December 23rd

It was morning, and Yamada Ryosuke was waiting for his manager, Sugiyama-san, to pick him up while scrolling down his phone screen. Leisurely leaning on his couch with semiformal attire, he couldn’t help but grinning amusedly. He had been browsing for the pictures of he and Mirai in the airport yesterday. He wasn’t surprised that he found a lot of them. Some were blur but a few were taken perfectly. He loved most the ones captured the moment he kissed Mirai’s forehead and the ones where he held her hand and led her to the departure gate. Oh, and also the ones he took Mirai’s disguise off, making her hair a bit messy. In that messy style, she looked unexpectedly... y. He gulped and shook his head, diverting his imagination.

As the excitement shimmered down, he heaved a sigh.

His deliberate action had indeed stirred rumors in the fandom, but it mattered less for now. Looking at the clock on the wall, he assumed that Mirai had arrived in United States last night according to Japan Standard Time. He had asked Tachibana-san to let him know when Mirai safely arrived there, but he hadn’t received any news yet. He assumed that Tachibana-san might still be resting.

A few minutes later Sugiyama-san came and they didn’t wait longer to soon depart to the studio. They would do photo shooting for their coming promotion concert.

“About the press conference after this,” Sugiyama-san suddenly brought up another topic while driving. “There may be some changes.”

He turned, “What change? And why?”

After the photoshoot Jump was scheduled for a press conference to announce their concert in March, and in the end of it the agency would also give him a chance to clarify the rumor about his wedding.

“Shida-chan’s agency did not fill their end of bargain,” the answer came.

“How?”

“They should have announced Shida-san’s indefinite leave this morning, but they cancelled the press conference. Our agency had asked for their confirmation, but Johnny-san hasn’t tell me nor Anji-san anything until now.”

He had not met Johnny-san since yesterday, but he was told that unlike the usual extreme reaction of laughing in amusement or getting mad, Johnny-san had reacted calmly and almost brushed the rumor off as if it was nothing serious. As a side note, it was even odd that Johnny-san concerned about his case. Since a year ago, the management of Jump had been completely delivered to Julie-san, but for this personal case of his, Johnny-san had took the matter in his hands.

“Well,” Sugiyama-san remarked at last, “We still have about seven hours till the scheduled press conference. I guess we’ll hear something from the upper management. You don’t need to overthink about it. Just focus on the photoshoot.”

He sighed, “You shouldn’t have told me since the beginning, Sugi-san. Now that I’m aware of it, how could you tell me not to worry?”

Sugiyama-san laughed slightly, “Haha, gomen, gomen. But I believe in your profesionalism, Yamada-kun.”

The photoshoot ran well without any trouble. Jump members were messing around during the shoot, as they always did. The shoot ended three hours before the conference. They were given an hour break to eat and rest.

“Yamada-kun,” Sugiyama-san beckoned him to come, taking a few distance from the rest members.

“What is it?”

“About the press conference,” Sugiyama-san started. “If they ask you about your wedding plan, just let Anji-san handle it.”

“Why? Shouldn’t it be more convincing if it comes from me instead?” He glanced around to search for the man they’re talking about, but he couldn’t find him. “Where is Anji-san by the way?”

“He is doing some alteration in Jump’s schedule,” came the answer. “Johnny-san asked him to check on something after the meeting with Ken On this morning.”

As Mirai’s agency name mentioned, he got curious, “How’s the meeting?”

“We weren’t told about the detail. Just some clarification that Ken On cancelled the press conference this morning because Shida-chan asked them to.”

His eyes widened, “Mirai... cancelled the conference?”

Sugiyama-san shrugged his shoulder, “That’s what they told me. That’s why, since things haven’t been cleared up until now, you don’t need to say anything about your wedding plan, unless there is further instruction.”

“But—“

“Listen,” Sugiyama-san cut him off. “Please understand our position, Yamada-kun. I know you dislike it when the agency meddle with your privacy, but you realized since the beginning the consequence of your decision to publish your relationship with Shida-chan, didn’t you?”

“I know, Sugi-san,” he nodded. “What I want to say is that please don’t leave me out in this matter. If there’s a problem, tell me. I have proven to you all that I’m dependable.”

Sugiyama-san was about to speak when Anji-san suddenly appeared and called out to all of Jump members to  gather.

“Alright, guys,” Anji-san stood before them. “Pay attention to what I’m gonna tell you.”

