"Father to Daughter" - Chapter 5
Chapter 5
"Morning Sakurai-san!" Takamura took his seat.
"Morning," Reiko muttered.
Takamura paused.
"Um...so you sounded kind of off the other day."
"What?"
"Oh sorry, you told me not to bring it up." Takamura sat forward in his desk.
"What are you talking about?"
"...last night...when we were texting..."
Reiko looked confused. "What do you mean? I didn't have my phone last night."
"Huh?" Takamura turned back towards her.
"My dad was using my phone to watch Myu's performance last night."
"Your...dad?"
Takamura's eye grew big.
"Wait, are you saying your dad had your phone last night?"
Reiko nodded.
"Ah sh*t!!" Takamura pulled out his phone. "What did I say to him!?"
Reiko cocked her head.
"Okay, new rule," Takamura set down his phone. "When I text you, you have to answer 'It's me' before answering me back. It'll be like our code."
"O...kay?" Reiko gave Takamura a weird look.
"Ah, nevermind. I already embarrassed myself." Takamura put his head down on his desk.
Takamura stretched out. He had dozed off during the last class before lunch. It had been a good, much needed nap.
"Um..." Reiko began.
Takamura turned his head in Reiko's direction. "Hm?"
"Well...I..." Reiko eyes were fixated on her hands.
Takamura scooted closer. "Yeah?"
"...Today I have leftovers I made yesterday and...I have too much...so...do you want to, um, help me finish it off?" Reiko's voice got quieter and quieter.
Takamura had to force himself not to smile too big. "Of course!"
"Hey Takamura-san!" Matsuyama walked over, sliding her hand across his desk before leaning on it. "Do you want to have lunch together?"
Takamura eyed Reiko who had quickly turned away.
"Sorry Matsuyama-san, Sakurai-san made me lunch today so I'm eating with her," Takamura declined cheerfully.
Reiko whipped her head towards the two. "W-what!? I never said I made it for you!!"
"Ohh, come on, I'm sure you did!" Takamura poked Reiko's arm teasingly.
"I-I didn't!" She pushed his hand away.
"Come on, let's eat outside today," Takamura got up and pulled Reiko with him.
"O-oi!" Reiko quickly grabbed the lunch before getting completely dragged out by Takamura.
Matsuyama glared as she watched Takamura happily pull Reiko along.
Reiko felt stiff next to Takamura on the grass. Had she gone crazy? She actually brought extra food for him.
She blamed her dad for putting those stupid ideas in her head about making a guy lunch.
Didn't this make her no better than those other girls around him?
She shyly looked over at Takamura. He was so happy eating her food though...it made her happy.
"Here, you should eat too Sakurai-san!" Takamura held out some food for her.
She reached for it, but he pulled back, shaking his head.
Reiko gave him a puzzled look.
He pointed to his mouth and then pointed to hers.
Did he...want to feed her?
Reiko wet her lips. She timidly opened her mouth and Takamura place a piece of food in her mouth.
She slowly closed her mouth and chewed. When she swallowed, she looked back over at Takamura.
He gave a small chuckle with that refreshing smile of his.
"I'll walk you home today," Takamura said with a smile.
Reiko pressed her lips together, awkwardly gathering her materials into her bag.
"You don't need to."
Takamura stood up and grabbed his bag. "I have to go to rehearsals after this. Your house is on the way so I'm going in that direction anyway. We should walk together."
Reiko didn't respond. She just grabbed her bag and went to the shoe cubbies.
Takamura smiled to himself. He had learned by now that no response meant "yes" or "sure". He quickly followed after her.
He had quickly put his shoes on so Reiko wouldn't leave without him. She wasn't the type to wait, so you had to take action when you could.
After putting on his shoes, he went over to where Reiko was and waited for her to put her shoes on.
Her face was weird as she put her second shoe on.
"Is something wrong?"
Reiko was quiet. She sighed and grabbed her bag. "No."
The walk home wasn't anything exciting, but Takamura was just happy he could walk Reiko home. She was quiet most of the time and looked like she was concentrating on something.
The slowed to a stop in front of her house.
"Well, I better go to rehearsal now. Thanks for walking with me!" Takamura waved.
Reiko gave him a nod.
Takamura didn't feel right about something.
"Is everything really alright?" He asked again.
"I'm fine," this time Reiko's voice was sharp, back to the way she used to be.
"O-okay." Takamura was actually taken aback by this. She had been so kind to him recently. "I better go. Bye."
Reiko waited until Takamura was around the corner to let out a large sigh. She pulled off her left shoe full of tacks and went inside.
"Welcome back Re--Why is there blood on your sock!?" Myu pointed.
Reiko heard her dad jump off of the couch and rush to the front door. "Blood?"
Sho looked down at his daughter's foot. There was indeed blood oozing onto her white sock.
"I hurt my foot. That's all." Reiko pushed past them, dumping something into the garbage.
"Let me look at it." Sho stopped Reiko from escaping to her room by grabbing her arm.
"I'll do it myself." Reiko pushed Sho's hand away.
"Reiko," Sho said in a stern voice.
"Just leave me alone." Reiko went into her room and slammed the door shut.
Sho stood there, staring at Reiko's door.
"Papa...what are these?" Myu picked something out of the trash and held out her hand. "This is what sister put in here."
Sho picked up a tack. He felt his heart sink.
She was being bullied.
Again.
---
Sho rolled all over his bed. He couldn't sleep at all.
He finally sat up and turned on the lamp next to his bed.
He picked up Chisa's picture.
"What do I do Chisa? I can't sleep like this. I thought they were done bullying Reiko. I haven't done anything new so why would they start doing this again?"
He rubbed his forehead. "She was just starting to open up again. Why now?"
He set down Chisa's picture.
