Chapter 14

"Ri-chan, your ketai rang just now! I didn't pick it up because I thought it might be too rude to, you know..." Mika informed Moriko, who had just returned to the classroom from a trip to the washroom.

"Ah, thanks for telling me, Mika-chan!" Moriko sat back down, flipping her ketai open. She frowned suddenly. It was him. He had called just now. She both wanted and did not want to return his call. She still did not feel it was time to have them confront each other. She put her ketai aside.

Ryo was frustrated. Was Moriko still upset? Was she still being petty over the incident? Did Yuki not explain? He flung his ketai aside carelessly, and Uchi caught it in time before it crashed into the full-length mirror wall.

"..Ryo-chan?! Are you mad? The whole wall can come down because of this one fling, and you're going to have to compensate, you know!" Uchi scolded, placing the ketai onto the table.

"It doesn't matter." Ryo waved the issue off just like that. Uchi saw his friend starting to pace about the room in a slow manner, and stared worriedly after him. Ryo had his grumpy days, but it had never been so bad that he would not mention a thing at all. Ryo was unusually quiet these days, always keeping to himself. Whenever Kusano or Shige came late, Ryo never scolded them anymore, and later on even Shige confessed he felt uneasy when he did not receive Ryo's sharp remarks, as though something was missing.

"It's Moriko-chan, isn't it?" Uchi asked quietly. Ryo stopped in his tracks, clenching his fists. He was about to turn round and slam his fist into the wall, but Uchi caught up and stopped Ryo's fist with his palm instead. "You're only going to hurt your knuckles by smashing into the wall. If you have to, you can hit me." Uchi knew Ryo would never do that.

Ryo retreated, walking away from Uchi. "...I don't know what to do with her." he finally said. Uchi silently heaved a sigh of relief. It was a sign that Ryo was not going to explode badly after all.

"She's angry over the Yuki incident?"

"The problem is, I don't know!" Ryo answered, exasperated. He lay on the ground, staring at the ceiling, like he had done the past few days.

Uchi sat down beside him. He didn't say anything, but Ryo was already feeling glad Uchi was by his side. Just as always, when nobody seemed to be there to catch him when he fell. Nobody to see him turn vulnerable. But Uchi was there.

--

Moriko returned home from school, exhausted. "Tadaima."

As soon as she turned from closing the door, someone pushed a large strawberry into her mouth. "Riko-chan okairi!" Ryu greeted in a genki manner, grinning from ear to ear. He held a whole plate of strawberries.

"... What are you smiling for?" Moriko asked, raising an eyebrow, chewing on the strawberry. "Oishii~ Ah, but you stole all the large, red strawberries!! That's unfair!"

"Remember this Saturday okay?" Ryu reminded.

"Yes I know I remember!! You're getting to be naggy. You weren't so naggy last time." Moriko complained, lightly throwing her bag onto the sofa. "Minna will be so happy..." She continued in a dazed manner while laying on the sofa, staring at the ceiling as Ryo had done. Yet she was frowning, not a trace of happiness written on her face.

"Riko-chan, he still loves you."

"Hm?" Moriko asked, having missed what Ryu had just said.

"Ie, nothing! You should go take a shower now!" Ryu returned to his genki state, pulling Moriko off the sofa and pushing her towards her room.

--

"Ahh~ No more strawberries again?!" Moriko groaned, having received a phone call from Kusano to ask her to get new supplies again. "WHY!"

"Ryu also has an addiction to strawberries thanks to us, you know!" Kusano answered. "And since you're almost coming home, you can do the shopping."

"ONII-CHAN!" Moriko protested. But she did do the shopping in the end. That day, she had to stay back in school to meet up with her group for another project, and thus had to return home only in the evening.

A familiar figure stumbled on the streets. He had been there before. They had been in this situation before. But only this time they had worse tension between them than before. They had thought they were already in bad condition... Nevertheless, Moriko ran towards him. Uchi was nowhere to be seen, and Ryo was not going to make a fool out of himself in front of the paparazzi. She could not just leave him there unattended to...

"...Nishikido-kun, you're drunk again." Moriko said quietly as she went up to him.

"Who is NISHIKIDO-KUN? No one else calls me Nishikido-kun... No one..."

