"...Don't talk to me." Haru coldly said, before immediately hanging up on Seiji. Yet, what happened next was just as the man had said. An average looking school boy came up to him right after he had hung up.
"Excuse me, sir. Do you know where [] store is?" The boy asked. Haru glanced at the boy and immediately got a strange feeling. The boy just looked extraordinarily ordinary, really... unremarkable. He was so unremarkable he seemed nearly suspicious.
"Go straight and then turn left twice. You'll find it on your right." Haru said, with a kind smile plastered on his face. He really had no moral issues with pretending to be a kind gentleman, when in reality he was far from it.
"If you don't mind, can you tell me the directions to [] restaurant too, then?" The boy asked again.
Like the previous question, Haru answered politely with a smile on his face.
The boy smiled too. "Ah, you must be a local. You know so well about these miscellaneous stores."
Haru lied straight through his teeth, "It's because I visit them often."
The boy paused for a moment. "Really?... Then, can you come with me and show me the way to the restaurant? I might not remember the exact directions you gave me."
If something happens, smashing his head with a phone would be my only choice.
It felt so childish and stupid to follow this clearly suspicious boy when even Seiji had reminded him beforehand not to follow him... But then again, he felt like he had some vendetta against Seiji. He didn't want to obediently obey someone who he barely even knew.
Haru smirked. "Okay then."
He led the person over to the restaurant according to the directions he had remembered, but as he passed a rather secluded and lonely alleyway, he saw the boy come closer towards him with a dangerous look in his eyes, a small piece of cloth grasped in his hand. Haru instantly took the cellphone inside his pocket and smashed it against the boys head as hard as he possibly could.
Unfortunately, the little school boy was much stronger than he had expected.
The boy immediately retaliated and grabbed the back of Haru's neck in one hand, the cloth in the other. He expected to feel the cloth pressed onto his nose to force him to smell the drug inside, yet a few seconds passed and nothing happened.
Haru turned his head back and was greeted by the sight of his attacker unconscious on the sidewalk, his arm bent a strange way. Haru was about to flee before he noticed that another person had appeared right next to the unconscious body.
"Seiji?" Haru instantly recognized the man.
Seiji's expression showed so much anger and disbelief Haru barely thought he was the same person who was all smiles the day before. Seiji's hands were clenched at his sides and they faintly shook with anger. Haru nearly sneered- for what reason did Seiji have to be angry?
"You... didn't I tell you not to follow him?!" Seiji asked.
Haru shouted back, "Who are you to tell me what to do and what not to do? We've just met yesterday. You are nearly a complete stranger to me."
Seiji opened his mouth like he had something to say, but closed it right after. He took a deep breath. "That may be true, but I'm sure you were aware how dangerous this person's motives could've been, and is." He said.
Of course Haru knew. He just wanted to make Seiji pissed in the heat of the moment.
"For an adult... you clearly make such inexplicable decisions." The older male mumbled under his breath.
Seiji picked up the phone that Haru had accidentally dropped onto the ground when he was hitting his could've-been kidnapper. "Luckily you didn't break your phone." Seiji said, and handed the phone back to him.
Haru begrudgingly took the phone from Seiji's hands. However, when he tried to pull it away from the other's grip, Seiji simply wouldn't budge and refused to let go. Haru raised his head to give the man a glare.
"What are you doing?" Haru asked.
Seiji didn't respond, simply pulling the phone closer towards himself, which also pulled Haru closer to him along with the phone. Bending his head downwards, he slowly whispered, "Since you refused to acknowledge my words because we're strangers, let me show you. I'll make sure we are no longer unfamiliar with each other."
*
A few minutes later, Haru found himself back in the café he worked in, sitting at a table with the probably-ex-boyfriend of his former crush.
"Why don't you eat that?" Seiji pointed towards a salted caramel tart on the table. Haru gave the older man a pointed look. "I've eaten so much, how do you expect me to eat more?" Haru lied. Any other day he would've definitely eaten the tart, maybe even cleaned off the plate, but right now he was way too angry!
"...You're already full?" Seiji asked. "No wonder I thought you looked so skinny," He disappointingly said.
If it weren't for the fact you weren't sitting in front of me now, I wouldn't have been unable to eat!!!
Haru stood up from his chair. "I'm leaving."
"I was just joking. Don't leave." Seiji stood up too, but made no move to stop Haru from exiting the store. His eyes watched as the younger left the store without looking back, before sitting back down and heaving a heavy sigh. The tart on the table was still untouched, so he packed it up in a small bag for later.
Seiji picked up his phone and dialed a number. They picked up on the second ring.
"Something will be sent to you in about five minutes, don't open it. Give it to him," Seiji said as soon as they had picked up.
"Why?" The soft voice on the other side asked.
"What do you mean why?" Seiji replied.
"....It's nothing, boss. I'll do it." They responded, and hung up right after.
Seiji turned off his phone. He carefully picked up the bag on the table and walked out of the café, but suddenly felt someone staring at his back. He paused at the door and turned around, but the only person he could see was one of the cafe's workers behind the counter on their phone.
Seiji frowned but didn't say anything, only leaving the building quietly. He didn't know that on that inconspicuous workers phone-
??? | Miss Kimiko, he was with Haru at my workplace.
