CHAPTER 15

CREDITS TO : UTA NO PRINCE SAMA

The close relationship between Tokiya and Haruka was no longer a secret Saotome academy. The fact that one of the best students who had a top-notch singing and a promising composer always hung out together said it all. Recently, every single person in the academy could not help but feeling astounded with the fact that Haruka eventually could be chummy with Tokiya after the said guy kept giving her the cold shoulder before. They even could see Tokiya smiling so bright because of the composer.

While Haruka.. words could not describe how much she felt satisfied and over the moon with her life now. No matter how intense the hatred she had to face every single day for being the only girl who Ichinose Tokiya has acknowledged, no matter how much death glares and warnings she had to run into from the lunatic trio from her class (Yuna, Mizuki and Naomi), she had this cheesy feeling which convinced her that as long as Tokiya is there beside her, she could surpass everything that stood in her way.

Her focus was only to be a good family for Tokiya, as she promised him.

"The top student for this batch is..." Syo loyally gave some dramatic drum effects to Hyuga by knocking his against the table countlessly."Ichinose Tokiya! Congratulations!"

Tokiya's eyes widened a bit. He did not expect to get an A, let alone full marks for all subjects of the recent exam. Considering he was too busy with his job, passing out several times during recordings, sleeping on his desk when he only read his notes for five minutes, he did not expect that he would pass with flying colors.

While in A Class....

'Nanami, our Tokiya got the first rank in our batch.'

Yokatta! Haruka smiled upon reading the text from Syo while her head planned something for the blue head.

Thus, in the evening, Tokiya did not expect to bump into Haruka by the lake, along with her wide grin.

How beautiful, despite Haruka's suspicious expression, Tokiya could not help but admiring her beauty which strangely and lately charmed him. His eyes glanced at the pink bracelet that he gave to her before spontaneously and internally praising how the jewellery suited her small wrist perfectly.

What's wrong with my eyes lately? Why does she always look so beautiful every time I see her?

"Nanami-san, you look overly over the moon. Care to share with me?" He blurted out, considering that was the most sensible response he could give.

"How about you? Care to share with me?"

"About what?" He raised an eyebrow, obviously clueless. Sometimes, he did feel guilty because while this cute girl could read him like an open book, he always had no ideas about what the heck was she thinking.

If only he could learn more about this girl... He did feel interested in her, though.

"About how suddenly you disappeared after giving me this," Haruka raised her wrist at his eyel level. "Just so you know, this bracelet is so beautiful so it makes sense for me to thank you. Not to mention it comes from you but you just left me like that," she pouted in dissatisfaction.

"I was late for Hyuga sensei's class," He answered it quickly. Not in seven hells he would admit that the reason why he disappeared because he was about to explode because of embarrassment.

"I see.." She grinned again out of the blue before remarking, "By the way, I just heard from someone that there is something good happened to you today."

"Are you talking about the exam?" apparently, the blue head could only come up with the exam-related answer because that was the only thing that brightened up his day.

"Yes!"

"Then?"

"So?" the rosette widened her golden eyes, expecting Tokiya to get her right away.

"What so?"

"You passed it with flying colors, right?"

"Yes," Tokiya answered flatly, resembling a robot.

Feeling frustrated with the lackadaisical Tokiya, Haruka cupped his face, sending the guy shocked.

"Nanami-san, what are you doing?" the sudden contact from the girl managed to make him nervous. She always surprised him with her boldness, considering she was originally shy and timid.

"Ichinose-san, when your luck was in... I mean no matter how small-bore it is, you should share it with your family."

"You don't mind?" Tokiya asked, reluctantly. "You don't think that I am a pain in the neck?"

"Of course I don't, honey," she blurted out the word 'honey' out of her habit when she was alone with her husband, making Tokiya blushed and the worst thing was, she did not realize it. "Because I am your family. I want to know everything about you."

"But it's just an exam result. It's not that important.. In fact, I think it will sound more like a hard luck story," Tokiya tried to reason out but Haruka knew he just quoted it from his ignorant mother. Megumi made him believed that it was pointless to let others knew how much he was happy with his exam result. Instead, he was shooed and ordered to study more and got full marks.

"It's still important to me," her sweet voice and genuine eyes while staring straight at him melted his heart. "And it's not a hard luck story, Ichinose-san. Don't think yourself as that pathetic. You don't have to try to gain sympathy or attention from your family because a family is supposed to give you those from the start and that's what I give you now. I am here so that you will not feel alone anymore."

Tokiya bit his lips uncertainly even deep inside in his heart, he was so delighted with what Haruka had done to him.

