It's my second story with Brother's Conflict! I'm so addicted to the anime, I swear. Watch it! You won't be disappointed!
New character with Ema this time: it's Azusa! This story will be 2 chapters long. I don't want to write a huge one-shot like the last one. And I have been busy. So please bear with me when I get to the next/final chapter.
Description: Ema gave her brother's all homemade chocolates for Valentine's Day this year. Azusa wants to give something in return. But what?
Disclaimer: I do not own Brother's Conflict or the characters.
"Cut! Okay, good job. Look's like we're done here."
The manager said that all was okay, and Azusa took off the headphones he was wearing. He just finished a session at work for a new anime coming hopefully at the end of the year. He's a minor character this time; he loves the part. He gave the manager thumbs up.
"I feel pretty confident with this role than the last one," Azusa remarked as he was gathering up the script and the notes. He really was satisfied. "I feel I can speak more freely with this character than the main role I had last time." He grabbed his bag and put the script in it, and zipped it up. His manager came out from behind the booth.
"That's good to hear. We got a wonderful cast this time around. I'm sure it's going to be successful," he said with a smile. He walked up to Azusa and patted him on the shoulder. "You and your brother are great, really great." The two headed to the door.
Gathering his coat and adjusting his bag on his shoulder, Azusa could only smile from the accomplishment. He loved his job, he and Tsubaki both. They were both quite passionate and could easily convey their emotions through speaking their parts.
They headed out the door and down the long hallway to the elevator. They boarded it, and went down 15 floors to the underground parking garage.
"Well, I better hurry up and get home. Oh! But first I have to go get a gift." mentioned his manager. He took out his phone to look at his planner and checked to see if he was good on time.
"A gift for whom?" Azusa asked. His manager wasn't really the one to go get a gift and give it to someone; being the stressed out man he was, he had almost no time for a personal life. He looked over at Azusa.
"Oh, for my wife, of course. Wait, don't tell me, you do know what tomorrow is, do you? Or don't you?" they were approaching his manager's carefully parked dark blue car in the parking garage. Azusa thought carefully for a few moments as he put his bag in the back seat behind the passenger side. "Umm, well, it's Friday, for sure." He wasn't really sure on what else the day could be. He was curious now. His manager chuckled.
"I knew it. You didn't know. Tomorrow is White Day, my boy. It sure came around quick this year too, if I do say." He started up the car, and pulled up and out the garage into the direction of the setting sun.
Oh, that's right. White Day. Duh. Valentine's Day was just a month ago – did time really fly by that fast this year? Azusa couldn't believe it. And he forgot his manager had a wife too. He rarely talks about her and their family. "Oh. Yeah, White Day. That's right." he managed to say. He flipped through the texts on his phone.
"I thought a long time about it, about what to give my wife. Last year I was so busy I didn't get her anything. The wife was upset about it," he let out a weak laugh, "but she forgave me. She knows how our lives are so busy." They were now on the highway, heading north now to take Azusa to the train station to go home. His manager had picked him up from there earlier. He half-listened to his manager talk about his previous White Day experiences with his wife. He really didn't need to know, since he didn't know her. His manager let out a sigh, glanced over to him for a second, then back to the road.
"Tell me, Azusa, did you receive anything from a girl this year?"
He just about jumped out of his seat. That question came out of nowhere. Well, sort of. He nervously coughed "Wh-why do you say that?" Great. Now I'm getting nervous.
His manager smirked. "Ah haha, you're hesitating, boy. You're hesitating. You did get something from someone. A special girl perhaps?" His manager was teasing him into explaining everything. Azusa blushed slightly and glanced to his right out the window.
February 14th of this year was a nice one, not a lot of snow, the temperature was crisp and clean. Overall the day had fine weather, and things went smoothly. Azusa got up as usual at the early time of 5:45 a.m. to get ready and go to work that day. He was starting to work on the new anime today, and he was excited. He got ready as usual, and headed down to breakfast. Ukyo nii-san had cooked a feast again, and the ones at the table were Wataru, Yusuke, Tsubaki…and Ema. He felt his ears get a little hot upon seeing her early on a day such as this.
"Morning, Azusa!" said his twin warmly and excitedly. He was just as excited as Azusa for the new role. Although Tsubaki's character only has appearance twice, and his role is super small, he enjoys the script. Azusa smiled and sat in the empty chair next to Tsubaki. "Morning." He began to eat.
"Eh? Why so gloomy? Aren't you excited? You get to start the new role today!" exclaimed Tsubaki between bites of his food. "The script is great too! I have looked over it about half a dozen times already." This sparked Ema's interest.
"Oh! This is that anime that's supposed to come out late this year, right Azusa?" she glanced in his direction and shown him a big smile as she got up and took her empty plate to the kitchen. He now began to blush a light pink on his face. "Yeah…it is set for then." He managed to reply. As she walked to the kitchen, he got a quick glance at her, and shifted his eyes back to his plate.
"Well, that's exciting, isn't it? It's, what, you're 5th anime role?" said Ukyo with a smile as he walked by the table to pick up empty dishes from Iori and Louis who ate earlier.
"Yeah, it is." Azusa could only manage to say. He was getting quite nervous. He knows today is Valentine's Day, and he doesn't know what Ema will do, if anything. He begins to shove food down at a faster pace.
"Hey, slow down bro! What's the rush?" asked Tsubaki. He should talk; he's doing the same thing. "You don't have to be at the station for about a half hour." The train station was about a 15 minute walk from the apartments, which wasn't too bad. Azusa continued to eat his meal in a rush.
"I'm sorry. I realized I have to get there early today. There are people I have to meet."
