Chapter Text
Ren stumbles into professional acting like most things in his life. Because of the fucking Metaverse.
Okay, technically only partially true. The metaverse went hand in hand with personas and shadows and that went hand in hand with conspiracies and secret organizations. The Kirijo Group isn’t the shadiest billionaire funded organization in the world, but it’s certainly one of the ones out there.
Ren had spent all of his last year of high school being stalked by men in suits, and not the fun kind, but as long as they weren’t dragging him to prison he didn’t really care when they went from government entities to private ones. So he really shouldn’t have been surprised when, a day after graduating high school, he’s approached by Kirijo CEO Kirijo Mitsuru herself with a recruitment pitch.
Between offering to pay for his university tuition, a generous salary, and the chance to get back into the thrill of destroying shadows again, it’s a no brainer. Ren signs the papers and within the week he’s officially a Shadow Ops agent.
None of his other friends have signed up, content with their own lives, though Futaba is likely to be a shoe-in once she’s done with high school herself and Zenkichi is constantly waffling about switching careers for good, so it’s only a matter of time for him too. But it’s fine, Ren has Morgana and his new coworkers aren’t that bad either. He’s sometimes paired with Narukami Yu but two wildcards can be a bit overkill, so usually his partner is Amada Ken.
Ken is… great, really. It takes a second for Ren to get used to him, the other boy too reminiscent of his own Justice confidant sometimes, eerily so, and it makes Ren’s heart hurt a little thinking about Akechi’s dead-or-alive status quo.
(Ren had asked Kirijo and Narukami if they ever heard of, about, or from him, and while Ren still carries distrust over adults, especially ones with authority over him, he’s willing to believe that they’re sincere in their condolences over their lack of info on the second Detective Prince.)
Anyway, Ken easily becomes one of Ren’s best friends. It’s hard not to be, seeing as they have to trust each other with their lives, but it began with some coffee blends and the rest was history. They even move in together eventually.
At some point, after a particularly rough mission that left them both groaning on the floor of their shared apartment, Neo Featherman R starts playing on the television. Ren makes a life changing comment.
“You know, I’ve never really seen a full season of Featherman,” he says idly. “I know some people who are really into it though. Is it any good?”
Ken looks at him, appalled. “You’re joking.”
“What?” Ren blinks at him blearily. “I’m not?”
“We need to fix that now,” Ken hisses, looking more impassioned than Ren has ever seen him.
Featherman is fun. It’s obviously a show more for kids, but honestly, after all the Horrors Ren has seen and experienced and continues to do so, it’s a nice little thing to turn his mind off and just enjoy. Ren gets invested enough to follow all the plots, look at some fanfic and fanart, and learn some of the weapon tricks the characters do for fun.
“If you could be one of them, which color would you be?” Ken asks as they clear through a shadow world pocket dimension.
“Red,” Ren says without hesitation. He looks fantastic in red, for one, and he thought he did a bang up job being the Phantom Thieves’ leader, so, obviously.
“Your favorite is Black though,” Ken says. “You know his moves the most.”
“Yeah, but that’s for a different reason,” Ren doesn’t say that Black typically reminds him of Akechi during the third semester that was reset and that does a lot to carry his own delusional headcanons over the character. “Why are you asking? Are we gonna go cosplay the team?”
Ken snorts, “I guess we can complete the roster, since we have Featherman Pink Argus in our reserves already.”
Ren chuckles. “Imagine though, if we got another one.”
Damning words, when just a few weeks later, Takeba Yukari is called into action despite being literally days from shooting a TV special.
“I haven’t had time to rehearse much,” Yukari frustratedly says as she knocks her bow and shoots an arrow through a shadow’s head. “I have a bunch of scenes with Black Condor, but Takashi’s been busy with his new movie, so we haven’t been able to run lines together.”
“Ren could do it,” Ken says, mostly as a joke. “He’s dramatic enough to line read.”
“Hey,” Ren protests mildly as he summons a persona to send a Maeiga into the fray. “I mean, fair, but.”
“They spent half the last mission role playing some scene from one of the specials,” Akihiko helpfully tells Yukari with a snort. Ken makes an affronted noise back.
