Chapter 05: Are You Stupid?
Masato applauded as the performance slowly went to its end. A wide smile formed on his face as he saw the camera's used to document the party became too focused on the girls. The three soon jumped out of the stage despite their kind of flashy costume, µ's then came and took over the stage, performing Mermaid Festa Vol. 1.
"Masato, what is the meaning of this?" His father, Akio, grabbed him by his collar.
"I'm sorry, I wasn't even informed that your party will feature these girls. Good work, father." Masato forcefully removed his father's grip on his collar while smiling. He slowly disappeared on the dimmed lights of the hall.
"The nerve of that orphan." Akio gritted his teeth.
The following day, the performance was all over the internet.
'A-RISE's new song is a bomb! It sounds good, those people who watched it live were sooo lucky!'
'I'm so jealous! I wished I saw them live too! But, ain't their performances mysteriously cancelled these past few weeks? Look, I heard they'll be performing on Music Tiger, but they were immediately replaced by a new rookie girl group.'
'Yup, their Music Tiger, Music Showdown, and Music Nihon performances got cancelled without announcement.'
"Masato-nii! It was a great success! Music shows are apparently sending us invitations for performances again!" Anju leaned on her brother's shoulder as she showed him the invitations sent on their e-mail address and the screenshots of the comments from the uploaded video of their performance.
"That's good." Masato gave her a genuine smile while caressing his overjoyed sister's head. "Now, now. Let's go to school." He stood up and carried his backpack. Masato noticed the bag he used a few days ago, from when he skipped school with Tsubasa. He tilted his head and opened the bag, holding it on his left hand.
Mother of crows. He just realized that he forgot to return Tsubasa's blazer. Just imagining what Tsubasa looks like right now makes him kind of laugh.
"Masato-nii? Is there a problem?"
"Ah, there's nothing. Come, let's hurry to school."
It was chilling cold in front of the UTX Building, there stood Tsubasa, freezing on her shoulders.
"Good morning Tsuba—oh god, you look like an ice sculpture!" Erena tried not to laugh on how Tsubasa looks like.
"Tsubasa, here you go." Masato handed her the blazer she forgot to get.
"Say, I went to your house yesterday. And you forgot to return this?" Tsubasa glared at him.
"Sorry." He went closer to Tsubasa and patted her head.
The bell rang.
In Otonokizaka High School, there was the daughter of the director, sitting alone on a chair inside the cafeteria. It was very rare of her to be seen alone, it looks like because Umi was practicing on the Archery club and Honoka is having a supplementary lessons due to her low mathematics grade on their recent examination.
She sighed while looking at an image on her phone, and it looks like it was just taken a month ago, from a purikura booth on an arcade. Memories came flashing back on her as she continued browsing the recently deleted folder from her albums.
* A few months ago…
"Uhm… I'll be going to a faraway island for a family vacation…" She was too shy to talk to µ's about it. After all, this was the first time she'll be telling them that she'll be taking a break. "I'll come back after a week. If it's okay with you all…" Kotori can't even look at her co-members, it was silenced that filled the room.
"Of course Kotori-chan, it's alright!" Honoka smiled at her. "Everyone thinks so too. And besides, you might also get inspirations for our new costumes!"
She arrived along with her mother at the airport, but was soon left alone as Chairwoman Minami still got things to do to make sure that no problems will arise during her absence, and also, to not give enough troubles to the vice chairman who'll lead the school for a while.
Kotori was told to wait for a companion when her mother left, thirty minutes has already passed she's still there, waiting for that mysterious companion. Another five minutes passed, and someone from afar made his way towards her: A young man dressed in an unbuttoned short sleeve midnight blue dress shirt, with a black v-neck inside. Matched with a black fitted jeans, and black slip-on shoes. His skin, not that white and not too dark, flaming red hair that complimented his beautiful blood red orbs.
Her eyes met his, it was an instant heartbeat. As if the time stopped for the two of them.
It seems like I'll never see that girl again. Maybe it's time to forget about it. He thought to himself. I should avoid my habit of being rude for people I meet for the first time.
Is he a prince that came out off a fairy tale book? He looks one. This is bad, I think I fell in love for the first sight…
"You must be Minami Kotori." Kotori answered with a nod. "Great, just follow me." The young man grabbed Kotori's baggage and walked slowly towards the sea of the unknown people inside the airport. They soon stopped on a long queue. The young man turned to face Kotori in an instant.
"By the way, I'm Yuuki Masato, the heir to the Yuuki group of companies. I apologize for coming late and making you wait. I suppose nothing happened to you young miss during my absence?" Kotori was surprised on the young man's formality, "N-nothing happened, really!" She breathed in for a bit, "No need for formalities, just call me Kotori." Kotori smiled at the young man who introduced himself as Masato.
