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rike-with-love · 4 years

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Melody of our Hearts (chapter 3)

Pairings: Okikagu, Gintsu (minor), Takaban (minor)

Rating: M for mature content, bad language, fluff, light angst, enemies to friends to lovers

Disclaimer: I don’t own Gintama or it’s characters, Sorachi Hideaki does. I only own this story.

Chapter 3

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The grand outdoor concert was just two days away and Kagura had trained for her performance like a madwoman.

Otsu had planned a very simple choreography for Kagura and she would be forever grateful to her fellow idol for doing so.

After another practice session Kagura felt better about her performance. But still, she had her doubts. It was like Kagura wasn't at the level she should already be.

Dancing is fun so why can't I get it right, Kagura cursed to herself as she went through the steps in her head.

”Hey Otsu,” Kagura called as they were changing out of their training clothes.

”Yeah?”

Kagura slipped her pastel pink overall skirt over her white t-shirt. ”Thanks for being so patient with me,” she said.

It was true that Kagura knew the steps, but somehow she had difficulties with making the choreo look graceful. And it pained her. She wanted nothing more than to execute Otsu's vision perfectly.

”Oh come on, don't be silly,” Otsu said waved her hand at Kagura. ”You're doing a great job for someone who hasn't danced a lot of choreos.”

”Heh...thanks”, Kagura said and smiled a bit.

”I mean, you have the steps down already. All you have to do now is to get out of your head,” Otsu said and walked closer to the dance studio's mirror.

Kagura followed the girl, she felt puzzled by her words. ”What do you mean by that?”

Otsu tightened her bright purple side ponytail and glanced at Kagura. ”You think about the steps too much.”

”Oh,” Kagura said and scratched her right temple.

”Dancing is about feeling the steps, otherwise you'll just look like a robot”, Otsu explained. ”Do you know what I mean?”

Kagura understood exactly what she was saying. It just wasn't so easy to do that. ”Yeah...I just need to practice some more.”

”Sure, I come and help you when I have the time,” Otsu said and picked up her favourite piece of clothing from the floor. A canary yellow leather jacket. She wore it with everything, no matter the weather or the occasion, Otsu rocked that jacket.

Kagura had always admired the fellow idol for her bold and edgy look. A canary yellow wasn't a color for everyone. Usually Otsu wore a lot of black clothes, with a sprinkle of purple or yellow here and there. Nets and leather seemed to be her favourite materials.

As punk as Otsu's look was, her personality was the opposite. She was sweet as a pie, silly and very talented to top it all off. Otsu was always there to help everyone in need and that was actually the biggest reason Kagura liked her so much.

Today Otsu had chosen black skinny jeans and a black loose t-shirt with a text: black is my happy color. A classic look from Otsu.

Kagura also tightened her ponytails in front of the mirror. She had her vermillion hair pulled into two pigtails on the back of her head.

Kagura was more into cutesy things rather than chains and studs. Her pink overall skirt's hem reached just above her knees so it worked perfectly as a dress. Kagura had attached matching pink fluffy pompoms to her pigtails just for fun. She was truly a sucker for everything cute.

Kagura huffed quietly in front of the mirror.

”What is it?” Otsu asked and turned to look at Kagura.

”Well...I just realized that I'm running out of time with my practicing.”

”Ah...yeah. Two days to go.”

Kagura exhaled deeply, pushing the air forcefully through her mouth. She looked like a wide eyed puffer fish with her puckered lips. Otsu couldn't help but to giggle a bit.

”I'm sure you'll pull it off,” Otsu said.

”Heh...maybe,” Kagura hummed. ”I'm just glad I'm performing first...so I don't have to go right after the great dancing squad.”

Otsu giggled again. ”For me it's quite the opposite.”

”Huh?”

”Gura...you're hands down the best singer in here. The rest of us have to push really hard to reach even half of your level.”

”Pppffffff!”

”You don't have to be so modest”, Otsu chuckled.

Kagura loved singing, she really did. Otsu wasn't the first one to tell her she was a great singer. Gintoki was the very first person to point it out to her and his words impacted her deeply. From a young age, she began to hone her natural talent.

”Eh, we should get going already, yes”, Kagura said to change the subject.

She knew she was a wonderful singer and a very confident one too, but at this very moment Otsu's sweet words unfortunately fell to deaf ears. Kagura was a perfectionist, and her lacking dance skills bothered her.

Kagura knew that she had a lot of growing up to do. Mostly with being able to cut some slack to herself. Then again, she was an artist. Is there even such a thing as a mellow, always self-forgiving artist? I think not.

For Kagura, aiming for perfection was her fuel and bringing joy to people was he rgoal.

”Right, Shinpachi told us to come to the break room”, Otsu recalled. ”I'm ready if you are.”

”Yup, let's go,” Kagura chirped.

