20 Sealed
Stood just across where he was hiding, was Mikan Sakura. Kitsu mentally scolded himself for not knowing who Hotaru was previously. No wonder it sounded so bloody familiar. Wait, what? Mikan Sakura's the one having a lovebird's affair? Kitsu leaned closer to the tree and strained his neck further to see who the guy was. Again, his eyes widen in surprise. He blinked rapidly.
Holy shit! Kou Shirakiin!
Instantly he spun around and his shoulders sagged against the tree bark. His hearth was hammering so loud inside his chest that he thought his ribcage would break. He regretted tremendously for being there. He should have made his escape minutes ago! Now he's stuck hearing whatever they're talking about. He cursed. Morever, if Mikan Sakura knew he was there—and accused of him eavesdropping them—Kitsu shivered, remembering of what happened to his kaichou. He didn't want the same thing to happen to him. He didn't even have an insurance to cover his nose!
"I went back to AA to look for you and you weren't there. I met Luna and she told me you got expelled. I intended to ask more but she chased me away. To think that even AA became co-ed too." He heard him said. "What happened, Mikan? Your friends refused to tell me anything."
Mikan Sakura must had refused to answer because then Kitsu heard Kou Shirakiin spoke again, literally in a broken voice, pleading, "At least please tell me that much, Mikan."
He heard a feminine heavy sigh before she spoke, "Shinichi Shouda got Ayumi pregnant and that bastard refused to be responsible so we went to attack him at his school. His sister, pretty much pissed us all so a fight occurred and it went out of control so cops came to break it off. Their dad works in the politics. He pulled some strings to stop the news from spreading. In return, he demanded to kick us out or he would force Uncle Kazumi to shut down the academy. So Uncle Kazumi kicked us out. That's why AA became co-ed."
"Holy shit!" Kitsu muttered and quickly covered his mouth. He cursed. So that's what happened. They didn't hear that, did they? He sagged in relief when he heard them talking again. Good, they didn't hear him.
"Ayumi-chan? How is she now?"
"She's good. Her parents took her overseas and she's now raising the child herself."
They became silent again.
"How are you?" Kou's voice was low.
"I'm pretty much alive and breathing."
"That's not what I meant, Mikan and you know that."
"Honestly, Kou, what do you want? It's been years already."
"I came here to see you!" He heard him said in frustration. "Can we just talk? Is that too much to ask for?"
"You know I'd be here. That's why you come here, right? That's just crazy, Kou."
"What's so crazy about it? I knew you would be here that's why I came here! Subaru-nii obviously asked you to perform and knowing you, you won't say no. So I had to come here. I have nowhere else to look anymore!"
When Mikan Sakura didn't respond, he heard Kou Shirakiin spoke again. "You moved away. You changed your phone number and even your blasted email kept returning my emails!"
"I had Hotaru to block yours."
He heard him laugh mockingly. "Ah, of course. Trust Hotaru Imai to do the hacking and stuff. I should've known."
But Mikan Sakura's voice turned somber. "Is that all? If it is, then please excuse me, I'll be on my way home." Kitsu turned around and peeked again. Mikan Sakura was about to leave.
"Damn it, Mikan! What went wrong? Why the hell are you running away from me?"
Kitsu blinked, looking at the despair state of Kou Shirakiin. He was agitated, Kitsu could tell that much by looking. He looked like the type to be normally stoic in the face of adversity but right now, he was inconsolable. He looked disturbed. Kitsu watched as the man ruffled his hair in frustration, looking out of sorts of what to say anymore.
Mikan Sakura had stopped walking but she didn't turn around. "You left me." It was a soft murmur but he had her said still. Kitsu furrowed his brows, straining his neck a little more. What kind of relationship do these two really have?
"Fucking hell Mikan, I didn't leave you! Who said I was?!" Kou Shirakiin retorted in disbelief.
Mikan spun around. "So not contacting me for a year, what does that mean?" She met his eyes directly.
Kou's shoulder sagged. "I didn't have a choice, Mikan! They didn't let me contact anyone during my trainee days."
