Broken Fragments

Chapter 28: The Words 'I Love You'

Hiroto got up early to find Yuuhi right away so that he could apologize and also give her the script she was going to need for filming. Unfortunately, he only found some of the extra actors when he walked around the hotel's lobby. Having no other choice, Hiroto took the elevator to the hotel's third floor to go to Yuuhi's room.

"Yuuhi," he called as he knocked on the door three times.

"They already left for filming, Kazama-san," an extra said as she passed by Hiroto to go to her room.

"Oh, okay. Do you know where they're at?" Hiroto asked.

"I heard they were filming more scenes from when Ayuna and Makoto were still in junior high school. They're probably at the area's school," the girl guessed.

Hiroto gave his thanks and made his way to his car. He drove away from the hotel without even grabbing breakfast. Hiroto began to worry when he found out that they've started filming because he knows that Yuuhi needed her script, which he had. Lucky for him, there weren't many cars around the time, so he was able to speed up a little. When he arrived at the filming set, Hiroto asked around for where Yuuhi was.

"They just finished filming in the classroom there, Kazama-san," one of the staff members informed.

Hiroto walked down the hall to the classroom that the staff pointed out to him. When he got there, Yuuhi and Cloudy were being praised for the great job they did for the filmed scenes. Hiroto thought that Cloudy was going to walk out with Yuuhi, but Cloudy was called by his manager just as Yuuhi finished talking to Pinau.

"Yuuhi," Hiroto called, approaching the idol.

"Did you have any troubles with filming just now? You forgot your script so I—"

"It's alright. I don't need it," she interrupted, taking a water bottle and drinking from exhaustion.

"She did wonderful, Kazama-san. We thought we wouldn't be able to film since she didn't have her script, but she said that she had memorized all her lines. It was true! She didn't forget a word or mess up a line!" one of the cameramen testified.

Hiroto was amazed at how talented Yuuhi was. Every day, the staff would always inform him about how great Yuuhi was, not only in acting, but also in working with other people. During those days, Hiroto would feel a little guilty of how he always disappoints and hurts Yuuhi because he wasn't careful. However, after putting more thought into it and resolving his insensitivity, Hiroto was determined to correct everything and apologize to Yuuhi for all the things he had done to her.

"Yuuhi," Hiroto called before she walked away from him.

"What?" she asked, not turning around.

"Are you free for lunch today? If you're not filming…I…I want to take you out to lunch," Hiroto shyly said.

Yuuhi didn't say anything and just paused. She looked down on her feet and quietly sighed, getting ready to put up an act once again.

"Sorry," she said, her eyes closed.

"I have a date with Cloudy-san this afternoon," she turned around to give Hiroto a fake, painful smile.

"Oh," Hiroto muttered with a tone of disappointment.

"I-it's okay. M-maybe next time," Hiroto awkwardly smiled.

He walked away from Yuuhi, admitting to himself that he was more than disappointed. He could feel pain in his heart, but he couldn't understand why. After all, Yuuhi was just his friend and that she was going on a date, possibly with her new boyfriend.

Yuuhi returned her cold demeanor while everyone was busy moving the equipment to the vehicles. They all prepared to move to the new destination to film the other scenes. Takada Pinau already left to the next filming set as soon as he finished chatting with Yuuhi and Cloudy.

"I'm so tired," Yuuhi thought as she sat down by the dressing room to wait for Cloudy.

Meanwhile, when Hiroto returned to his car, he still couldn't get rid of the pain he was feeling in his chest. He rested his head on the steering wheel to relax his mind. He closed his eyes, not wanting to think deeper into Yuuhi and Cloudy's relationship.

"Why am I hurting?" he thought.

When Hiroto turned his head to the side, he realized that he still had Yuuhi's script, which he carried with him and placed on the passenger's seat again. Out of boredom and curiosity, Hiroto opened the book to read the lines that Yuuhi received. Hiroto also noticed that the margins weren't only filled with notes on how she should act the scenes out, but also the dates of when they were going to be filmed. He checked out all the scenes and realized that they were actually ahead of the schedule. After turning more pages, Hiroto found a section that made him worry.

