CHAPTER 30: RIKA-YAMAMOTO SLEEPOVERS. ƪ⁠(⁠˘⁠⌣⁠˘⁠)⁠Ʃ

Leo’s eyes widened, and he slapped his hands on his face. He had just jinxed it.

Then Rika pressed a button on the remote in her hand. A section of the wall slid open with a noisy mechanical sound. From behind it, a large flat-screen TV appeared, followed by a full karaoke setup. Two golden microphones sat neatly on a stand, and a disco light started spinning from the ceiling, casting colored lights around the room...

Leo stared at it all in silence.

"...ohh okay... Fuck me," he muttered under his breath...

Rika turned to him with a small grin, clearly enjoying his discomfort. "Leo, how about you go first?" she said, casually tossing him one of the golden microphones. "You can pick any song of your choice." She leaned back against a leather couch by the edge of the room, arms crossed, watching him like it was about to be the highlight of her evening...

Sarah quickly took the microphone from Leo’s hands without a word, her eyes locking with Rika’s for a moment. "I’ll go first," she responded simply, but there was a clear edge in her voice.

Rika gave a short shrug. "Sakura, be my guest."

Leo blinked between them, sensing the tension. "...Should I be worried?" he muttered internally under his breath...

Sarah knew that she could not stop him from singing, but at least she could give him some motivation with her voice.

Then she started singing...

The music started playing... (White Mustang by Lana Del Rey.)

Leo glanced at her. He knew that song. It wasn’t upbeat. It wasn’t something you sang for fun. It meant something...

Sarah began to sing, softly at first. Her voice was steady, like she was holding back a part of herself...

She didn’t look at anyone. Not Leo. Not Rika. Just the floor. Her voice grew clearer as she reached the chorus. The room stayed silent. No one laughed. No one made a comment. Even Rika didn’t say anything for the moment...

Leo watched her. This didn’t feel like a performance. It felt like she needed to let something out. Like this song said the things she couldn’t say out loud...

Deep down, it bothered him that he felt like she was hiding something, but he decided to let it go

When she finished, she handed the microphone back and sat down. No smile. No explanation. She is just quiet.

Leo wanted to say something, but he didn’t know what. So he just stayed close.

Rika finally spoke, turning around, meeting Sarah’s eyes. "White Mustang, huh? It’s a fitting choice." She gave Sarah a thumbs-up.

Sarah tilted her head. "You think so?"

Rika shrugged, the edges of her lips tugging into a faint smirk. "Dramatic, moody... It’s totally your style."

Leo glanced between them, somehow happy that the awkwardness between them was dying down little by little.

Rika handed the mic to Leo, smiling.

Just then, the karaoke screen flickered to the next song. Leo paled as the intro to "Let It Go" from Frozen started to play.

"Oh, hell no," he said, lunging for the remote.

Rika didn’t stop him. She was too busy trying not to laugh, one hand over her mouth as she recorded him on her phone like it was a once-in-a-lifetime moment.

But then he stopped and thought about it. No one was going to call him a bad singer if it was a girl’s song like Frozen. So he started singing...

It wasn’t perfect. His voice cracked a little, missed a note or two...but he didn’t stop. He sang like he meant it. Like he didn’t care how it sounded, as long as he could get the hell off there.

The four of them were laughing by the end. Rika leaned back, wiping a tear from her eye...

The second boy in the group gave him a standing ovation that was clearly sarcastic. Even the blue-haired girl whispered, almost laughing, "Bold choice of song for a guy."

Leo laughed too, a little embarrassed, but he knew if he had chosen a male song, it would have been way worse.

Then he turned...and saw Sarah standing.

She didn’t laugh at him. She looked at him like he was the only person in the room. Quietly, gently, she opened her arms wide...

"Babe, come here," she said, extending her hands for a hug.

She wasn’t teasing him. Everything was sincere, her soft eyes and the kind of smile that makes everything else fade out of existence...

Leo didn’t even hesitate. He stepped forward, wrapped his arms around her, and for a second, everyone in the karaoke room stopped laughing and looked at them.

No one said anything. Just a few surprised smiles and raised brows...

Then, one after the other, things shifted fast...

The blue-haired girl stepped up first. Her voice was calm, rich, and honestly kind of amazing... it filled the room. The lights shine across her face, and even Rika gave her a clap or two...

Then the guy followed, completely off-key, but he made up for it with his over-the-top dancing that got everyone laughing again...

By the time it came full circle, everyone had taken a turn. There were silly duets, exaggerated high notes, and exaggerated performances. Even Rika grabbed a mic and did an awkward rap verse that somehow turned into a group chant...

To be honest, Leo and Sarah had fun. Real fun. The kind they didn’t expect from Rika, who was known as a narcissist...

They laughed, and sang together. Eventually, their energy was completely worn out. They started lying on the floor, the blue-haired girl was hugging a pillow, Sarah was scrolling through her phone, while patting Leo’s head...

They were all tired...

Then Rika clapped her hands together with way too much energy for someone who’d just been fake-rapping literally ten minutes ago.

"Alright! Now let’s go fishing!"

Everyone in the room stared back at her like she’d just suggested robbing a bank...