Mikan scoffed. "Don't bullshit me, Kou. The moment you took that offer and left me, it was all over." Mikan's eyes clouded, remembering the past. Forget one year when he's in training, he even didn't contact her after he debuted. What a load of shits he's talking now.
"Mikan, you're being impossible. They offered me my dream. When you're handed your dreams, you take it. You don't ask questions."
Kitsu watched as Mikan clenched her fists by her sides. "It was my birthday! You left me on my fucking birthday!" She cried out.
Kou flinched. Shit. Now he remembered what a stupid arse he was. She was right. It's her birthday. To think that she would start celebrating her birthdays again after so many years of refusal because she hated remembering it, but then he went and destroyed everything. And they had recently started dating too, at that time.
Her face turned solemn. "It was pouring mad, the rain. You told me to wait outside the train. But you never came. I waited for you. You just didn't show up. You told me nothing. I had to found out from somebody else that you're debuting."
Kou moved across the place to her side in just a second. He tried reaching out for her hands and gripped it in his hold. "I'm sorry, Mikan. For not telling you, I'm sorry. For not showing up, I'm sorry. But baby, I didn't ever say I wanna break up."
"But I do. I'm tired of people leaving me, Kou." She said tiredly. "I don't want that anymore."
"That's why I came back, looking for you. I've never meant to leave you."
"You left me hanging for years. How do you feel if I did that to you?"
He looked down, knowing too well what he would feel. "Fucking mad."
Mikan shook her head in dismay. "What's so great about being an idol if you keep on hurting those around you?" Kitsu was surprised to see that Mikan Sakura looked so dejected.
"Taking up the offer, I didn't regret it. It has always been my dream to become one, Mikan. And you know that. Look how far I had come to be this successful. If I didn't take it back then, god knows when that kind of offer comes again" He said again. "But baby, letting you go, I never did that."
Mikan's eyes was hard and fixed on him. "To the point of pushing me aside for the sake of your dreams," she shook her head in disappointment, "You're insufferable, Kou." She pushed his hands away.
But Kou was fast. He grabbed for her hands again, not letting go. "Mikan, I didn't leave you. Don't do this to me." His voice, pleading.
"No." She pushed his hands away again. "We ended things long time ago. You're with your new life now and I'm with mine. I hope you will respect that. So please," her voice strained, "don't look for me again." She spun around and rushed to the door. She was gone in just a second, leaving a distressed man behind with his heart broken. Kou cursed in anguish and punched his hand to the nearby tree to release his frustration. It was a loud punch for the tree actually shook and the leaves even fell. Kitsu gulped as he watched red liquid dripping down from his hand.
He should make his escape now, Kitsu thought. It wasn't in his place—and right—to hear their personal conversation but now that he had already heard it, he should quickly escape. He didn't want to be interrogate by any of those two and certainly didn't want to be threatened to keep his mouth shut.
"Yeah, it's me." Kitsu watched as the man now had his phone on his ear. He didn't hear the phone rang though. He must had it on vibration mode.
"What gives? I'm already here anyways."
"I'm the one who dragged Misami into this. So don't get mad at her."
"Yeah I know. I'll speak to the president when I get back."
Kou brought his other hand to his eye level and stared. His knuckles were bloodied. He scrutinized it close to his eyes. He felt the pain but it wasn't really hurting like he thought it would. Because the pain in his heart was greater.
"Yeah I'm going back now." He said while wiping his bloodied hand on his jeans like it was just water that was dripping from the cut. Kitsu watched in astounded. 'Doesn't the man feel any pain at all?' he thought in amazement yet, oddly.
Kou shoved his phone back in his pocket and sighed. He thought for awhile but only ended up getting even more frustrated so he roughly ran a hand through his hair and letting out a heavy sigh. It could wait, he finally decided. First he needed to clear up the mess he made first. Going against his president's order was not the brightest idea ever. But he had to, or else he wouldn't have met Mikan. He sighed again and started heading towards the door. He hoped the president's in a good mood when he meets him.
As the figure disappeared through the door, Kitsu's body finally slumped against the tree bark. 'Man, that was intense', he thought while holding his chest.
