Eternal Melody

Before he could do anything, however, somebody forcibly opened the curtain. It was Hino; he was standing there with an irritated expression.

"Yuhi, there are people who came to interview Sumire. Don't distract her."

"Tsk, you did that deliberately."

Sumire giggled, and Yuhi hurriedly placed her shirt down. During this process, Yuhi noticed that Hino had turned away. Hino is truly considerate of her. If that had been any other person, they would take advantage of the situation and gotten a look. But Hino will not do that.

"An interview at school?" Yuhi said suspiciously.

Sumire nodded. "That's why I bribed you just now. I knew you'd be against it."

She is a clever girl. However, Yuhi hugs her from the back. "I will let you. Hino will come with you, right? You should be fine."

Sumire sighed deeply. "You have more faith in Hino than you do me. I think I am jealous."

He rolls his eyes at that comment. There is no way that she is jealous. Yuhi places a kiss down her neck, and a content sigh passes her lips as she turns around and wraps her arms around his neck. Yuhi thought she was going to kiss him, and she did. But that kiss was on his cheek and not his lips.

But a single kiss from her is enough for him to become flustered.

"Then, my dear, behave until we see each other again, okay?"

Yuhi could only nod dumbly and watch as she left the room with Hino. Kou walks over and passes him a bottle of water.

"If you let Mimi mess with you too much, you'll pass out."

Yuhi slumped to the ground with a defeated look on his face. "She keeps doing that lately."

One second she is behaving passionately, and the next moment she is smiling innocently.

'I already thought that there was no way that my feelings for her would grow even more than it already was now. But, it seems like I have underestimated her. The more time I spend with her, the more I realize how many times I have fallen in love with her. I keep finding more and more new stuff to love.'

Sumire, even if Mamoru appears again. He definitely won't let her return to Mamoru. At the start of their relationship, he did play with the idea of giving her back because it felt like he stole her. But even just thinking about Sumire being beside another man bothers him.

"Isn't it because you're about to get married? It's natural she is happy. She has been waiting for this for a very long time now."

What Kou is saying does make sense. But he can't control himself if she behaves that way.

"Have you told Mimi yet?"

Yuhi shakes his head. "There is no need to tell her. I already refused the offer."

"But Takayama-san is persistent. I hear he came by today too."

"I won't meet him," Yuhi said firmly.

The offer Takeyama gave him is any singer's dream; only fools would turn him down. But, Yuhi would rather allow himself to be a fool than delay marrying Sumire and leave her alone with two newborns. His career is important, yes, but without Sumire, he would never have had a career in the first place.

Takeyama wants them to fly the day after graduation, which would mean delaying his marriage with Sumire. Unfortunately, he cannot do that. He touches her more often now because he is wary of his rivals, no Nagawa Sano's actions in particular. Ever since that guy became an evolved human, for Sumire's sake, he has increasingly become an eyesore for him.

Makoto Soujiro aside, recently, he has been very bothered by Nagawa Sano. Yuhi understood that even if he put a ring on Sumire's finger, a man like that would not surrender easily. But, at the very least, Nagawa cannot openly pursue Sumire when they are married.

That is what he is aiming for. Nagawa truly cares for Sumire now, so he will not do anything that will humiliate her. If Nagawa wants to pursue her after Sumire is married, he can only do so in private.

"It relieves me that you made this decision. None of us want to leave her either. I know the offer is crazy good, but it's too dangerous."

"Lucifer is openly making appearances now. Is what you told me correct?" Yuhi immediately understood why Kou was hesitating.

Sumire will be wide open for an attack if they all leave now. However, Atsuro and Shin will still be around, including the guys in akagumi and hyou4. It would be easy to distract them. There will be occasions when they cannot keep an eye out on Sumire.

During those occasions, Lucifer will take advantage and meet with Sumire.

"The fact that they haven't met directly yet after everything that has happened is already amazing. Perhaps we ought to let them meet at least once."

Yuhi shakes his head. Even a single meeting is dangerous; Lucifer's obsession with Sumire isn't normal. Who knows what that madman will do if they end up meeting? He can't go to the US since that would leave Sumire completely open.

"Your dreams or love. Mimi asked me this before, and in the end, I dragged the other guys to go with me abroad, so we weren't there during Mamoru's accident." Kou trailed off. "I am already disqualified for choosing my dreams over staying with her."

"Do you regret it? I hear you two were close."

Kou wore his usual smile on his face, but there was a hint of loneliness in his eyes.

"Even if I stayed, I'm not confident that I could do anything to help her. It's true when we heard the news; we rushed our work to hurry back as soon as possible. But when I saw her in that state, I completely froze. Ran broke down the door to get her out, Tetsuo controlled the media so they couldn't follow, and Jun made the arrangements in a hospital."

"..."

"Asuka-chan told me how angry you were at them for not being able to help Mimi. But, then, you should be angry at me too. I couldn't help her."

Yuhi shakes his head.

"Honestly, I have no right to be mad. All I could do was send her indirect messages. The real reason why I was so angry was because I was frustrated with myself. I couldn't go to her even though I wanted to."

"Yu-Yu."

"So don't blame yourself. We all share some of the blame; we can't pin this on one person. Of course, this wouldn't have happened if Mamoru didn't keep secrets from her, but even that is something I can forgive."

Mamoru didn't want Sumire to get involved. He wanted to resolve it so she wouldn't have to do anything.

"I won't leave her, but if you want to go. You can."

Kou sighed. "Your so heartless, Yu-yu. How could we leave you alone with her? I believe that's the real danger."

"Idiot. Let's get back to practice."

'Sumire, I truly can't leave you. You may scorn me later on when you find out, but I won't retract my decision.'