CREDITS TO: UTA NO PRINCE SAMA and Japan-guide.com, gurunavi.com (for the table manners information)

CHAPTER 4

It was morning but not typical.

Why? First of all, Masato did not cook for his friends. Instead, he brought his own favourite melon bread with a poker face and ate it quietly. The others eyed each other before jumping to the conclusion that Masato most probably was jaded to feed them when they were not even his baby birds. So, Syo, Cecil, Natsuki and Otoya ended up cooking something simple for themselves (which initially failed for three times before Ren came later to save them).

But the 'not typical' term did not stop there.

Masato turned scarily quiet today. Usually, as soon as his friends joined him, he would lecture about their table manners.

"Kurusu, where is your 'osaki ni itadakimasu'?"

"Otoya, don't play like that! Your chopstick is not a drumstick!"

"Don't blow your nose when you are eating, Aijima!!"

But today, he was the one who did not state 'osaki ni itadakimasu'.

They tried to make him nagged by disobeying several types of table manners but to no avail. Heck, even Cecil was deliberately being disgusting by belching, munching his food loudly and blowing his nose but he still did not gain any response from the blue head.

"Oi, what's wrong with him?" Feeling unsettled, Syo whispered to Cecil before gaining himself a shrug from the prince.

"He's just depressed. Don't bother about it," Ren answered as he took a sip of tea.

"But, he did not say his beloved 'osaki ni itadakimasu'. Is that weird?"

"Yeah, he's acting weird because he's depressed, Ochibi-chan," Ren rolled his eyes. He wondered why Syo always had a tendency to make a fuss when all he had to do is ignoring the person who obviously needs some privacy like Masato.

"What's he so depressed about, Ren-kun?" Natsuki asked as he noticed that Masato just grew a pair of dark circles.

"Because of Icchi.."

"Eh? Why?"

"Ne, Masa.." Otoya glanced at the said blue head.

"Hm?"

"When Tokiya is suddenly happy and smiled 24 hours a day, what does that mean?" Otoya asked, innocently.

"What kind of question is that, Otoya? Of course he is suddenly happy because he is happy. He smiles because he is happy," Syo answered according to his logic.

"No. It means an apocalypse," Masato answered, flatly and lifelessly. If this is an anime, most probably you could see a soul desperately tried to escape from his body.

"Ehhhhh? Why, though? Is Tokiya's happiness is as sinister as an apocalypse?" Syo questioned in horror. "Not to mention you looked so stressed out nowadays, Hijirikawa. All this time, you will be anxious like okachan when Tokiya is sad but now, when Tokiya is happy, you are sad instead. Just what the hell?"

"Just shut up, Kurusu! I am not in the mood to tell a bedtime story now!" Masato snapped, enough to make other students in the whole cafeteria flinched. "And you, Aijima! Stop blowing your nose!!"

"Itaiii! Masato, itaiii!!"

"You don't know, Ochibi-chan? Icchi has disturbed Hijirikawa so often nowadays," while Masato pulled Cecil's ear for still being uncouth about Japanese table manners, Ren explained the circumstance to the curious Syo. "Don't you realize that Icchi has not been like himself recently? He looked strangely happy."

"Which made this school looked strangely flowery," Natsuki pointed out while his eyes wandered around the cafeteria. It was full of roses with various colors, much to everyone's 'what the heck?'- type of confusion. "But still, they are all cute!"

"If roses popped out so many like this, maybe it means one thing. Icchi has fallen in love," Ren's random but witty guess sent Masato to flinch before stopping victimized Cecil's ear.

Damn.. If these guys know who that idiot loves.. It will be disastrous. What should I do?

"Eh, Tokiya is falling in love? That can't be.." Otoya still looked dubious since Tokiya was not someone that you could associate with love. He never saw Tokiya got interested in any girls before. "But come to think of it, yeah, it does make sense. Considering he didn't even scold me when we bumped into each other in our room.. Instead he.."

"Ah, Otoya. Okairi! Got a late practice, huh?"

That was how Tokiya greeted him in their room yesterday. I repeat, he GREETED, not SCOLDED. His voice was way too happy, much to the red head's fright.

