First and foremost, yeah, just like what you could see the moment you viewed the list of Utapri fanfictions or the works from my profile, I changed the title. I am so bad when it comes to come up with a story title but I believe that 'To Embrace the Sun' reflects the plot and theme better *shrugs* Or maybe It's just my excuse to use SUN in the title *double shrugs*

CHAPTER 11

A week ago...

Aijima Cecil had lived his life as the sole prince in Agnapolis. When he was too young according to everyone, he had sensed the concealed tense among his father's family members and mother, Kotomi. They thought he was too young so they would glare, snap, rant and sometimes physically abuse him when his father was not around.

When he reached his middle high school age, then only he understood why.

They despised Kotomi for marrying his father despite being a Japanese or foreigner. Cecil thought it was stupid that considering his mother was Japanese, her personality was far better than his father's family who were prejudice, foul-mouthed and wicked. He never saw Kotomi snapped or being sarcastic. She always smiled and tried her best not to make anyone could find a reason to pick a fight with her. Thanks to her soft demeanor, she was the beloved queen for the citizens and that was the most important thing for his father as the king. He needed a queen whom he did not only love but also well-liked by his people.

So, despite he was not able to see Otoya and brought back to his country instead, he was grateful to see his mother again who was dead from a sickness. But at that night, as soon as he learned about the false testimonies from some of his friends, he decided that he would leave the palace before anyone could curse him into a cat. After talking into his father and a few days of argument since it was expected that his father would never let his heir to suddenly pursue his dream to be an idol in Japan that easily, he thought it was the perfect night for him to tell his mother as well.

But, as he met her in her room, she was talking in her sleep. It was not new for him since he was well-informed that his mother lost all her memories from her past. She was one of the plane crash victims who was saved by his father. She did claim that sometimes, she saw a small red-haired boy cried and searched for her in the middle of sunflower field but the image and voice was too vague for her to figure out. She did see a young brown-haired man called her name in her sleep but she never knew who he was. Since she was married to a very kind man who accepted her whole-heartedly, she never took the dream seriously. Her life revolved around her husband and son.

After waking Kotomi up and convinced her that it was a dream, Cecil carefully voiced out that he had to move to Japan as soon as possible.

"I am sorry, Mother. I have an urgent matter to do. I need to save a friend. It'll be hard to explain from A to Z. You might wonder how I have a friend in Japan when I have stuck in this place since I was born but please trust me. I need to save his life."

He knew that his absence would make Kotomi lonelier but he had to do something before the magic decided to be funny and transport him into random moments which might be too late for him to save Otoya and Haruka. His mother was safe in Agnapolis and those were the words that he had told himself over and over again.

Everybody was confusing and upsetting.

Otoya had grown his frustration as days passed since they all treated him like a child who needed their protection all the time including Haruka. The girl was pregnant but the situation was the other way around. She protected him more.

But, recently, he got to learn that was not the most perplexing thing around him.

Recently, A Class welcomed a new student from a foreign country that he never heard before. The transfer student was a tall and slender young man who was two years younger than him. Black hair and green eyes, his slightly broken but bubbly Japanese made him adorable and amicable. He could hear squeals from his female classmates.

"What a dreamy boy!"

"For such a young man, he might be so talented to catch the principal's interest."

"I am calling dibs on him for sure."

But that would be the least of his concern. Instead, he himself also found that the guy was adorable. It might be because he was younger than him which something familiar developed in him. He brushed it off, convincing it as the similar feeling that he had when his orphanage received a new helpless orphan.

Their seat was not any nearer to each other but during recess time, it was Cecil who approached him at first. The prince could not care less about other girls who almost formed a circle around his seat who just wanted to be chummy and ask his number.

"Nice to meet you, Otoya. I hope we can get along," he said nonchalantly as he shook the redhead's hand.

"You must be Aijima Cecil, the A of STARISH," Otoya said slowly before catching unnecessary suspicion for blurting out such a familiar word like STARISH out of nowhere, which was received by Cecil's cute node. Apparently the prince did not mind at all.

"And he's not supposed to exist right now," Masato remarked which stood behind Otoya's seat with Natsuki.

"What? For real?" Otoya said.

"At least, not here for the time being. He's not even a Saotome Academy student in the original timeline. He joined us shortly after our debut," Masato explained, which received by others' nods.

Well, I suppose you must be anxious enough to say such things on my face, Masato, Cecil thought.

"This makes all rainbow colors complete. I am so happy," Natsuki said as he clasped his hands together.

If only you know that there's nothing to be happy about the rainbow thingy, Natsuki...

