Chapter Text
Dead silence as those words came out of the twink’s mouth, scary stuff as the atmosphere grew uncomfortable.
“... Uh… Let's just go, boys…” The student who made the mistake of talking back finally ordered, much to the sheer dismay of one boy in the group as they moved on, leaving Ruki and Shizuku alone.
“... Thanks, Enamoto-san…” Shizuku then said after a few seconds of silence between them, taking a step closer. “Who were those kids anyway?” Ruki just asked, still eyeing the direction the group took off to.
“Just a few students from another school, let's just say they've taken a liking to MMJ recently…” A nod was his only response to that as he finally turned to look at her. “Well… How about you? What are you still doing here?”
At that question the blue-head fidgeted nervously as she stood in place, blushing slightly as she looked at the ground before answering. “A-Ah… Well…” She trailed off, embarrassed by something. “Well? C’mon, can't be that bad.”
“I lost my way trying to get to the library…” Ruki nodded at that, and then it hit him. “Uh huh… There's no public library here that's conveniently close by. Doesn't Miyamazuka have its own library?” That reminder only amplified her blushing.
“O-Oh really…? I-I forgot…” Ruki managed to keep a straight face at her ever-so-innocent error, even as his mind was playing inside his head. ‘Soooo… She forgot her school has a library, went outside to go to a library, forgot that there's none nearby and got lost in an area she should be familiar with…’
“... I'm gonna regret asking this, but do you live close by?” He asked, earning a nod from her. “Mhm, me and my sister pass here quite often.”
‘How does she get lost at a place like this- That doesn't make any sense…’
So many curious questions were boiling inside his head the more this conversation went on, and like the coward he was he couldn't voice any of them. On the bright side, the sight before him was undeniably adorable. “Hmmm… Are you alright? You're a bit red, sick or something?” He asked, tilting his head to the side as he looked at the blushing idol in front of him.
“N-No… I'm fine…” She responded, breaking eye contact. “Okay… What are you planning to do now?” He then asked, making a mental note to never let this girl roam the outside world alone, lest she get more lost than a blind man in the forest.
“... I think I'm just gonna go home now…” He nodded again at that. “I better get going now, bye, Enamoto-san-”
“Actually, can I come with you? You're probably gonna get lost again.” He said, much to Shizuku’s surprise. “What? Oh y-you don't have to do that… I'll be fine.”
“... And I don't believe that one bit after today.” He replied with an amused smile, having the ability to get lost literally anywhere oddly suits her character, and it's an oddly endearing quality. “So, shall we?”
With an embarrassed and reluctant murmur from Shizuku, the two began walking. Led mostly by Ruki armed with Shizuku’s address and a dumb smile on his face. “Enamoto-san?” She called out, “Hm? Oh, Ruki is fine, I don't mind.” He said, never wiping that fond smile off his face.
“Ah… Okay… Ruki-san…” She said his first name slowly, testing how her tongue pronounced the two syllables. “... Why do I feel like you're grinning because of earlier?” She finally got out, forcing the editor to semi-suppress a laugh. “What? No of course not…” He says as he snickers and his smile widens. “You're definitely making fun of me…”
“It's cute though! Seriously, from what I've heard you're usually so mature and then stuff like this pops up.” He defended viciously, the child-like grin in full view for the idol and a stark contrast to his more intimidating tone earlier.
“Thank you… I guess…” Shizuku just said to end the embarrassment, looking the other direction to hide her blushing face.
“Oh hey, we're here.” Ruki announced, stopping in front of one specific house. “This the right place?” And the idol nodded.
“Are you sure? Last thing I want is to get the cops called on us…” He said as he cautiously approached the door, reaching out to ring the doorbell. The moment he did so he heard a distinct sigh come from inside, followed by a familiar voice. “... Looks like she’s finally back-” That line cut off as the door was opened, and Ruki’s eyes locked on to a pair of similarly colored optical orbs.
“... Huh, hi there, Shiho. Long time no see.” He greeted as he recognized the girl in front of him, aided by her scruffy and short grey hair with green eyes that were kinda similar to his. “... Oh, it’s you.”
“You know each other, Ruki-san?” Shizuku asked as she stood behind him while looking over his shoulder at her sister. “Yeah… Kinda, long story.”
