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“Great job, Akito, Toya!” An exclaimed with a smile, as she, Kohane, and the Kagamines clapped and cheered.
For the past thirty minutes, Vivid BAD SQUAD had been doing karaoke at Crase Cafe, spontaneously invited by Rin and Len. The four were already planning to have a sleepover that night, so they accepted the offer.
The karaoke system was simple - Len would use a random name generator to pick two Vivid BAD SQUAD members, and Rin would shuffle An’s playlist, the first song coming up being what they’d sing. Toya and Akito had just finished singing Dramaturgy.
“Next up…” Len said, clicking on the randomizer on Toya’s phone, which he had borrowed for this. “Akito again! And…An!” He exclaimed, looking at the two, who had glanced at each other.
“And for the song…” Rin clicked on the playlist. “Gimme×Gimme!” She held back a giggle as she exclaimed.
Akito looked over at An, his brow furrowing. This was by far the worst possible song that could have been chosen. He wasn’t completely against it, but he knows that him and An would never hear the end of this.
Eventually, and very reluctantly, the two stood up, microphones now clasped in their hands. The intro of the music started to play out the speakers. Akito noticed that the quality of this song’s karaoke version was nowhere near the quality of the previous songs. This would just make things…worse.
An struggled to hold back a laugh as Akito started singing the first lyric. Maybe all of this wasn’t real, only a dream. This felt unreal. Soon, it was An’s turn to sing. Surprisingly, her voice hasn’t cracked. She knew this song wouldn’t be the best to practice due to the sheer awkwardness of it all, so she didn’t take her singing too seriously, and she could tell Akito was likely thinking the same. There would be other opportunities to sing in a serious manner, this was just clearly not the time. She looked over at Kohane, Toya, and the Kagamines. They were smiling, clearly entertained by the situation. This was going to be a long two minutes. Could this get any more embarrassing?
An had just remembered that the song ended with a kiss.
It always did. And since it was technically part of the vocals, the karaoke version likely wouldn’t have it. Does this mean they would have to-
“Did you guys know there’s a kiss at the end of the song?” Rin had pointed out during the instrumental break, interrupting An’s thoughts.
Now this only made things worse. “Um, yes…does this mean we have to..?” An spoke quickly at the last part, not wanting to run out of time before she needed to sing again.
“I hope not,” Akito chimed in. An looked over at him, noticing an uncharacteristically rosy hue splashed on his face. Now that she thought about it, she could feel her own face heating up alongside his. This is bad.
“It would be funny!” Len exclaimed with a smile, yet that quickly faded when his eyes were met by Toya’s, as he likely mouthed something along the lines of they might not be comfortable, don’t push them . An couldn’t tell what Toya exactly said as they had gone back to singing. But for some reason, An wasn’t completely against the idea. This in itself was already awkward, how much worse could it really get?
Akito could hear both of their voices beginning to shake slightly. As time went by, he began to accept what was going to happen. His eyes met with An’s, and for some strange reason, it almost felt as if they were singing to each other.
As they sang the final lyrics, he noticed An inching closer to him. This was actually happening. There was not much time for him to think about things, and he knew she felt the same. They were in the moment, they were being pushed by the song. They were soon less than a foot apart from each other.
An sang her final lyric, and before Akito knew what was happening, he felt her lips on his. She actually did it. It had happened. He barely had time to process it. The kiss itself wasn’t long at all, less than half a second. Yet Akito, surprisingly, didn’t necessarily dislike it. He couldn’t wrap his finger around why he wasn’t against it, nor did he have the time to even think about it.
His thoughts were being interrupted by a chorus of cheers, claps, and giggles, and Akito realized that Luka, MEIKO, KAITO, and Miku had all joined in at some point, holding an assortment of drinks. Everyone saw them kiss. He won’t ever hear the end of this.
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Neither Akito nor An had said much to each other for the rest of the night. Karaoke continued, different duos forming for each song. Hours had passed, and soon enough, it was half past two in the morning, and the lights were out. Several mattresses were spread across the floor of Weekend Garage, and the four of Vivid BAD SQUAD were laying down in a line, nestled in their blankets. Somehow, An had scored a spot next to Akito, despite the few words they exchanged throughout the past few hours. She had been trying to sleep for probably thirty minutes now, yet remained unsuccessful, as the thoughts of what had happened earlier kept plaguing her mind. Would they ever speak to each other again after this? She regretted initiating the kiss in the first place. It was all so dumb, but a mistake like this just made things worse. Usually, she’d try to avoid situations like this. Yet this time, she couldn’t. She couldn’t stand the tension between her and Akito. She can’t let this affect the rest of the group, their ability to sing properly together. She had to do something about it.