“It was from the Neo Featherman 2013 movie, senpai—“
They take a break at one of the safe room-esque areas of this shadow world pocket, and Yukari sheepishly takes out the script from her uniform jacket with a pleading look at Ren’s way. Ren, in true Wildcard fashion, can’t say no to that.
It’s been a while since he was able to do theatre, his dramatics as Joker notwithstanding, but it’s just like switching masks. Black is usually the loner, the outcast, and sometimes even the traitor of the series, and, well. Ren has enough inspiration for characters like that.
They run lines a few times during the downtimes of their cleanup mission and Yukari seems to be impressed by him, judging by how at the end of it when they’re back in the real world, she asks if he ever considered going into acting.
“Just a thought!” She says with a smile. “You’re really good. I really felt like I was talking to the real Black back there.”
“It was just line reading,” Ren says, a bit self consciously. “But I’m glad to have helped.”
Yukari hums. “Can we do it one last time then? With Ken recording, so I can look back at myself later tonight.”
“Sure.”
(Would he have still agreed, if he knew just where that recording would end up?
Maybe. But it worked out either way.)
Ren considers it done and over with, a one time favor for a coworker/friend, when Yukari leaves for the day. Not a big deal at all, and next week he’ll be back to making stupid impressions and jokes with Ken when they’re bored out of their mind during shadow world patrols.
So consider him shocked when not even a month later, Yukari physically kidnaps him to take him to the television studio, Ken as her accomplice. Are Justices predisposed for betrayal, he wonders.
“I’m sorry for springing this on you all of a sudden,” Yukari is hardly apologetic despite her words. “But, well! It’s important, okay?”
“Uhm,” Ren eloquently says when he’s presented to whom Yukari introduces as the director of the next Featherman series.
“Amamiya, was it?” The director peers at him, looking at Ren from head to toe. “Nice, very nice indeed. Good height, excellent face… Why, I’m surprised you aren’t a model already at least!”
Considering the last time he was almost recruited to be one, the man in charge got poisoned, Ren isn’t really surprised. He elects to say, “That’s more of my friend’s thing, really. I’m sorry, what am I here for?”
“Takeba-san showed us the video of you rehearsing with her a few weeks ago,” the director explains. “I must say, even from just some line reading, your Black characterization is quite compelling. And while we’re still in pre-production, we’ve been on the market for some fresh faces for the series.”
“What?” Ren says weakly, looking at Yukari, who playfully winks at him. “You can’t possibly mean—“
“Feather Black has always been a bit of a, well, black and white character the past few series, metaphorically.” The director continues on. “I wanted to do a fresher take on his arc! And so I thought, well, why not make him a proper two faced member! He’ll be Feather White and Feather Black!”
“What?!” Ken is the one to voice Ren’s surprise. “You mean you’re going to make them the same person?!”
The director puts his finger over his lips in a shushing motion. “I may have said too much!” He laughs. “But oh, Amamiya-kun, you’d be perfect I think! You have the face of a pretty, pleasant boy and I think just this once we’ll be forgiven if White isn’t the usual beautiful woman archetype. The duality of a person… oh yes, very good—“
“Wait, hold on, let me get this straight,” Ren says hastily. “You want to cast me , an unknown amateur, as one of the main characters of a highly beloved show?”
“Don’t worry, you’ll be well supported if you need acting lessons before we start filming. But from what I’ve seen, you’ll hardly need them!”
“That was one video,” Ren looks at the man, baffled. “And… and I have a criminal record!”
Ken coughs. “Technically, Mitsuru-senpai had that completely expunged when she took you on as an employee.”
Ren stares at him. “The…?” He waves his hand in a card flicking motion. Ken nods with a sheepish smile.
“Well, it doesn't seem to be a problem,” the director hums, pleased. “It wouldn’t have been, anyway. People love a good parallel, or redemption story!”
“Come on, Ren-kun,” Yukari nudges Ren as he slumps. “I dove into being Pink Argus with little experience myself, and I haven’t regretted it since. Maybe you’ll feel the same.”
Ren thinks about it. His life really couldn’t and shouldn’t revolve completely around the shadow world, he supposes. And he’s not obligated to do any more than this if acting doesn’t agree with him after all.
