Quartet Knight (An UtaPri Fanfic)

Chapter 11

He still remembered the day.

He was lying on his bed facing the ceiling of his dark room. Much like his soul, his room was a mess – clothes were scattered on the floor, papers were all over the place and maracas were left to collect dust. Another year passed and still no sign of Aine waking up.

The thought crushed him.

On the palm of his hand was his phone displaying the details of the very call he missed and wished he hadn't. Once he got out from work, Reiji would head back to his apartment and fall on his bed while waiting for a call from a certain someone even though that person wouldn't be dialling Reiji's number anytime soon. The brunet would wait until he unconsciously falls asleep and the cycle goes on. It wasn't like he had anyone else to talk to – everyone blamed him for Aine's suicide attempt including two of his closest friends, Kei and Hibiki. Between the two, Kei was the most devastated since he was Aine's composer and they shared a special bond with one another so Reiji understood why he was so upset. Still, it was unfair that the brunet's side of the story wasn't heard much or others pretended to be fucking deaf. The only people who didn't sneer at him were his mom and sister, Shining Saotome, Hyuuga-sensei, and Aine's uncle.

Life gets lonely sometimes regardless of the amount of time he was alone.

'If you were here, you would urge me to go to the beach with you.' Reiji thought. He could always go by himself since no jerk would bother him there, but going to a place where his bestfriend tried to drown himself wasn't exactly helpful.

Sighing, the brunet shifted and hugged a pillow. Perhaps he should just go to sleep – it had always been a remedy. Just as he was about to, his phone rang. Reiji raised an eyebrow once he saw the caller.

"Hello?"

It was Shining Saotome. The president of his academy asked him how he was doing and somehow, it made Reiji feel a little lighter inside. No matter how crazy and questionable Saotome would usually act, the old man was of good nature.

"I have an assignment for you, Mr. Kotobuki." Said the president.

"What is it?" Reiji inquired.

"You are to be in a band of four. Are you up for it?"

Silence.

...

...

"What time and where?"

"Tomorrow, 1:45 pm. You and the others will meet at my office."

"Alright."

With a hearty laugh, Saotome hung-up leaving Reiji in a state of wonder. The brunet finally agreed to sing in a band after going solo for a long while. Come to think of it, it had been quite some time since he last sang – he mostly did jobs related to comedy after he found out how good he was at making other people laugh even if he couldn't do it for his self without pretense. In addition, there were four members including Reiji.

Would it be the same?

Of course not. It wouldn't be the same because they were people Reiji never knew.

But then again, so were the people he used to be friends with.

~

Next day came and Reiji forgot the time he was supposed to be at Shining's office. Well, maybe not that he forgot, he just overslept. He had 2 hours before the designated time so the brunet decided to take a quick nap. He opened his eyes and was frankly surprised that it read 1 o'clock on his watch so as of the moment, Reiji was going around the room grabbing a decent attire and his car keys. It really helped that he owned a vehicle and he was quite knowledgeable of shortcuts therefore he arrived exactly on time although he looked a bit dishevelled from all the running.