Bokutachi wa Akuma: Chapter Twelve

“Okei everyone, places again.” A strong, winded voice echoed in the hollow room.

A groan left one’s lips, their hands on their knees as they panted heavily.

“Mikiya, we can’t do it again.” They huffed lightly. “Can we take a break before we continue again?”

Mikiya huffed himself, having been a part of the practice as well. He placed his hands on his flat hips, a small drop of sweat dripping off the tip of his nose.

“A break?” He turned and looked to an older man who wore a hat, sitting at a table against the wall. The man looked up at Mikiya, giving him a slight nod. “Okei everyone, a break it is. Meet back here in an hour.” Mikiya pulled back his hair; it held its place due to the sticky sweat that beaded from his hairline.

The group all looked at each other before nodding to one another and scattered from the room as quickly as they could. Maika had stayed behind to talk to Mikiya. Letting out a quiet pant himself, he looked to his friend and partner in this business.

“Miki, don't you think we’re pushing them too hard? I mean…” he was cut off.

“Mai, our debut is in just over a month, our official debut.” Mikiya spoke seriously yet held a small victorious smile. He was proud to the fact that they finally made it this far. All their hard work was finally paying off. None of it could have been possible without Maika or his other newly found friends.

Maika paused, running his and through his dampened hair, he led himself away to the rest of the group. Mikiya and Maika had found a manager that would agree to manage a group with very little former experience. Before the 10 of them had played in front of schools and for free in parks, but they had only recently got requests to go big. Before, there had been their groups ‘Go! Best’ which was based in Tokyo with the members; Mikiya, Maika, Maruki, Aiya and Rin. Then there was ‘Lucky Se7eN’ which was based out of Osaka with the members; Daichi, Ryota, Ryuu, Miku and Mizuki. Though not all of them were from their founding locations, it was where the majority of them were from.

Now that they had formed together, which was a dream of Mikiya’s, they had formed the group ‘Hey! Go Hei’, not the best name in Mikiya’s mind, but the manager was the one who chose it, and he seemed to like it.

In a large square room of which the walls were all painted white, the eight newly appointed friends sat around a large set of tables, each with a large plate of food in front of them. Off in the corner was a large buffet table full of great looking food where all of them had gathered themselves their plates. The first to start eating was Daichi; he was shoveling the food into his mouth quickly.

It had been hours since they had all eaten, and all their dance practice had made them all very hungry. The food was very tasty, and warm. The quiet room was filled with the soft, muffled sound of chopsticks against plastic and paper. Then, the door had opened, the puffing Maika had walked in quietly. With his t-shirt sleeves rolled up on his shoulders and his bangs now tied atop his head, he looked around at the everyone as they glanced up at him silently, food in most of their mouths. Scattered, soft smiles beamed up at him as they bowed their heads to him in a silent hello.

“Is there any food left?” He placed a hand on his hip and smiled quirkily.

With a mouthful of food, Ryota stretched his arm back, pointing at the table in the corner.

“Right there.” He was mumbled and was very muffled due to the food in his mouth.

Maika looked to the table and went to go serve himself.

As Maika sat down, Mikiya came in from talking to their manager. His first priority was, water, he was dehydrated and his throat felt very raw. To most of the group at this moment, him not being able to talk very well was a good thing. After taking a big sip of water, looked out to his team.

“Good job so far everyone. We’ve come a long way in one week.” With the bottle of water in his hand, he clapped cheerfully. “I just wanted to thank all of you for all your hard work.” A little enthusiastic criticism got all of them smiling, especially the younger ones.

“Enjoy the food, but don't eat too much. I don't want you to have an upset stomach during our final rehearsal of the night.” Mikiya smiled and bowed his head as they all agreed with him. He then turned and left into the corner to get himself some food.

Being together now all at once in a quiet room, it gave them all a chance to get to know each other more. Though most of them had scattered friendships amongst the others, for the groups of friends, this was the first time actually meeting the others. The younger team from Osaka had all moved here away from their families, except for Mizuki, he was born in Tokyo.

Sitting between Aiya and Maika, sat Maruki, silently munching on a spring roll. Daichi sat across from him, between Ryuu and Ryota, all of their youthful faces deep in their plates of food. Daichi looked up, still chewing on some rice.

“So, Kaore is it?” in hearing his name, Maruki's head shot up, remaining still for a moment before nodding, his chubby cheeks full of spring roll. “How long have you known these two?” He split his middle and index finger apart, pointing to the two on either side of him.

“You three seem very close.” He ceased his thought, waiting for Maruki to answer before he continued.

Giving off a big gulp, he looked to Aiya first who was already looking at him.

“Aiya and I have known each other since we were little kids.” He looked into Aiya's eyes, directing his next comment to him. “What was it, Preschool?” Aiya nodded.

“And Maika?” he shifted in his chair to the other one. “Maika was only about a year and a half ago we met. Right Maika?” he smiled happily.

“Seems much longer then that.” He agreed perfectly, but implied it felt like they have known each other for much longer.

Daichi smiled at that, having a friend that long must be nice. He looked to the two on either side of him, and decided that it would be polite to share as well and not just ask for one’s personal information.

“I met Ryota in junior high school, first year” he leaned over and wrapped his arm around Ryota's shoulder, shaking him brotherly. “And Ryuu, it was final year of high school. We both had tied marks and votes for Valedictorian.” Friendly rivalry lead to friendship for these two, much like Mikiya and Maika.

Maruki nodded making an understanding, entertained sound from his throat. Placing his food back on his paper plate, he got interested by the others now. Daichi was to blame for that. He was a naturally curious person, and now he had to fill that curiosity.

“What about you Sakuragi-kun?” Maruki tilted his head cutely, folding his arms on the table in front of him.

Mizuki had been shoveling rice into his mouth from one of the paper bowls he grabbed. He looked up when the other addressed him, a few pieces of rice hanging in the corners of his mouth.

“Oh,” he wiped his mouth clean with his sleeve. “I am Mikiya’s brother.” The room went silent, their mouths stopped moving and all their gazed moved over to him. He looked around to the luring eyes.

“What?”

Mikiya had the look in his eyes that he didn't want Mizuki to say anything. His eyes dropped and he relaxed in his seat. After staring at Mizuki for a moment, they all moved their gaze to Mikiya.

“Yes he is my foster brother.” Only one knew that they were family and that was Maika, but he knew everything about Mikiya.

The ten of them chatted amongst each other for the remaining of the hour. They asked various questions to each other, like family members and how each other met. They had stories and laughs together; their beginning bonding grew every minute. The group of ten boys was growing as a friendship quickly, for they would be seeing each other almost every day from now on; a good friendship was important in order to have good teamwork.