You-Youz: Hello, everyone! I feel like I always start with an apology for the late update but I'm so busy with work/school and even if I do write a new chapter, it usually takes me weeks to make edits because I want to give you guys my best work, so I want to thank you guys for all your support! You guys are awesome! Please enjoy :)
Chapter 12: The New Friendship
The sun was shining warmly while the ocean brought a cool breeze. It was the perfect weather to walk around the boardwalk. Amu felt like a little girl all over again once she saw how many stalls and people there were. She had always loved going to the beach but this was even better since there were so many things going on. She knew she would end up walking around a lot and was glad she wore comfortable clothing today. She had on a short, navy blue jean with a white t-shirt and a pair of tan Keds. She walked from stall to stall looking at the things.
Ikuto was a few feet ahead of the others. He felt irritated with each passing minutes. Not only did he missed his chance of telling Amu how he felt but now, he's about to lose her to another guy. He was so lost in thought that he kept on walking without waiting for the others.
Even though it was a sunny day, but if people got too close to Ikuto, it felt as if there was a storm coming. Utau and Kukai kept each other company since Amu was too busy shopping and they know better than to be around Ikuto when he had such a dark aura around him.
"What's with your brother? Why does he look so irritated right now?" Kukai glanced at Utau. Utau just shrugged her shoulder. She was curious herself but she knew better than to ask Ikuto. Ikuto isn't the type to share his emotions, especially to Utau, since he doesn't want her to think he is weak.
"You tell me, you're a guy."
"But he's your brother."
"I can't read his mind plus Ikuto would never tell me his emotions."
"Well, to be honest, I think I know why." Kukai stared at the back of Ikuto's back as if he understands Ikuto's emotions.
"Why?" Utau stopped walking and looked at Kukai.
"I mean to like someone and to have that person not know your feeling is painful and it's even more painful to see someone else trying to get her." Kukai sighed and placed his hands behind his head as he continuing walking forward. Utau continued walking next to Kukai.
"How could Amu not know my brother like her unless she's stupid?" Even though Utau didn't hate Amu as much as before, but that doesn't mean she loves Amu, either. Utau can't stand seeing how Amu is slowly stealing her brother from her and she couldn't forgive her for that.
"Hey! Don't call her that, Amu is just very oblivious to things. Just look at her." Kukai signaled for Utau to look back at Amu, who was too busy checking out the stalls to even notice Ikuto's moodiness.
Amu smiled when she saw Utau and Kukai looking at her. "Sorry, I'll be right over." Amu put down the little figurine she was holding and rushed toward the two of them.
"Is Ikuto ok? He doesn't seem happy today. I hope he's still not mad at Kairi about this morning." Amu scratched her head, feeling clueless about why Ikuto was in a bad mood.
"Ikuto is mad at Kairi but for another reason." Kukai and Utau looked at each other and they chuckled. They didn't have to say their thought out loud to know what the other was thinking.
Amu looked at them confusedly, but they just shrugged it off. Amu was about to ask them why they laughed but she was distracted with one of the stalls selling jewelry.
"Ah! Those are beautiful!" She walked toward the stalls and picked up a necklace, leaving Kukai and Utau alone again.
"Hey, do you want to see something funny?" Kukai whispered into Utau's left ear. Utau was taken aback by his sudden warm breath near her ear. But she calmed herself before nodding, "This better be interesting." Kukai gave his boyish grin and Utau found her heart skipped a beat. She didn't realize how attractive Kukai's grin was until now. She put a hand on her chest trying to get her heart to beat normally again.
"Oh, yeah, it is. Just wait and see." Kukai winked at Utau, causing her to blush. Utau put her hands on her face to try to cool her cheeks down. She didn't know why but being with Kukai had turned her into a little girl. She found her heart beating irregularly and her cheeks blushing easily. "I'm Utau Hoshino. I performed in front of thousands of people before. Why am I blushing over a wink?" Utau told herself mentally.
Luckily for Utau, Kukai was too focus on getting Amu's attention that he didn't notice her blushing. He waved for Amu to join them.
"Hey, Amu! Come here for a sec." He stole a glance at Ikuto, who was still walking a few feet ahead of them.
"Watch how I can make your brother shows different emotions within 5 mins." He whispered to Utau, while Amu was walking toward them. Utau laughed. She was curious as to what Kukai had in mind.
"Amu, I've been dying to ask you this all day. So, what is your relationship with Kairi? How come I've never heard you mention him before?" Kukai could see Ikuto's body tensed up when he heard the question. Ikuto slowed his pace down so he could hear the conversation.
"I met Kairi when I was a sophomore in college. Remember how I told you I got into running because of a friend. Well, that friend is Kairi."
