ｔｈｅ ｂｅｇｉｎｎｉｎｇｓ
ｏｆ ｓｏｍｅｔｈｉｎｇ ｇｒｅａｔ

『 your p.o.v 』

          "This is impossible."

          "For once, I'm almost inclined to agree with you."

          I glanced between my two friends as we sat together in the "secret" clearing within the woods near the resort, only a handful of other students having their own picnic out here along with us as we sit on the lush green grass with the sun high up in the sky above us. "Guys, you can do this. It's just a duet."

          Masato sighed, his eyes closing as he looks downward. "But this is a song you created just for us..." He murmured.

          Ren nodded where he sits across from the blue haired boy, the three of us sitting in a triangle shape of sorts. "You worked so hard to make us such great songs, little lamb. We don't want it to be for nothing."

          "You two are almost halfway through the song now, you're making great progress so you can take a break if you want to. Both of you earned it." I responded, looking back down to my laptop as I continue working on the third of four different Quartet Night sample songs I've been playing around with for the last couple of days now. "Or, if you don't want to take a full break, work on writing the lyrics to your solo songs. You know yourselves best so maybe taking a minute to work out your solo songs and start those lyrics will help you both better create the duet song lyrics together. That's just a thought though."

          "It's worth a try." Ren chuckled. "You're as supportive as ever, Lady."

          A small smile tugged at the corners of my lips, my cursor moving a few more notes here and there on the ledger line before adding in a repeat sign at the end of the measure. "Like I said, I believe in you and I believe in Masa."

          "Thank you." The blue haired boy responded with ease, a small blush dusting over his cheeks as Ren picks up his phone and they both plug in their headphones in order to start working on their solo songs.

          Todays a day everyone has been given off to work extra hard on their duet project songs. We have roughly a week and a half before our vacation is officially over so now it's up to the idol students to hurry and create their lyrics before the day we return to Tokyo inevitably falls upon us. Some composers still haven't finished their songs though so I doubt many of us will have finished this project by the deadline. I wonder what Ryuuya, Ringo, and the other teachers will do if an overwhelming amount of students aren't finished?

          Would they extend the due date? Doubt it, this is meant to be a challenge. But could they really just fail a ton of students? Even failing the idol students whose composers were too slow in composing to give them a song to write lyrics for? That would feel unfair. Gosh, I truly wonder what the outcome of this project is going to be...

          Looking up to the sky filled with fluffy white clouds, I halfheartedly listened to Ren and Masato murmuring possible lyrics under their breaths as they listen to their two solo songs through their headphones, choosing to stay out here with me as I compose Quartet Night's possible debut pieces. It's a really nice day out, no storm clouds in sight, the wind not too harsh but still there for a warm breeze to keep it from feeling stuffy, and there are little insects around so that makes for this to be a rather relaxing place to compose and write lyrics in all honesty. And it's just an added bonus that off in the distance I can see Kuppuru chasing after a butterfly and trying to jump at it as it flies just barely out of reach for his little black cat claws to snatch.

          Now to think of how Quartet Night's debut song should be...

          It has to have solo parts for each of them to sing so their fans can hear their individual voices, that's a given just as the chorus will be sung between the four of them for sure. Should there be room for them to sing in pairs though..? Hm, I don't think I should do that even for these trial songs. Either they'll sing together or separately for this first song. I haven't heard them sing together at all yet and wouldn't know how their voices harmonize. Naturally, I would pair Reiji and Camus together and Ranmaru and AI, but that might not be the best combination and I can't go making assumptions when I can't consult them directly. I'll have to take the safer approach and have them sing separately then. The next song I write for them as a group I'll have them sing in pairs for sure, just not until I know how their voices mesh together.

          "You're thinking very hard over that new song." Masato spoke up, dragging me back to reality as I look down from the sky and focus my attention on him. "Is it important?"

          I nodded some. "Reiji wants me to write a song for him and I don't want to mess it up." I answered, not exactly a lie but I'm not just going to tell them that this is for the new senior group either considering Reiji did make me swear to not tell anyone about Quartet Night.

          Ren chuckled as he flashed me a breathtaking smile. "Anything you write for him, he'll love so don't overthink it too much little lamb. Your compositions are amazing."

          "Yeah, okay. I'll try to not overthink this." I murmured, flicking my eyes back down to my laptop that I'm sure will forever be covered in Piyo-Chan and maraca stickers.

          There is a lot of pressure for me to do well on this song, but maybe I should take a step back and try to relax if only a little bit. Realistically, the worst that could happen is one of two things; either the four members of Quartet Night don't like any of the possible composition ideas I make for them and decide to go with a professional composer instead, or Shining turns me away when Reiji and the other members present him with the song we make together. I doubt I'd get kicked out of school for something Reiji thought up of, Ringo and Ryuuya would fight for me just as Reiji would. The other Quartet Night members I'm not so sure about but I'm hopeful they wouldn't want to see me go either considering all of them have more or less acknowledged the fact that I'm a talented composer.

