Roommates, Rivals, Romance (ch2)

EARLY RELEASE FOR MY $20+ PATRONS!

Wow! I was blown away by the amount of love this story got on chapter 1! I'm so glad people seem to like it so far! I hope you'll continue liking it ;~;

Disclaimer: I do not own Shoujo Kageki Revue Starlight.

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														Chapter 2. Scandal

When morning comes, for the first time she can remember, Claudine isn't woken up by her alarm like she always is. Rather, as her senses configure themselves now, she recognizes the feeling of a hand on her shoulder, gently jostling her. There's a soft voice to accompany it.

"Claudine. Claudine…"

Maya's voice is still cracked and raspy from sleep, so Claudine knows it must still be early, and it isn't as if she'd missed her alarm and slept in or anything like that. Her alarm hasn't even gone off yet.

When she finally manages to open her eyes, the bedroom is still mostly dark, with only the faintest bit of sunrise filtering through the curtains. Claudine inhales deeply, trying to get her bearings, but then the hand on her shoulder moves again. With a moan, she slowly turns herself over toward her roommate.

Maya is sitting up with her phone in her hand, looking down at her with a strange expression. Her eyes aren't urgent or scared, but they aren't exactly happy either. Claudine feels a tiny uneasy feeling worm its way into the pit of her stomach. She definitely doesn't like this.

"What…?" She pushes herself up groggily, shaking her head as her curls of thick hair fall down over her shoulders. She tries to glimpse Maya's phone screen, but it's too bright and she winces. Maya turns the brightness down for her, but doesn't hand her the device just yet.

"My phone was ringing very early this morning, which I knew was unusual. When I checked, it was Sakuragi-sensei."

Claudine's eyes widen a little.

"Sensei? What did she want at 5AM?"

Maya doesn't respond right away. She looks back at her phone and sighs, as if she'd been thinking for a while - even before she'd woken Claudine - about what she was going to say.

"Evidently… that journalist yesterday took a few liberties of her own with your interview. An article was published at 3AM, but our fans have already gotten ahold of it. Sensei wanted me to see it first, hoping I could soften the blow to you somehow."

As Maya speaks, Claudine feels her stomach twisting in dismay. She'd known she'd had a bad feeling coming out of that interview for some reason.

Without waiting another second, she grabs Maya's phone from her and begins scrolling through.

There's an endless thread of comments from the fans - people who are mainly Claudine's or Maya's fans, specifically. As she reads them over, Claudine's heart begins to pound:

Is this for real?

I don't believe it! Are they really together?

Guys, I think I'm gonna combust!

No way, it's probably a publicity stunt for views.

Wait, they're dating? Since when?

Idols aren't supposed to date! Especially not each other!

Idk, I think they'd be super cute together.

I know, right? Tbh I always shipped them anyway!

I think it's kinda weird…

Claudine's throat tightens up as she reads through dozens and dozens more.

"What… what is this? What's going on…?"

Maya gently takes the phone from her and returns to the original article that had been posted and been the catalyst for the fans' reactions. The headline reads:

Scandal?! Popular Starlight Girls Idols Saijou Claudine and Tendo Maya - Are They Dating?

Claudine feels her stomach tighten again as she clicks to read through it.

When asked by our reporter about her opinion on Tendo Maya, Saijou stated she viewed her as a rival. But when asked if they were romantically-involved, she didn't deny it. Could this mean they're harboring a secret romantic relationship they're hiding from fans?

Claudine doesn't bother reading any further. There's already a sickening gnarl happening in her chest and a heat rising up behind her eyes.

"Th-That's-" She wipes her eyes quickly, her voice thick. "That's not what happened at all! That reporter twisted things around! I-"

"I know." Maya rests her hand on Claudine's shoulder again. Her eyes are calm and sympathetic. "Reporters often take their own liberties to change around our answers or use our lack thereof as some kind of response. Saying you 'didn't deny it' means you didn't confirm it either, but their main goal is to publish something that sounds scandalous in order to get attention from the readers."

"But I didn't confirm or deny anything of the sort!" Claudine cries. "That wasn't even what she asked me-"

"I'm sure it wasn't." Maya reaches out to place her other hand on Claudine's other shoulder too, now holding onto both of them and turning her to face her directly. "Sakuragi-sensei didn't seem upset or concerned about anything you'd said either, right? So you know it was no fault of your own. That reporter just did her job in the most dishonest way in order to make a headline."

The phone slips from Claudine's hands as her fingers start to tremble. It feels like the room is slowly collapsing on top of her, some hard, invisible weight pressing down on her chest. The tears start to fall.

"But this… this is bad… As idols, we aren't supposed to date. The fans will see it as a betrayal and it'll create tension between the group, and… this could ruin us… Before we've really even started in this industry, this could…"

She can't speak anymore, as the tears have made it impossible. Her throat closes up, and she feels like she's going to be nauseous. Her eyes fall shut, and she hunches forward and bows her head as the weight of the blame begins to settle on her.

