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Title: Tsunderella
Chapter: 6 - Maze
Characters: NEWS members, Tackey
Fandom: Johnny's Entertainment
Rating: PG15
Summary: And the road goes around and elsewhere. What kind of surprise can you find at every corner?
A/N: Not the best of chapters that I did, but I still need to get the scene going. That... and I actually finished writing the second last (supposedly) chapter of this fic so that's probably why this one not that good.
-------
Somehow, lately he had started to notice something. His stepmother had been out so often lately and even though she had not really let her guard down on ensuring that he would remain having his freedom constrained inside just the boundaries of his home, she had not really minded for him to go out. Sometimes, he had tried to get home a bit later than how he usually did whenever he went out to the market for groceries. Usually when he had took his time out too long, his stepmother would start throwing things around at him to demand to know where he went. Lately, she had not even bothered. Not even when his two stepbrothers had been away to protect him, until he thought that his stepbrothers paid attention to him more than his stepmother.
Normally, he would be glad for this turn of events but somehow right now, he could not even feel rejoiced. It was like there was something that going to happen in future that would explain such strange period of peace.
Could it be paranoia? Couldn’t be...
Lately, he kept noticing a peculiar car parked in front of their house at times. Sometimes, when he had went out... he would happen to see that car left the compounds of his house. Whenever he didn’t, his stepmother often told him to stay in the house and not allowed him to go out to check the car out.
He had never seen the face of the person driving the car. Half the time when he did, it would be either too far to see any detail or that his view was hidden. He wondered if there were any meaning over these strange incidents. What could that someone want to do with his stepmother? Moreover, what could that someone want with him? His stepmother obviously did not want him to see that person who frequently had come to his house for a visit.
He had noticed as much when one day out of the blue, his stepmother had dragged him inside the house and told him to stay put in the middle of his laundry chores. Just because that person happened to arrive in front of the house when he had been outside as well.
It was really strange...
“You seemed to be having some serious thinking there, little one.”
Ryo blinked as he looked up in front of him in surprise. Murakami, one of Suba-san’s part-timers for the store was staring back at him from his counter before smiling. For some reason, the guy kept insisting to be called Hina for some reason. He wondered why...
“Hina-san... hi. Yeah... I was supposed to be buying something—“ Ryo started to say as he searched his back pocket for his shopping list. Where was it anyway?
“Ah! Put that aside first, you’re not busy right? Hang around here for a while... the day was still early.”
Ryo paused as he looked at him strangely.
“Did you need me for something? Is Suba-san not in? I didn’t see him today...”
Murakami shrugged.
“Shibutani-san had some errand to do, so it’s just me for now.”
The older guy pulled Ryo into the store as he sat beside the older guy. “So Ryo-chan... I’ve been wondering for a while, you’ve not attended school for quite a while... hasn’t it? I was curious for some time...”
Ryo shrugged.
“Yeah... because I couldn’t afford to. I mean... Suba-san might have told you. My dad passed away a long time ago... and I also had two stepbrothers around my age. My stepmother couldn’t afford to have all three of us schooled so... well, that’s how it was decided.”
“But I heard that your brother also had worked part-time during the weekends at some coffee shop—why didn’t you take some part time jobs to support your family? It was a bit unfair to not allow you to go to school, just because you’re her stepson,” he asked again as Ryo sighed.
“Stepmother wouldn’t let me. Anyway... at least she took care of me.” Ryo said simply without trying to elaborate. Both of them continued chatting as some customers arrived to the store...
xxx
“Ryo-tan!”
Ryo could barely register the voice as he felt his body being rammed and hugged tightly. The person who had been hugging him had started to sob as he let go of him for a bit. Ryo’s eyes widened as he recognised the person.
“Tegonyan?” he exclaimed as he heard chuckles coming not far from him. He turned to find four other lads smiling at him, one of them had been the one person he thought he would never had a chance to meet again. At least... not so soon.
“Hi...,” said Pi as Ryo nodded at him. Tegoshi hugged him again as he turned his attention towards his old friend.
“How did you found me?” cried Ryo as his voice sounded as if it was about to crack.
“Hina-chan was my cousin... and I heard that Pi had accidentally met with you. So I really thought it was you! Oh my... I never thought I could see you again, Ryo-tan! I missed you so much—“, cried Tegoshi as both of them embraced again.
Murakami chuckled. “Now, now... run along you two. I bet your friends outside were getting frustrated, waiting for both of you to be done. Ryo-kun, come back later to get your groceries...”
