There she was, singing on stage in front of her classmates. The crowd was enjoying every single second of it as she engaged in her typical act. This was something that Rinse had done dozens, no hundreds of times in her life as an idol. Even with the thought of Ishi stuck on her mind, not an ounce of her worry showed to the audience. To them, this was a perfect performance.
After all, she was a veteran to the idol scene. There were plenty of times when she had doubt inside. When something might not had gone the way she wanted it to. Yet she was able to put on that face people loved. Her smile, which melted the hearts of millions. This was all normal to her, and it didn't look to change any time soon during her career.
"Thank you." She did a bow to the audience when she finished her song. They erupted into applause, every single one of them. And it wasn't just her fellow classmates either, but also numerous strangers that got the opportunity at this impromptu concert with the famous Rinse Hattori. "I hope you all enjoyed, and thanks so much for your time." She gave a big smile and wink, topping off her performance. Even without a rehearsal she appeared graceful on stage. A true beauty. "This was a really powerful performance, so I'd like to ask to please allow me to return to my hotel room."
Now that she was done, the girl stepped down from the stage to allow anyone else to perform, which didn't take long before a group replaced her with not so good singing. Rinse returned to the bar to finish up her drink first. This had been a long day, and heading back to the hotel was on her mind. However, seeing Otoya still sitting at the spot where everything went down, she couldn't resist asking one question.
"Aren't you going to look for Hirose?" She asked him, surprised at his lack of concern about his friend. "He seemed really upset."
"If there's one thing I love about Ishi." He replied while taking a sip. "Is that I never have to worry about him." She was bewildered about his statement. This seemed like it should be a fact that everyone knew, but she was still new around here. "He's fine, and we'll be seeing him in a couple of seconds."
"Seconds?" As she asked him, the girl got her answer when Ishi appeared from behind them with only one word to say.
"Hey." He spoke, which spooked her enough to take a couple steps back from him.
"Wha-what are you doing back here?" She asked as Otoya greeted his friend as if nothing happened. In response, Ishi leaned over the bar and picked up some cash.
"Forgot my money." He answered her. "Well, looks like it's time for me to go back to the hotel." The boy was about to make his exit once more, but she stopped him.
"I'm sorry." The words blurted out from her mouth. "It's my fault about what happened earlier. I was just joking, it wasn't supposed to be like that."
"Eh, don't worry about that. I don't hold grudges anyway." It may not have sounded like it from his tone or his words, but he did accept the apology. "And don't worry about me and everyone else. The one good thing about teens is their short memory." Or rather, their desire to avoid conflict. "So by tomorrow, we'll all forget about it and act like nothing happened." It seemed to be the case in his high school career, and this time didn't appear to be different. She wondered if something like that was truly healthy for him. Things would just repeat, wouldn't they? Still, she was going to take the small victory for now.
"If you're heading back to the hotel, then perhaps you could walk me back to my room?" Her tone brightened up.
"I'm pretty sure you can walk back on your own." He responded.
"But, it gets pretty dangerous for us girls at night."
"We're 50 meters from the hotel, I doubt anything bad's going to happen."
"If you need someone to accompany you, I can walk with you." Otoya offered.
"Never mind, I'll walk you back." Ishi changed his mind. If there was one thing he was willing to do, it was to keep his best friend from doing anything stupid. "Come on, or I'll leave you behind." With no hesitation, he walked away from the bar. She had to quickly move just to keep up. While they were leaving, some people spotted them.
"Eh!? Hattori is leaving with Hiro-"
"I don't want to hear it." Ishi cut them off. Those were the only words he said before turning off his ears to shut them out. "So I'm taking it you wanted to talk about something." He talked with her as they made the journey back to the hotel.
"How did you figure that out?"
"Your intentions were clear as day." Of all the people here, she certainly wouldn't pick him just cause. "Look, you really don't need to feel bad about it. I'm the one who shouldn't have acted out." That was another thing he dislike about himself in his teen years. The dreaded teenage angst.
"Still, it's my fault that your night was ruined. You got left out of all the fun." She knew that he may not have cared to listen to her performance, but even that boy would say that was better than being on a dark beach alone.