Ann’s going to freak. Futaba is going to lose her shit .
“You remember the Phantom Thieves of Hearts business a few years back?” The director asks. “It won’t be a complete one to one, but I do have to admit that this series’ plot is loosely based on it.”
Okay, now that’s just unfair. Now Ren has to take the role.
So that’s how Ren becomes a Featherman Ranger.
FIRST LOOK: “Neo Featherman: Phantom Cast List Revealed!”
[photo of the cast all in full costume with helmets on, posing on a rooftop at night with the city skyline illuminated behind them]
Red Hawk: Fujikawa Kane
Pink Argus: Sasada Aika
Yellow Owl: Hirose Kenji
Green Parakeet: Yukawa Emiri
Blue Pheasant: Ueno Shoji
White Swan: Amamiya Ren
Comments:
“OH ITS HAPPENING!!!! FEATHERMAN PHANTOM IS REAL????”
—“omg is the leak about it being phantom thieves based RIGHT”
——“ew I hope not”
———“don’t be a hater!!! It’ll be a fresh take imo”
“AIKA AND EMIRI IN A SHOW TOGETHER WE WILL BE WATCHING!!!”
—“YESSS LETS GO LESBIANS LETS GO”
“WHITE RETURN???? Omgomg it feels like FOREVER since we got white on the main cast”
—“more importantly, that silhouette has to be a MALE feather white… interesting choice when white has usually been the quintessential ‘oujo-sama’ type…”
——“I looked up Amamiya Ren and got nothing? Literally no actor credits for this guy, not even a picture online…”
———“newcomer I guess? Though it would be crazy for them to cast someone who doesn’t even have a commercial to his name. And there was no open call casting either, so he must be something.”
————“I’ll die if it’s a nepotism hire lol”
FIRST LOOK: “Neo Featherman: Phantom Cast Official Promo Pics”
[headshot of Ren with his hair carefully styled on one side, leaving the rest of his front fridge naturally tousled over his forehead. He’s wearing what looks to be a gray uniform blazer with a navy and white diagonally striped tie. His eyes have a gentle look to them, his lips quirked in a warm yet secretive smile as his black gloved hand cradles his chin.]
Featherman White Swan - Hakuro Ryouki (白狼両希)
played by Amamiya Ren (雨宮蓮)
Comments:
“Okay but why do amamiya kinda be lookin….”
—“same girl same”
“Oh. Oh THATS why they’re letting amamiya be white swan. Ok. OKAY I GET IT.”
—“mfs two weeks ago: white can’t be a dude, white has to be a beautiful elegant woman
mfs seeing amamiya ren: ok understandable good day”
“God im so gay”
—“LMAO???”
“Ann,” Ren despondently says as notifications light up his phone screen. The phone keeps buzzing in place against Leblanc’s counter. “I’m twitter trending .”
From where she’s perched at a booth, Futaba snorts.
“Oh, Ren,” Ann sympathetically pats his hair like some kind of fluffy cat. “You’re a relative nobody who just got casted in a show Japanese children have been watching for decades. Of course you’re trending.”
“They’re really all about your face card,” Futaba chirps as she taps on her phone. “Ooooh, hey, you already have a fan page up on Twitter.”
“It hasn’t even been a day,” Ren bemoans, laying his head on the counter. “Yukari said I’d get attention, but I didn’t think it would be this much.”
“Please, stop acting like it’s too much for you, Joker ,” Ann teases, tugging another lock of Ren’s curls and making him pout at her. “It hasn’t gotten as bad as it did at the height of the Phantom Thieves’ popularity.”
Futaba perks up. “Speaking of…”
“No,” Ren firmly says. “I signed an NDA. I’m not spoiling anything to you. And my script is paper only, and it’s Ken’s room.”
“Aw, dammit,” Futaba whines. “Hey hold on, Ken’s room? Gasp , Ren, are you sleeping—“
“ No .”
“How are your social media accounts?” Ann redirects the topic somewhat, mercifully. She and Futaba have helped him set up his “official” accounts just earlier, not wanting to leave it all to his new acting agency’s PR. “Wow, 20k followers on Instagram already, and you’ve only posted your headshot!”