          Now all that's left is for me to show them that I can compose on a professional level. Reiji has been in the entertainment business since he was ten, but his idol career only started about six or so years ago and really picked up traction two years ago. I'm not sure how long Camus has been an idol for, but he's not the most well-known idol so his fanbase isn't as large as Reiji's currently but I'm sure that's only because Reiji's fanbase is composed of not only people who love his music but also people who loved him on magic shows and the likes when he was younger so he has that to his advantage.

          Ranmaru hasn't been an idol before now and neither has AI, though Ranmaru does have a small following from his days playing with his former rock band so really, the only truly new idol here is AI.

          That takes some of the pressure off my shoulders now that I look at this situation with a clearer mind. Nothing absolutely terrible will happen if this song isn't the best, there isn't a large number of fans that will try and hunt me down if I don't create something amazing, and there's always the option to have a professional composer step in at any moment if my composition simply doesn't make the cut. I just need to not overthink this composition...

          Easier said than done when somehow trying to fit four horribly different personalities into one song.

          Whoever ends up as Quartet Night's official composer later on is going to have their hands full and I don't doubt that in the slightest bit. Reiji alone is sometimes difficult to handle, adding the other three to the mix is just going to result in utter chaos whenever they happen to be together. Now all I can hope is no one kills Reiji. Ranmaru, AI, and Camus can tolerate one another to an extent, but Reiji seems to be the outsider among their group and they sure don't hold back in making him understand that little fact. And, knowing Reiji, he's going to keep pushing for them to be a true band and there's no telling how the other three will react to someone who's almost as stubborn as me.

          Smiling ever so slightly, I continued on with the songs main chorus as well as adding on here and there to some of the possible solo parts at the beginning of the fourth trial track. They're professionals, just as AI said they were. They'll make it work in the end, it will just take some time for them to at least learn to understand one another. Everything in this world takes time though, and that includes me understanding them as a band as well.

          I won't be composing them a great song right off the bat. That's simply unrealistic. The sooner I come to understand this, the easier it will be to make something to the best of my current abilities. I'm still a student after all and they're taking a gamble on me. There are always other options if I don't work out so really, as long as I make something I'm proud of, then the rest is in their hands.

          "Oi! Is this where you three ran off to?" A certain short blonde called as him and our navy haired classmate walked across the clearing within the woods towards our small group of three. "We were beginning to think you kidnapped ___."

          "I wouldn't put it past Jinguji to kidnap her." Tokiya murmured as he sat down beside me, Syo sitting between Masato and Ren now as the two newcomers lay out a fair amount of snacks. "We brought lunch by the way."

          "It's already time for lunch?" Ren asked, mumbling a small thank you to the short blonde as he was handed a pre-packaged sandwich.

          Masato took some food offered to him by Tokiya as well, nodding as his thanks. "I had no idea we have been working for so long." He murmured.

          Syo barked out a loud laugh. "Time flies when you're with ___. One second you're on top of the world and the next, you're back to the ground as she runs off to go with someone else." He said, still chuckling as he takes a large bite out of his slice of pizza. "But I guess that's only fair since there's a lot of us." Syo said around a mouthful of cheese and pepperoni and just, maybe he shouldn't talk with his mouth full...

          "Learn some manners Ochibichan." Ren chuckled. "Didn't your mother ever teach you to not talk with your mouth full?"

          Tokiya sighed as he shifted a little closer to me, placing down a large serving of chicken and rice between the two of us. "I hope you don't mind sharing with me." He said, sparring me a small glance before lifting up his chopsticks and eating some of the rice.

          My heart stuttered at how close our faces were for a moment as I shook my head a bit. "This is fine. Thanks for thinking about us." I said as I picked up my pair of chopsticks and began eating as well, placing my laptop down beside me as to not risk dropping any of the chicken sauce on it.

          The orangette glanced between our two classmates as everyone ate. "What did you two really come here for?"

          "We've been thinking about the graduation auditions." Syo spoke up first, Tokiya not particularly keen on speaking right now from the looks of it as he eats more chicken. "There's no way we're all going to get to have ___ as our composer."

          Masato sighed. "We know this Kurusu, what exactly are you both thinking of proposing by coming here?" He then asked, Ren looking curious to the answer just as I'm sure I do as well.

          "We're working in pairs from this point forward, and as more composers drop out for whatever reasons they may have, we'll slowly be forced into larger groups." Tokiya answered after wiping his mouth with a napkin, those crystal blue eyes of his flicking from Ren to Masato and even to myself for a split moment. "There might be a way for the six of us to create a group by the time the graduation auditions come around and then we'd all have the opportunity to sing together with ___ as our composer."

