Free to Follow You (Hayato)

[Sayaka Motoyama]

It was one of the rarest of days for the soloist of GEM247. That elusive occurrence when despite all the demands upon a girl's time and energy she was not required to be anywhere in particular. No last minute bookings. No big concert which required more extensive practice than she should have the time for. In short the most difficult to attain of all days for her was that which was simply known as a day off. Saya's career as an idol had netted her the wonderful friendship of her fellow idols, but there was someone who meant an awful lot to her whom she wasn't able to see. Now that she had a free day to do anything she wanted Sayaka had immediately caught the first train to the neighborhood where one could find Simple Apple Co. and its offices. Now she stood near the front desk clutching her school bag a bit nervously as she took in the sight of a fairly busy office. This wasn't all that different from what she say on a daily basis at her own agency's office but it was a slightly different experience when you were the visitor.

Somewhere in this mess of people going about their busy lives, amongst the many offices and rooms not visible from the front desk, was the boy who'd helped her get through difficult days before. When her father hadn't been around his family had taken her in so that she wouldn't be left alone. If her dad got mad at her for no reason, yelled at her for something out of her control, she could always count on the Moriyamas to shelter her. Basically they had become her family in the absence of anything resembling a Motoyama household. Now she wanted to spend some time with her big brother who also happened to be an idol. This being a special occasion - as any meeting with Hayato was bound to be - Saya had gone the extra distance and dressed up. A nice long white skirt, her favorite sky blue blouse under a cream cardigan and her hair fixed in a girly and somewhat complex style. Abnormally she even had some light makeup on as she waited for the secretary to notice her and address her inquiry.

"Hello, I'm here to see Moriyama Hayato-san," she announced once she had the woman's attention, "I'm his sister, so would it be possible to see him?"

After the secretary told her to sit and wait while she checked to see if Hayato was in the office, Sayaka was giddy. She kept a mask of demure satisfaction up but inside she was bouncing wit excitement. After weeks aprat she got to see her brother!

"Hayato-niisan.. please be here," she murmured as she awaited the news as to his presence. That is, until she thought she spotted him near the back of the office and couldn't contain herself.

Reaching out almost as if to try and touch him, she waved and called out, "Hayato-niisan! Hayato-niisan! Over here! Marry me!"

[Hayato Moriyama]

the last good thing...

Well, this was something different. Hayato had come into the office and, for the first time in a long time, had absolutely nothing that he had to do...which was just a tad awkward for him to be quite honest. He was used to being whisked away to the next job as soon as he stepped foot into the agency’s office. Perhaps today was just his lucky day, then? Whatever it was, Hayato certainly wasn't going to be taking it for granted.

The young man had relaxed his stance upon realizing that he had nothing that he had to do today. For once, he wouldn't have to rush to finish his morning coffee to prevent spilling it on himself during the car ride to whatever location he needed to go to.

The peace didn't last…

Almost as soon as the news of having a day off had relaxed him, a very familiar voice had made him alert once more. Sayaka-chan was here. Hayato, honestly, couldn't help but to mentally grimace at the girl’s presence in the office.

It wasn't because he disliked her, of course. He didn't think that it was even possible for him to dislike her. The younger girl was just so naive and innocent that it was difficult for him to stay calm around her without risking some older guy, other than himself, taking advantage of her. After all, Hayato couldn't keep an eye on her for every second of the day – that was an impossible feat.

Still, though, the young lady that had traveled to the agency office from Akihabara was rather special to him – in a strictly platonic way, of course. Sayaka-chan had practically been his little sister since the young girl’s family had all but abandoned her. It had been Hayato that convinced his father to bring Sayaka into the family – even if it was only symbolically, it would at least allow the younger girl to know that there were people who cared about her well-being even if her biological family, the Motoyama, didn't give a damn about her.

What would be the best way for the dark-haired man to approach this? He could be straightforward but he couldn’t help but feel that the excitement would be misinterpreted by some of the people at the agency. While Sayaka might have said that they were siblings, Hayato was sure that someone knew that she was only a sister figure rather than his actual sister – a shame really because Hayato would have loved having an adorable little sister like Sayaka but he would take what he could get no matter how little it was.