The young woman thought everything was going fine when…
"What the heck," Masato said in an annoyed tone. "If I knew it from the start then I shouldn't had gone formal with this chick." He sighed then was followed by a few words. "First was a girl with an annoying crybaby personality, and now with a daughter of a school chairwoman? Just how long will I have to go through this misery?" The red head removed his grip on the light green baggage's handle and crossed his arms. It was a quick personality change, at least in Kotori's view.
"Uhm… Is there a problem?" Kotori asked with nervousness emanating from her.
"Wait. You didn't know?" Masato looked at her with his left brow raised.
"A-About what?"
"We're already arranged."
"What do you mean by arranged? Is it… arranged marriage?!" Kotori exclaimed, enough for all the people around them to look at her. Masato then, immediately covered her lips. "Shut it." He whispered. It was long before it was time for them to have their baggage and passport checked. They were just in time, the plane was just about to leave.
"If you're going to ask me something, just ask it once we arrive in Niijima." They sat beside each other, through the whole flight, they were both silent—except for those parts of the flight were: one must go to the comfort room, in-flight meal times. After the short flight, they arrived at the island. Masato received a call from his relatives that were already on the island, telling him about their location, and that other members of the Minami family is also there. The two decided to ride a cab to the mansion where their families are currently staying right now, the mansion was apparently owned by the Minami family.
Inside the cab, Kotori decided to ask him about the question that's been bothering her since she knew about them two, being arranged.
"U-uhm… Yuuki-san…" Masato sighed upon hearing Kotori's voice.
"Masato would be fine. I'm sorry for being rude a while ago." He apologized. He's a kind person after all… Kotori thought.
"A-Ah! N-No, it's alright… Masato-san…" Kotori replied, she was still kind of nervous just by addressing him on his first name. "Drop the honorifics, or I'll get rude with you again." He threw a glare, leaving Kotori with no choice.
"You, going to ask something, Kotori?" His voice sounded kind. Maybe he just can't show himself being kind if he's around too much people or in public places. Masato-kun is a kind of weird fellow, ufufu~ She giggled.
"What're you giggling about?" Masato threw a glare at her again.
"M-Masato, uhm… Why did they arrange us, anyway?" Kotori asked.
"It's probably because of you, being a vital member of µ's—you do the costumes, right? And me, being the one who manages A-RISE and composes their songs, and does their lyrics."
"Eh? Then why do they have to bind us with marriage?"
"Possibly something with business involved. As far as I know, they want A-RISE and µ's to be disbanded so that the following members that are on the line of being the next heirs of their family businesses would be able to focus on it more." Masato yawned as he told these things to Kotori, which made him look like he doesn't give a single heck to what was happening to them and the idol groups.
"W-Why do you not seem to care about this matter?" Kotori retorted. Masato leaned closer to her, with their faces only an inch far from each other. "Don't ever tell me I never cared about this. I've been battling over my parent's plans of disbanding A-RISE since their formation. Like you, I also don't want everything to stop here." He breathed heavily and leaned back on his seat.
The cab suddenly stopped, they were only half way. "Sir, why'd you stop?" Masato asked the driver.
"I, I apologize sir, the sign over there says…."
Masato read the sign on his mind. No unauthorized cars beyond this point. He sighed heavily.
"Kotori, come out. We're walking to the mansion." The ash-grey haired girl's eyes widened. "E-Eh? A-Are you serious?" She was surprised.
"We have no choice, your family placed a sign here about unauthorized cars not being able to go beyond this way. I'll be here with you so don't worry."
Then, they began walking their way to the mansion. They were not even half-way through but Kotori already shows signs of feeling tired.
"W-Wait, can we rest for a bit? I'm kind of tired already. I'm also carrying this baggage." She panted heavily.
"It can't be helped." He stopped for a bit and pulled out a rope from his backpack. He then placed his backpack inside Kotori's baggage which was—thankfully still had a bit of space for the bag to fit in. He tied the rope on the baggage and carried it on his back like a backpack. Thank goodness, it's still light. He said to himself. Masato then forcible carried Kotori on his arms and started walking again. Kotori struggled, of course, to her, it seemed like she was being a nuisance.
"C-Could you please put me down? You seem to be having a hard time… and I'm fine. I could walk." When she tried to put herself down and stand up, she fell.
"Owwieee." Kotori caressed her left ankle. It was swollen.
