"Welcome," said the waiter as the bell rang when Shuichi opened the door to the shop.
Shuichi nodded, "Hello."
"Ah, I remember you," smiled the waiter, "You came here with Seguchi-san. How can I help you?"
"Do… do you have any secluded place that can be used for a meeting?" Shuichi asked nervously.
"Of course," the waiter then lead Shuichi in the back, where on a short corridor were a few rooms for discreet meetings.
Shuichi sat down and looked at the clock. It was still early, but knowing Tohma, he will be here probably soon. The singer noticed that his hands were shaking, so he clasped them together and took a few deep breaths to calm himself down. Seriously, he could perform in front of thousands of people, but he gets nervous just by thinking about talking to one person.
'But this is not just any person,' came a thought.
"Shut up brain," Shuichi groaned, "Great, now I am talking to myself..."
The waiter came and Shuichi ordered ice tea, to calm himself and to have something to hold on, when the time to confess comes.
After his drink came, Shuichi focused on what would he say. How would he make his confession. Preferably so that Tohma wouldn't hate him forever and beyond.
But minutes ticked by and Tohma had yet to show up. Shuichi glanced at his phone to check the time and his eyes widened. The Nittle Grasper keyboardist and manager was hour and half late.
Shuichi frowned, it wasn't like Tohma to be late. He pushed the call button, found Tohma's number and started to dial it. But nobody was picking up. After few tries, Shuichi stood up and went to pay for his drink.
"I am sorry for the inconvenience," said Shuichi, "It seems that Seguchi-san couldn't come, so I will be going now."
"I hope I will see you soon," the waiter smiled.
Shuichi left the shop and headed towards NG.
- G - G - G -
"What the hell do you mean he was kidnapped?!" Eiri snapped at K.
"Exactly what you heard," K growled, not liking Eiri's tone. After all it wasn't his fault, he was just a messenger. But everyone gathered in NG studios and acted as if he was responsible for the safety of the whole building.
"The security cameras just recorded Seguchi leaving the building, heading towards his car and then some person knocking him out, loading him into their car and setting off," K reported to others, "We don't have much on the culprit as they had a cap, but it was probably a male."
"And what the security was doing?" Suguru asked annoyed, how come they didn't help?"
"It happened too fast, by the time they left the building culprit was long gone," said K.
"Some security," Suguru muttered.
K rolled his eyes, "Well I don't know about you, but could YOU register what's happening and run from their headquarters all the way out in less than 10 seconds? No? Then shut it!"
Suguru looked away and K smirked.
"Stop arguing," Mika exclaimed, "Think about how we get my husband back!"
K sighed.
"We don't have anything," he looked at his notes, "We just know he told his secretary to take the rest of the day off, because he was leaving and wouldn't be returning. We don't know where he was heading, but probably home, to you Mika-san."
Mika shook her head, "No, it couldn't be. Yesterday he mentioned some meeting he had today afternoon."
"Meeting? What meeting?" K asked confused, "With whom? Maybe they have something with the kidnapping…"
"Fuck," Eiri swore and pulled out his cell phone.
"What it is?" Mika asked confused.
Eiri dialed Shuichi's phone, "Seguchi was supposed to meet with Shuichi. I have to call that idiot…"
He waited seconds, listening to the dialing tone, waiting for Shuichi to pick up and ignoring the sudden onslaught of questions.
"He is not picking up," the blonde growled, and tried again.
"Do you think he was kidnapped too?" Mika asked worriedly.
"Hello? Yuki?" came Shuichi's voice.
"Where the fuck are you?!" Eiri barked.
"I was supposed to meet with Tohma-san," Shuichi said, "But he was late. He probably had another meeting, so I came to look for him at NG."
K then pulled out the phone from Eiri's hand, "Where are you?"
"Eh? K?" Shuichi was confused, "Why are you with Yuki? Where are you guys?"
Eiri grabbed the phone back, "Just answer the question, brat."
"I am in the lobby…" Shuichi said.
"Don't move," Eiri said and pushed the disconnect button.
Then he turned to others, "I am gonna pick him up."
Eiri walked out of the room and headed towards the lobby. There he found confused Shuichi, standing by the receptionist desk, with his cell phone still in his hand.
"Yuki, what's happening?" Shuichi asked.
Eiri grabbed him by wrist and dragged him back to the office, where others waited.
Shuichi seeing K, Mika and Suguru asked, "What the hell is happening? Why are you all here?"
"Tohma has…" Mika started, here eyes filling with tears.
But Suguru lost his nerves, jumped to the singer, grabbed him by the front of his shirt, "Tohma has been kidnapped! Why were you meeting with him? Do you have something with it?!"
Shuichi's eyes widened, "Wha..?"
K pulled Suguru away from Shuichi, who sunk to the ground.
"Now now, calm down. Let's not make any assumptions," he said, "Seguchi may have been kidnapped on the way to meet Shuichi, but that does NOT mean Shuichi was the one to do that."
"Of course he wasn't, it's Shuichi," Yuki growled,
Suguru glared at Eiri, but then sighed, "I… know, sorry. It's just…"
Meanwhile Mika helped shocked Shuichi to sit on couch.
K took out his phone, "Unfortunately now we are back to the beginning. We have no clues. I will try to pull some strings at the police force, but…"
He was interrupted by a knock.
Everyone's heads snapped to the door.
K crept to the door and reached towards his gun holster.
Then he opened the door and with one fluid motion pulled out the gun and pointed it at the petite woman standing behind the door.
The woman, who was usually sitting at the receptionist desk, eeped at the sight of the gun.
"What do you want?" K barked question.
"I…" the receptionist stuttered, "Some man dropped a letter. It was addressed to Seguchi Natsuki, but I don't know him, so I thought maybe Mika-sama would know…"
Everyone's faces showed confusion.
"Natsuki?" Mika rolled the name on her tongue and slowly reached for the letter.
But before she could even touch the envelope, Shuichi snatched and tore letter open.
"What the hell Shindou?!" Suguru exclaimed.
Shuichi scanned the contents of the letter, his eyes widened. Before anyone could do anything, the pink haired singer dropped the letter and bolted out of the door.
Others quickly overcame their shock and followed him. As they exited the building, they saw Shuichi running across the street, with several cars honking at him and barely missing him. And then he disappeared from everyone's sight.
"What the hell was that?!" Eiri growled.
Mika bit her lip in worry, "Why would he do that?"
"Let's see what made that idiot run like that," K said dryly, as he pulled out the letter, which he grabbed on the way out. He smoothed it out for everyone to see what was written in there:
Hello, Natsuki-kun.
I have your brother, we have lot's of fun. Join us at our favorite playground.
Your dear Masa-chan
"Who the fuck is this Masa-chan?" Eiri asked disgusted.
"Wait! How can Shuichi know, where was Natsuki's favorite playground?" Suguru gasped.
"Shut up everyone and get to the car!" K commanded, Suguru wanted to protest, but K put a gun to his head, "Didn't you hear, pipsqueak? Get to the car, we are after them. Heh, I knew sewing trackers into your clother will come handy."