"I need to become stronger..."

“They’re not a boy band, they’re an idol group! Ugh, seriously…”

He huffed a little, then looked away.

I dunno, anyone who’d willingly stay with Kyouya Gaen of all people have pretty bad taste…

But he knew better to voice a thought like that, knowing that Rouga was a complete lost cause when it came to the situation with Kyouya. Plus, Tasuku could relate–he wasn’t sure if he would be able to abandon his only family, even if they happened to be a total scumbag.

“Really? That’s your first impression of them? Aren’t these lyrics kind of packing on the doom and gloom, though? Singing about sabotaging someone else is a little… Hey, what’s this about them looking cooler than TRIGGER? That’s not true at all! TRIGGER is the coolest…”

“Isn’t that just your bias talking?”

Really... He hadn’t expected Tasuku, of all people, to get so invested in this kind of nonsense. And what was Rouga doing, indulging him and bickering over which idols seemed “cooler”...?! Wasn’t this whole thing actually really dumb?!

“... Well, whatever. I’ll take something about sabotage over love songs or whatever peppy tripe’s popular these days.”

(Even if half the unit did strike him as slimy creeps from the get-go.)

(And even if the subject matter did leave a foul taste in his mouth.)

(It was just a song, though, right? Most likely just made up to fit a gimmick or theme.)

The song seemed to be coming to a close now. Rouga’s eyes drifted to the video title, and he lifted an eyebrow as his attention came to rest on what he could only assume was the idol unit’s name.

Opinions were good. Differing opinions made the world a more interesting place, set people apart, made people unique. Everyone was most certainly entitled to their own opinions.

But boy, did this opinion really suck. Also, did Rouga really have to shoot Tasuku down like that?

“…Whoa there, Mr. Sunshine. You wanna try cranking up the cynicism a notch? Almost couldn’t feel it there for a second.” He shook his head, ashamed. “I knew you had bad taste, but I just didn’t realize how bad it was… Sheesh.”

It wasn’t as if Tasuku didn’t know about such things either. How many celebrities had he been forced to interact with for the sake of public image? How many fancy, stuffy parties had he been obligated to attend to satisfy the press? Tasuku knew all too well that everything was about appearance in the eyes of the media, he didn’t need Rouga to remind him!

“Grr…” In his ire, Daybreak Interlude had ended, and YuTub’s blasted algorithm began playing the next video in the queue. “Ugh, I forgot to turn it off… Oh?”

By some coincidence, the next video was also an idol MV–this time by the up-and-coming group, ZOOL. Tasuku recognized the song as Poisonous Gangster.

“How about these guys? They aren’t as…frilly as TRIGGER is.”

“Wh--?! Refusing to fawn over a boy band the way you do does not mean I have bad taste!”

Seriously, what was Tasuku getting so offended about...?! With how huffy he was acting, it was like Rouga had personally insulted Jack, or the Buddy Police, or--or something equally holy. So much fuss, even despite the fact that he couldn’t actually deny any of what Rouga was saying...!

Ugh. What a brat.

And a persistent brat, at that. Hadn’t he just said he wasn’t interested in things like idols...? Whether or not it was a different group didn’t really matter to him.

Although...--

“Oh, it’s not a craze. And I did not fall head first into it! All of the idols from a particular world suddenly started appearing in Hive City, so it’s only natural that people would come to like them. A lot of people.”

Including Tasuku, apparently.

“It just goes to show you how good they are! I happened to be fortunate enough to meet a few of them too. They’re all really nice people, so of course I’d want to support them.”

He glanced back at Rouga, budding amusement evident on the cheeky grin spreading across his face.

“Are you interested in idols too, Rouga? You didn’t strike me as the type…” He tilted his phone screen so Rouga would be able to see more of it. “Wanna see more? I bet you’ll like TRIGGER, they seem right up your alley.”

All of them...? All at once? That was one heck of a coincidence--though not unheard of, he supposed. If he was remembering correctly...a few years back, a bunch of people from his and Tasuku’s world had turned up here at the same time, too. 

(It was kind of funny to imagine the scientists as a bunch of crazed idol fans bringing their favorites over to Hive, though. It wouldn’t even have been the weirdest thing they’d done.)

Initial curiosity aside, though, as Tasuku went on, Rouga...clearly did not share the former’s enthusiasm for the subject. If anything, he seemed disinterested at best and utterly bored with the idea at worst--to the point that even Tasuku’s attempted pokes and provocations barely got a derisive snort out of him.

“You do realize that a lot of what you see on TV and onstage are just manufactured personalities, right? And that they’re obviously gonna play nice with their fans? I don’t know much about idols or whatever, but I’m pretty sure keeping up a good public image is a big part of their job.”

Call him a cynic, but he knew and knew of plenty of people like that. Hell, Kyouya had been one of them.

Rouga glanced down again at Tasuku’s phone and wrinkled his nose in distaste.

“Hmmmhmm~♪ Hmmmhmm~ ♪”

Rouga was over again, with some kind of excuse that the house was conveniently on his way home from work (really, didn’t he just want to pet Eevee again?), and the two did what had become routine, simply indulging in the comfort that the relative silence brought them. Tasuku and Rouga were beyond words at this point, and were content with each other’s quiet company.

Though either of them would die before admitting it.

“Anytime, anywhere ~ ♪ ”

As for Tasuku, he was once more listening to Daybreak Interlude on his phone, and singing along to it as he watched the MV for the umpteenth time…

@acedefeat

It felt like it had been some time since they’d been able to sit and simply enjoy one another’s company like this--and when he thought about it, Rouga supposed it really had been, hadn’t it? What had felt like the blink of an eye in their origin world had apparently been several months’ time in Hive, and on top of that...well, it wasn’t as if his relationship with Tasuku at the point in time from which Rouga’d been plucked could be called positive in any sense of the word. Tense or antagonistic, perhaps. Complicated. Nothing like what they had here in Hive.

Honestly, the staggering difference in their dynamic was enough to give a recent returnee whiplash...but it wasn’t as though the change was wholly unwelcome. He was glad, too, that they had been able to fall back into their usual routine so quickly in spite of the time Rouga had spent away--

“......”

--though it seemed Tasuku had managed to pick up some new...hobbies, since the last time they’d spoken. 

(Or had he always been into this kind of music...? He couldn’t remember the topic ever springing up in conversation before now.)

Rouga leaned over the back of the sofa, eyes trained intently on the video currently filling Tasuku’s phone screen.