My Crown [IDOLiSH7]

26: My Resolve

Banri led Riku to another office. There, he explained that Riku's situation was a very delicate matter so they had to plan out his debut properly. Riku would not be able to debut normally like I6 or TRIGGER, he would need to go out with a bang, similar to how Kujou Riku appeared out of nowhere and gained instant popularity. They needed that 'bang' factor to fight incoming questions and rumours about Riku himself once he reappeared in front of the public. To do so, not even IDOLiSH6 or Tsumugi could know about Riku joining the agency.

"They will be informed about a new idol joining an agency, just not who." Banri placed a cup of warm tea on the glass table in front of his new idol. "Now, what kind of idol would you like to be, Riku-kun?"

Riku seemed surprised by what Banri was asking. "Do I even have a choice, manager-san?" Okay, the boy seriously needed to work on warming up to his manager first of all.

The man stared at Riku. "Like you just said, I am your manager so I have two jobs: make you shine brightly on stage and keep you happy."

"Why do you care?" Riku asked coldly. Well, he was being himself. He truly wanted Banri to explain.

Banri's relaxed expression disappeared. He frowned. "Riku-kun, don't you think you are being quite rude?"

~~

Riku was told to go home for the day after Banri's attempt to get to know the boy better failed. There was absolutely no flow to their conversation. The manager was not the type to get irritated easily, yet he felt like Riku kept poking his nerves with those blank eyes and a straight face.

"Siggggggggghhhhhhhh."

Banri let his chin and arms rest on a table at a certain theme cafe. It had been a while since he last visited Momo and Yuki's heavenly place. Back before the I6 days, he was a regular weekly customer here.

"Ban, what's wrong?"

When Yuki went to serve a cup of black coffee without sugar at his friend's table, he could not help but ask. It almost seemed like someone had stolen Banri's life force, leaving him half dead.

"It's confidential," Banri sighed for the hundredth time. "So I can't really tell you, Yuki."

"How about we talk in a private room?" Yuki opened his palm so that Banri's gaze followed it to the room in the back. "I won't charge any extra." The butler gave a small smile. It was hard to tell if he was actually pouting. "You are always so mean. You suddenly left me and Momo when you became I6's manager, which we had just found out, and now you magically reappeared just to not share anything about your life."

"Whoa, whoa, whoa! Yuki" Momo jumped out of the kitchen and dashed to tug on Yuki's arm. "That's too much!" He turned his head to bow lightly to Banri. "Sorry, Ban-san! We understand that it's confidential. Well, we were sad when you disappeared but we understand. Okay?" Momo looked between Yuki and Banri. Finally, genuine smiles appeared on both Yuki and Banri's faces.

Banri chuckled. "Thanks, Momo-kun."

"If Momo says so..." Yuki gave in.

At that moment, the current song playing in the theme cafe was coming to an end. The next song caught the attention of almost everyone in the cafe. It was one of Kujou Riku's hit songs, which had hardly been played in public places since his disappearance.

"Ah... Riku-kun's music." Yuki closed his eyes and listened closely to the song. He was one of Riku's biggest fans, after all.

"It's great no matter how you listen to it." Momo's sad face started creeping in. Riku called in earlier to say he wanted to resign from the cafe butler's position. The boy tried his best to express gratitude. Yuki wanted to ask what Riku was planning to do but did not get a chance to, so the couple could not help but worry a bit about his old friend. "I wonder how Riku is doing now."