Chapter 11: My bias coming to my rescue

Kudo Shigeru escorted me to the hotel’s restaurant and I saw two familiar faces sitting on the table that he was leading me to. 

“Ah! It’s Nakatomi Shouta and Asata Hiroshi!” I gasped. “Huh? Why are they here?”

“Shouta! Hiroshi-san!” Kudo Shigeru cheerfully waved at them. “I’m glad you two came!”

“Is this her?” Asata Hiroshi asked while looking at me.

“Yes~ it’s Kumiko-chan!” Kudo Shigeru replied.

“It’s nice to meet you, Kumiko-chan!” Nakatomi Shouta brightly greeted me. “I’m Nakatomi Shouta and this is Asata Hiroshi, our leader.”

“Yes, I know! I’m Nakahara Kumiko! I’ve been a long time fan of HELIOS!” I nervously introduced myself. “It’s a great honor to meet you two!”

“Hm? Why is your reaction different to when you first met me?” Kudo Shigeru pouted. “Compared to yesterday, you seem a bit more excited now…” 

“Umm, what? What do you mean?” I tried to look at him as innocently as I could. 

Kudo Shigeru doubted me and as he was going to say something, Asata Hiroshi changed the subject of the conversation and asked about the whereabouts of my bias.

“Did Tooru not come with you two?” he asked. “Where is he?”

Kudo Shigeru stayed awkwardly silent and I stared at him, confused about Asata Hiroshi’s words.

“Wait, was Tooru-san supposed to come with us today?” I thought.

“Well… you know…” Kudo Shigeru tried to delay his answer. “He’s… still… at work?”

“Hm? But his manager just texted me that he’s on his way”, Nakatomi Shouta suddenly said and showed us the message he received.

We all looked at Kudo Shigeru and he tried to not make eye contact with any of us.

Suddenly, I said to the other two, “He kidnapped me when I was on my way to school.”

“What?!” The two of them were stupefied.

“Hey! You-” Kudo Shigeru shouted.

“What? It’s true you took me here without asking for my permission”, I said.

“Is that true?” Asata Hiroshi asked me.

“Yes, it is”, I nodded. “I didn’t even know that you two were supposed to come.”

“Hm? But your outfit…” Nakatomi Shouta pointed at my dress.

“He bought it for me just a while ago”, I pointed at Kudo Shigeru.

He stayed quiet as the other two were judging him hard. It was then that my future dad made his entrance.

“Kumiko-chan!” Hifumi Tooru was sweating and was out of breath. He quickly came to me and created a distance between me and his coworkers. 

“Are you ok?” He asked me.

“Ah, yes… I’m fine, Tooru-san”, I replied while feeling extremely happy that he was worried for me. 

“Good”, he sighed from relief. “We should go back home then.”

“Ah, Wait!” Kudo Shigeru tried to stop him.

“We’re going to talk later, Shigeru”, my bias glared at him.

“No but…” he hesitated. “All her stuff is in my hotel room right now…”

Hifumi Tooru stopped walking and turned around to say to him, “My manager is going to come soon, so give it to him then…”

My future dad then rushed me to go out of the restaurant and I quietly waved goodbye to the three who were left awkwardly on their own. As I was about to exit, I slightly overheard an employee asking Kudo Shigeru what they should do with their reservations and he told them to cancel their meals. I honestly thought, at that moment, that it was a shame I couldn’t have a meal with the other members of HELIOS.