One Shot

this is a really old fic that i wrote a few years back. I'm only posting it now because... well... i'm bored with life in general... hopefully recieving comments from people would make life exciting again...It's the day after Rika and Yossi finally got together... The leader called for a meeting!

Hope you guys will like it.

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Early morning, I woke up to the vibration of my cellphone. It’s a call from the leader.

“Moshi moshi…”

“Yoshizawa, I know today is your rest day but we need to have an emergency meeting today. It’s at my place, 10:00am. You got that?”

“Hai. 10:00 am at your place”

“And please tell Ishikawa to come. We called her house and her mother said that she stayed the night at your place.”

“Hai”

“See you both later.”

The stiffness of the leader’s voice struck a nerve. What would the meeting be about? It’s a meeting outside the office, so the agency didn’t call for the meeting. And she said “We called…”. Who were that ‘we’?

Would it be about last night? If so… they did notice.

Looking over where I laid the futon for Rika last night, I saw that it was already folded neatly-- futon, blanket and all.

I went to the kitchen only to find her eating my last bagel and drinking a cup of coffee.

“Ohayou…”She looked back at me and smiled.

“The leader wants to hold a meeting at her place… 10:00am…”

She looked away and gazed at the birds flying outside my window. I’m surprised at her gesture. She usually can’t stand the sight of birds.

“Is it about last night?"

“I don’t know… she didn’t say…”

She stood up and walked up to me and gave me a light kiss on the lips. “I want them to know… about us”

“Who?”

“Kaorin-san, Mari-san and Kei-san… we owe them at least that…”

“Yeah… I think so too...”

It was 10 minutes past eight.

“We better get ready…”

We were both strangely calm about the whole ordeal.

Arriving at the leader’s house, I suddenly felt some kind of hesitation grow in me. A part of me wanted to go somewhere else. Go anywhere but here. But Rika prodded me on. “We owe them… telling the leader would be the first step.”

Knocking on her door, I was sure that I was scared. What is she going to say? Will she ask us to break up? We’ve been ‘together’ for less than a day. Thinking back, I saw how much time I’ve wasted worrying that I missed out on a lot of doing and loving.

Answering the door was Kaorin-san. She let us in without much ado. Not even a complete morning greeting.

“Morning…”

“Good morning, Kaorin-san” we said at the same time. I wanted to giggle at the coincidence but now’s not the time for that. The leader did look serious as she let us in. She led us to a table where Mari-san and Kei-san were already seated. We were surprised at their presence. They too, looked serious and studied each Rika and me with much scrutiny.

“Now, for the meeting…” The leader began

“Hai” we both said slowly noticing a smile cracking on Kaorin-san’s face. It made me feel awkward.The seniors then simultaneously asked: “So, you two are finally together?”

We were both in shock as we didn’t expect them to sound so… … happy.

After joining the other senpais at the table, Kaorin-san explained the situation to us.

“We knew all along…”

“Actually, I noticed it first!” Yaguchi-san butted in, beaming with pride. “Then everybody else just jumped into the bandwagon.”

Everyone else?

“… Yeah… you two were pretty easy to read… after all, your body language wasn’t exactly written in a foreign language…” Kei-san rolling her eyes at Yaguchi-san.

“Who wouldn’t be surprised to find out the the kakkoi guy and the kawaii girl of the Morning Musume together?”

The three made a show of hands.

“See? 100%!” Yaguchi declared.

Kaorin-an, rolling her eyes at both other senpais said “Anyway… we were usually aware when you two were fighting and it was pretty easy to find out what was going on... ”

Then, looking at me she said “Yoshizawa, you’re the one who’s poured more thought into the consequences of your relationship in terms of you careers...”

They’re psychic.

“Mari-chan here reported to Yuuko-san how religiously you read the company policies, the clauses on your contracts and how annoying you are when clarifying stipulations.”

…or not…

Patting Yaguchi-san on the head, “Mari-chan’s also the one who reported to Yuuko-san how you, Miss Charmy, were melting Yoshizawa with your eyes in the canteen during lunch…”

Rika’s face turned so red at the fact that somebody actually saw her. And that I was actually here to hear that ‘report’.

