Every time Reita looked at the other PSC bands, he always thought about how unmanly most of them were. He wasn’t looking down his nose at them or judging them for their looks or anything, he was merely observing them while he walked through the halls of the building or plucked at the strings of his bass. It was a thought that he had often, and even his own bandmates were included in the thought.

Outside of his band, his main target was Takeru. It wasn’t that he had anything against SuG’s vocalist; Takeru was an interesting person, not to mention he was cool, but every time he looked at Takeru, he couldn’t help but notice his strange accessories and girlish features. He wore too many bright colors and giggled like a little girl, and if Reita wasn’t so sure that Takeru was indeed a boy, he’d believe in an instant that he was a girl.

Then there was Hikaru. He was tiny and cute, and just by looking at him for a split second, anyone could see that he clearly wasn’t manly. He wore clothes that were form-fitting, and sometimes Reita saw him prancing around in a skirt. Without a doubt, Hikaru wasn’t manly.

Reno was another person that Reita had his eye on. The ViViD guitarist reminded him of his own guitarist from time to time; he was beautiful, an amazing guitarist, and he had thighs that would make anyone take a second look. He knew how to get everyone’s attention, and he could get anyone he wanted if he chose to. With his feminine features and amazing body, he still didn’t rank high on Reita’s Manly Scale.

Alice Nine’s vocalist was another target. Shou was gorgeous, and even though he didn’t wear blinding colors like Takeru, prance around in skirts like Hikaru, or use his beauty to his advantage like Reno, he still wasn’t considered manly. Shou was more of a nerd than he was anything else, but the way he fanboyed over Final Fantasy and had a crush on Cloud Strife (something that made Reita laugh his off) made him seem more like a girl than a man.

The last person that had Reita watching them and doubting their manliness was none other than his own vocalist and lover. Appearance wise it was obvious that Ruki was a man. He didn’t have feminine features that would cause others to mistaken him for a woman, not like Uruha or even Aoi, and he never wore skirts or dresses. Ruki’s unmanliness came from his habits moreover his appearance because he was always so particular. His hair had to be perfect, no one could touch his things, his makeup had to be applied in a certain way, his nails were manicured, his teeth were always white and freshly brushed, there was never a trace of facial hair, or even hair on his legs, and everything had to be clean otherwise he transformed into Takanori the house wife. Regardless of his looks, Reita swore Ruki was the least manly of everyone on the label, and Ruki knew it.

Even though Reita had been with Ruki since before GazettE had even formed, they still didn’t live together. The reason behind this was that Reita simply couldn’t stand just how precise everything had to be in order for Ruki to be satisfied. If one little thing was out of place, Ruki would throw a fit.

Whenever Reita would stay the night with Ruki, he would wake up in the morning to the sound of the vacuum cleaner and find Ruki sweeping the floors two or three times. Oftentimes the vocalist would get on his hands and knees with a magnifying glass just to make sure there was nothing there. Reita was well aware that Ruki’s cleanliness was more due to his obsessive compulsive disorder than it was his unmanliness, but Reita still deemed the other man ’unmanly’.

In return, though, Ruki believed Reita was the unmanly one.

If one were to ask the vocalist to describe Reita, he would simply say ’Hello Kitty’. Most people thought it was because of the infamous picture of Reita and Hello Kitty, but there was a completely different reason.

Reita liked to sit off on his own, sometimes in a corner with a hood pulled over his head and his feet propped up on a table. His music could be heard from across the room even if it were faint. He listened to heavy bands like the MACHINEGUNS, a band that Reita claimed ‘men’ listened to. No one else would ever think anything of the bassist sitting across the room with his hood over his head, no one except for Ruki who knew the real reason Reita wore that hood. 

To hide his ears.

Reita wasn’t sensitive about his ears or anything, and everyone knew that. Ruki had wondered why the bassist kept his ears covered while he was listening to music, so one day when Reita had fallen asleep in the van with his music on and his hood up, Ruki reached over and moved the hood. What he saw made him giggle, almost snort in laughter. Manly man Reita wasn’t manly at all, in fact he ranked low on his own Manly Scale. Of all the times he gave Takeru, Hikaru, Reno, and Shou for being ‘unmanly’ or ‘girly’, he was the one being unmanly.

But Reita was positive he was manlier than everyone else.

Reita rode a motorcycle.

Reita didn’t show his legs.

Reita didn’t wear nut-crushing pants.

But Reita had Hello Kitty earphones.

Every time Reita would comment on how unmanly someone else was, Ruki would always laugh behind his hand because he knew. He knew that Reita liked the damn cat enough to wear her on his ears, but only in secret.

"Pfft." Reita snorted, watching as the members of SuG walked through the halls. Takeru was wearing a pair of tight jeans with a black shirt with a pink skull on it, but this particular shirt showed off his bellybutton. His arms were decorated with pink, white, and black bracelets, and there was a multicolored hat on his head. "What a girl."

Ruki rolled his eyes, adjusting his clothes and fixing his hair. Yes, Takeru was so girly. He turned with his back to the bassist and checked himself in the mirror. "Says the man with the Hello Kitty earphones."

Silence filled the room as Reita stared at him with his mouth open.

"What a girl." Ruki snorted, "I believe you rank a four on your own Manly Scale."

"A four?" Reita looked surprised at his ranking; even Shou ranked high than that! "How am I only a four?"

Ruki shrugged, "That's easy! You have Hello Kitty earphones, you're not man enough to just admit you like Hello Kitty, and you pick on everyone who isn't manly. A real man isn't afraid to wear to wear pink, accessorize, show off their best features, or admit to liking something as simple as Hello Kitty. A wannabe manly man goes against all that." 

He paused, looking down at his nails to avoid the piercing look being sent his way. "You, Akira, are the most unmanly man on the label."