Thank you for the vote, @XHaquaX-san! ^^

CREDITS TO: UTA NO PRINCE SAMA

CHAPTER 26

Ten years passed since their debut as STARISH.

Ren, Cecil and Masato already married to their girlfriends. Otoya was engaged to Nozomi and was busy with doing preparation for his wedding while Natsuki was happy with Tomochika. Meanwhile, Syo was romantically and surprisingly involved with Yuma Risa after they became the hosts of a travel program together.

And the last but not least, after getting married for a year, Tokiya and Haruka were blessed with a third member in their family, Ichinose Izumi.

Being the only and beloved son of a popular idol, not to mention his look exactly is the same with his father to the point of he was addressed as 'Mini Tokiya', Izumi had gained a lot of attention from the fans the moment he was born. As he grew up, his talent as an entertainer shone more and more. He loves singing and acting, just like his father. His shy but bright personality and only got all cute and excited around his parents gained himself a ton of CF offers for children products.

As for Tokiya, he learned a lot of things from Izumi.

First of all, no matter how terrible your childhood is, promise yourself that you will never let your child goes through the same kind of childhood.

"Daddy, I got full marks in Mathematics!"

"Really? Congrats, dear. Do you want a new drawing block then?"

"Yeayyy, drawing block, drawing block!"

Unlike me, he is really good in drawing, Tokiya thought.

Second, since in their small world, they only have you, they tend to admire and view you as the most wonderful person that they have ever seen.

Tokiya was brushing teeth when suddenly a soft knock on the door caught his attention.

"Come in."

A small hand slowly pushed the door, staring at his father with his bright and hopeful blue eyes.

"Em..daddy."

"Ah, Izumi. Ohaiyo!"

"Ohaiyo. Daddy, may I take a shower with you?"

"Sure. Let's brush our teeth first," Tokiya pulled a small chair next to him. "Stand on the chair or you cannot see the mirror."

"Okay," the boy carefully stood on the red chair before smiling once he could see his own reflection in the mirror.

"Here," Tokiya squeezed out a small amount of grape-flavoured toothpaste along his son's toothbrush.

"Thank you, daddy."

"You're welcome."

A moment of silence passed as Tokiya and Izumi brushed their teeth quietly but much to Tokiya's confusion, Izumi was intently staring at him.

"Daddy, when can I be as big and tall like daddy?" with his mouth which was still full with toothpaste, Izumi asked as his cute hands suddenly grabbed Tokiya's muscular arm, admiring the alluring shape. "I want to have a hand like this!"

"You are just five years old, dear. When you grow, you will be like me," Tokiya got down on his knee to meet his son's eyes.

"When I grow up, I will be big like you?"

"Yes."

"My face? Will it be same like daddy?" Izumi's both hands were placed on Tokiya's cheeks.

"Maybe. I don't know since you are still five years old."

"When will I big, daddy?"

"Well, let's see... in order for you to be six years old, you have 365 days. Which mean..hm... 365 times 20... you have more than 7000 days to be like daddy."

"Ehhhhhhhh?" As expected from a naive child, Izumi shouted in disbelief. He even did not care that he did not wash his mouth yet. "That was too long, daddy. I want to be like daddy. Daddy is so cool in tv. Daddy's voice is like this," Izumi gave a thumbs up excitedly.

"You like my voice?" he could feel the unspeakable warmth crawled through his veins. He never thought the feeling when you have your own son as your fan could be this lovely.

"Yes. I like it sooo much."

"Well, maybe if you grow up, your voice will be the same like my voice. My voice when I was five years old is the same like yours."

"Really? Waaaa, can't wait! Can't wait!" the kid jumped excitedly.

"But, first of all, you need to wash your mouth or you will spit more."

The next one would be...

"Daddy!"

"Izumi, what's wrong? Why are you crying? Did you just hurt yourself?"

"No.. It's just that... Jinguji-san kissed my cheek. She said I am cute. I am scared, daddy!"

That Ren's daughter, Tokiya sighed in speechlessness and feeling entertained. Who had thought that both his son and him would encounter the exact same situation when they were in kindergarten?

Except the fact that their responses were polar opposite. While Izumi cried because he felt terrified, Tokiya scolded the girl who kissed his cheek for being insolent, according to his own definition.

