Playing Games With The Billionaire (KageHina)

16 - A Life Against A Rose

Shoyo stretched as he slowly woke up.

He felt refreshed. He took a moment to realize how quiet it was. Sitting up carefully, he realized that Tobio was also asleep.

The man's relaxed face made him look so much younger. Also far less intimidating. He reached out a hand to gently brush the strands of black hair from his face and his eyes fluttered open.

Dark blue eyes blinked blearily and Shoyo was rewarded with a soft, sleepy smile.

"Hello, Shoyo."

"Hi..." he replied, almost shyly.

Their faces were closer than he had initially realized and they both remained motionless while their gazes were locked.

The moment was shattered by a voice declaring loudly from the other side of the room.

"I hate to ruin your moment but we need to get organized for tonight."

Shoyo leapt backwards like a startled cat; Koshi stood leaning on the doorway with a smirk. He blushed but thankful that no one else was there and Tobio sighed as he stood.

The man turned, leaned down and pressed a chaste kiss to Shoyo's lips before moving to follow the other man.

"I'll see you tonight, Shoyo."

*****

Hitoka and Saeko found Shoyo a little while later, still frozen in place with a hand pressed to his own lips and a furious blush in place.

How was it that that innocent, almost sweet action left him reeling far more than the hot and steamy action from the other night?

The girls didn't let him linger in his thoughts, dragging him off to get into his ill-fitting suit and Saeko even did his hair.

Apparently, there was a dinner followed by drinks and socializing as a kind of last chance thing with Tobio before the Red Rose Ceremony.

The ten people who received a rose would stay in. The other ten would pack their bags and be gone within the hour.

Shoyo quickly decided to keep to himself for the evening.

Everyone vied for a chance to speak to Tobio and he had seen the man earlier that day. It had been mostly spent sleeping, but the man seemed comfortable with him so he hoped that was enough to mean that he could stay.

Still, there were a lot of great people there that Shoyo didn't dare assume anything.

Dinner was more annoying than enjoyable and the alcohol flowed even more freely than normal. Which was saying something considering how much got consumed here.

Shoyo could only assume that people needed the liquid courage to get through the nerve wracking affair. Still, he stopped after his second glass. The last thing he needed to do was to embarrass himself by getting drunk.

He was just finishing up in the bathroom, calming his own nerves before the Red Rose Ceremony when he heard a crash from next door.

Shoyo dashed outside and looked around. The sound had come from the female bathroom and he knocked on the door.

"Are you okay? Hey!"

He knocked again after there was no answer. Finally, the sounds of a wailing sob and choking met his knocking.

Alarmed, Shoyo opened the door, worry overriding his sense of proprietary, and he found Yui kneeling on the floor.

Rushing over, he crouched down next to her and reached out to grab her shoulder. She looked up and opened her mouth as though to speak but instead, vomited all over him.

After she finished, she gave another wailing sob. Before Shoyo could ask what's wrong, she was throwing up again, and he cursed as she keeled over to the side.

"Yui! What happened?"

He couldn't get a coherent response from her, she mumbled something about not being good enough in between the sobbing and the vomiting and he was quickly starting to panic.

This wasn't just a little nerves or even a little too much to drink. He tried one last time to get a response but her head lolled to the side like a doll.

Shoyo swore as he realized she had passed out. Ignoring the mess on his own clothes and the floor, he gently lowered her to the cleanest part on the tiled floor.

Trying to remember what he had learned at that one first aid course his mother had forced him to take, he rolled her onto her side and tried to work out how to arrange her limbs.

She coughed up more liquid and Shoyo panicked a little as he worried she might choke. Yui still seemed to be breathing though.

The door opened and Yamaguchi poked his head around with the camera. He wrinkled his nose and backed away but stopped as Shoyo called out to him.

"I need you to call an ambulance!"

"What?"

"My phone can't call outside, and she's not okay. I need you to call for help."

The man didn't move and Shoyo nearly yelled in his desperation.

"This is not the time to think about the cameras! Turn that thing off and call for help! Or give me your phone so I can do it! She won't stop throwing up and now she's passed out. Something was terribly wrong with her. This is URGENT!"

The yelling seemed to help as the camera swung to the side and the man fumbled for his own phone. He called someone, keeping one eye on them as he stated the situation on the phone.

"The onsite doctor is coming and they are calling an ambulance. They said it sounds like alcohol poisoning. 'Sit tight, keep her on her side so she doesn't choke, and keep her warm' he said."

Shoyo nodded, removing his own suit jacket and draped it over her prone form. He checked her breathing. It was erratic, but it was there.

Yamaguchi spoke up after a few moments of tense silence. "The ceremony is starting. If you hurry, you can make it."

Shoyo shook his head in denial.

"There's no exact rules but I'm pretty sure you need to be there or they'll think you ran off or something."

"It's fine," he spoke softly but firmly. "I need to make sure she's okay, that's more important right now," he looked up at Yamaguchi with determination and a shadow of sad nostalgia in his eyes. "You can die from alcohol poisoning. I learned that from experience because of my sister. So, no. I am staying here. I can't do much but I won't just leave her. She's more important right now than some silly show and all the posturing. You don't have to film, you know. You shouldn't. This doesn't have to be on TV. It's not pretty."

"Life's not pretty," Yamaguchi said with a small sigh. "I can't leave or turn my camera off or it'll cost me my job, but I'll do what I can," he slipped off his own jacket and handed it over to Shoyo who nodded in thanks.

Together, they waited until the onsite staff arrived in a flurry of activity.

Shoyo was praised for his quick thinking and correctly moving her into the recovery position. He sent silent thanks to his mother for forcing that first aid course on him.

The paramedics arrived with the ambulance not long after and Shoyo was left standing in his soiled suit, far too late for the Red Rose Ceremony.

He sighed dejectedly. Most likely, he had thrown his chance to continue on the show but he wouldn't change a damn thing for what he did tonight and for his decision to stay with her housemate.

Yui's safety was worth more than some stupid rose.