Seemed like Kou Shirakiin came to the event without his company's notice. He had heard more than he should. Now he felt perturbed. Why did he have to be itching for a smoke just now? He should have stayed in the room along with the other guys. No, scratch that. He should have not developed a habit of smoking in the first place. If not, he wouldn't have come outside and would have heard nothing. He suddenly felt anxious. He knew he couldn't keep his damn mouth shut. But he had to. It was out of the line that he was listening in the first place! Open his mouth about them to other people when he has no right, that would be despicable. Damn. How should he seal his lips like this?
xxxxx
Hotaru looked oddly at her best friend as she watched her came out of the door from the garden and rushed to her side before grabbing her arm and dragged her in her pace. She didn't stop nor she slowed down. In just a second, they had passed the guys—Eye Candy parasites—who were just able to watch them in astonishment because they had walked that fast to the door and disappeared.
"What's with that?" Koko blinked in disbelief. "Do they have some kind of power? That's so fast!"
Even Yuu was surprised. But he only chuckled in response. "I don't think super powers really exist though, Koko. Sorry to break your soft heart."
"But, they, that Imai and Sakura," he got hold of Yuu's shoulders and shook him hard, "They were really fast just now!" He gushed.
While Koko was still gushing in disbelief at how fast the two girls had disappeared, Ruka glanced at his best friend. Natsume was thinking about the same thing as him too.
"They're somehow close acquaintances," he commented at Natsume but Natsume, he was still thinking. Somehow lost in his own thoughts. But he could still hear what Ruka said.
Koko scratched the back of his head. "Well, pushing aside that Sakura and Imai both knew Shirakiin, I'm amazed at how vast their network is." He stopped, finally sensing the change of air among them. He turned to look at Yuu and raised his brows in wonder. Yuu shook his head. Koko became even more puzzled.
Ruka looked around. Kitsu's still nowhere to be seen. "Kitsu still haven't come back huh."
xxxxx
"Wait Mikan!" Hotaru yelled as her best friend continued dragging her outside the door and towards the car park.
"I said wait!" Hotaru yanked her hand free from her grasp resulting in Mikan almost stumbled forward. Hotaru took the time to scrutinize her wrist. It's already reddened. Her eyes glowered at the sight. She shoved her hand to Mikan's eyes. "See! It's already red. Another minute like that, my arm would fall off!"
Mikan smiled sheepishly. She didn't realized she had grip Hotaru's hand that hard. She was too distracted with something else. Her mind was too preoccupied, she didn't even realize they were heading towards the car already. She looked around. Eh?
"Good, now you're finally back to earth," Hotaru said sarcastically. "Honestly, what are you thinking about? Our car is on that direction." She pointed towards the other opposite side of where they were. Hotaru carefully eyed her best friend. Mikan's fidgeting. She furrowed her brows. "What happened?"
Mikan started pacing. Is she panicking? "Are you in panic right now? I'm not gonna catch you, you know. I'm telling you beforehand," Hotaru indifferently reminded her again.
Mikan stopped pacing. "You said that already!" She scowled.
"Just a reminder," Hotaru replied nonchalantly. She started tugging at her best friend's hand and walked towards the other route to which the car was parked.
Mikan rolled her browns eyes at the lack of concern of her best friend and sighed. "Kou knew I would be here. So he purposely came to see me."
Hotaru nodded her head, listening. "Okay. That's to be expected. Then?" Still dragging Mikan by her hand.
"We were throwing words at each other and he said he never meant to leave me—"
"And we all know that's bullshit." Hotaru cut her off, disregarding what Kou had said while Mikan was still speaking.
But Mikan, she didn't stop her words at all. She began ranting faster, her hand gestures start to come out as she talked, "—and he said he never regretted taking up that offer and—"
They had now reached the car. Hotaru let go of Mikans hand and leaned on the car door while crossing both her hands on her chest. "Another bullshit."
"He told me he wants me back and—"
Hotaru scoffed. "That's definitely a bullshit too."
