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DISCLAIMER: I DON'T OWN UTA NO PRINCE SAMA. I just own the plot.

Masato slowly opened the door, revealing a room that was used to be the source of commotion in his life. It was devastatingly spacious without the two owners. The first owner whose room side was painted with navy blue color just gave up and scared to attend the school again.

While the other side of the room, which where you could see two guitars on the wall and a shelf of comics and CDs just lost its owner recently.

Masato curved in a smile that suggested an unspeakable pain. Normally, as soon as he opened the door room, Otoya would whine how merciless Tokiya was with him while Tokiya would defend himself, saying that Otoya was the one who picked the fight.

"All I asked was teaching me how to sing but you made it sounded like I just handed you a bomb! That's not fair when you even turned into a transvestite to help Masa in acting!"

"At least, he didn't hide my school uniform if I cannot help him! He's well-behaved, unlike you, barbarian!"

"Masa, Tokiya called me barbarian!"

"But he was the one who started the fight, Masato!"

And he, as the unwilling 'mother' for those brothers would nag at them back, applying all kind of possible parenting that he could think of when he was not even married yet. Because of them, he even read any book which could assist him in dealing with a pair of grown-up but immature siblings.

But now, his morning was simply mind-numbing and he hated it. He missed the noise. He missed the drama.

He missed Otoya and he wanted Tokiya to come back to school.

Every morning, even he knew that those Ichinose siblings were not there, he would try to marshal his courage to go to school by going to their room first. He kept the key so he could do whatever he pleased. He would clean the room as his stress relief, hoping that when Tokiya made his mind to come back again, the blue head did not need to clean the room.

After school, he would go to Tokiya's house, trying every single method that he could think of to coax the latter to go to school. All those practices for his debut when it was around the corner were postponed because it felt pointless without Tokiya. They already promised to each other to debut together so it was his responsibility to remind Tokiya of the promise.

But so far, everything he tried was in vain. Tokiya still locked himself up in his room without even bothering to eat or take a shower. When somebody tried to comfort him, he would stay silent or even getting more scared. He was so quiet but when he did talk, he only mumbled how he wished Otoya was still alive now.

After a few hours done with the 'talking-with-the-wall' session since Tokiya did not even bother to vent what he felt on Masato like usual, the pianist would go back to his dorm, writing calligraphy to release his stress. He convinced himself every day to be strong for Tokiya and Kazuki. They were like his family so he would try his best to help them to cure the pain after they lost Otoya.

Yet, with Tokiya decided to not talk and rely on him which was so unlike him, Masato felt lost. He did not know what to do anymore.

"Please, after that, you will stay beside Tokiya no matter what because I know, he will need you the most. Don't let him all by himself. Please, Masa..."

Masato smirked bitterly as he was reminded of Otoya's words. Nobody could understand how much he wanted to flick Otoya's forehead and nagged at the redhead mercilessly for saying such baseless pleading if he was still here.

If only he could do something cheesy like writing and sending a letter to Otoya...

Dear, Otoya...

Since when you became this mean, huh? You left us, you left me without even properly saying goodbye. How dare you! Don't you realize your friends love you and want to see your smile and presence every day? I won't be sad this much if you at least say goodbye to me properly. For heaven's sake, where is your manner, you twerp!?I didn't feed you breakfast every day to let you leave me like this, you ungrateful child!

Not to mention the way you left us... It's upsetting. It's beyond the pale. What had you done wrong? What did you do to deserve this kind of fate? I knew you have a heart of gold. You had tried so hard to be nice to everyone but why that damn Shibuya chose to kill you? Why did she choose to separate you from us, from your family, from Tokiya? How can an animal like that even exist?

At least if you want to leave us like this, please tell me how to help Tokiya overcoming his depression. You know what's happening right now, right? It's crazy. Aijima and Nanami were so sad with what happened to you and then, there is this jerk who we believe is Shibuya's accomplice. Guess what? He or she had uploaded the video of Tokiya scolded and wished you dead on that night in our school social media. Everybody, especially your fans blackmailed Tokiya when he was in school. They threw trash at him. They destroyed his locker, insulted him in the cafeteria and saying that he should commit suicide for making you dead. They even broke into his room and destroyed his laptop. They also tore his books and clothes. Guess what? He only could stand such ill-treatment for three days and now, he refused to go back to school because he was afraid of everyone.

Everyone... Including me.

And because of that, for the first time ever, I feel it's hard to handle him. No matter how many times your daddy and I tried to console him, he chose to bottle up and when he wasn't aware that we observed him, he would cry until he fell asleep. This is insane because I can't help him at all. And you said that he needed me the most after you left? What a crap!

