Yasu’s laugh was humorless, my jaw dropped. He was never cruel. I didn’t like this side of him at all.
“He’s tricking you, Itsu. Can’t you see that?”
I shook my head because I’d had enough of listening to my friend for the day.
What wasn’t like me? Not bothering to put my guitar away or clean up. Not staying to visit with the rest of the band about whatever else was going on in their lives. No, I needed to get out of there, and I wanted to make sure that Ryosuke was okay.
He’d thankfully given me his number after dinner, and as soon as I left the building, I pulled out my phone to text him.
“Itsuki, wait.”
I sighed, turning as Yasu followed me out of the building.
“What?” I snapped, not used to being so angry at him. At least he had the decency to look like a kicked puppy. Yasu knew he’d done wrong. He had to.
“Can we talk?”
I let out a heavy sigh before I looked up and down the street. A small part of me hoped Ryosuke was still nearby, and I’d see him. It would give me an excuse to get out of an awkward conversation, but it was a conversation that needed to happen.
I was taking time to answer, Yasu shifted his weight, wringing his hands in front of him as he watched me. The feel of his eyes on me always had my body warming up, and that was another issue.
You know... the whole flirting with Ryosuke thing, the feelings I got from Yasu.
I held up my finger, shooting off a quick text because it would forever bother me if I didn’t.
Me: Don’t do anything drastic. Yasu can be an idiot sometimes.
Once my phone was stuffed back into my pocket, I cringed because I realized it was the first text I’d sent Ryosuke, and I hadn’t exactly said who was messaging him. Hopefully, he could figure it out.
Instead of answering Yasu directly, I waved him after me as I walked down the sidewalk. It wasn’t all that unusual for me to be affectionate with him, so when I wrapped an arm around his, he relaxed into my touch as we moved past stores, restaurants, and shops.
“What’s going on in that head of yours?” I asked, leaning my head on his shoulder.
Yasu huffed a laugh, twining his fingers with mine. If anyone were looking at us on the outside, they’d think we were more. At times, I’d wished for that, but Yasu had always been my best friend, and there were some lines you just didn’t cross.
“I don’t know, Itsu-chan. It’s like the second I saw who they picked to replace someone who had been with us since the beginning... I sort of snapped. You know me. This band is my life, and it feels like Toshi is turning it into a joke.”
Yasu’s muscles tensed under my head as we kept walking, so I knew he was getting upset just talking about it. This was what I expected. Yasu had been easy to read ever since we’d been in school together, and I understood where he was coming from. All I wanted to do in that moment was to find a better way to comfort him than offering an ear to listen. I was damn good at that, but that had always been an issue.
That driving need to be more when this was the best I could do.
“Toshi isn’t turning us into a joke. I’m telling you, if you took just a minute to get to know Ryosuke, you’d see why Toshi-sama thought he was a good fit for us. It means something that he’s already learned some of our songs. He takes this seriously.”
Yasu huffed again, but said nothing as we continued to walk. He led me into a coffee shop, ordering us two cafe au laits. After we had our drinks in hand, we sat at a little table and sipped at our drinks until the chill from forgetting our jackets back at the studio wore off.
“He can learn the songs all he wants; it doesn’t mean anything that he had a reputation in his last band and now that they did what they did. Itsu... It could destroy everything we set out to create.”
I reached across the tiny table, taking his warm hand in mine and giving it a squeeze. “Have some faith. He said he wasn’t involved with that. You know the label would have tossed him with the rest of them if he had been.”
The realization flashed across Yasu’s expression, but I also understood where his hesitations were. Sometimes it didn’t matter that someone wasn’t involved; they were guilty by association. It wasn’t right, but it happened.
“Itsu-chan, I’m just worried.”
I nodded at his concern. He had a right to be, but he didn’t need to be mean.
“Can you just... give him a chance? Like I said, I got to talk to him a little,he was really nice.”
Our conversation died off after that. We finished our coffee before heading back out onto the street. I itched to pull my phone from my pocket to see if Ryosuke had responded to my message, but I understood if he hadn’t. I’d give him a little space for a while. Sometimes that was all that was needed.
