Aphonic Surprise I

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Edited by RedPandaChick

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Tomokazu and I woke up with the same alarm as we shared the hotel room for the night. Since we were going to give a concert for the second day in a row in the same venue, it was better to have a comfortable sleep at a proper lodging instead of being cramped on a bus.

As usual, Tomokazu let me use the bathroom first. However, I received a message from Astra while brushing my teeth, asking me to come to her and Risa's room as soon as possible. She had never done that before, so I rushed to brush my teeth and stepped out of the bathroom without showering.

"Is something the matter?" Tomokazu asked me with a raspy voice, knowing I usually took more time in the bathroom.

I put my toothbrush and my toothpaste in my backpack before answering.

"Astra asked me to go to her and Risa's room as soon as possible."

Even Tomokazu frowned in confusion. "She hasn't done that before."

"I know, that's why I'm going now."

"Let's hope it's nothing serious. I'll use the bathroom in the meantime."

"Go ahead."

Still in my pajamas, I stepped out of the room and walked a couple of rooms down the hallway. I knocked on the door and Astra asked me to come in. Both she and Risa sat together on the edge of one of the beds. They turned around to look at me, but Risa quickly turned away again.

Astra stood up and approached me. Her troubled expression only worried me more.

"Kaito, Risa…"

The longer Astra said nothing, the faster my breathing became.

"What about Risa?"

Finally, she said it. "Risa lost her voice."

My heart skipped a beat. I snapped my head toward Risa, who stood up and approached us without raising her head.

"I woke up… talking like this," Risa said with an aphonic, raspy voice. She could barely articulate whole words and it was so deep that I couldn't even recognize her.

I threw my hand up to my head without thinking, so I quickly put it back down. As desperate as I was, I didn't want to show it to the girls or anyone in general. I merely closed my eyes, not even sighing.

"I'm sorry," apologized Risa.

"Don't be, it's not your fault," I replied. "You've been working a lot."

Risa shook her head. "My throat has been tight for days, but I was scared to tell anyone because I didn't want a concert to be canceled…."

For the first time since I had met her, I got upset at her, but getting upset was only going to worsen things. It took me a few deep breaths to bury the anger, then I put my hand on Risa's shoulder.

"What's done is done. I'll talk with the rest to see what we should do."

Risa covered her face with her hands and then cried, "I'm really sorry!" before bursting into tears.

As much as I wanted to comfort her, it wasn't my place to do so. I glanced at Astra, who simply nodded at me before hugging Risa.

I used my glasses to call an emergency meeting as I headed back to Tomokazu's and my room. I summoned Aya, Haru, and the girls, whose holograms projected in front of me as they gradually joined the call within the next minute. Unsurprisingly, neither Astra nor Risa joined.

"Emergency meeting? Did something happen?" worried Haru, whose hologram was sitting.

I replied, "I'm sorry for calling you all this early, but there's a situation. Risa lost her voice."

Their frowns of confusion switched to those of worry, but Sanae seemed the most shocked.

"Did she really?" asked Sanae.

"Yes. Has it happened before?"

Aki answered, "I'm sure it has happened to the five of us before."

Sanae and Umi nodded.

"Makes sense," I replied. "I called you all to discuss what we should do."

"What are your options?" asked Aya, whose hologram also was sitting, although she was wearing a t-shirt and shorts instead of formal attire like Haru.

"I have three. Number one: we cancel the concert. Even though it would suck for everyone, it is the safest option since people paid to watch the five members of Blostars."

Aya replied, "As much as it hurts, I have to agree with that one to avoid controversies, but let's hear the other two options."

I continued, "The second option is to playback Risa's voice, but we would be lying to people's faces and I doubt the girls would like to do that."

As expected, everyone shook their heads in disapproval.

"The last option is to do the concert, but Risa would only dance and not sing. Risa also has to agree, of course."

Haru asked, "What about her songs? Are you going to remove them from the setlist?"

Everyone seemed surprised about her asking that since she wasn't working with us yet, except Aki and me, who knew her well enough to assume that she had already studied a lot about us and the music industry in general.

"I'm afraid so," I answered.

Out of nowhere, Umi suggested, "I could play an acoustic version of her songs."

We all stared at her.

"I didn't know they had an acoustic version," said Aki.

"They don't, but I can arrange them before the concert."

"That's not a bad idea," I said, "but we should ask Risa if she's okay with that too. Does everyone agree with this decision?"

Everyone nodded, except for Aya.

"I don't disagree, but I still think the first option is the best one."

Haru added, "I don't think there's a right option, but you seem the most enthusiastic about the last one. In the end, it's your choice."

"Alright. Thank you all for joining the call," I said. "I won't take more of your time and go ask Risa if she's okay with the decision. Have a good day."

Aya and Haru said goodbye and left the call, followed by Aki, Umi, and Sanae.

"What an unpleasant situation," Tomokazu said as he stepped out of the bathroom, wearing no more than a towel to cover the lower half of his body.

"What the…?!"

"I forgot to take my clothes from my bag. Could you throw it—"

"When did you get abs?!"

"Oh. Hadn't you noticed before? We've shared a room several times now."

"Why would've I looked at you half-naked?"

"We're bros, there's nothing wrong with it."

"Are you…?" I sighed. "Whatever. When did you get them?"

"After starting to work with you. Being surrounded by cute and fit girls made me more self-conscious than ever in my life, so I began exercising in my room every now and then."

Speechless for a second, I replied, "You know what? To each their own. I'm glad you're healthy."

I stretched across the bed to grab Tomokazu's bag and threw it at him.

"Thank you, dear friend."

However, the impact created by catching the bag made his towel loosen up, which then fell down to the floor. I closed my eyes and snapped my head away to look at the ceiling, but it was too late. The image had already been engraved in my brain.

I stood up from the bed and approached the door.

"I'll go talk to Risa."

"Sure," Tomokazu replied as if nothing had happened.

I kept shaking my head as I walked to Astra's and Risa's room in an attempt to get the image out of my head, to no avail.

Distracted by my thoughts, I stepped into the room without knocking. Unbelievably, what I saw inside was able to suppress Tomokazu's image in my head. Astra and Risa were sitting on the edge of the bed again, although this time they were kissing.

Huh.

They didn't take long to notice me. Their faces grew red as I had never seen before, then Risa threw herself onto the bed and covered herself with the blanket.

Astra wouldn't look at me. I merely stood still in shock, trying to gather my thoughts.

"Wha…? Since…?" I shook my head. "Risa, we need to talk."

"I'm really sorry!" she tried to shout, but her voice could barely be heard. "I just ruined hundreds of people's nights and I'm acting as if nothing happened!"

"Your voice is going to get worse if you keep shouting," I scolded.

Risa remained silent.

"Thank you. Now get out of there."

Eventually, she moved the blanket aside and sat up slowly.

"We'll talk about what happened here later, alright?"

They both nodded.

I continued, "Risa, the concert doesn't have to be canceled, but you have to agree with something."

Her eyes opened wide as soon as I said that, then I proceeded to explain to her what was discussed in the emergency meeting. She agreed to everything without me having to say anything else.