Day 3
Behind the Camera
It’s another day in the jimusho and Rio’s card holder containing her hospital ID badge is still yet to be found. Yes, the two girls were forced to go back on the 3rd day just to look for the missing item.
This time, our two heroines were dragged to a different building near the jimusho for a CM shooting. Both Amu and Rio were amazed at the size of the massive studio; It was almost twice the size of a basketball court! The place is filled with boxes, poles holding spotlights and cameras in every corner, focusing at a professionally-designed stage. “We have to be careful moving around. There’s a lot of things in here. One wrong move and everything will topple over”, one of the senior staff members warned and the two girls nodded in obedience.
As if already part of the crew, both girls assisted each JUMP member with individual costume fitting. Rio never believed that she was truly unlucky until she got assigned to assist Ryosuke again – the same guy who hates her existence.
“And Kitagawa-san, you’ll be assigned to Chinen-kun”, another staff member instructed but then heard another boy protest.
“EH?!”, Daiki only realised how loudly he said this when he saw all pairs of eyes in his direction. “Out of all people, why Chinen?”, he thought to himself, remembering Yuri’s encounter with Amu the day before. Chinen has not taken a move on Amu YET, but he already knew that he’ll be a difficult rival to compete with.
“Is there a problem, Arioka-kun?”, the same crew member asked in concern.
“N-No… I thought I saw a cockroach, but I didn’t”, he lied. Ryosuke, who was standing next to him noticed this immediately – Daiki could NOT lie and it’s almost embarrassing.
“Don’t mind”, the younger boy patted his shoulder, knowing well that he wanted Amu to be assigned to help him.
“Urusai, Ryo. You don't have to mock me just because you got lucky being assigned to your Rio-chan”, Daiki countered. He was quite certain that his friend is interested with the said girl no matter how much he denies it.
“What are you talking about?”, Ryosuke hissed, oblivious of his own emotions.
Daiki sighed at this, “You keep telling me she’s annoying, but I already saw you stealing glances. I may be bad at lying but you’re bad at hiding your feelings”.
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Meanwhile…
“Are you disappointed that I’m not Dai-chan?”, Chinen looked at the girl standing directly opposite him. He watched her carefully fix his tie as if in deep thought.
Amu stopped at this. Truth be told, she was thinking about her spontaneous date with Daiki the day before which consequently made her daydream in front of Chinen.
“Eh? No! Of course not. I’m just here to do my job”, she excused. She then moved on and placed a clip on the left side of Chinen’s suit, “Actually, this is perfect timing. I thought I’ll never see you again after that night but now that you’re here, I can finally give this back to you”, she pulled a nicely washed and pressed handkerchief from her bag – it was the same one Chinen gave her the night when they first met.
“But this is yours”
“Maybe you can help out another girl next time. You’re very good at it”, Chinen did not want to admit it but felt disappointed at what Amu said. Is this an unintentional rejection? He smiled weakly and wished for the girl’s happiness.
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The members are in the middle of the CM shoot while the two girls continued to help the crew with the most random jobs – from repositioning camera angles to moving heavy boxes, but Amu and Rio did not mind this at all. They get to watch Hey! Say! Jump behind the scenes – who can complain?
“Kitagawa-san, do you think you can move that box over here?”, Amu was instructed and without any questions, the girl obediently agreed. It was the 10th item she moved on the same day, how bad can it be? She picked the box up and did not anticipate its weight, making her stumble from one of the wires. In her fall, she accidentally elbowed a group of stacked boxes, “WATCH OUT!”, Daiki shouted after seeing the top box in the verge of falling directly at Amu.
Seeing the girl fall right before his eyes, the boy threw himself at Amu and shielded her with his body. The heavy box landed on Daiki’s right arm and found himself grunting at the pain.
All the people in the studio ran to their rescue and removed the pile of boxes on top of the couple.
“Are you guys okay?!”, Ryosuke and Yuto helped Daiki up, while Rio and Chinen helped Amu.
“Check up on Amu, please”, Arioka pleaded, more concerned about the younger girl than himself.