Moriko sighed. "You're uttering rubbish again." She put his arm across her shoulder, trying but failing to ignore the warmth radiating from Ryo's body. She made her way back to his hotel. "Ryo-chan, please stop drinking soon... I'm...worried for you."

She gently put Ryo down onto the bed, where he was still semi-conscious. She massaged her shoulders. Looking at Ryo's figure, she noticed a worried look on his face, and he seemed to be having fitful memories. She bent down beside him, resting her head on the bed. "Ryo-chan..." she softly said, stroking his fringe. "Ano ne, I'm sorry for not returning your calls. I don't think I can face you when you are awake enough. You must've thought I was childish and rash huh? The first time I helped you home when you were drunk was a totally different feeling from this. I wish, sometimes, that we had gone back to the way things were before, because then I wouldn't have to look back and know we had a horrible past together. It wouldn't hurt this deep then. Did you know? You are the first person to have ever slapped me. I'm sorry to have angered you, but I couldn't stop myself. If we're better off and happier when we are apart... I don't mind even if we can't be together then."

Moriko stared at Ryo in his delirious state, always mumbling something inaudible for Moriko. The dark circles around his eyes were now more obvious than before, from his uneasy sleep. Moriko got up to leave, but Ryo gripped onto Moriko's arm, still in his drunken state. Moriko pushed the hand away, leaving the hotel room. Uchi was just outside. She stopped in her steps.

"...You’re leaving like that?" Uchi asked.

"...hai." Moriko answered. "Uchi-kun, let's keep silent about this."

"About what?"

"About tonight."

"... Moriko-chan, do you think this is alright?"

"I have no answer."

--

"Uwaa~~ A Saturday!" Kusano exclaimed at the Jimusho, stretching his arms.

"Didn't you sleep enough last night?! You even had to sleep on the car ride!" Tegoshi laughed at Kusano, but was stretching himself.

"Then you?! You must've stayed up all night to watch that soccer match!" Kusano rebutted.

"Hey speaking of that, did you watch that match?! It was fantastic!" Tegoshi stopped his stretching, eager eyes looking at Kusano.

"...no." Kusano simply replied, walking away, leaving Tegoshi pouting. "I was watching the basketball match." He yawned again. "And I have to go to the bridal boutique later, to-"

"Please get ready, boys!"

"Hai~"

After rehearsals and another meeting, Kusano stretched again, before his ketai rang. "Are?" He pulled his ketai out from his pocket. "Moshi moshi, Kusano desu~ Ahh I know, I know, I still have some work to do. Yep. I remember the time. Don't worry I'll be there half an hour before! Yea. See you there in two hours' time! Yes I know I know, Ri-chan was right about you being so naggy! I know where the bridal boutique is. Ri-chan will look nice in a gown ne! It's her first time in a gown. Ah, oka-san said she'd settle the wedding invites. Ja!"

He ended the phone call, grinning from ear to ear.

"Who's getting married??" Tegoshi asked excitedly, particularly energetic today.

"My sibling!" Kusano announced proudly.

"Uwa, omedetou~” Everyone congratulated Kusano, but Ryo froze. ...sibling? Ri-chan will look nice in a gown ne! It's not her is it? In two hours time... It had to be a photo shoot, since it was the boutique. Ryo was about to rush up to Kusano to clarify, but at that exact moment, Uchi had checked his watch and grabbed Ryo's arm, pulling him out of the dance room and into the lift.

"Ahh Ryo-chan, we're going to be late for the photo shoot. I think we rested too much!" Uchi said worriedly.

"It's not going to be long is it?" Ryo asked.

"What is going to be long?" Uchi questioned.

"The photo shoot." Ryo answered sharply.

"Oh. We've done the interview yesterday so I think we'd probably finish in about 2 hours' time at most? What is it, Ryo-chan?"

Two hours. He HAD to make it. Who else was possible other than Moriko and Ryu? She was 16, a legal age in Japan to get married. Ryu... had wanted to propose to her when they were but children. He REMEMBERED that promise. If he got the chance it was highly possible he could marry her at this age. Moriko had never spoken of a prospective brother-in-law, because if there were a possible one, she would've talked to him about it. Moriko always threw out random topics.

Ryu. Was it him?

Were they getting married?

Was it because Ryo had angered Moriko too much?

Ryo wished the photo shoot never existed.