Chapter 29
Ryosuke
“Showtime,” a roadie yelled while walking past us.
I’d been nervous before. The feeling wasn’t anything new, but doing this with a new band?
There was something so completely different about being backstage and preparing to stand in front of an excited crowd with people I’d only just met a month or so ago versus people I’d been playing with my entire career.
It didn’t matter how close me, Itsuki, and Yasu had gotten in the bedroom.
This was a different ball game entirely.
“Are you okay?” I jumped as Itsuki’s hand landed on my shoulder.
Damn, I wasn’t normally this jumpy, but I was about to step out on stage in front of a crowd that was here to see a band they loved. I wasn’t someone they were expecting. Would they hate me?
Shit, I was normally a lot more confident than this. I’d spent the last few weeks proving that I knew the songs and now that it was time to put it to the final test... why the fuck was I locking up?
I cleared my throat, giving Itsuki a smile I wasn’t completely feeling. “They’re not going to hate me, right?”
He giggled, throwing his arm over my shoulders.
The dress he was wearing for the show was downright stunning.
It matched his new hairstyle perfectly. It was black and lacy with hot pink floral designs etched into the material.
I now understood why Sachiko wanted to make his hair match the outfit.
It made it stand out even more than if she had left it alone.
If anyone looked out of place with the rest of the group, it was me.
The costume I wore had originally been designed for Mamarou, they’d made adjustments to it to fit me.
I was considerably taller. It wasn’t a bad thing, but my red hair stuck out against the color choices.
The poor costume mistress hadn’t seemed as comfortable around me as she’d been with the other members.
I couldn’t blame her because my old band had treated ours like trash.
We’d gone through more than a couple in the two years we’d been playing together.
There was the one time Hatchi had sent the poor guy running from the room in tears after he’d accidentally poked him with a needle when he was bringing in the waist of one of his jackets.
He’d made it sound like the guy had done it intentionally, but Hatchi was constantly losing weight.
His costumes always needed to be adjusted.
It was an exhausting job. Toward the end, it was a miracle that there was much of the man left at all.
“They’re going to love you. Stop worrying so much.”
If only it had been that easy.
Itsuki’s display of affection wasn’t completely unnoticed.
Yasu watched us from across the room. I briefly debated if it would be okay to corner him and try to distract myself.
We still hadn’t established anything permanent, though we’d played together at least one more time since our overnight at Itsuki’s place.
I wasn’t the person who did relationships, but something about these two made me want to keep them.
Itsuki was so warm and open, then there was the way Yasu fought me on everything?
I liked his tenacity. I liked his challenging me.
“Itsu...” I sighed, pushing a bit of his bangs back from his face, causing him to smile warmly up at me.
“I’m serious, Ryo-sama.”
And there was that name. Both men had adopted it. At no point had I requested them to call me it, but I didn’t mind the position of power it had given me. I’d always been more dominant and demanding in the bedroom. I loved that both of them had given themselves over to it so willingly.
Okay, so maybe Yasu was a different story, but I’d established that was something I liked about him. He took a little more work. It made things even more enjoyable when he finally caved, turning himself over to the pleasure.
Things weren’t completely better there.
If things weren’t happening behind closed doors, I’d still think that the vocalist hated me.
It had been he who had invited Itsuki and me over the last time, since he said his sister was out for the night.
It still felt odd to be included, but he knew and understood.
It sent shivers through me every time he bent to my will.
“Are you guys ready to rock!” Tatsuki came bounding into the room, fist held high in the air as he looked around.
It was hard not to smile at how enthusiastic these guys were. Tokyo Roadtrip had always been so stoic before a performance. There would come a day when I stopped comparing the two bands, but since this was all so new, it was not today.
Riku followed closely behind them. The whole band looked so damn cohesive.
I still felt like the biggest sore thumb standing there in the middle of all of them.
There was no way that I could let it show, not when both Yasu and Itsuki were now eyeing me with so much damn concern.
I was bigger than this. I’d played a hundred shows before.
This wouldn’t be anything new. All I needed to do was go out on that fucking stage and prove that I deserved to be there.
That was when Toshi decided to join us.
“Ah, Pink Cherry. Look at all of you. Are you ready to reintroduce your band to the world?”
Itsuki snorted a small laugh. “Reintroduce? Why would we need to do that?”
Toshi’s brow furrowed for a moment as he crossed his arms over his chest. “Because now you have a new bassist. The sound has changed.”
Had it?
“Nothing has changed. Everything has been seamless since Ryosuke stepped in,” Riku interjected, surprising me since he was normally so quiet. But it also felt good that this band had learned to appreciate me enough that they were willing to defend me.
Toshi smirked. It made my stomach drop.
“So you think. This is the true test. Your fans will know the difference.”
“What the hell is that supposed to mean?” This time it was Yasu jumping in. I was once again struck with the desire to wrap him in an embrace, but knew it would destroy the facade that he hated my guts.
“It means nothing, Yasu-san. I’m just stating the facts that if any small thing is different, then your fans will notice.
I’m glad that you all spent so much time practicing together prior to this show, but it doesn’t change the fact that Ryosuke is not Mamarou-kun, no matter how much we all wish he was. ”
My stomach rolled because now Toshi was talking about me as if I weren’t even in the room. At no point had I tried to replace their friend. It wasn’t the point of bringing me on board. Maybe all this atomicity that Yasu felt toward me was because of comments like that from Toshi.
The whole point was to keep Pink Cherry from falling through the cracks because one of their members had needed to step aside. What the fuck was this? Was Toshi trying to pit us against each other? Pit them against me?
Yasu’s eyes flashed with something close to anger before he looked between me and Toshi. It was as if any small progress I’d made with the vocalist was tossed right out the damn window with the statement.
Fuck Toshi. He was going to pay for putting that thought into the universe.