A Confusing Spiral of Emotions
Chapter 9
Disclaimer: I do not own Spiral or any of its characters.
It was the day of Eyes and Ayumu's first concert, a few hours before the concert was set to take place. The school day had ended, so as per usual, the three blade children plus Hiyono were hanging out. That day, they had opted to spend the afternoon relaxing at their favorite coffee shop. Like always, Ryoko and Kousuke were bickering, and Rio was speaking softly about how her day had gone, but Hiyono was abnormally silent. Although she was sitting oriented toward her girlfriend, her mind was not focused on either of the two current conversations, and her glazed-over gaze was directed at someone else.
"Hey Ryoko," Hiyono's voice cut through the normal chatter like a hot knife through butter, because it sounded so odd. "Do you mind talking for a minute, alone?" Confused but not unwilling, Ryoko nodded and stood up, walking to a nearby spot that was out of hearing range of anyone seated at the tables surrounding the coffee shop. Hiyono followed.
"What's up with her?" Kousuke asked in a whisper soon after the two girls had left the table.
"Hiyono-chan's been worried about something for the last couple of weeks," Rio answered, not bothering to keep her voice low. "And there's only one thing she doesn't talk to me about these days, because she feels like it's a sore spot for me. I think Hiyono-chan has been worried about Narumi-kun." Behind her, she heard a chair scoot out and saw someone walking away out of the corner of her eye, but she paid it no mind.
"I wonder why," he commented thoughtfully. All the response he got was a shrug of her shoulders.
"So, what'd you wanna talk about?" Ryoko asked once her friend had situated herself against a brick wall.
"Ayumu-kun's been distant lately, like there's something wrong," Hiyono started. "He was genuinely happy for me and Rio, so I know that's not his problem. And about a month ago, I noticed that you two have started to get closer as of late. So, I was wondering if you know what's been bothering him."
"Well, I do," Ryoko confessed. "He talked to me about it a while back, and it probably just started to hit him now. But, it was kind of understood that I wouldn't tell anyone else."
"Oh," Hiyono said quietly. "I suppose I shouldn't press you then. Do you think you could at least tell me if you think he's okay?"
"It's not a matter of being okay or not," the other girl sighed. She was silent for a moment before making a decision. Hiyono had been Ayumu's close and trusted friend long before any of the blade children. "He's been feeling awkward, because shortly after he moved into Eyes's penthouse…"
Ryoko paused in the middle of her sentence, because Hiyono suddenly held up her hand in a halting motion. Grayish-brown eyes narrowed in concentration before her head whipped around, chestnut brown braids whirling around her like helicopter's blades. Confused yet oddly worried, Ryoko tried to relieve her own anxiety about the situation with a joke. "What? Are your spidey senses tingling?"
"No," Hiyono answered frowning, though not at the joke. "But my reporter senses are." With that said, her eyes narrowed further in a glare as she stalked toward a nearby planter. Before the high school journalist was even halfway there, a thirty-something-year-old man darted out from behind a rosebush, of all things, and raced away like he was aiming for the gold medal while being chased by a devil. Luckily for him, both girls were shocked, otherwise, he wouldn't have built up enough distance between them to get away.
Of course, this didn't stop Ryoko from trying to catch him. Unfortunately, when she came back, gasping for breath, an hour later, all the track star could report was that she lost him. As fast as she was, even she couldn't keep up with a car. Sighing in defeat, Hiyono only nodded in response. After all, it was mostly her fault this had happened. Taking her original seat, Ryoko asked, "What do we do now?"
"Nothing," Hiyono answered. "Nothing until tomorrow anyway. That's the soonest time the next issue of whatever publication he works for will come out. And there's no need to tell Ayumu tonight when he's already wound so tight."
"What about Eyes-kun?" Rio asked, sill worried about him even if she no longer loved him as she once had.
"He's better equipped to deal with something like this; he's been living in the spotlight for a long time, after all," Hiyono replied. "No, it's Ayumu-kun I'm most worried about. He's never had to deal with a media scandal and probably has no idea. He can't resolve something like this with logic and reasoning, because there's no logic here, only greed and selfishness and complete disregard for the effect such an article would have on Ayumu-kun's and Eyes-san's lives."
The next morning as Ayumu and Eyes were getting ready to leave the country, Hiyono was heading over to the newsstand closest to her house while scrolling through webpages on her phone. The only thing she could find was a headline and a few pictures, meaning the publisher of this particular article was out to make a killing on sales. And Hiyono had no doubt they would. After all, nothing sells quite like a scandal.
The newsstand was far more crowded than normal when Hiyono arrived and was, predictably, surrounded by females ranging in their teens to mid-thirties. Recognizing the now almost empty spot where Ongaku no Naibu ni Ai was placed, the high school journalist forcefully pushed herself through the crowd and grabbed one of the few magazines left. She handed a 1000-yen bill to the stand owner, didn't bother with change, and left for school.
It wasn't until break time that Hiyono could sneak the Blade Children up to the roof, but she'd already had plenty of time to read the article multiple times by then. Obviously, the teachers weren't very happy about her reading a magazine in class, but something in those grayish brown orbs spoke untold horrors upon any who dared interrupt her. It also didn't hurt that she had black mail material on most, if not all, the teachers at school.
Anyway, as soon as the other three joined her on the roof, Hiyono gave the open magazine to Ryoko. It didn't take long for Ryoko to read the article, and when she was done, silent tears had started streaming down her face. Kousuke pulled her into his arms for comfort. Ryoko felt like this was all her fault for repeating, even though only partially, what Ayumu had told her in confidence. Hiyono thought the article was her fault for two reasons. She had asked about a private matter that Ayumu had obviously wanted kept secret, and she had done so in a public place. Bracing herself for the most probable outcome, Hiyono took careful pictures of the article with her cell phone and dialed Ayumu's cell number.
