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Raging Against the Machine with Kasumi and Honoka

Summary:

Honoka Kousaka never thought this day would eventually come. Yet, here she is, about to tie the knot with her lovely darling girlfriend Kasumi Toyama.

Notes:

Now, I won't mention wristwatches in this AU fic at all, and that, in this fic, Kasumi and Honoka are a musical duo, with their songs inspired by the American social commentary band, Rage Against the Machine, and their songs are basically a social commentary on aspects of Japanese society seperately and the world as a whole.

(See the end of the work for more notes.)

Work Text:

It never came to the mind of Honoka Kousaka that her life would come to this.

All her life was solely dedicated to one thing and one thing only: Music. She wanted nothing more than to be at the top. To be the goddess of Music and the Arts. To be the ultimate singer.

Over time, however, things would change. While her original goal remained the same, she no longer had to do it by herself. When she was in Otonokizaka high school, she eventually joined up with her fellow 2nd year student Umi and her childhood best friend Kotori and six other girls in the forms of Rin, Hanayo, Maki, Nico, Nozomi and Eli, and formed the idol group "Muse". The group went through a rough road, hitting very massive highs and even more adverse lows, but they eventually got to where they want to be: a Independent Idol Group that is beloved by all. Through literal blood, sweat, tears, and hours of efforts, Honoka finally achieved what she wanted, being at the top, and to her, it was like climbing the notorious and difficult Mount Everest.

But of course, life, like the infamous Nurburgring race track, the ultimate testing ground to develop production cars, has its own winding corners and turns.

And Honoka had three specfic winding corners and turns named Kasumi Toyama, Stanley "Stan" Marsh, and Katrina Elizabeth Leskanich.

Throughout her road to the top, Honoka had constantly crossed paths with the young girl from Hanasakigawa. She was the vocalist from the band Poppin'Party, a band that existed solely to find the "star beat". Honoka didn't mind Kasumi's reason to form Poppin'Party, as she knew that everyone has their own motivations and desires, so it's not a big deal to her, after all, everyone has to start from somewhere, right?

But with that being put aside, Honoka did note that Kasumi had a sort of magnetic aura around her. She feels that Kasumi is similar to her, like an idol singer, but is different in her own unique and distinct ways. In addition, she also had these very cute hair buns flairing out which she said they were supposed to make her hair look like a star. But of course, the first thing that Honoka thought when she saw her hair was kittens and cats, as Honoka is also a frequent Internet user and has saw every single meme pictures with a cat and the Impact font.

When Honoka heard Poppin'Party perform at CiRCLE as Kasumi tried to recruit bands to perform at said Live House, Honoka went with the whole thing, alongside American lesbian musician Katrina Elizabeth Leskanich, the former lead singer of the British rock band Katrina and the Waves, who was, at the time, conducting her undercover report about the Japanese music scene, and gave Honoka her phone number. When she saw Poppin'Party perform in front of her, Honoka felt her heart goes out of whack. It wasn't a issue to perform at Muse concerts, but the orange haired girl found it even harder to contain and stop herself from jumping like an absolute idiot to the beat of Popipa's songs. Tae was, in her own words: "One of the best guitarist I have ever seen.", Arisa was incredibly skilled at the keyboard, Saaya was truly "an incredible drummer" in her eyes, and Rimi was a young bassist with a cutesy voice that made even Rin blush a bit.

But the eye and ear candy that caught Honoka the most was Kasumi. Her performance was at best, a bit fragmented and unpolished, but god, her vocals were something else, something that she can feel herself as she has similar vocals. To Honoka, she was just so damn passionate when she sings and it was like Kasumi was having true fun in it's rawest form. Honoka felt a sense of admiration for Kasumi, having such freedom and singing recklessly with passion and without a care in the world, like her.

It was this precise moment that Honoka decided to cherish it, and gave Kasumi her phone number, saying to Kasumi: "Call me whenever you want, Kasumi-chan."

 

While the their respective group and band would continued on their different paths, Kasumi and Honoka began to see each other more ofter over the days. Usually it was mostly just Kasumi wanting to take Honoka out. Honoka was obviously happy that Kasumi wanted to hang out with her, and she went with her for the sake of knowing more about Kasumi. Eventually, Honoka found herself enjoying Kasumi's presence, but only as an acquaintance.

Then, Honoka had a life-changing meet and chat with one of the famous American white hat computer hacker, hacktivist, and Anonymous member Stanley Marsh, or Stan Marsh for short, who is a fluent Japanese speaker.

It was a truly life-altering experience for Honoka as Stan told her about his mission, hacking computer systems as an act of defiance directed against the target of Anonymous, he told Honoka that his biggest score with Anonymous was the protest that flared up after the death of George Floyd at the hands of the police, which highlight the ongoing issue of police brutality in America, and Stan was part of the operation that support the police reform, and when Honoka told him that she has a crush on Kasumi Toyama from Poppin'Party, Stan told her to hang out with Kasumi more, to get to know her more, before he gave her his phone number.