Akito had stayed in one position for the past thirty minutes, not wanting anyone to think he was still awake. He couldn’t take this anymore. Why couldn’t he fall asleep? Every time he tried to clear his mind, the feeling of An’s lips on his made its way back. It felt like he was electrically shocked every single time her lips crossed his mind.
All of a sudden, Akito felt a tapping on his shoulder. Turning around, he was greeted by An whispering his name. “I can’t sleep. Been thinking about what happened”.
“Thinking..” Akito whispered back. “In what way?” He had turned over completely to face her. He knew she may not be able to elaborate, or even wanted to, but he could still try to get something anyway. Anything could work.
“Just… thoughts. I shouldn’t have done that. I don’t know what came over me. I felt like I had to do it”, An continued. “I was in the moment, and….” Her voice trailed off.
“You’re overthinkin’ this”, Akito said sharply, still a whisper. He hesitated for a moment, trying to figure out how to phrase the next thing he was about to say. “If I’m being honest, I’m more bothered by the fact so many people saw rather than the action itself. I think that’s why we haven’t…talked much after”. He mentally cursed himself for the way he said the last part. He could have definitely worded that better.
“Yeah,” An whispered back. She opened her mouth to speak, but closed it quickly after, not a word escaping. There is something she isn’t telling him. Akito still feels tension in the air, unsure if it will ever disappear. He notices a sense of fear in her eyes.
“I’m not mad at you or anything, An. If that’s what you’re wondering. I didn’t really mind it, to be honest,” Akito revealed, his chest tightening. He didn’t know what had come across him. Why was he telling her that? Now he seemed weird .
“You didn’t?” An asked. Akito nodded slowly in response. A small smile grew on her face, leading Akito to do the same, unable to fight back the turning corners of his mouth. He could feel his chest relaxing again. Most of the tension had disappeared at this point. “I didn’t…mind it much either. It was kind of nice. I’d do it again if I could”.
Akito paused. He didn’t know if he even heard that correctly. “You can’t just…say that outta nowhere…” he stammered, now unable to speak full sentences at once. He hated to admit it, but he felt the same way. He would let her kiss him again. He hesitated again. “Maybe if the entire fuckin’ SEKAI wasn’t there to watch.”
An let out a snort before responding. “Well in that case… Could I do it again? Like, right now?”
“Fuck…” Akito mumbled. “I didn’t expect you to be so sudden with this,” he hesitated again. “But sure, I guess. I don’t even care anymore.” As much as he tried, he couldn’t get rid of the growing smile on his face, clearly contradicting his previous remark.
An smiled as she placed her thumb and pointer finger on Akito’s chin. “Of course you care”. She was right. Of course she was. He watched as she moved forward, their lips slowly coming into contact for the second time that night. Without the lively air of the others enthusiastically watching, the kiss was remarkably more genuine. Their lips stayed connected, and at some point An had even wrapped her arms around Akito’s waist. So they were cuddling, too, now. What had this turned into? Hesitantly, he returned the action, wrapping his own arms around An.
Thirty seconds and many heartbeats later, their lips pulled away, allowing both of them to breathe with more ease. However, they keep their hold on each other, not planning on letting go.
“How the hell did we end up here?” Akito questioned, mostly to himself.
An chuckled in return. “No clue, but I’m glad it has. Thank the randomizer, I guess.”
Even as they closed their eyes to sleep, they had never let go of their hold on one another. It was surprisingly comfortable to be nestled in An’s arms the way he was. He had never been in a situation like this before. They would definitely both be teased nonstop for this in the morning, yet Akito was too tired to care anymore. A new beginning had formed, yet one that could not have been predicted by anyone. Was this solely thanks to the random generator? Or was this inevitably bound to happen to the two? It may be never known. All that mattered now was the future, what this would lead to in a few hours time when the sun rose up once again.