((Okay! I named him, hope you don't mind, you can give him a first name if you want. ;) ))

Aoi had completely forgotten about the contest until Mr. Nakajima came onstage, and although he kept his tired smile in place he still had mixed feelings about the whole "win a date with Aoi" event that the label had set up. He was still feeling great--actually, he could have gone out with the winner right there and then--but part of him was dreading the idea of spending any time with another screaming fangirl. It wasn't until he saw Shou making his way onstage that Aoi started to wonder if this would be so bad; the boy certainly wasn't gushing--in fact, he wasn't looking in Aoi's direction at all. Did he even know who Aoi Yoshida was?

The storm of applause was like a wind at their backs when they left the stage, drowning out all sound. Aoi allowed himself and Shou to be directed to his dressing room, and when the door was closed behind them the sudden quiet was jarring, almost eerie. Aoi smiled at the contest winner, and opened his mouth to say something, but Mr. Nakajima bustled inside, interrupting him.

"Congratulations!" the man said, offering Shou a grin and moving to shake his hand. "I'm sure you two are going to have a lot of fun together!" he glanced at Aoi, who smiled back at him mechanically, and then looked to Shou again, clearly thinking that the boy was in some sort of ecstatic delerium. "So when are you two going to get this thing going? We're going to set up a very short interview for the press at some point that we'd like you both to participate in, but you can schedule any day you like to go out together!" He chuckled a little, clearly at the thought of Aoi and Shou "going out"; that part of the speech made it pretty obvious that they had been expecting a girl to win.

"Well, I don't know my schedule very well," Aoi said apologetically, wiping his brow with the back of his sleeve. He was still a little sweaty from the show. "I think Maki has it, but I'm free today if you have time."

He doubted that Shou would be free today, but he decided to give it a shot. Maki was his assistant, and he didn't want to have to track her down if he didn't have to.