The office was abuzz with chatter about the incident the day before with the Smile Days members. Minami, who had been busy with dance practice all week, hadn't been in recently.
Hearing their whispers and noticing Makoto's absence, she went up to one of the cubicles to try and figure out what happened.
"Hi everyone. What's….going on? Is something the matter? Takada-san is usually here, where is he?" Not that she cared that much, she was actually happy to have some space from him. The thought of having to see him today had given her a lot of anxiety.
"Oh um…." They suddenly became quiet when they noticed her presence.
Her heart sank. Were they talking about her? Was this about her not getting into Happy Wave Entertainment? Was everyone talking about her behind her back? Had she caused a disruption of their work?
She felt her chest constricting and a lump forming in her throat which was slowly starting to trigger her gag reflex.
She gulped hard, trying not to dry heave in front of everyone. "Is it about the other day? I'm really sorry, I didn't meant to cause a scene. I understand what I did wrong now and I'm really sorry." She bit her lip and bowed.
"Ah…no…" they awkwardly stood and held their hands out almost in an attempt to stop her.
They didn't know what to say. They couldn't exactly tell her that the Smile Days members were out to get her, nor could they tell her in good faith that they weren't talking about her.
She stood tall, "It's okay! I'll accept responsibility. Do you know when Takada-san will return? I need to apologize to him as well."
Makoto's secretary, Yukiko, stood up, "He'll be back on Tuesday. You don't need to stay today, Minami. You can go home and just come back on Tuesday. There's really nothing for you to do here except for sit on the couch."
Minami held her hands up to her chest and shook her head, "Oh no! I can help you guys if you need it! I gained some skills when I was working here before. I'll help you get your work done faster!"
Some of them sighed, not wanting her around. Not everyone in the office liked her unfortunately, and pretty much everyone wanted to gossip about the incident with Smile Days.
"It's alright, Minami. Just go home." Yukiko smiled and made a pushing motion with her hands, as if to shove Minami out the door.
"O-oh. Okay. I'll just check my email and messages really quick and see if Makoto has sent me anything to do." She waltzed over and flopped onto the couch.
It had been a week since she turned off her phone, and she hadn't turned it on since that night. Luckily, she was able to check her email from her desktop so it didn't seem like Makoto had sent her any 'to-dos' in that time and hopefully, Naoto had calmed down since then as well.
BZZ! BZZ! BZZ! BZZ!
Nope! She was wrong!
A flood of text messages from Naoto came in.
She covered her mouth to suppress a gag, her anxiety immediately spiking.
[Naoto] This isn't funny Minami!
[Naoto] I'm really going to break up with you if you don't answer me right now!
[Naoto] Oh, is the kind of girl you were all along?
[Naoto] Answer me already!
[Naoto] I guess you aren't mature enough to be in a relationship since you can't have a conversation with me.
[Naoto] I thought 2 years wasn't such a bad age gap, but I guess you really ARE too young for me.
[Naoto] ANSWER THE PHONE! NOW!!!
BZZ! BZZ! BZZ!
Messages were still coming.
Then, she saw it. A message from a few minutes ago.
[Naoto] Fine. I'll just come to you.
Her eyes widened and she flew out of her seat, rushing to the door. She did NOT want to see him, and frankly, she was starting to become afraid of him.
Just as her hand touched the handle of the door which led to the reception area, she heard his voice on the other side.
"I'm looking for Ishihara Minami. I'm her….friend….and I'm here to return her planner. I know it's really important that she have it, but I'm not sure when I'll see her again and I'm not comfortable leaving it at her doorstep. So, if I could just give it to her please?" He flashed a toothy grin to the receptionist and ran his fingers through his sandy blonde hair.
The receptionist blushed and smiled, "O-of course. Just give me one moment. I'll call her out here." She dialed the extension number for Yukiko and waited for her to pick up.
"Hello?" Yukiko answered flatly.
"Hello, this is the front desk. I have someone by the name of…," she covered the bottom end of the phone and whispered to Naoto, "I'm sorry, what did you say your name was?"
He whispered in response, "Tell her it's Akina's brother."
