A few weeks passed by ever since then.
Zenkichi was invited by an old friend to go out for Karaoke.
"Come on, man! It's been forever since we all hung out properly," Takayuki grinned, slapping him on the back as they walked into the brightly lit karaoke place. The neon signs buzzed overhead, and the muffled sound of someone butchering a J-pop song leaked out from one of the rooms. "No excuses this time. You're singing at least one song!"
Zenkichi scratched the back of his head, already feeling the secondhand embarrassment creeping in. "I'm not exactly the best singer, you know..."
"That's the whole point!" Keigo laughed, dragging him into their private room. The table was already covered with snacks, drinks, and a suspiciously long song list. "Tonight we're all singing till we're raspy for days!"
Zenkichi gave his two friends, notorious skirt chasers, a suspicious. "Alright, spill. Why invite me into this? Shouldn't you two be inviting women?"
The two froze.
"W-Well, that..."
"Ahem. C'mon, I just wanna spend some quality time with my good buddies once a while."
The two gave nervous answers.
"There's an upcoming singing competition and these two wants us to judge them." Tatsumi gave out the real answer, looking like he wanted to be somewhere else than here.
Chad nodded in confirmation while Ichigo scratched his head in annoyance.
"And why us...?"
"They don't have any female friends, remember?" Ichigo said.
"Ah. Dumb of me to ask," Zenkichi nodded.
"S-Shut up and let's head on in!"
They all entered their private room.
It was a little awkward at first, cause most of the guys didn't do any karaoke, but Takayuki and Keigo led the charge by singing cringe cheesy love ballad and sang it with way too much emotion, then attempted a high-note anime opening and cracked halfway through.
Laughter filled the room as the scores on the screen mercilessly judged every performance.
Then the mic was thrust into Zenkichi's hands.
"Huh? Why are you handing one to me?" Zenkichi looked at Keigo in confusion.
"Oh c'mon man. It's not fun and fair if it's just us two singing all by ourselves."
He thought about it for a while and shrugged, hey, he was already here anyways.
He scrolled through the list nervously, half-hoping for something easy and forgettable. But he couldn't decide what to sing.
It was then his eyes landed on a familiar title.
'Should I...?' He pressed the numbers.
Zenkichi leaned into the mic with fake confidence, smiled, and sang.
"We're no strangers to love~"
"You know the rules and so do I...!"
The guys' expression changed.
"This mother..." Keigo's brow twitched.
Tatsuya held a hand on his face. "Why...Why..!"
Tatsumi and Ichigo started laughing.
Chad couldn't help but smile.
Zenkichi continued.
"A full commitment's what I'm thinking of~"
"You wouldn't get this from any other guy..."
Then the chorus hit.
Zenkichi threw his arms out dramatically, his hips slightly shaking to the side, and belted it with full theatrical energy.
"I just wanna tell you how I'm feeling~"
"Gotta make you understand—!"
"Never gonna give you up~!"
"Never gonna let you down~!"
"Never gonna run around and desert you~!"
"Never gonna make you cry..."
"Never gonna say goodbye~!"
"Never gonna tell a lie and hurt you!"
❄️❄️❄️❄️❄️❄️
AN: A little late but y'all know what day is today/yesterday. Hehehehehe....
I'mma change the chapter title tomorrow! See ya!