You know how loud we are to each other, right? We settled everything through honesty but when he chose to endure it by himself, I felt so lost. So, please... Please help your brother, Otoya.

Just, please...

"Ma-kun! Haru-chan!"

"Masato-kun!" He could feel Natsuki from his side patted his arm, seeking his attention.

As soon as he was dragged back to the harsh reality, everyone in A class looked at him including Ringo.

"Are you okay, Ma-kun, Haru-chan?" Ringo was standing in the middle of the class while holding his hips.

Masato could see that Haruka was also forlorn like him. It must be harder for her since both Tomochika and Otoya's seats were just next to and in front of her.

"If you both need to share your problem, you guys know that I am always here for you, right?" Ringo said with a face that showed empathy.

Haruka slowly nodded before staring blankly at her note.

No, I don't want to share problem but I want to make Tokiya come to school again, Masato mentally answered.

The next day, Masato walked along the corridor, heading listlessly to nowhere in particular. It was his new routine since he was eager to get to the bottom of something that bothered his mind lately other than Tokiya.

He swore that he would find the culprit. He would bash them and...

"Hey, Kaito. That Tomochika is not even beautiful anymore. Do you really have to upload the video and tell everyone that he's the one who killed Otoya?" Maybe God just answered his prayer because as soon as he passed B class, he could hear someone asked his friend.

"Well, I did not upload the video because of her order, Shuu. She turned so ugly and even blind right now, so why should I care about her? I did it because apart from it's true that he killed his own brother, I really wanted to see that Ichinose being brought down. Tomochika is right though. Because of the so-called perfect bastard, those teachers ignored us. They eulogized Ichinose everyday... That was annoying!"

"Then, if the fact that he is perfect because he worked hard every day made him annoying, what makes you then?"

The friends recoiled as they recognized the deep voice that they did not want to hear the most when they talked ill about Tokiya.

"Hijirikawa-san..." Shuu exclaimed, losing his breath for a while. His eyes widened as he stared at the figure behind Kaito.

As soon as Kaito turned around to apologize and say that Masato must hear them wrong, he could feel a big fist hit his prominent cheekbone. Blood squirted from his mouth, sending the female students to scream in horror.

"What the hell are you doing, you asshole!?" Kaito squealed in anger while holding his victimized cheek. What's with the hand!? Is it made of metal or something?

"I am about to ask you the same thing," Masato remarked, suggesting a great danger while eyeing the student like an angry lion. Everyone else turned panicky because this was the first time for everyone to see Hijirikawa Masato openly went berserk.

"You..."

"Why? Do you want to fight? Bring it on!" The sight of Masato's great figure was enough to scare the hell out of them.

"It's better don't, Kaito. He learned judo," as soon as Shuu whispered a warning, Kaito stepped back, acting defeatist.

"Then, if you don't want to fight, mind to tell me why did you upload the video and spread the slander about Tokiya?"

"It's not even a slander, Hijirikawa. It's the truth. That jerk killed his own brother. We can't have that kind of bastard to be the exemplary student of this school. It's a crying shame."

"Why everybody kept saying that he was the murderer when Shibuya was the one who killed Otoya?"

"Because he wished his death and it must be granted by this school. From the video itself, we can see how much that Ichinose hated his brother. If the rumor about this school is not true, what about Otoya? He couldn't come back as a ghost for less than a month if it was not because of this school, right? He was already dead when he disappeared on that day. Plus, don't you think this is a great chance to get rid somebody overrated like Ichinose? Don't you feel this is unfair since all the teachers keep extolling his talent? What do you say, you guys?" Kaito's attempt to gain support from other students was triumphant since most of them shouted back incoherently but clearly showed that they agreed with Kaito.

"No, he deserved to be extolled because he worked harder than everyone else," when Masato did not show any sign of being swayed by his random 'demonstration', Kaito sighed in frustration, mixed with sarcasm.

"This is such a waste of time. I should realize this from the start. You are going to back him because you are dating him, right, Hijirikawa? The rumor about you guys being in a relationship is true, right?"

"Stop with the crap. Stick to our main point, won't you?" Masato clenched his fist while attempting to be more patient. If this idiot kept rambling, he could not promise anyone to hold back from smashing all Kaito's teeth.

"So, you are dating him for real?" Kaito laughed, followed by the sneers from others. Crazily enough, some female students even beamed in excitement, knowing their favorite couple was real.

"What are you guys so happy about?" Masato scowled at the girls who immediately zipped their mouths before punching Kaito again. This time, the guy collapsed onto the floor with another bruise. "Sorry for disappointing you guys but we are straight. Oh, wait! Why should I feel sorry for being straight? Nah, whatever."

