“So many people came to see us! The live was great wasn’t it, Mizuki?” Teppei slung an arm around Mizuki’s shoulders as the band was walking back to the waiting room.

Mizuki clicked his tongue. “Tsk, it’s obviously because I’m the vocalist! Who would pass up on a chance to see me perform live?”

“Oi, oi! We’ve been getting quite a lot of attention but don’t get your head all up in the clouds.” Kenzou looked at his friend with an amused expression as he chided him jokingly with the rest laughing along.

Suddenly, Mizuki’s phone beeped, signaling an incoming message. As he took his phone out to read the message, Teppei curiously looked over his shoulder. “’Let’s meet up. I want to give you something.’ Ooh, that’s from the girl who works at that fast food place, right? Your girlfriend must have missed you!” he laughed.

"Shut up! Why would I be dating an ugly girl like her?!" he retorted. Mizuki let out an angry huff of annoyance and proceeded to punch in Kaede's number on his phone to call her.

----

"So what do you want? Stop wasting the time of a big star like me!" That earned him a slap on the arm from his friend.

"Ow! What the hell?!" Kaede rolled her eyes.

"I just wanted to pass you your birthday present since I couldn't do it the other day. So much for being thoughtful..."

Mizuki reached out to accept the box from Kaede. "Well...Thanks, I guess..."

----

The next morning, Mizuki was lazily lounging around the usual practice place when Ayumu came running in with a computer tablet in hand, his face filled with worry.

"Ayumu...? What's wrong?"

"Mizuki-san! Have you seen the news?" Without waiting for a response, the wavy-haired boy pushed the tablet into his hands. "Your name is everywhere on the Internet this morning!"

Mizuki stared at what was written on the screen. The heading written in huge bold lettering jumped out at him.

SHARK'S KURATA MIZUKI HAS A GIRLFRIEND

He stared at the offending article in disbelief. It was ridiculous! He scrolled down, wanting to see what kind of "dirt" they decided to dig up on him. Pictures of him and Kaede from the night before started to pop up- from the time he met up with her till he walked her home. Was someone following them yesterday? Did they have nothing else better to do?

As he saw the comments, he felt himself getting more irritated by the second. Most of them were by who he assumed to be fangirls, filled with sad and crying emoticons.

"Tsk, they are so gullible!" Mizuki gritted his teeth as he read the next comment.

"This article must be a fake." Finally, someone with a brain! He read on, his irritation having dissipated slightly.

"His personality and to add on, he's not all that good-looking. Who would want to go out with a guy like him?" It felt like someone had gutted him in the stomach. Irritation turned into full-on anger and Mizuki slammed the device in his hand on the table, startling Ayumu who had been quietly observing him.

“Mi-Mizuki-san, are you alright?”

Just then, Mizuki’s phone rang and he picked up the call without even looking at the caller ID.

“KURATA MIZUKI!” the voice on the other end bellowed. Mizuki instinctively put some distance between the phone and his ear with a scowl on his face. This was not helping his mood at all. “You’ve got some explaining to do! Get to the office NOW!”

When he arrived at the Wonder Record headquarters, his foul mood got worse when he saw reporters swarming the main entrance.

“What is this?!” The CEO threw down some articles onto the polished wooden table, demanding some answers. “Are you trying to destroy SHARK’s popularity by doing something as careless as this?!” He jabbed at the pieces of paper accusingly. “Sure, SHARK may be the most popular band as of right now but do you know how volatile your popularity is? After today, it may just be –whoosh!- gone!”

The CEO pursed his lips, waiting expectantly. “Well?” Mizuki stayed silent, the glower still on his face. Why was he getting yelled at for something he did not even do? It made no sense to him.

Seeing that he would not get any answers anytime soon, the CEO continued on. “You know what? Whatever it is, I want you to go call up whoever this girl is and tell her to clear this up with those reporters waiting downstairs!” Seeing the CEO this furious, Mizuki knew he had no choice but to comply with his orders. He clicked his tongue and grudgingly phoned Kaede.

----

The ride on the elevator down to face the reporters was a quiet one, with tension filling the air. “Smile!” The CEO nudged Mizuki as the elevator doors parted. Mizuki ignored him and walked out. Almost immediately, the crowd of reporters came swarming the two, like ants attracted to honey. They pushed and shoved among themselves, shouting over one another to try and get their questions answered.

There were three kinds of people that Mizuki could not stand: people who he can't win against, people who insult him or any of his band members and people who were just down right irritating. As he watched as some security guards come and cut in between them, shielding both him and the CEO from the onslaught of reporters, he mentally listed the reporters under "irritating people". He continued to stare ahead as the reporters tried to pass through the security guards to take photographs. The sight of that annoyed him once again and the stuffiness did not make the situation any better. He could almost imagine them writing articles defaming him, sneering at him as they spun tale after tale. At the thought of being sneered at, he locked his jaw as the comment he read earlier in the morning flashed in his mind, as if taunting him even further.

"His personality ," What did they know? Mizuki balled his fists.

"He's not all that good-looking," His fingernails dug into his skin.

"Who would want to go out with a guy like him?" And that was when he snapped.

"It's all true!" He suddenly yelled out, effectively quietening down everyone within a few metres' radius. All eyes were fixed on him. "I am dating someone! I'm officially making this public!" He took in the various reactions all in one sweeping glance: the reporters started pushing and shouting again, eager to know more; the CEO just stared at him wide-eyed, shocked and confused at his outburst. A feeling akin to satisfaction washed over Mizuki, having relieved himself of his pent-up anger. And with that he continued on, "Just so you know, I only accepted that ugly girl because she's a childhood friend of mine!"

"Hey!" A familiar voice suddenly rang out. "You drag me into this and on top of that you call me ugly?!" Mizuki saw Kaede storm towards him and cameras start to flash again. Not wanting to lose, especially in front of so many people, Mizuki shot back, "You're the one who started all this, idiot! Asking me to meet up with you and all! And you are ugly!"

Watching the "lovers' quarrel" unfold before his very own eyes, the CEO stared at the both of them with his mouth gaping open. What kind of relationship did they really have? Normally, boyfriends don't go calling their girlfriends ugly and girlfriends don't retaliate violently by hitting them on the back. He did not exactly know whether it was a relief or whether it was making things worse as he saw camera flashes going off in a frenzy but if he were asked to guess tomorrow's headlines, he was pretty sure it was going to be about a certain hot-headed boy and his rumored girlfriend.