“This is insane,” Ren says, watching the number go up in disbelief. “I haven’t even done anything. For all they know, I’m going to suck.”
“Well, I think right now it’s more of they want to suck you—“
“ Futaba .”
“Just relax, Ren,” Ann soothes him. “It’s really not gonna be that bad. It’s just like another one of your Joker masks, right? And if Takeba-san said you were good, you must be.”
“Yeah, I suppose,” Ren hesitantly says. “God, filming starts on Monday. Wish me luck.”
The past few months since his… recruitment, Ren’s only had to do line readings with his cast mates, with a chemistry test with the main lead playing Red since he’s the one Ren’s character will interact with the most. He’s aware that BlackRed is one of the fandom’s most popular and long standing ships, and he’s a little wary on how the reaction would be at the WhiteRed misdirect. Oh, well. Couldn’t be any worse than being hated so much he disappeared from existence itself.
There’s also a reason why he refuses to tell Futaba anything about the plot, NDA or not. He had read the first few episodes’ scripts, and while he was well aware that the plot is Phantom Thieves’ inspired, there were enough similarities to the actual events that it was jarring.
‘Hey, you didn’t like… sell out the PT story, right?’ He had messaged Mishima just to be sure.
‘No?’ Mishima had texted back. ‘Wait, why? Is someone doing something similar??? We can copyright it before it’s too late—‘
Ren doesn’t elaborate any further, and when in doubt, he asks Morgana.
“Maybe it’s a collective unconscious thing?” Morgana muses. “The metaverse is a mysterious thing. Maybe all the Phantom Thieves’ actions leaked into someone’s brain!”
“That sounds like a lot of bullshit,” Ren says but then thinks about how they had to use codenames in case the palace leaders subconsciously identified them in the real world, and okay maybe there is a point to that.
“Perhaps the writers slipped into the shadow world somehow at the time of your activities,” Mitsuru tells him when he brings up his concern. “It’s not unheard of for civilians to retain some memory or impression of events when they accidentally go between worlds.”
“This is definitely more than just an impression of events,” Ren says. “They know about Akechi . They literally wrote in the Black Mask .”
“Well,” Mitsuru purses her lips. “It’s a good thing you’re in the cast then, isn’t it? You can keep an eye out, Amamiya. And if anything else is cause for concern, let me know.”
Sure, fine. That’s his job anyway, even though he’s more concerned about how he should be acting as White/Black without channeling Akechi completely, because even he thinks that’s a little weird. He wants to be with Akechi, not be him.
“They’re friends, but they’re also rivals,” the lead writer enthusiastically tells him and Fujikawa, the actor for Red, during a session with just the two of them, the writer himself, and the director. “They know each other intimately, more than anyone else, and yet misunderstand each other the most.”
Ren is actively trying not to have a crisis . “It says they’re childhood friends?” He asks, grasping at the one thing he can’t draw a parallel to him and Akechi from.
“Yes, though the viewers won’t know that for a while,” the director says. “There’s an assumption that they first meet in the show, and if you go to episode 12, your character Ryouki laments over wishing he and Akira had met sooner.”
Ren is losing his mind.
It doesn’t help that when they start filming, Ren becomes increasingly self aware of how Fujikawa acts Red like a more outgoing version of Joker. Ren’s memories of that year may be both starkly clear and worryingly fuzzy depending on the time and events, but he doesn’t think he was that show off-y.
“You did backflip a lot,” Morgana mercilessly points out when he sulks at dinner. “The unnecessary dagger twirls. The Showtimes .”
“He still does two of those,” Ken helpfully says and Ren is tempted to take his plate of food back from him. “Ren, you’ve always been rather dramatic. That’s kind of how you got in this position in the first place.”
“I got in this position because of you and Yukari ,” Ren sniffs. “I keep being accused of nepotism online because of her ‘recommendation.’”
“It was nepotism, technically,” Ken simply points out. “Besides, I’ve seen your instagram and Twitter pages. You’re at 150k followers already, and the show hasn’t even started airing yet. I highly doubt that kind of comment actually bothers you.”
It doesn’t, but it’s the principle of the thing.