"And speaking about our relationship, even I don't see why I should tell this to outsiders like you guys, I think I should make this clear so that no more absurd rumors will spread around. Tokiya and Otoya are the most precious friends that I have ever had. They are my childhood friends and for me and Otoya, Tokiya is the brother figure to us. He was the one who comforted us when we got scared of ghosts and bullies. Tokiya was the one who helped me to be able to achieve my dream without ruining my relationship with my father. He was the one who made aware what I wanted to do with my life. I learned all idol skills from him. I was with him for ten years. I know who he is and I don't hate him for insulting Otoya, not because he is my friend but I know deep inside, he didn't mean it. He loves Otoya but there's a circumstance between them that made him despised Otoya for a while which I don't want to tell you guys because it's really personal. For Otoya, even he's already gone, I know that guy long enough to be convinced that he never hated Tokiya. Otoya was a lonely orphan. He needed his parents the most but Tokiya was the one who overcame the loneliness and Tokiya was the one who gave him the second chance to have a family. You guys just a bunch of outsiders who are extremely judgmental with everything based on one heck of video and even wanted to bring down Tokiya when all this time, I believe he had helped most of you guys to improve your skills. If you guys think playing judges would make you guys the true fans of Otoya and so-called pacifists for this school, you guys are totally wrong! Otoya absolutely disapproved this and you guys are just the worst!"

"What's going on here!?" A terrifying voice that scared the heck out of the students hit them which eventually ended the platonic drama. Most of them sat in their own seat as soon as Hyuga Ryuya came into their sight.

"Hijirikawa, what are you doing here?" Ryuya glared at the poker-faced Masato.

Punching and lecturing these jerks, the scion mentally answered.

Ren was lying on the sofa with his hand on his forehead. He stared blankly at the ceiling, thinking about each of his friends who got suffered enough because of Shibuya Tomochika. Yet, the image which distracted him the most was...

Otoya, the cheerful and upbeat redhead who always made him smiled at his innocence and kindness. He missed the boy a lot and even he looked the calmest out of them when they saw Otoya's dead body, it did not mean it did not hit him hard. Instead, he refused to go to school for a few days because everything about the school reminded him of Otoya.

Right in front of him was Syo, sitting on a chair, playing with his fedora out of boredom. Since Otoya's death, he refused to play soccer. The image of Otoya smiled and passed the ball to him were distracting enough for him to focus on what he was doing at that time. He also missed to get excited with Otoya whenever a new game got released. He would let Otoya to be the first one to know about his new game collection and they would binge playing the game on weekend.

But now, not anymore.

"Oi, Ren."

"What?"

"It's so weird to be here when there are only us..." He stated the obvious. He looked around their favorite practice room and words could not describe how empty it looked like. The piano missed Masato and Haruka. Those chairs missed the rest of his friends.

Usually, there were seven of them and Haruka. Even they would debut as a soloist, they loved practicing together even half of the time was used to tease each other. Cecil and Ren would flirt with Haruka which ended up with a tussle with Masato who acted more like a gentleman to the composer. Otoya and Natsuki would have fun with each other and sometimes if the mood was there, Natsuki would secretly hug Haruka in the middle of the tussle which caused a major uproar in the room. Syo and Otoya would be the peaceniks before Syo ended up being the angriest one after Ren teased his height, followed by Natsuki who randomly forced the small boy to put on a dress since he was so cute.

Tokiya would be in his own world once he practiced but sometimes, he would join the fight and enrage Syo even more.

While Tomochika... She joined them sometimes but as the mature one in the group, she would spend time with Tokiya the most.

Little did they know in the midst of the mirth, there were dark feelings lingering around which were jealousy, arrogance, and betrayal from Tomochika. Little did they know those feelings ended up taking Otoya away from them.

Now, she was their worst enemy. It was good to know that because of the strong acid attack from Cecil, she lost her sight and was still hospitalized. No surgery could save her face.

"What should we do next? We tried to console Nanami but she is still sad..." Syo remarked. The composer was strong enough to attend school after her first love got killed from saving her and the best friend who she always looked up to all this time tried to kill her but just like Masato, she spent her time by being spaced out and sometimes reading in the library.

"We tried to persuade Cecil to come back to school but to no avail..." Ren added, reminded himself of the prince who said his debut would be meaningless without Otoya. "We visited Tokiya but he did not even want to talk to us..."

"And Hijirikawa..." Syo gripped one of the fedora sides, clenching his teeth. "I never saw he that down before. He's always the strongest one when it comes to hiding his emotion but now... I can't stand to see him like that, Ren."