In the section he found, Yuuhi's character, Ayuna, was with Jin, Seiji's character. According to the scene, Ayuna was on a date with Jin, her recent boyfriend. They had been dating for two months, which was longer than any relationships she had after transferring to Makoto's high school in the city as Hayami. Since Ayuna and Jin had been dating for a while, Jin was deeply in love with Ayuna. For the first time in their relationship, Jin says 'I love you' to Ayuna.

What worried Hiroto, though, was how Yuuhi would have to say 'I love you' to Seiji. He was worried because that would be the first time Yuuhi would say 'I love you' to someone in the film. To others, it was nothing to worry about, but because Hiroto remembered how Kirari had a hard time acting the kissing scene with him in the movie they did, Hiroto feared that Yuuhi would have troubles saying the words 'I love you' to the person she has no feelings for.

Panicking, Hiroto got ready to drive out and ask Takada Pinau for the progress of their movie. Hiroto was hoping that he would have time to mentor Yuuhi before they film the scene he was worried of.

As he put on his seatbelt and turned on the car, Hiroto saw Yuuhi and Cloudy walking out of the school building together. They were holding hands with their fingers interlocked with each other's. Yuuhi and Cloudy had gorgeous, charming smiles on their faces that clearly showed their happiness of being together. Hiroto, on the other hand, had eyes as wide as an owl's. His heart was beating fast and his chest felt tighter. He was hurting, not only because of what he was feeling, but also because of what he was seeing. Hiroto didn't want to accept that Yuuhi was with somebody, but with what she said about her 'date' with Cloudy and what he was looking at, Hiroto had to admit to himself that he couldn't give Yuuhi that happiness.

"I don't understand anything anymore!" Hiroto roared as he drove away.

"Yuuhi-san, how come we haven't seen your manager in a while?" the makeup artist asked as she brushed Yuuhi's auburn hair.

"He's busy preparing my schedule for when filming is done. After all, we only have a few days left, right?" Yuuhi charmingly replied.

It had been two weeks since they started filming and the movie was almost done. Takada Pinau thought that filming would take roughly two months, but thanks to Yuuhi and Cloudy's talented acting and great cooperation with the staff and fellow actors, they were going to be able to finish in three weeks. June was going to say goodbye in a few days, but summer was still as hot as ever.

During those times, Hiroto stayed away from the filming areas and just stayed in his room in the hotel. He had given up on wanting to help Yuuhi on her 'I love you' scene with Seiji after finding out that Yuuhi and Cloudy were officially a couple. However, Seiji visited him and forced him to watch their filming the last scenes left.

Seiji was busy with his singing career and since he had a minor role in the movie, he didn't have to stay with the whole cast and crew the whole time. After finally obtaining free time, Seiji drove to the filming location to get his scene done, which was reserved on the last few days of filming. Successfully, Seiji was able to bring out Hiroto with him to the filming set in town.

"Speaking of your manager, he finally came out," the makeup artist quietly said to Yuuhi when she noticed him walking with Seiji.

Yuuhi ignored her and kept her eyes closed, still waiting for her makeup artist to finish brushing her hair. The auburn-haired idol didn't have any problems with Hiroto's being gone during the whole time they filmed the movie because he was never there with her most of the time, anyways. It did annoy her, however, that after all those times, Hiroto would come out now when filming was almost done.

"Alright! We only have a few scenes left, everyone. All we have to film are the scenes of Yuuhi-chan and Seiji-kun, and the final scene with Ayuna's playing the piano for Makoto and his confessing to her afterwards," Takada Pinau announced.

Seiji's makeup artist quickly fixed his hair and hid his blemishes with face powder as everyone prepared to film their scene. When Yuuhi was done with her makeup, she walked to her designated position to wait for Seiji and Pinau's signal. Finally set up with everything, including the cameras, microphones, and extras, Pinau was ready to begin.

"And…action!" he shouted.

Seiji and Yuuhi walked together while holding hands along the sidewalk. The atmosphere between them looked lovely and natural, thanks to their wonderful talents in acting. He and Yuuhi sat on a bench when Seiji heard his cue to start his line.

"It's been two months since we started dating, huh, Ayuna," Seiji smiled, looking down on the pavement in shyness.

Yuuhi didn't say anything, part of her acting. She didn't blush or react to what Seiji said even though most girls would actually say something.

"Ayuna," Seiji called as he turned his head to face Yuuhi.

"I love you," he gently said with a kind smile on his face.