"Well, if you say so, then I will give it a shot," his blue orbs met her eyes, struggling to focus on her. "Nanami-san..."

"Yes."

"I got the first rank. I guess that I just lucked out because during the exam, I had a fever and you know, it was so hard to focus on answering those papers when your head was so dizzy, your nose was stuffed up, not to mention that you had a tight schedule.. Frankly speaking, I still cannot believe that..."

"It's not surprising at all, Ichinose-san. No matter how tough your situation is, I know you can pull it off. You deserved that when you worked so hard to achieve your dream," the delicate hand stroked his hair down to his cheek. "Congratulations, honey."

It was an absolute silence the moment Haruka finally realized that she was addressed Tokiya way too tender.

"I.. I mean..Congratulations, Ichinose san.. Sorry for addressing you..."

"What about you? How do you feel today?" Tokiya quickly interrupted since he did not want her to feel guilty for calling him 'honey' when in fact...

Before he knew it, he liked it when she was affectionate with him.

"I feel happy to see you smiling a lot these days, Ichinose san. The feeling is the same when I confessed to my husband that I love him, when we had our wedding ceremony and when we were... no, I cannot choose because every seconds that I spent with him is the best moment ever."

"Do you still miss him?"

"So much," she smiled. Seemingly deep in thought, she kept caressing him. "But now, he is right in front of me, smiling because of his exam result and I am so happy for him."

"Na..Nanami san."

"Yes?"

"Did you always get bold like this with him? I mean... your hand.."

Apparently, Haruka did not even realize that her hand kept touching him and when she did, her hand already caressed his chest. At this rate, she would not be surprised if Tokiya considered to sue her for sexual harrassment when initially, she claimed that she just wanted to be his family without involving her romantic feeling towards him.

Yet, so far, it seems inconceivable for her to suppress her feeling when he was around.

"I am sorry, Ichinose-san!" she suddenly stood up and bowed 135 degrees, sending him jumped a bit. "I am sorry if what I did making you felt sexually harrassed! Please forgive me for my shamelessness!"

"It's.. okay," he could not help but admiring her cuteness and randomness. "Considering that you miss your husband so much, I guess, it can't be helped."

Sexually harrassed? Not at all. He just felt awkward because apparently, they were just friends or family.

"But you did feel uncomfortable, right? I can see that your body is so stiff."

This girl.. I really can't hide anything from her.

"Well, maybe because you suddenly become my 'family' yet I don't know anything about you... so somehow, it makes me feeling bad and weird."

"Eh?"

"I don't mind if you tell me about you, though.. I don't even know about your family members."

Okay, how come she did not even think about it?

"Well, if you say so... It's my pleasure to tell you about me."

"Where are you heading to after this, Ichinose-san?" Haruka asked as she finished telling him about herself.

Tokiya was about to answer her when she swiftly guessed, "Perhaps, are you going to visit your father's grave?"

Before Tokiya could even show her a 'how do you know?' face, she quickly added, "Because it really sounded like you to tell your late father about your exam result. My late husband said, it is kind of a ritual for him to let his father knows everything about him."

"Yeah, you are right. And you know what? With you, I don't even need to talk much because you always know what am I up to," he remarked playfully, sending the rosette chuckled out of slight embarrassment.

"I am sorry."

"It's okay. Then, how about you? Where are you going after this?"

"Probably straight to my room. I don't have any plan anyway.."

"Do you want to join me instead?"

"Can I!?" she suddenly jumped from the bench which she was sitting and stared at Tokiya happily. "Do you mean.. I can join you visiting otousan... I mean... your late father?"

"Yes," her dramatic reaction whenever he said something 'exciting or unexpected' for her was something that Tokiya grew accustomed to nowadays.

"It's been a while since I visited his grave. I miss him already!"

Her spontaneous remark sending the blue head next to her curved a smile.

Otousan, I am going to introduce you with Nanami Haruka, the girl who changed my life.

"Otousan.. I am here with my friend, Nanami Haruka. I asked her to see you."

"Douzo yoroshiku, otou.. I mean ojisan," she bowed her head as a sign of respect.

When Tokiya was staring intently at the grave while forming a bitter smile, it really reminded Haruka with the future him since she always accompanied him to be here.

"Otousan.. I am sorry for rarely visiting you nowadays. I had a pile of Hayato works and I have practices for our upcoming debut. Yes, it is tough and I was sick for a few times but.." his bright eyes met Haruka's. "I met a bunch of awesome friends who strive together with me. A bunch of friends who I had never thought that I will have fun with because..you know me, right, otousan? I am terrible when it comes to make friends. And just so you know, Nanami-san here is the composer for our debut song. Her song is so awesome and I can't help but getting excited for our debut as STARISH. My contract as Hayato will expire soon so please, otousan... please pray for me.. Please watch our performance."

