From Skid Row to Superstardom: An Idol System Novel-Chapter 104: Swan (4)

"Phew, should I try the choreography one more time?" still wearing his uniform because he hadn’t had time to go back to his assigned room, which was still the same until they got re-ranked in a couple of days, Ari carefully wiped the sweat from his forehead as he sat on the ground while recovering.

After witnessing Benjamin and William Forbes’s fight, Ari returned to his own team’s practice room, but it wasn’t much better there.

Due to repeated arguments, Leo and the rest of the team couldn’t agree about how to split the remaining vocal parts apart from the Main Vocal, which was given to Ari.

In addition, the other boys were quite resistant to doing the girly choreography and bubbly pink concept, but couldn’t figure out alternatives, so rather than hash it out or even practice, it was put off until they had filmed the signal song.

Not wanting to be found lacking, especially as he knew one dance trainer and one vocal trainer didn’t like him, once Leo dismissed them, Ari found himself a small practice room and practiced not only his team’s song, memorizing all of the parts, but he also practiced the signal song.

The most surprising part of it all was his unexpected practice partners, who were sweating even harder than he was.

Ari glanced up, glancing at Alfonso, whose thick hair had snapped another rubber band, and, surprisingly, Suzuki Rei, who was mouthing the song words while glaring at him in the mirror.

Meeting the Japanese boy’s eyes, Ari lifted one brow and asked, "What now?"

"It’s midnight, huff huff. Do you still...huff plan on ...huff practicing?" Suzuki Rei asked him with a face that was redder than a tomato.

His red and black hair was damp with sweat and hung limply around his face, while his white shirt was soaked through and transparent.

Both Suzuki Rei and Alfonso had followed him to the practice room, and Suzuki Rei dutifully followed everything that Ari did with twice the energy as if they were in a race.

Singing, dancing, choreography, and stretching.

All three of them did it together, but Suzuki Rei never took his eyes off him for one second and made sure he performed something more than what Ari did.

Even now that Ari was closing out his practice by performing his final 20 crunches for his repeat missions, Suzuki Rei looked gassed but kept up until the very end, doing an extra crunch before sitting up.

"I’m done practicing for the night, so you can go to bed if you want. I know I am." Ari told them as he looked at the time on the tablet.

It was midnight, and since he had no plans to grind his body as hard as he had before, it meant it was time for him to sleep.

Alfonso looked at him with an expression full of doubt, but seeing Ari actively cleaning up the practice room, he began helping to put everything away before saying, ’See you tomorrow.’

Suzuki Rei, on the other hand, continued to stare at Ari and then followed him to where his lone duffel bag and a new bag full of snacks sat on the ground, where he had left them.

"What?" Ari asked once more while pulling his green mask over his face and grabbing his luggage.

Rei stared at him while biting his lips before turning and running away without saying anything.

"What a weirdo," Ari muttered before carrying his two bags to the F(1) room.

When he got there, he saw an unfortunately familiar, large blonde figure with a depressed slump to his shoulders.

"Double Jay. What are you doing outside of my room?" He called Jamie’s name while lightly kicking him with his foot.

"You’re late and avoiding me. It’s cause you’re mad at me for not choosing you for my team." Jamie mumbled in a depressed tone while staring down at the ground.

Ari: ಠ_ಠ

When did they make an appointment???

And why would he be mad?

He fully supported Jamie’s decision to prioritize the best interests while he was a part of the program.

If he were in Jamie’s position, he would have grabbed Daniel, too.

"I’m not mad at you. Daniel’s a good teammate, and Benjamin wanted to grab me before you."

"You’re mad at me."

Ari: "..."

Not wanting to go down a pointless rabbit hole, Ari plopped himself down on the opposite wall and brought out a pack of chips he knew Jamie liked, popped it open, and waved it under Jamie’s nose enticingly.

As the blonde boy’s shoulders and ears twitched, Ari stuffed a crisp chip into his mouth, making sure to crunch it extra hard.

"You know I’m not mad at you, and you also know that I was most likely in a practice room and definitely waited until I was done practicing, so what’s the real reason you’re lurking at my door?" Ari asked with a satisfied sigh as he crunched on another chip, causing Jamie’s shoulders to twitch once more before he looked longingly at the chip bag in Ari’s hands.

"I don’t like being a team leader, do you know tha-"

"Nope." Ari interrupted him before tossing a chip at Jamie while pointing up at the camera mounted on the ceiling. "If it’s team drama, tell me tomorrow in a different spot, not outside of my room."

THUD

Leaning all the way back as he tried to catch the chip, Jamie banged his head against the door, completely missing the chip and clutching his head in pain.

When the teary blue eyes glared at him, Ari promptly handed the chip bag over and an extra one in apology.

munch munch munch-

He just sat quietly as Jamie devoured both bags, and when the taller boy was done eating both bags, he pulled Jamie’s heavy body up by his arm and dragged him to his feet.

"For now, go to sleep. I’m tired and you’re tired, so let’s chat tomorrow before breakfast." As Jamie gave him a puppy-dog-eyed look, Ari just dumped more snacks into his arms and waved him off.

Once he was sure Jamie was gone, he tried the door handle to the room.

Naturally, the door was locked.

Not fazed, he continually banged on the door, louder and louder, until Ian finally yanked it open with a stupid smirk on his face.

"Drama queen-"

Ignoring the nonsense coming out of the other boys mouth, Ari calmly shut the door after walking into the dimly lit room, took out a specially bought screw driver from his duffel bag, and used the metal part to pry off the door knob as he twisted it so that it loosened and broke away from the door leaving a circular hole where the handle used to be.

Yanking the knob off, opening the door and taking the other side while setting off a cloud of dried paint and small wood chips, Ari turned, meeting the shocked eyes of those who were awake and giving them bright smile while dangling the two knobs in his hands and speaking in the happiest tone he could manage.

"Oh. No. It broke."

"..."

"Oops."

"F*cking psycho." Somebody whispered, and Ari heard an audible gulp from another part of the room.

"If you think I’m a psycho, I don’t understand why you keep messing with me. Should I start acting like a proper psycho???"

"..."

Seeing as nobody said anything and Ian just stared at him with his mouth gaping open like a fish, Ari shrugged before carefully placing the broken doorknob by the door. "I’ll tell the staff it accidentally broke, and if the door is locked again after they fix it, I’ll tell them what’s really happening and ask them to pull the footage so we all get in trouble. I’m off to shower, so sleep well or whatever. Be careful when you walk near the door. It would be a shame if you stepped on a screw and couldn’t dance anymore. I hear tetanus is a terrible, terrible disease."

The room was completely silent as he went to take a shower, and when he was done, Ari peacefully slept in the orange sleeping bag while some of the room occupants stared at him with a bit of fear.

Truly, they thought the rumors from his previous team members were exaggerated, but it seemed like the green mask-wearing boy was actually a bit crazy, especially when he hadn’t slept.

What kind of person openly threatened and cursed them with a terrible disease over a silly prank?