"What that makes me then? I have to see him every day. You have no idea how upsetting for me to know that my roommate is suffering but I can't do anything to help him. It's even tougher when you realized that all this time, he was the one who helped everyone the most."

"I know right..."

As the result, they did not know what was the best way to help Masato.

"All of them suffered because of the psychopath Shibuya... We cannot just give up like this and let everything goes the way she wanted. We should help them more!"

"Guys, this is terrible!" All of sudden, the door was slammed open, revealing Natsuki who was surprisingly did not attack Syo first as the victim of his bear hug.

"Why, Natsuki?" Syo asked, lazily.

"Masato-kun... He was summoned to the principal's room for hitting a student. Apparently, he found who was the one who uploaded the video."

"What!?" Ren and Syo echoed.

For the first time in the academy history, Hyuga, Ringo, and Shining Saotome showed sympathy to the misbehaved student because he was...

Hijirikawa Masato. Unlike his usually collected exterior, he looked more depressed. His eyes stared blankly at the floor, did not care the slightest bit about what was going to happen to him later. This sight was heart-breaking for the teachers who knew just how well-behaved he was and just how loyal he was as s friend of Ichinose siblings.

"Ma-kun, how's Tokiya-chan nowadays?" Ringo initiated.

"Same routine. He cried, refused to eat and talk. He cried most of the time and he fell asleep when he's tired. He didn't even take shower. He stank," Masato answered, flatly.

"Do you think that he was going to quit school?" Hyuga asked. "Are you going to let him quit just like that?"

"No, of course not," the teachers could see that the scion was holding back from shedding tears. "I'll never give up. I will make sure that he will come to school soon. He just needs more motivation, more reasons to do so. We know how much this debut means to him. It's his life. I will never let him let this chance go just because he is sad and blaming himself for Otoya's death which is the thing that Otoya dislikes the most. I already promised Otoya to never leave Tokiya by himself."

The teachers nodded.

"Is there anything else you need, Mr. Hijirikawa? We can help you..."

"Yes, principal."

"What is it, Mr. Hijirikawa?" Shining Saotome asked.

"As a principal and the teachers, can you guys do something with the students? I mean, yes, one has to be tough to survive in this industry no matter how harsh and cruel the public can be to us because that's what a public figure has to go through in the first place but... I am sorry but I don't agree with the opinion. Why should the victim have to cope with the cruelty from the public when the one who should fix themselves is the one who is cruel in the first place? The fact that their opinion about Tokiya changed just because of the video... They decided to just believe in what they decided to believe which is a shame. And one more thing, what gives them the right to destroy his belongings, insulted him and forced him to commit suicide? Not to mention, some of them including Shibuya hate Tokiya because he is perfect when that's not even his fault. He just did his utmost to achieve his goal which made him perfect in the process. I am sorry but if this is the attitude that they showed to you guys when Tokiya is not the only guy who is talented in Japan, I am afraid this school will have a bad image for keeping those sick future idols. In future, they will just stab anyone talented in the back in so please fix this situation as soon as possible. And please, considering how stuck-up Shibuya was, you might as well give some extra education to others about not being so arrogant just because they are going to be an idol. If not, there are some people who are going to be killed like Otoya and their friends will be so devastated like Aijima and Nanami."

Those three teachers were left speechless.

"I am sorry if I sounded rude but I think some necessary precautions should be applied as soon as possible after what had happened to my friends. Thank you for your time. I have Fujiwara sensei's class to attend so I'll leave first," Masato bowed before slowly leaving the room.

"Tokiya," Masato knocked on the door for the nth time but it just stayed silent as usual. "Tokiya, this is me. Can I get in?"

"I think he's already asleep, Masato," Kazuki interrupted from his room. "I noticed lately he would sleep straight from evening to midnight. Maybe he was tired from constant crying."

"No surprise," Masato commented. He admired Kazuki's strength the most. Losing his wife and son was not easy but he managed to not let his emotion overwhelmed him.

"Here's the key," Kazuki handed the spare key to Masato.

"Thank you, ojisan."

"You're welcome."

As soon as Masato got into the room, he was served with the sight of the very messy room. This was the sight that you would never expect from a clean freak like Tokiya unless he was totally crazy and needed something to give vent to his unstable emotion. Not only the belongings were all over the place, the room was so silent, without the heart-rending sobbing which also pleaded Otoya to come back.

He's really sleeping, I guess, Masato thought as he slowly headed towards the other side of the bed, near the window.