Amamiya Ren News and Pics @AmamiyaDaily
[picture of Ren, as civilian White, walking alongside Fujikawa, as civilian Red, along the path of a park. There’s a fond smile on Ren’s face as he looks at the laughing Fujikawa.]
Amamiya and Fujikawa filming a scene at Inokashira Park!
Replies:
“Oooooohhh the way White is looking at Red 😭😭😭 can it be… new ship???”
—“hide this from the blackred shippers omg”
——“GET BEHIND ME AMAMIYA”
“boy why u looking at red like that”
—“yeah and why isn’t red looking at white back like that”
“crying Amamiya is so BEAUTIFUL”
—“they really cooked with White’s casting this time 🙏”
——“the naysayers are allowed to have doubts about how his acting is going to be, but it can’t be denied that Amamiya is one of the best embodiments of White’s elegant beauty archetype in modern Featherman”
“NOT the WhiteRed agenda 🤢 you’re delusional if you think it’ll happen”
—“found the blackred shipper LOL”
aikasasada
[instagram reel of Ren in his Feather White bodysuit flawlessly walking down a room in high heels, Blue and Green ooh and aah-ing with applause in the background]
“that moment when you find out your male co-actor walks better in heels than you ever have, LOL #nfpcast #amamiyaren #featherman #whiteswan”
Comments:
“HELP LMAO HE ATE”
“oh my god those LEGS…..”
—“down, boy”
“WHATS THE CONTEXT????”
—“the context is that it’s hot, next question”
“God I never understood the Feather White simping from the previous series’ before but. Amamiya!White can step on me, please.”
—“REAL”
—“GET IN LINE LOSER”
shiro @basedshiroaka
“Guys NF:P hasn’t even started airing yet but there’s already dozens of fics in the WhiteRed tag lmfao”
Replies:
“GOOD”
—“it’s finally OUR TIME to shine, WhiteRed era GO!!!”
“Delusional. It should be RedWhite, there’s no shot White is a top.”
—“boohoo WE LITERALLY DONT KNOW THE CANON DYNAMICS YET”
—“it’s just a catch all ship name rn chill bro”
—“RedBlack fixed shipper yeah of course you don’t want anything touching Red’s hole”
“has anyone checked on @/thecrowprince lmfao”
—“why? Isn’t he a BlackRed/GreyRed?”
——“oh he’s been having a MELTDOWN over whitered since those filming pics got leaked”
———“more like since the cast list got confirmed. he’s hyper fixating on amamiya/white HARD”
Unfortunately for Ren, the best way to portray White really is to adopt Detective Prince Akechi’s mannerisms. Historically, White is the most graceful and elegant character of the rangers. Ken and Futaba had insistently drilled into him the past incarnations of White and he can get the gist of what’s expected of him.
The thing is, Featherman Phantom’s White Swan is a carefully manufactured image according to the storyline. Hakuro Ryouki had been orphaned at a young age, abandoned by his parents for some reason, only to be adopted by a wealthy couple using him to boost their social image. From there, he was crafted to be the perfect “spare heir,” expected to be above and beyond his peers while remaining to be seemingly humble and developing a prince-like image because of it. He secretly despises all of it, and from that resentment is born Feather Black.
It makes Ren vaguely uncomfortable, how reminiscent of Akechi it is. And how utterly sympathetic Ren is to the character, even if he is the one playing him.
“Wow, you’re really good at this,” Fujikawa compliments him during their first filming session together, where Ryouki is introduced as Akira’s new senpai and the school president. “Like I knew from the line readings that you knew your character, but seeing you act him out really is different.”
“Thank you, senpai,” Ren bows lightly. “That means a lot coming from you. I’m still a newbie, after all.”
“A very popular newbie,” Sasaki, who plays Feather Pink, says with finger guns shooting his way. “I’ve seen you blow up on social media, Amamiya-kun! At this rate, you’ll be winning the Newcomer award this year!”
“I wouldn’t go that far,” Ren hastily waves off. “This is the only acting gig I’m doing, after all.”
“For now,” Ueno, Feather Blue, says almost ominously.
“I just know you’re going to get a lot of knocks on your door once the show is out and people see your many sides,” Fujikawa winks. As the only other cast member that knows about the White-Black twist, Ren can be a little comforted with his senpai’s apparent faith in him.