"Why are you scared when she kissed your cheek?"

"Because she kissed me..." Izumi counted using his fingers before crying again, "I don't know how many times she kissed me. I only have ten fingers to count. Daddy, can I borrow your hand? I want to count."

"Okay, sure," Tokiya kept silent as Izumi touched each of his finger slowly, attempting to count but...

"Waaaa, daddy! It's too much. We don't have enough fingers to count! Please help me, daddy!"

"Does it mean Rena-chan kissed you more than 20 times? Son, are you sure you are counting correctly?"

Your children believe in you as the safest place in the world. So, do use their trust wisely.

"We have a remarkable band boy here. Here we go, the star of the stars, STARISH!" Sakura Chie, the host of the music program introduced the said group, followed by a round of applause from the audience.

"Konbanwa. We are STARISH!" seven of them introduced themselves while bowing politely.

"They are bright, don't they? So, STARISH, everyone knows that you are one of the idol groups whose members are versatile and managed to bring the group name to the top. It was impossible nowadays to not see any members of STARISH in all tv stations. As for Ichinose-san and Ittoki-san, you guys just recently acted in Roulette, right? The most anticipated movie of the year. What do you guys think about each other when you acted together?" the other host, Yamaguchi Kaito asked them, focusing his black eyes on the ex-roommates.

"I wish I can do it with another person instead. It's boring enough to keep rooming with him for three years straight, let alone to shoot so many scenes with him," Tokiya's playful answer gained himself laughter from the others. Everybody who knows so much about STARISH is well-informed about how Otoya and Tokiya acted around each other. They are indubitably best friends but their relationship can be considered as 'love-hate'-type.

"Hey, I can say the same thing too, you know! This guy here is a devil when it comes to coaching. I asked him for some guidance about how play a wicked role but he himself was already wicked," Otoya pouted, sending the female audiences squealed. 'So cute' exclaims came from everywhere.

"Yeah, Otoya is right. When Tokiya acts viciously, no matter in-screen or off-screen, he can match Tsukiyama Shuu in Tokyo Ghoul instantly," Syo commented, slightly shivered upon recalling the moment when Tokiya taught him to be devilish like the said character.

"Said someone who asked me to coach him but running away like a scaredy-cat," Tokiya curved in an annoying smirk to Syo as he was also annoyed with the small guy.

"What do you mean, Ichinose-san? Did you just say Kurusu-san, the toughest and bravest member in STARISH actually got scared with your acting?" Yamaguchi asked, curiously.

"Yes. Not only him but this Kuppuru.. I mean Aijima-san," Tokiya pointed at Cecil who automatically pouted, "and this guy," Otoya averted his gaze to somewhere else, "also running away. They should learn from the other three how to act mature for God sake."

"Hai, hai," Ren and Masato suddenly synchronized, showing off their maturity as Tokiya mentioned.

"Hai, Syo-chan may look tough but in reality, he is such an adorable scaredy-cat. He, Ai-chan and I used to shoot in a forest at night and guess what? Syo-chan was the one who screamed a lot. He even passed out twice," Natsuki cheerfully told everyone (or basically the whole world) about Syo when the small guy tried so hard to be brave.

Syo was about to strangle the big guy when he heard the audience's reaction.

"Kawaiii!"

"Syo-chan kawaii!"

And so, he decided to calm down for the sake of his fans.

"Kurusu-san, I bet Yuma-san must be glad to know that you are this cute," Sakura exclaimed excitedly.

"Yeah," Syo tried hard to come up with an expected response but Tokiya knew straight away that Syo was uncomfortable when Risa was mentioned.

It was all because the blue head accidentally bumped into Syo and Risa who were fighting about something. Tokiya could tell that Syo was frustrated because Risa was cold with him recently.

The pink idol never knew that Tokiya was there, getting concerned about his relationship.

"I bet that fans out there will get very ecstatic to know about the different side of other members, right, minnasan?"

"Right!!" maniacal responses popped out, answering Yamaguchi's question.

"So, can we start with.. Ittoki-san? What is trivial but interesting thing about Jinguji-san?"