"He said 'okairi' to me, Masa! Can you believe that, huh? Can you believe that?" Otoya resisted himself to show just how shocked he was with Tokiya's dramatic change until he was alone with Masato so that the others would not get the idea that receiving 'okairi' from Tokiya was not normal at all.

"No. I don't really believe that unless something so great happened to him recently."

Which is Shibuya Tomochika, of course. I am supposed to thank her but for some reasons, I cannot do so, Masato mentally commented. Thanks to whatever Tomochika had done to make the glum Tokiya turned delighted again, Masato who was not supposed to be the cast of this pathetic drama was the main victim now.

Why? Because since three days ago, he had to run away when he saw Tokiya because once they met eyes, Tokiya would...

"Masa!! She came to talk to me! She said she understood me!"

And he would hug Masato, much to the scion's disgust. Yes, they used to do that a lot because Tokiya was a cute child who needed affection anyway. But that was 10 years ago. In this contemporary era where boys no longer feel comfortable to express affection to each other without being assumed as homosexual, one would see a pair of guys hugged each other with one of them got overexcited and cheesy as something either indecent or sweet, depending on one's mindset.

Especially when the dramatic scene came from Tokiya and Masato, a pair of cool and charismatic guys who the pianist was aware that everybody in this school shipped them together. Heck, he just recently found from Natsuki that a female student had created a website whereby they could upload fanfictions about STARISH and much to his dismay, Hijirikawa Masato/Ichinose Tokiya pairing is the most popular one.

He just could not imagine how the earth would turn into once his orthodox father, Masaomi knew about the nonsensical pairing. He would find just any random daughter of his business acquaintances to be the pianist's fiancée just to hide his sexual preference (which in reality, he is straight because he is in love with Nanami Haruka). Masaomi would forbid him from being close to Tokiya and Otoya which were the last thing that he wanted to do.

He really loves the siblings, though. They are his precious friends.

But for the God sake, he needed to do something right now because not only Masato needed to endure the lunatic Tokiya but he was also bombarded with countless questions from others.

"Hijirikawa, are you sure Ichinose is feeling well? You know... it's nice when he looks happy but to grin 24/7 like a clown.. I think you should bring him to a doctor," Hyuga Ryuya, S Class homeroom teacher asked. Yeah, the buff teacher was concerned like other teachers and there was nothing wrong with that but...

'But I am not his mother, Hyuga sensei' was what Masato wanted to say. Why was he the one who should bring Tokiya to see a doctor? That idiot could go there by himself if he was concerned enough about his mental welfare!

But the worst part itself was when Masato was summoned by Shining Saotome, their intimidating principal...

"I noticed that Mr. Ichinose has been over the moon. Something happened, Mr. Hijirikawa?"

'Why don't you ask him yourself? I am not his mother, principal' was what Masato really, really wanted to say but as much as he hated his mundane life now, he did not want to die just because he was churlish to Saotome.

"I guess he is just happy with his test result," Masato replied as natural as possible but that just made the legendary celebrity turned more confused and suspicious.

"Oh, is that so? But these floating flowers never existed before when in fact, he always gets an excellent test result," Saotome looked around, getting amazed to see those flowers around him. "See around here. These flowers are pretty, aren't they?"

"Yes, they are. I am pretty sick of it, though," Masato mumbled.

"What did you say, Mr. Hijirikawa?"

"Nah, nothing," Masato flinched.

"I love this atmosphere. It gives us a very welcoming and heart-warming atmosphere which suits our academy's vision and mission well. If there is anything that can make Mr. Ichinose happy until he can produce something flowery like this, please inform me."

"E.. Excuse me?"

"And so, I was assigned to find a way so that Tokiya that jerk will always be happy," Masato ended his story with a heavy sigh. Hopefully, the kind-hearted Otoya would empathize with him.

"Wow, that's tough.." Otoya was clearly showing sympathy but somehow, it looked downright insulting.

"Don't 'that's tough' me! Does he think that he is Haruhi Suzumiya or something? Changing his environment like a boss!? But wait.." Masato's outburst stopped immediately. His blue eyes suddenly brightened, much to Otoya's bewilderment.

"Masa?"

"Otoya, do you want to be closer to your brother?" Masato grabbed the red head's hand, seemingly desperate for a 'yes'.

"Of course I want. Why?"

