your focus was diverted elsewhere as you heard the familiar chime of your phone, indicating there was a new notification for you to see. you placed a bookmark on the page you were currently reading and closed the book. putting away the book, you took a hold of your phone instead.
it was instablam telling you that your past co-star, tenma sumeragi has liked a post from masumi usui.
you rubbed your eyes. the jetlag you were feeling right now was exactly the reason you didn't notice it was almost noon. you yawned, your body was tired yet your mind seems to say otherwise.
deciding you had nothing else better to do, you opened the notification which led you to masumi's post.
you raised an eyebrow at this. wasn't mankai company the name of the theater company he was in before?
you felt somewhat bad. you proclaimed yourself as masumi's friend yet you didn't actually got the chance to know who his troupe mates were.
you wish all of these would go away yet something was bugging you. you felt that you needed to do something, to exert effort to get to know masumi.
with that thought in mind, you shot masumi a quick message. you didn't think he'd reply but he actually did.
'he must be that bored or he's giving me some time of his day. probably the former heh.'
while conversing with masumi over texts, you clicked on the mentioned account, her name was izumi tachibana, presumably the director of the company.
you observed her to be really pretty. she has pink eyes with pupils almost the shape of a heart. she had flowing brown hair and wears a vibrant smile. on her other posts were who you assumed is sakyo furuichi. a blond glasses wearing man with two noticable moles under his eye.
they were exactly how masumi described them. well, except his statement saying that sakyo looked like an evil king that stole masumi's queen.
humming to yourself, you shot mrs. furuichi a direct message.
___
masumi sat on the second floor's balcony of the dorm. it's not that there was nothing to do, in fact there were too many things to do. he just didn't feel like doing much, or helping with the preparations at all.
today marks mankai company's newborn generation 7th year. a lot has happened ever since then.
masumi went straight from work after signing a few document, meaning he was seating uncomfortable in his suit and tie. working for 3 years straight, he would've assumed he's used to it by now.
masumi looked around the dorm, some were helping with decorations and preparing food while the others were still on their way.
the company didn't really 'disband', it was something that felt like a graduation. it happened after everyone felt like they have achieved everything they ever wanted. there were no hard feeling at all.
masumi felt really nostalgic as he remembered what was it like, living by this family in his teen years.
he took a picture of the view from his seat and uploaded it to his instablam. it was a nice view after all.
"masumi-kun!" someone called out his name which got his attention. it was sakuya.
after their batch has 'graduated' from mankai, some stayed to teach the newer generation of spring, summer, autumn and winter troupes.
"are you okay? you know you don't have to be such a loner, right? we're still your family after all!" sakuya said.
"...was just thinking about what the others were up to." masumi stated truthfully.
"hmm? oh yeah! you would know if you didn't turn off the notifications of our group chat!~" sakuya teased.
"shut up. it was too noisy." masumi said as he looked at anything but sakuya.
"ahahah! i'm kidding, i'm kidding~ i'd love to chat more right now but i should head back to help preparing. are you sure you're okay here? you can hang out at lounge if you want. don't be such a stranger at your own home!" sakuya said as he bid his farewell.
how much has masumi really missed out on?
with that thought in mind, he fished his phone out of his pocket and began stalking the social media accounts of the members on their group chat. he didn't want to admit it but yes, most of his stalking skills came from simping over izumi.
within an hour of browsing through the profiles, he received a text from [name] which he replied to.
masumi furrowed his eyebrows. why would she care anyway? his confusion was hurried as soon as he saw the next message [name] sent which annoyed masumi.
masumi sighed as he typed another response, correcting [name]'s message.
masumi furrowed his eyebrows for yet another time in this wonderful day. what did she mean by that? if anything, masumi knows that [name] isn't the type to give out short responses. that much was obvious that the female was scheming something.
to no avail, it wasn't masumi doing the ignoring that day, it was the other way around.
masumi's thumb hovered over the send button. it sure would be a nice thing to say. it took him a few minutes to contemplate whether he should send the message or not. he decided on the latter of either options. he's sure that her ego would inflate if he did.
not long after, the rest of the company started arriving one after another at the dorms. before they realized, all 28 of them, including the director, the manager, tetsuro and yuzo were at the venue.
___
you fiddled with your phone as you reread the conversation you had with izumi tachibana.
she really is a sweet woman. no wonder masumi fell for her, hard. your eyes glanced over the latest part of your conversation.
disregard the jetlag, this was far more important. you said to yourself, at least trying to sound convincing.
"ma'am, we're here." you heart the driver tell you, pulling you out of your thoughts.
your driver dropped you off at an average looking street, save for the fact that there was a huge dorm nearby.
'that must be it.' you thought to yourself.
when you draw nearer, you noticed the front door was basically open, inviting everyone in.
you stood in front of the door, the building literally towering over you. a wave of anxiety flushed throughout your system.
you took a deep breath, this is not the time to think like this nor feel like this.
entering the door, your eyes landed on the man you were looking forward to see after several years.
