Atushi coughed, which interrupted her train of thought. "Hey, you two, something seems different.." He trailed off. "Dating?"
"Ah, no, we—" her sentence fell short when Yuhi buried his face in her neck. She laughed again. "Im kidding, of course, we are."
"Well, that's good to hear, right, Nagawa?"
At that comment, she felt a heavy gaze on her; it belonged to Sano. Since Yuhi entered the room, he did not say a word. But he kept looking at her, she felt goosebumps creep onto her skin, and she shuddered. Why is he looking at her like that? Why is he— trying to intimidate her? Sumire knew this look very well. Sano got like this whenever he disapproved, whenever he disapproved of her actions.
Sumire remembered seeing him look at her that way whenever she spoke to other guys. Sano did not announce their relationship openly because of the age difference. Sumire did not question that decision of his. But now that she thought it through, it was very stupid. Hiding their relationship meant that people saw him as a single man. So even if others see him with another girl, nobody would suspect anything.
She wondered how many girls people saw Sano with. Other than the obvious signs of female clothes that did not belong to her at his house. Sumire caught him in rather intimate situations with other girls. Sano would always smoothly brush it aside, and like a fool, she would believe him. That was until she caught him doing it with his secretary.
Sumire remembered how he did not bother making an excuse for himself. The female secretary apologized to her and said it was her fault.
I drugged him and threw myself at him.
A perfect and flawless excuse. This happened quite a few times until she decided not to announce when she was visiting his office. She caught him several times and filmed the entire thing.
Later on, when she showed Sano this and demanded answers, he called a psycho bitch.
For the first time, Sano was cruel to her. Perhaps that was the incident that triggered and changed things between them. After that, he was not as subtle as before and practically flaunted it. Why did she not break up with him then? It made little sense to her; why did she put herself under so much torture?
His hold on her tightened, and her gaze softened. It seems like he understands her far better than she does herself.
"Yuhi, there is going to be a concert here." Sumire picked up one of the sheets of paper to show him.
"A live, huh," Yuhi scanned it up and down. "A good idea, cool, I will help Sumire prepare."
"Wai—wait," Sumire said, alarmed. "I can't sing...in front of.."
Yuhi squeezed her hands. "I will help you, trust me."
She does trust him; she trusts him better than she does herself. But to sing again after so long, could she do that?
"Then, I will leave it at this for today." Sano nodded and picked up his bag. To her surprise, he did not say any more than that and walked off.
Sumire angrily pulled away from Yuhi. She held back her emotions just now because she did not want Sano to see them fight. "I told you I couldn't sing, why are you making me?"
Yuhi of all people understands her situation. So Sumire does not understand why he brought up something like that even though she was so happy when he came here when he suddenly said that she felt wronged.
How could he do that when he understands her situation better than anybody else here?
"Geez, don't get mad before you hear me out." Yuhi trailed off. "I thought we could have you wear a mask. But if that doesn't work, you can sing over the curtain or hide under a prop or something."
Her eyes widened when she heard his suggestion. "But don't you have to.."
"The festivals and concerts in an art academy are a bit different. We have the advantage because we're on the school grounds. We could make it mysterious and creative, and nobody would say anything." Yuhi looked around the room before he walked over to one of the teachers' desks. He rummaged through the shelves and picked up a map of the school.
"Take a look at this, for example." Yuhi pointed. "If you sing here, nobody will see you. We can decorate the stage to this building…"
Nakura sighed. "Another building gets destroyed. But that does work, what about a bridge?"
Sumire blinked and watched the two suddenly become serious. Atushi patted her shoulder. "It seems like I got too worked up earlier, sorry."
She shook her head. "Atushi, you did all that stuff for me.."
"Yeah, because I liked you." Atushi trailed off. "Don't worry about it now, though; it is more important for me that you're happy."
How many times has she heard people say those words to her? It feels like some kind of spell now. Whether or not he noticed her sudden discomfort at his words, he suddenly halted.
"Say Atsushi, will you tell senpai?"
"Do you want him to know?"
Awkward laughter escaped her lips. "I think if you do decide to tell him he will tell Atsuro. Atsuro will get mad, won't he?"
She could already see his reaction in her head. Atsuro would surely convince her out of trying to date Yuhi. He managed to convince her that Ren was not a good guy, and indeed she thought that too. But, she only agreed because she already knew all of Ren's flaws.
"Atsuro and his bad temper." Atushi shook his head. "Sumire, you do not need to feel guilty when you reject somebody. You do not like them that way, so it is normal for you to reject them."
Normal to reject, huh? It is funny he would say something like that. Then again, nobody should know.
Her gaze fell on Yuhi. "I don't think anybody is aware of this, but I rejected Yuhi before."