A few minutes after Hiyono had hung up, Ayumu's phone beeped, letting him know he had multiple messages. The first one that popped up was a picture of the headline Eyes Rutherford's new partner: Is there more here than first meets the eye? and a byline that read Kohei Oda (Special Interest Journalist). The following picture messages detailed a tabloid article that contained more pictures than text.
Initial speculation of the duet world tour with Eyes Rutherford pointed to Kiyotaka Narumi as a possible participator in the tour, but the elder Narumi's hand is now disfigured. He can no longer play the piano. Therefore, one can logically conclude that Ayumu Narumi was the only ever possible partner for Rutherford on this tour. Yet, the receptionist at Tsukiomi High School has informed us that Rutherford personally came to the school and asked for a private word with Ayumu Narumi the day the tour was announced.
And yesterday afternoon, confirmed close friend and confidant of Ayumu Narumi confirmed that he moved into Eyes Rutherford's penthouse quote, "a while back." That is why it is now believed that these two have been living together for the past two months and moved in together shortly after the duet world tour was announced. Additionally, kitchen staff from Tenkaichi Hotel have divulged that Rutherford has been ordering a good deal fewer room service meals since young Narumi has moved in.
With no other compelling reason for the two to move in together, I have concluded that, at the very least, Ayumu Narumi is attempting to woo the internationally famous pianist. After all, it is often said that the way to a man's heart is through his stomach. Only time will tell how successful this high school student has been in his efforts. In spite of this, I'm inclined to believe that Narumi's feelings aren't entirely one-sided.
Why? The reason is simple. The maid who cleans Rutherford's penthouse, while extremely tight-lipped, eventually let slip out that, while there are two bedrooms in the penthouse, she has only ever needed to clean one. So, either the young Narumi is either an extreme neat freak, or he never sleeps in the spare bedroom. And since when have high school students ever been known to actually clean their room? It is much more likely that Rutherford and Narumi are living together in every sense of the word.
What impact will this relationship have on Rutherford's carreer? Only his fans can decide.
Accompanying the article were pictures with Ayumu and Eyes: at the concert, entering the hotel together the night previous, leaning against the school building as they watched Hiyono terrify reporters, and pretty much of every other time they'd ever been outside together. Not sure of what else to do at this latest development, Ayumu just groaned in frustration. He could feel the professional pianist's questioning gaze, and without another word, Ayumu handed his phone to Eyes. While Eyes was reading the article, Ayumu was idly wondering whether he should be mad at Ryoko, and apparently Hiyono since she also believed herself to be at fault. However, he found that he wasn't feeling angry at all; it was more of an annoyed sense of resignation.
Honestly, he had been expecting something like this to happen sometime. Obviously, Ayumu had hoped that it wouldn't, but he wasn't so naïve as to truly believe that the media wouldn't come up with some scandal. However, he would be lying if he said he wasn't surprised that the writer of the article had managed to get into contact with so many people in such a short amount of time. Well, there was nothing he could do about it now. With an audible sigh, Ayumu rested his chin on the palm of his hand, waiting for the return of his phone so he could call Hiyono back.
After reading the article himself, Eyes decided to save time by forwarding the pictures to Hinami's and Kureno's cell phones rather than playing hot potato with Ayumu's. Then, Eyes handed the phone back to its owner and asked, "What are you going to do?"
"Call Hiyono," Ayumu answered as he dialed the number he had memorized long ago.
"That's not what I meant, and you know it," Eyes said, tone becoming slightly cold as his ice blue eyes narrowed a bit. Even if it was only one tabloid article, it was still serious. In response, the younger male merely shrugged his shoulders as he began assuring a frantic Hiyono that no, he was not mad and yes, he still trusted both the girls. As this was happening, Kureno had finished reading the article and on his own phone, called the main office. Almost simultaneously, Kureno and Ayumu hung up with a sigh.
"Rutherford-kun," Kureno spoke up immediately, garnering everyone's attention. "Corporate isn't going to anything about this."
"Why?" the blade child asked, his eyes narrowing much further now.
"Because coupled with the reviews of how well last night's performance went," the manager informed in a matter of fact tone. "The sales for the remaining tickets to your other performances have skyrocketed, in every country not just Japan. They also took the liberty to inform me that this Kohei Oda sold the story to at least one magazine in every country you will be performing."
"Wonderful," Eyes replied sarcastically.
A/N: Hello again, and welcome to the end of another chapter. Number 9 this time. Next chapter will number in the double digits, exciting isn't it? As always, thank you for all the faves, reviews, and alerts. I hope you enjoyed this chapter.
At the suggestion of a reviewer, I have slightly altered my writing style for this chapter. Let me tell you, it was not easy. If you noticed and didn't like it, tell me. If you noticed and did like it, tell me. If you noticed and didn't care, tell me. If you didn't notice at all, tell me. While I do wish to make the fic more enjoyable for readers, if this new way of writing chafes too much on my creative instincts, I might go back. I don't know right now. Anyway…
I love reviewers, but I do have a request. I would really love for someone to seriously critique my work. It doesn't have to stop at constructive criticism. I'd love for someone to really pick apart my work and tell me every little thing they hated, what needs to be improved, and what parts of my writing they liked best. Believe me when I say I love all reviews, and it's really nice to know people appreciate my work. However, I'm a far cry from being perfect, and there's always room to improve. Also, if I can get better, I can give better fan fiction to my readers. Anyway, thanks again for reading this fan fiction and hopefully you seriously considered my request.