Mikan stopped, suddenly remembering a particular thing that Kou had said to her. She then looked at Hotaru with her confused big brown eyes. "Hotaru, what's so great about being an idol?" She had asked her. "Do you feel inferior than others that you simply can push them away and take them back whenever you please?"
Hotaru looked at her oddly. What is she talking about now? Does she expect an answer from me?
After that sudden odd question, Mikan had stopped talking. Hotaru realized that her eyes looked distant as her brown orbs looked smaller and she too, had stopped moving as well. Mikan's currently deep in thoughts, assumedly debating something in her head. Probably something had to do with what she asked her just now. Now Hotaru felt even weirder.
"Mikan?" She waved a hand in front of her eyes. Mikan blinked. Her brown orbs enlarged and refocusing. She looked at Hotaru. "You know what, Hotaru? I wanna see what's so good about being an idol." Her lips slowly curved into a dark grin.
"What do you mean?"
She took the keys from Hotaru's hand and unlocked the car door before reaching for her phone inside the dashboard at the passenger seat. Her smile curved deeper into an evil cunning one. "I think Rio-senpai would be most please to get a call from me this time."
xxxxx
"What's wrong with you, man?" Koko questioned Kitsu who was sitting at the passenger seat inside the car. Since Natsume and Ruka had went off ahead in a different car, them both had to hitch a ride from Yuu. Yuu didn't seem to mind at all. They lived close by anyways, unlike Ruka and Natsume who lived in different neighborhood. Plus, Koko was more than happy to ride in Yuu's car; anything to get away from Natsume, whose mood had gotten dreadful all of a sudden. He didn't want to be the one Natsume put a death on. Koko even shot Ruka an accusing look, since Ruka had told him Natsume's mood had gotten back to normal but then, it actually went a lot worse. He was silently raging. The man literally glared daggers and growled at anybody.
Yuu glanced at his friend next to him before facing the front road again. "You've been awfully silent since we left the event," he commented. Koko was right; something was wrong with Kitsu. Kitsu wasn't always the loud type like Koko but certainly he wasn't the silent type either. Even when they performed at the last segment of the event, Kitsu wasn't that hyped as he always was before this.
He watched in his peripheral vision as Kitsu heaved a sigh before massaging the bridge of his nose. "I guess the smoke is taking its toll on me," he mumbled, and then silently cursed, realizing it was a slip of the tongue. He could have picked a better excuse instead.
"What smoke?" Koko questioned in puzzlement. He moved forward towards the gab between the driver seat and the passenger seat. Clearly Kitsu wasn't answering because he left Koko's question hanging on air so Koko turned to Yuu. "What smoke is he taking about, Yuu?"
Yuu just shrugged, leaving Koko frowned in response. Yuu actually knew what Kitsu meant. He had not known about it earlier when Kitsu said he was going to freshen up. Nonetheless he could already guess with the faint smell he emitted when he came back. He reckoned he must have waited quite awhile for the scent to fade away since it wasn't really that strong to begin with, since Koko too, didn't seem to able to notice it. Presumably, neither were the rest of the guys too. Plus, he was gone quite long. But he's not gonna pressed any further about his close friend's habit. Especially smoking in a hospital ground. If Kitsu's not telling than he didn't see a point where he should open his mouth to the other guys about his unhealthy habit.
Koko decided to let it pass. Kitsu sometimes said nonsensical things that he didn't understand—though everyone knows Koko still wins in that nonsensical department—so he took it as something normal. And instead, he asked something else. "By the way, where did you disappear off to? You were gone for quite a long time."
It might go passed Koko's eyes—since Koko's bloody ignorant—but Yuu, saw it through, even when he's not looking directly at the person occupied the seat beside him. He noticed Kitsu flinched a little when Koko's question came up. It was a moment before he answered in what sounded like a strangled voice. "I was out in the garden." Kitsu changed his field of vision. Instead of looking at the front road like he was doing the last fifteen minutes of the ride, he turned to look outside the glass window.
Hearing that, Koko jerked forward more and he tugged at Kitsu's sleeve excitedly. "Seriously? Then, did you possibly see Mikan Sakura and Kou Shirakiin in the garden too? They went outside too, you know." He asked hopefully, at least to get some good dirt.