“The press conference will be held in about two hours for fifteen minutes in the hall of a hotel room. Our staff will drive you there,” Anji-san started. “All of you are allowed to speak. We won’t choose a representative, BUT,” Anji-san emphasized the word. “There are two points you mustn’t speak. First, about the main tour. It’ll be a secret until the promotion tour is done.”

Anji-san paused to look at them, then resumed his speech, “Second, don’t spill even a word about personal affairs. No matter how persistent they are in drilling you with those questions, never leak anything. We don’t want any rumor spread out before our concert. Understand guys?”

“Okay!”/”Alright!”/ “Understood!”

Came the replies almost at the same time.

Anji-san gave a friendly smirk, “Good. Then get ready. We’ll depart to the location soon.”

Everyone hollered a reply then started packing their belongings and some others did their simple make up, but he chose to jog after Anji-san.

“Anji-san,” he called out calmly as he reached Anji-san’s side.

The older didn’t halt his steps, but replied, “What is it?”

“How about me?” he asked.

Anji-san eventually stopped, arching a brow at him, “What about you?”

“Sugi-san tod me that her agency has cancelled their part,” he said indirectly adressed Mirai’s agency.

“Just do the same with the others, Yamada. Don’t leak anything about personal affairs. That’s all.”

“Wouldn’t they ask me about my wedding I had announced a few months ago?”

“Yes, I bet they will, but just evade from answering it until we have the clear answer.”

“But won’t it affect the others if the rumor spread?”

Anji-san smiled comfortingly, “Relax. Your case is not unheard of, Yamada, so don’t be too stressed over it. Anyway, just so you know, there will be a further meeting with Ken On for crisis management. You may prepare for Johnny-san’s call.”

He nodded, “Alright. Thanks for letting me know.”

Patting his shoulder, Anji-san replied while walking away, “You’re welcome.”

After Anji-san left, he joined the rest of Jump to pack his things. A few minutes later they were called to soon depart to the hotel where they would hold the press conference.

The conference started at 3 p.m. They announced that Jump would have a concert for two days in March and that they would release a new single in the same month. The questions revolved around those topics during the provided times, but when the moderator signed that the time was up, the reporters noisely hollered question over the others about the recent rumors regarding Jump members: Yuya and Kota’s dating, Yuto’s closeness with his co-actress, and of course, his wedding plan with Shida Mirai. They answered it with playful joke, but when all of a sudden he heard one of the reporters hollered a question about the recent picture of he and Mirai in the airport and asked whether they broke up that the wedding date which was supposed to be at the end of the year was cancelled, he looked at Anji-san who was standing at the corner of the room. He silently asked permission if he could clear up that particular issue.

When Anji-san nodded, he answered, “Regarding my relationship with Shida Mirai, please don’t carelessly spread rumor about us breaking up. If we did, we wouldn’t be that intimate, right?”

“So, that picture was indeed you and Shida-san?”

“Yes,” he added fast when more questions were asked. “However, the questions have been out of topic for this conference, and the time has been up. So, forgive us. We should head to our next schedule.”

The reporters did not easily give up, even as the moderator announced that the conference ended and allowed Jump to leave the room. The crowd only died down when the door closed and Jump was no longer seen.

“Huff, those were quite nervewrecking,” Daiki remarked once they were safe in the other room with the staffs and their managers.

“Eh, but I’m curious about what picture of Yamachan they were talking about,” Kei absentmindedly wondered.

“Inoo-chan!” the rest of Jump except him glared disbelievingly at Kei.

“What? What did I do?” Kei, though, was clueless about their reaction.

Giving a weak smack on the back of Kei’s head, Hikaru answered, “Can’t believe you don’t know about the hottest issue and the trending topic in social network, Inoo-chan. Look!” Hikaru calmly showed his phone to Kei.

“Woah! Yamachan... you... so cool!” Kei smirked teasingly.

He felt his cheeks warmed, but then a realization dawned on him, “Wait, Hikaru-kun, how could you have my picture? Our agency had cracked all those down this noon, hand’t they?”

“Ryosuke, don’t be too naive,” Yuri leisurely remarked. “There is no way the agency could track down every account. Your picture has gone viral, you know. I thought you had realized it the moment you decided to appear that way with Mirai-chan.”

He scratched his nape in embarrassement, “I didn’t think it will be this huge, honestly.”

“Well,” Kota intercepted, “At least it works as expected. It strenghtened your statement just now.”

“And I have more pictures for my collection,” Yuto joined in.

“Eh? What collection?” all of them stared at Yuto.

Innocently Yuto grinned, “My collection of Yamachan’s pictures