          I blinked once, then twice, then a third time to make sure that I'm not dreaming and Tokiya really did just propose that my six friends create a band. "But the teachers had said that us composers will be forced to choose just one idol." I said with knitted brows. "There's no way you guys could go through with the auditions as a group."

          Syo grinned almost as if I was giving him a challenge to overcome. "That's where you come in ___."

          My eyes widened some. "Me?"

          "We're going to need you to find a way to make a deal with Shining Saotome so that we can all audition together." Tokiya helpfully supplied. "I'm sure you can do it."

          "What if, let's say, I didn't want to partake in this band? Then what?" Ren asked with an unreadable smirk as he looked to the navy haired boy sitting beside me. "Then what?"

          Tokiya shrugged. "You wouldn't get to have ___ as your composer then. Shinomiya and Ittoki already agreed to this group idea so the last two people to ask were you and Hijirikawa as well as seeing if ___ wanted to go through with this."

          Masato cleared his throat. "It would ensure that each of us get to sing her songs... But, that also means she wouldn't be just one of our composers either."

          Syo rolled his eyes. "We're already sharing her now so what's the difference if we debut with her as our composer? We'll get to sing together and we'll get to keep ___ for ourselves. And we'll still get to work with her individually when it comes to solo songs because every band get's solo songs for their members."

          "If we do this, then there won't be a need to make each other into enemies and instead we can play to our strengths." Tokiya tacked on. "This school is no normal school meaning there might be something we can do to challenge the rules. That is, if you want to help us ___." He then said, looking to me with a small ghost of a smile playing at the corners of his lips.

          My heart stuttered in response to such a heartwarming sight. "You know I wouldn't turn you guys away so of course I'll help."

          Ren chuckled as he leaned back on the palm of his free hand, looking to me with a languid smile. "Then I guess it's settled. If little lamb here is willing to go through with this, then I have no choice but to follow her decision."

          "As must I." Masato then said, looking to me with a kind smile of his own. "I follow ___ and if she wants to take this gamble, then I'll accompany her."

          Syo launched his fist up into the air. "Yosh! Okay, we got everyone on board then! Now we just have to figure out how we're going to do this..."

          "Let's just get through this duet project and see what the next assignment is." I suggested. "There's no need to rush things just yet. We still have time to start thinking of how we're going to pull this off."

          "One thing at a time." The blue haired idol student agreed, continuing to eat his lunch now as the conversation began to die down.

          A calm silence fell around us as other students began coming and going from the large clearing we're currently sitting in the middle of. Some of the students glance in our direction, but after word got around of how exactly I ended up in the hospital, most everyone has either come up and apologized for the bullying or has simply gone to avoiding me worse than when Ren was doing just that.

          It's nice to finally have some peace and quiet at this school, even if it did require me nearly drowning to death. I shuttered at the memory of sinking under the water, deeper and deeper as my lungs began to burn while my eyesight faded. That's something I hope to never experience again in this life time...

          But, now I can walk around and not be gossiped about nearly as much. Sure, there are still rumors and people will always talk, though now they're much more apprehensive about doing it in front of me at the very least. No more deafening whispers that's for sure and I couldn't be happier.

          "Do you think we could really do it..?" Syo asked, breaking the calm silence.

          Ren looked to him with knitted brows. "Do what, Ochibichan?"

          The short blonde rolled his eyes at the clearly unwanted nickname Ren refuses to stop calling him by. "Become a band, dumbass. Could we really do it?"
         
          "It doesn't hurt to try." Masato responded before calmly taking a sip of his canned tea. Not his favorite, but it'll have to do until he can make it back up to his room and properly brew some of his own. "There's strength in numbers after all and our numbers consist of the strongest idols and the strongest composer in our class as a whole."

          "So what you're saying that if anyone could manage this, it would be us, right Hijirikawa?" Tokiya asked with a small smile.

          The blue haired boy nodded curtly. "That's exactly what I'm saying."

          I offered Syo a reassuring smile as our eyes met, his fedora shifting some as his eyes widened and a light pink hue dusted out over his cheeks. "We can do this, Syo. It's not going to be easy, nothing you want to achieve will ever be easy, but that's the fun of it. We can do this and we will do this, together."

          Kuppuru meowed in agreement as he finally wandered over to join our slowly growing group, nudging my side affectionately with his head as he does so. Guess he must have got bored chasing around a butterfly he'd never catch. Or, maybe he did catch the butterfly...

          Staring down at the black cat, I silently questioned if he was a murderer now.