"Em.. let me see. Ah, his birthday is on 14th February but he hates chocolate. However, when his daughter, Rena-chan made it for him, he forced himself to eat it."

"Ohh, is that so? I guess Rena-chan is romantic like his father too," Sakura commented.

"Well, I am so proud to have a daughter like her," Ren smirked.

Maybe way too proud, Tokiya mentally commented as he recalled how Izumi cried a few times due to Rena's kiss.

"How about Hijirikawa-san? Can you tell us a bit about Shinomiya-san?"

"I think his cooking is a lot better these days, thanks to someone's obachan," Masato replied flatly, gaining himself 'wooow' exclamation from the audience.

"So, Shinomiya-san's cooking turns yummy these days?" Sakura's eyes widened in curiosity. Again, everybody who knows just everything about STARISH is informed enough just how demonic Natsuki's cooking could be.

"It's always yummy to be honest," Ren and Natsuki replied in unison, sending the others stared at them in uncertainty.

"Stop deceiving everyone, you guys," Masato glared at those two friends who had weird taste buds. "I mean.. to say that his cooking is yummy is... he still has a long way to go. But at least, his recent macaroni is safe enough for Kurusu."

"As expected from Hijirikawa-san, the mother of the group. Is he?" Yamaguchi showed an amazed look as if Masato is a food critic.

"Yes!" Except for Masato who instantly replied with 'no!", the others admitted enthusiastically.

"He can cook any kind of dishes, he can sew, he knows a lot about plants, he does calligraphy.. he is strict but good in taking care of everyone," Cecil commented as if he just talked about someone that he admires so much.

"Shizuka-san is so lucky, right, minnasan?" Sakura turned to ask the audience before gaining herself an 'hai!' from them.

"How about Ichinose-san, Shinomiya-san? What do you think about him?"

He is such an amazing friend, Yamaguchi-san. I killed him and his baby. I ruined his wife's life but he forgave me easily, Natsuki mentally replied as his green eyes met the blue eyes.

"Em.. let me see... I think the fact that he is a very good father to Izumi-chan makes me want to get married as soon as possible. Izumi-chan is so cute and smart. He is cheerful but easy to cry like his mother. Izumi-chan also can sing and act like Tokiya-kun even he is shy around people he doesn't know.."

"Oi, why the hell did you suddenly talk about Izumi? You are supposed to talk about his father," Syo sneered, caused the others laughed.

"Ahhahaha, I am sorry. I just get excited everytime I talk about something cute," Natsuki scratched his blond hair sheepishly.

"In other words, he doesn't find me cute," Tokiya commented, pretended to be sad.

"Or not even worth mentioning. Natsuki obviously tried to be polite," Cecil interrupted, caused the others to laugh again except Tokiya who shot him a warning look.

"You Kuppuru..." Tokiya muttered, suddenly forgot that his voice can be heard through the whole studio via the lavalier microphone attached on his collar.

"Stop calling me Kuppuru!" Cecil seemed in the same boat with him.

"I wonder about this for a while but.. Can you tell us.. what's with that Kuppuru name? Are you guys actually quite close to the point of Ichinose-san gives Aijima-san a nickname?"

"Hahahaha. Not even in your birthday," Cecil and Tokiya responded sarcastically to Sakura's question but they managed to make it like a joke.

"In fact, we call them Tom and Jerry," Syo interrupted. "They bicker way too frequent. Mostly because of petty things."

"Ichinose-san and Aijima-san surprisingly have this kind of side."

"Nah, it should not be surprising at all, Sakura-san. Even Tokiya seems flawless and icy but once you know him, you migh freak out with the fact that he is a cat lover."

"Ehhhhh?" expectedly, every single soul in the studio exclaimed dramatically, much to Tokiya's shiver.

No, he is not a cat lover. Not since that day when he learned that the bloody cat can talk anymore.

"No, minnasan. Not anymore," Tokiya responded, seriously.

"Ehh? Why, though?" Sakura asked.

"I wonder why, though.." Tokiya gave Cecil a glare, caused the latter to avert his gaze to somewhere else. "But, because of some stuffs happened, I find it hard to believe the species anymore. I think I need to cure this ailurophobia first."

"That sounds tough, huh?" Yamaguchi obviously did not really catch what the hell was Tokiya trying to say about but he just played along with him.

