the idols race for love, are you ready? | book one | utapri

chapter thirty

          Everyone nodded in agreement at that with the exception of Masato who looked just about as confused as I do.

          My eyes widened some as I looked to Natsuki. "Satsuki came out during the photo shoot?" I asked.

          Otoya shrunk in on himself a bit where he sits beside the tall blonde. "It was scary."

          "I was sure he was finally going to kill us." Syo tacked on.

          "Shinomiya lost his glasses while playing around in the water," Tokiya explained, both Masato and I slowly nodding as if we understand this, "the second his glasses came off, Satsuki showed up and nearly drowned Kurusu and Ittoki until I managed to place his glasses back on the bridge of his nose."

          Natsuki laughed as he sheepishly rubbed at the back of his neck. "Satsu-chan was just playing."

          "Playing." the short blonde sitting next to me scoffed as he crossed his arms over his chest and looked to Natsuki with a pointed glare, his fedora shifting ever so slightly on top of his head with the sudden movement. "He tried to kill me and Otoya!"

          The red head nodded his head with a saddened smile. "And here I was hoping Satsuki and I could be friends..."

          Masato glanced around some before looking to me. "Where are your roommates?" He asked, easily changing the subject so the conversation doesn't die.

          "Tomo-chan and Haruka?" I murmured as I looked around the dining hall, not surprised to find them sitting off at a secluded table with just the two of them there to keep one another company. "Ah, found them. Looks like they're on yet another date." I teased while returning to my meal.

          Natsuki clasped his hands together as he cooed. "They're so cute together!"

          "You don't believe they're truly dating, do you?" Tokiya then asked as those deep blue eyes of his shifted to me. "Love is forbidden here..."

          I shrugged my shoulders as I stuffed another fork full of food into my mouth. My roommates business has nothing to do with me and it's not like either of them has necessarily been giving me status updates on their relationship so really, I don't know much more than these boys do. For all I know, Tomo-chan and Haruka could just be great friends. Though, if I had to take a wild guess, I'd say there's something going on there behind the scenes for sure.

          "Ah, I'd kill for a girlfriend," Syo said beside me as he took a large bite of his food. "Someone to support and look after me sounds great right about now."

          A small smirk tugged at the corners of Tokiya's lips. "Isn't that what ___ already does for you?"

          Both Otoya and I nearly choked on our drinks at that. "W-What? ___ isn't like a girlfriend at all!" My red headed best friend tried to play off with an uneasy laugh, only drawing more attention to the fact he likes me and is horribly awkward about it.

          I shook my head. "I support and look after all of you, equally."

          "You're like a mother! You don't pick favorites." Natsuki reasoned.

          "I'm not sure if that was a compliment but thanks?" I responded with a laugh.

          "Changing the topic," Masato spoke up as he flicked his eyes from Otoya to myself, "___, how has our duet song been coming along?"

          A smile stretched it's way across my lips. "I'm still a little bit in a slump about it right now. I'm hoping I can convince Ren to meet with you and I either tomorrow or the day after so we can brainstorm together over which direction this song should go in." I said before taking a quick sip of my drink. "Once I get a decent way into this duet, then I'll start composing your solo songs so we just need to focus on this one song for right now thankfully."