Chapter 45: Love triangle (1)
The next morning, Haruto was still lying in bed trying to figure out how the hell to navigate the minefield his life had become when his phone buzzed. Unknown number. He almost ignored it, but something made him pick up.
"Hello?"
"Good morning, Haruto-kun." The voice was unmistakably Azame’s – that cool, controlled tone that somehow managed to sound both polite and vaguely threatening at the same time.
"Azame?" He sat up in bed, instantly more awake. "How did you get my number?"
"I have my ways," she said simply, like having his personal phone number was the most natural thing in the world. Which, knowing her connections, it probably was. "Today is Sunday. I thought we could spend some time together."
Spend time together. Coming from anyone else, that would sound like a normal request for a date. Coming from Azame, it sounded more like a politely worded command.
"I..." Haruto started, then stopped. He’d already promised Satsuki he’d spend the entire Sunday with her. After last night’s perfume incident, bailing on her seemed like a really, really bad idea. "Sorry, but I already have plans today. Maybe another time?"
There was a pause on the other end of the line. When Azame spoke again, her voice was still perfectly pleasant, but there was something underneath it that made his skin crawl.
"I see. That’s unfortunate." Another pause. "In that case, I suppose I’ll have to send some of my people to come collect you instead. They can be quite... persuasive when they need to be."
The casual way she said it made it ten times worse. She wasn’t even trying to sound threatening – she was just stating a fact. Like mentioning the weather.
Haruto’s blood ran cold. The last thing he needed was a bunch of yakuza thugs showing up at his house while Satsuki was there. He could already picture how that would go down, and it ended with a bloodbath.
"Okay, okay," he said quickly. "I’ll come. Just... give me some time to handle things here first."