It was another sold out fansigning Yuri as she sat at the table set up for her on stage. It never got old seeing all the fans gathered in front of her just for her. She knew she still had a long way to go though, and just because her first album was a hit, doesn’t mean that she can become complacent. With every fan being so precious, she always wanted to put on a good show no matter what.

“Hi, Glassy! I’m glad you all took time from your days to come here today!” Yuri greets with enthusiasm and receives loud cheers in return. As the event begins, fans begin lining up to greet the idol and give gifts. Sitting at the back watching carefully though was Yena. With the attention that Yuri commanded, there were definitely a lot of admirers, both male and female, that could sometimes go a bit overboard, and the older girl wanted to be there just in case to let everyone know that the hamster was already taken. Every time she’d see someone getting a little too close to Yuri, the duck would shoot an icy glare right at them as they went back to their seat. She did have to admit though that it was really heartwarming to see how many people loved and cared about her girlfriend. The Yuri on stage was the same as the Yuri off stage, and Yena’s heart would always skip a beat seeing the hamster playing around on stage with her fans’ gifts and putting on silly hats and glasses.

After about an hour, Yuri gets up from her seat to address the crowd. It was certainly tiring to keep the same energy throughout the whole event, but it was nice to not be asked about the events of the past couple days. Her fans were considerate in that regard to not pry into her life as a mutant and focus on who she was as an idol which she was grateful for.

“Alright, everyone! It was so nice meeting all of you! Don’t forget to eat dinner after, okay?” She says, and with that, the event is over. With the audience saying their goodbyes and filing out of the auditorium, Yuri decided to start heading over to Yena who was giving her two thumbs-up from her seat. Before she could though, her manager walks up to her and whispers in her ear.

“Uh… there’s someone here to see you.” She says.

“Hm? I thought the fansigning was done. Is there a special guest?” Yuri asks.

“You could say that…” Her manager replies as a man in a police uniform walks into the room, pushing by some of Yuri’s fans in the process.

“You must be Jo Yuri. My name is officer Hwang Jinseon. I’m here to ask you a few questions.” He says, showing his badge. Yena, who had watched him walk up, called over his attention.

“Yah, you can’t just barge in here just because you feel like it.” She says, causing the officer to turn and look in her direction.

“Choi Yena, am I correct? Wonderful, we were about to look for you too.” He replies.

“Whatever this is about, we didn’t-” Before Yena could argue more, Yuri cut her off.

“We can talk in the back, officer.” She says, not wanting this to gain that much attention. The officer’s sudden entrance had already turned heads, causing Yuri’s manager to signal to the security to close the doors already.

~~~~

“May I ask where you two were last night around 7pm?” Jinseon asks after the three take their seats at a table behind the stage. The couple share a look, as if trying to silently communicate, before answering simultaneously.

“At home.” 

“At a restaurant.” 

“Well, which is it?” The officer prods when the two give different answers. Both Yuri and Yena internally facepalm as they try to think of another explanation.

”What we meant was that we had just come back to the apartment from a restaurant. Yena can lose track of time pretty easily, you know?” Yuri says with a laugh that she hoped was convincing, but the officer pinches the bridge of his nose and shakes his head.

“You can drop the act. I saw you two run off from the station last night. I was just hoping you’d come clean and tell me what you know about case 31321. The records in the log say that it was accessed.” 

“Wait, don’t tell me you think we had something to do with the attacks.” Yena says defensively.

“Yena-ssi. Don’t you think we would’ve brought an army if we thought you two were responsible? We cross-referenced Yuri-ssi’s locations with the timings of the previous murders and they didn’t match up. I’m here because I know you two probably figured something out by now.” Yuri breathes a sigh of relief at that assessment. Still, she knew that until they actually tracked down the masked singer, the public would continue to suspect her.

“All of the victims thus far have been connected to music in one or another, and me and Yena-unnie were going to test out a theory later.” The idol says.

“Thank you for that information, but I don’t think it’s a good idea to meddle with this case. It would be best for you two to let the authorities do their job.” The officer replies.

“You do realize the serial killer is a mutant, right? I’m sorry, but this is supposed to be our area of expertise.” Yena tries to argue. 

“Be that as it may, we can’t just sit back and wait for vigilantes to do our work for us.”

“Vigilantes? Isn’t that a strong word?” Yuri says, but it seemed like Officer Hwang was just full of rebuttals today.

“No, you two literally broke into the police station yesterday and stole our records. You’re already lucky that we’re even giving you the benefit of the doubt instead of arresting you both for trespassing. If you really wanted to help, you could’ve filed a proper request given your relationship with Lee Seunggi.” The couple consider this for a second, realizing that they may have been a bit excessive in their methods. 

“Maybe we would’ve if we had a better relationship with the police…” Yena thinks to herself. It wasn’t like the authorities have been all that helpful to IZ*ONE and other mutants during their missions. 

“Alright, maybe we could’ve done that, but that’s already in the past. This mutant we’re dealing with is dangerous, and I don’t want anyone else getting hurt.” Yuri says in reply. After a couple seconds, the officer groans and relents.

“Fine, we’ll let you do your thing as long as it’s within the scope of the law and doesn’t get in the way of our investigation. Also, I don’t want to hear about any property damage either.” He says, looking directly at Yena when he mentions that last bit.

“Thank you officer. We’ll have this masked singer in custody in no time.” Yuri says before her girlfriend could fire another retort.

“We’ll see about that…” Officer Hwang says as he stands and leaves.

“Couldn’t you try to be a little less confrontational?” Yuri asks Yena now that the two were alone again.

“Sorry, it’s just that we haven’t exactly had the best experiences with law enforcement. Let’s just get this mutant already and call it a day.” The duck replies.

“I thought you said it was a stupid idea.” 

“That was before I found out the police wanted to do it without our help. Now that’s crazy.” Yena says with a snicker. 

“Ugh, you’re impossible.” Yuri sighs.