* *

Before Kagura and Otsu entered the break-room, both could hear some voices coming from inside. It sounded like a flock of hens assembled into a tiny space, which obviously meant that the four remaining members of Sugar Addicts were already there.

Sugar Addicts consisted of five members: Otsu, Yunah, Minty, Ruby and Soyeon.

Yunah was the oldest, she had long black hair with slightly overgrown bangs. She was serious a person with a calm voice. Similar to Otsu, she showed a more passionate side when she was performing, especially during dancing.

Minty and Ruby were identical twins. They both shared a great passion for music from a young age and aiming to be idols together felt like the most natural thing to do. Minty had long black hair with turquoise tips and Ruby had the same cut but with red tips.

Soyeon was the youngest of the group. She had dark brown shoulder length hair. She appeared to be innocent and quiet girl, but behind closed doors she had an opinion about everything. A quality that could help her or hurt her.

As the girls entered the room, a cheerful greeting was the first thing they heard. ”Otsu-ya! Gura-ya!*” Minty said with a smile and waved her hand.

”Hi guys!” Kagura said and lifted her hand at the girls.

All four of them were sitting on a big green couch which Gintoki had provided for the break-room. It was actually his old couch, but Kagura wasn't going to tell anyone that secret piece of information.

Kagura and Otsu sat on the floor next to the couch. ”You had vocal lessons today, right?” Otsu asked her band mates.

”Yeah, we practiced a lot with Kawakami-nim”, Minty said.

”He was worried for you Otsu”, Yunah said, voice as soft as silk.

”Really? Why?” Otsu asked.

”He said you should focus more on yourself rather than helping others all the time,” Soyeon said nonchalantly. She threw a look at Kagura during her words, arousing a lift of an eyebrow from the surprised girl.

Intentiously or not, it felt like she threw some serious shade on Kagura's way. Luckily for Soyeon, Kagura was too tired to stir up anything from a small thing like that. She just stared Soyeon deep into her brown eyes to show her that she heard the comment loud and clear.

Otsu tried to avoid confrontation at all costs, so she laughed nervously to defuse the slight tension surrounding the small space. ”Ah, stop worrying girls. I'm seeing Kawakami-nim later today.”

Yunah crossed her arms loosely. ”Good.”

”Ah, did Shinpachi-shi* tell you to come here too?” Ruby asked.

”Yes, he wanted to talk about the concert”, Otsu said.

”Well then...I guess we have time to kill before he gets here,” Soyeon said and sighed a little.

”Hmm...Patsuan is usually on time... I hope everything is okay,” Kagura worried and scratched her neck.

Otsu giggled. ”You call him Patsuan?”

”Is he your boyfriend or something?” Soyeon teased.

Kagura frowned her brows and huffed dramatically. ”NO! I've just known him for many years, yes.”

”Ne, I think Soyeon was only joking, right?” Ruby said.

”Maybe, maybe not,” Soyeon snarled. Her annoyingly vague answer raised some frustration in Kagura, but it appeared to amuse the rest of the girls.

”Whatever, I don't care,” Kagura muttered. ”Shinpachi is like a brother to me and that's that.”

Otsu stroked Kagura's arm gently, she felt bad that her friend felt attacked. She firmly believed it was the pressure of the concert pressing on everyone's shoulders that caused some rudeness from some of her band mates.

”Why don't we watch some tv to pass the time,” Otsu suggested.

Minty snatched the remote control from a small round coffee table. ”Great idea Otsu unnie*.”

All six girls turned their attention to the small screen. Kagura hoped that there would be some re-runs of her favorite dramas or something light-hearted like that.

Minty switched channels like she was looking for the holy grail of tv shows. Ruby grew tired of her sisters channel surfing and tried to take the remote to away from her. It naturally resulted in some feisty sibling banter.

Kagura lost all hope on ever getting to watch any show. She shifted her focus on the white walls of the room.

She thought it would be amazing to decorate the walls of the break room with photos from everyone. Pictures of upcoming concerts, tours, music video shoots and red carpet events. That way the room would work as a diary of sorts for the Yorozuya Entertainment.

A simple place to remember where everyone began their journey to stardom.

A sudden gasp snapped Kagura out of her thoughts. She searched for the source of such a loud noise. Her eyes darted at Minty and Ruby. Both girls were frozen still, eyes sparkling and tightly glued to the tv screen.

”Oh! Stop changing the channel,” Soyeon said and leaned closer to the tv.

”It would be plain illegal to change the channel now,” Ruby said.

”Agreed sis,” Minty affirmed.

Otsu took a better look at the tv screen. Even Kagura got extremely curious. What an earth was so intriguing to everyone, she thought.

It was a music video. After the first beats of the song, Otsu started bobbing her head a little. ”Oh! It's Ω mega,” she said.

