blughise: Thank you! You probably are an esper~ An awesome one, at that~
ShibuyaDokiDoki: Thank you very much~
haruhi16: Update has arrived! After much delay, I finally have the time to put it out!
karomuwi: Thank you very, very much! I'm sorry about the late update, but I will finish this story no matter! I'm glad you're enjoying it so much!
Kiri-el: And thank you for reading! More Yuko shenanigans ahead
CrimsonGrxy: Sank youuuuu!
BlackRockAnon: A Gekikara necklace? Where'd you get that? WANT ; A ; Ahahaha, thank you very much!
caghaunt: Team Jurina will get more supporters ehehehe~
Sydney W: Thank you!
twilites948: Thank you for reading all this time! I'll try not to disappoint!
kahem: Jun is just going to keep on getting trolled
Nyanoha: Ehehehe, look forward to "fate" then
Haruko: It shall be intense....
immortal_K: All shall be revealed in good time!
Thanks to everyone for the support! Now that my golf season is over, I can sleep and write again
Perhaps a one shot will come this way soon?
Future warning ahead: I trolled 8D
Please enjoy the next chapter! Special thanks to Nishizono as always, for putting up with my stupidity and PRing my work
Two Roses Chapter 6“Where are you guys going?” Jun yelled over the noisy crowd, trying to catch up to the two that were currently ahead of him. He weaved through the onslaught of people rushing to various stores around the busy street to grab lunch.
Yuko shouted back, but her words were lost in the roar of people. He saw her gesture to a store for formal wear before they finally disappeared from his sight.
“It’s only day one,” he muttered to himself, adjusting the bags of purchased clothes in his hands, “and my guardians have already lost me.”
He sighed and shoved his way towards the store where Yuko had gestured to. He prayed that it wasn’t actually a lingerie store in disguise, only because Yuko would, in all likelihood, direct him to one....
--
Rena tried to calm her pounding heart and remember how to breathe.
The other two in the doorway were looking worriedly at their frozen friend. “Rena, are you okay?” Takamina asked, concerned. “What’s wrong?”
Acchan let go of her girlfriend’s hand and walked up to Rena. She waved a hand in front of the girl’s face, receiving a reaction in the form of massive blinking.
“Oh! N- Nothing is wrong. I’m sorry,” she apologized, folding away the piece of paper in her hands and placing it securely in her pocket. “Let’s go now, alright? I’ll lock up behind us.”
Takamina and Acchan stared skeptically at her before nodding slowly and walking out of the house, casting one last concerned glance over their shoulders.
Rena took this chance to pull the paper out and unfold it. On it was a picture of a young man who looked horrifyingly identical to the recently deceased Matsui Jurina, with the familiar duck face smile and bright, shining eyes. His features were more masculine, but he was undeniably similar to Jurina.
Her eyes glanced up to the top left corner of the page.
“Matsui... Jun...” she whispered to herself, quickly scanning over the rest of the page. So many things were eerily similar to Jurina’s own personal information, except that he was four years older than the girl.
Shaking, she folded the paper into eighths and placed it into her pocket. She... was going to find this man once Takamina and Acchan left her alone.
She had to.
---
Face burning scarlet, Jun walked rapidly out of the shop that Yuko had pointed at. That was not a lingerie shop. That was something far, far worse, and Jun should have known by the fact that the windows of the place were boarded up and the entrance faced an alleyway.
“I’m going to kill Yuko,” he growled, trying to clear his mind of the impure things he had just witnessed.
Right as he said that, said woman popped up out of nowhere and caused him to drop all his bags in shock.
“Surprise!” Yuko shouted, shoving a box into Jun’s disgruntled face.
“You... help me pick this stuff up!” he yelled, gesturing to the clothes that had spilled out of the bags. Yuko just shoved the box in his face again, eagerly waiting for him to take it.
Jun sighed in defeat and snatched the box from Yuko’s hands. Haruna was watching him carefully, he noticed, as he opened the box. A few seconds later, he opened the top of the cardboard cover and found a surprise: a new, dark-blue cell phone, shining in the noon sun, sat at the bottom of the plastic mold inside the box.
He hesitantly picked it up. “Woah... so that’s where you guys disappeared off to. Why’d you get me a phone?” he asked, sliding it open and running a thumb over the keypad.
