Broken Record Pt. 2

I walked over to Suguha, to which she gestured for me to look at her phone. Keeping a safe distance away from her, I tilted over.

"What's this?" I asked.

"It's a recording of our most recent dance practice," she snickered. "Look. Watch Nabi. She falls on her ass, and it's freaking hilarious."

"Eh? Eh?!" Natsume gasped. "N-no! Suzu!"

She immediately snatched the phone away from Suguha's hands.

"Hey! That's mine!" Suguha shouted.

For a while, I watched as the two of them were pushing and shoving each other while still maintaining their balance on the cable trunk. If I were to see them without any knowledge that they were Sunayomi, I wouldn't have guessed that they were famous idols.

Seriously, where do they get all of that energy? This is almost equivalent to a catfight. Even the emotions were on point. Not only can they sing and dance, they'd probably excel at acting too.

The fight ended in a stalemate with Natsume keeping Suguha away with just one arm as she guarded the phone with her other arm.

"Na...bi...!" Suguha groaned incoherently. "Give me... the phone!"

Natsume violently shook her head left and right while protecting the phone with her life.

Is it that bad? It's not like I'm gonna laugh at it. I don't find things like that funny. Well... there are many things I don't find funny, so there's that.

I decided to step in when I realized that this wasn't gonna go anywhere.

"E-excuse me, Suguha," I said, which immediately stopped them. "I don't think Natsume is gonna give it up. Look at her."

She turned back to assess the panicked Natsume. Her face was completely red like a tomato, lips trembling and eyes shaking. Whatever is on that screen must be very important for her to keep hidden.

"Ho~?" Suguha smirked. "Are you embarrassed, Nabi?"

"No..." she squeaked.

Yeah, because that's totally the conclusion I came to after hearing that.

"If that's all, then I'm gonna go," I said.

"Wha—? W-wait!" Suguha cried. "Nabi! Look what you did. You're making Yozora leave!"

"B-but..."

At the same time, Natsume was looking at me with those big eyes that were desperately begging me to convince Suguha.

"It's fine," I sighed. "If it's something that Natsume is trying so hard to keep from me, then you shouldn't keep pressuring her. Besides, isn't it a company policy that no one on staff is allowed to see exclusive recordings like these?"

"Huh? It is?" Suguha asked.

"Yeah. Privacy and all that. Otherwise, someone's gonna upload it, and the agency is gonna scramble around trying to fix it. As much as I wanna go along with your shenanigans, I don't wanna get fined."

The first half of that was a total lie. I definitely don't wanna go along with this, but I know I'd feel bad if I had left Suguha hanging like that. The second part, yeah. Of course I don't wanna go to court. I'm too broke to afford a lawyer, and I'm way too tired to follow through with a legal case.

"Tch... Fine," Suguha grumbled. "Nabi, I won't show him, so can you give me my phone back?"

"You... Y-you promise?" Natsume asked.

"I promise, alright?"

At first, she hesitated, but she finally gave the phone back.

"Okay, Yozora!" Suguha grinned. "So, watch this..."

"Eh?! Suzu! You promised!" Natsume exclaimed.

Suguha let out an uncontrollable laugh while Natsume sat in shame, the redness of her face now extended all the way to her ears.

"I'm kidding, I'm kidding. Sheesh, you really think I'd do that to you after I made a promise?"

Natsume pursed her lips. "It wouldn't be the first time..."

"What?! When did I ever break my promise?!"

"That time you promised not to drink my bubble tea, but you still did."

I swear, I could see Suguha digging through her memories until her face lit up when she finally found it deep in that head of hers.

"That's different!" she cried. "I was thirsty!"

"There was a water bottle right next to it!" Natsume nagged.

And just like that, they were back to bickering with each other. I couldn't help but smile a bit while watching them. Their relationship resembles that of siblings. I remember there was a time when me and Nae would go back and forth like that.

But... Those times are long gone.

Natsume suddenly turned back to me, as if she remembered that I was standing here. A timid smile overtook her face, which honestly terrified me.

"Say, Yozora..." she said. "Now that the speakers are fixed, we're about to do another round of dance practices. Maybe... Do you want to stay back and watch?"

"W-what...? I don't think I'm allowed."

"You're the one who fixed the speakers. Whenever someone does something like that for us, we always offer. Besides, Manager Na likes you. I'm sure he wouldn't mind."

"No, thank you. Even if I wanted to, I can't. Not today, at least."

Natsume looked at me with wide-eyed shock, while Suguha's smile only grew wider. I could practically feel my social battery draining ten times faster because of it.

"Hm~?" Suguha hummed playfully. "Are you saying that you don't want to?"

"It's not like that."

"Then what is it? This is Sunayomi we're talking about. Even though we're not famous worldwide, we're still celebrities. I figured you'd wanna stay back and watch us."

I sighed again. "I don't mean to be disrespectful. Even if it's you, Sunayomi, or whoever, being around people and talking to them isn't something I normally do. In fact, I find it discomforting. Besides, I'm not someone you'll see often, so just forget about me. Do your own thing, and I'll do the same."

The smile on her face dropped, as if my response shocked her to that extent. Finally, she was willing to let me go.

Was I being too rude? I personally don't think so, but it could've been misinterpreted. There wasn't any other way to tell her straight up.

I wonder if they're angry at me. If they are, then whatever. It's not like I care.

"Yozora!" Natsume called out."

I turned around, bracing myself for an annoyed look, but instead, her eyes were soft, almost worried.

"Could it be that... you don't want to see us anymore?"

"...That's a bit of a stretch. It's not that at all."

Suguha scoffed as a smirk appeared on her face. "Then... I guess we'll be seeing you around, eh?"

"W-what...? Didn't you hear what I just—"

"Yeah, we did. And we're ignoring it. It's not like you have much of a choice since you work for us. So..."

Right then, she threw herself off the cable trunk and dashed up to me. With her arms behind her back, she tilted her body forward with squinty eyes and a massive grin.

"See... you... a~round... Yozora."

Just like that, my body was paralyzed. No matter how hard I tried to take my gaze off her, my eyes wouldn't move. Every thought in my head disappeared, replaced by the still image I was seeing right in front of me.

What in the world...?

I took a deep breath, but even that proved to be difficult.

"Sure," I said, and finally, I was outside of the door.

Why is my heart racing? No... Maybe an even more important question is, why did she get so close to me? Wasn't I accused of being a stalker just a bit ago? For all they know, I could still be one. That was careless of her... and of me.

'See you around,' huh? I hope that never happens, now more than ever.