“Thank you, Hina-chan!” cried Tegoshi as Ryo said the same before Tegoshi dragged him out of the store excitedly...
xxx
“How much you’ve grown... Ryo-tan!” Tegoshi exclaimed as Ryo slapped his hip hard before the former started laughing like mad. Pi grinned as he noticed how Ryo had appeared different when he was with Tegoshi. The older lad seemed a lot more relaxed and friendlier than he had imagined he could be. Ryo turned his head towards him as he noticed he was being watched and his cheek flushed. Tegoshi grinned as he slapped Ryo’s back hard before laughing.
“Pi-chan! I never knew you’re such a flirt. Ryo-chan was already embarrassed by the attention he’s getting—”
“I-idiot!” Ryo stuttered as Pi grinned. So that was how Ryo-chan was like, somehow he was grateful for that accidental meet with the young man a week ago.
“And it’s not like I’m going to remain chibi all this time! I might not get as tall as Hide-nii... but at least I get to be tall. My father weren’t exactly short last time I remembered—” cried Ryo again as Tegoshi continued to laugh, having a lot of fun teasing his friend.
“Oh, that reminds me—“, said Pi as he took out his guitar. “I’ve asked you if you’d like to learn guitar last time, do you want to answer that question now?” he grinned as Ryo appeared slightly bashful.
“Umm... well, Shige did give me his old guitar...” Ryo said almost too softly, but Tegoshi could still hear him.
His younger but almost equally cheeky friend shoved him towards Pi as Tegoshi chirped. “Go on then! You might be good with it, Ryo-tan!” he said as Ryo’s face started to flush deep red.
“Idiot! Stop it... I probably gonna suck—“
“You’d never know before you try,” said Jin finally. “If you can’t understand what Pi taught you, there’s still me. I could also teach you—“
Ryo could not say anything against that as the rest of them started to give him proper introductions and all. In no time, both Pi and Jin had cornered him to start teaching him the basics of playing guitar while at the other corner of the studio, Ohkura, Tegoshi and Massu did their own activities. They took a bit of time at it before Ryo started to notice that he had been hanging around them a bit too long and decided to excuse himself. That surprised the five of them as Pi hastily grabbed Ryo’s arm to stop him.
“Wait Ryo!” he started to say. “Why’s the hurry? I mean... if it had been troublesome for you, we’ll help you shop after this—“
“I’ll ask Hina-chan to drive you to your house as well!” said Tegoshi as Ryo immediately paled.
“No,” he said, shaking his head vigorously. “You guys can’t go near my house...”
“Why not?” Pi asked again. “Is there something wrong about going to your house?”
“Ryo-tan! We overheard it... that day. Your stepbrother was in the same school as we were... and we sort of followed him back to your house. Had you been abused? Was that why you have stopped going to school since three years ago?”
“You guys had it wrong... it’s not—” Ryo started to say before he hastily left the studio without a word. Tegoshi and the others just stood there, not knowing what to do as they could barely hear the word of apology from Ryo before he disappeared.
xxx
The next day, Shige got an unexpected surprise as five students that he never met grabbed him the moment he entered class and dragged him to the roof.
“Now tell us, what’s been going on in that house of yours?” one of them had started to say as Shige look at them in confusion.
“What did you guys want to know that for?”
“Enough with trying to evade the question!” the youngest of the boys started to shout at him. “We saw you that day at your house talking to Ryo-tan! What had happened to him? What was it that Ryo-tan didn’t want us to know about that house—“
“Calm down, Tesshi—“, said another lad as he pulled the second one away from him. Shige frowned.
“You guys know Ryo?”
“Like hell we did!” cried the youngest one again as Pi got his attention again.
“Tell us. Was Ryo being abused in that house of yours? Why was it that he didn’t go to school like you?”
Shige bit his lips.
“Did Ryo tell you guys anything—“
“If he did, we won’t be asking you,” said Jin—who had grown tired of the narrator trying to let their identities to remain obscure in this scene, revealed his identity—as he pursed his lips.
Shige sighed. “I’ll tell. It’s not like you guys can do anything either. Even my brother and I could do so much, and still nothing had changed—“, he said as Shige started to tell them about everything, summarized of course. He shrugged as the five of them went silent.
“Why won’t you take him out of that house?” Pi asked as he barely gathered his thoughts aloud.
Shige smiled weakly.
“As far as I know, Ryo had no one else any more beside me and my brother... and my mum. Aside from that, that house was all that he had. Even if my brother and I wanted to get him out, he would still refuse to leave. So if you guys have no more things to ask me, I’ll excuse myself."
Shige started to walk towards the stairways as Pi stopped him. He was about to say something at him before Pi cut him off.
“What if I tell you something that you could do for Ryo? Please... hear us out. Don’t you want Ryo to have at least a bit of a normal life he deserved?”
Shige stared at him patiently as Pi started to explain his plans to him...
