RIVALS INCARNATE

Chapter Forty-Two: Irony

This must be quite harder than he thought it was going to be.

It was unlikely that to be in her office and feel extremely uncomfortable. Kyouhei Kurosaki could not even know how to sit on the couch across her desk inside the room without looking like he was very anxious. He did not really know where to start and the moment he had entered the door behind her, his mind just went blank.

He kept his eyes down to the carpeted floor, trying to find the right words to tell her. How was he supposed to begin the talk? He had never got any trouble talking to her about stuff and work before but right now, it seemed like he could not bring himself to speak. His throat felt too dry and his chest felt too heavy. Yuko Amazawa waited in silence, however. She kept her distance far enough so she did not have to look at him. Yet every now and then, her eyes would find their way back towards him and she would stare at him subconsciously with a voided face. Then she would snap back, flitting her gaze quickly down to the reports placed over her table. 

This was the scene that went on since they walked into her office and kept the stillness going for a few more minutes. Neither of them even tried to break the silence, they were too conscious of their own musings. And when nothing else happened, the awkward tension was finally cut loose when a knock on the door jolted the two of them into reality and they both turned their heads to the sound of the door opening.

It was Yuko's assistant, bowing her head shyly by the doorway as she called for her boss' attention.

"Ma'am Mr. Sato is on line 1," the young assistant said, fixing her glasses on the bridge of her nose when it slid down a little, "Do you want me to keep him waiting or should I direct it to you now?"

The very moment Sato's name had been mentioned, Kyouhei's ears perked up and his head immediately snapped around to give Yuko a look. He was frowning slightly and he seemed displeased to know that there was something like this happening although it was not anything unusual given that they were both working for his own sake. Yet, Kyouhei could not help but feel a little jealous inside, like a little child. He did not like that Yuko and Osamu Sato were actually getting in touch way more than he and Yuko had been in the past few days. 

Well, considering that she had also left him that night to go with Osamu... even when he almost told her his feelings right there. That must have been a sign.

Yuko caught Kyouhei's meaningful stare even before she could give a response to her assistant, making her feel guilty for reasons she did not even understand. Why was she feeling guilty now? And talk about timing. Osamu seemed to know when and where to really pop in when things go too awkward with Kurosaki nowadays. Yuko could not pretty much hide her discomfort when she felt like she had been put under the spotlight. And she just let her instinct take over, letting everything else go as it should be.

"Tell him to call me back later," she found herself saying after a long pause, clearing her throat as her eyes darted from Kyouhei then to her assistant and vice versa, "And that I'm still busy. Thank you."

The assistant, oblivious of everything else, as she seemed to only care about her job, just nodded her head and bowed again before finally leaving with the door closing behind her. Kyouhei remained unmoved with his eyes fixed on Yuko as he thought about why she was suddenly deflecting Osamu in front of him. Just what the hell was the real deal between her and that guy? He knew he sounded like a jealous bastard, but he was completely bothered by the thought of those two going out at night and talking about what else. Business or not, he was already feeling quite paranoid just thinking about it.

"Why didn't you take the call?" he suddenly dared to ask, just because he was too much of a nosy person. And also because he wanted to really know, obviously. He could not resist anymore and there was no way he can still keep all those emotions bottled up inside his chest as he waited for her to answer with narrowed eyes. He needed to know what Osamu was to her.

"It's not that important," Yuko squinted her eyes back, responding dryly. 

"Not important?" Interesting. Kyouhei scoffed. "Just what kind of business are you working on with him? Is he really going to sponsor me?"

"He's an asset," Yuko gritted her teeth, her face scowling. And you're an asshole, she thought to herself. "Don't worry about him, he's not going to betray me. You should focus more on your platform so that we could gain more supporters in the coming elections."

Kyouhei snorted, a bitter smile drawing on his lips as he finally looked away. Asset? And what about him then? He wanted to ask her that. He sounded too childish, but he wanted to hear what she thought about him. But that was something he knew would only worsen this chilly atmosphere between then so he held himself back... at least a little. 

"I know what I should do," Kyouhei said, a little stern, "But it's the people around me that I'm not sure of."

That caught Yuko unguarded as she looked up from the paper she held in her hand and stared at Kyouhei who had his face turned to the opposite direction, making it hard for Yuko to read his expression. "What do you mean?"

"All I'm saying is," Kyouhei responded back, merely sighing as he laid the back of his head over the cushion of the couch behind him, "We can't really trust anybody in this industry. Money, fame, power, and everything, will come with a price. And not all the people you know who would help you will help you all the way for good causes."

Uttering those last words, Kyouhei turned his head around to look at Yuko and met her gaze just as he faced her way. "Don't trust everybody."

"Right. I know," Yuko nodded, wearing a straight face as she rolled her eyes, and added, "I'm not that naive."

"Even with Osamu Sato," Kyouhei emphasized just so he could clearly get his point out. He did not move and kept his eyes on hers. What is he to you? his mind silently asking.

"He won't betray me," Yuko defiantly remarked, rebuking his statement with a deadpanned expression. 

"I won't betray you," Kyouhei added on and even though it did not make any sense at the time, he just felt like saying it.

Ha. Well, not you. Yuko almost said that out loud, feeling bitter by those words coming out of his own lips. But she quickly bit the inside of her cheek, resisting to sneer as she tried not to let her emotions run her over again. If only he knew.

How come you could say that with such a straight face and not feel guilty inside? If only you knew who you were and what you did in the past, you won't be saying that at all. Yuko bitterly smirked, dropping her gaze to her coffee while clenching her fist under the table.

"Of course, you wouldn't," Yuko just conveniently lied in a hollowed voice, parroting the words her mind had forced her to say as she kept her eyes down, "You're not the type of person who would do that."

She might have thought that she did good hiding what she was actually thinking in her head, but Kyouhei could sense that inexplicable shift in her words and her face. There was something more to those words that she just said, but he tried to ignore it, failing to recognize the deception beneath it all.

"I will never betray you, Yuko," Kyouhei suddenly said in a gentle voice, his eyes turning soft on her and Yuko found herself looking up towards him upon hearing his words. Her chest started to ache, and she could feel her body reacting differently to the way he was gazing at her. Why was she feeling this now? This was not right at all... on so many levels.

But she was too distracted by his face, too drawn towards how deeply he was staring at her. He just said that he will never betray her, a complete joke to what he actually did to Shin in the past. How can those words sound so sincere coming out from this person who holds the same soul as Rei who had also ruthlessly murdered the Emperor he had sworn his loyalty to? Just how little of a value was the word 'betrayal' for him to say it too lightly?

She was speechless, and she did not really know how to react or what to even feel. She just sat there, her eyes stuck on him, wondering how in the world this scene felt so surreal and ironically distorted.

"I will never let anyone hurt you," Kyouhei added after a while, unable to realize that his mouth had moved on its own, voicing out his thoughts as he gazed longingly at her, "I want to protect you because you're important to me."

And Yuko felt her heart lurch.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------next chapter: Chapter Forty-Three