Chapter Text
“No!”
“Iori!!”
“No means no!”
"Iori, please!!”
“No, no, no! Not even when you made those puppy eyes at me! I’m not changing my decision! Which is NO!”
“Iori’s a big meanie!” Riku exclaimed while trotting after his younger groupmate to the common room.
“Oh sure! I’m a meanie for stopping you from acting out your ridiculous idea! Has anyone told you you’re like a spoiled princess who whines all the time until you get what you want?” Iori fumed. He crossed to the dining room and sat down at the table.
“You have! Three times a day!” Riku retorted and sat down on the opposing side of him.
Mitsuki, who was busy preparing dinner, glanced out from the kitchen and sighed exasperated.
“What’s going on this time?”
“Iori is being a frick again!” Riku replied.
“It’s you who’s being nonsensical first!” Iori countered.
The other I7 members, who were seated around them, merely rolled their eyes. They had far gotten used to these two bitching with each other every day.
Yamato waved a hand dismissively. “Yeah, yeah, we know. Ichi, consider not being a frick to someone who hasn’t completely healed. Riku, just because you’re still in your recovery period doesn’t mean you can act nonsensical around Iori. Got it?”
“Nikaidou-san, this is not one of our petty fights!” Iori protested. “Nanase-san told me he wanted to go meet his assailant!”
“What?!” Everybody exclaimed in unison.
It had been three weeks since the attack. The last scab on Riku’s injury had fallen away, and even though the scars looked gnarly at close examination, they were practically invisible from afar. To Riku, that was good enough.
His family, TakaPro, and his groupmates had been debating what to do with the assailant, especially after it turned out that Riku’s injury wasn’t severe enough for the police to bring forward a criminal charge against his assailant. Moreover, even if she had triggered one of Riku’s acute asthma attacks, there was no evidence she did it on purpose, considering the secrecy of Riku’s illness in the eyes of the public. This meant the attack fell under civil offense, and it’s entirely up to Riku and his family to decide whether to pursue legal consequences regarding her.
After a few days of consideration, Riku said he didn’t wish to press charge, much to everyone’s displeasure. Iori said it’s illogical for her to get off free after causing so much damage to their groups’ reputation, the loss of their revenue due to Riku's hiatus, not to mention Riku’s medical bill. All of which Riku was sure was just Iori’s way of saying he disliked seeing him being wronged. His parents just sighed and said everything was up to him. And Tenn… Tenn felt silent for a long time over the phone, then asked if this was really what he wanted, to which he said yes with no hesitation. After all, that woman was a Trigger fan, and pursuing a charge could worsen their popularity, that’s why he didn’t want to make a big deal out of it.
It’s okay, Riku told everyone. From what the police told them, his assailant had been expressing genuine remorse over the attack. She also had been put into the blacklist of practically every entertainment company in Japan now. He would never have to see her again, so it’s okay.
It’s so not okay now, after Riku told Iori, who after a huge fuss, decided to tell the rest of his groupmate about his intention to see that woman again.
“I don’t think that’s a good idea,” Yamato sternly said.
“Me too,” Mitsuki said after him.
“Me three,” Sougo doubled down.
“Me four! Rikkun, don’t do it!” Tamaki insisted.
“It is of no benefit to you,” Nagi commented.
“And thus, you’re outvoted 6 to 1. The result: please be a good boy and stay home,” Iori concluded.
Riku puffed his cheeks up. “You guys are all horrible.”
They set the matter aside temporarily during dinner, but Riku sulked all the way to the dessert. Perhaps taking pity on him, Sougo asked, “So, uhm, for what reason do you think you need to have a meeting with her?”
Iori groaned. “Not you too, Osaka-san. We’re hoping he’d forget if we don't talk about it.”
“Do you think I’m a 3-year-old or something?” Riku glared at Iori before turning to Sougo. “I, uhm, I need to tell her something…”
“And that is…,” he gently prompted.
Riku dipped his head and didn’t say anything.
Iori sighed. “Nanase-san, if you want to persuade us, then you really aren’t making a convincing case.”
“I…,” Riku looked down at his scarred palm. “I need this, a closure. If I want to go on and face my fans without fear, then I… I have to confront her and tell her I’m not scared of her or her words. I don’t think I can get rid of her image in my head otherwise.”
His groupmates clearly had conflicting opinions listening to his reasoning. Mitsuki sighed and said. “Have you told Kujou-san about this?”
“Of course I haven’t. Tenn-nii’s a worrywart and a mother hen, he’ll just scold me and forbid me from going,” Riku pouted.
“And you still believe you need to go?” Sougo asked.
Riku nodded resolutely.