"I wasn't left out." He revealed the truth to her. "I came back and caught that little concert of yours." At first she felt bad that he saw her having fun mere moments after his outburst, but he didn't feel the same way. "You… Have a wonderful singing voice."
"Huh?" Did she hear him right? Did that boy just compliment her?
"You heard what I said." He didn't want to repeat himself. It was already embarrassing enough the first time. Rinse's heart felt a bit of tightness. That was strange, since she had heard people telling her that all her life. Yet somehow it was different coming from him. Perhaps it was because of how cold he was, that something like this contrasted with his style. Or it could also be how it was somehow more special coming from him. "I can be mean, but I'm no liar."
"Well, thank you." She was grateful for the kind words, even if they were coming from him. The pair of them reached the hotel and got on the elevator.
"I just hope that I don't have to listen to you singing all the time." he told her in the privacy of the elevator. "I know you're an idol and all, but hopefully that's not the only thing you are."
"Well, I like making people happy." She beamed with pride. "So you could say that I fit being an idol, right?"
"True." He admitted to her as the elevator doors opened to their floor. "But you gotta make sure you're feeling all right too. It kind of shows when you aren't." She was so stunned at his statement that the girl nearly didn't get out of the elevator before the doors closed.
"Wait." He had gotten off way before her, and already was making his way towards his room, which was in the opposite direction from hers.
"Good night." He stopped her from continuing their conversation. Ishi was done for the night, and this seemed to be a good spot to end things for him. swiftly, he entered his hotel room, leaving the girl all alone in the hallways.
She stood there in introspection, trying to figure this boy out. How was he able to see that from her? There was no way he had ever heard of any of her other performances seeing as he never heard of her as an idol. So how could he think that wasn't just how she sang? Was it just a lucky guess, or did he really notice something that no one else seemed to see?
Rinse must've stood still here for a few minutes, even if it felt like an eternity. How could someone that she wouldn't consider close to her know how she was feeling so well? But if no one else could see it like him, who was truly the closest to her? The adoring fans surrounding her, or the one boy that seemed to hate her guts.
She realized that her current action, or lack thereof, would be strange if she continued to stand out here. So she headed towards her hotel room, twirling her hair while deep in thought. This continued all the way until she plopped herself to bed, her mind drifting off to sleep with these thoughts.
***
It was now the next morning. All of the students had packed their things and were loading them onto the buses for their long trip back home. Ishi gave out one big yawn as he watched everyone taking care of their stuff. He didn't get much sleep at all last night.
The worst part about being in this sleep deprived state would be the presence of Rinse and what that brought about.
"Hirose, how are we going to decide on who will sit next to Hattori?" A fair bit of people came up to him and asked. As predicted, no one cared about his harsh words last night and didn't treat him any differently for it.
"Actually, could I pick who I sit next to?" She spoke up while standing among the crowd.
"Yeah, let the girl choose." He had a headache and didn't want to think of some stupid game for them to do and try to win. Seeing as she was the one to offer it, Ishi figured that she already had someone in mind. It could've been the boy who won the first time, but he doubted it considering how the trip here went. Maybe she'd pick someone who was a girl, so there would be less flirting. Well, assuming the girl wasn't that type of girl.
"Great" She clasped her hands in joy as she walked up to him. "Then I'd like to sit next to Hirose." That prompted a lot of 'ehs' from her classmates. There was also a lot of complaining coming his way as well. Mainly due to their current seating arrangement in class.
"You know what, I think this is the best option." Ishi spoke up, accepting her decision.
"And why do you say that?" The obvious reason in their mind was that he got to sit next to an idol. But seeing that it was Ishi Hirose, that clearly was not the case.
"Because none of us get what we want." It was too difficult for anyone to argue against that.
So they all got onto the bus for their road trip back. This time, he got to sit by the window while Rinse was able to stretch out her legs onto the aisle. "You know, if your goal is to get everyone to hate me. You're doing a good job at it." He said to her while staring outside the window. That girl was lucky he didn't need to sit next to Youna on the return trip since they actually have a proper driver who wasn't their teacher.
"Is it so wrong if I want to?" She teased him on her answer.
"Well, why would you want to?" He asked.
"That's for me to know, and for you to find out."
"Then I'm not finding out." He laid back and crossed his arms. The boy had no intentions of digging into her thought process.