”Yeah! I haven't heard this song in ages,” Soyeon said and began to move with the music.

Kagura looked at the screen. Ω mega was an extremely succesful boy band who had dominated the charts for the past five years. Kagura had heard about them, but she didn't have a specific interest on the group.

”I love them!” Minty said.

”Me too!” Ruby agreed.

Even the ever cool Yunah had an opinion about Ω mega. ”I've always admired their dancing skills”, she commented

”Me too,” Otsu said.

Kagura turned to look at Otsu, she wasn't expecting her to fangirl over the mighty Ω mega. In Kagura's eyes, they were a somewhat overhyped group with their millions and millions of adoring fans and hefty amount of awards.

”Oh, this is my favourite part!” Minty gloated and pointed her finger at the screen. Her enthusiasm drawed Kagura's eyes back to the screen.

A man with light brown hair took the center spot in a very complex dance sequence. His moves were smooth and effortless, even Kagura acknowledged his dancing abilities.

The video jumped between the dance scene and close-ups of the man. He had icy blue contacts like many idols these days had, luring pretty much any viewer to look solely at him.

”He is so hot,” Soyeon marvelled

”He is seriously unreal,” Ruby said and fanned her face with her hands.

Kagura scratched her head. ”Who is that?”

Every single member of the Sugar Addicts turned to look at Kagura. They looked at her like she had asked if the water was wet.

”What do you mean who is that??” Minty asked with mouth gaped open.

”You can't be serious,” Ruby added.

Kagura felt annoyed. Why the hell was this one so-called hot boy so important, she thought.

”That's S, the main-dancer and vocalist of Ω mega,” Otsu explained. ”And to be honest, the most popular member of the whole group.”

”Uh...okay,” Kagura simply said. She wasn't sure what kind of reaction the other girls were expecting from her. Was she supposed to throw twelve cartwheels for his honor and throw her panties up in the air.

Well...that wasn't going to happen. ”I haven't heard of him”, Kagura said and shrugged her shoulders.

”Oh Gura...you're in for a treat,” Minty said.

”We'll tell you everything you need to know,” Ruby continued.

Before Kagura could turn down the wonderful offer, she was showered with a bucket load of info on the idol.

”His stage name is S, he is 22-year-old Japanese-Korean superstar working under Cosmos Recors”, Minty began.

”He debuted in Ω mega, the greatest boy group ever in my opinion. But he went solo just a few months ago,” Ruby said.

”He is an extremely talented dancer, even said to be one of the best in the industry,” Yunah said to Kagura's surprise. He must be very influential as he even got the attention of Yunah, Kagura thought.

”I really loved his solo debut song Skin,” Otsu said.

”Oh yes! I loved it too!” Soyeon said.

”It was a really dirty song in my opinion,” Yunah pointed out, making all the members of Sugar Addicts giggle.

”But that was the best part Yunah unnie!” Soyeon said tongue in cheek.

Kagura felt a little uncomfortable. All five girls around her were gushing over this mysterious S, so she naturally felt left-out. Maybe if she showed some interest on him it would ease the situation, Kagura thought.

”So...what does the S stand for?” Kagura asked.

”Well...it's never actually been confirmed by Cosmos Records, but fans have many theories,” Ruby said.

”Most of us think it's the first initial of his real name, which we still don't know,” Minty said and playfully shook her clenched fists.

”Or it could be, superstar, Seoul, swag...” Soyeon listed.

”Swag?!” Otsu laughed.

”No-one is stupid enough to call themselves swag...” Kagura said and raised her eyebrow. ”Hey! Maybe the S stands for stupid?”

Kagura's fantastic suggestion wasn't well received among the girls. Who could have guessed that..?

”It could be his hometown's initial or an animal,” Yunah continued.

”That's the part of his charm. The mystery of S,” Soyeon pointed out.

”I think so too,” Minty said and nodded her head a couple of times.

”Also, he is known to interact with fans a lot,” Otsu said.

”Yes, there are hundred of videos online of S appearing in random places to surprise any fan who spots him,” Minty explained.

”Okay...” Kagura said, still feeling a little unimpressed. He wasn't the first idol to interact with fans, althought he seemed to be a bit more active with it than others.

”A-anyway,” Otsu said and turned to Kagura. ”After all the new information we gave you, what do you think about him?”

Kagura felt five pairs of eyes staring right in to her soul. They were clearly expecting some sort of smitten reaction from her. So Kagura glanced at the tv screen to help her form a fair and well thought-out opinion of the handsome man called S.

The music video was on its last frames. S was sitting on a rustic looking chair in a dimly lighted space. The camera's angle was a side-profile of him and the chair. S slumped his back against the chair with a small slow-motion effect.

He ran his hand on his hair and looked away from the camera. A light hit his face just enough to highlight his sharp jaw line. Then the frame faded away with the last note of the song.