“Well, what are you doing here?” Shiho then questioned the pink-head, who moved out of the way to give her a full view of her embarrassed sibling. He didn’t have to say anything, Shiho put the pieces together by herself. “Lemme guess… Got lost again, sis?” The idol reluctantly nodded, earning another sight from Shiho. “... Figured, good thing you found her. I owe you one, again.” The last remark only piqued Shizuku’s curiosity even further.
“Wanna come inside for a bit? We got some catching up to do.” Of course he couldn’t turn that offer down, the grocery agenda be damned. With the three now nicely seated down in the living room, it was time for that talk. “So, turns out you have a sister.” Was the first thing he said, something that Shiho nodded at.
“Yeah… And as you can guess from how you probably found her earlier, she’s an idiot.” Still as blunt as ever it seems…
“Still mercilessly blunt, huh?” He remarked with that same old fond smile that Shizuku saw earlier. “Old habits die hard.” Shiho responded.
“Um… How do you two know each other, if I may ask?” Shizuku finally spoke up, her sister shifting a bit on her seat before responding. “It was back before Leo/Need’s formation, you know, back when I had no friends at school and the bully rumors were at an all-time high.” She stopped there, looking to Rui to finish the story.
“... Well one day, in the vicinity of Miyamazuka, I happened to pass by and from what I understand, a buncha girls were confronting her about those rumors.” He said, looking up at the ceiling as he thought back on it. “And I don't mean just the usual ‘hey is it true you're a bully’ type stuff, nope. This one was a bit more physical, took a ton of effort to break it up.”
His gaze then darted back to Shiho, a smile formed from a concoction of warmth and fondness slowly dripping on his face. “She wasn't hurt, not physically at least. Though she was pretty shaken up by it.”
“Ah… Okay… I… Never really knew about that incident…” Shizuku mumbled to herself, probably beating on herself for not knowing about it as Shiho’s older sister.
“... Yeah because I didn't tell anyone, the issue blew over in a few hours anyway. Largely because Ruki was so pushy afterwards and it pissed me off so much I forgot about it.” The editor snickered at that. “Oi, you can't deny that it helped.”
“Anyway, moving on. What are you doing with Shizuku, Ruki?” Shiho then asked, the normally introverted and distant girl leaning forward with her chin propped up on her hand.
“Ah, long story short, MMJ wanted an editor. I guess Akiyama-san was busy.” He responded as he leaned back a bit, working out a kink on his shoulder as he did so. “Huh, neat. I didn't strike you as the type to work with idols though.”
“Oh uh… I actually didn't know they were idols, never heard of MMJ until now.” He could see a flash of amusement on the grey-head’s face at that. “Oh boy… I'm guessing the girls had a field day when they found out.”
“Yeah… We don't talk about that.” He chuckles sheepishly. “The sheer disappointment that radiated from four people when I said I never heard of them could probably kill.”
The talking and chatting went on for an unexpected amount of time, with Shizuku feeling rather envious of her sister from her familiarity with Ruki.
“Okay… That was a long talk, phew.” Ruki let out a sigh as he got ready to walk out the door of the Hinomori household. “I should probably get going, I’ll see you both err… Sometime after this. Bye-” Before he could finish that sentence, Shizuku gave him a light tug on his sweatshirt.
“... Can you stay for a bit longer, Ruki-san? At least until after dinner, you can join us. Please?” She offered, ever so innocently, with that oddly motherly look to her. Seriously, this girl who’s two years younger than him already gives off mother and housewife vibes.
"Are you hungry, possibly? I could cook up something if there's anything in the fridge.." Shizuku fiddled with her hands, either showing a sign of embarrassment or fluster where Shiho was clearly noticing even if she was behind her. "Or we could just do take-out.." The grey-haired mumbled with her arms folding loosely.
“Ah, well, there’s no need to do all that since I can walk by the convenience store..” Ruki tried to decline in a respectful way. And as much as he wanted to enjoy the possible comforting, loving dishes that Shizuku could make, he felt ashamed to let her make something for him in favor of helping her effortlessly earlier. But the look in Shizuku’s eyes, as if a puppy was doing the ‘dog-eyes’ trick on him, was unbearable. “But I suppose it won’t hurt to have a bite before heading home.” He says in defeat. Just then, he sees the ceiling light reflect in her eyes.