He sighed heavily as a tall figure was sleeping soundly on the floor without blanket or pillow. His friend still wore his school uniform which consisted of a pair of dark green trousers and a white shirt. That was the last outfit he had even wore since after he decided to not come back to school, he did not even bother to change his clothes. Meanwhile, Masato could see a small pool of transparent liquid, next to Tokiya's head which obviously was his tears considering how wet his eyelashes were. His lunch remained untouched and flies started to crave for it.

"What should I do with you, Tokiya?" Masato whispered, being clueless about what to do. If he woke Tokiya up to eat at least, his friend would flinch and avoid him at any cost. He was that scared when anybody tried to meet him.

At last, Masato grabbed a pillow, carefully putting it below Tokiya's head. He covered the lethargic body with a dark blue duvet, silently hoped that Tokiya would not catch a cold for sleeping on the floor.

After talking with Kazuki for a while, he went back to the school, getting surprised to see some extravagant meals on his study desk.

"Where did this come from?" He mumbled before his eyes caught the sight of a small card next to the meals. He read it, getting surprised for the second time to see how messy and long the writing was.

'Oi, Hijirikawa! Eat this to avoid starvation or I will stuff them into your mouth!'

'Syo-chan, please don't use words that suggested violence. Masato-kun, we made this special for you. We are so worried about you. Please take care of your health and eat properly.'

'Don't worry, Hijirikawa. Even he did say 'we' but Natsuki didn't cook at all. I promise it's not poisonous.'

'What do you mean, Syo-chan? I already put my special soup there.'

'Naniii??? Hijirikawa, don't eat the souppp!!'

Masato chuckled and it was the most cheerful reaction that he ever had for a while. These guys were such a moron. All they had to do was removing the sinister soup but they just decided to be funny and warned him in this small card instead.

"Ah, you already came back?" As soon as the door was slowly open, Masato was served with the sight of Ren, Syo and Natsuki appeared with warm smiles.

That was when he realized he had friends who he could rely on. He was used to help his friends so the idea of being helped apart from by Tokiya was a bit weird for him.

"Guys, I..."

"Why? Do you want to know why I didn't write on the card? Because it'll be embarrassing for me to write something cheesy while still being your roommate, right? Not to mention you will say how disgusting I am and you'll tell me to scram," Ren dramatically put his hand on his broad chest, pretending to be hurt.

"Glad you know," Masato chuckled but words could not describe how happy they were to see Masato smiled.

"Wahhhh, Masato-kun came back with his cute smile!" Natsuki trapped the blue head into his infamous bear hug. Unlike usual when Masato felt embarrassed, awkward and suffocated, this time, he could feel the warmth. He did need the support of his friends.

"Sorry for the lame meals by the way. I know that's not even close to your superb cooking but we don't know what's the suitable method for us to cheer you up," Syo said.

"It's okay. This is the best. I can see how much effort you guys had to put on them," Masato glanced at the meals. "Thank you, guys."

"You're welcome. You see, we just figured something out, Hijirikawa," Ren added. "After what happened, you, Icchi, Cecil and Lady were the ones who got affected the most after Ikki left so we discussed about this for a while and we reached the conclusion that we should help you first so that we can help the others."

"What do you guys mean?"

"You need to be strong so that you can help Tokiya. You are the only one who can help him to forgive himself. After Tokiya recovers, we will make him coaxing Cecil to come back to this school because they both had been affected the most by Otoya's death so maybe Tokiya can let Cecil know that he's not alone," Syo explained.

"And then, we will let Cecil-kun coax Haru-chan since he knows just how to make Haru-chan feels better," Natsuki supplied.

"I know that sounded like a food chain but we think someone broken-hearted like them need someone who they can trust... Someone that they can share their sadness. By hook or by crook, you have to start changing, Hijirikawa..." Ren put on a serious face as he grabbed Masato's shoulders. "I know this cannot change the fact that Ikki is dead but at least, we can assist our friends so that they will become happy again. I bet that's what Ikki wants the most. For us to be happy again. If he's watching us somewhere, don't you want to make him keep smiling?"

It was silent for a while.

"So, you guys are not blaming Tokiya for Otoya's death?" Masato asked.

"No," Syo and Natsuki echoed.

"Of course not. We believe in him and he is our friend. We should be the ones who support and protect him from those judgmental bastards," Ren said.

That was the words that Masato needed to hear the most. There were still kind people who believed in Tokiya.

"Thank you, guys. I really appreciated that," Masato smiled.

Yes, he should help himself first and then, he would try to do the same thing to Tokiya again, starting from tomorrow.

That's all for chapter 13! Hope I am diligent enough to publish the next chapter since I am so impatient to see this story completed. Feel free to let me know what do you think about this chapter, okay? See you soon! :D