HISTORY

BEEP BEEP BEEP
The blaring of Junkyu's alarm woke him from his sleep. He hadn't been getting much sleep recently, and any that he did get was rather unpleasant, so being taken from that wasn't really too much of a loss.

However, this did cause his first migraine of the day. It was a constant thing, the migraines. It was routine for Junkyu at this point. A migraine on a good day would only last a couple of hours and wear off towards the better end of the day. But, if things were really bad, sometimes he couldn't even go to school. It's just how it was.

Junkyu had these migraines as long as he could remember. His parent's say it's from his lack of sleep and abnormal eating habits. Junkyu knows it's more than that. Just like he feels the migraines have always been a part of him, they've also always been a part of his mother. He had gotten this awful burden from birth and it escalated from his bad habits and unfortunate amount of stress. Although he knows he can't blame his mother, he just wishes that for one day he could wake up without his first feeling being pain. Every morning he has to sit through it, and then stand up and do it all again. It made him dizzy and weak, which typically lasts almost all day. It's too much for him.

After the initial punch in the face from the migraine begins to become a background thought, Junkyu swings his legs over the side of the bed and stands up. He's careful to not get up too fast, for the sake of his head, but the shock of standing up is inevitable and the pain skyrockets. His hands fly up to his head and he holds them there while his face contorts from the pain, wishing it would just stop.

It's getting worse, he thinks.

When Junkyu can finally confidently move around properly, he heads over to his nightstand to grab his phone and get some clothes from his dresser. He then heads to the bathroom to get ready, but is greeted by an unpleasant image in the mirror.

A disaster. His hair is unbelievably messy and, quite frankly, dirty. The heavy bags under his eyes are unparalleled. "Jesus christ..." Junkyu says to himself and looks at his reflection in disgust. Has it really gotten that bad? he thinks.

Taking him out of his thoughts, his phone began to ring. He sighs and looks to see who's calling.

Hyunsuk

Junkyu rolls his eyes and picks up the phone, preparing himself for the inevitable abuse to his head. What could that idiot need this early in the morning?  His finger hovers over the accept call button before fully committing and tapping it aggressively and bringing the phone to his ear.

"Hyunsuk what on Earth could you possibly need this earl-" He is immediately cut off by the boy yelling at him through the phone. Junkyu pulls the phone away from his ear, hoping Hyunsuk will just calm down if he doesn't say anything. Only then does he hear what his older friend is saying.

"-promised me last week! I can't believe you couldn't remember this one thing! It's extremely important to Yedam and you know that! Is it really that hard to walk out the door?" Hyunsuk finishes. He's breathing heavily and only then does Junkyu remember. . Today was the day the exchange students were coming.

Usually, Junkyu wouldn't give a about something like this, but Yedam was a part of student council and wanted his friends to be there (more he needed to get a certain amount of people to come or he would get kicked out). The exchange students were coming from some arts school in Japan and had a showcase before classes started today. When it was first announced, Junkyu immediately had no interest. Going to school early? Jumpstart the headache? No thanks.

But, Hyunsuk convinced him to do it for Yedam. Yedam was the caretaker of the group, he always made sure his friends were doing well. He cared for them a lot. Junkyu didn't want to be that friend, so he agreed. Hyunsuk promised to never make him do anything like it ever again, so he thought he could risk his precious sleep for it. That was until the current situation. Not ready, pain, and an angry Hyunsuk outside of his house.

He takes a deep breath before trying to explain himself. "God Hyunsuk, I'm really sorry and I know I was supposed to be ready for this and I wasn't. I know.  But I would expect you of all people to understand and not scream at me this early in the morning," Junkyu hadn't meant for it to come out so harsh, and he immediately regretted it, but Hyunsuk knew better than anyone about his situation. 

"Yeah, yeah I know. I'm sorry," Hyunsuk's tone is much more calm, "I just really want us to be there for Yedam," he says quieter. 

Junkyu sighs, "I know, and that's completely valid. Sorry for being so harsh, and sorry for being late-" His emotional testament was quickly cut off. They weren't the type of friends to get into that. 

"But, that doesn't mean i'm not still mad at you for not being ready. Hurry your up."

--

Junkyu was ready and in Hyunsuk's car before the other had more of a reason to shout at him. They'd gotten to school at 7:25. The assembly started at 7:30.

"Junkyu, if we don't make it in, you owe me," Hyunsuk says playfully, but there was some sort of truth to the statement. They quite literally need to run in make it in time, and running in the school uniform was not ideal. But it's what they had to do.

They both looked at each other and nodded, silently agreeing on a race inside. Both boys took off immediately, laughing and throwing out insults to make the other stop running. Hyunsuk was clearly faster, but Junkyu could tell he was slowing himself down as to not leave him behind. Making it to the doors of the school, Junkyu swung one open and they booked it down the empty halls, heading for the auditorium. 