After taking a few deep breaths and thinking things through for a minute or two, Hayato had managed to calm himself down once more. He walked over to the younger girl and laughed, "Sayaka-chan!"

Okay, he greeted her…what happens now? Maybe he should respond to her other statements.

With a more serious look on his face, Hayato let out a soft sigh and continued to speak, "Marry you? I'm sorry, Sayaka-chan. That would be a little too awkward for my taste." Not wanting to get her upset, though, Hayato gave her a small smile, "It's a good thing you were kidding about that part, right?" Playing it off as an intended joke would probably do the trick since it would make it seem like he had pretended to fall for it, right? It had to have been a joke. They both knew that their careers didn't allow them to take lovers.

[Sayaka Motoyama]

They weren't related by blood, that was true, but there was a very close bond between the two idols which had made Sayaka just as fond of Hayato as he was of her. Her real family had all but officially abandoned her but thankfully the Moriyamas had taken her in with open arms. For a little girl with very little structure in her life that had been the greatest gift ever received on any occasion. No birthday or Christmas presents could ever have a bigger affect on her than having a surrogate family to take care of her. From the early days she'd looked up to the dark haired boy who came up from the back of the office to speak to her as a big brother. Nothing more than that. She was always doing whatever she could to make her big brother proud of her too. Always acting how a nice girl should so that he'd praise her. Well, not without a little teasing thrown in at least.

This was one of her more common little jokes to throw around; usually it wasn't in front of a whole office but rather just a small gathering of people who knew the two somewhat. Both of them knew there was no romantic interest in the slightest, or at least she sure hoped that Hayato realized she wasn't serious. He was a really nice person, admittedly a cute guy but seriously she couldn't ever see him as anything but her big brother. Her protector. An occasional target for her humor but that was as far as the relationship was ever going to go. If she tricked some people into thinking there was more there than that, then so be it! All a part of the bigger joke. She'd apologize if it got out of hand but it was fun to make the older boy a little uncomfortable every now and again. As he rejected her proposal Sayaka responded by folding her arms over her chest and putting on a petulant expression.

"Mo.. you're so cold, Hayato-niisan. You have an adorable, loving little sister who wants to always be with you and you turn her away all the time! Getting married is our destiny! After all I just have to change one character in my family name to make the change. Motoyama to Moriyama!" she protested, then cracked up and started giggling uncontrollably as she couldn't keep it in any more.

After a couple of moments she smiled, and gave Hayato a teasing punch in the arm, "You're such a sucker, Hayato-niisan. Of course I'm not serious. You're my big brother, so the last thing I'd want to do is go out with you, let alone marry you." Sayaka nodded for emphasis as she added, "But anyway, I have the day off so I thought I'd come visit you.. you're not busy, are you? Is it all right if I spend some time with my favorite Super Ranger?"

[Hayato Moriyama]

the last good thing...

Hayato chuckled at Sayaka's reaction to his words. To be honest, they weren't all that surprising. He was pretty sure that the younger girl wasn't affected too much by what he had said. This was a common occurrence between them, after all. Of course, there usually wasn't so many people around them but Hayato was pretty sure a good amount of the office workers surrounding them knew that neither of them were being serious.

Letting out a soft sigh, Hayato answered the girl's questions, "Don't worry about it, Sayaka-chan...I knew you were joking around. Moreover, you came at the perfect time. I actually have nothing booked for today. In other words, my time's all yours...at least for today."

Hayato knew that he probably could have worded things differently so that people who weren't in the know about their sibling-like relationship wouldn't be confused but he actually liked confusing people about his relationships with others. Sure, he'll tell the truth if people ask but until that actually happens, he tends to let people make up their own minds. He's even fooled some of the SUPER☆RANGERS before...well, except for Shiro who always seems to be able to tell when he's joking.

Recalling something Sayaka said, Hayato asked a question of his own, "Your favorite Super Ranger? I thought I was the only Super Ranger that you personally knew! Is there something that you're not telling me, Sayaka-chan?" After all, he hasn't introduced her to Shiro yet and Hayato didn't trust any of the others with his little sister.