Eternal Melody

The following morning, Sumire cleared up her schedule so she would have more time to work on the piece. Unfortunately, no matter where she went to school, people kept ambushing her. It seems she is getting an unnecessary amount of attention doing the main piece instead of Yuhi.

If that's all it was, she would have remained in the classroom. Sumire hears the sound of a shutter and realizes some passing-by students have taken a photo of her.

"How can Yuhi-sama choose this over Cas-sama?"

Another girl sniggered. "It's hilarious when you compare their photos side by side."

Hino already warned her about this last night, but it's still difficult to listen to.

The best place for peace and quiet in this school would be the roof or Yuhi's atler. Yuhi-san told her to use the place as she pleased regardless of whether he was present or not. Until now, she has taken careful steps not to overuse this privilege. But, she needs peace and quiet today.

It did not take long before she arrived at the atler but realized the door was open.

Huh? That's strange. Yuhi said he and the other guys have practice today- Sumire thought about the scene from the other day. Perhaps it's- she took a deep breath and opened the door to find Touko there. She was staring at one of the paintings Yuhi had done recently intently.

"You have truly corrupted him," Touko commented.

At those words, Sumire sighed deeply.

"But recently, I am starting to think it is not a bad thing."

Eh?

"When we were together, something was lacking in his paintings. At some point, the critics started to pick on Yuhi in particular. That guy, even though I told him repeatedly not to care about their opinions, listened to their words."

Of course, he would listen. Yuhi is not the type of person who would dismiss other people's words, especially the seniors who belong to the industry.

But wait, listening to her now. "Touko-san you actually had feelings for Yuhi?"

At those words, Touko sighed. "Of course I did. But it's true that initially, I dated him not because I liked him."

"I see."

Touko walked over and stretched her cheeks, "Why are you making that face? Is it because of the rumors?"

After hearing Touko's direct question, Sumire could no longer hold her feelings back, and she burst into tears.

"H-hey, don't cry."

In the end, she found herself talking to Touko-san about everything.

"That girl was already abroad by the time I started dating Yuhi. But she occasionally came to visit."

"Was she nice?"

Touko sighed. "Very nice to the point that it irritated me."

Sumire only cried more, and Touko panicked before taking out her handkerchief. "Look, you don't have to feel so threatened. The reality is no matter how nice she is, the person Yuhi is in love with is you."

"Touko-can you know that, and you still provoked me the other day."

"It's because I was annoyed. That dammed bastard, how dare he make light of me?" Touko trailed off. "I think you should know about this too, but you're going to be targeted heavily from now."

"Targeted?"

"The other day, some strange guy approached me. He said he was searching for new talents." Touko pulled out a card from her pocket.

It was a black card with a single silver-colored D engraved in jewels.

D entertainment, huh?

"A card from an entertainment industry wouldn't excite me. However, he suddenly mentioned you. 'Don't you want to defeat Ibuki Sumire?'"

"So you listened?"

"Don't misunderstand. I just wanted to see what type of person he was. I planned to tell Yuhi if he was somebody dangerous. When I went to his company, the atmosphere was very strange atmosphere. I ended the conversation saying I will consider it."

"I see."

"I don't know what kind of mess you got involved in, but don't drag Yuhi into it. His current career is very stable. He is succeeding in the entertainment industry, business, and art world. There are many people who are searching for ways to bring him down."

"I know."

Touko shook her head. "I don't think you realize the full extent of my words. Sumire, if you love him, you should know what is best for him. The moment your actions become a nuisance and he gets dragged into your mess, leave him, okay?"

Sumire paused when she sensed Touko's serious tone. Could it be the reason why Touko-san cheated on Yuhi was this? Touko must have realized that she said too much since she stood up and quickly headed towards the door.

"Touko-san, thank you for listening to me."

Although she did not get the chance to ask for more details about the childhood friend, for now, this is more than enough. It seemed in those three years, that person frequently came to visit Yuhi. Now that she thought about it, she caught Yuhi on the phone speaking fondly to someone when he still lived in Star town. It must be the childhood friend.

Sumire returned to the canvas in front of her. Let's stop worrying about it and practice. She had already sketched out a vague idea for the piece, but she needed to practice it. At this stage, she can't show this to Yuhi-san just yet.

She did not realize how much time had gone by when she heard the sound of a familiar chime signaling the end of lunch. Oh she missed lunchtime. It's probably too late to buy something, and she didn't bring any food.

'I could just skip-' Her thoughts broke off when somebody placed a bento on her lap.

"I knew you misunderstood when you didn't show up."

"Yuhi? What about practice?"

Yuhi sighed deeply. "Look you . I even told you the location of our practice. That was clearly an invitation to have lunch together."

It was? Now that she thought about it, the other guys hide where they are practicing to avoid the fangirls. They change their location for this every single time too. Those guys are very dedicated, or maybe it's Yuhi-san's influence? They never used to practice this much.

"Did you make this for me?"

"I did."

Sumire watched his cheeks turn red, and she chuckled. "I see Mr superstar has time to do things like this."

"Just hurry up and eat."

"Okay."

She turned to Yuhi, who pulled out another bento box, and Sumire blinked, surprised. Is that not the lunch she made for him? He still hasn't eaten yet? Could it be he actually waited for her?