Charismatic Lie (Iori x reader)

Chapter 58

(Y/n)'s POV

His mouth thinned to a straight line, his eyes pained yet that quickly subdued into blankness with a single blink. The politely distant smile was still plastered on my face. In truth, I had only wanted to hide the fact that I was hurting...yet that ended up hurting him instead.

"Are you finished for the day?"
"No, we still have practice and I...agreed to meet up with Naomi afterwards," he answered.
"I see. Don't overwork yourself too much. Well then."
"W-wait!"

I turned my head, the smile easing into a prompt for his question. He pondered the thought for a moment longer before letting it go. He flashed a forced smile and shook his head.

"It's nothing. Forget that I said anything."
"Alright, see you later."
"Yeah..."

A car strode up to the side of the road, and honked. I jumped. Gaku-nii had the window down and was staring at me with a raised eyebrow. I stole a quick glance at Iori before making my way towards my brother's car and climbing into the back seat.

Tenn smiled upon my entry as Ryuu offered a simple greeting. I smiled back although it wasn't real. I didn't know if they could see through the illusion but all I knew was that I had to act well or else it'd shatter.

~Back at home~

Inside, on the couch, were a group of thieves. Knives glinted in the fading sunlight and guns poked out from beneath their coats. What more did the world have to throw at me? I didn't want to deal with a bunch of mercenaries and robbers.

"Look what we have here. The renowned idol group Trigger and a cute girl. We sure managed to pick a good place to rob," said one.
"Do you mind leaving? I'm seriously not in a good mood."
"Whoa, you may want to ease back on the fire or else we might just accidentally shoot you."
"What is it that you want? Money? Fame?"
"Bingo, little girl."
"(Y/n)," Gaku-nii hissed.

He immediately grabbed my arm, stopping my involuntary shaking.

"What will we get in return?"
"We're robbers, killers, little girl. Unless you want to die, I suggest you give us everything you've got."

He raised a pistol, aiming it at my head. Tenn took a step forward, and now every other gun was pointed towards him. I let out a small, shaky breath, unnoticed by the robbers.

I sunk down to my knees and began pouring my eyes out. This undoubtedly startled everyone in the room. Whilst they were distracted with my sudden outburst, I called the police behind my back.

"Shut it!"

I only wailed even louder, visibly shaking and unable to speak.

"Well, we're sorry. She gets scared very easily. If you threaten her any more, I might just snap," Gaku-nii exclaimed in a dangerously low tone.
"Get out of here. We don't want things to get messy," Ryuu added, stepping forward.
"You definitely didn't have much luck. You chose the wrong people to mess with," said Tenn.

I inched ever so slowly towards the kitchen counter, wanting to hide behind it to tell the police of the occurrence in detail. As they kept the thieves talking, I managed to get behind and quietly whispered into my phone.

And now the police were on their way...yet I had no idea whether they'd get here fast enough. The closest police station was at least ten minutes away.

Tenn, Ryuu and Gaku-nii dived behind the kitchen counter as soon as shots fired from their guns. I looked around, trying to think of something, ignoring the slightly panicked expression that was showing on my face.

"Hold your fire, you damn robbers! If you want your money destroyed then go ahead and shoot us!"

The shots ceased. I grabbed Gaku-nii's wallet, much to his irritation, and pulled the exclusive platinum card from a small pocket. With a determined breath, I held the card up and waited.

Tenn's hand surreptitiously slipped over mine, quietly stopping the slight tremble. Fingers gripped the top of the card. I held on, refusing to let go as a loud laugh reverberated across the room.

"Let go, missy."
"This is actually my brother's card. I feel bad giving it away."
"Stop playing games with me-"
"Freeze! Hands up! Drop your weapons!"

I snatched the card from his grip and breathed a huge sigh of relief as police rushed in and apprehended the resisting criminals. An officer came forward and asked a few questions regarding the attempted robbery.

"We're all fine," Tenn said.

We were fine, and I suppose that was the only thing that mattered...but our home was peppered with bullets. We'd need to get some repairs done as well as clean up the mess they made.

The police left as soon as everything was wrapped up. Ryuu saw them to the door before leaning against the wall. I stood up, only to slump clumsily against the counter, smiling bitterly to myself.

"You're fine, (Y/n). Now if you don't mind, I'll be taking back the card that you so generously offered them," Gaku-nii exclaimed.
"A 'thank you' would've been nice."
"Tch."
"Where're we gonna stay while the place gets renovated?" asked Tenn.

The doorbell rang, startling all of us. Whoever it was, I could only hope that they didn't run away thinking we were ruffians who liked to shoot randomly at our belongings.

Ryuu answered the door. The voice on the other side was something we could never forget. Momo's face peeked from around the corner before his jaw fell open upon noticing the mess.

"Whoa, what happened here?"
"A lot of stuff," replied Gaku-nii.
"Why did you come?" I asked.
"Just to pay a visit."
"I'm sorry but can you come by another time? We need to talk to Mr Yaotome about Trigger's dorms and-"
"Come stay with us until everything's fixed."
"Eh?"
"It'll be fine, ne?" he said as he wrapped an arm around my shoulders.
"Thanks for the offer but I don't want to trouble you-"
"(Y/n)-chan, I said it'll be fine."

I looked at the three boys in front of me, who simply offered small smiles, before turning back to Momo. A grin graced my face as I gave an affirmative nod.