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First-person Hoshino Yume
It had been months since Ai made her comeback as an idol.
B-Komachi, the group Ai belonged to, gradually increased their activities, but financially, it couldn't be said to be very profitable. As a result,
seeing Ai sitting on the sofa at Ichigo Production, checking her salary with a serious look—though from my perspective, having seen that dozens or hundreds of times,
I thought "here we go again" and distanced myself from her in advance. Because I knew exactly what would happen if I stayed nearby.
"This month's salary is 200,000... Hey, isn't our agency's pay too low~? Wasn't our last single album number three on Oricon? Aren't you taking too much off the top?"
If they had taken too much, I would have handled it on my end—of course, Ai wouldn't know about such things, but
in response to Ai's complaints, Miyako, working on her laptop, said,
"Unlike major corporations that handle production to distribution, we're a small company from the start. We knew the profits would be low, right? Why are you bringing this up now?"
I knew Ai was saying such things for the twins' sake, but even though I had told her not to worry and that I'd help on my end, her response at that time was quite unexpected.
"Hmm, since they're my children, I'll raise them myself. I'll accept Yume's help later."
"Later... you say."
"Yeah, hehe★ I'm sure Yume will definitely help."
"Well, I'll look forward to it then."
Still, I was surprised to see her determination to do it herself, and since I never expected to hear "since they're my children" from Ai's mouth, I decided to support her life even more.
"I've realized that this world ultimately comes down to money."
""You've realized something dirty (haven't you).""
Miyako and I seemed to have the same thought simultaneously at Ai's remark.
For a moment, it seemed like the color of the stars in Ai's eyes turned black, but it must have been an illusion.
I got goosebumps and swept my arms over my arms, and then Ai picked up Ruby and said,
"But to send these kids to good schools or academies, to give them various options, I need to do better and earn more, right? If things stay like this, I can't make them happy."
After lightly hitting Ai's head for saying such unnecessary things,
"Ouch!!"
"Don't have such unnecessary thoughts. I told you, Ai, I'll definitely take responsibility as your guardian and protect you, Aqua, and Ruby. Instead of worrying about a few pennies, cut back on that Häagen-Dazs first."
"Huh!? No way!! How can you tell me to cut back on Häagen-Dazs!!"
"Waaah!!"
As Ai naturally clung to me, I lightly hugged her and patted her head. Unexpectedly, Ai froze up, and
"Don't you worry, just do what you want to do. If that includes raising those kids, don't think about money—I'll handle everything you need, okay?"
As I continued to stroke her head, Ai grabbed my clothes tightly with both hands and buried her head deeper into my chest, then
"......Okay."
she muttered just that and stayed still. When I tried to put her down to take her to her lesson,
"Let's go like this."
"Huh?"
"I like it like this."
"Sigh.........phew............Well, who am I to stop you."
I glanced at Miyako, Aqua, and Ruby, then
"Miyako, I leave the kids to you. Be good, okay?"
After telling them to be good, I took Ai and headed to the lesson venue.
After the lesson, there was an event scheduled, so I had to kill time until it ended. As I was about to enter a nearby café to pass the time,
"Caw~!!"
"Caw~caw!!"
"Caaaw!!!"
"......Crows."
Don't tell me.......
With a hint of suspicion, I looked around and saw at the café I was about to enter the 'girl' I thought I saw for the last time when she made me witness Dr. Goro's death. Seeing me, she said,
"How about a cup of tea?"
".....I'll go now."
I was planning to go to Ai's event, but it seemed something more important had come up.
***
Third-person Hoshino Ai
"Ai-chan, you seem a bit down today?"
"You shouldn't overdo it since you just recovered from being sick, right?"
When two members who were taking lessons with her spoke to Ai worriedly, she smiled awkwardly and said,
"No~ it's just that I didn't eat lunch, so I'm su~per hungry!!"
"What's that, a hungry character!?"
Using a convenient excuse to send the other members away, Ai thought,
"Sigh......Yume isn't here, and I'm not in a good mood today... I guess I should do some surfing."
While looking at her phone, a tweet caught Ai's eye, and it read:
[Ai's smile is, good or bad, a professional smile. It feels somewhat inhuman, doesn't it? It's hard to feel at ease supporting her. Except for the most impressive comeback stage, it never changes.]
After reading the tweet, Ai quietly muttered in a small voice so no one could hear,
"That hits a sore spot....."