So he had to fib a bit. He couldn't' help it. Tsubaki glared at Azusa, confused. He has already met everyone on the team. What does he mean by that? Then it hit him.
"Ah. Okay then." Tsubaki took a big gulp of water, and set down his cup. "Don't worry; I can handle getting your dishes to the kitchen. You can go." He gathered up the now empty plates and cups from him and Azusa, who grabbed his bag from where he left it on the floor.
"Oh, so you're finally deciding to help?" Ukyo had to ask Tsubaki in this particular tone of voice. No one really helps him clean up, but Ema and Masaomi nii-san. Tsubaki smirked.
"Have a safe trip, Azusa-san!" Ema said with a smile. But he didn't see her beautiful smile; he quickened his step a little and only managed to say a rushed, "Thanks!" and went up the stairs, to the elevator, and out the door to the station.
The rest of that day went by smoothly. It's weird. He works fine when Ema isn't around, but has an empty feeling when she isn't there, making him want to be with her.
He worked really hard and managed to work on a few scenes for the anime. Finally, 5:00 rolled around, and it was time to quit for the day. It was a good first day of recording. He gathered all his things and set out to the van with his manager. As he got into the car, he got a text message from Tsubaki.
"Thanks for your hard work today! I've been thinking about you all day, bro. Hope it's gone well."
Azusa smiled at the message. Tsubaki always knows how to make him feel better. Suddenly, he received a photo, sent by Tsubaki. It was an open heart-shaped box with small, carefully decorated pieces of chocolate in it. There was a caption that said, "From our little sister. They are homemade!"
His heart sank. Tsubaki got chocolates, not just store-bought, but homemade from Ema. And he didn't. Well, not to his knowledge, anyway. He was at work all day. "When did you get this?" he texted Tsubaki. He looked out the window, and let out a small sigh, and thankfully his manager didn't hear from the music playing. After a few minutes Tsubaki replied.
"While you were gone. Before she and Yusuke left for school."
He stopped reading the text. So, that's how it is, huh? She didn't bother to give me anything. And she was so cheerful this morning too. His head slumped down a bit. A few more minutes passed, and he remembered there was more to Tsubaki's text.
"But she said she had chocolate for everyone. Perhaps she was waiting to give you yours once you came home." That's it. He wanted to be home. Now.
The rest of the trip felt like forever. When he finally got home, he got off the elevator and raced down the stairs to the kitchen, and checked everything over. Nowhere. He went to the dining table. Nowhere. He jogged over to the living room. Nowhere. He raced back upstairs, and in the elevator again. Once he got to his floor and off the elevator, he looked at the floor by the door to his room, hoping to see if Ema left something there. Nothing.
Azusa slowed down and stopped, catching his breath. After a few minutes, he let out a sigh. Disappointment must have shown in his face. He got the key to his room, and opened the door. He entered, and sat his bag down by his bed. He closed the shades of his room, pulled the chair out from his desk, turned on the desk lamp, and put his head down and let out a big sigh. What a day. A day that seemed to be ruined now.
Wait a minute.
He looked up slowly. There on his desk was a carefully tied red heart-shaped box, with a little note attached to it. He slowly reached for the note and opened it.
"Azusa-san, congratulations on the new role! Sorry I couldn't give this to you sooner this morning. Happy Valentine's Day!" Ema signed it with her neat handwriting.
He blushed slightly. So he did receive chocolates from Ema. He was just too much in a rush this morning. His embarrassment didn't help much, either. He slowly untied the box, and opened it up. In it were a number of pieces of chocolate, handmade for sure. He looked at the note again. Apparently, Ema used ingredients that he wasn't allergic to, which was a number of them. She wrote that he hoped he liked them.
A smile appeared on his lips. She remembered he was allergic to a few ingredients, and took special care to make chocolate with things that wouldn't harm him. He continued to blush.
He took one from the box and carefully placed it in his mouth. The chocolate practically melted in his mouth. And the taste was superb. It was so delicious he at another, blush still on his face.
"You can say that. I suppose."
His manager chuckled at his remark. He knew Azusa liked what he got. "So, got anything special to give back to her?" he was so curious. He had never seen Azusa like this before.
Again Azusa almost leaped out of his chair. Great. I didn't even think on getting her anything. I've been so busy, I lost track of the month. "Uhhh…."
"Well, go get her something, boy!" his manager stressed. "Get her something really special. Because she's really special, I take it, right?" He turned off the highway. They were close to the station now. Azusa looked out the window yet again. Yeah, he's totally right. She is really special. But… "Yeah, I guess I will."
"Well, get out of this car and go do it boy! I gotta go get something for my wife. So get your bag and get going!" His manager was surely excited about this. Azusa got out, got his bag, thanked his manager, and started for the station as his manager zoomed off. He boarded the next train and headed in the direction of home. All the way to the next station, he thought about what to get her. He didn't know what to do. He didn't know what she liked or anything.
The train finally came to a halt. Azusa got off, and headed up to the street. The street was crowded, as usual at this time of day. He headed south, towards downtown, hoping to find something.
His search took him two and a half hours. He had absolutely no idea what to give Ema. She was so special to him, and there was nothing special out there that said that it was the one to give to her. He began to give up.
Slowly he headed down the main road out of downtown, disappointed from not finding anything. The lights in the windows shined brightly at this time of night. Azusa slowly walked the street for three blocks, until a certain window caught his eye.
His eyes got big, and his heart began to race. That's it. That's what I'm giving Ema tomorrow.
Azusa smiled and hurried into the small store to get his precious purchase for the girl he loved.
Hehe, Azusa is so cute, right? I love him!
Stay tuned for chapter 2, which will come soon!
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