But then, the hands on her shoulders lift her back up a little. Maya pulls her in close, not knowing what more she can do right now. Though they've lived together for three months and slept in the same bed for just as long, and done all kinds of stretches and dances together - she's never done something quite like this before.

She's never seen Claudine cry - not like this - not this heavy, scared, guilty kind of crying. Ms. Sakuragi had entrusted Maya with softening the blow of delivering the news, but Maya can't help but feel like she's failed.

It hurts. It really hurts her to see Claudine like this, to know she's blaming herself for the misdeeds of others.

But she was right. This little so-called "scandal" could very well be the beginning of the end for both of them, and potentially the entire group. If the fans got angry enough and there was too much negative media attention directed at their agency, it could very well cause problems on a much larger scale.

But she'll never forgive herself if she says anything that might add to Claudine's tears right now. Maya draws her in a little closer, curling her arms around her back.

"It will be all right. Sensei will help us figure this out and set things straight with the public. Perhaps we could even address it at tomorrow's festival, if need be."

A moment passes, and she can tell Claudine is trying to get ahold of herself. Maya has to work very hard to hold back tears of her own at seeing her so upset. Claudine was always so lively and short-tempered. She was the type to fight back against injustice directed at herself.

But the fact that this is going to affect Maya and the others is what's caused her to crumble. She's always thinking about others first, in spite of the self-centered air she might often give off. Maya has always admired that selflessness about her, but she doesn't like that it's making her cry first thing in the morning now.

But just as she's quick to blame herself, Claudine is fairly quick to recover, thankfully. Sniffling and wiping her eyes, she straightens up and eases away from Maya with a spark in her gaze.

"I'm heading over. I want to talk to Sensei in-person."

"I'll come with you."

"No." Claudine gets out of bed and quickly tidies up her side, then heads for her dresser. "We can't risk being seen leaving together, especially now."

Maya knows she has a point. She gets up as well and heads for the kitchen.

"Then at least let me make you some breakfast."

Claudine gets dressed rather ruggedly, pushing and shoving her arms and legs into her blouse and shorts. Now that the uncertainties about the whole situation have cried themselves out, she's starting to feel the frustration and the anger.

"That rotten reporter… whatever relationship I did have with Tendo Maya is surely soiled now, thanks to her…"

Potentially jeopardizing Maya's career is the worst part of all this, in her eyes. She knows Maya's had the same dream as Claudine herself has had since she was a child. If Claudine's carelessness ruined her own aspirations, that was one thing, but for her to dash someone else's - someone who was just as passionate about being an idol as she was - was entirely another.

She doesn't even sit down at the kitchen table to eat her toast and muffin with Maya. She just eats on her feet before wrapping a large scarf around her shoulders to conceal her hair and a quarter of her face. She takes her bag and heads to the door.

"I'll fix this," she mutters against the fabric covering her lips. She doesn't look back, but Maya calls out after her.

"It will be fine, Claudine," she assures her. "Be safe getting there. I'll be right behind you."

"But not too close."

"Yes, not too close."

With that, Claudine exits the apartment and hurries down the steps.

"This won't ruin us," she vows. "Nothing ever could."

She hopes some part of herself really believes that.

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When she arrives at the studio, Ms. Sakuragi is already waiting for her. Claudine starts off with apologies, but her manager holds up a hand for her to stop.

"Save it, Saijou. You don't have anything to apologize for. I was there and I heard what you did and didn't say. This isn't on you. It's that reporter who's to blame."

And Claudine has to admit it feels a little better for Ms. Sakuragi to tell her as much. Maya had already said the same things this morning, but to have it reenforced is all the more reassuring.

"Yes, ma'am," she says, dipping her head. "But is there anything I can do to clear things up? I don't want this to be hovering over our heads at our performance tomorrow."

Ms. Sakuragi gives her a calming kind of smile.

"You don't have to worry about anything right now. Just carry on, business as usual. Don't say anything about it on social media either. Denying it could sound like you're hiding something. We'll see how things go today as more people wake up and react to it, and we'll just have to go from there."

Claudine dips her head and goes off to the changing room. She then heads to the studio to begin her practicing, though she doesn't have a lot of time to do that on her own this morning. Maya arrives before long, and Ms. Sakuragi gives her the same briefing about what she should do in the face of the current dilemma.

As the others start to file in, it's evident they've all already seen what's been happening on social media too, so Ms. Sakuragi addresses them all. For now, their orders are to play dumb and ignore anything to do with the article in question.

"All you girls need to do," their manager says. "Is practice for tomorrow's festival. Got it?"

"Yes, ma'am!"

And so they get into their daily routines as if they'd never even heard about this morning's article.

