Red Carnation

8. Lies

A/N:. Idk how but the chapter got cutoff when i posted yesterday. This is the whole thing now.

Filling up the balloons was not that entertaining, but they got into a rhythm pretty fast, and by the time Tsumugi was back to fetch them, they were already sitting on the floor, fanning themselves with the rest of the staff.

“Our idols arrived.” Tsumugi announced as she peeked into the room. “I’ll take Nanase-san, Yaotome-san and Tsunashi-san with me now, thank you for your work.”

Walking behind Tsumugi, the three had a shoving contest, and by the time they arrived at the outside parking lot, Gaku has been on the floor more than he’d admit. They stood near a group of people, who just like them have been fooling around in smaller groups. Tenn recognized the ones talking together with a long haired man to be Osaka Sogo, Nikaido Yamato and Izumi Iori - the site had pictures, so it was easy enough to be familiar with them. Then there was a group of 2 snickering- Izumi Mitsuki and Yotsuba Tamaki -  as a blonde man - Rokuya Nagi - carried a red haired, slightly younger-looking man on his back.

Nanase Riku.

Tenn almost stopped in his tracks when he saw him. It was enough to confirm, it was his brother, as he felt something he can’t explain. He was feeling like he was finally whole after searching for that missing part.

“Everyone!” Tsumugi said, as they were near enough to the group - getting everyone’s attention. “Today we have a training group, Trigger, look around as we prepare for the live and to help us before and after it. Please treat them well.” She smiled.

“Trainees huh.” The shortest one said, as he put his arms up behind his neck. “We’ll be nice, not like we havent been those once ourselves.”

“You mean we still are trainees.” The slightly green-haired one replied, with a grin. “ We still havent debuted officially, in a few hours you can boast about that, Mitsu.”

“Eh?!” The red head turned to the leader. “ We are still trainees. But didnt we have the press conference a week ago?”

“It was a formal debut, but we need to complete today’s live to be fully debuted, Nanase-san.”  a dark blue haired teen replied.

But Tenn, being so used to the surname, looked at him just like the redhead did when he heard it. This earned him a few looks as he questioningly starred at Iori, before Tsumugi jumped in to save him.

“Ah, Iori-san, his surname is also Nanase.” This made the looks even more intense.

“Nanase?” Riku asked as he looked at Tenn, with a small hint of realization in his eyes, but still played his part, not saying anything about it. “Maybe we are distant cousins, then!” He laughed. “I’m Nanase Riku.” he pointed to himself.

Tenn laughed awkwardly, before opening his mouth and pointing to himself, just like the red head. “I’m Nanase Tenn. And yeah, maybe we are related.” Just as he finished his sentence, Riku flashed a clod stare at him for one slight second - looking around, nobody realized that, as they conversed about how it may be possible, and then changing the topic to today’s schedule.

As they walked into the building, Riku pulled Tenn aside. “Nanase-san doesn’t know where the bathroom here is yet, I’ll take him there!” He said as they walked off. And true to his word, they ended up in a bathroom, with Riku looking at him rather angry.

“Why are you here?” Riku asked, as he locked the bathroom door. “I thought I told you laud and clear to not look for me.”

“Riku I just-”

“You just what?” Riku said as he leaned on the door, crossing his hands on his chest. “ If I wasn’t clear enough back then, then I’ll make myself clear now. ‘Don’t chase after me.’”

“You expected me to not look for you?!” Tenn was pissed. “Do you know how worried I was the past years?! Our parents are always sad, and I was too, our birthday is just a reminder of the past, and we never celebrated it properly, and all you say is ‘ you shouldn’t have looked for me’. Are you sane?”

“I left for all of us well-being. I won't compensate you for your worry, but as you see I’m well, so you can stop now.”

“You expect me to believe that? I’m your brother, I know you too well.”

“You were my brother, now we are strangers with the same surname, nothing else.” Riku chucked as he said that. “You were prepared to throw this name and your ‘brother’ title away either way, weren’t you back then? You should be happy with how things are now. We arent brothers. Let’s pretend we dont know the other and live our own lives, alright?”

“Are you really going to end this that way?”

“What other way is there? Should I cry and go “Tenn-nii I missed you” like I did all those years ago when you visited me?” He scoffed. “ Sorry, but I’m not as innocent as I was to believe all I’m told without questions. Even if we did try re-building the brother relationship, it’s already a bridge I burnt down the moment I took a step out of that house.” Riku turned around to face the door. “You shouldn't believe what you’re told by your parents, either. They were so happy I was gone, that they even asked me to stop sending that flower every year, 3 years ago.”

“They… Did what?”

“You weren’t told? I was found-out, and instead of being dragged home, like I expected, I was told to hide myself better and to stop bothering them. They aren’t like what they seem to be, makes me gag when I recall seeing their crying faces on TV when broadcasts about my missing status went around. ‘We’re so sad about our son’ my ass.”

“I-”

“Please don’t.” Riku looked back with a sad expression. “Dont case me, and live for yourself.”

With that, he exited the bathroom.