j.a.pan - (Airport)It seemed like her stage wasn"t enough, or at least people were still trying to fit the pieces together. But, she didn"t get surrounded in the airport - well some fans saw her off; however there was no chaos. The whole plane ride was silent, aside from them making out.
Not many words were exchanged. Lila however firmly held Haruka"s hand in hers the whole time and gave him her full attention. She doesn"t want him to worry; nothing will change between them. Lila will make sure of it. No matter what anybody says, the man she loves, the one she wants to spend the rest of her life with is Karas.h.i.+ma Haruka.
Though she was back, Lila wasn"t looking at her surroundings at all. Instead, her thoughts were distracted. Don"t get her wrong; it"s not like she was utterly dismissing her surroundings. But Lila wanted to focus on what will happen next.
After meeting with Mother and Father who are picking her up, they will head to the location where Kiryu is now though Mother suggested waiting till the next day, due to the long journey. Lila didn"t want to waste a single moment. Kiryu did nothing wrong; why does his reputation have to be ruined? The sooner she sorted this out, the better.
Once they got through the airport security, Haruka tugged on her hand, "Haruka?" Lila said, concerned. He was silent through the journey, and even when they went down from the plane.
Though she was anxious about him, Lila didn"t want to push him to talk if he didn"t want to. She understood that he was still sorting his thoughts out. Her thoughts broke off when Haruka suddenly dragged her away. He finally stopped once they were hidden behind some stairs.
"Haruka?"
"I"m scared," Haruka said. He said it so quietly that not even she could make out his words at first. But seeing him tremble was enough to understand.
Lila hugged him tightly, "Don"t be afraid Haruka, we"re going to be okay."
"But you loved him, Lila, you loved him a lot. Can you really say so for sure that you can break your connection with him, after everything you two went through together?" he lightly pulled himself away from her and shook his head, "I know that"s not possible."
Lila looked down at her feet, what is she supposed to say that? Haruka is right; after all, she can"t just dismiss what she had with Kiryu just like that. It won"t be that easy, that"s for sure. Severing the connection may be doable, but Kiryu is still her fiance. Elite hanyou marriages are a very serious thing, after all. You can"t just break it off. Severing a connection too,
But all of this aside, Haruka is most likely referring to all the memories she made with Kiryu. From the moment she was four years old, her whole life revolved around Kiryu. It isn"t that easy; even Lila understood that much. However, Lila also knew what her current feelings were. The person she loves is Karas.h.i.+ma Haruka.
He"s given her so much; he was there for her during the start of her journey. No, he"s always been looking out for her. He"s played such a ma.s.sive part in her life and done so much for her. He"s shown her how deep his feelings are; she would be a fool to chose Kiryu over Haruka. Kiryu and her have a lot of memories together yes, but so much has happened between her and Haruka. What happened between them, every trial they faced - can measure up to the times she had with Kiryu.
Lila took his hand in hers and leaned forward as she pressed his lips against hers. It was a sweet kiss, something the two of them are completely unused to. When she finally pulled away, Haruka is looking at her, "Better?"
"Your kisses have a healing effect."
"Ah-huh, but are you okay?"
Haruka ran his hand through his hair, "I could be better."
Is it not enough? She put so much love behind that kiss. Her thoughts broke off when Haruka pressed his lips against hers again, "Ssh, don"t cry."
"You"re in pain; I"m so sorry."
"Don"t worry about it. We just have to overcome this."
Though Lila understood that, it didn"t stop her tears from falling. Haruka brushed his fingers on her eyelids, "It"s alright Lila, I told you already. I won"t let anybody separate us."
But what good is that, if the person in question thinks they will be separated? Even if somebody doesn"t intervene. How about if Haruka leaves her because he is so uneasy? Lila knew she wasn"t just over thinking things, something like that will most likely happen. If she isn"t careful with her actions, Haruka would be the one leaving her. Sophia already told her before, "even if you don"t leave him, one day Haruka will leave you. Do you know why that is?`` Back there, Lila couldn"t answer Sophia"s question, but now she probably could.
..
Once they got inside the car, her Mother beamed happily, "I"m so glad your back Lilchan."
"..."
Mommy must be trying to dispel the unease. But the fact that her Mother couldn"t personally get them from the airport and they had to come down themselves means the situation is terrible. Father who was driving, tapped his fingers, "Reporters are surrounding Kiryu as we speak, I didn"t want to leave. But he said that it wouldn"t be fair if we both didn"t fetch you."
"Stupid Kiryu," Lila thought. Why is he trying to be considerate of her now of all times? Doesn"t he understand how dire his situation is? Then again, this is Kiryu even though quite some time has pa.s.sed since she last saw him.
Noticing Haruka not saying a word, Lila pressed herself against his arm, "Haruka, pay attention to me please."
Haruka smiled, "Mmm."
Is he still worried? He probably is. Lila continued to place kisses on her cheek then his neck, and her Mother giggled.
"Karas.h.i.+mkun, do you think my daughter is cute?"
"Very, pardon me for saying so but if you two weren"t in the car. Then she wouldn"t be acting so calmly right now."
Lila felt the balance of the car turn weird and noticed a black aura around her father. Her sweet fell, "Um? Daddy?"
"I see, you are that gusty, eh?"
Mother rolled her eyes, "Don"t be silly Yuhi, Lilchan is almost a legal adult. Well, she will be next year, let her do what she wants."
"That"s next year; this is now."
What are they talking about? But Lila didn"t get a chance to ask when Haruka pulled her into his arms, " Don"t worry about it, just figure out what you"re going to do when we arrive."