This would eventually led to her fated meeting with a certain someone.

One Kasumi Toyama.

Being the upbeat vocalist of Poppin'Party she is, she asked Honoka what she went through and wanted details of her meeting with an American named Stan on that fateful day. Honoka never talked so much with Kasumi for that long. It was also the moment that Honoka saw how caring and loving Kasumi was to her, how calm she spoken even while Honoka had just gone through a life-altering event. She told Honoka to try and push her idol group beyond the boundary that no one have ever done before.

Honoka took that advice Kasumi gave her and eventually started writing Muse songs and singles with subtle social commentaries hidden deep within messages of those songs.

But since meeting Stan, Honoka began to invite Kasumi out even more.

Indeed, it was when she meet Stan that Honoka started realized how much she was crushing on Kasumi.

 

At first, Honoka never knew what or why she was doing when she decided to do this.

There she was. At the front door of Kasumi's house. A bouquet of beautiful flowers in her hand (with the aid of Stan's darling wife, Wendy Testaburger) but being held with very sweaty hands. She even wondered why she would bother with this whole thing.

It had been at least two years since she met Stan and aside from a recent incident involving Rin dating Hanayo and numerous other incidents like that, not much happened.

Well, not much aside from Honoka's growing crush on Kasumi.

It was something that developed over the years. Even after Honoka announced that she would no longer be a part of Muse and appointed Tsubasa Kira as her successor, she still tried to find Kasumi time and time again and trained her. As Poppin'Party's time was limited as the rest of the band members were doing different things after graduation, Honoka found herself hanging out with Kasumi even more, with the husband and wife duo Stan and Wendy even joining her on a few occasion, on one of those, Stan suggested that Kasumi and Honoka should form a musical duo inspired by Rage Against the Machines in terms of premise, which is social commentary. Even as Honoka continued her music career as a solo artist, with herself going on tours throughout the entirety of Japan, she usually brought Kasumi with her, even on tours to the more far flung reaches of the country.

But it was only now that Honoka wanted to make her relationship with Kasumi offical.

However, she was still nervous. Honoka knew for a fact that she wasn't the only one who had eyes on Kasumi. Arisa was one of the more obvious ones, having been super close to Kasumi since the formation of Poppin'Party. Hagumi was another one, being a close friend of her since childhood much like how Honoka was with Kotori. There were others that Kasumi went with as well, a few women and a few men, and that, by itself, added to the increasing worry within Honoka. To make matters even worse (or to add fuel to the fire, in other words) were Honoka's own fans being super negative towards Kasumi's own presence with some even sending outright death threats to her, which incidentally, inspired Honoka to later write a song with Stan and Wendy's input on the toxic state of fandoms. Honoka knew that, even if she was out of Muse, many of their fans loved to pair her with either Umi or Kotori, but Umi and Kotori are dating each other and they both fully support Honoka's love for Kasumi. Heck, it was Kotori's (and Stan and Wendy's) idea to have Honoka do this. Pull on the fishing rod and try your luck.

Eventually, she finally knocked on the door and waited until she found Kasumi herself standing there, beautiful as always. Her eyes went from her own to the bouquet in her hand and squealed, admiring at how beautiful they are. Honoka was glad and made a mention about how they are as cute as Kasumi is.

The conversation went on like this for a good 15 minutes until Honoka finally told Kasumi why she was here in the first place.

"K-Kasumi-san... I love you..."

It was simple, dorky and Honoka's eyes were drowned in raw sorrow. She feared that Kasumi wouldn't ever talk to her again, that this would be the end of her love life. Tears clung onto her face like glue as she awaited the fated judgement from Kasumi.

What Honoka didn't fully expected, however, was Kasumi tackling her to the ground like a World War Two-era dive bomber and giving her barrage after barrage of loving kisses on the cheek.

"H-Honoka-senpai... I love you too!"

Honoka couldn't believe the words she heard with her own ears. It felt like a fever dream, but it was for real. The girl she truly loved - the one that she met after talking to Stan - have loved her back.

The two kissed until 30 minutes later when Honoka realized that she needed to come home to see Stan's latest project.

 

Honoka's solo music career has been on the rise since then. From performing at small live houses throughout Akihabara to now performing at very large venues throughout Japan alongside the greats like the band Roselia. She has went a long way since starting her solo music career and is now seen as a moderate and the true social commentary voice of the global music world, rivaling those of the USA's Rise Against and Rage Against the Machine, the latter band is the main inspiration for her songs in terms of premise. Her rivals came and went, but the devotion of her moderate fans were consistent.

