Shou was held captive in Arisu's office. Since Arisu is the CEO of her company, she could do anything she wanted whether it's to push back meetings, reschedule events, or even interrogate Shou.
Shou was standing by the window looking out into the cityscape while Arisu was taking a sip from her teacup. "So, are you going to tell me about this Haru?"
Shou sighs and finally gives in. "Before I tell you about Haru, please keep whatever I tell you a secret."
"A secret?" She turned toward Shou who was looking at her with a serious expression.
Those eyes… I remember those eyes when he first started being a model. He's serious about this.
"Alright. I vow to keep this a secret."
"Thank you. I want to ensure that Haru has a normal life. I don't want him to join the limelight yet. He's too young for it."
"But wouldn't it be better if he was popular and famous. I thought it was everyone's dream to be famous and rich?"
"If that was the case, Haru wouldn't have disguised himself in the first place."
"True. So let me get this clear first of all, Haru is Kousuke right?"
"Yea. At Radiant Garden, we all decided to have Haru use an alias to protect himself."
"From what?"
"His school. Haru isn't a college student like he says he is. He's only a second year high school student."
"What! A second year high school student?! But he's mature and charming! He gives off such a mature aura. I can see why he declined my request for marriage or a relationship, but I digress. I can see why he uses an alias. If his school caught wind of this night job, it'll be a big problem."
"Correct. Financially wise, he's doing ok since being a host pays a lot. It's decent pay, especially for a high school student who's living by himself."
"He lives by himself? If he has a lot of money, why doesn't he just buy a small house?"
"Oi oi, Arisu. Being a host pays well, but not that well. His pay is enough for his rent, food and any other miscellaneous things he needs. I'm sure that's all he needs."
"...Well I can't argue with that. …Shou," Arisu calls his name to get his attention. "Yes?"
"I want to support Haru. How can I do that?"
"By keeping what I told you a secret. Also by visiting him at Radiant Garden. You're one of his regulars right? So I think that's all you can do for him."
"But I'm a CEO! I'm always busy so I can't always meet him at the club. I want to help him out in a big way!"
"Knowing you… I think extravagant is the correct term."
"Fufu~ and I think I came up with the perfect idea!" Shou can only give a wry laugh and can only hope that what she has in store isn't overkill.
Meanwhile…
With the help of Mai, both of them have returned to class. Haru looks out the window as always and hopes the day will go by quickly.
Lunch comes and before Haru can even get up from his seat, Shina runs up to him and invites him to eat together. "Ena-kun! Let's eat together!" In her hand was a small lunch box that was wrapped in a pink handkerchief. "S-sure." Shina takes a chair and sets it in front of Haru's desk.
The two open up their lunch and Shina was impressed with Haru's lunch. "Ena-kun, you can cook?"
"What's that supposed to mean?"
"I was just surprised. I wonder what his cooking tastes like… Oh! Ne, Ena-kun I just came up with a good idea!"
"Hm? What is it?"
"Let's switch lunch today!"
"I don't mind, but why?"
"Well, aren't you sick of eating your own cooking?"
"Now that you've mentioned, yeah."
"See! Me too! So let's switch lunch for today." Haru agrees and the two switch their lunches. "Wow! Haru's homemade food! I can't wait to try it!"
"There's nothing special about it, but I can't wait to try your homemade lunch either."
The two first picked a similar food item to try first. What they had on their chopsticks was a tamagoyaki, a rolled egg. They both eat it and Haru gives a normal reaction. "Oh, this is good. Hm, maybe a little more salt will be nice, but this is quite good." Whereas Shina, "Whoa!!! This is so delicious! What's with this depth of flavour in this tamagoyaki! It's so light and fluffy, but the flavour is so different from mine."
The next food item was karaage, fried chicken.
"Hm? Why is it… Oh, she used chicken breasts. That's why it's a bit dry. Healthier but dry. A simple recipe. It's good overall, but I would like to see her use chicken thighs since the meat is juicier."
"Why is this karaage so juicy?! And why is there so much flavour too?! This is restaurant level karaage! This is by far my favorite.
The next food item was the salad.
"...So depressing. How can you eat a salad without any kind of dressing? What kind of hellish torture is this?"
"I need this dressing recipe! I will use it on my salad from now on!"
As the two were eating lunch, two of their classmates were watching them. "Man! Why is Hiyori-san with that loser? I wanna bully that nerd so bad!"
"Eiriko, I think we should stop bullying Ena-san."
"M-Mai?! What are you saying? Don't tell me that you're having feelings for him? What happened in the infirmary between you two?"
"Remember how we saw Shou and Ena-san this morning?"
"What about it? Damn! Just remembering that annoys me! How can a loser like him get close to him?"
"When I went to the infirmary, I asked Ena-san what's his relationship with Shou."
"Oh? So what's their relationship?"
"He's Shou's cousin."
"What?! He's Shou's cousin?"
"Yes," Mai nods her head and continues, "Not only that, but Shou also seems him as his little brother."
"That makes sense when I recall Shou laughing and smiling with him. …Damn! But… But…!" Eiriko puts her head down in frustration and clenches her fist. Mai comforts her by placing her hand on her shoulder. "This sucks!"
"Think of it this way, if we get close to Ena-san from now on, we'll be able to get in contact with Shou outside of his work hours!"
"Hm?" When Eiriko heard of Mai's proposal, she regained her cool.
"That's a good idea! …But, then we'll have to be nice to that nerd… Agh! I really don't want to be nice to that loser!" Eiriko complains as she hits her desk.
In Haru's school, all classrooms have a television that's normally used for national or international events. It's rare for these televisions to be turned on, but then, it was one of those rare moments. The television turned on and grabbed everyone's attention.
On the television screen was a voluptuous woman giving a speech. Haru knew this woman and she was named Nagisa Arisu. Shou was standing next to her wearing some expensive and flashy clothes.
Arisu? Shou? What are those two doing now?