Despite Ren’s continuing personal crisis over the character he’s playing, he can admit that Yukari was right. Being a Featherman is fun, and since this is ultimately a show for kids, albeit this season is a little more mature than usual, no one takes themselves too seriously. His acting senpais help him out when he needs it, and he’s never really left alone to do promotional interviews or stuff like that by himself.
He does fine with the photoshoots, comfortable enough after seeing Ann do her own modeling over the past few years. It’s weird to know that his face is going to be plastered on some merch, though thankfully most of it would be with his helmet on. Feather Black continues to be a closely kept secret miraculously enough, but Ren’s done a few photos of him in the suit and admittedly, it looks far better on him than White or even Red’s suit does.
A lot of promotional material has him partnered with Fujikawa, which makes sense as the series hinges on Red and White’s relationship. There’s a lot of… intense eye contact. And two sides of the same coin imagery. And metaphors. Ren knew they could get a bit generous with fanservice, but isn’t this a little much?
“Oh,” the director looks at him when he brings it up casually during a break one day. “Haven’t gotten to that episode yet, have you? Hah, it’ll make sense later, Amamiya-kun!”
What does that mean , Ren wonders. He’s read a few episodes ahead to get a better gist of how White and Red’s relationship develops and mostly it’s been this strange flirty UST. He wonders briefly if that’s the kind of impression he and Akechi gave off, especially during that brief time teamed up together in Sae’s palace, but he’s almost afraid to ask anyone to find out.
He gets his answer when he reaches the script for Episode 35 of 48.
***
WHITE disarms RED with a swipe of his rapier and kicks RED down to the floor. RED raises his hands, conceding.
RED
You got me, Swan. You won this round.
WHITE
(Walking closer to RED.)
Admitting defeat so easily?
RED
(RED smirks.)
Hardly. I’ll get you next time.
WHITE looks at RED with a neutral face for a moment. Then WHITE scowls uncharacteristically, his face shadowed.
WHITE
I truly… despise you.
RED looks surprised.
WHITE
Nothing ever truly knocks you down, hm? You’re content in being imperfect. Why wouldn’t you, when people are fine to accept you as you are?
RED
Swan… Ryou—
WHITE puts the tip of his rapier under RED’s chin, dangerously close to RED’s neck. RED gulps, his breath heavy. They stare at each other.
WHITE
To be honest, all this time, I thought myself better than you. Everything points to it being the truth. And yet, why does it keep feeling like I’m always one step behind you?
WHITE truly looks angry. It’s the first time he’s showing his true colors.
WHITE
I refuse to lose to you, Red Hawk. You may be my leader and I may have some respect for you, but you’ll never be my superior.
RED
…I hear you, White Swan.
WHITE nods and retracts his rapier, sheathing it to his side once more. WHITE holds out a hand for RED to take, helping him up from the ground. Before WHITE can let go, RED pulls him closer until they’re chest to chest.
WHITE is caught off guard. RED smirks.
RED
Just one last thing, Ryou.
WHITE
(wary) What?
RED
You’re even more beautiful when you’re angry.
WHITE’s jaw drops. His face turns red. He abruptly shoves RED away from him.
WHITE
Are you an idiot?! Who goes saying that to a guy?!
RED laughs.
RED
Hey, it’s not just any guy. It’s you.
***
Ren screams into his pillow for a good five minutes after reading that scene.
Still, despite him slowly going insane from all the eerie similarities between his real life and the show, no one can ever say he doesn’t give it his all for every scene. And it’s… cathartic, in a way, putting himself in Akechi’s shoes. Years later, there’s still things left unanswered about Akechi’s time as Shido’s assassin, and Ren may be projecting a lot but he likes to think that being White/Black lets him understand the lost boy a little better. Wherever he is, he’ll probably be fuming if he ever catches an episode of this show, but well . It’s not his fault the script is like that.
They’re over halfway through filming the series when the first episode drops, and Ren finds himself having a watch party at his and Ken’s apartment. It does little to quell any nerves he has and Haru has to hold his hand to calm him down when the opening credits, a pop-jazzy riff off of the usual Neo Featherman theme, starts playing on the television.