Kitsu froze. "Sorry man, I didn't see them." His tone was oddly flat.
His hope was shot down to the ground. "Awww man," Koko whined in exasperation and pushed himself back onto the back seat. "That's a shame! I really wanna know what their relationship is though. It's been bugging me ever since we saw them went out to the garden together!"
Yuu laughed. "I bet there's someone else who's dying to know about their relationship more than you."
His interests spiked again so Koko jerked forward once more, sticking half of his body between the gaps of the two seats. "What? Who?"
Kitsu's tense body finally loosens up. He sent a silent prayer to the god for saving him once again. He couldn't bear if Koko kept pressing him about what happened in the garden. Another pressure came; he's bound to open his mouth. Now that the topic's finally digressing somewhere else, he's supposed he could go with this flow of topic now. As long as they're not talking about Mikan Sakura and/with Kou Shirakiin.
Yuu rolled his eyes at his close friend's ignorance. The rest of the group already knew, why was Koko the only one who didn't yet grasp the whole situation yet. It was bloody obvious too! "I know you're slow in picking up but Koko, you really are dumb."
Koko scowled in hearing Yuu's comment. He wrapped an arm around Yuu's neck from behind his head seat and tightened his hold a little. "Shit! I'm driving, you moron!" Yuu shouted between laughs. His other hand tried to pry Koko's arm away while the other on the steering.
"Your words really hurt me you know," Koko pointed out. "You're the least mean one in our group so the least I hope is for you to back me up. But here you are, saying it straight to my face. Hearing it from you is more hurtful than hearing it from Natsume, you know." He toned down his voice to a sad one, faking it all together for a more dramatic effect.
"Okay I get it so get your hands off off me, Koko!" Yuu tried slapping his arm away.
Koko scoffed. "Are you kidding me? After that hurtful words, you think I'm gonna let you go?" He tightened his hold for better understatement of what he's indicating.
"You dumbass, it's dangerous! You're gonna get us into an accident!"
Kitsu looked at his two friends. He sighed. Even if Yuu was telling Koko to let him go, those two were guffawing like a bunch of idiots playing around, wrestling. Strange, to see Yuu in this kind of situation. Kitsu snickered, remembering that Yuu usually fight verbally. His smarty-pant close friend didn't really favor in indulging himself in a battle using any part of his physical body. He mentally shrugged. Well supposed there's a few situation called for exceptions.
"That's enough, you two." Kitsu pried Koko's arm from Yuu's neck. "I really don't want to die just yet so let's just continue your fight that when we get home, shall we?"
"I doubt that will happen." Koko let go and snorted, resulting in Yuu's chuckling.
"Shut the hell up, Tobita."
"It's Natsume," Yuu mentioned with a small smile.
Koko's eyes widen. "Holy shit! For real?" He looked at him in disbelief. "What, why?" He shoved a hand through his hair and pulled, like what Yuu had told him was hard to accept. A hair was sticking out but his mind was too occupied with one particular information suddenly coming in, he didn't even realize it.
"The same reason why Ruka sent flowers to Hotaru Imai." Was Yuu's answer.
"The same reason why Natsume kept on pissing Hijiri." Was Kitsu's response.
Koko stopped to think for awhile before finally letting out, "Holy fucking shit!" His back slammed against the seat and his mouth gaped open.
Kitsu glanced back at him and shook his head before turning to look outside the window again. "Gotta agree with Yuu on this one. You really are dumb because this one is damn bloody obvious. Everyone could already pretty much guess it."
Koko blinked. "You know what," his mind finally picking up the traces where the fact could possibly be true. Right from where they first met at the principal office to where Natsume stepped inside the cafeteria which he vouched he won't ever step in and also other obvious sign that Koko's too dumb to even realized before this. "You guys are right," he shook his head in disbelief as the fact slowly sinking in. "For not realizing it sooner, I really am dumb." The thought finally sink in his mind, engraving even. All the possible scenes flashed in his mind and the pieces finally fixed together. It was obvious that, Koko took a deep breath before letting out, "Natsume likes Mikan Sakura."
TBC.