Happy End.
SP Chapter: What if ~Kira Tsubasa~
It's been a while since they last saw each other. When Masato left the public eye and ran away from home, with only his sister, Anju, being able to contact him. It doesn't make any sense that they meet in Tokyo now, at this age, when A-RISE has become one of the super idols, overthrowing the bestselling huge idol group BKA48, while the three of them have finished and graduated from their degrees.
He was still the same, his flaming red hair, and eyes. Everything was still the same. As if he didn't even age. "Masato."
"What a cold gaze and way of speaking. Did I really leave you like that? I remember telling you to always treat your fans in the most enthusiastic way as possible." He leaned towards the wooden chair's backrest as he placed the teacup he just drank from on the table. Masato was smiling at the young woman in front of him, unchanging, and has kept her hair the same since the last time they met.
"Masato, I know we had contact with you through Anju the past few years that you haven't shown your face, but why are you meeting me now? Didn't you reject me just a few days before you decided to leave your family? Why now? Why me? Why not Maki?" Masato knew he couldn't joke around like he could around his master's children and her friends to Tsubasa. She was serious, looking at him with a sharp gaze on her eyes. If looks could freeze someone to death, he has long left this world.
"Tsubasa. Would you like to know me better than before?"
She gulped. It was a question she wasn't expecting to be thrown at.
"You've been so cold back then, why are you like this?" She just doesn't know what to respond.
"Tsubasa, I'd like you to know about the me right now."
"Huh? What are you on about?" Tsubasa was getting flustered. She doesn't understand what he meant. She couldn't comprehend.
"I heard from Anju that you've been waiting for me all these years. I've been out of touch, I'm sorry." Masato lowered his head in apology.
"You don't have to stick with me just because I've been waiting for you. That was my choice, my punishment for not being able to move on from you. A punishment for keeping someone who couldn't reciprocate my feelings etched at the back of my mind." Tsubasa said, gesturing that he didn't need to lower his head. "Yes Masato, I haven't moved on from you. You're still the one I like." She added.
"Even if you don't like me the way I like you, please allow me to keep these feelings with me. These are what helped me go on being an idol. These are what pushed me ahead along with my group's desires. Without your songs, the popular school idols A-RISE's songs wouldn't even exist." She explained, with her hand on her chest, pouring everything she have been keeping herself.
"Tsubasa. Should we go somewhere else?" As opposed from the mocking smile he always had back in high school, his smile was a lot kind and gentler now. He offered his hand to her, an invitation to somewhere far from this café. Mouthing a "Bunshun photographers are here. You wanna stay?"
He pulled her to somewhere out of reach to most people, a place where only those who have connections with the Kurosawas could take control of. He had the security of the place to look out for journalists trying to enter the building. It was the same place as where they first met years ago. Back when they were still children. The same place as where the two of them skipped their classes to play arcade games to.
Masato happily held her wrist as they walked around the hallways, looking at every shop they passed to.
"Masato. Seriously, what the heck are you doing?" Tsubasa asked as she pulled away from his grasps, "Are you playing with my feelings? If you are, then just leave me alone."
"And if I'm not?" Droplets of sweat raced from his temples down to his neck, trying to catch his breathing as he looked at Tsubasa. "If I'm here to take you seriously, as opposed to what I did before, are you going to reject me the way I did?" Their eyes were fixated at each other's, it was faint but they felt as if the world revolves around them at that very moment.
"If I realized that it was you who only cared about me the whole time, and I know that I'll be better with you, will you still doubt me?" Those words were something uncharacteristic of him, he had never talked to anyone like this before.
"Tsubasa, can you give me a chance to learn more about the you right now? In turn I'll let you meet the me that I was able to discover away from the Yuuki family."
She was at loss for words. Tsubasa knew Masato very well, the four of them grew up together. There was no way that Masato would joke around looking like this, and Masato would mess with someone's feelings.
[oeoeoeoeoe]
As soon as Tsubasa saw the young man standing under the bus stop's shade, dressed in a semi unbuttoned white and blue striped shirt tucked on his black jeans, his white shirt sticking under his unbuttoned shirt, and on his foot is a pair of red slip-ons. He had a thin leather backpack behind him.
"Hey, did you ask permission from your manager?" Masato waved his hand to greet her as he walked towards Tsubasa, who wore a black shortsleeved knitted turtleneck under an oversized loose overall jeans, a black beret over her head, and a pair of black high cut sneakers.
"Today's an off, I really didn't need to ask for my manager's permission. And what the heck is that get up?" Tsubasa hopped to stand beside Masato, who chuckled in response to her movements.
"You seem happy today, mind telling me why?" The two of them began walking, Tsubasa began telling him everything he missed out on. From their debut as idols after high school, to how they dominated the charts. He learned how they were releasing his songs as their title track under Tsubasa's name until two years ago.
[oeoeoeoeoe]
"What about… Maki?" The sounds of fireworks filled their backgrounds, they were supposed to watch the dark sky become filled with different lights, but they were locked into each other's eyes. Masato was unsure on how he was supposed to answer her question. Frankly, he didn't want to remember her, how his heart broke the moment they saw each other again. When she returned the ring at the coldest way possible.
"Let's just say that I lost her on my journey to find myself." He sounded like a sore loser. There was no way he could tell her he was rejected. Tsubasa was the only person who could wait for him this long. Maybe at this point, he could believe the words that Tsubasa once told him—maybe you can learn to love another person.
Things were slowly turning back to normal. Masato beginning to make his music again while working as a Family Physician of a wealthy family, away from his old name, but closer to the people he respected the most. He pushed them once more to their limits, trying out different concepts and themes, just like how he used to. Masato never knew that he would find the most comfort not on the girl he's been searching for, but from the girl who's always been on his side.