“Oh my god, Ren,” Futaba cackles when his character shows up. Post production had added a dreamy filter with subtle sparkles to his introductory scene, and Ren feels his face flare up when his friends ooooh when TV!him smiles at the camera. “Are you playing some Akechi-Makoto fusion?!”
Makoto takes offense to that going by her appalled face, but even Haru can’t hide her giggles at the image. Ren throws a pillow at Futaba’s head.
“They made you very sparkly,” Morgana comments incredulously, while Sumire says “I think it suits you, senpai,” which only furthers Futaba’s hysterics.
“Oh dude, you’re totally trending right now,” Ryuji tells him during a commercial break, Twitter pulled up on his phone. “Daily Amamiya posted screenshots within a minute of the scene.”
“Why are you following Daily Amamiya, when I’m right here?” Ren does not grumble but it’s close.
“Yeah, but you have like two jobs and university, we rarely get to see you in person anymore. Also LMAO their follower count totally just skyrocketed,” Futaba snickers.
“Ren’s is too,” Ann says, scrolling through her own phone. Ren dreads opening his apps to see the damage. “I think you jumped 3k on Instagram in the fifteen minutes since you were on screen. And still rising.”
“This is all your fault,” Ren tells Ken, the real reason why he even got into Featherman in the first place. It really snowballed from there.
“Guilty as charged,” Ken says with an unapologetic grin. Bastard is just smug because he got the good spoilers, since he kept the scripts away from Futaba’s grubby hands.
“I bet if I post a photo of us right now, Daily Amamiya will have it up within a minute,” Ann says with a mischievous grin, already prepping for a group selfie with her camera.
“I used to be your respected leader,” Ren laments as he’s shoved to the middle of the group, everyone trapping him in place. “Does that mean nothing anymore?”
“Oh, we still respect you,” Yusuke serenely says. “But as you lifted us up for our own accomplishments, it’s time for us to return the favor, is it not?”
“He’s right,” Haru smooths Ren’s unruly hair with a smile. “Let us brag about you for once, Ren.”
“Fine,” Ren huffs, the defeat easy. “Let’s take the picture.”
anntakamaki
[group selfie taken by Ann, with Yusuke, Ryuji, Makoto, Haru, Sumire, Futaba, and Ken surrounding Ren, who has Morgana on his lap]
“one of our best friends @amamiyaren makes his TV debut!! We’re so proud of him 💕💕💕 #amamiyaren #whiteswan #featherman “
Comments:
“OMG I WAS RIGHT, IT IS THE SAME REN!!”
—“HAHA IKR?? It feels insane, we knew him before he was famous!!”
—“I can’t believe the same renren ann has been posting about since high school is FEATHERMAN WHITE”
“sorry but how is everyone in your friend group attractive?? Wtf”
—“dude they have OKUMURA HARU in their group like?? Ok just casually have a billionaire friend”
“Wait wdym the infamous Shujin delinquent transfer student of 2016 is a TV actor now 😭”
—“GIRL WHAT”
——“DEEP SHUJIN LORE”
—“and he even still has that fuckass cat he used to hide under his desk im DYING”
“who’s the brunette loser boy beside ren ://“
—“who’s the loser commenter getting jealous of Amamiya’s actual friend lol”
maki @sushiroid
“WhiteRed nation how we feelin’ about the new birds”
Replies:
“girl I am FUJO-ING OUT”
—“SAME”
—“making White a boy might actually save this ship”
——“making White be played by Amamiya will actually save this ship”
“Ooooh baby it smells of queerbait but call me a fish because I am BITING”
—“maybe this is the year we get canon gays in this homo ass IP 😭”
——“LMAO white maybe, but golden boy red???? NAAAH”
“I need the heterosexual explanation as to why Akira saw Ryouki with that filter 😭 wdym he gets the shoujo sparkles while the girls get normal intros”
—“they’re just going to be really good friends”
——“historians will call them…”
“BlackReds on sui watch”
—“LMAO”
—“first the feather black snub, now the WhiteRed meet cute?? Pls check on your blackred oomfies in this trying time…”
——“fuck em let them cope and seethe lmao”
———“^^^ I hope a certain crow is MALDING rn”