R Episode 3 – The Two Standing in the Fog!!

**The Two Standing in the Fog!!** is the third episode of Dream Festival! R. The episode aired on September 6th, 2017.

## Plot

*Realizing why he was sought out by Yuto, Keigo drives a wedge between them. But as KUROFUNE falls apart the truth soon comes out.*

## Summary

Kanade is walking down the street when Chizuru surprises him by showing up right after sending a text. Chizuru explains that he saw Kanade nearby and brings up the poor concert held by KUROFUNE recently as they reach the Agency and head inside to  change. Kanade is genuinely concerned and he wonders if they will be okay for *Music Fest*, which is next week.

As this is going on, Yuto approaches Keigo to speak to him to try to smooth things over but Keigo refuses, walking off as he recalls the painful discussion from the day before. This behavior continues as the duo show up to get to training and refuse to acknowledge one-another. The others happen to notice this and they wonder what happened.

As Yuto leaves the agency he is approached by Shin, who asks to know what happened. He explains calling Keigo earlier but he got no response, but Yuto claims not to care; until Shin asks that he take care of Keigo if something happens, causing him mild concern.

The following day Yuto waits for Keigo where they will be interviewed and attempts to text him- only to stop and inform the staff he isn't there yet. They reveal Keigo called the Agency earlier to report he was too sick to show up, but they were already set up, so they offer to interview Yuto alone for today, and they can handle Keigo's part on another day. He agrees and is seated.

At school, Keigo approaches the group of delinquents he was harassed by in the past. They seem surprised to see him, remarking that he would probably get in trouble being seen with them, but seeing as he doesn't care and is behaving weirdly, they walk off.

In Sho's office, Sho and Yuto discuss what happened with Keigo. His call came out of nowhere and was an inconvenience, but he's more curious because Yuto wasn't contacted. While their interviews can be held separately, it doesn't change the fact he skipped work. If he actually is sick that's one thing, but they can't allow this to continue or else the agency will be forced to make a decision; such as suspending KUROFUNE. He offers to speak to Keigo but Yuto refuses.

Back at school Yuto tries to find Keigo to inform him of this, but he finds a few classmates who claim he left earlier. Another mentions that he might be at the office, and Yuto confronts the delinquents after overhearing them, believing they did something to Keigo. To his shock the leader reveals they didn't do anything though, but it was something Yuto did. When they recall how depressed he was, Yuto -now infuriated- asks if they know where he went.

At a nearby river Keigo observes the scenery when Yuto runs over to ask why he bailed on him earlier. He tells Keigo they need to talk but he refuses, forcing Yuto to make him stay there when he tries leaving. He is shocked when Keigo punches him and forces him to let go as it begins to rain, and Keigo tells Yuto that he has no right to speak to him anymore so he should just be KUROFUNE on his own and to just leave him alone. He hits Yuto again and accuses him of never wanting to talk before, and a fight breaks out between them when Yuto is pushed to his limit. Yuto claims that Keigo never told him that he was bothered by his lack of talking about things, and Keigo punches him again claiming he never told him anything to begin with- especially the fact he left out regarding why he sought him out, for the sake of some other guy. Yuto insists that if he told Keigo though, it would have hurt him. Keigo believes he is just mocking him, and by now he finds himself weakening and nearly falls over, only for Yuto to hurriedly catch him.

Tearfully, Keigo reveals how he feels about everything, explaining how much everything has been hurting him, and how badly he feels that he is unable to fix it. Feeling his partners pain, Yuto realizes he owes him the truth, and he explains who Ryo is to him. In the past, he promised Ryo he would become a big, famous idol, and yes, he did approach Keigo for his sake, but when they first stood on stage together he was amazed by his natural talent and grew to actually like the idea of being an Idol. It wasn't just Keigo's life that changed, but also his own. He can't leave him now, because he *has* to stand with him.

The rain grows heavier and Yuto brings Keigo back to his place as its closer, apologizing on behalf of how small it is. Keigo says nothing, curiously observing the room until they can remove their wet clothing and bandage their injuries from the fight. They sit down after changing and Yuto shows Keigo a picture of Ryo, explaining that because of his parents careers he grew up in London.

Every day he felt like he was surrounded by fog, unable to breath while growing in their shadows. They intended for him to follow their footsteps and most of his time was spent studying until one day, when he ran away. Keigo is shocked to learn this and brings up how extreme it sounds for him to have ran overseas like this- until Yuto reminds him of his own tendencies to run away. He spent his time just walking with no plan to follow. He expected nothing to come from such a rash decision, but dreamed of becoming a new person, and oe day he heard someone singing and couldn't resist approaching as he listened to him. The man, Ryo, was a performer who accepted change from others to get by. Yuto wished to contribute, but after stumbling and dropping his change, Ryo picked it up and handed it back, explaining that he didn't take money from children. He then offered to let Yuto try to play his guitar after noticing his curiosity, and initially Yuto hesitated, but found himself drawn to the guitar until he saw Ryo was taking a picture of him.

From that day on he would come by to learn more and talk with Ryo, who was twenty at the time and had dreamed of becoming a real musician some day. So he was saving his money so that he could travel the world. While he thinks the idea is a little silly now, he realized how much his world had opened because of Ryo. Ryo eventually suggested Yuto try to sing, but Yuto refused until he was able to convince him and he soon found himself much happier. As people started to notice him, Ryo was also aware of Yuto's improving mood and suggested one day that he try to make his own lyrics. At first Yuto seemed unsure, but he soon approached to show him his efforts, with Ryo very impressed and touched after Yuto revealed he wrote the lyrics for him. Ryo believes this could be a good song in the future, but Yuto was able to see that something changed about him from that day.

Eventually one day they were preparing to separate when Ryo offered to let Yuto take his guitar home to practice with. He promised that next time he would hear the full song, but before he took off Yuto makes him promise. But to his dismay that was the last day he saw Ryo. He had no idea where he went, and he was unable to contact him, but his dream is to repay him for everything he did by performing the song he wrote. He wanted him to see how far he had come since then, but he realizes now that he can't drag Keigo into things and has decided to throw away the past. But Keigo refuses to let him, he doesn't want Yuto to change anything- he's just happy knowing more about him now. He also knows now that Ryo is a big part of him and he can respect that since he knows the truth about it now.

On better terms again, the guys quickly begin training for Music Fest. On the day of the event, the guys speak to their audience as DearDream is shown watching the program of the event in the middle of their travels, and they are much happier too.

After the performance, Yuto admires Keigo while thinking back to his promise with Ryo. While he hopes he was able to hear him, he is happy to have Keigo by his side.

As this is going on, Ryo is shown to be watching the performance from his current location. He remarks on it and takes out the picture of Yuto he took from the past, happy to see that he is still following his dreams. He wonders if they could have a reunion one day.

## Trivia

* This is the first episode where the "previously on" intro is narrated by a character other than Kanade.
* In the DearDream chat, Junya sent a picture of food. This was a reference to the same picture tweeted by his voice actor.
* This is the first time KUROFUNE's version of the ending song was used.

## Gallery

R Episode 3 – The Two Standing in the Fog!!/Image Gallery