“Hehe… Sit back down then, it won’t take too long.” She says, it isn’t obvious, but the bright gleam in that girl’s eyes gave away her excitement, and it was way more than she was willing to let on.
Ruki watched as the idol walked into the kitchen, sitting back down on the couch with Shiho across from him. “... Does she normally get excited cooking?” He whispered as he leaned forward towards the grey-head. “... Nope, never seen her like that.”
“Huh… Okay.” He leaned back against the sofa, taking a moment to look around at his surroundings. He sees a small desk drawer in the distance, located directly on top of it was a small plant pot with a framed picture next to it, the picture of course showing the two siblings when they were younger.
“Not a damn word.” Shiho warned him once she saw what he was looking at. “Hm?” He was confused for a moment, though he eventually caught what she was on about. ‘She’s cute though… Not sure what her problem is.’
“Don’t even think about it.” She warned again, much to Ruki’s amusement. “Don’t think about what?” He retorted, raising an eyebrow with that glint in his eyes, the same old glint he showed her back then, back when he’d intentionally get on her nerves to take them away from other issues.
“You know damn well what I’m talking about.” She growled, the look in her eyes just screaming ‘Do it, I dare you.’
“I mean… I already saw you like that in person so…” And just like that, the pin was pulled on a grenade. Shiho eyed him then, if it weren’t for the fact her older sister was here she’d probably have knocked him out by now.
“Seriously though, nothing’s wrong with it, don’t think too deep.” Ruki finally said to brush off the topic, earning a sigh from her. “... Right.”
Taking his attention off of the photo, Ruki settled for looking up at the ceiling light and staring into the void. Or as people who know him like to call it, spacing out. “Still enjoy staring at nothing huh?” Shiho remarked, but Ruki was out of the zone so he didn’t respond.
“Shiho, Ruki-san, dinner’s ready!” Shizuku then called out from the kitchen, despite that Ruki still wasn’t out of it. “Dinner’s ready, what are you two up-” Shizuku paused as she took in his blank face staring up.
“... What is he doing?” The idol asked her sister, who shrugged her shoulders. “Spacing out, he’s totally unresponsive.” She responded.
“Hello, Ruki-san?” Shizuku called out as she waved a hand in front of her face, finally pulling the editor out of it. “Hm?” He shook his head for a moment, his eyes coming back into focus as he turned his head to look at the two girls. “What’s up?”
“Dinner’s ready dingus, you were staring at the ceiling.” Shiho responded, something that the editor only tilted his head at. “Right.”
XxxxX
At the dinner table, Ruki was greeted by quite the tasting, a wide selection to choose from. Oyakodon, Miso Soup, grilled salmon and some tofu. “Ooh…! Shizuku-san is an amazing chef, noted.” Ruki remarked, a genuinely excited, childish glint in his eyes as he took in the culinary masterpieces before him.
The comment left a mature yet oddly smug smile on the idol’s face, with a small side of blushing at the compliment of course. “Th-Thank you, it's usually just me and Shiho at home so I had to learn…”
“She made me fear for my life a few times during that phase.” Shiho butted in, the bluntness of that making her older sister embarrassed at the table.
“Well, someone can't make good stuff without producing slop first.” Ruki responded, looking down at a bowl of Miso Soup in front of him. “... It's how everyone starts something.”
Shizuku took a moment to gather her usual composure again before clearing her throat and speaking up. “Anyway, it'd be rude to keep the food waiting, shall we?” And just like that, the spirit of dinner was resurrected, and so was the excitement of getting to taste an idol’s cooking.
With a collective voice, the three belted out “Itadakimasu!” before the feast began, some people more enthusiastic than other. “Mmm… Oishi…” The editor muttered under his breath as he got his first bite of Oyakodon.
“Mhm, what he said.” Shiho added as she consumed the masterfully crafted examples of culinary excellence, and Ruki could see the subtle pride behind Shizuku’s acknowledging hum from the praise.
‘As I was thinking, housewife material.’ He thought as dinner went on, forming a newer and more deeper admiration for the beautiful blue-haired girl in the room. After all, who doesn't admire a woman who could cook?
“Delicious stuff.” He commented again, much louder and more verbally now with the newfound appreciation for one of his employers. “Yeah, almost feels like nearly burning the house or poisoning me a few times was worth it.” Shiho jabbed at her sister, though lacking any actual venom of course.