“Mari-chan also interrogated Goto-chan about her strange closeness to Yossui… and she confessed to your conspiracy to push Rika-chan away that obviously failed since you two are together now.”

I didn’t explain that part to Rika-chan last night. But her face lit up at this particular report.

“When Yuuko-san graduated, she entrusted the two of you to the three of us. Kei-chan and I as your leaders in Morning Musume and Marippe and Kei as your mentors. Yuuko-san even said that you two looked kawaii together even though she wasn’t the type to say that.”

We kept silent. I was blushing seven shades and was too embarrassed to say anything. Rika simply looked down.

“Even after Kei’s graduation, we still regularly met up about your issues.”

Issues?!?!

“I feel like a mother marrying off my child!” Mari-san suddenly blurted out probably to break the ice. “but I’m too young to have a child of mine married off. My Yossui is so kakkoi! Where’s my dowry, Kei-chan?”

“Hey, don’t look at me… I don’t really have a job right now…”

They managed to crack a smile in our shocked-with-1,000-Megawatts looking faces.

“We want you to know that we understand and trust you. We also want you to know that we are always behind you to support you in your decisions and offer you guidance when you need it.” Kei-san said. “We see your natural working chemistry and how you help the younger members by giving them advice and cheering them up whenever they’re down. They see you as role models in work-ethic and attitude. We want to see that attitude and chemistry between leader and sub-leader and we know someday, you’ll assume those positions.”

We were more embarrassed than ever. The senpais didn’t really praise kouhais like that.Kaorin-san suddenly took a serious tone. “We have spoken to Tsunku-san and he said that it is none of his concern as long as you stay professional and remain wary of your contracts. You must also beware of the agency. They are bunch of paranoids. If word reaches them they might pull the plug on either or both of you. As more experienced employees of the agency, we warn you to be very careful”

“Hai”

“But, as your senpais and more so your friends, we must personally remind you of your responsibilities to the agency and more so the whole group.” We nodded.“You know that relationships are not allowed unless you can manage to be extremely discrete or turn invisible. In your case, that wouldn’t be so much of a problem since the public is used to seeing you two together. Nonetheless, don’t show them more than what they are used to. Little things can explode into big issues and could destroy the whole group” Mari-san said.

I gulped down after imagining such scenario. Brought back to reality only at the mention of my name.

“Yossy, you are the one who was more aware of the consequences of this situation with the company. Being the more responsible one in this relationship, I trust that I’ve taught you enough to know your boundaries on and off camera and even outside work. I want you to remember all that and protect Rika-chan, yourself and Morning Musume from scandals that may come out of this matter."

“Hai, senpai” I replied to my mentor, proud of her confidence in me… and herself.

Kei-san added.“Also, be careful in your actions especially among you kouhais, so not to give them the wrong idea. They look up to you and listen to you… some of them might have even joined Morning Musume out of admiration for you. Remember that Morning Musume is an all-girl group with diverse members. Some of them might not be cool with the idea of you two girls in a relationship. We advise you two keep your relationship away from work, be it displays of affections or lover’s quarrels, just to stay on the safe side.”

We nodded in comprehension of their reminders.

“Support each other in everyway you can. Never forget to think before acting. Be understanding, respectful and open minded to each other. In your hands, your relationship can either strengthen or destroy Morning Musume. We trust you.”

“Hai, Kei-san… ” Rika replied.

“Aaaaaaand…. We know you think that wearing matching/identical/each other’s accessories/clothes are kawaii. But we strongly advise you, especially you, Rika-chan, not to do that nor to insist that on each other unless such accessories/clothing was issued by the agency for use. Wotas are smarter than you think… they notice the subtlest of things... and connect the dots pretty well… no matter how immature and pathetic they seem to you…” The leader threw a glance at Rika who just nodded her head, wearing an awkward smile.

Kaori-san finally ended the meeting “Well then… now that’s done and over with, you can take the day off. The meeting is adjourned. See you next work day.”

“Arigatou…”We left before our senpais, with smiles on our faces, hand in hand