~~~~

Later that evening…

The two girls decided to set their performance in front of a night market a couple blocks away from the recent attack. Yuri, who was wearing a mask and hood to hide her identity, was beginning to warm up by doing vocal exercises. Meanwhile, Yena was anxiously strumming her guitar next to her.

“Can you tell me again why it has to be both of us?” The older girl asks while simultaneously scanning the crowd for anyone suspicious.

“First, we’re not sure if she’ll immediately target me because the public knows me. And second, I know you’re secretly a good singer too. You may have never beaten me at karaoke, but I can tell you have a lot of talent.” Yuri says with a smile that immediately boosts the duck’s confidence.

“Well, didn’t I say I was good at everything, Yul?” Yena replies before picking up her microphone.

“Good evening people of Seoul!” Yena cheers to get the attention of people passing by.

“My name is Choi Yena. You may not have heard of me, but I’m sure you know about the special guest who will be performing for you all tonight! It’s the one and only superstar Jo Yuri!” At the mention of her girlfriend’s name, the people turn and start looking to see if what they’d heard was right. The hamster, whose cheeks had reddened at the flattering introduction, stands up and removes her mask and hood to reveal herself.

“Wait, is that actually Yuri? I don’t remember seeing her announce any events.” One passerby says. 

“That’s because this is a surprise performance! If you don’t believe it’s me, just you wait~” Yuri says before grabbing a mic and singing her debut song, "Glassy ". 

“Oh my god, it is her! I could recognize that voice anywhere!” One woman shouts. The crowd, finally recognizing the presence of the pop star, began to gather and cheer. It wasn’t every day that an idol would go out on the streets to busk. After that song, Yuri followed it up by singing covers of Jessie J’s “Casualty of Love” and Brown Eyed Soul’s “Brown City”. It felt like a mini-concert now with phones recording and fans screaming.

“You all enjoying the show so far?” Yuri asks the crowd to which she receives a resounding yes. 

“Well, if you liked that, I’m sure you're going to love the next performance by my girlfriend, Yena!”  At this, Yuri passes the mic on to the duck who almost fumbles it. 

“Hi again! I’ll say now that I don’t have the angel voice of Yuri, but you’ll find out soon that I’m no slouch!” Yena turns, giving Yuri a determined gaze and nod before singing her first song, “Why don’t you know” which immediately electrifies the crowd. She then follows it up with a new take on an old classic, “Amor Fati”, that was so good that even Yuri picked up a mic and sang along. 

“Wah, Yena-unnie, you are just amazing!” Yuri says after the song, giving the duck two thumbs-up. The crowd seemed to agree as they began to cheer her name too. The nervousness that Yena felt before had evaporated and was replaced by her usual charm and charisma. When everyone begins to settle down again, the idol decides it’s time to wrap things up, not missing a suspicious figure dressed in black standing far beyond the crowd. Yuri had been watching that person for a while, and it felt like with each song, the person had walked closer.

“Alright, everyone. Thank you all again for coming, but it’s getting late and Yena and I have to go soon.” She says with a cute pout that gave several members in the crowd a heart attack.

“Yes, it’s unfortunate, but before we go, we do have two more songs we’d like to perform.” Yuri then looks to Yena who already knew the songs she had in mind. The first was “Nostalgia” by Davichi, and the way the two harmonized and complemented each other through the ballad was touching enough to bring the crowd who had been hyped up by the previous songs to tears. On the contrary, it appeared the mysterious figure was feeling the opposite as she began to clench her fists, and Yuri could now see that there was a mask strapped to the woman’s waist. Yena follows her girlfriend’s gaze and notices the woman now too. 

It’s her… She thinks, recognizing a match from the pictures she’d looked at previously. Yena wanted to rush in, but she knew that they had to wait for the right moment. They couldn’t let the masked singer know that they were expecting her. So, after their song finishes, Yena decides to smoothly transition into their final song by picking up the guitar she was fiddling with earlier.

“Now, for our last song, since we want to leave you in better spirits, our final song will be ‘Friday’ by IU”. The duck says as she begins to strum the chords perfectly.

“She’s probably busy on Monday~

Tuesday seems too soon, don’t you think?

Wednesday feels kind of awkward~

I don’t like Thursday for some reason~

Ooh~ This Friday~

Ooh~ How is this Friday?”

As the song goes on the crowd begins to sway and wave their hands at the rhythm. The synergy between Yuri and Yena was just so captivating, and by the time it ended, everyone was calling for an encore.

“We’re sorry, everyone, but we really have to go.” Yuri says, putting her hands together in apology. 

“Thank you, everyone! This has been Yen-Yul! Please make sure to continue supporting Yuri in her future endeavors.” Yena says before taking a bow. The duck may not have been an idol, but Yuri swooned at the older girl’s professionalism and stage presence.

"Is there anything she can't do?" She thinks to herself as they begin cleaning up their equipment.

A/N: I hope you've all seen the clips of them singing these songs :) They're wonderful