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A warm scent of flowers permanated the area as Eichi poured tea into the teacups on the table. Quiet chatter picked up again as Keito and Tsukasa—representatives from RythLin and NewDi, respectively—thanked Eichi and inquired about the leaves.
Forever a workaholic, Ibara had already started the slideshow and was the only one standing as he was pointing at the projection on the screen with a laser pointer, his words echoing against the walls of the conference room.
He stopped talking when he saw Eichi's actions, and stared at the teapot in slight suspicion. Usually, if Tori was not present, Yuzuru would be the one appearing at the Summit Meeting as Eichi's assistant and the teapot bearer. And yet Yuzuru was—albeit reluctantly—the one being poured tea by Eichi this time. This must have a significance.
"What might that be, Your Eminence?"
Eichi smiled. Ibara knew that kind of smile; a polite and rather adamant one that people usually gave out before clamming up and changing the topic, one that Yuzuru used too often against him.
It annoyed him. It was just a simple question and yet Eichi avoided answering as though Ibara had asked whether he put poison in the tea or not.
Maybe that was exactly what Ibara was asking.
Well, the others drank the same tea, so it could not be poisoned. There are more than ten people in the room. Eichi would not risk being accused of... Multiple murders? Group suicide?
Ibara looked around, and his eyes landed at Keito. As Eichi's childhood friend—with a working moral compass, as far as Ibara knew—Keito would pick up if there were anything suspicious with Eichi's actions, would he not? Ah, but Ibara could not rely on others. He could be plotting alongside Eichi, after all.
"Don't you think the sun is too bright, Saegusa-kun? I cannot see the projected screen very well due to the glare of sunlight." Eichi still held that smile on his face as he poured the same tea for the assistants of the representatives, and then into his own. "The sun is amazing, is it not? It can pierce through the blinds so easily with such force, like a rain of bullets through a pane of glass. And in all its magnificent light, humankind is nothing but shadows. Even top idols like us, who had been given the title of 'stars'—ah, in comparison to the sun, we are merely—"
"If you are asking me to roll the blinds down, you could just say so," Ibara interrupted, sensing the start of something that would take up a significant amount of meeting time.
"Yes, please. How kind of you."
Ibara tried to keep a straight face as he went over to the windows and did what he himself suggested. Eichi must have targeted the hint at him because he was the only person in the room who was standing.
He turned back just in time to see Eichi sneakily switching the position of their teacups. Only Ibara's and Eichi's own.
Ibara narrowed his eyes. "...what are you doing."
"Absolutely nothing, Saegusa-kun," Eichi smiled, sitting down on the egg-coloured couch with Ibara's teacup complete with its saucer in his hands.
From the tail of his eye Ibara could see Rei trying to fight down laughter. He also heard Tsumugi coughing. Keito was silent, his expression unamused.
"That is mine." Ibara said as he stood there, staring blankly at Eichi.
"It was? Ah, I seemed to have switched them on accident."
Unbelievable.
"Do you want this back?" Eichi pointed at the teacup in his hand. "My bacteria have yet to transfer to the rim."
Tsumugi choked on his tea. Ibara immediately turned towards him, ready to accuse Eichi, but he relaxed when he saw that Tsumugi had merely laughed while the tea was still in his mouth.
Ibara felt insulted.
"What are you planning, Your Eminence?" He asked, turning back towards Eichi with narrowed eyes.
Eichi chuckled as he put down Ibara's teacup on the table. "I thought you knew better than to ask such a blatant question, Saegusa-kun. Say perhaps I was merely trying to get a secondhand taste of your lips."
"My lips haven't touched that."
There was a quiet "Ahem" from Tsukasa.
Eichi tilted his head—possibly in an attempt to look cute and thus faultless. "Oops. It seems that I have revealed my intentions for nothing."
What did Eichi mean by mentioning that like a fool in love? Ibara did not know how to respond anymore. He was surely being mocked. Eichi was being awfully mean today and now there was a high probability that he would not listen to the proposal he was planning to make at the end once they wrap up with the statistics and summaries.
"Your Eminence. Please get ahold of yourself ASAP so we can proceed with the meeting."
Rei started to laugh again.
"You too, Sakuma-shi."
"Sorry, Saegusa-kun. I just find Tenshouin's actions amusing."
So they really were plotting against him! Ibara glared at Rei for a second before he cleared his throat and went back to the projected screen.