those who we protect [IDOLiSH7]

IV

Before he could say anything, he felt a hand pulling him back. Iori looked behind him, and saw that it was Yamato. "If you saw his current condition, you wouldn't want him to be here either" he said looking directly at Tenn. Tenn's cat-like eyes turned fierce. "Being sick is a poor excuse to not get your work done, at least push through it" Tenn snapped back. Ryuu and Gaku looked at each other after hearing that, remembering what happened after one of their past concerts. Backstage, Tenn was exhausted, pushed things off of a bench, and laid there, panting hard and sweating. Although Gaku and Ryuu were worried, Tenn pushed it aside and acted like it was nothing.

The atmosphere started to feel a lot tenser. "If it's that bad, then take him to a hospital, so they can treat him and recover quickly" Tenn added. Tsumugi and the IDOLiSH7 members changed their expressions to a serious tone, with one of them feeling as though they have had enough. Iori brushed Yamato's hand off his shoulder. "We did think about doing that, but maybe if you spent more time trying to understand your brother instead of continuously condemning him all the time, you would know why taking him to a hospital is not the best solution" Iori stated. The room went silent, as everyone's eyes widened. IORI!? Mitsuki yelled in his head.

"What was that?" Tenn said, this expression and tone becoming more frightening. He started to approach Iori, and Iori was going to do the same, but they were both stopped by their group leaders.

"That's enough," Gaku said to the both of them, being a bit irritated. Gaku pulled Tenn to the side with Ryuu following them; Iori turned to the others who were still shocked. "Iori, calm down" Mitsuki told him. "I'm sorry everyone, what I did was uncalled for" he admitted. "It's okay Iorin, just try not to make things tense between us and TRIGGER... we are collaborating with them after all" Tamaki said. Iori nodded in agreement. "Perhaps Tenn is going through some stress himself, he looked troubled when we came in" Nagi commented. Iori realizing that, looked over his shoulder and saw Gaku and Ryuu talking to Tenn, who had his arms crossed.

"Tenn, we can't be picking fights with them" Gaku said. "I know... I just hate being misunderstood when I truly care about Riku's health" Tenn said, feeling frustrated. Ryuu crossed his arms. "Well, to be quite honest, it's confusing trying to figure out whether you are criticizing Riku-kun just because, or because you genuinely are looking out for the kid... The last time we saw him, you were pretty harsh on him for not being able to perform the encore at the concert, and this isn't the first time you've talked to him in that tone Tenn..." Ryuu commented. Tenn's crossed arms became weakened as he lowered his eyes in guilt. 

"Good morning TRIGGER, IDOLiSH7!" someone called at the distance. The two groups looked to see who said that and saw their choreographer waving cheerfully as she approached them. "Let's get started shall we?" she asked. Tsumugi spoke up. "Ummm... two of our members are unable to make it here today" Tsumugi said.

"Oh that's fine, I'll just have two of the dancers that I brought with me today to replace them for now" she replied. Tsumugi nodded. "Thank you" she said with a soft smile.

The choreographer clasped her hands together. "Okay! Since tomorrow is New Year's Eve, the studio will be unfortunately be closed, as well for New Years Day, so for now, we're going to go through the overall view of the dance and see how far we get in performing it, and then on January 2nd, we'll recap and pick up from where we left off " she said. Everyone nodded in agreement. She smiled. "Let's get started then!"

Tamaki and Nagi noticed that Tenn almost immediately went to get his phone and went to stand on the other side of the room once the day was over. "What's with Tenten?" Tamaki asked. "Looks like he's calling someone" Nagi responded, as they watched Tenn place the phone over his ear, rest his left hand over his right arm, and lean against the wall. As the two of them watched, a notification sounded from Tamaki's phone. Sou-chan sent us a message... Tamaki opened up the member's group chat on Rabbit Chat:

The members looked up and saw Tenn's warm expression when the phone was picked up on the other end. Unfortunately for him, it was not Riku who was on the other side, but Sogo instead. His face grew with concern and he narrowed his eyebrows as he spoke. Tamaki looked at his phone and noticed that Sogo was currently still sending messages to the chat.

The members looked up and noticed that Tenn's phone call with Sogo had ended. Tenn looked as if he was trying to call again, numerous times, but failed to reach Sogo for another conversation. He looked perplexed, but it quickly faded into a fearful expression on his face. Tenn noticed that he was being looked at. He quickly rushed to the others, Gaku and Ryuu also noticing from a distance as they were having a conversation.

"Call Osaka-san!" Tenn shouted as he approached them. IDOLiSH7 members looked shocked, as everyone else left in the room looked over for a moment. "What's wrong?!" Mitsuki asked. "Osaka-san is not answering his phone, I think something is up" Tenn responded. Tamaki's expression grew concerned. "Well, Sou-chan is currently typing in our group chat" he said, showing Tenn his screen.

"How long has it been showing that?" Tenn asked. "Just now" Tamaki answered. Iori, suspicious of what's going on took out his phone and called Sogo twice. However, he was met with the same response... voicemail. "He's not answering his phone" Iori said. Everyone got tense and starting messaging Sogo through the group chat.

There was no response.