Ichimatsu stands up, pointing at Jyuushimatsu and Homura. “How. How am I supposed to follow that? I’m just gonna look more gross in comparison, get over here.”

Ichimatsu pats Homura’s shoulder, telling her something unheard that makes her smile before she walks over to the teapot again. Jyuushimatsu gives him two thumbs up, loading Homura back in the teapot, gently wheeling her backstage as a soft melody gently plays.

Ichimatsu steps toward center stage, and the fans who like him most realize that this is his first solo number where he hasn’t used a mic stand.

He’s actually going to dance during a solo for once.

((Song reference AND choreography reference is this performance of Love&Hate by Moonbyul from Mamamoo!))

Ichimatsu adjusts his blazer, dress shirt buttons aglow (top one undone, just the one. Two made him antsy), cat ears twitching as the tail sways gently. Yup, he’s advertising for a snack that pets and owners can share with a song from the point of view of a loving cat. The audience can’t quite tell if those catlike parts are real or fake, but they’re not the focus.

He’s actually moving. He’s actually emoting!

He paces the stage, seeming to get less stiff as he hears that this is getting a good reaction. His brothers are singing along, the audience is cheering enough to make him feel bold enough to throw in some extra rolls and swaying just to see how well it’ll be received. Ichimatsu feels weird. He feels confident, honestly.

Just in time for Jyuushimatsu to traipse out with mic stands! Ichimatsu doesn’t stay still, no matter how strong he’s tempted to. Nope, as Osomatsu and Jyuushimatsu back him up, it becomes yet another part of the choreography that disappears as quickly as it came.

The lyrics are very sentimental for Ichimatsu. He knows you do so much for him, and he wants you to see what he sees; a kind, caring person who makes him feel less worthless, someone who he wants by his side always.

There’s even a dance break after he walks down to the smaller stage in the audience, amazingly enough. It’s breezy and not overdone or punchy, but it flows nicely and doesn’t exhaust him too much to keep singing until he walks back to the stage, settling down by his brothers just as the song winds down.

The audience is almost as loud, proud, and delighted as his brothers are.

A special guest appears!

After Todomatsu settles down, Jyuushimatsu dashes to the front of the stage, an exercise-y tracksuit rolled up to his knees, hems and stripes aglow. He sounds a little nervous when he speaks up.

“So… Hi, everyone! I have a surprise for everybody out here!” He laughs as the audience cheers, seeming to loosen up a bit. “Um, so this ad company wanted a little crossover appeal, see if they could get as many people hydrated and happy as they can, so… This is a collaboration between me and another idol from Flag Productions!” The audience is abuzz already. “It’s someone you guys like seeing with me a bunch, too!”

He runs to the side of the flower set, pulling out an absolutely massive teapot. He knocks on the lid, and he gets a knock back.

“Dormouse!” He lifts the lid, putting it to the side, and he leans over the handle to offer a hand. “Time to come out!” A set of mousy ears attached to a yellow visor pop out of the top.

“You sure?” A few people in the audience recognize that voice, if those shouts are any indication.

“Yup!” He offers his hands more enthusiastically. “Clean cup, move down!”

The head pops out more, and, oh, those audience members were right, that’s Homura from GELATO! in there! “If you say so!” She takes his hand, taking off her hat as Jyuushimatsu lifts her out of the teapot. (Oh, no, their tracksuits match!) The brass starts up, and the song begins.

((Prepare yourself for a big dose of energy, the song reference today is Dempagumi.inc’s 最Ψ最好調！))

The product? A sports type drink. The song’s content?

An assurance that, no matter what you’re doing, you’re doing your best and they’re proud of you!

Even as they dance and jump their way across the stage, trading off lines like they’ve been groupmates all along, they’re acknowledging that life can be tiring, a downright bummer sometimes!

But they know this already: You’re working hard. Continuing to carry on in this crazy mixed up world is something to be proud of! It’s something to be rewarded! (Perhaps with a certain icy drink. You’ve earned it.)

In the bridge before the last chorus, it all takes an odd twist. Jyuushimatsu hands his mic to Homura and crouches. Everything is made clear when she climbs on to his back, holding his microphone in front of him, and–

He goes sprinting down the path into the audience, through a sea of penlights, to a small, round stage just in time for the calmest part. Ah, a safe place to dismount, ok. Back into the dance they go, handling the key change with no sign of exhaustion, ending strong, amid louder cheers and a better response than they expected. As the other five whoop and holler, Homura lets out a laugh, and Jyuushimatsu lifts her up to spin her.

“You did it, Homura!”

“You did it too!” She laughs as her feet meet the floor again. “Jyuushimatsu, can I do the thing with you?”

“Well, duh! Everybody,” he says with a smile, their arms already up and ready.

“Thank you very muscle, muscle!” The audience joins in, lights bouncing along. “Hustle, hustle!”