It was a pregnant silence until...

"Please, ojisan! Please watch your son's performance!" a cute voice suddenly sounded enthusiatic, much to Tokiya's shock.

"Nanami san?"

"Ichinose-san, can I talk with your father?"

"Sure," with his still perplexed look, Tokiya moved along, giving her a space.

"Just so you know, I used to talk to him a lot when I came here with my husband," her confession just made Tokiya's heart thumped faster. "Konbanwa, ojisan. I am Nanami Haruka, your son's friend and the composer for his debut song. I am sorry for shamelessly following your son here but I really want to tell you something."

Tokiya gave her a questioning look but she just smiled, giving him 'just wait and see' look.

"Your son is so amazing," Haruka blurted out cheerfully, making Tokiya looked more perplexed. "I bet he is the son that every single mother in Japan wishes. He is not only charming and smart but he is also hardworking and very goal-oriented. Considering way he admires you, I can tell that he resembles you so much. And I can tell that you are also a very good father for him."

"Guess what? In our academy, your son was voted as The Sexiest Prince, together with his classmate. I mean.. ah, ojisan, no, no. Please don't misunderstand.. He is not sexy in that kind of way. Compared to Jinguji-san who always lost his shirt buttons and very flirtatious, your son always wears his uniform properly and doesn't talk much with girls. Just look at him here right now. This is the way he wears his uniform everyday."

"Nanami-san, to be honest, just what are you trying to tell my father?"

But Haruka ignored it. Instead, she kept talking as if Ichinose Akira was actually right in front of her, all smiling at her.

"He is sexy because he is hardworking, talented and inspirational. For me, his singing is the one that inspired me to be a composer. Originally, I want to be a composer because I want to create a beautiful music like Hayato. I want Hayato to sing my song someday. But after I know more about your son, I must say that I grow to.. I grow to like him more than just a fan to a celebrity."

For nth time, this Nanami Haruka made his heart beat faster with her sincerity and devotion.

But what happened next was something that almost made him pulling her into his embrace if it was not because their merely and so-called family relationship.

"To tell you the truth, ojisan, I.. I love your son. I love him so much but since love is forbidden among idols so I promised him to be his family instead. I don't want him to feel lonely anymore. I just want him to smile everyday. I want him to achieve his dream without the need to suffer anymore because to be honest.."

Haruka's loving face expression suddenly turned stern as she glared at Tokiya, sending the idol flinched.

"What's with the glare?"

Again, he was ignored. Instead, she pointed out her index finger, barely touched his pointed nose.

"This charming son of yours leads a very bad lifestyle. Despite his young age, he works too much like a robot. He skips his meals often, he suffers sleep deprivation, he passed out several times but he still works too much. As his friends, we tried to make him enjoying his life more but instead of getting less workaholic, he works harder while enjoying his life with us so to put it simply, we just made him more tired. So, please, ojisan! By all means, please stop your beloved son from living like a robot. Anything can do like.. maybe you can show up in his dream and be a ghost.."

"Nanami-san!" Tokiya could not resist himself from screaming because of the ridicule that she just blurted out, out of nowhere.

Otousan, to be honest, I still can't understand this girl. The way her mind works is so complicated. Are girls generally like this?

"Are you... perhaps, Hayato.." the taxi driver asked as they arrived in front of Saotome Academy front gate.

"No, I am not. I am his twin brother."

Haruka's jaw dropped. Instead of answering the taxi driver's question with his notorious glower, Tokiya even smiled chummily at the said guy, standing in front of the driver's side.

I guess that he starts to accept Hayato as the part of himself.

Out of the blue, her phone rang before showing 'Tomo-chan' name on the screen.

"Moshi-moshi."

"Haruka! Where are you? Are you already in our room? I am so bored! I am supposed to attend a Piyo-chan fan meeting but Shinomiya-kun did not show up yet."

"Eh? How long have you been there?" Haruka could hear noises and Piyo-chan's theme song mixed in the background.

"About 40 minutes?"

"For real? Maybe he is lost? Syo-kun used to tell me that Shinomiya-san easily gets lost."

"Ehh? He has no sense of direction like you?"

"Tomo-chan, that's mean!"

While Haruka was busy entertaining the bored Tomochika, she could spot an accelerated black car, coming from out of nowhere.

It should not be a problem for the driver of the said car to dash that fast but..

Wait... Why is he dashing towards..

"Ichinose-san!" as the thought of a black car who used to ruin her marriage before hit her, she threw herself towards Tokiya, attempting to save him.