Ai knew it too. During the comeback stage, she sang with love for Yume in her heart. But except for that time, she never felt the same way again. She knew the reason.
For her to be a perfect idol without lying, Hoshino Yume had to be by her side, and
since Hoshino Yume never participated in any events until now, she always ended up being a liar (idol).
"Well, but Yume is always busy because of me, so it can't be helped."
After the lesson, Ai headed to the next event stage with the members, and
[Now, today we have the three members of B-Komachi with us~!!!!]
with those words, Ai began to sing.
But even as she sang, the tweet kept lingering in Ai's chest and mind.
[Ai's smile is, good or bad, a professional smile.]
"Even if you say that... I am a pro, you know."
[It feels somewhat inhuman.]
"I don't really get that. Aren't you the ones who want something inhuman?"
Hoshino Ai always researched in front of a mirror, adjusting every millimeter.
How wide to open her eyes, the angle of her mouth—all calculated,
she always wore the smile that made people happiest.
Such Hoshino Ai,
when the thought "I'm made of lies." filled her mind,
"Babu! Babu! Babu! Babu! Babu! Babu! Babu! Babu! Babu! Babu! Babu! Babu!"
she saw two children madly waving glow sticks in both hands. Ai's eyes, different from usual perfect liar (idol) eyes,
"What's that, those babies are dancing in sync!?"
"For infants, that's some impressive coordination!!"
"My kids are so cuuuute~~~~~~~~~~~~~♥♥♥♥♥♥"
She smiled a smile only a mother who truly loves her children could make, and the event came to an end...
As a result, the video of the twins waving glow sticks achieved a feat of 210,000 retweets and 2 million views.
Incidentally, when Yume checked that video, he grabbed the back of his neck and collapsed on the sofa.
**********
First-person Hoshino Yume
In a café that should have been crowded, there was not a single person except me and this girl.
Since it seemed possible to make people avoid this place, she probably wasn't the same kind of human as me,
and considering her previous statements, I concluded that the girl before me
"Are you a god?"
wasn't on the same level as the being that reincarnated me, but at least seemed to be a being beneath that.
"Well, are you asking after already deciding?"
"Hearing it directly is different from just thinking it."
As someone who always wants a definite answer, unless confirmed, I always act cautiously—that's my principle.
"Well, that's true. Let's say yes for now."
"I see."
"By the way, you seem to be doing quite well?"
"I'm getting by somehow."
"Really? So, are you prepared to change fate?"
"If it's Ai's fate to die, I'll change it no matter what, even if I have to kill you."
"How scary~ To casually say you'd kill such a delicate girl. You're not normal either, are you?"
Was that really so? In my past life as a bodyguard, what I felt most was that if you go easy on a child even once, you might see dozens of colleagues injured or dead from a single mistake.
Some might call it PTSD, but it wasn't to that extent. Still, the principle that even if it's a child, if they're a threat, eliminate them—this was one of my actions in this life born from past events.
"Did you appear before me just to talk about this?"
"What if I did?"
"Do we have anything left to discuss between us?"
"No, nothing. So, I just wanted to say one thing."
"....What is it?"
"Indeed, I am the 'god' you think of, but now I can't do anything, not even intervene in your affairs. So... I'm just a reader, you could say?"
"A reader... I see."
So, to the gods, our actions are no different from a book.
"So, I'll be looking forward to your story, Hoshino Yume. Please, lead Hoshino Ai, Hoshino Aquamarine, and Hoshino Ruby down a happy path—I'll pray for that."
Leaving behind words as a god, it began to feel as if no one had been before me from the start, and silence settled in. I carefully felt this loneliness and simply waited for Ai's event to end.
Until Ai called, I waited without a single thought, just idly.
In the end, without even receiving a call from Ai, I returned to the office. Seeing Saito, Miyako, Ai, Aqua, and Ruby watching something, I wondered,
"I'm back, but what are you watching?"
As I said that and checked Miyako's phone at the center,
".............Sigh....."
I was overwhelmed by a sudden headache and lay down on the nearby sofa.
Meanwhile, after slowly reading the tweet with her image, Ai approached me lying down, lay next to me, clung to me, and quietly muttered,
"I see... so this is what 'good' is. Learning complete~"
It seems it's still not enough to draw out your true feelings, Ai.
Hearing Ai's muttering, I simply closed my eyes.
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