Claudine had been worried that she might start to feel awkward around Maya with all of this going on. But somehow, having it all out in the open now instead of just festering as a thought in the back of her mind actually feels like it might've helped somehow. She knows she can trust her friends and the management to help her through this little scandal.

She doesn't let it get to her, and she's able to train and review the dances with the others like it's any other day. At lunchtime, her friends do their best to cheer her up, too.

"Don't sweat it," Junna says. "Like Sensei said, it's just for the journalist's work to get attention; positive or negative, it doesn't matter."

"She just wanted views," Nana agrees, munching on a banana. "Besides, I think most of the fans already know it's probably false information."

"I think so too," Futaba says with a nod. "We've met most of 'em at events and handshakes and photo ops and stuff, and I don't think most of them are that stupid."

"And besides," Kaoruko chimes in. "Every celebrity has a scandal at least once in their career, right? You're simply starting off early."

"Yeah!" Karen shouts. "Kuro-chan, you're already becoming super famous!"

And Claudine is actually relieved enough to laugh.

"I suppose you aren't wrong," she says, taking another bite from her apple. "Hopefully this will all blow over within a week."

"I'm sure it will," Mahiru says gently. "They'll find something else to scandalize and focus on."

Claudine feels a lot better hearing more support from all of them. When she glances to her side, Maya catches her eye and smiles back. Claudine's heart does that strange little fluttering thing again, but it actually feels rather nice.

The remainder of the day consists of doing a run-through of tomorrow's routine for the festival, as well as a few topics for a brief after-show conversation with the audience.

By the end of their day, Claudine has almost completely forgotten about this morning's incident.

But of course, as soon as she exits the studio, she makes the mistake of checking her phone to see that the thread has blown up with hundreds more comments. She's gone ahead of Maya to walk home by herself first so they won't be seen together, and as she walks down the sidewalk she reads through more reactions:

This is probably fake news. I don't buy it.

Idk, they always seemed kinda close, right?

They went to high school together so that makes sense tho!

I think it's sweet! They should be able to date if they want to!

I'd totally support them if they did!

Tbh I feel like all the Starlight Girls are probably secretly dating each other and living together lol

Claudine grimaces. She can't really gauge an overall reaction from the fans. Everyone seems to be equally for, against, or indifferent to the news, though it does make her a bit nervous that some of them are hitting the nail on the head when theorizing their living situations.

Heaving a sigh, she puts away her phone and continues home.

When she gets inside the apartment, she starts preparing dinner, warming up some of last night's leftover rice and dumplings. Maya returns about half an hour later, having wasted some time by stopping at the grocery store first. She presents Claudine with a small cherry pie that they share for dessert as a little pick-me-up.

After they've showered and changed clothes for the night, they head to the living room to watch some TV and relax. Maya takes the couch and Claudine sits on the love seat with a book in her lap. She doesn't really process much of what she's reading though, and it's difficult for her to resist the urge to check her phone again.

Maya notes how quiet she's been, in addition to the fact that she hasn't turned a page in about ten minutes now. So she shuts off the TV and gets to her feet.

"I'll be heading to bed, if you care to join me."

Claudine looks up from the book and rubs her eyes before closing the cover and leaving it on the coffee table. The two of them turn everything off and head to the bedroom. Maya sits down on the mattress first and Claudine joins her a little more slowly. She swipes her phone to check her alarm, but as soon as Maya sees she's opened up her social media as well, she reaches out to gently push the phone down.

"Don't worry yourself anymore than you already have," she says softly.

Claudine looks up at her, but realizes she's right. With a sigh she puts her phone down on her nightstand.

"You're right. I just-"

"I know." Maya smiles kindly, letting her hand linger on Claudine's knee. "But it won't do you any good to keep fretting about it. Sakuragi-sensei and the staff will handle it. Let's just focus on tomorrow's performance, yes?"

Claudine draws in a deep breath and exhales. Then, she gives herself a good shake, like a dog coming out of a lake.

"Right. If I'm still moping like this tomorrow, make sure you snap me out of it."

"You have my word."

They both lie down, but Claudine doesn't turn away from her right away like she usually does to face the wall. Rather, she lingers for a moment staring at Maya's back, her long dark hair pooling behind her. She'd forgotten to take the blue ribbon out of her hair again, but Claudine doesn't reach out to remove it for her like she normally would. She wants to thank Maya for her support in all of this. But for some reason the words just don't come.

"Goodnight," Maya says quietly.

Claudine bites back what she'd been trying to say and turns over to face the wall after all.

"Goodnight."

She has to focus on tomorrow's performance.

She can worry about Maya and this scandal some other time.

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A/N: As I've mentioned, I really don't know much about the idol world/industry or the rules on dating or how they might react to a scandal, so let's just assume it's a harsh environment in this AU. Let's just say there's a reason why I mentioned the specific symbolic fruit Claudine was eating...