The chilly morning frost did not stop Amu and Rio attend their usual work duties at Johnny’s jimusho. In fact, both woke up early and looked forward on the day ahead. The overwhelming happiness they had experienced the day before was still their number one topic of conversation until they reached the door of Hey! Say! Jump’s main dressing room.

Unlike other days, the whole floor was quiet. They could almost hear the wind blasting out from the nearby air conditioner. “Are we too early?”, Rio asked, clueless of what they have in store prior entering the dressing room. The older one twisted the knob open, expecting to see the nine-member group they are serving for. However, only Yabu, Hikaru, Inoo and Yuya were present. Standing at the furthest corner of the room was Daiki – his hands inside his pockets, facing the wall.

Both girls immediately noticed the tense atmosphere when all pairs of eyes landed on their direction.

“I-Is everyone okay?”, Amu was the first one to talk. She expected a friendly greeting from the boys but all she received were piercing looks. Yabu signalled both girls to sit on the sofa before throwing a newspaper on the coffee table for Amu and Rio to see.

“We trusted you… both of you”, Yabu finally spoke. Rio picked the paper and felt her heart sink down to her stomach when she saw the article entitled “Yamada Ryosuke Dating Scandal” written in bold ink. Underneath was a picture of her, linked hands with Ryosuke. Her face was blurred out, but it was clear how close they appeared on the photo. Even more surprising was her best friend’s name written as its author.

“We treated you like family. I can’t believe you would do such a thing!”, Yuya proclaimed, his eyes were fixed at the two girls who are still processing the events unfolding in front of them.

“I-I did not write this”, Amu whispered under her breath. Her voice trembled and was unable to move from her place.

“There’s got to be a mistake. Amu-chan would never write something like this!”, Rio protected her best friend. She was almost twice as confused as Amu but one thing she is sure of, and that is Amu would not do anything to jeopardise anyone in Jump.

“We want to believe you. But I already checked the company and they confirmed that Amu-chan works for them”, Inoo placed a piece of paper in front which confirms Amu’s employment from the same newspaper firm.

Rio took some time process everything and her eyes never left the newspaper on the table. All she wanted now was to see Ryosuke and make sure he is okay. Out of all the members, he must be the one bearing all the toil from this scandal, “Where’s Yama-chan? I need to talk to him”.

“He’s currently being questioned by the company and may be suspended. Chinen, Yuto and Keito are with him as back up”, Hikaru explained, “Even if he’s here, we won’t let you speak to him. We won’t let anyone hurt any of our band members”.

“You think we planned this?”, Rio was unaware of the tears already running down her cheeks.

“I’m sorry. We just don’t trust anyone right now”

“It’s true that I worked for them, but I have never written anything that would hurt anyone! You have to believe me”, Amu tried her best to gather all the courage she could possibly muster in order to explain herself, “I-I treated you guys as friends and I—”.

“STOP!”, Yabu almost shouted. It pained him to send the two girls away, but he wanted to protect his band members, “It’s better if both of you just go”.

Amu felt her eyes swell up and fought the tears from falling. Her eyes diverted to the one guy she trusts the most – Daiki. She saw him not moving an inch, his back facing her as if already decided to turn her away, “C-Can I talk to Dai-chan alone?”, she said, almost begging. Hearing her call, Daiki slowly turned around but refused to look at her eyes.

“I have nothing to say. I don’t even know you anymore, so please leave”, he said in a cold tone. He looked down and felt his fists clenching. Only yesterday, he considered himself the happiest man on earth, but all of that disappeared in just a blink of an eye.

Amu felt her heart shatter in a million pieces after hearing Daiki’s voice. He never said the word ‘good-bye’, but for some reason, Amu sensed that it would be the last time she would see Daiki again. She took a deep breath and felt liquid rolling down her plump cheeks.

With a heavy heart, the two girls went on their way towards the exit of the room.

--

As soon as the door closed, Daiki felt a huge weight on his shoulders, making him slump down on the floor. He hugged his knees and thumped his head back, feeling a slight pain on the back of his head. However, this is nothing compared to the pain of his heartache. He felt tightness on his chest and soon, tears started rolling down, “Why does it have to be you?”, he whispered, not letting his other friends hear.

“Do you really think they did it? I loved those two… They’re like sisters to me”, Hikaru felt an enormous guilt wash through him. Little did he know, this is something the rest of the group felt, and he is the only one who had the courage to say this out loud.

“We did what we had to do. I want to protect Yama-chan”, Yuya uttered but deep inside, he is also devastated to be the cause of the two girls crying. The sight of Amu and Rio in tears was something the group did not intend to see.

The older ones were about to contemplate more of their actions when they heard the door creak open, revealing the remaining members of Hey! Say! JUMP – Chinen, Yuto, Keito and Ryosuke.

“What’s going on here?”, Yuto immediately noticed the dark aura the older ones were emitting. They just had a very heavy discussion with their manager, but the atmosphere in the room was worse. For a moment, everything was silent and the only clue they had was the newspaper article lying on the coffee table.

At last, Yabu spoke, “We told Amu and Rio to go and never come back”.

With this, the four boys who just joined them were left speechless.

Chinen looked around and spotted Daiki almost lifeless on the floor. Feeling his anger take its peak, Chinen stomped towards the older boy and grabbed his collar. Everyone in the room gasped at his sudden actions and watched as the boy pull him up and pound his back on the wall.

“And you are okay with this?!”, Chinen’s fist tightened, almost pressing against Daiki’s neck. It annoyed him seeing the boy’s blank expression, as if not caring about Amu’s feelings, “ANSWER ME!”, he continued and finally received a cold shot from Daiki.

“You don’t think I wish it wasn’t her?”, the older one replied, “We’re the same. I wanted her to stay”.

Chinen’s grip loosened when he saw tears on Daiki’s eyes. He had known him for more than 10 years, but this is the first time he had seen him so vulnerable. Yet, he just couldn't ignore the fact that he hurt the person he cares so much for. “No, we’re not the same”, he paused and saw images of Amu flashing before his mind, “Unlike you, I believe in her”, he proclaimed before heading to the door. Soon, the other members saw Yuto trailing behind Chinen with his expression as dedicated as ever.

“Where are you two going?”, the others utte