Chapter 7: Getting kidnapped by my bias’ coworker: Kudo Shigeru

The next day, I went to school like usual. But the thing that wasn’t in my normal routine was that I got abducted by Kudo Shigeru.

As I was on my way to school, he suddenly pulled his car next to the pedestrian that I was walking and came out looking very suspiciously.

“Hey~ Kumiko-chan! Do you remember me?” He pulled down his sunglasses and took off his mask.

“Shi-” I covered my mouth, trying to not expose his identity to the other passerby. He smiled at me while covering his face again.

“Why are you here?!” I frantically tried to keep my voice down but his suspicious appearance caused other pedestrians to look curiously at him.

“Hey, isn’t that a celebrity?” I heard some people whisper about him. “It may be the end of the summer, but isn't it way too hot to cover your face in this weather?”

Kudo Shigeru, hearing this, grabbed my arm and told me to get in his car.

“Shit! They might recognize me! Quickly go inside, Kumiko-chan!” He panicked. 

I got pushed to enter the car and I bumped my head into the roof. He apologized to me and he swiftly went to his seat to start driving. I sat in the middle seat and rushed to put on the seat belt. I put my school bag on my right and asked him his reason for doing this.

“Seriously, what’s your deal Shi- Kudo-san?” I said as I took out my phone. “I’ll tell this to Tooru-san, you know?”

“Wait! Wait! Wait, Kumiko-chan!” He desperately told me to not call my future dad’s phone number. “Remember! I texted you yesterday, saying that I wanted to meet you today!”

I barely stopped my hand at pressing the dial button and thought about the weird message he sent me. 

“Yeah… I do remember…” I said skeptically. “I obviously thought that you were joking around so I completely forgot about it.”

“Woah! How mean?!” He cried. “Even though you were the one who wanted to see!”

“Well to be more specific, I wanted to see you with my mom…” I whispered.

“I don’t think that Tooru-san would like for me to meet his girlfriend without his presence, you know?” He shrugged.

“Hmm… That’s true.” I agreed. “But that doesn’t mean that you’re allowed to kidnap me.”

“Wait! How is that kidnapping?!” He exclaimed. “I’m just borrowing you for a short while…”

“It is kidnapping since you’re taking me somewhere without my consent.” I glared at him. “I need to be at school, right now. If my mom finds out that I’m skipping, I will soon be dead meat.”

“Hey~ It should be fine to miss classes from time to time, you know?” He nonchalantly said. 

“Is that what an adult is supposed to say to a student?” I retorted.

“It’s because you’re young that you’re allowed to take breaks from serious matters. As for me, since I’m an adult and have a contract, I can’t simply miss my work and rest when I want to”, he sighed.

“... I’m pretty sure that’s why adults want minors to be diligent though.” I looked at my reflection on the black screen of my phone that my hands were holding. “It’s so that we can learn from early on… Since those kinds of mistakes are unacceptable when you grow up.”

The mood was serious for a moment, until Kudo Shigeru started to talk again. 

“Yeah? That’s why you should do whatever you want when you’re young”, he casually said. “You should make all kinds of mistakes now since you won’t be harshly punished!”

He winked at me and I couldn’t say anything back to him. I knew that he was at least partially right and that I shouldn’t mind making mistakes when I’m still young. However, I don’t think that you should deliberately make excuses just because your punishment will be light.

“I understand your point but that still doesn’t excuse me skipping classes”, I said as I looked at him.

He shrugged and smiled. We stayed in silence for a moment.

“I didn’t expect to have such a conversation with Shigeru-san”, I thought. 

I stayed silent for a while but then I finally realized the situation that I was in.

“But where the hell is he taking me to?” I thought as I didn’t recognize the neighborhood that we were in.