"ma-kuuuuun!!!" you squealed in order to mess with his head. while doing so, you ran and jumped on his back.
"what. are. you. doing. here. get. off." masumi said as he tried to either pry your hands away or drop you to the ground.
"usui, that's not the right way to treat you girl." sakyo furuichi lectured as he crossed his arms.
"eh? masumi's girl?" a man in an office worker attire asked. he has dark blonde hair that was dyed a lighter shade at the tip.
"didn't think you had it in you." he added which made masumi grit his teeth in annoyance.
"whatever, you're not my dad." masumi sighed at the two older male.
"glad you could come, [last name]-san." izumi said as she brought out a fresh batch of her infamous curry.
"just in time for my curry!" she proclaimed ever so enthusiastically which made the troupe members sigh.
"thank you so much izumi-san! i'm so excited to try it! i've been craving curry ever since my plane landed!~" you said which made izumi's eyes practically shine.
"please have a serving then! i'll gladly cook more varieties of you want!" she said sounding more enthusiastic than before.
"good grief..." a plain-looking brunette in his mid-twenties sighed.
"please take no offense but who are you?" he continued.
it was then you realized, a number of people were indeed looking at you and the commotion you had caused, making you mutter a small "oh..." of realization.
"hi! i'm [name] [last name]." with a smile, you took off your sunglasses and introduced yourself.
"i'm masumi's–" you added until the aforementioned man, himself, stopped you.
"yup, shut up, that's enough." masumi sighed, exasperated.
"rude."
"thanks."
...and came your usual banter.
"eh? [name]-chan?" sakuya asked, who got your attention.
"sakuya-kun! nice to see you!" you exclaimed.
"it's been a while, hasn't it?" the older male asked you.
"oh? if it isn't 'ya hollywood babe~ 'been hearing lots 'bout you." it was another person, you recognized.
"ah, banri-san, how's life as a model doing?" you asked.
he was on the same grade level as sakuya back at hana high, making him your senior. you've also had several interactions with him whenever the both of you were at a gala or such.
out of the corner of your eye, you spotted a familiar shade of orange.
"tenma?" you called out. the boy stopped in his tracks as he heard you.
"o-oh, it's you, [name]." tenma acknowledge.
"you're hERE?" you asked, surprised.
"no, why are YOU here?!" he asked back.
"the ghost of your ancestor has visited me, he told me he wanted me to bury you. i'm here to take you life. i'm sorry my friend." you said with a poker face, effectively messing with the male's head.
"i-i'm not scared of that! wh-what's with that crappy acting anyway?!"
you didn't know who it was but you were thankful that another member saw through your acting and flicked the lights on and off.
the moment tenma screamed, a flash from a cellphone camera occured too.
"wah!~ such a lit shot! this one totes goes to the scrapbook. here you go omimi! sending it... now!~" you heard another member you were unfamiliar with say. he was wearing a black, stylish fedora hat.
"you–" before tenma could finish what he was saying, masumi had already gotten a grip at your forearm and pulled you along.
"that's enough already."
___
masumi could only sigh as he pulled [name] out if the commotion in the lounge.
"o-oi! ma-kun! where are we headi– oh..." [name] started yet she wasn't able to finish the sentence as she realized where they were.
masumi her her down against the wall, sitting beside her as well.
both masumi and [name] were sitting back against the wall, facing the railing of the second floor's balcony, the exact one from masumi's instablam post.
"why are you here?" masumi broke the silence as he asked.
"...i wanted to surprise you? i guess?" [name] responded.
"just because we haven't seen each other in years, doesn't mean i wouldn't know if you're lying or not." masumi said, slightly irritated.
"i felt bad. i dragged you into my mess without even trying to know you and your family better." [name] admitted.
masumi felt stomach do a drop. he'd be lying if he said he wasn't touched by this action.
"acting like a comic relief even if you were jetlagged?" masumi continued to ask, furrowing his eyebrows as if that action would give him answers.
"mhm." [name] replied.
"you must be tired, you're not even your annoying, talkative self." masumi half insulted.
"mhm." [name] replied again.
masumi could only sigh. how the tables have turned.
masumi felt [name] put her head on his shoulder. it was something she used to do back in high school whenever she was tired.
masumi didn't know but a tiniest of smiles crept up his face. he couldn't find it in him to admit it but he's glad that the [name] he knows hasn't changed a bit.
masumi gently shrugged off the jacket of his suit and draped it over [name]'s sleeping figure.
with a lot of caution, masumi started to maneuver his way around [name] gently until he was carrying her in his arms.
"masumi, i missed you..." masumi heard her mutter in her sleep, making him stop in his tracks.
for the first time in three years, masumi felt his heart beating again.