Careless Way to Fall In Love

Happy End.

SP Chapter: What If? ~Minami Kotori~

Masato lied down at UTX's rooftop. He kept on thinking about the decisions he's done the past few days. The plans he made for A-RISE, and µ's in collaboration with some of its members. He took a deep breath before he sat up to feel the wind hit his body. His white blazer was unbuttoned, and it followed the wind's movement along with his neck tie. To be honest, he felt bad when he turned down Kotori. He soon stood up and made his way towards the rooftop's entrance. I'm leaving soon, why should I bother caring about the choices I made? Masato sighed as he walked down the stairs.

He left school early just to chill around a nearby café, he wanted to unwind since the past few days, he hasn't even gotten enough rest. Masato ordered his usual—a tuna pasta, and a pitcher of iced tea.

Masato was gobbling down the pasta until someone sat on the seat in front of him.

He immediately grabbed the table napkin beside his plate to wipe his lips, then sipped on the glass of iced tea beside the pitcher on his table.

"Oh, Hey. What brings you here?" He swallowed the remaining pasta inside his mouth as he looked at the ash-grey haired girl dressed in Otonokizaka's uniform in front of him—Minami Kotori, a member of µ's and is also in charge for their costumes.

"I just passed by, I noticed you were here, eating alone so I figured out I could drop by and sit with you for a bit." Kotori said in a cheerful tone, Masato was leaning on his seat, his arms crossed, his brows were furrowed. He knew he chose a seat where he could not be visible through the windows.

"How? I knew I chose a seat not that visible," He sighed and leaned forward, his elbows rested on the round table between them, and his fingers crossed under his chin. "Anyway, why are you here, and how did you know I'm here?" Masato asked, he was looking at her eyes.

"I actually didn't expect you'll be here." Kotori started, "I always go here whenever I wanted to take a rest from our practices, and our classes ended early today so I decided that maybe I could get some rest and unwind." A small smile was forming in her face. "I remember how we used to eat here a lot back when we were still dating, you know? When we were still together." Her eyes wandered around the whole café with a painful smile on her face as she chuckled. Masato knew that smile, it was the same smile she had when she greets him during music show performances, and that time when they met a few months after their break up, and just became friends.

Kotori was puzzled as to why Masato suddenly stood up, he walked towards the register, he took out his wallet and handed a paper bill towards the staff. He returned to his seat soon after.

"Kotori." She was startled after he called her name.

"Hmm?" She hummed at his call, "What is it?" Kotori asked.

"I'm sorry." Masato tried to avoid her eyes; he could see her nodding through his peripheral vision.

A waiter came and served the cheesecake he ordered for her.

"What are you apologizing for?" As Kotori looked at the cake that was served, she tried to stop her tears as memories of them came running back to her mind. He used to surprise her by ordering her favorite cake on that café a lot back when they were dating. Her hand was shaking as she tried to pick up the fork beside the small plate.

"Because I left you alone." Masato said as he bit his lower lip, looking at the table, lacking the courage to raise his head to look at his ex-girlfriend in front of him. "I was a bad person. I didn't have the courage to tell you that—" He was cut by Kotori's sobbing, which made him even more unable to speak.

"I didn't have the courage to tell you that it was my parents that went in between them. It was them that told me to break your heart. They did it so that my only light would fade." His voice was slowly becoming faint.

"Your… light?" With tears on the corner of her eyes, their eyes met.

"You were my light back then. My inspiration."

Her cheeks turned red; she didn't know what she was thinking, but it happened on an impulse.

Kotori stood up from her seat and leaned forward towards Masato, she cupped his cheeks with her hands—it was as if the time stopped when her lips met his, the young man was surprised, he couldn't process everything that was happening. Every breath that Masato took, he could smell Kotori's familiar scent, a scent as sweet as the berries they encountered in the island where they first spent their time together.

