CH 23

Chapter 23

TL: Akabane

***

I decided to go home for the New Year's holidays for the first time in a long time. I hadn't even shown any signs of going home in the past few years, so my parents were suspicious, asking if I had anything to report.

I couldn't tell them that I had met an idol through a weekly magazine. That would be within the private sphere of a child's life. Since I wasn't actually going to get married or anything, I just brushed it off as appropriate.

It was after 10:00 PM. when I returned home from a party to celebrate the end of the work week. I heard that other people went to the after-party, but I decided not to go because I was going home tomorrow.

I took a bath to sober up a bit and clear my head. Still feeling a little drunk, I got ready for the flight. I was in no hurry because my flight was in the evening, but I wanted to sleep well. That's the only reason.

And the only thing I have to bring back is a change of clothes. I would just eat and sleep at my parents' house anyway.

Suddenly, my phone rang.

It wasn't a text message, but a phone call. On the screen was the name of a girl who looked a little familiar.

"Hello?"

||  "Sorry it's so late. Are you okay now?"

It had been a long time since I had heard Yamamoto's voice. The last time I saw her was at the launch of the poster project. I still think of her from time to time. I remember the beautiful girl waving her small hand at the end of the rain.

Come to think of it, she didn't come to the after-party. I had an inkling as to why, but I swallowed it down, thinking it was nothing to talk about now.

My heart is still racing. Talking is fun, but I'll never get used to it. The truth was that I was nervous.

"I'm fine. Is something wrong?"

||  "---Good. Thanks."

I tried to talk to her in a friendly manner, and she took me up on it. We became friends on the day we last met.

Until then, I was a fan and a former idol. And business partners. But now that we were friends, there was no way I wouldn't be excited. I thought about how impossible it would be if we were to do something.

||  "I wanted to talk to you about something."

I could tell from the way she said it that it was going to be a bit long. I stop my preparations and move under the ventilation fan. Then I lit a cigarette and smoked it inaudibly.

"You want to talk to me?"

||  "Yeah. You don't want to?"

"No, no. It's okay."

||  "Fufu. Thanks."

I don't care if she says I'm a little coy. She's cute to death. So cute that I faint. The cuteness breaks through the ceiling and causes a big bang in the universe.

The destructive power of Yamamoto's completely private, or rather, bare-faced face is so bad. ...... Honestly, she is definitely better than Momoka Aimi was. Her voice tone and attitude make me think she should be marketed as she is.

||  "Um ...... I was scouted."

"Ah ......."

I was thinking of such a drinking thought, but the air changed a little. At the same time, the face of Kanako Miya came into my mind. I had somehow expected this.

My reaction was a thin one. Because I knew. I thought I should have pretended to be surprised, but she didn't say anything about it.

"That's good. You can get revenge."

I told her that, but I knew I would get a poor reaction. Otherwise, she wouldn't have asked me for advice.

||  "Yeah ...... that's true."

"Are you lost?"

||  "...... Yes."

If you are lost, it depends on the underlying reason, whether it's positive or negative.

"Why?"

||  "...... I got scared."

She originally ran away from the idol industry. It's easy to quit, but it takes a lot of determination to go back there. If you quit and then decide to come back, there may be some people who will be antagonistic.

It happens to people all the time. It's not unusual for people in the general public to change jobs with other companies in the same industry.

However, I don't know anything about the entertainment industry. I think it's completely different from the society we live in. I wonder if she will be able to survive in such a world where she once betrayed her company.

I hear that the world is a place where people are pressuring each other with impunity. The former office wouldn't look good. I don't know what kind of position that Miya-san holds, but it's definitely in her hands.

||  "Somewhere in the back of my mind I was thinking, "I won't be there anymore." But that suddenly came to hand, so I was a little surprised......."

I see. The point is that she wasn't prepared for it. She certainly thought about it, but all she could do was wait to be approached.

She suppose could have auditioned, but she didn't do so because she felt guilty.

If so, a third party would be needed.

Someone with the power to pull up Miina Yamamoto. I don't know if it will be Kanako Miya.

"If you can't assure me that you won't regret it, I think you don't have to accept the job."

||  "Mhmm. Mean advice."

"Oh, really?"

|| "Just kidding."

She said lightly and laughed, but I felt she probably meant it. It's all mixed up in her mind. The self that wants to go back to being an idol and the self that doesn't want to go back.

If she wants to go back 100%, there is no reason to bother. The fact that she doesn't means that she has a little bit of anxiety about the risk in the corner of her mind. If you look at it in a positive way, though, she is a person who can see things from a bird's eye view.

"What are you worried about?"

If I could get rid of the root of her anxiety, it would be a little easier. With that in mind, I asked,

||  "......... Various things."

"I don't understand. ......"

Then, why did you come this far? It's very frustrating to have your worries hidden. She at the crossroads of whether she will become an idol or not. I couldn't help but feel that everything would be decided depending on how I handled this situation. Am I thinking too much?

"Slander?"

||  "Yes."

I had heard that story. So it was no wonder she affirmed it. But it didn't sound as if she had let all her insecurities out.

What else could it be?　That could be her anxiety about her former office. Or, perhaps, she was concerned about the reaction of Momoka Aimi's fans.

"I wonder if it's okay, even though I'm about to ...... turn 30."

"Eh?"

I thought it would be a heavier story, but apparently not. No, I know that for her it is a matter of life and death. But somewhere in the back of my mind, I also felt relieved.

||  "In the idol industry today, people say that after 25 is a good age. It was the same during the Sakura Romance era."

"Yeah. I know. I also know that you worked hard in the midst of it."

||  "Thank you ....... I wonder if there's any demand for me now that I'm 28 years old."

I don't really care at all, but it seems that age is so important to women. First of all, it's ridiculous to think that being over 25 is a good age. In the corporate world, you are still a young.

However, it's inevitable that people are attracted to younger women. There is even a custom of "age difference marriage" although the story is different. In such cases, the man is usually much older than the woman.

"I think there is."

||  "How can you be sure?"

"At least, I think I'm attracted to you."

I was sick of feeling like she was hitting on me, but it was true, so I had no choice. There would be no point in playing the third party here.

||  "You can say that because you're ...... Araki-san."

"But it's better than no one telling you that, right?"

||  "That's ...... true."

She didn't seem convinced. I don't blame her. It doesn't mean that I am the representative of the fans when I say something to her personally. It may be comforting, but it won't do much to relieve her great anxiety. It's empty, though.

"When do you have to come to a conclusion?"

||  "Since she approached me just the other day, she said she would wait until the end of this year."

"Then, it's about time."

||  "Yes. I will contact her after the new year."

I was a little relieved that Miya-san was giving her time to think about it. She had been pushy with me, but Yamamoto might become an important business partner. Is that natural, right?

"Well, you have a little more time. Call me if your head gets messed up again."

||  "Thank you ....... That's very kind of you."

"Well, it's for your own good."

||  "Fufu... You're a racy one."

She goes on to thank me for hanging out with her and hangs up the phone. Suddenly, I wanted to say a few words, so I stopped her and said, "Wait a minute...."

"Age doesn't matter when it comes to liking someone. Some philosopher said so."

She laughed. I think it was at that moment when the call ended that I finally heard her smile from the heart. I put out my cigarette, realizing that I really don't understand the female mind.