Just at that moment, Haruka and Tomochika who were just back from the washroom caught their attention. It took all for Cecil to hide the torn feeling when he saw how weak the orange-haired composer looked. She did not wear a thick make-up like her best friend so her pale complexion was obvious to anyone.

It must be because of the baby.

"Ah, Haruka... how are you?" He quickly hugged the small frame. They swayed together for a while which was caused by Cecil. After a moment which felt like hours for everyone, he released the girl before grabbing both Haruka's hands. "I heard that you easily get tired these days. How're you feeling?"

"Just drowsy and dizzy sometimes, Cecil-san. I'll get better, I promise," Haruka said, softly holding Cecil's hands back.

As if, Tomochika sighed. It was a pain for her since Haruka asked her to never tell the boys about how she was weak most of the time while the boys would ask her countless times.

As for Otoya, all he could focus was their locked hands.

It was obvious to him that it was just a platonic relationship between Cecil and Haruka. It was clear that the composer did not show any admiration, unlike when they were around each other. It was something that made Otoya's heart secretively bloomed but...

It did not change the fact that it ticked with jealousy when Cecil could casually touch the girl. It took him a long time to naturally touch Haruka but for Cecil, it was easy and Haruka did not even mind it.

I don't like to see this. Even they are long-time friends...

He was too immersed in the locked fingers of Haruka's and Cecil's, enough for him to ignore how restless Masato felt.

"Masato-kun, are you okay?" Natsuki asked, poking the other boy's shoulder who he just noticed how stiff it felt. Just like how his fair-skinned face looked like when he stared at how affectionate Cecil was with Haruka.

"Huh? I am okay," the blue head answered before heading back to his seat. He ended up in his own world, aimlessly flipping his note.

"I am what?"

"I told you, you're an excellent actor, Tokiya!!" Otoya squeaked, unable to conceal his frustration since for some reason, his smart teammate reacted slower than usual. Tokiya sat at his desk and held a pen for like an hour but Otoya found that the blue head did not write anything on his book. "To tell you the truth, on the day when you played as the villain for your class assignment, I was also there since Syo said that it would be interesting and I could see how talented you're. You had us convinced that you might be a really bad guy in your previous life."

Little did the redhead know, his compliment was overwhelming for the blue head.

A really bad guy, huh?

"But of course, Tokiya who I know is very nice. You might appear cold but you are a lot nicer once I know you. You're the best, Tokiya!"

"And your point is?"

Like chill ran down his spine, Otoya slightly flinched at the flat-out cold tone. It was something that he never thought that he would get it from his roommate. He always believed that Tokiya had been chummier to him each day no matter how busy he was.

It's my fault. I beat around the bush a lot. A busy person like Tokiya must be thinking that I am wasting his time.

"Well, my point is... I would like to ask your help in regarding to that kind of acting. I would like to learn how to be a perfect villain like you."

No smiles from Tokiya which was insane. Instead, the blue eyes pierced him like he was the most disgusting person in the world.

Did I say something that might offend him?

Lately, he noticed that Tokiya was not in a good mood. He just assumed that his roommate was tired from his double life or something about HAYATO's world had made him snapped.

But his worst mood was strange because he did not exactly frown. Rather, in most of time, Tokiya did show that he ignored Otoya.

"Sure," as Tokiya responded calmly and turned to his desk, Otoya heaved a sigh of relief. Heck, he did not even realize that he did not breathe for a second.

Maybe that's just my feeling. What to expect? Tokiya is always serious anyway.

"Here," Tokiya turned back to Otoya while holding out a script. "Go through the scenario and practice the dialogue out. I'll point out the flaws if there is any."

"Okay, thank you!" Otoya exclaimed happily as his eyes brightened to see the script. It was the script for Tokiya's assignment that the redhead mentioned just now.

As Otoya cleared his throat and read out the lines like a villain that he had imagined in his head, Tokiya could feel that each of his nerve...

Each of him despised Otoya with all his might.

Those words that came out from the lips which usually whined or pouted... even they were just dialogue which he himself had picked for the redhead...

He hated them more and more.

"What are you guys doing? Why does Tokiya look so scary?" As Cecil's confused words crossed the room, then only Tokiya realized what he was doing.

He was looking daggers at his roommate who innocently tried his best to be the 'villain'.

"Masa! Cecil," Otoya's tone was more awkward as he mentioned the second guy's name. As they claimed, he was an open book. It was apparent to everyone that he was not that exactly comfortable with the fact that Cecil was too chummy with Haruka.

"Hey, Otoya! I am coming to see you. It's thanks to Masato or else I will be lost..."

