Chapter Text
“You know Izumi-chan, you’ll never find a proper girlfriend if you work 24/7” Arashi pointed out to the male sitting across her as she read Izumi’s schedule for his month-long stay in Japan.
Apparently, the silver-haired male had just gotten back from Florence, and is currently resting in the cafe within the ES building after his 14 hour long flight. Arashi of course was one of the first to greet him in the building, which led to her accompanying her friend.
“Why would I even bother getting a girlfriend?” Izumi spat out as he took a sip from his tea. “Sounds like a big waste of time.”
Arashi unfazed by her friend’s tone of voice just rolled her eyes. With the amount of time the two have spent together, she was already used to her silver-haired friend’s attitude.
“I’m just saying that it’ll be hard for you to maintain having a girlfriend with your strict schedule!” Arashi said as a matter of fact as she continued to eye the paper she held that contained Izumi’s schedule. “I mean, me and Mika-chan always take time off of our work just so we have time for each other you know!”
“If you’re just going to nag at me while talking about your stupid love life, you might as well just leave me alone. It’s seriously annoying you know.” Izumi stated as he took the paper that held his schedule from Arashi. The latter only pouting at her friend’s actions.
“Seriously, not only will your strict schedule, but that mean personality of yours is definitely going to give you a hard time finding someone! You’re lucky to have a friend as patient and understanding as me you know!” Arashi said as a matter of fact as she crossed her arms.
The male in front of her only rolled his eyes being used to his friend’s antics.
Arashi then turned her head to look at her surroundings as if trying to spot something or someone that should be within the vicinity. When she noted that what she was looking for was not around, she looked back at the male sitting across from her.
Izumi took the momentary silence as a cue for him to study his schedule during his stay in Japan while he continued drinking his tea. He was already emailed a copy of the said schedule before arriving in Japan, but he needed to double check if there were any changes.
The paper Izumi held not only contained the usual schedule for his work, it also consisted of a concise summary on what the job entails him to do. Each date had meticulous notes on the side telling him of what he needed to do for the job, what is required for him, and all the usual details you would see in a schedule such as the day, time, and location. If anything, he didn’t really need a copy of his schedule this detailed since the Knight’s designated manager will explain everything to them once they meet face to face, or in his case since he lived in Florence now, was either through mail or voice call.
But their manager was different, she was organized, and always having a sharp eye for details despite being a walking disaster. If anything, she was an efficient manager which greatly helped the unit in general, but Izumi will definitely never admit this to her face. Not when he enjoyed seeing that small pout in her face every time he told her off.
As Izumi smiled while he imagined his manager’s huffed and frustrated expression, the image was eventually cut off by his friend’s voice.“Hey Izumi-chan, isn’t [y/n]-chan with you? I mean she did pick you up from the airport didn’t she?”
Izumi then looked up from his paper to look at Arashi and replied, “She was in the airport to meet me, only to make me go here on my own with the company driver. Seriously, the nerve of that girl.”
“Oh my!” Arashi covered her lips as a sign of her surprise as she heard what Izumi had said. “But she never left you on her own! Could it be… Our dear manager is secretly meeting with someone!”
“Of course not!” Izumi yelled much harsher than he had intended, but when he saw that he got Arashi’s attention, he finally continued to explain. “Apparently our manager had to drag Kuma-kun to a job which he was late for thanks to him oversleeping.”
After Izumi was done explaining, Arashi hummed in understanding. This incident wasn’t the first after all, it was a normal occurrence already within the unit. But of course there were improvements seeing how Ritsu’s tardy streak had started to lessen the past few weeks, but that doesn’t mean that he didn’t need someone to wake him up from his deep slumber.
“But you know, wouldn’t it be interesting if our dear manager has a special someone?” Arashi wondered as she rested her chin on her hand.
Then without warning, Izumi choked on his tea as he heard what his friend had said. Arashi on the other hand only smirked to herself in secret due to Izumi’s reaction. After all, she knew of her friend’s growing affections towards their manager, and she knew that she had to give Izumi small nudges for him to make a move. Though from the looks of it, this wouldn’t be enough for the male, especially with how the only thing running in Izumi’s head was his modelling and idol career, and let everything else be damned. So Arashi knew she had to do something about her friend’s hopeless romantic endeavors.
“Why the hell would she need a special someone!?” Izumi spoke out, he tried to make it sound like his usual self, but his friend knew it wasn’t. “That crap is just going to distract her from her job.”
“But you’ll never know! Our [y/n]-chan is very responsible after all~” Arashi stated as a matter of fact.
Then as if she had been summoned, footsteps were heard and [y/n] stood by the table where Izumi and Arashi sat. The girl’s hair was a mess, her clothes wrinkled all over, and she panted trying to get her breath as she wiped the sweat on her forehead. Izumi wouldn’t be lying if he said that he was disgusted by the girl’s disheveled appearance.
“A-Arashi-chan, did you just call me? I heard my name when I was walking towards you guys.” [y/n] stated as she slowly tried to regain her breath.
