A/n: We hit the thirty mark y'all!
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═══ JEALOUSY & SURPRISES ═══
ㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤㅤ
Job hunting proved to be more difficult than imagined - and also unfair. Merely because of her last name and what people associated with it after the incident, Mayu was turned down on multiple occasions. But the woman tried her best to keep positive and make light of the situation.
Though Akiko was different.
She was ranting to Chifuyu as they laid spread across his bed, with Peke J cuddled up on her chest enjoying some love and affection from the brunette. She was going on about how cruel the world was to turn down a woman who desperately tried to rebuild her life and searched for happiness and peace.
"... trust me, if I had been there I would have given them a piece of my mind and a serious talking to. I mean, how can they do that to her? Who do these people think they are? It's unbelievable ho- "
Dipping his head down, Chifuyu silenced her with a kiss. Akiko instinctively closed her eyes and pushed her head closer to his, completely melting into his touch. They had kissed only on few occasions and, although Akiko was agitated from being cut off, she took it as a welcome distraction. On the other hand, Peke J was less than happy that Chifuyu was taking up Akiko's full attention and meowed before he sassily jumped off the bed.
"You know it's rude to interrupt people," whispered Akiko with her eyes still closed. As she opened them, she caught a glimpse of the smug grin on Chifuyu's face. She punched him lightly in the shoulder, then hid her blushing face in it.
"You know it's not healthy to constantly worry about everyone else's problems and neglect your own well-being," retorted Chifuyu.
She pouted. "I know. Seems like I keep learning my lesson without learning my lesson."
"Now you're just being pessimistic," the blonde pointed out, squishing Akiko's cheeks, which made her look silly in combination with the pout. He laughed. "You have an absolute tunnel vision for everything that could potentially burst your little bubble. Instead, you should learn to live in the moment."
"I can't help it," she whined, pulling her face out of Chifuyu's hands. "It's like second nature to doubt and second-guess what people say and do around me. It's not something I can turn off with the push of a button."
A kiss on her temple made Akiko sigh and slump against Chifuyu. Eyes closed, she nuzzled her face in his chest and wished the world would stop moving for just a day, allowing her to escape reality and indulge in sweet cuddles and affection.
"Change doesn't happen overnight, you know that. You're too hard on yourself," Chifuyu scolded her. His fingers combed through her chestnut brown hair, almost successful in slowly lulling her to sleep with how much it seemed to calm her down.
"On a different note," Akiko mumbled into his chest. "Are you coming along to Yokohama? Baji probably filled you in on everything. Sorry you didn't hear it from me first."
"It's okay. And yeah, I couldn't possibly let you go there without me. I'm your boyfriend and as such I have to protect you. That means anyone who threatens you has to go through me!"
"Otherwise you would just be kidnapped again," he added.
Akiko gasped. "That was one time!"
"One time where I wasn't the one who took you home. I'm going and there's nothing you can do or say to stop me," Chifuyu decided stubbornly.
She groaned and hugged him tighter, mumbled incoherent words into his sweater. He merely chuckled at her cuteness.
The ringing of her phone broke the silence, forcing Akiko to break the hug in order to pull the small device out of her pocket. Mikey's name flashed across the screen, followed by a message.
From: Mikey
Be outside in five.
"He's a dry texter, I see," Chifuyu joked as he read the message over Akiko's shoulder.
"Not always. He's just pretty serious when it comes to family." The brunette shrugged, then grabbed her bag off the floor and pulled Chifuyu toward the door. "Come on, let's head downstairs. Baji's probably already waiting."
"Sometimes I think you like Baji more than me... "
Abruptly turning around, Akiko stared up at him wide-eyed, "What makes you say that?"
He appeared ashamed by his own accusation. Shuffling on his feet, Chifuyu scratched the back of his head, then plunged both hands into his pockets as he avoided her inquiring gaze.
"Is it because I've been spending more time with him lately? Are you scared that I would choose him over you at some point?"
When his fidgeting stopped, Akiko heaved a sigh, messaging her temples.
The last thing she wanted was for Chifuyu to doubt their relationship or feel unloved. He always seemed confident when he was around her, never like he was suffering from low self-esteem and not once had he ever voiced any jealousy toward anyone.
"First off, Baji is your best friend. He would never go behind your back. You know that," Akiko reminded him. She gently cupped his cheeks, even though he still refrained from meeting her eyes.
"And secondly, I only see Baji as a good friend. Nothing more, nothing less," she continued.
And forcing him to finally look up, she whispered, "And I would never want to be this close to anyone else."
Lastly, she captured his lips in a sweet, reassuring kiss, pouring all the love she had accumulated for Chifuyu into it, hoping that it would erase all the doubts from his mind.
"Baji, Kazutora, any other boy who might make you jealous at some point, are nothing but friends to me," Akiko repeated calmly, accompanied by a soft smile. "They're important to me because they've become the very people I depend on to make me happy. Without them, and without you, I wouldn't be where I am now, and I wouldn't be looking at a future that was free for me to choose. You're all important to me, just in different ways and for different reasons."
Gradually, Chifuyu's face lit up as her words began to settle in and a smile stretched across his face. Without warning he picked Akiko up and spun her around. The brunette squealed and giggled, clinging onto the boy as they laughed at the top of their lungs.
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──── ˚✩ ༘*ೄ˚ ────
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Baji scoffed when the couple descended down the stairs to join him in the parking lot, "Took you long enough."
"Stop being a grumpy cat and get over here," Akiko teased him and hurried toward him with both arms stretched out, ready to tackle the firece boy in a hug.
