A Brewing Storm
Our Second Chance
Mariya sighed, taking a seat on the couch next to Rei. "All of you are so paranoid. No one is paying us to be here. We just decided to get away for the weekend."
Daiki shook his head. "I don't believe it. It's too much of a coincidence."
"Well, it's not our fault the two of you have trust issues." Rei retorted, shaking her head in disbelief.
"Perhaps helping them out was a bad idea." Mariya said, turning to her best friend. "Maybe we should leave."
"Can someone just explain what's happening?" Rio suddenly asked, staring at her high-school rival. The latter stared back at her before releasing a heavy sigh.
"I'm not sure how to phrase this in such a great way so I'm just going to say it as how it is..." Mariya paused. "...Satoko is pregnant with Ryosuke's child."
The entire room fell into a dead silence. Everyone immediately glanced at Ryosuke, waiting for a reply from him.
"You're joking." He finally answered after a while, chuckling in cold sweat. "This was obviously set up. I mean, how did you two even knew we were here?"
"Mayu told me. Not too sure how she knows though." Rei replied this time.
Not saying a word, Rio suddenly stood up from the couch, quickly grabbing her coat and bag before running out the door.
"Rio, wait!" Ryosuke exclaimed, standing up immediately to chase her. However, before he was able to take even one step, Yuto stepped in front of him while throwing his own jacket on.
"She needs space from you right now. I'lll go after her." The taller boy said. Feeling frustrated by the words of his childhood friend, Ryosuke pushed him aside, his actions shocking everyone in the room. "She's my finacee, Yuto. Not yours." He declared before running out.
"Mariya, perhaps you should've told Ryosuke without Rio around?" Rei spoke up as soon as the couple left.
"Then I assume you'd want to show Daiki the pictures in private then huh?" Mariya replied, pointing at Rei's bag.
"What pictures?" Daiki asked, confused by Mariya's suggestion.
"Mayu told me to give this to you. I wasn't supposed to look at it but I couldn't help..." She hesitated, handing Daiki an envelope.
The boy paused before taking the envelope into his hands. Not knowing what to expect, he opened the flap and dug his arm into the envelope pulling up a set of pictures.
"What is it?" Amu asked, noticing his sudden solemn expression. She quickly made her way over but as soon as she saw the pictures, she widened her eyes. "These were photoshopped." She said, feeling tighen. "Chii and I- we never..." She stuttered, as Chinen stood up hearing his own name.
Chinen couldn't believe what he saw either and he narrowed his eyes in confusion. There were a ton of photoshopped pictures of the two kissing from their recent hangout. Whoever edited it must've been a mastermind because it looked unbelievably real.
"She's telling the truth. We never kissed." Chinen added, his eyes now fixated on the floor.
"I never accused you two of anything." Daiki replied, throwing the pictures on the table. "I think I just need a minute to myself." He said before walking out of the room.
"Amu, you should go after him. Don't let him misunderstand and overthink things." Chinen said and wihin the next few seconds, the youngest girl had also left the room in a hurry. After her disappearance, Chinen reached over to pick up the photos and examined it closer. "What are your real motives?" he asked before turning to the girls.
"Real motives?" Mariya asked, taken back.
"Don't play stupid." Yuto suddenly pushed on, his aggrevated tone surprising everyone.
"We just wanted to help.." Rei uttered as Yuto sighed.
"Just save us the headache and tell us."
"Are Satoko and Mayu behind this?" Chinen added.
The two girls exchanged uncertain glances but after agreeing on confessing, they nodded hesitantly in silence.
"Do they have something against you?" The younger boy pressed on, desperate for any information.
"They have... really intimate pictures of us with our exes. They told us that if they found out we revealed anything else to you then they'll post the pictures online.." Mariya explained.
"Is there anything else we should know that they're having the two of you do?" Yuto asked this time.
"Besides what they told us to tell Daiki and Ryosuke... nothing else." Rei answered, her tone a lot less confident than before.
"You girls better be telling the truth because all of us are nearing our limits." Yuto said as he collapsed onto a nearby chair.
'This trip might actually be the biggest mistake of our lives.'
-- Meanwhile --
"Rio-chan wait!" Ryosuke uttered, desperately trying to catch up to her in the halls.
"Rio!" He repeated again. "Please don't ignore me- Just hear me out!"
As soon as he finally managed to grab her arm, he panted heavily in an attempt to catch his breath. "Rio, how many times do I have to call your name before yo-" He began, turning her to face him. Yet, as soon as he saw her red tear-streaked face, he instantly forgot everything he wanted to say.
Around that same moment, the elevator rang from around the hall and not wanting anyone to notice the two of them, Ryosuke immediately pulled her into an umarked room, closing the door behind them.
Looking around, he realized it was just a refreshment room with vending machines and that it probably wasn't the safest option. However, with the giggles of the group of young girls resonating past them, he was a bit relieved that they were safe as of now.
"Congratulations, Ryosuke." Rio managed to utter, refusing to meet his glance. "I wonder if it's a boy or a girl."
"Both Mariya or Satoko could be lying. Rio, you know those girls
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