"Then, listen. This is your chance. The fact that he could say 'okairi' to you when he couldn't even see the tip of your hair previously means what? It means what, Otoya!?" Masato urged. As if he really needed Otoya to get the picture as soon as possible or else, he would be dead meat.

"It means he started to get chummy with me?"

"No, not really. It means he is too happy to be bothered with his dislike to you. So all you have to do is you need to find the source of his happiness. I know Tokiya. When he is happy, he needs someone to listen to his ramble 24/7 and all you have to do is being THAT unfortunate person."

"But Masa, he has you already.."

"No, he has another option which is you! I know your relationship with him is not that good so use this chance to make the opposite."

"But how?"

"I'll show you. All you have to do is counting on me, Otoya!" Masato's lifeless face suddenly turned unnecessarily heroic.

I don't know how this may turn out but it's not wrong to give it a shot, right? After all, I just want to see Otoya happy with his brother.

"If you want to get closer to Tokiya, first of all, you need to get close to him," Masato stated as soon as they both agreed to launch their secret plan.

"Ehh? Why are you stating the obvious, Masa? I always try to get affable with him but just like what you see, he just cold-shoulders me," Otoya pouted.

"It's because your method is wrong, Otoya. First of all, please follow me but only one condition."

"What is it?"

"Whatever happens after this, don't associate my name with your mission, no matter what happen. Just pretend that you come up with all of this by yourself because if Tokiya knows, he will kill me for sure."

So here he was, outside a practice room with Masato, peeking at Tokiya who sang 'Fall in Love' by Tae Yang (Big Bang) and Thelma Aoyama with Tomochika. Their sweet voices blended well together and if they kept practicing together, it would not be surprising if the principal assigned them to debut as a duo. Their looks and talents would bring more money for sure.

"Okay, good. They are having fun," Masato muttered before turning to meet eyes with Otoya. "Our class will have Ringo sensei's class in five minutes while S Class doesn't have one so Shibuya will leave the room first. Since Ringo sensei will start his class late, I want you, Otoya to continue peeking at Tokiya. In less than five seconds, you will know what his secret is."

"Eh? That easy!?" Otoya could not contain his shock as he spontaneously shouted, much to Masato's panic. He quickly dragged Otoya to hide as he could predict that Tokiya and Tomochika would hear them and take a look outside.

"Eh? Is there anybody outside?" Tomochika's voice echoed before they could hear footsteps approached them.

"Hm.. No one," it was Tokiya who hung his head outside before walking his way back to the mic.

"Idiot," Masato muttered angrily at the sheepish Otoya.

"Sorry," Otoya followed Masato to continue with their peeks.

"So, Tokiya-kun, I guess I have to leave first. It's fun to sing with you."

"Owh, is that so? Okay, then. See you again. I also have fun," Otoya swore, the way Tokiya looked at Tomochika was the most friendly and affectionate he had ever seen when the blue head hanged out with a girl.

"Thanks. So, at what time?"

"Excuse me?" Tokiya sounded confused.

"Owh, I thought that we will still practice together after this," Tomochika obviously looked dejected and it piqued Otoya's curiosity. "It was so fun to spend time with you, Tokiya-kun. It's okay. Never mind.."

"Wait!" Tokiya quickly grabbed Tomochika's hand, stopped her from leaving him abruptly. "I am sorry. That's not what I meant. I mean... I do have this high hope whereby I want to practice singing with you every day. It's nice to spend time with you every day because to tell you the truth, I.. I lo.."

Tomochika turned to meet eyes with Tokiya but the blue head suddenly stuttered.

Seriously, Tokiya? You are going to confess to her now? Then, my plan to make Otoya gets chummy with you will be failed, Masato anxiously waited for the confession to happen even he originally rooted for the couple.

"You what?" Tomochika encouraged as she smiled.

"I mean.. I really want to sing with you again. Tomorrow, at three o'clock will be nice, right? See you tomorrow," Tokiya suddenly ruined the mood as he gave up to confess what he really felt about the gorgeous girl who stole his heart. Instead, he spoke way too fast about another topic.

"Eh?" Tomochika and the peeking duo outside the practice room had this 'what the heck?' expression over their faces.

The scenery around them had been quite romantic just now, right?