The receptionist smiled and removed her hand from the bottom of the phone, "Can you tell Minami to come out? Akina's brother is here to deliver her planner."
"Sure thing, I'll send her out right now." Yukiko hung up and walked over to Minami who was standing at the door hyperventilating.
"Minami, Akina's brother is here to- ….what's wrong?"
Minami clutched her chest. She could hear him from where she was standing. It was true that she would consider herself friends with Akina's brother, but they barely spoke. Had she not heard Naoto's voice for herself, she probably wouldn't have had a second thought about going out there to see what was up.
Why was he here? What was he going to do? Was he going to expose their relationship? She couldn't let that happen! She'd be fired! She'd be dropped from the agency as an idol and have her contract torn up!
"Minami?" Yukiko placed her hand on Minami's shoulder, "You're scaring me…"
Minami reached into her white bag – the one that Erina had gotten her for her birthday – and pulled out her planner with a shaky hand. She looked up at Yukiko with her eyes wide and tears ready to overflow.
"Th-that's not….." She barely squeaked the words out as she fell to her knees.
"Come here…" Yukiko whispered, gently helping Minami to her feet and leading her over to Makoto's desk.
His desk was the farthest place away from the door to ensure that they couldn't overhear the conversation to follow.
"Who is that out there that's asking for you?" Yukiko rubbed Minami's arms in a comforting manner and spoke quietly.
"I-I…." Minami thought for a moment. What should she say? That he's her boyfriend that's been blowing up her phone for over a week and has been sending her threatening messages full of insults?
"Minami?" She asked again.
"I-I-I don't kn-know!" Minami started gasping for air as a full panic attack took over her. She wrapped her fingers around her throat as she felt her airways start to close up.
"Can someone come help?!" Yukiko called out.
One of the male staff members that had been friendly with Minami immediately jumped up and ran to her side. "Mina-chan? What's wrong?"
She was gasping and coughing as she attempted to open her airways.
He rubbed her back and knelt next to her as she fell to her knees and hunched over. Her face was starting to turn red. "Mina-chan! Mina-chan!"
"Shh!" Yukiko put a finger to her lips as she dialed the reception. The room got quiet with only Minami's struggling audible to those in the room.
"Hello?"
"Hello," Yukiko's voice suddenly dropped as she spoke quietly into the phone, "Minami says she doesn't know that man, please have him leave immediately."
The receptionist hung up the phone and cleared her throat, "My apologies, it seems Minami has already left for the day."
Naoto laughed awkwardly, "Already? It's so early…"
The receptionist nodded, "Yes, well….You can just leave her planner here and I will give it to her when she comes in next."
"Oh…I think it's better for me to give it to her myself. Are you sure she's not in there?" He pulled out his phone and started tapping away on the screen.
"Yes sir. I apologize. Please leave." The receptionist held her hand out, palm up, motioning towards the door. She was starting to feel uncomfortable by his presence.
BZZ! BZZ!
There lay Minami's phone on the floor right by the exit. She'd dropped it as she was fishing out her planner from her bag earlier.
He smirked as he heard it and put his own phone back in his pocket.
"That's alright," he said as he flashed that same toothy grin he'd shown moments ago, "I'll just go back there and double check. I don't know how she would've left without you noticing. Something might be wrong. Maybe she's stuck in the bathroom or something and can't get up. I'll just make sure she's okay."
He winked and started towards the door.
"Sir! You cannot go back there!" The receptionist jumped and blocked the door.
"It's okay, I'll just give her the planner and I'll be gone. She won't mind! We're friends! I'm concerned for her too. I need to make sure she's okay." He pushed the receptionist into the door and reached for the handle, opening it and causing the receptionist to fall backwards.
Three male staff members jumped up and rushed over to the door to keep him out, while the receptionist quickly scooted backwards.
Yukiko and the other male staff member were shaking Minami, who was now passed out on the floor.
"Sir, you cannot be here, you need to leave!" They all shouted at him.
"I just want to give Minami her planner. I'm her friend, it's okay!" Naoto fell to his knees and started crawling in.
The three staff were able to overpower him and toss him out of the building. They quickly locked the door before he could run back in and rushed back to check on the receptionist and Minami.