His groupmates fell silent, so Riku told them. “Of course, If it makes you guys uncomfortable, I won’t go. It’s not like I can’t live with it.”
The attack didn’t bother him, Riku had decided. Never mind that there were times he woke up from his nightmare when he was attacked again, that girl’s hateful eyes tore into his very soul. Never mind that her words haunted him every waking moment, telling him to go die and how he wasn’t qualified to stand next to Tenn.
The silence stretched out over the table, then Iori rubbed his temple and said. “Nanase-san, you know what? You really need to fix your sense of severity. Not everything that doesn't gravely affect your health is trivial.”
“Huh, what do you mean?” Riku blinked, tilting his head in confusion.
Nagi smiled warmly, “He means you shouldn’t dismiss your emotional trauma as non-important.”
Riku laughed and scratched his head. “Oh c’mon, it can hardly be called a trauma. I just can’t rest easily unless I give her a piece of my mind.”
Iori looked straight into his eyes. “You sure you won’t freak out when you meet her?”
Riku smiled. “Pretty sure.”
His younger groupmate groaned. “Urgh, fine. I’ll try to ask the police.”
“Iori!” Riku brightened up.
“Are you sure this is a good idea?” Yamato grimaced and asked.
“As much as it troubles me, I have to say we need not coddle Nanase-san more than necessary. I believe in him. Besides,” Iori’s voice lowered into an icy tone, “I’ll request the police to stay with him through the meeting. That woman won’t be able to do anything.”
The woman, Mori Yuriko as the police told him, had been released and under strict police supervision at home, but per Riku’s request for a meeting to settle the matter, she had been brought to the police station again.
He met her in a questioning room, with a thick glass separating the two of them. Two police officers stood by either side of her, ready to intercept if she tried something. Riku also had an officer by his side, and Iori too. The boy had insisted on following him to the police station as a condition to let Riku meet her.
Riku spent a long time just looking at the woman. She had been bowing her head, eyes resolutely downcasted, clearly avoiding looking at him. She looked haggard, her non-make-up face was pale, her cheeks hollow, there were prominent bags under her eyes and her hair clearly looked unkempt.
She didn’t look anything like the woman with eyes full of malice toward him at the TV station that day.
Somehow, Riku felt something akin to pity looking at her.
“Good morning, how are you doing these days… uhm… Mori-san?” Riku decided to start on something polite.
Besides getting a little more tense, she didn’t reply or lift her head up.
“My injury healed now. Do you wanna look at the scars?” He nonchalantly said and put his hand up.
The woman drew her shoulders even closer now. She looked seconds away from breaking down.
Next to Riku, Iori facepalmed. Riku let out a sigh, thinking he really wasn’t good with these kinda situations at all, and putting his hand down.
“Mori-san, you… did look at the news, right? You know how Tenn-nii and I related to each other, right?”
Her body trembled as she nodded.
Iori seemed to be beyond done with it. He told the woman, coldly. “Mori-san, Nanase-san has been generous enough not to press charges against you, he doesn’t even blame you nor hold a grudge toward you. Shouldn’t you, at least, apologize to him sincerely? Are you that much of a coward?!”
Mori reacted to those words as if she had been stabbed. Tears spilled from her eyes as she tried to hold back a sob.
“Iori…,” Riku scolded the younger man, only to be met with a pair of defiant eyes, as if silently telling him the woman deserved it.
“I… I’m so sorry…”
Riku snapped his head back. The woman was full-on sobbing now, her small frame trembled as she forced out word after word.
“I… I don’t know what came over me… I just… Tenn-kun has been my strength and inspiration… I love him… I’ve always loved him… When… when it happened… I felt like I’d lost my mind… I felt like I was betrayed… then I… I’m sorry… I’m sorry… I didn’t mean it… I didn’t mean to hurt Tenn-kun’s brother…”
She bowed to him repeatedly while bawling uncontrollably like a little child. Riku watched on, feeling conflicted.
Was this truly the woman who had been haunting his dream and reality for the past few weeks?
He let her work through her emotions while deciding what to tell her. When her sobs subsided and she returned to being silent once more, Riku spoke up.
“Mori-san, you said you’re sorry because you didn’t mean to hurt Tenn-nii’s brother, but what if I really was his lover, what would you do? Would you be fine with hurting me then?”
The woman widened her eyes but kept her silence.
Riku smiled lightly. “Please answer me, Mori-san. I’m not good at reading subtle hints.”
The woman fidgeted a little, her eyes dashed from right to left, seemingly afraid of the stone-faced officers on either side of her, then she said. “Tenn-kun always said we fans are his lovers. If he dated someone, that would be… breaking our promise. My anger would have been… justified…”
“Justified enough to hurt the one he loves?”