"What does it matter? No matter what I do, it is going to fail."
He covered his face. "Chisa...it's my fault isn't it? It's always my fault. Our daughters...even you. All three of your guys suffer because of me."
"If only I could go back in time and not be an idol...you all would be much happier right?"
"Papa?" Myu was standing in Sho's doorway.
Sho quickly wiped his tears. "Yeah Myu?"
"I had a bad dream." She hugged her stuffed animal closely to her.
Sho sniffed back his previous tears. "Do you want to sleep with Papa tonight?" He patted a spot next to him.
"Nn!" Myu ran and jumped on the bed. "Ah! This is Mama!" She picked up Chisa's picture.
"She was so pretty! Can Myu be as pretty as Mama?" Myu put the picture next to her face.
Sho gave her a small smile and ran his fingers through her hair. "You already are sweetie."
---
"Hello everyone, once again it's TAKE's variety show TAKE Away! Hosting is your one and only TAKE with Akiyama Hikaru, Kentaro Jiro, Leader Enomoto Shin and me, Takamura Takeshi!" Takamura introduced as the members one by one did a pose. "So, today we have no idea who the guest is, right?" Takamura turned to the other members.
"That's right. I wonder who is could be!" Kentaro folded his arms and nodded.
"It must be someone really important if the staff wants to surprise us," Akiyama added.
Enomoto nodded.
They all paused.
"A-are you not going to add anything?" Takamura pointed to Enomoto. The audience laughed as they ganged up on him.
"But what if it is just comedians and the staff is just messing with us?" Enomoto laughed.
"Oh, that's true. Well, let's see who it is! Bring out the guest!" Takamura shouted.
The door opened and Sho appeared. Screams came from the audience.
"Ehhhh!!! Senpai!" All four of them were taken back by Sho's appearance.
Sho smiled and stood next to Takamura.
"Ehhh!? Let me introduce our guest, Sakurai Sho!" Takamura gestured over to Sho.
A huge round of applause came from the audience.
"Senpai, there was someone here who said you were a comedian." Kentaro pointed to Enomoto.
Enomoto lifted his head up in panic. "Ah, no, no, no! I didn't say that!"
The members ganged up on Enomoto again.
Enomoto got on the floor and kneeled. "I'm sorry senpai!!!"
Sho laughed hard with the other members.
After the introduction, they all took their seats.
"Wow, it is such an honor to have such a big senpai on our show! Takamura, you joined Johnny's because of Sakurai-senpai right?" Akiyama asked.
Takamura gave a huge nod. "My mom is a huge fan of Sakurai-senpai so she made me join so I would meet him."
The members paused.
"Wait...you didn't join because you respected him but....because your mom is a fan of him?" Kentaro clarified.
"Ah! Well I respect Sakurai-senpai too!" Takamura panicked.
"We know your true colors now," Kentaro teased.
"Keeeeennnnnnn!!" Takamura complained.
Sho laughed and pointed. "I remember when I did meet Takamura for the first time, he was super stiff. He looked like this." Sho stood up and was completely straight.
The members all laughed.
"Where did you meet Takamura?" Akiyama asked.
"Well him and my oldest daughter go to the same school."
Takamura gave a small bow and the audience reacted in interest.
"You have two daughters right?" Akiyama continued the conversation.
"Yes. They both have very different personalities too."
"Is your oldest one cute?" Enomoto blurted.
"Wait a moment," Kentaro bowed. All the members suddenly gathered around Enomoto.
"You can't ask our senapi if his daughter is cute!" Kentaro scolded.
"Where did this courage come from?" Takamura added.
"You need to apologize!" Akiyama hit Enomoto on the head.
Enomoto got on his knees again. "I'm sorry senpai!!"
The audience roared in laughter.
"That does bring up a question though. Would you let your daughter join the entertainment business or date an idol?" Takamura asked casually, not even thinking about what he was asking.
Sho flashed an alerted look.
"What are you asking now!?" Kentaro pointed and yelled.
"I was just curious!!!" Takamura whined.
"If you had to pick one of us, who would you let date either of your daughters?" Akiyama asked.
Sho folded his arms and thought. "Either Akiyama or Kentaro."
Akiyama and Kentaro gave each other high fives.
"So Takamura and Enomoto are no good?" Kentaro pointed.
Sakurai looked at both of them. He then smirked when he met eyes with Takamura. "No good."
Takamura felt a shiver go up his spine. He really messed up that one time by thinking he was texting Reiko.
Takamura followed Enomoto to the floor with kneeling. "Please let us date your daughters senpai!!" They pleaded loudly.
"Oi! Oi! You two! You can't ask that sort of thing on public television!" Kentaro scolded.
Everyone laughed.
The four members gave Sho a deep bow after the filming was over.
Sho gave them each a nod.
As they returned to the green room, Sho tapped Takamura on the shoulder. "Hey, can I talk to you for a moment."
Takamura got instantly stiff, "S-sure!"
Kentaro snickered, "Looks like someone got in trouble."
"Oi, shut up!" Takamura pointed to him as he followed Sho.
After they went around the corner, Sho stopped. Takamura felt anxious, only being able to guess what he wanted to talk about.
Was he going to scold him for that text conversation a couple weeks ago?
"Is...is everything alright with Reiko?" Sho asked quietly.
"Huh?" This wasn't the question Takamura was expecting from Sho.
"Like, is everything alright at school. Have you observed anything weird?"
Takamura shook his head. "Not really. The only I have noticed is that Sakurai-san has kind of been quieter recently. She is normally quiet, but I feel like she is avoiding me more."
Takamura instantly blushed. "N-not that we are close or anything!"
"Okay, thanks. I just wanted to check."
"Is...something wrong with her?" Takamura asked as Sho began walking away.
Sho let out a deep breath. "I don't know."