Hiroto actually paid attention as soon as he heard Seiji say the words 'I love you' to Yuuhi. This was the scene Hiroto dreaded. Hiroto feared Yuuhi would mess up, for the first time, because she'd have to say 'I love you' to Seiji, who she didn't have any feelings for. Hiroto's head was filled with regrets that he didn't help Yuuhi, who now hesitated to say the words 'I love you' while filming.

"I'm so stupid! I knew I should've helped her," Hiroto thought, clenching his fist as he quietly watched the two.

"I love you, too, Jin," Yuuhi softly smiled, turning to Seiji.

Quietly gasping, Hiroto was shocked to hear the special words come out of Yuuhi's mouth so easily. He couldn't believe that she didn't have a hard time saying it to Seiji, the person she didn't love.

"But Kirari…had a hard…" Hiroto thought.

"Cut!" Pinau roared.

Seiji and Yuuhi praised each other before they separated ways. Yuuhi returned to her makeup artist to get ready for the last scene they were going to film. Seiji walked towards Hiroto, glad that everything actually went smoothly.

"Hiroto, how was—"

"Sorry, Seiji. I'll be right back. I have to talk to Yuuhi," Hiroto interrupted as he ran away from him.

Seiji knew what Hiroto was thinking. In fact, he already knew how Hiroto was going to react with the scene they did when Seiji looked over the script many days before filming.

"She's not Kirari, Hiroto," Seiji worriedly mumbled.

Hiroto knocked on the door of the trailer caravan they used as their dressing room. Hiroto wanted to take advantage of Cloudy's not being there to talk to Yuuhi alone.

"Who is it?" the makeup artist inside asked.

"It's Yuuhi's manager. We need to talk," Hiroto replied from the outside of the caravan.

"I'm still putting makeup on her."

"You can do that later. I really need to talk to her."

The makeup artist looked at Yuuhi, who was actually just changing into the clothes she needed. After buttoning her uniform for the last scene, Yuuhi looked at her makeup artist and nodded at her. The makeup artist knew what Yuuhi's nod meant, so she dropped what she was doing and headed out the caravan.

"Yuuhi-chan, don't forget that the piano scene is going to be filmed in the school. The crew's almost done returning the equipment and your boyfriend's already waiting there," the makeup artist reminded before closing the door for them.

"Alright," Yuuhi replied as she sat down in front of the vanity table.

As soon as the door was shut and Hiroto could no longer hear the makeup artist's footsteps outside, he walked towards Yuuhi and stood behind her.

"What did you want to talk about, Hiroto-san?" Yuuhi asked, putting on lip balm.

"About the scene earlier," Hiroto nervously said.

"Did you have a hard time?" he continued, his courage gathered.

"With what?" Yuuhi asked as she got up to look for the blazer she needed in the closet.

"With…saying 'I love you'…to Seiji," Hiroto wavered.

Yuuhi stopped searching, the sound of the hangers sliding on the closet's rail ceasing. She didn't move or say anything, making Hiroto think she got mad.

"Why would I have a hard time saying 'I love you' to Seiji-kun?" Yuuhi asked, still not making a move.

"Seiji's not the person you have feelings for. Wouldn't it be hard to say 'I love you' when you have no feelings for him?" Hiroto explained.

Yuuhi paused, her head tilted down. She recalled the picture of her and a boy, which she found in her room when they visited her home in the country recently. She had a quick flashback of what happened back then, causing her to clench her fist. After a few moments of silence, Yuuhi grabbed the blazer she was looking for and put it on her.

"I just throw around the words 'I love you,' you know," Yuuhi said, untucking her hair from her blazer, which had grown longer during filming.

Hiroto was confused, shaken at what Yuuhi just said. Yuuhi knew that he wanted something to make it easier for him to understand, so she turned around and looked at him in the eyes. Her ocean-blue eyes met his ebony-brown ones, a glint of pain clearly shown in them.

"Because I've been hurt so much that those words mean nothing to me anymore."

Yuuhi walked away with those words given to Hiroto as her explanation. She left Hiroto in the caravan, shutting the door to leave him alone. Hiroto could feel her pain, but he couldn't understand it. He wanted to make her feel better, but he couldn't even make himself get over the confusing pain he was feeling.

"Are you really happy, Yuuhi?" Hiroto wondered.