"Look. Your ankles are swollen, just let me carry you until we arrive at the mansion. There's just a few miles left, I should be able to endure it until we arrive." Seriously, this girl is kind of heavy despite what she looks like. Masato, again, carried her though it was against her decision. Kotori had no choice but to just let him have his way.
The few miles he just said was no joke. He was already walking for an hour and they're still quite far from the mansion.
"Kotori." He said between his panting. "I don't mind getting arranged with you. You're pretty, and kind. On top of that, you really make good costumes." Masato was about to look at her eyes, but was surprised to see that she is asleep. He sighed and looked forward, there were a few steps away from the gate. He woke her up to tell her about it. The gates opened.
A week then, she came back to school. She never told anyone in school that she's dating someone from UTX—other than that, the composer of A-RISE. Days passed by and they became closer to each other they had each other as inspirations, Masato was slowly forgetting about the girl he promised with on his past. Until the time came that something went in between them—Masato's parents.
"Kotori, I'm getting bored with this relationship. Let's break up."
"W-Why? Yesterday we just went on a date… We were both happy back then…"
She remembered how much they said I love you to each other the day before. She was not expecting this to happen so fast.
"If I say I'm bored, then I'm bored." He wouldn't look at her eyes. "Besides, I already came to hate you." He managed to put on a fake smile.
"Masato I hate you!" Kotori started crying, why's he doing this? We barely even lasted a few months or so… "I hate you, as much as I loved you." She said between her sobs.
"Masato! You're lying right?"
Masato turned his back and walked away. They never saw each other again, except when there are events that both A-RISE and µ's are asked to perform.
Kotori cried while looking at the pictures. It hurts so much. She restored them to its original folder. She sighed heavily. She remembered when they talked again a few days ago. She was overjoyed back then, to know that Masato wanted to talk to her about a couple of things.
"I'm sorry, did you wait?"
"Does she know about this?"
"No, I haven't told everyone about—"
"Shh."
They entered the black car, and as soon as car was a few streets far from the school. They started talking.
"Uhm, Masato I really missed you so much!" Kotori, who was seated at the left part of the backseat, grabbed Masato's left hand with both her hands. When their eyes met, Masato quickly looked away.
"So do I. But I'm afraid—" before he finishes his sentence, Kotori cut him. "I have kept my feelings for you." Masato slightly blushed, but cooled down a few moments after. "I'm afraid, I don't feel any of those special feelings I had before now." He finished.
Kotori's heart broke. When they broke up, it was fast, and now, she knew he moved on fast as well.
"Let's cut to right into the chase." He took a breath. "Your mother, Principal Minami joined the group again. Now, she's one of those who wanted the idol groups to end again." Masato opened his ipad to play a recording. "My daughter Kotori as well, how can she inherit our business if she continues doing that act? I thought it'll be okay to leave her be, and let her do what she wants, but this is getting overboard. She even declines foreign college invitations." It was her mother's voice.
"N-No! That's not true!" She retorted.
"Listen, I've told you about this before right? Back when we're still… together. We're just lucky that she quit the group before!"
"N-No! I know it because…" She breathed heavily before continuing. "I was the one who asked her to do this for me. I asked her the night of the day when you first talked with Maki-chan." She explained.
"Y-you did that?" Masato was surprised.
"Y-Yes… Because I kinda thought that your arrangement with Maki-chan has something to do with disbanding and business… again…"
"You've changed since I last saw you." Masato was smiling. The smile she wanted to see again after that day. "It's just too bad, my feelings for the past came back. I don't think they'll be disappearing again." He added.
Kotori was at loss for words. She doesn't know what to answer.
"If it's not a selfish request, can we be friends again?" This were the only words that came out of her lips. She was even stretching her left hand out to him. "My pleasure, Kotori." He kissed her hand and let go of it.
That time, she knew it. Masato thinks that Maki is the kid he promised with when he was younger.
"Kotori-chan! Hurry up~ Let's go home!" It was Honoka and the others. She quickly stood up and ran towards them.
"I'm coming!" She said.
"What are you doing, following me on the shopping district?" Masato turned his back to look at the scarlet-head who was hiding behind a tall shelf of instant side dishes. The girl sighed and realized that now that he has seen her, hiding is a waste of time.
"Mama..." Maki was a bit of hesitant.
"I'm not your mama, hurry up and get on with it." Masato retorted.
"That's not it, stupid!" Maki exclaimed. "Mama said I should invite you for dinner…" she continued.
"Sure." Masato chuckled. "But it sure took you so long. Inviting me for dinner." He smiled at her.
"Stupid!" She walked away. Masato followed her.
"Let's go together." He said, grabbing her hand.
"To where?" She pulled her hand away from him.