"Ohhh… I see. So, you guys are just friends?" Kukai noticed Ikuto stopped walking. Kukai smirked knowing he got Ikuto's attention.
"Yes, but I haven't talked to him since I came back to Japan. This is why I was so shocked to see him here."
Kukai elbowed Utau to look at Ikuto, who is no longer having a dark aura around him. Kukai could tell that Ikuto probably felt relieved right now, knowing Amu and Kairi are just friends. But being Kukai, this was too boring for him. He wanted Ikuto to show more emotions.
"You know you might think of Kairi as a friend, but that doesn't mean he thinks that way too. I can tell he likes you more than just a friend." Ikuto turned around and if look could kill, Kukai probably is dead by now.
Amu was speechless. She never thought about it that way before. She did like Kairi but not anything more than how she likes Kukai and her other friends. But what if Kukai is right? What if Kairi likes her more than a friend? How would she deal with that? She doesn't want to lead him on but she doesn't want to lose his friendship, either. What is she going to do?
"You're speechless, so you like him too?" Kukai knew Amu doesn't like Kairi like that but he also knows Amu tend to blush a lot if she is put on the spot. Kukai smiled knowing that everything was going as planned.
"Look at you, you're blushing! You do like him then!" Kukai kept teasing Amu, causing her to blush even more. He felt bad for teasing Amu but he was enjoying seeing Ikuto's reaction. He was on the verge of laughing out loud but he had to restrain himself or else his plan would be ruined.
"You're mean! Stop teasing me!" Amu tried to cover her face and ran away but she wasn't careful and bumped into Ikuto. Ikuto was so furious after hearing the conversation that he just stood there like a statue, so when Amu bumped into him, he accidentally glared at her.
Amu was so scared by Ikuto's glare that she bowed down and apologized "I'm sorry, Ikuto. I didn't mean to run into you." Amu turned back to Kukai and blamed him, "Look what you made me do." Amu apologized to Ikuto one more time before rushing away.
Once Amu was out of sight, Ikuto went back to his moody self with an even darker aura than before. If his dark aura was like a stormy day earlier, now it was like a tsunami; ready to destroy anything in its path.
Ikuto realized that he was not in a good mood, so he decided to retreat back to his room. "I'm going back to the hotel." Without waiting for Kukai and Utau to respond, Ikuto took his leave.
Once Ikuto was out of sight, Kukai burst out laughing. He laughed so hard that tears were falling from his eyes. Utau watched as Kukai held his stomach to stop laughing, she never realized how green his eyes are, but then again, she just met him yesterday.
"You're pretty amazing. I had never seen my brother acts like that before." Kukai wiped the tears from his eyes and gave that boyish grin again.
"Did you see the look your brother give me? That stare could kill a man." Kukai chuckled.
"I'm surprised you're not scared of it. I fell victim to that look a few times and I got to say, I was beyond scared of it." Utau shivered at the thoughts of Ikuto glaring at her whenever she made him mad.
"What can I say? I like to push people's button. Anyway, let's go find Amu. I need to apologize to her." Kukai tried to search for the familiar pink hair in the sea of people.
"Well, you didn't feel bad a few minutes ago when you were teasing her." Utau crossed her arms, pointing out the obvious.
"That was different. I wanted to see how your brother would react and boy, he did not disappoint. Come on, let's go before Amu's stop talking to me for the rest of my life." Without thinking, Kukai grabbed one of Utau's wrist and pulled her with him. Utau wasn't prepared for the sudden pull but somehow instead of hating it, she didn't seem to mind.
Utau was glad Kukai was walking in front of her. If not, he would have seen her blushing and she would never live this down. Kukai would make fun of her for the rest of her life.
Kukai led Utau through a swarm of people before he saw Amu standing next to the fence separating the boardwalk from the beach.
Once Kukai and Utau got closer to Amu, they noticed her looking at her phone. Kukai led go of Utau's hand and walked toward Amu. Utau hated to admit it but she missed having Kukai's warm hands around her wrist. She looked at the place where Kukai had grabbed and rubbed it gently, trying to remember the feeling not too long ago.
"Urgh! Utau, you need to stop thinking about Kukai. Just because he's the first guy who talked to you, doesn't mean you can fall for him. Snap out of it!" She pulled her hand away from her wrist and shook her head, trying to get rid of the thought.
"Amu, what's wrong? Are you ok?" Kukai rushed toward Amu and pulled her to face him. Amu's face was filled with worries. Kukai wasn't sure what happened but he was worried. Amu had been through so much and he was afraid that if something else happened, she might just fall apart.