Chapter: 6 - Maze
Characters: NEWS members, Tackey
Fandom: Johnny's Entertainment
Rating: PG15
Summary: And the road goes around and elsewhere. What kind of surprise can you find at every corner?
A/N: Not the best of chapters that I did, but I still need to get the scene going. That... and I actually finished writing the second last (supposedly) chapter of this fic so that's probably why this one not that good.
-------
Somehow, lately he had started to notice something. His stepmother had been out so often lately and even though she had not really let her guard down on ensuring that he would remain having his freedom constrained inside just the boundaries of his home, she had not really minded for him to go out. Sometimes, he had tried to get home a bit later than how he usually did whenever he went out to the market for groceries. Usually when he had took his time out too long, his stepmother would start throwing things around at him to demand to know where he went. Lately, she had not even bothered. Not even when his two stepbrothers had been away to protect him, until he thought that his stepbrothers paid attention to him more than his stepmother.
Normally, he would be glad for this turn of events but somehow right now, he could not even feel rejoiced. It was like there was something that going to happen in future that would explain such strange period of peace.
Could it be paranoia? Couldn’t be...
Lately, he kept noticing a peculiar car parked in front of their house at times. Sometimes, when he had went out... he would happen to see that car left the compounds of his house. Whenever he didn’t, his stepmother often told him to stay in the house and not allowed him to go out to check the car out.
He had never seen the face of the person driving the car. Half the time when he did, it would be either too far to see any detail or that his view was hidden. He wondered if there were any meaning over these strange incidents. What could that someone want to do with his stepmother? Moreover, what could that someone want with him? His stepmother obviously did not want him to see that person who frequently had come to his house for a visit.
He had noticed as much when one day out of the blue, his stepmother had dragged him inside the house and told him to stay put in the middle of his laundry chores. Just because that person happened to arrive in front of the house when he had been outside as well.
It was really strange...
“You seemed to be having some serious thinking there, little one.”
Ryo blinked as he looked up in front of him in surprise. Murakami, one of Suba-san’s part-timers for the store was staring back at him from his counter before smiling. For some reason, the guy kept insisting to be called Hina for some reason. He wondered why...
“Hina-san... hi. Yeah... I was supposed to be buying something—“ Ryo started to say as he searched his back pocket for his shopping list. Where was it anyway?
“Ah! Put that aside first, you’re not busy right? Hang around here for a while... the day was still early.”
Ryo paused as he looked at him strangely.
“Did you need me for something? Is Suba-san not in? I didn’t see him today...”
Murakami shrugged.
“Shibutani-san had some errand to do, so it’s just me for now.”
The older guy pulled Ryo into the store as he sat beside the older guy. “So Ryo-chan... I’ve been wondering for a while, you’ve not attended school for quite a while... hasn’t it? I was curious for some time...”
Ryo shrugged.
“Yeah... because I couldn’t afford to. I mean... Suba-san might have told you. My dad passed away a long time ago... and I also had two stepbrothers around my age. My stepmother couldn’t afford to have all three of us schooled so... well, that’s how it was decided.”
“But I heard that your brother also had worked part-time during the weekends at some coffee shop—why didn’t you take some part time jobs to support your family? It was a bit unfair to not allow you to go to school, just because you’re her stepson,” he asked again as Ryo sighed.
“Stepmother wouldn’t let me. Anyway... at least she took care of me.” Ryo said simply without trying to elaborate. Both of them continued chatting as some customers arrived to the store...
xxx
“Ryo-tan!”
Ryo could barely register the voice as he felt his body being rammed and hugged tightly. The person who had been hugging him had started to sob as he let go of him for a bit. Ryo’s eyes widened as he recognised the person.
“Tegonyan?” he exclaimed as he heard chuckles coming not far from him. He turned to find four other lads smiling at him, one of them had been the one person he thought he would never had a chance to meet again. At least... not so soon.
“Hi...,” said Pi as Ryo nodded at him. Tegoshi hugged him again as he turned his attention towards his old friend.
“How did you found me?” cried Ryo as his voice sounded as if it was about to crack.
“Hina-chan was my cousin... and I heard that Pi had accidentally met with you. So I really thought it was you! Oh my... I never thought I could see you again, Ryo-tan! I missed you so much—“, cried Tegoshi as both of them embraced again.
Murakami chuckled. “Now, now... run along you two. I bet your friends outside were getting frustrated, waiting for both of you to be done. Ryo-kun, come back later to get your groceries...”