"To your house. We'll eat dinner, right?"
Maki threw a glare and continued on walking forward. She felt that the way he acts towards her has changed, from a young man brimming with arrogance on every angle, right now, he seemed to be in a friendly atmosphere.
"What's with you? You're suddenly acting strange." On the streets, she stopped walking and turned around to look at him.
"Strange? Where?" dumbfounded, he looked at Maki's pair of violet orbs. When he received another piercing glare, he chuckled. "I wasn't acting strange. This is how I really act around people I trust—or sometimes around people I like or when I see a person as a little sister or a brother. Don't worry, this is how I act with A-RISE." Masato explained.
"So you see me as…?"
"A little sister."
They continued walking. The two felt droplets of water above them, it was about to rain. Maki got her umbrella from her bag quickly, while there was Masato, struggling to find his umbrella.
"It's not here." He murmured.
"What?" Maki raised a brow.
"I forgot to get my umbrella from Anju." She sighed upon hearing his realization. "I-It can't be helped, I guess I'll share mine with you, just this one time." She said as if telling him to get inside her umbrella.
"Thanks." Masato thanked.
"Stupid! Don't get the wrong idea, alright?"
"It's you're welcome, kiddo."
To their surprise, Masato's parents were there too. The dinner started with their parents talking about business, and their marriage. Maki had learned of many things that can lead to the disbanding of their groups. Though their parents aren't talking about it, the intentions were clear to the two composers—disbanding, business. It ended with a talk of Masato going abroad a few months later. While their parents are having a talk on the Nishikino Residence's living room, the two decided to talk on the house's small outdoor garden.
"Did you know about this?" They sat a few inches far. Maki was curious if he knew about himself finishing his studies abroad.
"Yes. I knew about it, it was on their plans since my second arrangement." Masato leaned back on the bench.
"Then… Do they know?"
"Anju and the others? No."
"W-Why aren't you telling them about it? Are you stupid?"
"I wouldn't want them to worry about their composer, all I want for them is to focus on their lives, and the love live."
She finally saw the big brother that the A-RISE respected, the big brother that Anju loved.
"Maki, I have a favor." Masato turned his head to look at her. He pulled out an envelope from his bag and handed it to Maki.
"What's this?" She asked.
"A-RISE's future songs, those are A-Sides and B-Sides. I want you to give them to Tsubasa, the songs are already named after her." Masato smiled at her. She sighed and grabbed the envelope from him. "It can't be helped. I'll do it for you." She chuckled.
"Thanks, Maki." He leaned on the bench again. "How about we hang out next weekend? Who knows, this might be my last week on Japan."
He laughed, she laughed with him. But inside, she doesn't know what to feel. She already got used to him, she was already slowly falling in love with him.
"Sure, I'll go with you." It made him stop laughing.
"I'll just mail you about it. Good night." He stood up and made his way to the gate. "Wait! Where're you going?" She asked.
"I'm going home. I'm worried about Anju."
"Take care!" He just answered her a wave.
The next weekend came, and she didn't receive a single mail from him. Maki noticed that there hasn't been any cancellation of µ's or A-RISE performances. She also got a new grand piano from her parents.
Something isn't right. She thought to herself. Maki dialed up Masato's phone number.
"Maki-chan?" It was Anju.
"Uhm, where's Masato?"
"He left last Tuesday for America. I was told by our parents that he's going to finish his studies abroad."
"T-Then why do you have his phone?"
"He told me to keep it." She bit her lip. She wanted to cry but couldn't.
"I-Is that so?" Maki tried to sound as calm as she could.
"Uhm Maki-chan, I don't know if this would make you happy but, your engagement with my brother has been called off. The equipments have also been sent to the Nishikino University Hospital yesterday."
"Also, they said they are not going to disband the groups."
"E-Eh? Of course, I'm as happy as I could be!" She faked a laugh. "I'll be hanging up, I still have things to do."
Maki buried her face on her pillow. She realized that she has already fell before she knew it.
She was crying.
"…CODE BLUE, CODE BLUE."
The signal for a code blue in ICU rang on the whole thoracic department building.
"Is it Dr. Terumasa's patient?"
"What? He can't do the surgery to the patient he's operated on? At this rate if the patient dies, it might cause a serious scandal for the hospital."
"Wait, isn't that Dr. Nishikino?"
"If Dr. Nishikino's handling the surgery, then we'd have no problems. That doctor is the future head of the Thoracic Department after all."
"Yes, the youngest and female surgeon. She's also the daughter of this Hospital's President, Nishikino Maki."
"Ready the operating room." The scarlet haired girl said after checking the patient.