For Honoka, it wasn't expected, but through a chain of events, she is finally here. To be up there on that massive stage, giving the world an unfiltered and close to impartial look at events happening all around the world. It was truly satisfying in the most unexpected way possible, especially after her lonely beginning.

It helps that Kasumi remained by her side at all of her concerts, even waving a Guy Fawkes mask in support.

Of course, it wasn't uncommon for Honoka to have occasional bouts of Stage Fright even as a experienced performer. After all, it happens even to the most hardened of professional performers. Unlike most of them, however, Honoka had a lovely lady in the form of Kasumi, and close friends in the form of Stan, Wendy and Katrina, all of them supporting Honoka harder than even the most diehard but moderate Honoka stans. She would never forget how far her kitty and her close friends will go to show their full support and devotion.

While Stan, Wendy and Katrina were more then happy for Kasumi, the same couldn't be said about the fans from Honoka's former idol group Muse, to the point that Stan had to intervene and do the dirty work with his fellow Anonymous members.

It was almost 5 years now that Honoka and Kasumi had confessed their feelings and 2 years since the two had made an podcast on YouTube announcing that they are in their relationship and going in depth about it. While the initial shock and later division within Honoka's fanbase had died down and a good majority of Honoka stans supported Honoka and her relationship with Kasumi, there were quite a handful of loudmouthed ones, or, as Stan describes them, the 1 percent extremists, that resented it.

Or, to be more precise, they resented Kasumi.

They would usually post mean comments about her on Social Media. When Kasumi's past performances as Popipa was brought to light like Admiral Wilhelm Canaris's acts of resistance and sabotage against the Nazi regime, they would ally with KasuAri shippers and denounce Kasumi for 'cheating'. Some even outright criticized Kasumi for being too amateur.

Such comments would drove Honoka to either extremes on both sides of the spectrum. However, she witheld from doing any drastic action as she remembered one thing.

Kasumi never follows fandoms in Twitter and just keeps in touch with her friends. That, and the fact she and Kasumi is affiliated with Stan, a prominent Anonymous member and famous white hat computer hacker and hacktivist.

And Honoka thanked God for that, as Stan wreak havoc on the computers and phones of KasuAri shippers and Kasumi haters like nobody's business via a series of distributed denial-of-service attacks with his fellow Anonymous members.

 

"What a hit performance by Honoka and Kasumi!"

Honoka could hear the crowd cheering loudly as her and Kasumi, now a duo and is known as Raging Against the Machine with Kasumi and Honoka, inspired by the name of the American social commentary band Rage Against the Machine, just finished their incredible performance, a fruit of their relationship and their labors, at the Kohaku Uta Gassen. One of the most prestigious music events in Japan, the highlight of the duo's New Years Eve celebrations and their campaign of advocation for the acceptance of mental health in Japanese society. Never in her and Kasumi's whole life would they thought that they would be invited to such an event. Now her and Kasumi would join many of Japan's music greats in the NHK Hall because of their pioneering mainstream social commentary songs with hidden social messages within.

"It was an honor to be here." Honoka said, while holding Kasumi's right hand. "The motto and the philosophy that me and Kasumi always follows is 'Nothing Is Truly Off-Limits, Everything Is Open.', It reflects our goal of being the true moderate voices of social commentary in music."

"Well isn't that a wonderful piece of advice to go by!" The male announcer responded before turning back towards the camera and the audience. "Of course, Raging Against the Machine with Kasumi and Honoka has to be one of the best duo we've brought in for this golden event. And I believe that this is the final performance from both of you before we cut to the commercial!"

Kasumi and Honoka hugged each other after that was read out, both of them wearing their own long black trousers that reached down to their feet, exposing Kasumi's red orange heels with blue roses and Honoka's pink heels with orange roses on the roof of their footwear, with their own t-shirts in red orange for Kasumi and orange for Honoka and a design on the shirts from Stan himself. The way the trousers and t-shirts hugged around their curves enhanced their already suggestive curves, but don't exaggerate them to a ridiclous level, making both of them look even more awesome. Finally, their hairs were done in the style when they were young, the cat style hair for Kasumi and the right side asymmetrical ponytail for Honoka, but done really well, as Saaya and Kotori went above and beyond in doing Kasumi and Honoka's hair.

As Stan, Wendy and Katrina rushed out to congratulate Kasumi and Honoka, the crowd cheered louder for Kasumi and Honoka when they saw Stan as he is the hacktivist who fought for the right of internet privacy not just in Japan, but in the world.

"Did... Did Honoka and me do it good?" Kasumi whispered to Katrina, her words choked up a bit by tears.

"Both of you knocked it out of the park, Kasumi." Katrina nodded, hugging both of her close friends, gaining a few 'Awwwww's in the process.

