5pb. - Chapter 1

"And that's a wrap for today's practice 5pb.!" you shout.

You look at 5pb., her blue hair slightly disheveled, beads of sweat dripping down, her cute face, her magenta eyes still full of energy and her mouth slightly agape taking in deep breaths. She's wearing her signature black outfit as usual, with her midriff glistening with sweat as she wipes it off. Walking towards her, you offer her a bottle of cold water from the coolers stationed nearby. She gladly takes the bottle, twists it open, and quenches her thirst. Finishing the bottle, she lets out a sigh of satisfaction and smiles at you sweetly.

"Thank you very much," she says as she tosses the bottle into a nearby bin.

"Good work today 5pb., you'll be ready for next week's performance in no time."

"Uhm, thank you as well for accompanying me in my practice sessions," she says meekly looking at you, "y-you were the only one willing to deal with my initial embarrassment issues..."

You give her a reassuring smile. "Don't worry about it," you say waving your hand dismissively, "I'd have to thank you for trusting me as well."

She looks at you quietly almost as if a weight was lifted from her as you finish your answer. Her quiet gaze continues, making you feel slightly awkward. Almost on cue you hear your wrist watch beep, breaking the silence. You look at your watch and it displays the time 13:00. Remembering you've spent most of the morning until now helping 5pb. practice, you begin to feel the pangs of hunger surface.

Your stomach growls loudly and you smile sheepishly at 5pb., "It's a little bit after lunch time, do you want me to get you something to eat?"

You see her shake her head much to your surprise. "No, I want to go eat with you today."

Your eyebrows rise up in surprise from her words. "Are you sure..? That incident with the spaghetti is ... uh."

Her face turns bright red as she holds her face in embarrassment. "P-please don't remind me of that... I promise you it won't happen like that."

"Alright, let's get you dressed up, would be a paparazzi goldmine if they find out that 5pb. is with someone."

"Okay, I'll go change quickly," she says as she begins to take off her top.

"Wait, wait, wait! Let me go out of your dressing room first," you blurt out, looking away and hurried out of the room.

You shut the door behind you, look around the empty hallway and check your phone for a good place for lunch. Not even a minute since you left, you hear the door open with a woman coming out. The woman is completely unremarkable in most aspects, having shoulder length black hair, and wearing a plain white blouse and denim jeans. You look at the woman's face and see that she's wearing thick rimmed glasses and that she has a small mole under her left eye. As if answering your doubts, you hear 5pb.'s voice from the woman, much to your bewilderment.

"I'm ready," says the woman, looking at you expectantly.

"Uh, 5pb.? Is that..."

"Yes! It's me. Lady Vert gave this device to me that allows me to basically become anyone, or even anything with a push of a button.," replies '5pb.' brandishing a small device in her hand.

You see her push the button and see 5pb. wearing the clothes of the woman. Her hair changed back to her usual blue hair and bright pink eyes. She pushes the switch once more and the woman returns to in 5pb.'s place. You give her a smile, impressed by the demonstration.

"That's quite the device, but any downsides or things we should take note of?"

"Oh, as you saw, the device can't actually make clothes, so I'd need to wear them. It can't change minor details like my mole for some odd reason, or my voice, but can change my hair color and face," she says in a manner of fact voice.

"Alright, but what should I call you? Just in case the need arises, I can't exactly say 5pb., it'd ruin the entire point."

She puts a finger on her lips as she thinks of an idea. You look back to your phone to find a place to eat as you hear her clap her hands together. She points her finger to the air, her face with a big grin, opening her mouth, when suddenly she turns red and hides her face in her hands.

"Aaaaaahhh! Nooooo..." she screams to herself, shaking her head left and right.

You quickly hide your phone and put your hand on her back, patting it slightly. "5pb.? Are you okay?"

Taking her hands off her face and she looks at you, still very red. As soon as she does, she hides herself with her hands once more.

"A-are you alright? What happened? Talk to me here!"