The boys all file back in as the band plays, a few taking this time to dance their way back into the spotlight. Their outfits weren’t quite matching in their style (an apron here, a jacket there, a tracksuit, traditional festival clothes?), but all of them were primarily black and white with splashes of color.

“Welcome back!” As they shout in unison, their clothes… Light up. Strips of vivid, bright color light up around them, wrists and ankles and hems, and the boys glow in their chosen colors.

“Now, for the unveiling of our campaigns!” Osomatsu is actually talking business, doing his leader job. Wow. “Each of us headed up our own campaign at the same time as GELATO!, and we all have our own songs to go along with ‘em. By the way, exclusive merch will be at the stores that sell these particular products, so be sure to hit ‘em up for posters and keychains and all that jazz.” He points to Todomatsu, “First one up is Todomatsu!”

“So the pressure’s mostly on me. Wow, niisan, you’re so thoughtful!” Todomatsu approaches the front as the others sit down in front of the band, clapping and whooping already.

“So, my solo campaign is for a new product by Lemonsugar cosmetics– You remember them from our Cutiematsusan event?” There are a few yells and one whoop of YEAH, BABY, WOO! After a moment of laughter, and a joking finger wag, “Weren’t you supposed to wait backstage?” he gets back on track. “They’ve got a new line of lip and hand products, entirely unisex, based on different sweets from a bakery, because I can’t think of one person who doesn’t like dessert at least a little. Who here wants some sugar?” He holds out his mic to some fairly raucous cheering, and the drummer gives a quick countdown before the band launches into his song.

((For a sound reference, check out Alice Francis’ Blackberry Pie! It’s adorable! ❤))

The audience should realize tight about now that, on those pants, under the apron impractically tied to one side, are white and tan stripes and little glowy pink shapes reminiscent of a fluffy, adorable slice of strawberry shortcake.

Todomatsu, apparently, can tell just what you’re after! You’ve got a hankering for something sweet, and he’s just the kind of dessert you need. With a sugary wink, he promises to give you exactly what you crave!

Perfectly synced with the commercial preview up on the center screen, with his brothers dancing like idiots behind him (and providing strangely pristine harmonies all the while, thank goodness they can sing while they jump around like caffeinated frogs), Todomatsu launches into the chorus, letting you know he’ll give you a kiss so sweet you’ll want a piece of him every day. The commercial shows all six boys in a dessert case, each with a dessert theme, each all but plastered to the glass to see you.

The song stands on its own well enough for him to sing it in future concerts, there’s just enough in the lyrics about softness, handholding, and kissing to make sure it fits the ad as much as it can.

It’s just barely innocent enough to make censors trust him, but juuust suggestive enough to make it fun.

As Todomatsu takes his bows, he thanks the audience.

His brothers mockingly whoop like he just did something terribly inappropriate. To be fair, he did.

A Brief Intermission!

“We’ll get back to answering some more of your questions after a quick break– we’ll be talking about our individual ad campaigns once this intermission is over!” Choromatsu hands the Ask Hat to someone offstage, smiling and giving a quick little bow to the audience.

“Go get some tea!” Jyuushimatsu shouts, tugging Ichimatsu by the wrist. “It’s super good, I promise! Bye bye!” Ichimatsu just kind of stares as he’s led offstage.

“As much as I know you’d love to see us change into our other costumes, we’ve got to leave some mystery left!” Todomatsu says with a wink. Why, Totty. Why are you like this.

“Remember, this concert continues into the evening,” Karamatsu says with a determined point toward the spotlights. “We won’t send you out of wonderland until the palace goes dark!”

“Wonderland all night, people!” Osomatsu laughs, waving as he walks offstage. “C’mon, Kara, we need to let our staff work their magic so we look vaguely appealing.”

Explore the sights, ride some rides, nab some snacks. They’re going to be back soon enough!

Is it safe to assume that those rabbit ears are an indicator that you also **** like a bunny?

Jyuushimatsu laughs as he looks at Osomatsu. “You were right, someone did ask!”

“Right on time! Anon, listen,” Osomatsu says, Jyuushi skittering over to the edge of the stage and waving, “You want the full, honest truth?”

Choromatsu screams for the people in the sound booth to turn his mic off.

In response, Osomatsu decides to go to peak goofiness, and mimes his reply, capping off a series of odd gestures that explains absolutely nothing with a shout into Jyuushimatsu’s mic: “But, see, I’ve never really tried!”

💋💋💋💋💋💋 I bet you all would look adorable with lipstick-y smooches on your faces

Osomatsu immediately shouts backstage, “Can we do another makeup collaboration soon? This anon knows what they’re talking about!”

The others all pile on top of him, pleading for the same thing, babbling about how much it’d totally improve their performances, they might even wake up on time and not whine about how long rehearsals are as much! Management, please, let their fans kiss theeeeem.