She didn’t reply.
Riku leaned back on his chair and chuckled. “You know what, honestly, I kinda get you. I would’ve been furious too.”
“Huh?” The woman lifted her head up in surprise.
“It’s not like everything has always been smooth sailing between Tenn-nii and I, there were times when we had huge fights too…”
“Nanase-san…,” Iori whispered to him, warning him not to reveal anything sensitive.
Riku smiled and nodded at him before returning to the woman again.
“When I was young, Tenn-nii was like my entire world. Our parents worked night, so he’d be the one to keep me company, he played with me, took care of me, sang and danced for me. At that time, I only knew Tenn-nii, and I thought Tenn-nii knew only me as well.”
Riku caressed his right palm, his mind traveled back to that fateful day when he was 13. “...That’s why, when Tenn-nii decided he wanted to broaden his horizon, when he told me wanted to be an idol for others, I couldn’t feel anything but betrayal. I… there were times when I was really jealous of Yaotome-san and Tsunashi-san, they seemed to be close to Tenn-nii in a way I could never be. I used to badmouth all three of them, because I thought Tenn-nii abandoned me for Trigger.”
At Mori’s shocked expression, Riku simply laughed out loud. “I know, looking back at it, I was so petty and childish, right?”
“But…,” he sighed and continued, “over time, I realized how selfish I was. Tenn-nii didn’t abandon me. He loves being an idol, he loves standing onstage and singing for everyone. The selfish one was me, who wanted him all for myself. And even though I was jealous of Yaotome-san and Tsunashi-san…”
Riku raised his voice, “...I’ve never, ever, once thought about hurting them. Not even once!”
The woman scrunched up in terror.
“I know that dating is strictly banned for us idols, I know it’s justified to feel anger, to feel betrayed, but is it really worth committing a crime and throwing your life away because of it?”
He received no reply, so he continued, this time with an even harsher tone.
“Tenn-nii never showed a single sign of resentment toward you, you know. I don’t think that thought has ever crossed his mind. He kept blaming himself instead, thinking he was the one responsible for my accident. I wanted so badly to tell him he’s wrong, but I knew he would never listen to me.”
He paused, then continued, emphasizing each word in his next sentence. “That’s the kind of person my twin brother is. That’s the kind of person you’ve fallen in love with. Tenn-nii is an angel. Breaking the promise with the fan? Like hell he would ever think of doing that!”
He stood up, leaned over so he could be closer to Mori, who jerked back with a panicked look. “The only one who did the betrayal here is you, who promised to love and support him through thick and thin, but then turned around to hurt him when you thought he no longer fit your fantasy. You attacked me, that’s trivial. But you hurt Tenn-nii and everybody around me by hurting me, that’s grave. Your anger, your hatred, your action could never be, and never will be justified. Keep apologizing all you want, there’s no way I would forgive you!”
Quickly, Mori’s eyes became misty again. She buried her face in her hands and started crying once more.
Riku exhaled satisfiedly. His chest felt incredibly lighter and he turned to tell the officer next to him.
“I think this meeting’s over. Can I go now?”
The officer nodded and Riku got out of the seat and turned to leave. When he reached the door, he remembered something and turned back to Mori again.
“One more thing, Mori-san. You said I’m no match to Tenn-nii, and I should stay away from him, right?”
Mori just shook her head while crying.
“...You were right. Even if I use the rest of my life to repay Tenn-nii, I can never match up what he’s done for my sake. Still, what I've accomplished up until now was nothing to be scooped at either. I’ve come so far, just to see him so close like this. I won’t back down from him now, just because of your ridiculous words of intimidation.”
Riku stopped, but Mori didn’t seem to want to reply, so he just said a final ‘take care’, then left the room.
The air outside felt so refreshing and Riku did a big stretch, a grin etched on his face.
“Ahhhh, I feel so much better already!”
“Did you manage to say all you wanted to say?” Iori asked, smiling at him.
“I did, I did. Thank you very much, Iori.” He beamed.
“It’s nothing… I was afraid you’d panic when you see her, thank goodness it wasn’t the case.”
Riku just chuckled and stared far away. “Maybe seeing her directly has made me realize she’s not anything scary at all.”
“Yeah, maybe.” Iori patted his back and smiled gently at him.
The sun was setting low on the horizon, covering the scenery in an orange hue. Iori didn’t have work in the evening, and Riku was still in hiatus, so he convinced the younger boy to take a walk at a nearby riverbank with him. They chatted a lot. Well, more like Riku kept babbling about nothing, and Iori just quietly walked alongside him, occasionally nodded or slipped a simple ‘I see’ in to show he’s still listening.