"He literally dragged me here to see you," Masato interposed, drawing his eyes to Tokiya. "What are you up to, Ichinose?"

"Nothing. Just a revision," Tokiya said, turning to his desk.

"No wonder Jinguuji is lazing around," Masato mumbled before making his way to Tokiya's room side.

It was like the east and west between the room sides. Tokiya and Masato with their inaudible conversation while Cecil was being loud while hugging Otoya's shoulder.

"I am sorry for making you annoyed these days... no, it's exactly four days."

"Making me annoyed? Which part?" Otoya inquired.

"Hey, I can see it from your face," Cecil said, casually poked Otoya's cheek, which caused the red eyes blinked cutely. "You're disturbed by how I normally treat Haruka."

It took a while for the redhead to answer.

I need to master my acting skills or else...

"Do you always call her Haruka?"

"Hmm... yes. I mean it shouldn't be a big deal, right? I call everyone with their first name no matter how recent I get chummy with them. It's Tokiya who isn't consistent like... how can he call you Otoya but he calls me Aijima-san? It's weird, right?"

It was clear that Cecil had tried to make Tokiya involved in their empty talk but the blue head did not bother to show that he ignored Cecil. His pencil might look like he was writing something from his shoulder but the fact that it was lifted more than moved showed that he was disturbed. His focus was out of the window.

"I guess he didn't hear you. That's how he will act whenever he is too focused," Otoya reasoned out.

"Well, I guess you're lonely since Tokiya might leave often to work as HAYATO, right? Feel free to hang out in my room whenever you want. I will tell you a lot of interesting stories about STARISH. We are all silly in our own way. For Haruka's sake, we were willing to do anything. If you haven't noticed yet, when it comes to Haruka, we are always on fire."

Unbeknown to them, Tokiya could feel his hand shaking. His heart burnt with rage.

As for Masato, all he could do was closing his eyes and sighing heavily.

This is aggravating, the pianist thought. It's obvious what Aijima is trying to do.

The room was tense with mixed feeling; suspicion, hatred, revenge and innocence. All Masato could do was resting his hand on Tokiya's shoulder and said...

"Just cool down. Don't make it too obvious."

All he received was a nod which was not convincing at all.

"The new guy is cute, right? The Agnapolis price," a girl from A Class famous trio, Mizuki said. Her hand was busy reapplying her lipstick.

"He might be childish but I love how bubbly he is. He easily gets friendly with everyone. Maybe he got used to it back in his country," another girl, Naomi said. They were standing next to each other, taking this opportunity to carefully check on their appearance in the mirror before other students entered the washroom. It was recess and that was bound to happen.

"But I still can't believe that he will be just those guys who will end up falling in that plain chick," the leader out of them, Yuna said. She herself dragged Haruka's name into the conversation which caused her to close her compact powder. It sent her friends recoiled at the sudden and unnecessary burst of emotions.

"Do you mean that Nanami Haruka?" Mizuki said, rolling her eyes. Even she generally did not have any problem with girl, as long as she was Yuna's minion or little worker, her brain obliged to command all parts of her body to do anything to show how much she loathed the girl.

"Who else though? Such a plain girl for those guys. Just what she has that those guys are so crazy about her? There are a lot of beautiful girls in this school. If they want to use the no-relationship rule as an excuse to make friends with girls instead of being in a relationship, choosing a much more beautiful girl won't be so insulting for us."

"Yeah. Even with that pale face... seriously does she not even bother to put on some make up on her face? It disgusts me that she looks so dead all the time," Naomi added.

"No, no. I do think that she does wear the simple one but her face is just naturally pale. Like... a sick person..."

"Or a pregnant woman. Anything can happen for a slut like her. She might have one-night-stand with... I don't know. With Jinguuji-san."

"No, Yuna! Please don't say like that! He's my favorite," Naomi squeaked. With how their voices echoed, it was surprising that none of them bothered to talk softly. "Poor Jinguuji-san for being seduced by someone like that."

"I know, right? If Jinguuji-san is in love with Tomo-chan, I won't be surprised. Tomo-chan is way hotter than that chick."

"Did somebody just say my name?" 'Speak of the devil' was not enough for them to convey how perfect it was for Tomochika to suddenly show up from outside of the washroom.

"No, nothing. I just said that you're... you're the most beautiful girl in our academy," Yuna said as she quickly reopened her compact powder.

"Thank you then."

It was awkward and quiet. As the trio sensed that Tomochika would take longer to leave the washroom as she took out several make-up tools, they slowly left the space. Then only Tomochika breathed a harsh sigh.

