YNoMH? (BL)

3

Chapter 3: Yes, No, or Maybe Half? (3)

When Kei returned home, he changed out of his work clothes and into his regular clothing. On his way back from picking up his favorite beef rice bowl, he suddenly remembered there was a special debate airing at 11 pm that night and that he had forgotten to set his recorder. It was a bunch of old men with this t.i.tle and that t.i.tle, throwing arguments that went around in circles, but Kei was interested in watching the moderator, Asou Keiichi. It would be the topic of conversation in the announcer department at work tomorrow, plus it was a good learning opportunity to watch a veteran in action.

If he ran now, he'd be able to catch it in time. Kei tightened his grip on his bag of food and started running, but he failed to notice the traffic signal in front of him turning red.

"Whoa!!" he cried, stumbling.

A small beam of light and a fairly large shadow had suddenly appeared out of the corner of his eye. They disappeared in an instant at the same time he heard a loud crash. There was the sound of a wheel spinning in the air. Kei looked over to see a bicycle and its rider tumbled on the ground.

Kei snapped out of his stupor and frantically looked down to check on his food. He might have knocked over the lid when he stumbled back in surprise.

"...Whew, so glad nothing spilled." Kei breathed a sigh of relief when he saw his beef rice bowl intact.

"What the h.e.l.l, a.s.shole!?" The man lying under his bicycle was furious. "You fly out in front of me making me crash, and you're more worried about your f.u.c.king food!?"

If you have the energy to yell like that, you should be fine. s.h.i.t, I should get outta here.

Kei was about to start running, but the man got up surprisingly fast after moving the bicycle away. Kei saw the man's face under the streetlamp and froze.

f.u.c.k.

It was Tsuzuki from earlier in the day. Kei was worried that they would run into each other one day, but for it to happen like this? What should he do? Make a run for it?

No point in running, he's on a bike.

"Hey, don't you dare run away." Tsuzuki glared at Kei as if he had noticed Kei's hesitation to act. "Ah, f.u.c.k, that hurts. Here, hold onto the handlebars for me. I can't move my left hand because of the pain. And the frame is all warped."

It should be fine. He shouldn't find out that I'm Kunieda Kei.

Kei desperately tried to calm himself down and searched for a way to safely resolve this situation. Should he confess to everything and apologize? Should he pretend to be a stranger and try to power through it? He had no choice but to choose the latter option.

There's no way I can let anyone find out about this! I was voted Top 5 in the Favorite Male TV Announcer Rankings! At the network, I'm the one all the fresh-faced rookies want to shake hands with, the kind and handsome Prince who everyone is enamored with! What would people say if they knew that I ignored a traffic light and caused an accident? If they knew that I went out at night to buy a beef rice bowl looking like this? It'd be the end of me. The public image that I've worked so hard to maintain for a quarter of a century— Poof! All gone in a puff of smoke!

"Hey, hurry up and hold it," Tsuzuki said impatiently.

"...How much?"

"Huh?"

"For the bike and for your treatment fees. I can give you 100,000 or 200,000 yen1 if you want. That should cover everything, right? Going to the police won't help, since they always side with the pedestrian."