“I-I'm never gonna live that down, huh?” The idol mumbled in embarrassment at the topic being brought up again. “Nope, sorry.”
XxxxX
“Phew… Thanks for that one, Hinomori-san.” Ruki says as he stepped out the door with Shizuku following behind, looking up at the indigo sky as the day was coming to a close as they just stood outside by the open door for a bit.
“You're welcome, consider it my thanks for earlier.” She responded, looking up in the same direction as him. “... Yeah, just uh… Please be careful next time.” He said, silently wondering how this girl actually navigates herself to school and back before he came around.
“M-Mhm… I'll try to.” She responded, ever so slightly flushed before asking “So, we'll see you again on Friday?”
“Yup, I wonder what it's about.” The editor nodded, turning his gaze from the stars to the idol. “Any spoilers?”
Shizuku let out a short giggle, those eyes, blue like the morning sky seemingly glittering in the dim light of the evening. “Nope, sorry, you'll have to wait.”
“Awww… Okay then, I'll see you then alright?” He then said with a parting smile, taking a step back to begin their goodbyes. “Hai, see you. Be safe.”
“Oh I will, don't worry, only one of us gets lost easily.” The final, teasing remark earned a quiet huff from the calm idol, though she smiled nonetheless. “Bye!”
XxxxX
“Eugh…” A groan was all that was heard the morning after as a certain university student awoke from his deep slumber, slowly rolling around his bed as his alarm clock blared to life to tell him to get his butt off of bed.
And then he hit the floor with a familiar thud as he fell off the mattress, the wooden floor creaking as it took the blow. “Oof…” He said nonchalantly, on the bright side that definitely woke him up.
Propping his hand on his bed he staggered up, rubbing his eyes as he crawled back on the soft cushion on his knees, just so he could get the window and curtains up and open. “Mgh…” He grunted as the sunlight flooded the dark room and into his half-asleep eyes, blinking them a few times as he adjusted.
Once his vision was clear, he was greeted by the sight of an adorable black and white feline sitting patiently on the roof of his house staring at his window. “Oh!” Ruki exclaimed as he slid open the glass panel, and with a cute meow his familiar feline companion hopped up to his window ledge and into his arms.
“Good morning, Aki.” He greeted, fingers rubbing and scratching the neck of the purring cat curled up in his embrace. “How are you doing?”
After the morning petting he sent the cat on her way, watching as the four-legged furball scampered off his roof and to god knows where until tomorrow when she comes for her next batch of pets and scratches. Once that was done he went into his bathroom to take a shower and back to his room afterwards to get dressed, selecting his favorite pants and orca-pattern hoodie over a white shirt for the day.
When that was done he headed downstairs to make himself breakfast, opening the fridge to see the groceries he spent quite the night yesterday getting. “Hmm… Ramen sounds tasty today…” He mumbled as he pulled out the necessary ingredients, stomach rumbling all the while as he started cooking, literally, not figuratively.
While he was stirring up the ramen, his phone buzzed in his pocket, prompting him to pull out the device and check what was up, finding that he was now in a Nightcord server named “MORE MORE JUMP!”
“Ah…” Took him a second to figure it out what was up and who was who, though it brings the question:
… Oh well, not all kids are actually always on their phones he figured, but then the girls kept going…
… Right, he's had enough, at least for this morning, he'll continue this later…
Setting his phone down again, Ruki finally focused fully on the coveted ramen, the smell building up in the air being a nice aroma to smell at 7 in the morning, really gets the soul going. Only beaten by the moment he finally got to eat, the delicious scent and taste of his cooking only added to the day’s motivation. It almost reminds him of Shizuku’s cooking in a way, weird.
“Phew…” He sighed as he did a quick wash of the dishes, now all that’s left to do after this is to head out. He grabbed his stuff, locked the house, and went for the subway.
XxxxX
“Oh boy, okay…” Ruki mumbled as he heard about what would be the students’ next hell in the weeks to come at uni. And being an editor, he has a ton on his plate.
“Yup, posters. Festival stuff, we need ‘em professionally made and edited, and I dunno who else is capable of that than you, the prof advised us to work with the others too, try including ‘em in the work.” His fellow University student, a technical artist, told him.