Kagura thought the song and video were okay, but when it came down to the beloved S, she had only one word for him.

”Meh.”

”MEH?!” Ruby and Minty shouted in unison.

Soyeon shook her head in disapproval, but Kagura couldn't care less. Otsu and Yunah weren't as baffled as the rest of the girls, but a little surprised. Meh was quite diminishing after all.

Shinpachi walked in to the break-room just in time before the passionate S stans* attacked Kagura's opinion. ”Hi everyone!” Shinpachi said and drawed the attention of all six girls.

”Oh, hello Shinpachi-shi,” Yunah said. ”We've been waiting for you a while now.”

Shinpachi scratched the back of his head. ”Ah, sorry. Sakata-nim had some urgent matters I had to take care of.”

”It's okay,” Soyeon chirped like the two-faced creature she was.

”We need to leave to the park, they finally got the electricity working on the stage,” Shinpachi informed.

Without further words, all the aspiring idols stood up, smiling and ready to go. Kagura snatched the remote control from the couch to turn off the tv, which was apparently running another music video from Ω mega. She sighed and pressed the power button.

As the group of people followed Shinpachi out of the building, Otsu pulled Kagura to slow down her pace. ”Hey,” she whispered.

”Hey,” Kagura whispered back and grinned sweetly.

Otsu looked like she had something on her mind, but for some reason she held her words back. ”What is it Otsu?” Kagura asked.

”Oh...you noticed...,” Otsu said quietly.

”I did. Tell me what's on your mind.”

Otsu shook of the unnecessary nervousness she was feeling and spoke up. ”Uh, it's just that...why you disliked S so much?”

”We're still taking about that guy?” Kagura asked. She was surprised about Otsu's question, maybe S was more important idol to her than Kagura had thought.

”Hey...I'm serious.”

”Okay okay...well, I didn't say I disliked him,” Kagura explained. ”It's just that I don't understand what you all see in him.”

Otsu nodded her head a couple of times, she was happy that Kagura wasn't afraid to speak her mind around her. ”Right...but he is a wonderful dancer. You can't deny that Gura,” Otsu giggled.

”Sure, maybe he is,” Kagura said and flicked her long ponytails. ”I just think that most of you adore him because of his looks rather than the dancing, yes.”

”Yeah, maybe some fans do, but I don't really mind.”

”I mean obviously you don't. You're all gushing about him and it's just a little off-putting to me.”

Otsu glanced at Kagura with a neutral look on her face. ”So you don't like him because we all admire him so much?”

”Uh...I-I don't know”, Kagura mumbled. She had difficulties with finding the right words. ”I just think it's shallow to like an idol just because of their looks.”

Otsu fell speechless, she wasn't sure how to feel about Kagura's statement.

”What?” Kagura asked.

”But I'm not a fan because of his looks,” Otsu said. ”As I said, I admire his dancing abilities.”

”Yes you did. I heard that,” Kagura said to reassure her friend. ”I just feel like everyone are so insanely crazy about him and I don't want to become a fan of someone just because everyone else so passionately are.”

Otsu stopped walking. ”So...if I understood correctly, the only reason you don't like him, is because he is so darn popular”, Otsu said.

Kagura halted her movement at Otsu's words. Her tone was serious.

”Don't you think you're being the shallow one right now?” Otsu simply asked.

Kagura was caught off guard by Otsu's question. She hadn't even thought about her own words from another point of view. And they were hella rude to say the least. Kagura pretty much unintentionally bashed Otsu for stanning a popular idol she liked.

Before Kagura could apologize or say anything at all, Otsu continued walking forward. Kagura watched silently as the purple haired girl caught up with her group and easily joined their conversation.

”Oi Gura! What are you standing there?” Shinpachi called from a distance. ”We have to go!”

”Y-yeah! I'm coming”, Kagura said and skipped after everyone. Her thoughts were all over place after her friends comment. The only thing she was certain about was that she needed to apologize to Otsu for being so inconsiderate to her.

And the other thing she needed to think about, was her own shallowness. Was his massive popularity really the reason she didn't get his charm? Or was there something else?

A/N: *ya: used as a ”hello” when attached into one's name in the Korean language, (Kagura-ya! = Hey Kagura!) *shi: Korean honorific, meaning mr. or mrs. *unnie: a female calls an older female as unnie in the Korean language *stan: a portmanteau of the words ”stalker” and ”fan”, refers to someone who is overly obsessed with a celebrity (urban dictionary), I personally feel like ”stanning” a group/celebrity isn't necessarily overly obsessing, more like a hardcore fan thing (correct me if I'm wrong)

#okikagu #gintama #kagura #okita sougo #okita x kagura #kagura x okita #au #fanfiction #k-pop au #alternate universe #fluff #drama #romance #light angst #slow burn #i repeat slow burn

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