The ash-grey haired lady immediately pulled out and covered her face, she grabbed her bag from her seat and was about to run to the café's door but Masato pulled her back to press his lips with hers again. She was confused as to why he was doing this, due to the fact that he is engaged with her friend, and bandmate.

Kotori pushed him away, I still love him, but this is wrong. Her hands were gripping on his blazer tightly as he held it closer to his chest.

Masato could feel her fingers tremble.

Their lips parted; it was a quick clasp but it felt nostalgic to the two.

"Right… We aren't as free as we used to be." The red head took a step back, "I'm engaged, I forgot. It was me who let you go." His grip on her right hand slowly loosened, he felt her hand slowly slipping down from his.

"Masato's right hand… it feels different without his thumb ring."

Kotori Minami knew everything even the tiniest bit of details about Masato Yuuki, the way he wears clothes, his style, favorite food—everything. She loved him that much, she loved the young man as she envisioned being with him in the future.

"Kotori, why are you telling this to me now…?" Masato felt a twinge on his chest, he bit his lower lip in an attempt to try and stop his tears.

"It just felt nostalgic, your hand and mine…" There was the painful smile on her lips again.

"I shall take my leave now, thanks for the cheesecake too." Slipping her hand away from his, she turned her back and walked towards the almost empty café's doorway, with the eyes of the staff focused on the two of them.

Am I letting her go again like the last time?

But what about Maki? She might be the one I was searching for all these years!

He felt like trash.

At this point, it's now or never.

"Kotori, I still love you." He felt tears flowing on the corners of his eyes, it was a Masato that only she knew. The easily-swayed-by-stress Masato who would often cry on her shoulder whenever he hits a wall during composition.

"Me too, but…" She refused to turn and face him, "It's not possible." She placed her hand on the knob, holding down the sobs she have wanted to let out since earlier. Kotori's words was stuck on the back of her throat. Tears have begun to fall on her cheeks, seeing her face in the small glass on the door, there was no way she could face him with that face, she might just give in.

Kotori couldn't do that, she knew the chances that Maki might already have feelings towards Masato. She just can't snatch him from her.

"If I make a world where we could make it possible,"

If it's not her then it's no good.

The girl from the past, she wasn't there in my lowest. I doubt she even remembers me.

She's a part of the past.

I am here—in the present.

And it's not her who is in front of me, it's Kotori.

If it's not [beep beep], then it's no good.

He repeated his initial words, "If I make a world where we could make it possible, then would you come with me?"

"A world where…" Kotori turned around, "we could make it possible?"

It felt warm. Being held by the person she loved the most, by the person she waited for.

"I'll make it. So please wait a bit more." Masato whispered as she trapped her in his embrace, "If it's not you, then it's good as nothing." He repeats his thoughts on his whisper.

Her heart didn't respond the way her mind wanted her to.

"I'll wait for you. The way I've always did."

The young man held the ashen-haired lady closer to him as he planted a quick kiss on her forehead.

The atmosphere was awkward between them as they both waited for the cab that he booked for the young woman beside him. No one dared to shatter the silence between them that even the noisy vehicles and trucks couldn't overpower.

Soon, a yellow car decorated with black stripes stopped right in front of them.

As soon as Masato opened the door, Kotori went in.

"I hope you'll really wait. I know you've waited for so long—"

His words were cut by the young woman's hands on his cheeks.

"I will." She smiled as she pinched his cheeks before going back on the backseat.

As soon as he was left alone, Masato took a deep breath. And everything still comes down to that, huh?

Upon being sent abroad to study business, in a span of a year or two, he ran away from everything, his responsibilities, and from his ties with his family. He had to hide himself for years, purposely tangled himself with an underground family, and saved its head to make them indebted to him. Everything was in preparation to evade his former family. Masato distanced himself from everyone, even his step sister.

He went as far as to dye his hair black, and a drastic change of dressing. The time when he was finally ready to face everything, she was there, waiting for his comeback. The girl with the ash-grey hair.