“Okay… Okay… So what are you planning for it, Nakamura-san?” He asked the aspiring young woman before him, and she leaned forward on the cafeteria table they were huddled up at.
“Well… We’re gonna need models, and maybe a few other talents for the festival, know any?” She says, bringing a shiver down the pinkhead’s spine.
“Uh… M-Maybe…?” He says, nervousness flaring up as he immediately thought of a certain group of idols. It’s too early for that though, so maybe he can switch up the topic for a bit. “... But we can do that later, anything else?”
“Ooh! Ooh! There’s also some collaborations we can do with the guys looking to set up stalls...” She goes on excitedly, clearly looking forward to this, and at the same time intrigued by Ruki’s statement.
At the same time though, Ruki can’t help but shudder once he has to bring the topic up to MORE MORE JUMP!, subtly praying to god or whatever deity turns out to actually rule this universe that all goes well, lest he suffer the embarrassment for the rest of his life…
XxxxX
“Phew…” Ruki sighed as he was walking across the sidewalk towards the station, tired and with a laptop that has a dead battery, now he has to get home before his body follows suit.
“So, gonna crash out when you get home or are you gonna go to that editing job you do?” Came the question from a friend of his who was walking with him, the curious redhead boy’s purple eyes staring into his.
“Definitely a crash out, too drained to work if I wanted to-” He was cut off as his friend lit up with excitement, squealing excitedly as he roughly patted him on the shoulder and pointed at someone across the street. “Look…! Look…!” He scream-whispered as he signalled a pinkhead some distance away. ‘Oh, that’s Momoi-san.’ Ruki thought to himself, his outward appearance betraying no hint that he knew the girl.
The excited noises from his friend was only exacerbated by the next thing that Airi did, namely winking at one of the two… That was until that friend realized who the wink was directed at. “Oi… That girl just wink at you?”
Ruki acted aloof at that, acting like the man next to him was going crazy. “... Nah, you’re imagining things.”
“Good, because I swear if Momoi Airi from MMJ is winking at you of all people-” The redhead grumbled like the stan he was, making Ruki fear for his life for a moment before he pushed it down.
“And you’re wondering why I don’t really hang out with you too often, tell me then Takahashi, why would she wink at me of all people?” Ruki asked, he was treading through fire but he genuinely wanted to know how an MMJ stan sees the world.
His friend let out a huff as he looked at the tech-savvy editor like he was a caveman before continuing. “My man, have you seen what MMJ’s been talking about on SNS? Lots of praises for their new talented editor… And guess who happens to be working as an editor?”
He shuddered, regretting the question as he felt like he was sheep talking to a wolf. “... Fair point.”
Just as he was about to brush off the conversation, his phone buzzed in his pocket, not thinking much of it he pulled the device out to check on the notifications while the redhead ranted and raved his butt off on one side of his ear. He immediately had to hide it again once he realized who sent the message.
‘That girl…’ He thought, making sure his phone was well and truly hidden in his pants pocket where no one would see. “Who was that?” His friend asked.
“Err, just my family asking me again if I'm still alive.” He lied again, desperate to make sure he isn't getting murdered today, he's still a lonely virgin with no love life, he still has so much to accomplish! It'd be a shame if his life was cut short.
“I can only aspire to have a family that cares that much… All my family does is send money for tuition and stuff.” Takahashi remarked, dropping a sentence that unleashed something within the editor.
“... You're complaining that your family keeps you alive and pays for your uni so that you don't have to lift a finger… Meanwhile I had to get an editing job to help make ends meet.” The quick summary of his friend's life made him backtrack quickly. “... Right.” The redhead sheepishly whispered as he looked at Ruki’s darkened, almost murderous eyes.
It was another few minutes before Ruki could rid himself of his friend's presence, giving him the freedom to look at the message he received on his phone again, a rather fond smile coming on his face as he read the Nightcord message a second time, his mind already concluding that he probably won't have a moment of peace from now on while working with these girls…
The station wasn't really packed when he got there, a blessing so he could easily and quickly board a ride back home as well as finally catching a decent place to sit. His brain immediately went back to editor mode as the thought of Friday's work came up, an MV for a new cover apparently, neat.
Suppressing a smile, he put his phone down and leaned back. That’s for tomorrow’s Ruki to deal with. For once though? With cute girls involved, he’s looking forward to this.
Fin.