"Tokiya-kun, are you sure that's what you are trying to tell me?" Apparently, Tomochika is not the annoying female lead who had her harem confessed their loves right in front of her faces but still remained clueless.

"Ye..yes. Ah, you have a class right? Why don't you go now?"

"Ah, you are right. See you tomorrow, Tokiya-kun," the girl grabbed her blazer and bag before heading to her class.

A few seconds passed...

"Okay, Otoya. Shibuya left so I will leave the rest to you, okay? Good luck!" Masato patted Otoya's back before leaving the spot.

"Wait, Masa! Chotto!" Otoya got panicky as Masato left him in speechlessness and confusion. Just what exactly was he supposed to do?

"Shut up! He will hear you!" Masato desperately hushed the noisy red head as he ran away before completely disappeared.

It was such a silent corridor.

"Huh, silent? Why so silent? What the heck is Tokiya doing? Is he taking a break?" Otoya mumbled as he approached the door.

The next thing he saw was the sight that he never expected would come from Ichinose Tokiya, the so-called perfect school idol aka his mean brother.

He could see clearly that Tokiya was grinning like an idiot while staring at a picture in his hand.

Without having the slightest afraid to die at such young age for invading Tokiya's privacy, Otoya walked his way towards Tokiya.

"Fuh, that was close... I almost confessed to her..."

"Then why didn't you?" Otoya's nonchalant question sent Tokiya to scream at the top of his lungs. In the blink of an eye, the 'whatever' that Tokiya held flew away before...

It landed straight onto Otoya's shoe.

"What are... Huh, Tomo-chan!?" Otoya exclaimed as she picked up the picture of Tomochika and Tokiya. Tokiya looked nervous while Tomochika had her hand held Tokiya's shoulder while smiling brightly.

At that time, Tokiya was praying that the earth would open widely and swallow him instead as Otoya stared at it in awe. His expression was like a kid who just saw a lollipop for the first time.

"Hey, why are you keeping her picture?" Otoya asked, inquisitively.

"It's none of your business, Otoya! Give it to me!" Tokiya shouted while his pale-skinned face turned as red as tomato.

"But.."

If I tell him that Masa asked me to dig his secret, Masa will die for sure. What should I answer him instead?

"No buts! Give it to me!"

"Why did you stare at your picture and Tomo-chan like that?" As Otoya was too shocked, amazed and confused at the same time, the guitarist did not even care to keep his voice down to save Tokiya's life.

Tokiya was too embarrassed to answer. If Otoya was smart and sensible enough, he should get the picture by now.

The fact that a boy with no dating experiences suddenly stared and got interested in one particular girl... what else did it mean, though?

That was it. Tokiya's life was finished. Otoya would know his deepest and the most mortifying secret that he only dared to share with Masato. The scion would never blackmail him but Otoya...

He really hated Otoya to the point of he did not care to learn more about his personality including either Otoya had a tendency to blackmail someone who has been so mean to him all this time or vice versa.

"The confession just now.. does it mean you love Tomo-chan?"

Bingo!

Tokiya could feel a big 'Tomo-chan' word, written in Hiragana style just smashed him right across his face.

"No, I don't!"

"Then, why are you.. Why are you staring at her picture!? You never glanced at any girls let alone staring at their pictures! Spit it,Tokiya! This is the gold chance for me! I don't want to let it slide!" Otoya looked eerily happy and it chilled Tokiya to the bone.

"Yes, I like her. Satisfied!? Now give it to me now and go away!" Tokiya snapped as he knew how stubborn Otoya could be. The more important thing was to get back the picture or else, the possibility that somebody outside the room would eavesdrop and give the game away would be higher.

At this rate, his close relationship with Tomochika would go downhill and the girl would never treat him in the same way again which led to..

THE END of the chronicle of Tokiya's first love.

"Owh, sure," as Tokiya snatched the precious picture from him, Otoya just gazed at his brother with an unreadable expression but that alone was enough to make the blue head turned pissed off.

"What's with the face? Did you enjoy it that much when you knew my secret? Do you want to blackmail me now?" Tokiya asked helplessly.

"No," the emotionless face suddenly curved in a satisfied grin.

This's it! This is what Masa wanted me to find! Tokiya loves Tomo-chan! Yeayyy! I will root for this couple for sure! Otoya mentally gave himself a pat on his back.