"Kukai, I don't know what to do." Amu put her phone away and looked at Kukai.
"You can tell me anything, Amu. What's wrong?" Kukai brought his hand to her face. Utau didn't seem to like that very much. She knew they were childhood friends, but she couldn't shake the thought that maybe there was more to the relationship than that.
"Nikaidou just messaged me about a barbecue tonight and he said I can't miss it but it's during the same time that I'm supposed to meet with Kairi. I don't know what to do." Kukai almost laughed out loud. Is she being serious right now?
Kukai flicked Amu's forehead, causing her to yelp in pain. "Silly girl, why are you worrying over this? Just tell Kairi to meet up later, or better yet, just invite him to the barbecue." Utau could tell what Kukai had in mind. He's not done with messing with Ikuto yet. She couldn't help but smile.
"Thank you, Kukai! Why didn't I think about that earlier?" Amu gave Kukai a quick hug before taking her phone out to text Kairi. Utau didn't know why but she didn't like how intimate Kukai and Amu were.
"Hey, why the long face? Did something happen?" Utau was deep into her thought that she didn't even notice Kukai standing in front of her. She was shocked when she saw his emerald eyes staring down at her.
"Nothing, just tired." Utau lied before turning her head to the other side. Well, it wasn't a complete lie. She was tired from walking around as well as tired from seeing Kukai and Amu together.
"That's a lie. When a girl says it's nothing, it usually means something. But I won't force you to tell me. Anyway, I wish I could see your brother's face right now..." Before Kukai finished his sentence, Utau interrupted him.
"What do you mean? Don't tell me you're…" She couldn't bring herself to finish the sentence. Could it be Kukai is in love with her brother all these times? Is this why he love teasing Ikuto?
Kukai flicked Utau's forehead. "Ow! That hurts!" Utau rubbed her forehead, causing Kukai to laugh, "That's for being silly enough to think that I like guys. As I was saying earlier before someone interrupted me, I wish I could see your brother's face right now and see how happy he must be to know that Amu might not get to see Kairi tonight." Kukai shook his head as he thought about what Utau was about to accuse him of.
"That's true! But to be honest, Ikuto rarely show his emotions. This is why I'm shocked to see him show so many emotions when it comes to Amu. Just thinking about it make me mad to know that Amu could get such emotions from him but I couldn't." Utau pouted, feeling defeated.
"That's because when you like someone, you become vulnerable. This is why some people act out of character when they're in love. Love is a scary thing." Kukai sighed as if he was remembering something from his past.
At that moment, Utau began to feel pity for herself. In her 24 years of life, she had never experienced love before. Ever since she was young, she was so focused on getting into the entertainment world that she had no time to date. Now thinking about it, she regretted not dating a few guys back in high school.
"I guess it must be nice to fall in love." Utau wondered out loud. As soon as the words came out of her mouth, she wished she could take them back.
Kukai looked shocked, "You mean you had never dated before? But you're so pretty." Utau didn't know how to react to Kukai's words. Should she be happy or sad? Utau was speechless and thankfully, Kukai noticed and tried to ease the situation.
"I sorry, I didn't mean to sound like a douche. I'm just shocked to know that such a pretty girl like you had never dated anyone before. I'm sorry." Kukai looked down at the ground in shame. Utau was touched by Kukai's caring nature. He didn't have to apologize but he did it anyway just so she wouldn't be sad.
"He called me pretty, twice." Utau couldn't help but smile at the thought. She calmed herself before speaking, "Don't apologize, it's not your fault. It's not easy to date when the whole world is watching you. This is why I'm envious of you. It seems like you had many good memories of your relationships."
"To be honest, I'm envious of you. Your first love is always the most innocent and sweet in your mind. Even though I don't have any feelings for my first love, but I missed the times when there was no expectation or comparison. Once you had your first love, you start to compare your next one to your ex. I'm not saying it's bad to date multiple people, but it's not bad to never date either." Kukai gave Utau a sincere smile and patted her back. "Good luck with finding your first love. He will be a very lucky man to have you in his life." He gave her a thumb up, trying to cheer her up.
Utau was awestruck by Kukai's words. When she first saw him, she thought he was a foolish guy, but spending time with him today proved her wrong. Kukai might seem like a jokester at first but beyond that surface lie a very caring and intelligent person. "If I'm going to find my first love, he will be the one." Utau smiled triumphantly, looking at Kukai.
You-Youz: I know this chapter is mainly Utau and Kukai and only a tiny bit of Amuto but I really want to start focusing on these two characters since they will be more prominent later on. I also tried to add more descriptions to my story, hope you guys it. Have a wonderful day.