Specks of Light

Part Four. Chapter 4: Found Out

"Please come on in, the other assistants are waiting for you in the drawing room" Fujino said as they entered the apartment "Alright, thank you". Just like the first time he had come here, the apartment was really neat and organized, he walked towards the drawing room where he found it to be as clean as the rest of the place. "Morning" he greeted the assistants, all of them kindly greeted back making Yuu notice a soft voice hidden in the mix. He turned to look and found Nozomi- chan sitting on her usual place. She didn't seem to be mad or annoyed by Yuu's presence, maybe he had judged her wrong and she had indeed been unable to go to work with Yoshino the previous day. He took took his things out of his bag and checked what needed to be done, grabbing some of the incomplete sheets he gave the assistants directions on what they needed to do. It had been quite uncomfortable when he gave instructions to Nozomi- chan, she hadn't even turned to look at him and as soon as he was done explaining, he had walked away really fast.

As the day went on, he felt his energy slowly decreasing, despite how fast he was drawing, it seemed like he wasn't making much progress at all. It was when his cellphone started to vibrate that he noticed night had already arrived and there were few pages left. He took out the phone to find an incoming call from Ijuuin- sensei. He could not answer right in the middle of work, so he pressed the red button canceling the call. It hadn't been a minute when his cellphone started to vibrate again. "You may answer if you wish, Yuu- san" Fujino commented with a very unusual disturbed expression. "You sure, sensei?" Yuu asked, judging from his expression Fujino didn't seem to okay with him picking the call. "Yea of course, if you don't...they'll keep calling, right?" Fujino said without changing his unrelaxed mien. Yuu quickly stood up and headed out of the drawing room, he had been so immersed in his work that he hadn't even noticed that most of the assistants had already left with only Nozomi and another guy still working there.

"Hello?" he answered as soon as he got to the hallway. Despite knowing who was calling, Yuu could barely hear sensei's voice through the phone. Instead, he could only hear loud music and lots of laughter in the background. ["Yanase- kun! Hello?"] he finally heard "Ijuuin- sensei! I am at work!" Yuu said trying to sound assertive. ["Oh you went to work, that means you are feeling better?"] sensei asked as the background noise seemed to be getting louder and louder. "Yes I am" he said hiding the fact that he was in fact not feeling well. Suddenly, he heard a female voice calling Ijuuin's name urging him to go back to wherever he was. "Where are you?" he asked now feeling really uncomfortable ["At an after party"] sensei answered when the same female voice spoke again, this time sounding a lot closer ["Cmon! You're totally missing the show, you can call back later"]. That comment made Yuu feel really mad "Who's that?" he asked sounding really annoyed ["Ah- it's Karuoko- san! She is..."]. That was seriously enough! "You know, I am working and you seem to be busy too, I am hanging up. We'll talk later" Yuu interrupted. ["Okay, but Yanase- kun! Please go home early today, don't stay late at Fujino- sensei's house"] he barely heard Ijuuin saying. "Why?!" Yuu asked angrily ["Just a hunch, please go home early, Yanase- kun"]. While it was true that sensei was his lover and that he had every right to say those things, he was with Usami- sensei's cousin at an after party in Paris!! "Same could be said for you! Good night, sensei" Yuu said and quickly hanged up feeling really disturbed.

He headed back to the drawing room where only Nozomi- chan and Fujino- sensei awaited. "Has the other guy left already?!" he asked without realizing that his tone had reflected just how angry he was. Fujino and Nozomi turned to look at him with concerned expressions "He said he was done" Fujino commented pointing the work the guy had left on the table "You feeling alright?" he added looking at Yuu. "Yes, I am sorry" Yuu answered checking on the pages the guy had finished. "Maybe your lover made you upset, Yanase- san?" Nozomi- chan suddenly asked with a shy smile like she was teasing him. He could now feel Fujino's eyes fixated on him, but he was completely lost of words. "Oh you have a girlfriend, Yuu- san? Who's the lucky girl?" Fujino asked sounding way more cheerful than he had been before Yuu picked up Ijuuin's call.

Yuu was about to say something to divert the conversation when Nozomi spoke again "Yes he does. It's someone he has loved for a long time" she said innocently. Yuu had told her that when she confessed so he turned to look at the girl with a shocked expression but Nozomi- chan seemed to be very calm treating the whole situation as a joke. "Is that so? I would like to meet her, Yuu- san" Fujino said displaying a smile "You'll have to wait, sensei. Yanase- san's lover is on a trip overseas" Nozomi added as she picked her bag getting ready to leave. "Really? That's interesting" Fujino commented upon hearing Nozomi's last statement.

"Well, I have to go! Good work today, Fujino- sensei, Yanase- san. I'll see you on monday" Nozomi said and headed out of the drawing room. Yuu was still flustered by what had just happened and he stood next to the table completely speechless. He had to leave too, but this whole situation amped with the previous sort of discussion he had had with Ijuuin- sensei over the phone, was just too much to handle and he started to feel dizzy. "Yuu- san, are you sick?" Fujino asked tenderly "A bit so I should get going" he answered glad that he could form a proper answer. "Sure, do you want me to drive you home? It'll be better than taking the train" Fujino offered approaching him from behind "Or maybe...should I take you to Ijuuin- sensei's house?"

The sudden question left Yuu paralyzed, his anxiety levels now surpassed everything he had ever felt before. "Wh- what?" he asked trying to gain control over his very unsteady voice. "The jacket you were wearing today is his, isn't it?" Fujino inquired getting even closer to him. "He calls you all the time too". Yuu pressed his fingers against one of the assistant chairs feeling like he was about to faint "I had a tiny suspicion since the day I saw you were texting him, but after everything Nozomi said, I am now sure" Aki continued being completely merciless. "O- of what?" Yuu asked very nervously "You and Ijuuin- sensei are dating, aren't you?".