"Sick bitches," it was not Tomochika's tendency to curse but it took all for her not to explode and clobber any of the girls. "How could they diss Haruka like that? She seduced Jinguuji-san? Like for real!? It's a relief that Haruka is not here..."

Suddenly, the door of one of the stalls was opened, revealing the person who she did not want to see in the washroom.

"Haruka!?" Tomochika could not help but squeal dramatically as she saw the composer's reflection in the mirror. She turned to the girl's direction, sorting her mind out from being too panicky. "Wait... since when?? I thought that you were already in the class since you said you wanted to sleep."

"Since forever," the composer stated with a bitter smile. Her eyes were locked to the floor which broke Tomochika's heart instantly. She must have heard everything. "The moment I heard that they talked about me, I continued hiding in the stall. I don't know why did I do that though."

"Or rather, you don't know why you're curious about what they are thinking about you," Tomochika supplied. From how the orange eyes sized up in horror, she knew her statement made much more sense. "When in fact, you can just ignore them and go on with your life. You have STARISH and me anyway. You do have a lot of people with you. Those girls are sick, Haruka. Don't mind them. You don't do anything wrong."

The small shoulders of the composer shrank.

"I don't get it, Tomo-chan," was what Haruka said as soon as she sat on her bed. Now that they were done with the day, it was more comfortable for them to talk seriously in their room.

Tomochika sighed as she sat beside Haruka and stroked her shoulder. Being a long-time friend had been her perk to recognize what type of concern that the girl had in her mind other than her pregnancy and Otoya.

"You are already surrounded by six young men who are the most sought-after in this school. They all already have a lot of fans before they debuted. But if you have not noticed it yet, it's their feelings to you that makes those unnecessary hatred is directed to you."

"And what kinds of feelings are that? If it's about how they keep complimenting my songs, I don't know what should I do..."

"Haruka..." Tomochika interposed. It was sharp and at a single glance, the composer could see there was frustration in the pretty girl's eyes. "All the boys are in love with you including Aijima-san. Well, he's just been here for how long? A week but since he's hot and talented, people are paying attention to him. When you have their unconditional attention, people would naturally complain about that. Why does she get his attention? Why Otoya-kun is always there for her? Why out of girls in this school, the charming Jinguuji-san chose to smile and call her Lady and not others? That's just how people are."

For seconds, all Haruka could do was staring at her best friend.

Ah, that makes sense now...

Those scenes where all of them would say sweet words to her out of nowhere every time they bumped into each other before she married Otoya crossed her mind quickly like a flash.

"You're like a princess from a magical land."

"Is that you, Nanami? I thought that you're just an illusion from my heart."

"I miss you, my princess."

"So, those things were what they would do when they were in love. I thought those were just friendly gestures or sorts," Haruka said. Her voice quivered which showed how much she disapproved the truth that Tomochika just disclosed. "But that doesn't mean I deserve the hatred and false claims, Tomo-chan."

"I know."

"I appreciate them because they are my friends. Even I only love Otoya-kun but STARISH is precious to me. It's not like I wanted their attention because I am a slut..."

"Haruka, don't say that," covering her shock after hearing the harsh word coming from the timid Haruka was one thing but Haruka's voice was what Tomochika was worried about. It was shaking so much, in unison with her tears that welled up in her eyes. "You're not one, okay? You're far from it."

"I wonder what's so special to have a lot of men around you. What they're so jealous with? I just need Otoya-kun to live happily. I just want to be here so that I want to find his murderer. Maybe it's just too much to ask? Maybe I shouldn't be here to begin with."

"I guess that's what a 'normal' girl wants, Haruka. To have all those handsome guys in their hands. But you don't have to take those insults to heart, okay? You're not a slut."

"They don't know how tiring it can be, Tomo-chan," Haruka said, tears started to stream down her face. "To listen to their sweet nothings when Otoya-kun was the only one who officially confessed to me. The others kept beating around the bush, touched me when I didn't know what that meant. I never seduced Jinguuji-san but he was the one who tried to rape me..."

"I know, Haruka. Don't make yourself remember the past. It's not good for your baby," Tomochika who could not stand to see her best friend cried ended up pulling the girl into her hug. "God, I am sure a bad friend. I am not supposed to say anything at all. I am so sorry, Haruka."

"No, that's okay, Tomo-chan," Haruka said, pulling away from the soothing hug. "Thanks to this talk and thanks to you, now I know what should I do."

"And what's that?"

It was a wordless answer. It was a smile but the future idol just shook her head in horror. She just had a bad feeling.

