𝙼𝚊𝚍𝚎 𝚈𝚘𝚞 𝙰 𝙼𝚒𝚡𝚝𝚊𝚙𝚎 - 𝙷. 𝚈𝚊𝚖𝚊𝚍𝚊 𝚡 𝙾𝙲

Chapter Seven

After going home to shower, change, and eat dinner, Yamada made his way back to Hero Radio and settled himself into a seat at the break room table. He took out his phone and checked his email for Ito's prep for the show and began to read over it, making notes as he went.

Unfortunately for Yamada, his mind kept wandering and he was struggling to stay focused on the task at hand. While he tried to find solace in the fact that he had at least made Aoki smile today, he couldn't help that gnawing feeling in his gut when he recalled their earlier interactions. He couldn't help but wonder what happened that upset her so much, but as he thought back on her expression when he saw her in the hall, he knew that whatever it was, he had made it worse by accidentally ignoring her.

When Ito strolled into the room and only received a slight wave from the blond, he raised an eyebrow. "You need another cup of coffee, Yamada?"

Yamada reached for his mug and checked its contents, still half full. "Nah, I'm good thanks."

Ito shrugged and poured himself a cup before stepping to the fridge and pulling out the cream, noticing the new playlist had been left untouched. When he replaced the cream to its home, he slipped the paper out from under the magnet and brought it with him to the table along with his coffee, taking the seat across from Yamada.

He studied the page for a moment and when he didn't recognize any of the artists or songs, he laughed. "This is like a secret language."

Yamada's eyes flicked up as Ito spoke again, sliding the paper across the table to him. "Wanna decode this?"

A smile curved Yamada's lips, he'd forgotten about the playlists. With a curious eye, he gave the paper a thorough inspection and was pleased when he found he only recognized six out of the ten songs. There were few things Yamada enjoyed more than exploring new music, especially when he was already confident he would enjoy the suggestions.

He placed his finger on the seventh track written down and tapped on it. "This one is a banger if I ever heard one. Man, I love these playlists."

Ito chuckled. "Oh yeah?"

"Mhmm. Gimme a sec," Yamada tapped on his music app and pulled up the song Stairway by Yukon Blonde.

After a few seconds of toe-tapping, Yamada's eyes lit up with a small spark of inspiration and he quickly pulled up his setlist for that night and added in a song from the same band that he wanted to kick off his show with that night.

Ito's head bobbed along with the song and as it was winding down, he checked his watch. "We should get set up, Yamada."

The blond nodded and pushed out his chair to follow his new producer into the production room. They settled into their spots and quickly ran over their plan for that night before Ito cued him in, lifting Yamada's microphones fader as he introduced his show.

Aoki sat cuddled up on her couch in a blanket with a package of Oreos balanced on the armrest and her laptop settled in her lap. When she glanced at the time and notice it was almost one am, she pulled up the station's website and started up the web stream to listen to Yamada's show. Aoki knew that it definitely wasn't going to help her emotional state to hear him, but at this point, it didn't matter. She was sad anyway and there was always something comforting about listening to Present Mic talking about music.

The show's theme faded out and Yamada's peppy Present Mic voice filtered through her laptop speakers. "Hey, hey foxy listeners! How are you all doing on this rockin' Friday night?"

Aoki rolled her eyes as he waited a beat as if to actually let someone reply. So cheesy.

"Tonight we've got a great show planned for you, filled with some awesome jams. This first one I'm sending out to my new favourite friend out in radio land. I know you're having a rough day, but keep your chin up, Dimples."