A few seconds passed and with Tokiya beneath her, she could see the mysterious car which almost hit them quickly left the scene but her concern only grew to one person.

A guy that she never afforded to lose again.

"Ichinose-san, are you.. are you okay?" with her insanely trembling voice, she slowly moved from him.

"I am okay," Tokiya struggled to calm himself down but the sight of Haruka staring at his head confused him.

That was when he felt a pain from the back of his head, followed by blood flowing endlessly.

"Are you guys alright? Oh my God, son, you're bleeding!" the taxi driver exclaimed in shock as he approached the couple.

And again, Haruka could feel that the pain and trauma that she used to move on from so hard maliciously haunted her.

Not to mention that her instinct strongly told her that the driver of the cryptic car intended to kill Tokiya.

"Ichinose Tokiya! Eh, what gives?" a nurse who called out the blue head's name was surprised to see a cute and entertaining scene which most probably never happened in the clinic.

It was the sight where the called patient, Ichinose Tokiya, who unlike other typical patient who will be comforted or pampered by whoever that brings him there, was the one who did those two verbs instead to a sobbing girl named Nanami Haruka.

"Nanami-san, please don't cry anymore. I am okay," while stopping blood from flowing with the rosette's handkerchief, Tokiya's other hand stroked her shoulder awkwardly, attempting to comfort her.

"I am sorry... I can't help it," Haruka covered her tears-stained face with her delicate hands.

People around them started to gossip about them.

"What a cute couple!"

"What's with his girlfriend? Crying like a spoiled brat!"

"Maybe she just loves her boyfriend too much. So lucky."

"I think the one who is lucky is the wimp. She is going out with Hayato's twin brother."

Nobody in the clinic knew what caused the composer to have hard time to stop crying. Nobody in the clinic would never guess that the young and innocent-looking girl used to be the witness of her husband's tragic death. Nobody could guess that this currently shivering girl suffered from a severe trauma before.

"Ichinose Tokiya!" the nurse called out again and this time, she managed to gain attention from the said blue head.

"Coming," Tokiya raised from his seat. "Nanami-san, I am going to see the doctor. Don't worry too much, okay?"

A few minutes after Tokiya left her, the other STARISH members and Tomochika arrived, gaining themselves the spotlight due to their good looks.

"Haruka, are you okay? Where is Ichinose-san?" Tomochika swiftly hugged Haruka.

"I am okay. He is in the doctor's room," she murmured.

"Is he okay? How's the bleeding?" Otoya asked.

"Luckily it doesn't flow that much. He is still fully conscious."

"What's exactly happened, Nanami? Do you know who is the driver?" Masato asked,impatiently.

"Yeah. Why the hell did he want to hit Tokiya?" Syo demanded.

Haruka lifted her head up, looking at each of her worried friends with her still watery eyes.

"Minnasan.. the guy intended to kill Tokiya-kun."

They gasped in shock.

"This is just my instinct but what if... this guy is also the one who killed him before?"

They could feel the goosebumps just from listening to her because there was a possibility that the mysterious guy held a revenge against Tokiya since a long time ago.

As the doctor's room's door was open, Ren was ready with his spontaneous plan, right after he saw how scared Haruka was with the possibility that Tokiya would be in a hot water again.

"Guys, please follow me for a while," Ren dragged Syo and Otoya who he could reach conveniently.

"Eh? What the heck?" Syo tried to resist but it was impossible to overcome the ex-playboy's strength.

"Nanami is still sad, Ren. We can't just leave her here," Otoya also tried to protest.

"That's why you guys have to follow me. Come on, guys! We will be right back," thank God Tokiya took a while to come out so Ren's plan would not be seen through.

"That guy," Tomochika sighed heavily before stroking Haruka's shoulder. "We'll be back, okay? Everything will be fine."

Haruka just nodded weakly.

As soon as they left Haruka, Ren asked them to hide behind a nearby wall.

"Just what are you planning to do, Jinguji?" Masato asked in annoyance.

"Little Lamb is sad," Ren answered nonchalantly without being aware that he just acted nonsensical.

"We know!" all of them shouted in unison and out of anger.

"That's why we should be with her instead of standing here!" Cecil shouted impatiently.

"And that's why we asked you, what the heck are you planning, Jinguji?" Masato asked again but with the 'please give us a reasonable excuse or you will never see the sunset again, Jinguji Ren!' aura.

"Little Lamb is sad," Ren quickly added before Syo could clobber him. "And I think Icchi can take care of her. All she needs right now is a comfort from Icchi and she will be fine. After all, she is worried about him. What else will be more comforting other than the person you are worrying about says that he is fine, right? All you guys have to do is counting on me. I have a plan for Icchi."