Haruna raised an eyebrow at him. “You’re eighteen: I don’t think you’ll be staying in the house all day. Now I have something to contact you with,” she explained. “Plus, having a phone is a good way to call for help if you need it. Do I need to say more?”
Jun shook his head and bowed slightly at the waist. “No, no, thank you very much, Kojima-san.”
She pouted and pulled the boy up. “Why are you bowing? It’s just a cell phone. And don’t call me Kojima-san! It makes me feel old.”
“Ehehe, Haruna-san is acting like an actually responsible guardian. I was having second thoughts there when you guys ditched me,” Jun chuckled, trying to swat Haruna’s hands away as she tried to ruffle his hair.
Shopping bags were thrust into Jun’s arms as Yuko started to pick up his clothes.
“Oh, thank y- OI! WHAT ARE YOU DOING!?” Jun yelled, chasing after Yuko as she pulled a pair of newly-purchased boxers over her head and started running away.
Yuko stuck her tongue out and used her small size to her advantage, darting through the crowd as Jun and Haruna tried to shove their way through. “Catch me if you can~” she taunted. “I’m already long gone~”
“Yuko! Get back here! You are an idol! An
idol, you idiot!” Haruna screamed.
Jun frantically sprinted down the sidewalk, pushing against the human waves crashing against him. “Yuko, wait! Sorry!” he apologized, accidentally knocking a woman in a suit over. He stopped to help her up. Indignant, she cursed at him and slapped his offered hand away, getting up by herself.
Bristled at the offence, he pouted. “Geez, I said I was sorry.”
He tiredly sighed and ran a hand through his bangs. His day just kept getting better and better.
Oh wait.He surveyed his surroundings and only saw the sea of people converging back and forth. His friends were nowhere in sight.
“I... just lost Yuko and Haruna...” he groaned, tearing at his hair. Heaving another sigh, he strolled down the street at a resigned pace and wondered what he should do. His new cell phone wouldn’t have any power, nor did he even know Haruna or Yuko’s numbers anyway, so that option was out.
Great. He had his cell phone for not even five minutes and he was already in trouble.
---
He’d been wandering around for at least an hour when he finally decided to sit down and stay put. On the bright side, he at least had money to support himself and knew how to get home. On the other hand, he didn’t quite want to go back yet. The afternoon sun was comfortable, while the familiar and pleasant smells of the park calmed his mind. He couldn’t remember the last time he had come out to the park between performing, photoshoots, and other idol work.
It was bizarre not having something to do or a place to be.
“Man, what am I going to do with myself?” he asked no one in particular, plopping down on a bench and letting the bags on his arms fall down. There was always someone watching over him, whether it be his manager or his (previous) parents, so he was never alone. “Hmm...”
Whistling to himself, he laid down on the bench and reveled in his new-found sense of freedom. “Well, not much I can do now. No use thinking ‘bout it.”
With a yawn, he drifted off under the shade of an overhanging tree.
---
“Hey, are you there?”
His cheek twitched as something poked him in the face.
“Hey, hey! You awake?”
That high-pitched voice was getting annoying...
“You better wake up soon...”
He was tired! Why couldn’t the kid talking understand!? He just wanted to be left alone.
“Well, too late now.”
Too late for what?
“Remember: This is your second chance. Don’t be afraid to attain happiness.”---
With a huge convulsion, Jun returned from the land of dreams and, in a daze, stared straight into the blinding light of the afternoon sun. He yelped as his irises were overwhelmed by a flare of orange, red, and yellow. As he rubbed at his pained eyes, seeing stars flying across his vision, someone spoke up.
“Are you okay?” a concerned, familiar voice asked.
Startled, the boy toppled off the bench and looked up. “Y- Yeah, I’m fi-”
He choked. The person who had asked about his well-being bent down to check up on him, brushing a lock of hair back from across her own face as she stared into the boy's eyes. Desperately, Jun tried to back-crawl away and only felt the hard wooden bench dig into his back. There was nowhere to escape to.
“What’s wrong?”
Well, uh, there are quite a lot of things wrong at the moment, but what I’d really like to do is-He heard a sharp intake of breath as the girl recognized him. “Ju... ri... na?”
Jun winced. Why couldn’t he catch a break?
A/N: Ahaha, get it? He had a meeting with "fate"!
...please don't kill me