"It's quite a shame, Tokiya. Considering you can get all lovey-dovey with a cat to the point of.. auch! Masato, what was that for?"

"Nothing," Masato tried to hide the fact that he just kicked Cecil's leg who was sitting right in front of him with his poker face.

"It seems like Hijirikawa-san tried to protect Ichinose-san. As expected from twins separated from birth. You sure are close with everyone, Ichinose-san."

"Well, obviously except this guy.. also obviously," Tokiya bluntly pointed Cecil.

"But nowadays, he kinda forces himself to love cats since his son loves to help stray cats," Otoya added.

"Speaking of Izumi-chan, he has been quite popular, right? I mean.. he is also talented like you. Do you have intention to allow Izumi-chan to be an idol like you?"

Tokiya curved in a warm smile which the other STARISH members had got used to it nowadays.

The thought about his son was enough to make him feeling warm. His son smiled a lot everytime he saw his father and that was what Tokiya wanted for his child. Looking at Izumi is like seeing his childhood so he did not want Izumi's childhood turned rotten like him.

"As long as it makes him happy and it is good for his life, I will allow him to do whatever he pleases."

I don't want him to be anything like my childhood. Never.

"Okay, enough with the trivial question. Congratulations on being chosen to sing in Triple S decisive concert! Apart from the duet project with HEAVENS, everyone except Ichinose –san have released their new single right? Please give them a big hand!" the audience automatically gave a round of applause. "So, Ichinose-san, how's your song? What can you comment on it?"

Tokiya smiled chummily as he thought about Haruka. Because of her, he could give his best to the song.

"I can guarantee you, it will be a magnum opus."

"Stop calling me Kuppuru already!" Cecil did not waste even one second to scold Tokiya after the talk show.

"It suits you well, though.." Tokiya pulled a poker face. "Plus, it's given by Haruka, right? You should be more proud with the name. Maybe you can change your stage name into Aijima Kuppuru instead."

"It only sounds nice if Haruka calls me so, not you!"

"Daddy!!" a cute and high-pitched voice suddenly could be heard and upon noticing a boy and a petite woman approached them, Tokiya and Cecil fixed their postures so that Izumi would not notice that his beloved daddy just fought with his teammate because of a childish matter.

"Izumi, Haruka," he kissed her forehead before getting down on his knee to kiss Izumi's cheek. "Wait, what kind of creature.."

"It's a cat, daddy. I found it in the store," Izumi raised the cute and white cat up to match Tokiya's eye level but that just made his father frowned even more.

"Izumi, do you.. love cats that much?"

"Yes, daddy. They are cute."

"Sure they are," Tokiya gave him a bitter smile, caused Haruka to chuckle.

"How was your day?" Tokiya stood up, meeting the golden eyes of his wife.

"Good. I just finished writing a new song for you. Do you want to..."

"Ah, Mimi-chan!"

All of them turned to the voice's direction. Risa, the female actress who used to be 'the match from heaven' of Hayato aka Syo's girlfriend jogged towards them, obviously looked relieved.

"Mimi-chan?" Tokiya turned to look at the cat. "Ah, it's Mimi-chan, your cat, right?"

"Yes. I've looked for it everywhere. Thank God, Izumi-chan has found him."

"Wait! Is it the kitten that you showed to me a few years ago? That Mimi-chan?"

"You still remember it, Ichinose-san?"

"Of course I do. I used to play with it a lot before, right?"

"Ah, yes. You love it so much to the point of you nursed it for three days straight."

"Waaaa, he did love cats after all," Natsuki commented, feeling amazed with his teammate's used-to-be fondness.

"If it's not because of Cecil, he would continue loving the kitties. Poor Tokiya," Otoya said in the softest voice he could do but it still sounded like a sneer.

"You guys are so mean!!" Cecil screamed.

Meanwhile Syo was fighting with his heartache as he could see that Risa was avoiding his eyes.

"Oi, Ochibi-chan. Is it just me or you and Risa-chan have a problem?" Ren asked.

"Shut up."

"Here," Izumi smiled brightly at Risa as he handed the cat into the actress's arms.

"Thank you, Izumi-chan. You've taken a good care of it," Risa smiled as she stroked the small blue head.