It took Amu a while to assess the situation and just ran to see Daiki’s condition, “I-I’m sorry!”, the girl apologised continually after seeing the boy hiss at his hurt arm, “Let’s get that treated”. The other members helped the boy towards the infirmary after asking the director to halt the shooting.
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“Can you squeeze my hand?”, Rio asked after elevating his arm with a pillow and assessed his grip strength. “Bend it a few times for me”, she then instructed. She noticed that the boy’s grip and movement on his right arm is the same as the left but with noted bruising.
“I don’t think it’s broken. It just feels tender because it’s bruised”, she concluded and heard Amu sigh in relief. The girl never left Daiki’s side since the incident – part of her blaming herself for hurting the boy.
“Rio-chan, you're really good with this. Are you a doctor or something?”, Kei randomly asked, and like a thunder bolt, Rio panicked at the question.
“Eh? Uhm… I’m a bit clumsy and get hurt a lot so it just comes with experience, I guess”, she lied. She thought that if she does not want to be discovered, she needs to be careful with these things from now on - at least until she finds her hospital badge and a chance to get away. She was relieved after knowing that the members were convinced at her lie.
--
Noticing Daiki and Amu exchange concerned glances, Hikaru read the atmosphere and spoke, “Ehem… I think we better leave the princess and her knight and shining armour alone for a few minutes”, he teased and heard Yabu, Yuya, Kei, Keito, Yuto and Ryosuke chuckle at this before exiting the infirmary (with Ryosuke dragging Rio with him).
Despite seeing his friends go, Chinen stayed and tapped Amu’s shoulder to gain her attention, “Amu-chan, can I talk to you for a sec?”, he requested and noticed how Daiki pouted at this.
“Chinen-kun?”, Amu tilted her head, wondering why the boy summoned her outside the room.
“You’re too busy worrying about Dai-chan that you didn’t even notice that you also hurt your arm”, the boy gently pulled her hand and showed her a small but significant cut on her skin. She must have gotten this during her fall.
“Eh? How did you even notice this? It’s so small”, she chuckled.
“I notice everything about you”, he replied before pulling his handkerchief from his pocket and applied pressure on the cut. After ensuring that it was clean, he wrapped this piece of cloth around it and tied the two ends to secure its place. “Yappari, this handkerchief is rightfully yours. You’re the girl I’m destined to help every time you’re hurt”, he smiled and found it cute how the girl’s face turned red. With this, he’s sure that Amu is someone important to him.
--
Time goes quickly when you’re with someone you like.
It was already midday when Amu finally convinced herself that Daiki is okay. It’s not that she doesn't trust Rio’s words, but it was the fact that she’s the reason why Daiki suffered this misfortune. With this, she excused herself from the resting boy and grabbed her lunch box.
“Dai-chan, I brought some food”, Daiki heard shuffling sounds that prompted him to sit up. He was delighted after seeing Amu’s face as soon as he opened his eyes.
The boy was even more surprised when he saw an obento box glistening with appetising dishes right in front of him. Amu actually prepared this food for herself and Rio, but the older one agreed to share it with Daiki instead.
“Did you cook this?”
“Yup, it’s the least I can do for what happened”, with guilt, she bowed once again and offered her apology, “If only there’s something I can do to make it up to you”.
The boy grinned at this when a lightbulb idea hit him, “Actually there is… Can you feed me?”.
“EH?”
“I’m right-handed and I can’t lift my arm”
“But Rio-chan said you’re okay”
“What if she’s wrong? See, I can’t feed myself”, he acted frail, but the girl was quick to catch his lie.
“You might be an actor but that won’t work on me”, she giggled after seeing how silly he’s acting.
“You said you wanted to make it up to me, right?”
“Hai hai”, defeated, Amu did not have a choice but to feed the boy. She felt her heart pounding and could not fight the blush diffusing on her cheeks. She always thought that nothing good ever comes liking celebrities, but today is the day she was proven wrong. Before she knew it, she was already falling for an idol named Arioka Daiki.
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