Right. But there was really no need for her to prepare, Lila has prepared for this for a long time now.
….
Universal S Town Hall
Though her Mother gave her a heads up on the journey there, the sight still shocked her. No amount of preparation would have prepared her for this. The reporters had corned Kiryu to a corner, and he couldn"t get out. A memory from a long time ago, no several flashed through her mind. "Again," Lila thought. Again, this is happening to him. Why does Kiryu have to suffer so much? Rosalichan, she - if she truly loves him, then why does she insist on making him suffer?
As Lila made her way through the crowd, she was aware of peoples gaze on her.
"It"s Kiku Ari?"
"Bush why is she," everybody looked very confused, and Lila took a deep breath.
"It"s Lila," she corrected them, and then everybody started taking pictures. While she knew not many people would have connected the pieces together just yet. Lila is pretty sure that everybody saw the broadcast, she used her usual aura. The one she used during her final live here.
She ignored them and bent down, Kiryu was still hunched down on the ground.
"Kiryu," Lila said softly.
"Lila...you," Kiryu looked dumbfounded to see her, and she laughed as she gently caressed his face, "Idiot. What are you doing here?" he scolded.
"I can"t let them slander you for nothing. You did nothing wrong, right?"
"The video is fake," Kiryu started. It looked like he wanted to say more, but he still seemed surprised and shaken.
Lila nodded, "Un, I know, of course I know," even now she can tell. The moment he saw her just now, Lila could see it. The love he has for her, it has not changed.
Her thoughts broke off when she spotted Haruka, making his way through the crowd.
"Haruka."
Haruka sighed deeply but said nothing as he made his way over to the person on the table, "Let me borrow your mic," Haruka asked but didn"t wait for a response, "Austin Kiryu did not meet with Fujisaki Selia privately even once."
"But those videos."
"Are fake, no, it"s somebody else with her. Selia and I are acquainted so I can tell you straight up that"s her on the video," Haruka said. n.o.body had to ask about the location or where they met, everybody knew about Haruka"s reputation. While it bothered her that people would misunderstand things. Now wasn"t the time to be worrying about that.
One of the reporters at the front seemed surprised. "Karas.h.i.+msan, why would you help.."
"It"s what she wanted."
Her gaze softened at his words, "He really is kind," Lila thought even though this whole thing must be painful for him.
"On that day, Kiryu came to see my live concert," Lila spoke up.
The reporter"s attention turned to her. For a spilt moment, everybody was silent.
"What?"
"For real?"
"But weren"t those two not in contact?"
"They"ve broken up right?"
"Why did he see her?"
Everybody was confused, of course, they would be. The two of them have indeed broken up. However, the time they took the so-called scandal video was before the breakup.
"We were still dating then, is that a problem?" Lila didn"t see the need to beat around the bush. Why did she have to? She didn"t wait for their response and continued, "I will hand in the personal data, the ticket history of those who came to my live to the media."
Everybody looked at her with wide eyes. They were shocked. Everybody knows that you don"t just hand out the ticket data history to just anyone, let alone the media. After all, it contains peoples personal information like their bank accounts and transcript of when they attended the live show. But this was the only way for her to prove that Kiryu did attend the show, and the comment about them dating just then was to show everybody that Kiryu never saw Selichan that way.
Sharp footsteps appeared behind her, Lila recognized the sound all too well and turned around. There stood none other than her best friend, Iwa Kasumi.
"Lil"
Her gaze softened, "I"m back."
Kasumi ran over and flung her arms around her neck, tears in the girl"s eyes. "Welcome back."
"I"m home," she laughed, seeing her friends tears, "Don"t cry so much."
"This is because of you idiot."
"I will be more of an idiot in a second. Sorry, I need to ask for a troublesome favour. What venue is available now?"
"Why don"t you take my stage?" her Mother, who was silent this whole time, spoke up.
The reporters looked stunned, "But Sumire-san, your stage today is..."
Mother winked, "For my cute daughter"s stage, this sacrifice is small."
...
Jewel Dome
Small sacrifice?
This is the newly built dome -! It surprised Lila when she saw the place from the car. Mother"s career is flouris.h.i.+ng, that much she knew. But Lila didn"t think that Mother would perform on this new dome, which the idol board spent a lot of money on so soon. It"s supposed to be a legendary stage.
Everything from the seats to the floors was made with so much detail and care. Indeed, when Lila entered the place, she got that feeling. But even so, it still amazed her. Currently, she was backstage, Lila didn"t bother putting on any fancy clothing and just stuck to what she was wearing. It"s better this way.
A familiar place and familiar song, familiar people.
A long time has pa.s.sed since she performed here. In the months she left, surely a lot has changed. Like Haruka said things might not turn out the way she wants it too.
Lila saw it, the faces of doubt on the reporter"s faces. But that"s fine; she has to show them that she is serious.
"Thank you." Lila trailed and took a deep breath."There is something I need to tell everyone. In the years since I debuted, every year has become so significant to me. In these last years, and the past months, especially where a girl who knew nothing at all was able to experience many things. For me, singing is life. Its very precious to me. This last song is all for you. And also for one person in particular. A vital person, if it wasn"t for this person. I wouldn"t be here singing right now."
If it weren"t for him, she would have broken down a long time ago and stopped singing. It was painful, after all. Music stole not only Ren-san but even Mother. Even as a young child, that was something she understood very well. However, because he"s always been there for her no matter what, she"s made it this far. She"s been able to overcome so many obstacles.
Haruka is the person she loves.
But Austin Kiryu?
He plays a different role in her heart now, Haruka is right. She can"t completely dismiss him from her life.