the camera on Yumi's shoulder. "Don't!!" she shrieked, lunging forward.

Yumi flinched, fumbling with the grip. Her thumb slipped.

BEEP. The red "REC" light winked on.

Oh shit.

The chat on the camera’s secondary monitor lit up.

The very first comment was a telling signal of things to come…

“The Brute in Miss Kagayaki’s room?! Sacrilege!!”