Sato Kimiko | Not only does Haru desire to ruin my career and life, he also wants to take away my real lover from me. What else does he want from me?
??? | I thought that your fiancé was Hayashi Shigeru?
Sato Kimiko | I only got close to him because Haru forced me to. Shigeru fell in love with me on accident, but I can't help it. The only person I truly love is Seiji.
Sato Kimiko | Don't probe any further into my private life. You only need to help me keep an eye on them.
??? | Sure.
*
After ditching Seiji in the café, Haru went to a nearby park and sat down on a bench. Why the hell did I just throw myself into danger like that? I even got a scolding from Seiji, that damn old man.
Haru suddenly got a text from Ayame asking him if he wanted to hang out. Sure, he didn't trust this little "double-agent" as much as he did before, but he needed to get his mind off of his anger towards Seiji, so he accepted. Ayame's house was surprisingly not far from where he lived, so Haru managed to find it easily.
When he got to his house, Ayame warmly invited him in and led him to the living room to take a seat. The room was generously decorated with a white and royal blue color scheme, but it felt like it was completely empty and devoid of life. There were no personal pictures, items, or any thing of that sort. It was clear that Ayame did not stay here often.
Haru sat down on the couch after taking in a glimpse of the living room, digging his feet into the fluffy white carpet. Ayame sat down beside him, his wide smile instantly turned into a solemn frown. Haru noticed the sudden drop in atmosphere and looked at the other male questioningly.
"Someone is spying on you," Ayame said. Sitting down beside Haru, he quietly continued, "I don't know who, but they are someone close enough to you to be able to monitor most of your every day life."
Haru blinked. At first, I thought it was Ayame who was the spy. But if he's really the spy, why would he expose the fact that there was someone monitoring me?
"How do you know this?" Haru instantly responded. Ayame's cheerful and nearly shameless personality had completely vanished- it was like he was a different person. He looked meek now, his hands folded in his lap and his head bowed nervously. His eyes avoided eye contact with Haru.
"Masuyo is your roommate, right? The device she used to record your conversation with Sato Kimiko was made by me, and the audio was edited by me, too," Ayame confessed.
"The reason I know that someone is monitoring you, is because I planted a few spies to monitor Sato Kimiko. It looks as if she has been receiving intel from someone about you."
Haru froze when he heard this. He didn't tell Ayame about the encounter he had with Kimiko, the recording, nor the edited audio... So if Ayame was lying about creating the recording device, how could he have found out? There was no possible way, unless he wasn't lying.
Haru slowly asked, "Why did you help me?"
Ayame finally made eye contact with Haru. "I'm not allowed to tell you," he said. "We... have a boss. We've all made confidentiality contracts with the boss, so..."
"So you're in an organization? I thought you worked alone at first. Is this information confidential too?" Haru interrupted him.
Ayame instantly shut up.
"I'm sorry. I'm not allowed to say any more," Ayame spoke. "But I can assure you that our boss has no malicious intent towards you."
Haru stood up from the couch. "I'm leaving." He coldly spat, before walking straight out of the room.
"Wait, let me see you out first!" Ayame got up too, running after him.
*
The sound of rain gently thrummed against the windows, echoing in the silent apartment room. Sato Kimiko had her head lowered as she sat in the armchair, quietly looking out of the window. After leaving her family's estate, she fled to a nearby high rise apartment that Hayashi Shigeru's family owned. She closed her eyes, leaning her forehead against the window.
Why did I have to take all the blame when it wasn't my fault?
Everything was orchestrated by Kamei Haru. When she first met him on that one, peaceful evening, she never expected for him to be the cause of her downfall. When she was starting to get into the entertainment industry as an idol, he showed her he was capable of destroying everything she had planned, and even forced her to sleep with some other popular male idol.
The person she was forced to sleep with somehow fell in love with her, even when she didn't love him back. It made her sink into an even deeper hole when rumors spread that she was climbing his bed to advance her fame, when in reality it wasn't even close to that. Shigeru noticed the rumors, and decided to propose to Kimiko in order to shut the rumors up.
At first, Kimiko thought that Shigeru had proposed to her because he was scared that her rumors would taint his image, but who would've known it was actually because he fell in love with her.
When her thoughts ended, the door to the apartment opened. She could hear a pair of footsteps coming from behind her.
"Are you still sulking? The rumors have already died down. You can use this chance to come back into the spotlight." Hayashi Shigeru said, sitting down on the armchair beside her. He picked up a bottle of red wine on the glass coffee table in front of them, pouring himself a glass.
"...If you don't use this chance to discard the rumors and jump back into the spotlight, then you can just kiss your career goodbye." Shigeru swirled the deep red liquid inside of the wine glass, lifting it up to his lips to taste it.
Sato Kimiko thought that the way Shigeru talked to a person he loved wasn't romantic or inspiring at all.
He's so different from Seiji. Too different.
Seeing that Kimiko wasn't responding, Shigeru continued to speak.
"Or do you no longer want to stay in the entertainment industry?"
Kimiko instantly shook her head. "I want to stay, but..."
Shigeru sighed, downing the entire glass of wine, and then stood up. "But what? As my fiancé, I've already paved a path for you. All you need to do is follow it, and then you can live your dream."
He lowered his eyes. "And yet you still refuse to."