the idols race for love, are you ready? | book one | utapri

chapter forty-one

ｒｏｙａｌ ｃｒｏｗｎｓ ｆｏｒ
ｔｈｅ ｐｒｉｎｃｅｓ ｏｆ ｓｏｎｇ

『 your p.o.v 』

          With the little bell above the door ringing as Otoya opens it for us, my six friends and I all hurry into my mom's bento shop, the cold winter wind nipping at our heels as we try desperately to escape it. "Could it be any colder?!" Syo hissed as Ren playfully pushed down on his fedora so that it covered his eyes. "Learn to wear actual coats fit for winter instead of your thin hoodies, Ochibichan." The orangette responded coolly.

          I shook my head as those two began bickering back and forth almost instantly, Masato talking with Natsuki and Tokiya while Otoya and I head up to the front counter to place our orders. Mom kept her greetings short this time around since I called her earlier asking if it was possible to bring everyone down here for me to talk to them. I've already filled her in on the current situation regarding Quartet Night and the modified graduation auditions so she simply offers me a gentle smile while Otoya heads off to make sure no one steals his usual spot at the large table we've more or less claimed as our own near the back of the restaurant.

          "Those boys of yours are really something else." Mom mused, her warm hazel eyes sparkling some as she looks past me to our table. "I still can't believe they actually proposed becoming a band just to keep you as their composer."

          Shrugging, I glanced over my shoulder at the perfect moment to watch as Otoya blew the end of the straw wrapper right off the straw and directly into Tokiya's face, the red head immediately panicking since he meant to hit Syo, not our stoic navy haired friend. "Yeah, I can't believe it either. Haruka had said a while ago that it would be cool for them to create a band and we joked about it here and there," I paused as I looked back to my mother with a small smile, "but I don't think either of us thought they'd really go creating the group themselves."

          "Would you have asked them to form a group if they didn't bring it up?"

          "Probably not. I'm already selfish enough wanting to compose for them and Quartet Night, I wouldn't want to make things worse by trying to force them to work together if they didn't want to."

          My mother laughed some as she turned to head back in the kitchen to start on our orders. "They're lovely boys, all of them, so I'm glad you're working with both groups. Hopefully those boys over there won't get too jealous now that you'll be working with their seniors." She mused with a suggestive raising of her eyebrows and- and clearly Reiji is a bad influence on her...

          "Oh my gosh, don't jinx me please." I said as she just giggled some more and disappeared back to wear the lovely smell of fried chicken can be found coming from.

          Shaking my head, I turned to head on over to my table. Natsuki beamed a bright smile as I sat between him and Masato, the other four boys all sitting across from us and looking to me expectantly. "So, what did you want to talk to us about ___?" Syo was the first to speak up after all of their individual conversations had died down.

          "You know how you guys left it up to me to convince Shining to let you all create a band?" I asked, Otoya already grinning and looking five seconds away from shooting right out of his chair. "Well, I kind of got him to agree."

          Launching his fist up into the air, Otoya cheered. "I knew you could do it ___!"

          Tokiya looked to me before sighing. "What do you mean by kind of?"