“Thank you, Hina-chan!” cried Tegoshi as Ryo said the same before Tegoshi dragged him out of the store excitedly...
xxx
“How much you’ve grown... Ryo-tan!” Tegoshi exclaimed as Ryo slapped his hip hard before the former started laughing like mad. Pi grinned as he noticed how Ryo had appeared different when he was with Tegoshi. The older lad seemed a lot more relaxed and friendlier than he had imagined he could be. Ryo turned his head towards him as he noticed he was being watched and his cheek flushed. Tegoshi grinned as he slapped Ryo’s back hard before laughing.
“Pi-chan! I never knew you’re such a flirt. Ryo-chan was already embarrassed by the attention he’s getting—”
“I-idiot!” Ryo stuttered as Pi grinned. So that was how Ryo-chan was like, somehow he was grateful for that accidental meet with the young man a week ago.
“And it’s not like I’m going to remain chibi all this time! I might not get as tall as Hide-nii... but at least I get to be tall. My father weren’t exactly short last time I remembered—” cried Ryo again as Tegoshi continued to laugh, having a lot of fun teasing his friend.
“Oh, that reminds me—“, said Pi as he took out his guitar. “I’ve asked you if you’d like to learn guitar last time, do you want to answer that question now?” he grinned as Ryo appeared slightly bashful.
“Umm... well, Shige did give me his old guitar...” Ryo said almost too softly, but Tegoshi could still hear him.
His younger but almost equally cheeky friend shoved him towards Pi as Tegoshi chirped. “Go on then! You might be good with it, Ryo-tan!” he said as Ryo’s face started to flush deep red.
“Idiot! Stop it... I probably gonna suck—“
“You’d never know before you try,” said Jin finally. “If you can’t understand what Pi taught you, there’s still me. I could also teach you—“
Ryo could not say anything against that as the rest of them started to give him proper introductions and all. In no time, both Pi and Jin had cornered him to start teaching him the basics of playing guitar while at the other corner of the studio, Ohkura, Tegoshi and Massu did their own activities. They took a bit of time at it before Ryo started to notice that he had been hanging around them a bit too long and decided to excuse himself. That surprised the five of them as Pi hastily grabbed Ryo’s arm to stop him.
“Wait Ryo!” he started to say. “Why’s the hurry? I mean... if it had been troublesome for you, we’ll help you shop after this—“
“I’ll ask Hina-chan to drive you to your house as well!” said Tegoshi as Ryo immediately paled.
“No,” he said, shaking his head vigorously. “You guys can’t go near my house...”
“Why not?” Pi asked again. “Is there something wrong about going to your house?”
“Ryo-tan! We overheard it... that day. Your stepbrother was in the same school as we were... and we sort of followed him back to your house. Had you been abused? Was that why you have stopped going to school since three years ago?”
“You guys had it wrong... it’s not—” Ryo started to say before he hastily left the studio without a word. Tegoshi and the others just stood there, not knowing what to do as they could barely hear the word of apology from Ryo before he disappeared.
xxx
The next day, Shige got an unexpected surprise as five students that he never met grabbed him the moment he entered class and dragged him to the roof.
“Now tell us, what’s been going on in that house of yours?” one of them had started to say as Shige look at them in confusion.
“What did you guys want to know that for?”
“Enough with trying to evade the question!” the youngest of the boys started to shout at him. “We saw you that day at your house talking to Ryo-tan! What had happened to him? What was it that Ryo-tan didn’t want us to know about that house—“
“Calm down, Tesshi—“, said another lad as he pulled the second one away from him. Shige frowned.
“You guys know Ryo?”
“Like hell we did!” cried the youngest one again as Pi got his attention again.
“Tell us. Was Ryo being abused in that house of yours? Why was it that he didn’t go to school like you?”
Shige bit his lips.
“Did Ryo tell you guys anything—“
“If he did, we won’t be asking you,” said Jin—who had grown tired of the narrator trying to let their identities to remain obscure in this scene, revealed his identity—as he pursed his lips.
Shige sighed. “I’ll tell. It’s not like you guys can do anything either. Even my brother and I could do so much, and still nothing had changed—“, he said as Shige started to tell them about everything, summarized of course. He shrugged as the five of them went silent.
“Why won’t you take him out of that house?” Pi asked as he barely gathered his thoughts aloud.
Shige smiled weakly.
“As far as I know, Ryo had no one else any more beside me and my brother... and my mum. Aside from that, that house was all that he had. Even if my brother and I wanted to get him out, he would still refuse to leave. So if you guys have no more things to ask me, I’ll excuse myself."
Shige started to walk towards the stairways as Pi stopped him. He was about to say something at him before Pi cut him off.
“What if I tell you something that you could do for Ryo? Please... hear us out. Don’t you want Ryo to have at least a bit of a normal life he deserved?”
Shige stared at him patiently as Pi started to explain his plans to him...