"Giving false testimonies do not instantly make them the culprits. Anything can happen, Aijima-san. That's why we need information as much as possible from you since you guys are teammates. You should know well how they behave on daily basis. Is there anything abnormal about them? How did they normally show emotions?"

No, everything about them is normal, officer. Or rather, I thought they were normal because I just realized I never know deeply about them other than their works. Our gatherings are always about business, dance practices, vocal lessons...

Today was tiring. Unlike the usual him who was always curious about everything, Cecil who decided to take off his cheerful and childish mask in the evening ended up wandering around the vast academy. It was not because he wanted to know how the library looked like, what kind of flowers were there in the garden, how many practice rooms it had and sorts. He wanted to clear his mind so that he would not make silly mistakes.

He was here finally. He finally could see the sunshine Otoya who he had been longing for these past months. He was happy to see Haruka had been smiling again. As much as he loved Haruka and loved to randomly tease her, what he loved the most was to see Otoya and Haruka were there for each other again.

"What should I do next? Should I ask for more accomplices? But we don't know who are the culprits yet..."

As his legs carried him randomly while his head was spinning in the deep spiral due to his puzzlement, two tense voices emerged from a dark corridor which were so familiar to him. He stopped walking while his slender frame decided to lean against the light blue wall. He poked his head towards the corridor, green eyes sized up to see Ren and Tokiya together.

Which was one of the sights that he wished never happened. One of his wishes when he decided to join this timeline was he wanted to prove that his bad assumptions about his friends were not true.

They were idols. They trained harder than everyone else so that they could achieve their dreams. There was no way they would throw it to the window for their mere obsession to Haruka.

But, to see those two together... he never imagined that it would be this creepy.

"Staying in that room annoyed me. I can't stand to see his face," Tokiya said, folding his arms over his chest as his tall frame leaned against the wall. Tokiya was always admired for his gentle voice but right now, Cecil never thought that the same voice would creep him out for being so husky and icy.

"You can move out to our room for the time being. It's easier for three of us anyway. To talk, to find a way out," Ren said playfully. It was typical for him to behave that way but not from now on.

With those words, Cecil was oblivious of how he could stay breathing when his heart might explode due to the suspicious conversation.

Why would they want to stay together?

"Why not you're worried about yourself instead?" Instead Ren's sincere concern, Tokiya continued being bitter. "I case you don't remember, he said that the guy who attacked him has brown or orange hair. Who's that guy, you think?"

"Wow, don't give me that look, Icchi. I don't know you can be scarier than Hijirikawa..."

"You weren't even there when we all were worried about him. It gives others more reasons to be suspicious of you. Not to mention you're not that innocent."

"So, are you saying that if something happens after this, I will be doomed first?"

"Yes."

Just like that, Ren's playful face was replaced by a sinister anger.

"That's unfair. Hijirikawa said you almost lost your patience when Cesshi teased us..."

"It's because both of them are annoying. I wish we can get rid of Aijima-san as well. Why would he come here and make a mess? You sure know that while that guy is childish, he always has something in his head. He's sly."

"Sly but obvious. He's as stupid as Ikki. I did notice how he looked at us. He tried to act natural but he did glare at us for some reason."

"We really should be careful, Ren."

"Yup, obviously."

Why three of them? They're supposed to be reliable before but it's scary to know now. What should I do?

That was when his conversation with the officers echoed back in his mind.

"What? Masato, Tokiya, Ren... did you just say three of them gave false testimonies?"

"Yes, Aijima-san. Ichinose-san had never gone to the book store that he mentioned in the testimony which made Hijirikawa-san the accomplice since he said Ichinose-san was in the book store with him. As for Jinguuji-san... he just disappeared."

Okay, so here's the thing. Those sweet nothings from STARISH that Haruka recalled were taken from the anime. I didn't copy the dialogue word by word. I just wrote them based on what I remembered and what I could imagine them saying those things to Haruka. Second, you can see that some of them will turn out OOC after this so I am sorry if I ruin your favorite character. It's just for the plot purpose. Heck, OOC is always there in my story for some reasons. You can say that this dark side of STARISH is inspired a bit by one of my favorite fanfictions from Fanfiction.net, The Prison of Haruka Nanami by NaniWise (coincidentally they're the biggest supporter for my story, You Should Die Instead back then). I love the concept of the fanfiction. I already forgot a lot of things about the fic but it explored the dark side when you have a lot of guys who love you and just happened to be in the same band. They explored how hard Haruka's life because of their affection which made it much more realistic. As usual, feel free to drop a comment if you have any :D