Their menacing face expression and aura gradually turned softer.

"Ren-kun is right! What else will be more comforting for Haru-chan than a hug from Tokiya-kun?" Natsuki grinned excitedly.

"Yeah, you are right," Syo admitted with the 'I can't believe this philanderer can be this thoughful' look at Ren.

"I hate to say this but I will agree with you on this just because it is for the sake of Nanami," Masato acknowledged.

"I used to be a ladies' man, you know. Of course I know what a girl wants the most," Ren remarked proudly.

"Yeah, that makes sense," Tomochika chuckled before her eyes widened. "Ah, Ichinose-san is coming."

Those eyes with different colors immediately focused on the those love birds-to-be.

"Ichinose-san, are you okay?" Haruka touched the bandage around Tokiya's head. There was a small red spot on it. "Does it still hurt? Do you feel dizzy?"

It broke their hearts how neurotic Haruka looked right now.

"Yes, I am okay. The doctor says that it will take a few days to recover."

"Yokatta," the rosette breathed a sigh of relief. She looked down, attempting to cover her trembling hands.

And this is when Jinguji Ren, the sudden and official love specialist of the clinic came to Tokiya's rescue.

Ren waved slowly, attempting to gain himself attention, only from Tokiya.

"You guys," before Tokiya could react more, Ren gestured him with 'shhh'.

"Hug her. She is worried about you so you should comfort her."

That was what Ren suggested, using his invented sign language.

But all he gained was a short and awkward attempt of Tokiya, patting the rosette's shoulder which caused the scion mentally facepalmed.

"That's not how you do it, Icchi," he mumbled in frustration, sending the others chuckled except for Masato who just rolled his eyes. The rest of them suddenly found that this situation was amusing.

It became more amusing when Ren suddenly grabbed Syo to stand still before hugging him affectionately, much to the small boy's disgust. "Icchi, like this. Hug her like this!"

"Oi, Ren! What the hell are you doing!? Let me go!"

"Just shut up," Ren's sudden determination to help the naive Tokiya got the better of him. For the first time in everyone's life, Ren lost his laid-back image. "Icchi, hug her like this!"

"What? No!" Tokiya's eyes widened in horror. "It's awkward."

"Just hug her like this, Tokiya-kun," without anyone realizing, Natsuki and Cecil already hugged each other. "And she will surely hug you back like this."

"Cut it out already, you guys. Do you have no shame?" Masato could not stand with the scene of two pair of guys hugging like that. It looked way more disturbing and embarrassing when other people started to glare and stare at them.

With a disapproved but blushed face, Tokiya slowly tried to hold her but...

To reach her shoulder possibly took more than a minute, much to Ren's annoyance.

"Icchi, why are you so slow?" Ren sighed before abruptly approaching the couple.

"Ara.. Lady, are you still sad?" Ren suddenly put an act, as if he just showed up from God-knows-who. He took a seat next to the composer while secretly giving a smirk to the perplexed Tokiya.

"Jinguji-san.."

"Come, let me comfort you," as Ren was about to pull Haruka into his embrace, Tokiya, who let his body reacted first before his mind could even think swiftly pulled the said girl into his arms instead.

Before he knew it, just the thought of Haruka being hugged by someone else other than him triggered him.

While Haruka was blushed with the sudden but warm contact, Tokiya gave a 'don't you dare' glare to Ren who later smirked before giving 'then, do it properly' look back to the blue head.

"What a smooth move, Ren," Otoya exclaimed in awe.

"What do you expect from Jinguji, Ittoki? Of course this is his expertise," Masato remarked.

"Yeah, you are right. Just with that simple plan, we can see that Tokiya maybe has a feeling to Nanami," Syo commented, gaining himself nods from the others.

"So, are you okay with the 'pillow' around you, Little Lamb?"

"Jinguji-san/Ren!!" Haruka and Tokiya blushed madly while shouting in unison.

"Maybe way too smooth," Tomochika chuckled.

Thanks for ChiToNaru-san and XHaquaX-san for your votes and comments! You pumped me up, indeed!

Sooo, how was the chapter? Do you like it? I am sorry if Tokiya looked OOC here, with him blushing and getting nervous like that.. I only saw him keeping his cool face all the time in anime and I never played Utapri games so I don't know if he will blush madly because of Haruka. I just realized that we are already in chapter 15, but they still did not go out yet so I was like... oh my, their progression is too slow. I am sorry if the slowness bored you guys. I think it's natural for Tokiya to take time to open up and love somebody but when he does... you can expect more romantic stuffs from him. I am not good with writing romantic stories but I will try my best!