Chapter Text
The meeting had gone as well as it needed to. Ibara hadn’t gotten Hasumi to accept her proposal, but she had gotten him to consider it. That was all she needed for the time being. Hasumi was easier to deal with than Tenshouin, but still nothing to be underestimated. She was lucky to be able to wrap everything up before her short lunch break. If she managed to get to the kitchens in the Seisoukan Apartments within the next four minutes, she would get at least fifteen minutes of eating before she should leave for the next meeting. She sped up her walking.
Even if she kept her eyes on her feet, she wouldn’t have been able to stay on track anyway. Not when she could clearly hear someone groaning off to the side. She wasn’t motivated by something in particular when she paused to check what was going on. It was more curiosity than anything.
Cosmic Productions was full of strange people, but Ibara was the unfortunate weirdo who had to be familiar with all the other weirdos due to her position. She was familiar enough to recognise Niki Shiina laying in a heap on the grass. Perhaps she’d keep walking and stay on schedule if they were someone from a different agency, but she wasn’t lucky enough for that. She straightened her suit and sighed as she approached him.
“Shiina-shi!” Ibara forced a smile. It was practically muscle memory at this point. “Whatever it is you’re doing, please relocate! I would much rather anything out of the blue happen behind closed doors ♪”
Shiina looked like a mess, facedown in the grass. Ibara considered checking his vital signs before he weakly reached out and tugged on the leg of her pants, whining something incoherent. Inwardly, Ibara recoiled. Since that behaviour wasn’t right for the dependable vice president, she settled on just raising an eyebrow. “Are you in need of medical attention, Shiina-shi?”
The man at her feet groaned. “F-food… need food…”
He genuinely sounded like he was on the verge of death. It was enough to make even Ibara worried. She dug through her satchel. Surely she had at least a protein bar to spare? She fished out a small complimentary bundle of biscuits that she had picked up from a meeting yesterday. She must have missed it when she was cleaning out her bag. She knelt down, holding them out like a sugar cube to a horse. “Will these suffice, Shiina-shi?”
He didn’t respond. He must have completely passed out. That just made things more troublesome for her. She sighed again and kneeled down, cupping Shiina’s face in the hand that wasn’t holding the biscuits. If anyone saw her now, she would have to kill them herself. That could be a problem for future Ibara. With one hand holding the bag open and the other holding Shiina’s head in place, present Ibara had her own issues to deal with. She wasn’t exactly left with much to work with.
Ibara's eyes scanned her surroundings. After confirming that there were no witnesses, she began. She picked up a biscuit, carefully holding it between her teeth and placing it into Shiina’s open mouth as if she was disabling a bomb. Her lips faintly brushed against his. This was the worst idea she had ever had. If Shiina wasn’t currently unconscious, she would have knocked him out herself. As soon as the biscuit was in place, she jerked her head back.
Shiina’s mouth got to work immediately. By the time his eyes fluttered open, the biscuit had already been swallowed. He squinted up at her. “M… More?”
Ibara would shoot herself before she did that again. In broad daylight, too? What was she thinking? She could easily call for help or even just kick him awake and have him eat the biscuits himself. But there was something about the way Shiina was looking at her with those half-lidded blue eyes— no, she wasn’t thinking at all. She pushed him off her lap, standing up and tossing him the bag. “Help yourself.”
And he did. He sat up and snatched the bag out of the air, cramming as many biscuits into his mouth as he could. Watching him devour them was almost mesmerising. He seemed out of breath by the time he had finished them all. It can’t have taken him more than two minutes. “Ah, I feel way better! Thank you so much, erm…” He looked up at her, as if finally realising who he was talking to. His eyes widened for a second but his shock was almost immediately replaced with a toothy smile. “Thanks, Vice President! I might have seriously died if you didn’t find me here!”
“You can thank me by keeping this to yourself,” she said sharply. “You need to be more responsible. I’m quite disappointed that you didn’t prepare for something like this to occur, especially considering that you’ve been living with your condition since birth.”
Shiina’s grin turned to a pout. “I swear it wasn’t my fault! I did pack some food, but it’s all been eaten. I even made sure to pack more than usual so it’s extra not my fault!”
Ibara raised an eyebrow. “It’s barely lunchtime and you’re already out?”
“You can blame my unitmates for that!” he whined. He whined . Ibara would never have thought that they were on whining terms. “I try to be a good person and make sure those guys are well-fed because I don’t like how skinny they are but the next thing I know, I’m starving because I didn’t make sure to set anything aside for future Niki! In the moment I’ll think that seeing their cute smiling faces as they eat my home-cooked food is worth it, but nothing is worth the pain of being hungry! Ugh, this is the worst!”
So that was how it was. Ibara checked her watch. She had eight minutes before she had to leave for the next meeting. She could leave now and be even earlier than she had initially planned — which was already twenty minutes earlier than the agreed upon time — or…
She looked at Shiina. Really looked at him. Looked at the prominent frown lines between his brows, the tongue darting out from between his lips to clean up the crumbs around his mouth, the fondness laced with the irritation in his expression, the unbuttoned top button of his shirt revealing his clavicles, the-
“How about I accompany you to the Seisoukan kitchen, Shiina-shi?” She offered a hand to Shiina. Maybe she could just have a small bite to eat. She couldn’t expect herself to perform at her best with an empty stomach after all. “Surely those few biscuits weren’t enough to fill you up.”
Shiina’s smile returned as he took her hand and pulled himself up. Good. Idols always shone brighter when they smiled and Shiina’s smile was blinding. It would be a waste if he spent all his time frowning. “You’re right! I am still starving! You’re so kind to me, Vice President ♪”
“It’s nothing. I can’t have one of my own idols collapsing again, can I? If you want to make sure something is done right, best to oversee it yourself, after all. Besides, I was already on my way to the kitchens before I ran into you.”
“Still! I appreciate it!” He didn’t let go of Ibara’s hand when they began walking. His hands were warm and comfortably intertwined with hers. If they weren’t out in public where anyone could see them, she might let him continue holding them. He gave her a curious look when she slipped out of his grasp but didn’t question her.
He spoke up again. “Say, are you feeling all good, Vice President? No fever or anything like that?”
“Hm? No, I’m completely fine. What made you say that?”
“Your hand just felt a bit clammy when I touched it.” He poked Ibara in the cheek. “Also, your face has been really red this whole time.”
Ibara spluttered, feeling the temperature rise in her already-warm face.
She ended up being ten minutes early to her meeting instead of her usual twenty, but she couldn’t find a crumb of regret within her.