“Oh my! [y/n]-chan--!” Arashi was cut off mid sentence when Izumi spoke up all of a sudden.
“You look like crap.”
[y/n] instantly whipped her head towards Izumi, shocked by what the male had just said about her appearance.
By now, she should be used to his blunt statements, but she can’t help but be shocked each time since it always comes out when she least expects it. Not to mention, she had been on the receiving end of it digitally, through voice calls and emails the past few months, so having to experience Izumi’s harsh words face to face again was somewhat a different experience. (It was worse)
“Izumi-chan, don’t be mean!” Arashi scolded the silver-haired male sitting across her.
Arashi then took [y/n]’s hand to guide their manager to sit beside her, which [y/n] was thankful for. The blonde then took the untouched glass of water on their table and gave it to her manager, which [y/n] in turn gratefully took and drank.
Once Arashi was sure that their manager had finally cooled down, she asked the girl beside her what happened.
“Once I dropped Ritsu-san off for his job and apologized to the client, I instantly went here to look for Sena-san to make sure he arrived safely.” [y/n] explained.
“That doesn’t explain why you look like a mess.” Izumi said as he eyed the girl.
“Izumi-chan! Don’t be mean!” Arashi glared at her friend.
[y/n] on the other hand wondered if she should continue explaining why she looked like she ran a marathon, but in the end she did. Her voice this time was softer seeing how embarrassed she was about what happened, and she knew Izumi was about to insult her for what she was about to say next.
“I tried asking in the dorms if Sena-san was resting there, and when I heard no one saw him, I kind of… panicked and ran around the entire building looking for him.”
Then they all went silent. Izumi was the first to break the silence of course.
“Are you an idiot?”
“I-I was worried okay!?” [y/n] jumped up off her seat trying to explain herself as she waved her hands animatedly to emphasize her words.
“You could have just called my phone or something. Seriously.” Izumi replied as he rubbed his temple due to his manager.
“I… I forgot I could do that.” [y/n] said sheepishly as Arashi made her sit down once again.
Despite his irritated disposition, he still felt warm at the thought of his manager looking all over for him, worrying about him. He did grow up rather independently, so having someone wanting to look after him gave his heart tiny flutters, but of course he wouldn’t admit this, not to her, not to anyone. Plus, he himself knew that he wasn’t the only one she was looking out for, so in a way, a part of him also felt a stinging pain knowing that he wasn’t somewhat special.
“Well now that we’re done with that.” Arashi cleared the air. “I just want to say that your timing here is perfect [y/n]-chan!~”
The girl then looked at Arashi curiously, Izumi on the other hand felt rather skeptical about whatever his friend was about to say. For some strange reason, his gut was telling him that whatever crap that would come out of his friend’s mouth wasn’t going to be good for him. Then as if on cue, Arashi continued.
“Why don’t you and Izumi-chan date each other?”
The smile on Arashi’s face seemed harmless, but for the involved parties, it was different.
Both were relatively flustered, but it was less obvious on Izumi’s face. Maybe it was because anger was mixed in with it, but he can’t just let his anger run rampant, so he tried to keep his head cool, but his tone of voice was definitely irritated.
“The hell do you mean by date each other? Why would I if it’s nothing but a stupid waste of time.”
Izumi knew he felt a certain amount of attraction towards their manager, but whether it was strong enough for him to want to date her was still a mystery to him, and he definitely had no plans on knowing through this stupid idea Arashi had just brought up.
“Well I guess if you put it that way.” Arashi huffed in resignation. “I mean, I guess with your mean personality and hectic schedule, no girl would last going out with you. My poor Izumi-chan is doomed to be alone forever.”
The blonde then proceeded to wipe away a fake tear from her eye to emphasize her point.
“A-Arashi-chan, don’t you think that’s too much?” [y/n] tried to speak up, not seeing where this conversation was heading.
At this point, Sena Izumi was twitching with irritation. There was no way he’s letting his friend win him over, he was not going to lose this argument.
“Oi! As if that’s ever going to happen! With my career and looks, any girl would beg me to stay!” Izumi spat out.
Arashi only shrugged at her friend’s response. “I don’t know, Izumi-chan. How sure are you if you don’t even want to go on a date.”
“Fine then! I’ll just go ahead and prove it. Seriously how annoying do you have to be?!” Izumi then switched his sights on [y/n] which only made the poor girl freeze. The way Izumi looked right now after all was far from friendly. “You! Starting today, you’re dating me, got that?”
“Wait, WHAT?!” Their manager replied. At this point [y/n] knew she had no escape in this new mess the unit she was managing for was brewing.
Arashi on the other hand stood up happily as she clapped her hands. “Good! Now that’s settled, for the next three weeks while Izumi-chan is here, he’ll play as your boyfriend, [y/n]-chan.”
Without Izumi realizing it, Izumi had fallen prey to Arashi’s plan from the very beginning. It was a losing battle for him from the very start.