Inoue
note: version 1 of Why's
After shooting for the Best Girlfriend Award episode, Takemoto felt a bit awkward after the ‘revelation’ happened during the shoot. Now she couldn’t help but fidget in their dressing room as they all took a break while waiting for the next shooting, the Best Boyfriend Award episode.
Inoue, as usual, was playing around their dressing room with Matsuda when both noticed Takemoto wasn’t with them as the trio would usually be the moodmakers in their gen group.
“Oi Takemoto!” Inoue called her out playfully, putting her hand on Takemoto’s shoulder wanting to have a banter with her
“Not now Inoue...” Takemoto brushed her hand off, not even looking up before she returned to her thoughts
Inoue then started annoying Takemoto in hopes to get her attention by poking her, shaking her and even whining a bit to see if it would work on her
Matsuda watched Inoue trying to get Takemoto to join her in her shenanigans but then noticed something was bothering the latter, so she started to pull on Inoue’s uniform
“Ya! Do you have a fever? Why so quiet huh” Inoue, not getting the signal, continued to (playfully) provoke and poke at Takemoto into bickering with her
Inoue was about to say something again when Takemoto continued to ignore her (as she was still preoccupied with her thoughts) when Matsuda suddenly pulled her away, gaining a bit of attention from the other members before they all went back to what they were doing
“Hey~! What was that for~?” Inoue whined a she coughed a bit since she was pulled by the collar by Matsuda
“Ssshh Let’s not disturb her for now okay” Matsuda said quietly, afraid someone might hear them. She already have an idea on what could be on Takemoto’s mind
“Disturb who?? I’m only annoying chukemon tho???” Inoue asked, clueless on what Matsuda was pertaining to
Matsuda wanted to facepalm herself from hearing what Inoue just said, but instead of doing that she whispered to Inoue what she guessed that could be on Takemoto’s mind before she could continue to say to Inoue to leave her alone, she was cut her off by Inoue suddenly shouting before going to where Takemoto sat
Matsuda end up finally facepalming herself, especially since Inoue garnered the attention of everyone in the room, all of them looking where she went, curious on what she was doing before going back to what they were doing again
Inoue, oblivious about the ruckus she made, continued to annoy Takemoto with a new plan in mind, not thinking about the coming consequences…
“Ahh~ why did I put it that way? Why did I write that last part? Why did it turn out like that?” Takemoto continuously asked these questions to herself while imagining various situations…
“Chukemon..Chukemon...Chukemon~” Takemoto didn’t hear― no, couldn’t hear anything other than what she was thinking. Realizing this, Inoue stopped before lifting her hand up..
.
.
.
.
Giving Takemoto as strong and loud slap on the back, loud enough for a few getting a bit surprised from it
“What now, Inoue?” Successfully it got Takemoto back to reality but still out of it since she didn’t hit Inoue back
“Finally you got out of that little world of your”
“What.Now. Inoue?” Takemoto uncharacteristically got on edged
“We’ve been calling you for almost half an hour now. With in between breaks of course” Inoue explained, sitting on a chair beside Takemoto. She only rose an eyebrow before leaning back and crossing her arms to let Inoue now to go straight to the point
“As I was saying, *Ahem* So what were you thinking about~? To the point you got stuck in that lil world of yours~”
“Wha- It’s none of your business, so can you go away now” Takemoto turned herself away
“Nope, not until you tell me...or” Inoue said, purposely putting a cliffhanger
“Or what?” Takemoto turned to her again and raised a brow
“I can guess what’s on your mind” Inoue said, smug
“…..” Takemoto gave her a deadpan look
“….” Inoue still had a smug look on her face
“No” Takemoto said in a flat tone
“Alright, guessing it is” Inoue said, ignoring what Takemoto just said
“What- i didn't even say anything” Takemoto protested
Inoue ignore her and pretended to think
“What you were thinking...hmmm” Inoue intentionally said to be dramatic
Takemoto gave up and waited for Inoue to guess with her hands crossed against her chest
“You were thinking about...Lake Biwa?” Inoue guessed, actually had to think of something to not expose herself. Takemoto only gave her an indifferent look.
