Dilemma and disappointment

A few minutes later, the bath was ready.

Kyosuke leaned against the sink, watching Sato as he removed his clothes and got inside the tub.

"I can help you wash if you want." He spoke suddenly, his voice echoing in the steam-filled bathroom.

"No, that's alright. I can do it myself."

"If you say so. I'll be in the kitchen then. Shout if you need me to get you out, ok?"

"Mhn, alright."

Sato nodded slowly, sliding inside the hot water. A second later, he spoke in a low voice, his eyes staring at the ripples his movements caused.

"Kyosuke... Thank you."

"There is no need for thanks between us. Now, have a nice bath and don't think about anything else. I'll go make breakfast."

With that, Kyosuke pushed himself against the sink and walked out.

Having his body almost entirely submerged inside the water, Sato closed his eyes and tried to relax. He could feel his breathing slowly returning to normal and the wild poundings of his heart subsiding. His mind, however, was still agitated. His thoughts were unable to settle down. Touma's extremely cold eyes were still haunting him.

'Are you happy now that things have reached this point? I hope you are, Touma, otherwise all my suffering will have been in vain. At least one of us should be happy.'

After bathing and eating a light breakfast, Sato returned to his room. He refused Kyosuke's offer of going outside and spending time together.

There was just no way he could handle that in his current state. His mind was too rattled, making it difficult to focus on a subject or maintain a normal conversation.

Therefore, Sato decided to stay in his room until he was feeling better.

As he collapsed on the bed, his mind recollected the last conversation he had with Kyota. For some strange reason the memory made him smile.

Kyota rarely spoke so much and in such a manner.

Compared to his usual cold self, during that time in the car, the man had shown concern. Kyota's tone might have come out strongly, but the words he spoke were true. Sato really had to make a decision, one that will affect his entire life.

Will he give himself another chance to trust in his dream, as well as others? Or will he give everything up and start anew?

Just as he was pondering on that, Sato's eyes landed on something that had fallen on the floor. Curious, he rolled onto the bed and stretched out his arm to pick it up.

The object was a small piece of paper. A business card, to be exact.

Sato stared at it, his eyes widening in surprise. Without a doubt, it was Asakura Ryuu's business card, the one he gave Sato on his last night at the onsen.

All this while Sato had forgotten all about it.

Did it fall out of his pocket when he changed? But how come he hadn't seen it in all this time?

It appeared that Sato completely forgot having thrown the card himself, as well as his determination to forget about it.

A moment later, though, Sato suddenly recollected the conversation they had outside the inn. That person, too, had told him something similar to what Kyota said.

Right now, two people, complete strangers to each other, were nudging him in the same direction. But was it really a sign that he should try or an omen that he should refuse?

With his mind engaged in these peculiar thoughts, Sato spent the entire day in bed. The interior tumult caused him to continuously shift between dream and reality. He was unable to have a proper rest and, as a result, when he finally left his room to have dinner, his expression was worse than it had been that morning.

"Ugh, you look awful." Kyosuke greeted as he placed the plates down on the table.

"Thanks." Sato sighed, pressing both palms against his face.

"You don't look like you rested well."

"That's because I didn't."

"Still thinking about what Kyota-san said?" Kyosuke inquired, staring worriedly at his friend.

"Mh, among other things." Sato replied vaguely.

It's true that Kyota's words were the main focus of his thoughts. However, it appeared that there was something else bothering him besides that. He just couldn't properly grasp what laid behind all that jumble of thoughts and it frustrated him to no end.

~~~

A week slowly passed by and the day before the audition finally arrived.

That evening, Asakura went to the location in order to make sure everything was set for tomorrow.

After talking to the director and the producer, he went back into one of the rooms reserved for the tryout. All the way there, he hoped to find what he was looking for. Or rather, whom he was looking for.

Asakura had been checking that information every day for the past week, and each time he had been disappointed.

What he wasn't expecting, though, was to bump into Kota Subaru there.

The man was waiting for him inside. His position was relaxed, with one leg over the other and his upper body leaned against the backrest.

"Yo! So you're still here." Kota greeted Asakura with a grin.

"What are you doing here?" the man asked in surprise.

"Ah, I called your office and the assistant told me I might find you around here. Took me a while before I found this room, though."

"Hmm, so you're stalking me now?" Asakura teased, raising an eyebrow.

"Hey, I called first, so it doesn't count as stalking. Therefore, please stop trying to lump me in together with your bad habits." Kota waved a hand in displeasure. "Are you finished here? Want to go grab a drink?"

Before Asakura was able to reply, he was interrupted by the door suddenly opening.

A young woman entered, carrying a stack of papers. She greeted both of them politely, then proceeded to place the documents neatly on a table. After finishing her task, she simply turned around to leave.

"Excuse me." Asakura suddenly stopped her. "Are those applications from all the actors that have registered for the tryout tomorrow?" he asked, pointing at the stack of documents she just finished arranging.

"Yes. These are all the ones that have sent us their application until now."

"I see. Thank you."

After the assistant left, Asakura glanced at the papers, appearing to be rather undecided. Then, without saying a word, he went over and looked through them once.

When he finished perusing all of the documents, his expression didn't look so good. His brows were scrunched up in a frown and his eyes betrayed disappointment.