The male MC came back onstage, quite satisfied with their performance.

"What a show that was, folks!" He exclaimed which were then met with roars of agreement. As the crowd's cheers died down, the man turned to the couple. "Now then. I do believe that Honoka have something to say to you, Kasumi."

"It's time." Honoka thought as she felt a familiar box being put into her hands. She looked behind to see Katrina, Stan and Wendy giving her thumbs up.

Kasumi, however, to put it bluntly, looked very confused.

"What is going on?" She questioned. "Where is my Honoka-chan?"

The MC then gestured behind Kasumi and she turned around to see Honoka down on one knee. She gasped as she knew just enough about love from Stan and Wendy to know what Honoka was doing.

"Kasumi..." Honoka breathed heavily, nervousness running through her mind untamed, like the V10-powered Porsche Carrera GT supercar from the 2000s with the 6-speed manual gearbox, Le Mans origins, and without electronic driver aids despite being a modern car. "We've been together for so long and..." A hiccup escaped her throat, causing her to blush more than the disc brakes inside the track-ready 996 gen Porsche 911 GT3 sports car. "And I... I love you, Kasumi. I love you I love you I love you."

"I love you too, Honoka-chan." Kasumi smiled wider more than the tyre width of the track-ready Ferrari 360 Challenge Stradale sports car, trying her best to hold back tears.

"But Kasumi..." Honoka continued. "I know that I feel as if I am... You know... Not fit for you. So I ask you this..."

She pulled out the box and opened it. Kasumi and the MC gasped as they found a very beautiful aerospace Grade 5 titanium ring with a synthetic ruby on it, resting on a violet blanket. It wasn't the most stunning ring, as Stan points out, but it didn't kill the mood due to what it meant for both Kasumi and Honoka.

"Kasumi Toyama. Will you marry me?"

Kasumi wiped her tears away as she continued staring at Honoka. It took them a while until.

"Honoka-chan. You know you don't need a ring for me to say yes."

The whole hall erupted in thundering cheers as Kasumi and Honoka kissed each other deeply, tenderly, romantically and passionately. Even their close friends, the Kansas-born lesbian musician Katrina, and the husband and wife duo Stan and Wendy, had tears streaming through their eyes.

Of course, the kiss didn't last long due to the rather obvious TV time constraints, but everyone, even the Kohaku producers, called it "the highlight of the night."

 

"I love you, Honoka Kousaka."

"I love you too, Kasumi Toyama-Kousaka."

Honoka hugged and kissed her darling wife Kasumi as they danced under the stars. It was another day in the familiar park at Akihabara. The two were wearing their gorgeous white wedding dresses, having escaped the ongoing socialization happening at the Wedding Party with their close friends, American lesbian musician Katrina Leskanich, and the Marsh-Testaburger husband and wife duo.

Two whole years has passed since Honoka proposed Kasumi live on Japanese television, something that Stan called "their own personal Challenger moment", an allusion to the 1986 Space Shuttle Challenger disaster captured live on American television. It took quite some time until both of them managed to find a date and time to do the wedding and finally tie the knot for good. While much of the planning went without a hitch with Stan and Wendy's helpful aid, there were some rough patches that took the two some time to smoothen out, their wedding dresses and flowers especially.

Honoka had every damn legitimate reason to worry that something would go wrong as the day of their Wedding arrived, but Kasumi held her hand tightly, assuring her that things would go as smoothly as it should have. And if things didn't go smooth...

"It could be like a Mario adventure!" Kasumi said. "The brave Honoka saving me, the Princess in distress!"

Honoka, alongside Katrina, Stan and Wendy, had to admit that Kasumi still had the imagination of a child even as an adult. It was arguably one of their favorite things about Kasumi.

Thankfully, the Wedding did gone smoothly as Stan and Wendy had think about every single possible scenario they could fucking think of and get Kasumi and Honoka fully prepared and armed to the teeth like the Swiss. Her palms got extra sweaty when the priest wanted to know if anyone objects to their wedding and breathed a sigh of relief when everyone kept to their peace. And after long hours...

"I now pronounce you husband and wife."

Honoka bapped Kasumi on the head before kissing her tenderly and passionately. One of the few contentions they had that could cause potential deadlock was about who would be the "husband". Being lesbians, Honoka thought it should be the rather obvious "wife and wife", but Kasumi said that there should be at least be a big spoon and a little spoon.

At least Honoka was able to prove that she was the big fucking spoon to Kasumi.

It was a rather fond and deeply-engraved memory Honoka had of Kasumi. One of the very many she made with her throughout their winding relationship.

And now as she stared at the sparkling purple eyes of her lovely darling sweetheart wife, she hopes that they would make more memories like that in the future ahead of them.

Notes:

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