          "Little lamb is right. We'll work together and show Shining that we're worth the time and resources." Ren said with a cocky smile, clearly confident in his solo capabilities to not bring down this team in the slightest bit. "You have me agreeing to this and that says something since I hate sharing."

          "You even hate going along with this, don't you?" Masato asked with a knowing smile. "I'm not exactly fond of this either."

          Chuckling, Tokiya looked between the two rivals. "We're all on the same page then."

          "It's not ideal, but for her we have to do it." Syo laughed. "Eh, if I had to be stuck in a band with anyone, I'd still want to be stuck with all of you idiots."

          I couldn't help but to laugh as all three of the more mature idol students among our group narrowed their eyes at the short blonde, those large bright blue eyes of his widening in response. "You're going to have to learn to watch what you say if you don't want to get kicked out of the band before we've even officially formed it." I mused.

          Kuppuru meowed again in agreement.

          Ah, that reminds me of when I first met Kuppuru. That day was the day I first met Masato as well when we decided to eat lemon bread under the large tree overlooking the lake. It was much warmer then and we ended up falling asleep under that tree later that evening. Gosh, that was forever ago but I can still remember the dream I had as if it was yesterday.

          These four boys along with Otoya and Natsuki were singing together up on stage, smiling and enjoying themselves and truly shining like the stars I want them to be. That dream doesn't feel too far fetched now that we're talking this through a bit. As long as we can show Shining we're worth the risk, then that dream will come true and I'll get to see my friends become amazing idols.

          "I'm glad you're actually agreeing to this." I spoke up before I could stop myself, absentmindedly petting Kuppuru as to not have to look any one of these boys directly in the eye. "The idol world is scary and lonely when going about it alone so hopefully if you have each other to rely on, you guys will really become stars and shine brighter than anyone could ever imagine."

          The boys remained quiet as I lazily ran my hand across Kuppuru's silky smooth onyx black fur, those emerald green eyes of his looking as though they're sparkling as he looks up at me and meows again. As long as they have each other, they'll be just fine and so will I, I'm sure of it.

          Tokiya reached up and patted my head lightly. "We'll become great idols, just you watch ___."

          Ren hummed in agreement. "For you little lamb, we'd take on the world if we had to." He said dreamily, making it a little difficult to tell how genuine he's being, but the sentiment is sweet nonetheless.

          Syo flashed me a cheeky grin. "You don't have to go worrying about us ___! We can do this with you by our side!"

          Masato nodded some, looking to me with a small smile playing at the corners of his lips. "We cannot fail if we have you supporting us."

          "There's no other option when you're always so kind, lady." The orangette added on with a laugh. "We'll just have to learn to deal with each other."

          The short blonde glanced up to Ren, his fedora tipping back ever so slightly at the sudden movement. "Does that mean you'll stop calling me Ochibichan?"

          "Never."

          "I hate you."

          Small giggles slipped past my lips as I looked down to Kuppuru, trying to not show how happy I truly am. It's heartwarming to see these four along with Otoya and Natsuki agree to come together like this. My dream for them is slowly coming true and I'm just so happy I could cry.

          They'll be just fine.

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          You ever just leave Otoya and Natsuki out simply so Tokiya and Syo can have more moments to shine because same (sorry bois next chapter I'll make it up to you two somehow *cue emotional life playing in the background*)

          Question of the Chapter: Are you surprised that unlike the anime, the boys this time around are proposing the idea of becoming a band to the protagonist rather than having her try and convince them to do just this? I don't know why but it always lowkey kind of bothered me how Haruka had to go and try to drag these highlighter head boys to become a band even though I understood why it was like that lol there isn't exactly all that much character development in the first season among the boys so they're not exactly close and probably wouldn't think to become a band since they just loved Haruka, but with this fic it feels more natural for me to have them propose the idea instead of the protagonist doing it so I hope you guys aren't too spooked by this change lul

          Highkey cute how they're actually talking about making a band for the protagonist's sake and just ugh I'm trash for these boys halp. But I have no idea why my brain just excluded Natsun and Otoyan from this chapter like hello this is the beginning of the starfishes we can't just leave them out and yet here we are lmao whoops but we got Toki and Ochibichan out of it so I guess it's fine.

          So I wrote this entire chapter while binge listening to RanRan's No. 1 song and I'm dead like there's a reason I run from Ranmaru. My heart can't handle his deep voice when Camus is right there and ohmygosh RanRan and AIAI make it hard to stay loyal to my boys (imma listen to non-fiction as I edit this chapter to try and not cheat on camyu with ranran while also lowkey listening to ranran lul don't mind me having a midlife crisis over 2D husbands that don't know I exist it's fine)

          As always, I love each and every last one of you lovely cuties and thanks so much for taking the time to read this chapter <3

~ ｋａｔ ♡