Kou agreed. "Yeah. We followed him

Kou agreed. "Yeah. We followed him to Marukoshi once remember? There were these two bitches who kept on sneering at us. Our Akihito was embarrassed but we didn't give a damn about them."

"Maybe he wanted to protect our feelings? Knowing Akihito, he might want to save us from the humiliation," Takato countered.

"No, it's still too fishy. There is something our friend is hiding from us," Kou looked at Takato for a split second before he broke out a grin. "We'll follow him and find out his little secret!"

He pulled Takato forcefully by his arm before he could protest. They took the longer route to make sure that they wouldn't bump into Akihito, fearing the photographer would notice their presence behind him. Akihito was a trained photographer after all; he's sensitive to movements surrounding him.

Kou reached Marukoshi a few seconds earlier than Akihito. He pulled Takato to the huge recycling bins located some distance away and crouched behind them.

"Why are we doing this again?" Takato asked as he tried to catch his breath from running.

Kou slanted his eyes at his friend. "Don't you want to know Akihito's secret?"

"Well, I have to admit that he was behaving oddly just now," Takato mumbled.

"Shh – they're coming!" Kou smacked Takato's hand, signaling him to look.

The duo saw Akihito and Toru walking towards the mart. Toru wore a stoic look but Akihito was nervous; he kept looking around the mart, checking his back every second or so. When they disappeared behind automatic doors, Kou and Takato emerged from their hiding spot and followed Akihito into the mart.

As far as Kou could see, there was nothing out of the ordinary. Was Takato correct after all? Did Akihito merely want to avoid his friends from being humiliated by the stuck up sales personnel?

As Kou continued with his thoughts, Takato grabbed his hand to look for their friend. They ignored rude stares from a few staffs as they peeped row by row carefully. They finally found Akihito at the meat section and to Kou's surprise; Akihito was flanked not only by Toru but a few other men in suit. A middle age man was selecting a slab of beef for Akihito while the other was carrying a basket.

Kou's first assumption they were Akihito's bodyguards. However, something wasn't quite right. Compared to Toru's standard black and white bodyguard uniform, the men's suits were of a different color. The Royal blue coat and pants were Marukoshi's trademark uniform.

"What is Akihito doing there?" Takato asked.

Getting frustrated with the guessing game, Kou marched to where Akihito stood. Giving a hard smack on Akihito's shoulder, he asked, "Akihito! What is it that you don't want us to know?"

"KOU, TAKATOU! What the hell are you guys doing here?" Akihito gasped.

"You tell me, buddy. What are you hiding from us?" Takato looped an arm around Akihito's neck, trying to wrestle him.

"What- what are you doing to our president?" The middle age man in Marukoshi's coat and a name tag that read Suzuki Kenta, manager; asked.

Akihito slapped his hand across his face and let out a heavy sigh while his best friend had their jaws opened so wide that Akihito swore he could fit in two ping pong balls inside.

"Akihito, we—we did not hear wrongly right?" Kou looked at Akihito, bewildered with what he had just heard.

Suzuki stepped in forward and dared himself to repeat his question, "I asked what you were trying to do to our president."

"Suzuki san, please just – just keep quiet for a moment." Akihito pinched the bridge of his nose. Already a headache is forming.

Suzuki immediately zipped his mouth, too afraid to aggravate the president's anger any further.

"Akihito?" Kou prompted, still waiting for an explanation.

Akihito's cheeks turned red. He look at his friends' confused gaze and whispered, "I—I er –uhm –"

"This is Takaba sama's mart. Asami sama had bought it as a gift for Takaba sama," Toru replied stoically when he noticed Akihito was at a loss for words.

As Akihito had predicted, his friends' widened jaws closed and they slowly broke into a grin before laughing hysterically.

"Aki-chan, President and CEO of Marukoshi!" Kou was laughing so hard that he had tears in his eyes.

"And—and remember what Aki said the other day? He'd rather go hungry than shop here?" Takato had to hold onto Kou to stop himself from falling on the floor.