“hm...Jokes?” Inoue guessed again, but Takemoto had a ‘seriously?’ look on her face
“....a...mem…” Inoue slowly said, deliberately mumbling the last syllable to see her reaction. And bullseye, Takemoto’s eyes ever so slightly widened as she slightly shifted on her seat
“A what now?” it wasn’t evident but Inoue knew she was getting a bit nervous on what she was about to say next, so she motioned for Takemoto to come closer to her, in which she did, to whisper it
“You were thinking about..a member~?” Inoue saw Takemoto’s jaw loosen until it was agape.
“What did you just say?” Takemoto kind of paled at what she just heard and held onto Inoue’s shoulder a bit tightly making Inoue grimaced a bit.
“Hm, seems like I was right. So, who is it?” Despite being in pain, Inoue continued to question her.
“Could it be, Uemura-san? Risa-san? Matsuri-chan?” Inoue knew again that Takemoto was getting anxious the more she randomly said the member’s name
“Or Rei-chan...”
“Or Re-” before she could continue, Takemoto slapped her hand on her mouth and dragged her towards the outside of their room.
Matsuda saw this coming so she secretly went and spied on the two to make sure nothing bad would happen
“HmHmHmHmhmHmmmHmmHm” Takemoto’s hand was still on her mouth when Inoue tried to speak again
“What did you just say” She finally removed her hand, making Inoue take deep breath first before speaking
“I said, so you really were thinking about her”
“Her? Who’s her? What are you talking about?” Takemoto stammered, looking anywhere but Inoue, confirming what her thoughts were about
“Renaa” one word. Just one word made Takemoto freeze.
Both of them stood there in silence for a few moments, unknowingly making Matsuda worried as she hid behind a corner.
Takemoto signed slowly being drowned by her negative thoughts again but before it got worse, Inoue put both of her hands on her shoulder and literally shook her out of her thoughts
“Phew, almost lost you there again” Inoue said, awkwardly chuckling
“You know, I was just teasing you” Inoue explained to Takemoto, still holding her shoulders before continuing “Hey, its okay. We won’t judge you, we’re like a family right? We may annoy each other but we won’t stop being around you. Heck! We’ll even tease you more from now on. So don’t be so gloomy and think of negative thoughts, cause we won’t leave you..” Inoue showed a sincere smile, not her usual playful smile
“Inoue…” Takemoto felt like crying when she heard what Inoue just said
Meanwhile, Matsuda had a hand on her mouth as she silently cried a few tears after she heard what Inoue said to Takemoto “ Inoue can be very serious, observant and caring too huh” she thought
“Didn’t expect you would take it seriously and drag me to an empty hallway though…. should have listened to what Matsuri was saying to me…. ” Inoue said, letting go of Takemoto and whispering the last part
“It's okay, I'm just overthinking things…” Takemoto said, a tiny bit thankful for Inoue before she realized Inoue whispered something in the end “wait what di you just say-”
“Wow, look at the time! Come on, we might be late for the next shooting hahahaha” Inoue cut her and dragged her towards their dressing room, making an excuse to not be exposed and possibly might be punished
Unfortunately for her, Matsuda kind of got the gist of what might she have said based on what Takemoto said.
“I take it back. She’s just like that once in a blue moon” Matsuda thought before revealing herself by pretending to search for the two
“Oh! There you guys are! Come on, we're all about to go to the studio now” she said. Takemoto went ahead, now giving off her usual bright aura.
But when Inoue was about to pass by her, Matsuda pulled her down and whispered “ that was nice of you to encourage Yui-chan, but next time keep the last part to yourself okay? ”
Matsuda wasn’t exactly scaring Inoue or anything...but she unintentionally made Inoue be a bit more quiet around her for a while