Despite the eye roll he didn't even try to be subtle about, the ravenette grinned as he returned the hug and ruffled her hair, giving a boisterous laugh when she complained to him.
"Ready to hit the road, sunshine?"
"But she's riding with me," chimed in Chifuyu, his eyes full of determination.
Baji's piercing gaze met his. "Yeah, sure, keep dreamin', pretty boy."
Before the two friends could start to bicker back and forth, the revving of an engine cut through the silence, followed by a very familiar bike rolling down the street toward them, and the blonde riding on it made Akiko turn her back on the two boys and rush forward to engulf him in a hug.
Mikey chuckled, patting her head gently. Then, he looked toward Baji and Chifuyu. "She'll be riding with me. It's safer that way."
Akiko had to suppress a laugh at the baffled expression on their faces. But before she took a seat behind Mikey, she embraced Chifuyu one last time and pressed a kiss to his cheek. "Don't worry, we'll have all the time in the world when we get back."
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──── ˚✩ ༘*ೄ˚ ────
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To say Seina was surprised to see the quartet of teenagers was an understatement. Once she had overcome the initial shock, she ushered them into a separate room to interrogate them.
"What the hell are you doing here, Kiko?" Her tone was close to accusing. "I told you I would call as soon as I had the time."
"That's not the only reason why I'm here."
This only confused Seina, yet Akiko was certain that her eyes also held an ounce of worry, perhaps even fear, which only confirmed her suspicion that her and Mayu were indeed hiding something and she was set on uncovering their secret.
With a straight face, Akiko pulled the note out of her pocket, unfolded it and held it in front of Seina's eyes. "Do you know why Itachi thought it necessary to write down the hospital's address?"
"How would I know?" Seina retorted defensively and attempted to snatch the note from Akiko's hand, but the brunette saw it coming and quickly slipped the note back into her pocket, making Seina huff in annoyance.
"Don't play stupid with me," Akiko called her out. "You've played pretend for the better half of your life. We all know you can keep a secret. Now answer my questions. Is there anything here that I should know about? Anything you have to tell me? Because if mum is in on it, I deserve to know it, too."
Seina froze. "Why do you think Mayu would have a secret?"
"I overheard her talking to someone on the phone the other day. Something about visiting a certain 'he' pretty frequently. Mum never mentioned anything about visiting someone. Who was she talking about?"
Guilt was written all over Seina's face. She sank down into a chair. "It's not my place to tell you. I was hoping to avoid this conversation at all cost. This surely isn't how Mayu imagined confessing to you."
Akiko mentally braced herself for whatever piece of information would be hurled at her next. "A confession?"
"We haven't exactly been completely honest with you," Seina began to say, "and there are certain things we kept secret from you for safety reasons."
"I thought we already established that keeping secrets isn't the way to keep me safe," hissed Akiko.
Behind the brunette, Baji and Chifuyu were exchanging worried glances, whereas Mikey fixed Seina with a glare - they might have not been related by blood, but the blonde knew that Seina was important to Akiko and he wouldn't tolerate if she did anything to hurt the girl.
"This time, it was for someone else's safety," Seina corrected her. "But now that Ken is dead, there's no reason to keep lying to you."
A shiver ran down Akiko's spine at the mention of Mr Hoshino. If the man had been the sole reason to hide a whole person, she wondered what all the fuss was about or what that person had done to upset Mr Hoshino.
"I don't understand." Akiko shook her head. "Who are you talking about?"
"It might be easier to show you because I have no idea how to tell you this," Seina told her.
Akiko stared at her, "Wait. That man... he's here?"
Following the young doctor out of the room, the five of them walked down the hallway and through a pair of glass doors labeled 'ICU'.
"He's been comatose for fifteen years," Seina explained to them, waving to a fellow doctor and greeting a couple nurses passing by, "but there's been a spike in brain activity. That's pretty amazing, considering his chances of ever waking up are close to zero."
As she was a bundle of nerves, Akiko searched for a hand to hold onto, which just so happened to be Mikey's. He temporarily took his black orbs off Seina to glance at Akiko, giving her hand a reassuring squeeze, well aware of the way she was chewing her lip nervously. For some reason, the girl was terrified of finding out who this mystery man was, even when knowing that he was utterly harmless, even helpless, which meant that he wasn't even a potential threat.
"He got into a severe fight with his brother and on top of a head trauma, he took five bullets to the chest. He had lost a large amount of blood and was barely still alive when the paramedics brought him in. The surgery that saved his life went on for hours," Seina filled them in.
"But..." The wheels in Akiko's head gradually began to rotate as several pieces of a puzzle finally came together.
What Seina was telling them sounded an awful lot like the story grandpa Sano had told her about the Hoshino family tragedy. Two brothers fighting, one ending up severly injured.
But in the story, the other brother didn't survive.
Or did he?
In front of a room without a name, Seina came to a halt.
"Are you absolutely certain that you want to know?" she questioned. "Because once you do, it will change everything."
Was she ready?
Would it really be as life-changing as Seina mad it out to be?
Akiko knew that nothing was for certain, but she had made it this far and she was determined to not let any more secrets get in between her family.
She nodded stoically. "Show me."
Seina nodded and exhaled deeply as though she, too, had to prepare herself.
When she opened the door, Akiko's breath hitched.
"The man you are looking for," said the eldest Hoshino, standing at the foot of the patient's bed, "is Junto Hoshino, your father."
The next moment, Akiko felt herself losing balance as her world turned black.