"You're welcome."

"Here, you can have your Popsicle," his small gift made the child smiled even brighter.

"Thank you very much!"

"You're welcome, dear. I will leave first, Izumi-chan, Ichinose-san, Haru-chan," she gave them a bow before excusing herself.

She left Syo, dumbstruck.

"Shall we leave? I am so tired from today's schedule. I don't need more drama," Ren urged as somehow, he could guess that Syo was feeling bitter.

"What drama? Come on, let's go," Tokiya grabbed Izumi's hand before walking together with his friends and Haruka but soon, he fathomed Ren when he saw Syo went to another direction.

"Syo, where are you going?" Otoya asked.

"You guys leave first. I have to go somewhere else," Syo quickly went to Risa's direction, much to their puzzlement.

I have a bad feeling about this, Tokiya mentally remarked.

"Minnasan, I will wait for him. You guys can go home first," Tokiya gave Izumi's hand to Haruka before quickly leaving the scene.

It was a silence before Cecil's eyes wandered to his friends.

"Should I wait for Tokiya so that Masato will wait for me after that?" he asked, sarcastically.

"It's not funny, Aijima. Come on, just leave them," Masato remarked.

Risa-chan looks pale just now. I wonder what happened, Haruka thought as she walked to her car.

Syo stared deeply into another hazel eyes, seeking for an explanation as he just heard the line that he never wanted to hear from the girl that he loved with all his heart.

"Let's break off, Syo-kun. I.. I cannot proceed with this relationship. It will hurt both of us more."

What drama was Risa playing now, huh?

All this time, Syo always thought that the fact that he returned to his past was not only because of Tokiya and Haruka. The God had promised something better and wonderful to each of them. Even it hurted him to see Haruka and Tokiya together, he remained to be the supporter of the couple. He knew, someday, he would achieve his own happiness. The optimism grew stronger as he saw his other friends gradually found theirs.

And now.. When he finally met Yuma Risa, a girl who could replace Haruka... When he was ready to propose to her, she confessed to him she just knew that she suffered from a brain cancer.

But that was not a big deal for him. It was impossible for him to leave her because of the disease.

The big problem was..

Risa's attitude. She gave up on him that easy, as if he was that petty in her life.

"Excuse me?" Syo raised his eyebrow as his anger got the best of him. "I am sorry but I cannot understand what are you saying. Did you just say that you want to break off just because of your disease?"

"Glad you got the point," she put a blank face. Maybe she was trying to provoke him. Maybe she was trying to show to him how ignorant she was with his feeling but..

It seemed like she did not know Syo enough. Basically, she had no idea how persistent the Prince of Fighting main cast could be.

He would fight for her till the end. That was the promise that he always carried in him. He is not the one who will surrender easily.

"But, it doesn't mean that I agree with you, Risa. No matter how much you oppose me, I'll never let you go, not in this kind of state. I will always be there beside you. You can hit me if you can, just hate me if you want but I will never leave you. Never!"

He suddenly left her alone as he stormed away from the scene. He could not stand to stare at Risa anymore.

The beautiful face turned paler as time goes by.

"Syo?"

His whole body automatically shivered as the soft but concerned voice hit his ears. Syo slowly turned around, almost getting himself a heart attack again when..

His blue eyes met another darker blue eyes.

"To.. Tokiya?" just when he wanted to be tight-lipped about the fight, someone was sure had a really bad timing in finding it. "Did you.."

"Yes, I heard everything. I am sorry for eavesdropping on you but I am concerned about you, Syo."

"Thank you but no need to be concerned about me. I will never leave her anyway."

"Sure you will."

It turned sufficiently awkward until..

"You can cry if you want, Syo. Crying doesn't mean that you are weak. It's for your own good. You need to let out what you feel in your chest so that you will be stronger to protect her."

"Tokiya.." he raised up his head while tears already glistened his eyes. "Do you think.. it's okay for me to cry?"

"Yes," Tokiya assured him with a smile, along with a stroke on the small shoulder. "Just let it out. I will be here for you."

As he could sense the sincerity from his friend, Syo automatically burst into tears. He still kept his head down while Tokiya stroked his back, comforting him.