You see her rub her eyes and take a deep breath as she gains back her composure. "I-I'm sorry. I just had an idea, and then realized how embarrassing it was... s-so please forget that happened..."

"What kind of idea was this?"

"I-it was for... please I don't want to say.. you might get mad."

"I won't get mad, I promise you that. Was it an idea on what to call you while we're out and about?"

She nods her head in response.

"Well, I'm still clueless with that so maybe your idea will help, would you tell me?"

"W-well, since we would be going together... I was thinking maybe y-you should ..." she says as her voice trails out.

You couldn't hear the last part as you see her cover her face with her hands once more. "I couldn't quite catch the last part, you said that I should ... what?"

"...honey."

 "Pardon?"

"I-I was thinking you'd call me ... honey, because it would be like we're on a date..."

You raise your eyebrows in surprise from her suggestion as she continues, her head hung low.

"M-maybe I s-should've just asked you to get me something...."

"You... do know what you're asking from me right? This sounds like something you should only ask from someone you really like," you say scratching your head.

She shakes her head. "No... I am asking this to someone I really like."

"W-what?"

"Y-yes... I like you, a lot," she says as she turns red, "and that's why I'm asking this from you."

"I-I see..."

She hangs her head while her eyes well up with tears as she hears your reply. "O-oh... of course, t-this was too selfish of a request. Y-you must've someone already, how silly of me..."

"No! Don't misunderstand, please. I don't have someone, and I like you too, but..."

She looks up, her eyes showing a glint of hope. "But... what?"

"It's the fact I'm your producer. I like you a lot as well, but I can't very well risk your career for something so selfish of me," you say with a sigh.

She dries her tears as her eyes fill with hope. "B-but, if we both like each other, t-there shouldn't be a problem right? W-we could just keep our relationship a secret, I mean with this device we could easily look like nobodies," she says hurriedly.

She holds on to your chest with both her hands, you see her eyes as she looks up to you, filled with an almost desperate look. She pushes you towards the wall, lays her head on your chest and looks up towards you. Her eyes begin to well up as you hear her continue to speak, her voice cracking.

"P-please..."

You look at her face and her eyes, filled with sudden desperation, an expression you've never seen the usually cheerful 5pb. exhibit.

"5pb., this isn't like you at all, what's wrong?"

Her eyes well up with tears as she begins to sob. "I-I don't know... all I know is I don't want you to go, I want us to be together... all these emotions... they're just so overwhelming."

She releases her grip on you and wipes her face with a handkerchief. Blowing her nose, you see her eyes are red and wearing a sad frown.

"I-I'm sorry. I shouldn't be forcing you like this... p-please forgive me... I guess I'll ... go back to my dressing room and just order something ..." she says as she begins to open the door back to her dressing room.

You reach out to her and grab her by the shoulder before she enters her room completely and stop her. She looks at you, her eyes filled with guilt and sadness. You see her begin to open her mouth in protest as you raise your free hand to stop her.

"5pb., it's fine. Don't worry about it, I'm not mad at you, I'm sad as well that I can't be in a relationship with you, and I care about you but I really don't want to be the reason why your career might fail, not to mention the scandals if we get found out."

You wipe the tears still slowly streaming down her face.

"You're a big idol now, not an underground artist like before. People are constantly looking at you."

"Then... are you saying if the industry itself has no problem with our relationship, will we be able to be together?"

"I mean, more or less, I've seen idols fall out of grace because of a scandal on some secret relationship, and such, and that's something I don't want you to go through."

You see the spark of hope rekindle in her eyes as you see her illusion disappear, and she looks like herself once more.

"Then if that's the case, there's no reason to keep it secret. If they can't accept our relationship, then there's no reason for me to keep being an idol."

"What?"

"I love you as much as I love making music, and you know how important music is for me."

"Are you going to...?"

She gives you a smile and a nod. "Let's make our relationship official and known."

Your stomach rumbles loudly, breaking the mood. She laughs at the sudden interruption of your hunger making itself known.

"But, we should probably have lunch together first."