"Or do you want to laugh at me for being a loser? Then feel free to do so," Tokiya provoked, much to Otoya's bewilderment.

"Me? Laugh? Why would I? In fact, I am happy for you because you love her. Tomo-chan is a nice girl anyway so you and she will be a great couple," Otoya remarked sincerely.

"No, I am not. Masato always said that she is too nice for me," Tokiya turned sheepish before internally scolding himself to come to his senses. Why did he suddenly feel flattered by Otoya's compliment?

"Nope. I think you guys will make a great couple. It's nice to see you smile at her like that and she also seemed enjoying your company."

"Do you think so?" Tokiya asked.

"Yes!" Otoya exclaimed. "But why didn't you confess to her, though? It's apparently a universal common sense to confess to the girl that you like. Plus, you and her in a good term so why not?"

"It's hard.."

"So, there is something that even the perfect Ichinose Tokiya cannot do, huh?" Otoya smirked suggestively.

"Of course there is! I am not perfect at all but those people keep exaggerating things about me. I still have tons of things that I cannot do, you know?" Tokiya whined like a child, enough to make Otoya chuckled.

"Including how you cannot scoop goldfish to save your life, right?" Otoya puffed out his cheeks to restrain himself from laughing. "I still remember how your face looked like when I could scoop them easily. It seemed like you just had been punched."

"Yeah, said someone who kept pestering me to bring him to the ghost house because he wanted to see ōnryo but ended up running away for his life. You know.. I can see how those ghosts felt bored because they couldn't creep me out," Tokiya narrowed his eyes, playfully insulted Otoya.

They laughed as they continued reminiscing about their childhood and after their mother's death, that was the first time for Otoya to talk nicely and laugh together with his brother.

It would be good if their conversation remained as nice as this..

"Then, should I help you?" Otoya suddenly asked.

"Hm? Helping me as in..?"

"Tomo-chan and you.. Let me help you, Tokiya. Tomo-chan and I are quite close so I can match her schedule with you so that you guys can meet often."

"Seriously?" All of sudden, Tokiya could feel a particular guilt that never existed in him stung his chest. All this time, he was pessimistic about Otoya to the point of he was convinced that the red head would blackmail him after learning about his embarrassing secret.

"Yup. If it's not much trouble for you.." the red head smiled sincerely.

"Thank you, Otoya," the blue head smiled back, much to Otoya's ultra happiness.

Thank you, Masa, Otoya mentally thought as he was served with a very charming and sincere smile from Tokiya. It was something that he missed the most from his brother.

"Waaaaaahhhh, Tokiya is smiling at me! I am so happy!!" Otoya could not contain his thrill as he jumped and hugged Tokiya tightly.

"Waaaa, Otoya! Let me go! I can't breathe!" Tokiya's face turned red again and that was the first time he could relate to Masato when somebody shamelessly hugged him with excessive affection. No wonder Masato kept running away from him.

"Wait! I just forgot that I have a class!" Otoya shouted in horror before pulling away from Tokiya.

That was the only thing that saved Tokiya from being squeezed by his brother. He collapsed dramatically while happily breathing oxygen.

"I got to go now! See you in dorm, Tokiya! Let's plan for your confession later! Byeeee!" The red head waved his hand in rush before storming away from the practice room.

For the rest of the day, even he was scolded and punished by Ringo for being extremely late, it did not stop the red head from grinning like a clown and emitting those imaginary flowers around the school like Tokiya because..

He just gained attention from Tokiya back. His brother aka his family member had acknowledged his presence after cold-shouldering him for years.

He would help Tokiya at any cost. He would make Tokiya feel that he was lucky to have Otoya as his brother.

May his plan to help Tokiya turn successful.

Meanwhile...

"Why this school turned more flowery than usual?" Haruka pointed out when they had a group activity in class.

"Look over there, Haru-chan," Natsuki patted her shoulder before pointing towards the grinning Otoya who instead of joining the group discussion, he smiled alone at his seat with his hands supported his chin.

"Otoya-kun?"

They did not realize that Masato was clutching his head, internally crying as he scanned those imaginary flowers around him.

"Urgggh! I forgot that they are siblings after all.."

Poor Masato P Nevertheless, please let me know what do you think about this chapter, okay? Matta neee!!