Eternal Melody

Jun had to admit he was tired; last night, he hadn’t been able to get much sleep due to the video chat from his kohai. However, he made a schedule of when to get to bed to prepare for the journey the next day. It didn’t stop his annoying Kohais to request a video chat with him at exactly midnight.

 It’s exactly like Sei to do something as inconsiderate and foolish as that. But to think his black hair, kohai went along with the idea too. The call was to congratulate him on the second tour and the movie. He suspected a congratulation would come along eventually from them. But he hadn’t expected it to be at a completely unreasonable hour.

Senbi Nao looks worn out; indeed, his arms seemed a lot more thinner and didn’t have the usual muscular look like before. He spies the brown hair girl from the corner of his eye. Does she know about it?

Jun didn’t know when she came. But it seemed she was in deep thought about something. Then again, it was hard to tell what she was thinking. She did not keep in contact with anybody but Hamano Atushi.

He can’t help but wonder about those two, though. Do they not harbor any feelings of affection for each other? His kohai is no longer holding himself back, and his feelings are obvious. But the one he couldn’t get a read on was the brown-haired girl. 

Does she not like him? The scene from their last day in that place is still fresh in his mind after all.

Jun shook his head, ah. Once again, it seems like his thoughts tend to shake off in an unexpected turn when it comes to her. When it comes to her, they always seem to be different.

“Jun-kun, you look tired.” Sumire finally spoke up.

“Correct. I didn’t get any sleep last night. Sei insisted on a rather distributive wake up call.” Jun explained.

He didn’t know why. But there was something inside him that told him to lie about seeing Senbi Nao in that condition.

Sumire chuckles. “Fuufu that’s exactly like him, though. Is he well?”

“Yes. He is enjoying his acting career to the fullest.”

“I see that’s good…” She trails off and claps her hands. “Ah! I know. Since you’re tired, Jun-kun, you can use my shoulder to sleep on. It is because of Sei-kun that you didn’t get any sleep after all.”

He doesn’t understand what that has to do with her. But there’s no reason for him not to accept the offer.

“Very well. I’ll be troubling you the-” Jun paused when he recalled something. “I shall be fine.”

Sumire tilted her head puzzled but nodded.

‘I can’t let her get in trouble again.’ Something similar happened before, and it caused many misunderstandings.’

Besides, this girl is far too careless; even now, she gets into trouble a lot. “Sumire-san, you’re in a relationship now. Please be more careful.” He understood that she meant nothing by it, but she shouldn’t behave this way.

Her gaze softened, and she laughed softly. “That’s true. A relationship, huh?”

There is something lonely about her tone. “You should have spoken up.”

“Sorry, sorry, but you looked like you were concentrating very hard.”

“Terashima isn’t with you?”

Ever since they came here, Jun observed that Terashima seldom left her side. He understood the reason why. Whenever she is alone, she ends up with that spaced-out look on her face.

“Ah, he is asleep. I came out here to buy groceries.”

Jun closed his laptop and put it away, including his headphones.

“Then let’s go.”

Sumire laughed. “Okay!”

Jun isn’t very familiar with Tokyo. Whenever he came here in the past, it was brief, and somebody chauffeured him around. But he was at least better than Sumire-san when it came to directions. For the past few minutes, he didn’t know how many times. 

“Are you settling into Tokyo?”

“It is no problem, but Sumire-san, aren’t you going the wrong way?”

“Gah, your right!”

The main reason he decided to accompany her was this, and this girl still has a bad habit of getting lost.

His thoughts broke off when she left his side and rushed up to a nearby street stall. “Jun-kun look it’s on sale.” She points to some watermelon and other fruits.

Shouldn’t she know better than to buy things from street stalls? Then again, Sumire-san is the type who does not discriminate against anybody.

“Sumire-san, I have always wondered why you like sales.”

“It is important to save money!”

“That argument is not convincing since you use so much money on books.”

“But it is rare, Jun-kun! Those ones are hard to find first edition copies.”

“You splurge on art supplies too.”

At that comment, Sumire froze and then suddenly exclaimed. “Is this why I am always broke?”

This girl is an heiress, and yet she talks about having no money. Then again, he heard that she could not touch the inheritance before she is eighteen. Before she became an idol, exactly how did she make money?

He did not get a chance to ponder on that before a crowd surrounded them. Jun gradually grew irritated, but Sumire shouted some excuse about Nakara Shin having a photoshoot on the beach before he could lose his temper. In the next second, he wore her hat, and she grabbed his wrist and pulled away. Ah, the scenery is different.

Even though he’s already been in a situation like this once before with that girl.

..

For them to get ambushed, eventually Jun thought he was prepared for it. But he underestimated Tokyo. But Sumire-san, like she was used to running away, managed to get them away.

Somehow with Sumire, it’s different.

Whenever she quotes from a book or that time, she explained the meaning of Shakespeare’s stories to him. There was a different aura around her, one he really couldn’t explain properly. Yet, there was something about it that always seemed to captivate him.

He couldn’t pull away.

Eventually, she lets go of his hand and laughs. “Aha, it’s been a long time since I ran that far.” Sumire laughed lightly. “Jun-kun, are you alright?”

“Yes. It’s no problem.”

Even so, she suddenly seems rather pale. Is it because of the heat? When he saw the sweat marks on the girl’s face, he realized what the cause was. He placed the hat back onto her hair.

“Jun-kun?”

“You’ll get sick. No one will recognize me if we walk around in a busy area.” Jun stated calmly, “There’s no need for you to risk your health.”

‘Besides, it is even riskier for people to recognize her.’ It surprised him when he did not immediately see news reports about her when she came to Tokyo. She must have taken measures to hide.

It’s all in the open which school she attends now. But, Jun still wanted to protect her from the media.