The lack of students in the hallway was alarming, both boys were internally screaming, but didn't want to express it. Finally, they made it to the entrance of the auditorium. They made it.

Junkyu and Hyunsuk looked at each other, out of breath and uniforms messy. There was a surprising amount of students attending, considering the assembly was before school and also not mandatory. When they walked in, 4 pairs of hands were waving furiously at them to come over and sit down. It was Doyoung, Jihoon, and Yoonbin, so headed towards them and seats they had saved for the pair.

"Where were you guys?" Jihoon asked immediately.

"Well, this idiot over here was barely awake when I pulled up to his house," Hyunsuk pointed to Junkyu. He held his hands up in defence.

"Hey, I'm not used to coming to school an hour early," They weren't convinced. "Anyway, where are Seunghun and Byounggon?" Junkyu asked inquisitively, "I thought they were coming too?"

"I think they're getting a tour of that university they both applied to. They really want to go together," Doyoung explained.

Junkyu nodded, and sat back in his seat. This was his only chance to relax in preparation for the next hour of headache inducing performances. He wasn't saying the people were bad, but any noise over speakers this big were bound to give him some extra head pounding. Of course, these precious seconds of relaxation was cut short. Suddenly, the room flooded with darkness, which, as always, was filled by the people who scream when the lights are turned off. He would never understand that type of person.

The lights dimming was followed by someone tapping a microphone to test it. This tapping resulted in some very unpleasant feedback coming from the speakers, which was even more unpleasant in Junkyu's situation. Spotlights turned to the stage, and it was their principal at the stand. 

"..um sorry. Anyway. Hello students! As you all should know, students from Yokohama International School will be joining us for the rest of this year and all of next year," The principal paused, hoping for some sort of reaction from the crowd. It was dead. In their defense, it was way to early to be excited at about anything, let alone a school assembly. He sighed quietly.

"Well, some of these students got together and planned a performance for us as an introduction! I understand that being at school this early on a Friday isn't ideal, but we ask that you please be respectful during their performances because they have come far and practiced hard. Please, give it up for Yokohama International! This first performance is Day6's I Wait by Shiroiwa Ruki, Kono Junki, Sato Keigo, Kawanishi Takumi, and Kimata Syoya!" 

Everyone clapped, and some people cheered, but it was short lived and back to quiet pretty quickly. The principal walked off stage, and the curtains closed. Shuffling could be heard coming from the stage, presumably the first act setting up. When things began to quiet down, everyone was looking around, anticipating the first performance.

The curtains began to open and there was a 5 member band in front of them. Junkyu sighed, he didn't doubt their talent, but drums this early? This was going to be a long ride for his poor head. 

The first performance was a rearranged cover of Day6's I Wait. It was the japanese version, but they changed the song to be much calmer and almost like a lullaby. Junkyu silently thanked them for the soothing start, because he knew it was only going to get louder from there. 

As the performance slowly came to an end, the crowd began to wake up from the trance they'd been put under and clapped enthusiastically. It was really a great performance, and it surely set a high standard for all of the other performances.

The next 50 minutes were comprised of various piano performances, lots of singing, a few more bands, various funny skits, and of course, covers of songs. Junkyu wished he could pay more attention but his lingering headache wouldn't let him, even when he tried to force himself to give 100% into it. He felt bad, knowing everyone coming up on stage was no doubt super talented, and wanted to give them proper recognition. The best he could do was clap after every performance.

After the 5th piano performance of the hour, the principal came back on stage to announce the next group, "Well done, girls. Now, for the last performance of today! Is everyone ready?" 

Last performance already? Junkyu thought. I've really been out of it. 

"Lastly, we have Okamoto Kotaro, Kanemoto Yoshinori, Takata Mashiho, Hidaka Mahiro, Terazono Keita, Hanada Asahi, and Watanabe Haruto performing a cover of Killing Me by IKON!"

That got Junkyu interested. What kind of cover was it? Again, their principal exited and curtains closed. The anticipation was unreal. The whole auditorium was tense, most likely because everyone knew they could leave soon. After the shuffling behind the curtains quieted down, Junkyu was already on the edge of his seat. 

As the curtain began to open, there were 7 boys and... no instruments? Are they dancing?  He asked himself. Squinting, he could see the boy in the middle had a microphone in their hand. Singing live and dancing? It wasn't uncommon, but no one so far had danced today, and to introduce yourself to a new school like that? It was ballsy. 

The first few notes of the song played, signalling the dacing to start. When the first boy started singing, Junkyu was immediately hooked. Everytime he sang, Junkyu was waiting for more. Everything about him drew him in. He couldn't take his eyes off the boy the entire performance. He was hypnotized. Unlike the other performances, it was over in a flash, leaving Junkyu in the audience starstruck.

Who is he?