About an hour into their walk, Riku’s phone rang, it’s a videocall from Tenn.
“Tenn-nii!” Riku accepted the call and his brother’s face appeared on the screen. “Aren’t you shooting a TV drama right now?”
“Why didn’t you tell me?” Tenn asked him instead of answering his question.
“Eh?” Riku tilted his head in confusion.
“Why didn’t you tell me you’re going to meet your assailant?!”
Riku widened his eyes. “How do you know that?”
“People are talking about it all over Rabbiter. Did you forget the paparazzi are still following you? Why didn’t you tell me you went to meet her?”
“I… uh… totally forgot about it?” Riku replied a bit guiltily.
“Is that the answer to my first, or second question?” Tenn sternly asked.
“...The first.”
Tenn sighed deeply on the other side. “I’ll come back to that later. Answer the other question then.”
Riku chewed on his lips as he said slowly, “...Because I know you’d react like this.”
“Of course I’ll react like this. Riku, what are you thinking? You said we’re a team now, right? So why didn’t you tell me? You should never be alone in the same room as that woman. If you had told me, I could’ve at least accompanied you and protected you.”
Tenn looked so sad, and it took everything in Riku not to apologize to him.
“Precisely because I know you’d ask to go with me that I didn’t tell you. Tenn-nii, you’re the one who should never be alone with her, not me.”
“Riku…”
“I’m sorry, Tenn-nii. Please let me be selfish just this one time. I can’t stand it, the thought that you had to be anywhere near that obsessive woman for my sake.”
Tenn let out a desperate sound. “Riku… I… I can’t agree with that logic. What if something happens to you? What if you are hurt again?”
Riku smiled. “I’ll be alright. I’m not alone.” Then he changed the angle of the phone so Iori could be visible on the screen.
“Kujou-san.” Iori bowed slightly in greeting.
“Izumi Iori.” Tenn replied in an unimpressed tone. “You agree to this?!”
“I agree to this,” Iori replied. “Your brother can be quite persuasive when he wants to.”
“Explain yourself,” Tenn coldly demanded.
“Because our center is tougher than both you and I give him credit for,” Iori replied right away. “I know what you’re coming from. Please believe me, I carry the same feeling as you are, but you have to let go of the notion that Nanase-san is weak and defenseless, and trust him a bit more. In fact, I wish you could see how impressive he was when he told that woman off.”
Iori smiled, and looked at Riku. “He was really cool…”
Riku blushed and averted his eyes. Did Iori just sincerely praise him? He just told that woman what he thought, it could hardly be anything noteworthy.
“Really? He didn’t appear distressed, or scared?” Tenn asked with a suspecting tone.
Iori chuckled. “Nothing of the sort. On the contrary, I’ve never seen him this relaxed ever since the accident. The meeting did him good, I can guarantee you that.”
Tenn fell silent, so Riku gave him a small grin. After a few seconds, Tenn just sighed and said. “Okay, if even Izumi Iori insists you’re fine, I guess I can let this slide.”
“Tenn-nii!”
“However!” Tenn raised his voice. “There’ll be no next time. I want you to discuss with me whenever you do something potentially risky again, got it?”
“Got it! Tenn-nii, I got it!” Riku quickly nodded with a bright grin.
Tenn leered at him and turned to Iori. “I trust that you and the other I7 members can keep him in line. No matter how much Riku promises me he’ll be careful, he can be too reckless sometimes.”
“Leave it to us, Kujou-san.”
When Tenn ended the call, both Riku and Iori let out a relieved sigh, then they looked at each other and broke into a shared giggle.
“That was intense, Iori.”
“Kujou-san can indeed be quite scary when he wants to,” Iori agreed.
“Thank you so much for defending my decision, Iori.”
Iori smiled. “I only did that because you genuinely look better after your conversation with that woman. Had you appeared the slightest bit stressed, I’d have been the one to scold you senselessly. No need for Kujou-san.”
Riku broke out laughing. “Ah haha, to repay your favor, how about I treat you to something delicious before we come home? You can order anything you want.”
“Anything?” Iori smiled mischievously.
“Anything!” Riku affirmed. “Hate to brag but I’m quite loaded these days.”
“Huh… don’t blame me if I go for the most luxurious place, then.”
“I won’t, I won’t!”
As Iori busily thinking of what restaurant to go to, Riku turned back and looked in the direction of the police station, silently bidding farewell to the dark, scary cloud that had been shading over him. And, with a confident smile, he turned back and took a step toward the bright, dazzling city light, with Iori right next to him.