"Congratulations, big brother."
"...Kaoru..."
"Hahaha! Big brother, this is the day you get married. Why are you about to cry?"
"Hic- After meeting you... my life... even the lottery always came up empty... hic- Kaoru, thank you for becoming my benefactor... thanks to you, I’m getting married too... hic!"
On the day of Rentaro’s wedding, Rentaro, who held the ceremony at a church famous as a wedding venue, clung to Kaoru and burst into tears.
He had been through so much, and after meeting Kaoru, his benefactor, everything had suddenly started going well. He had even met a wonderful woman and was getting married, so his emotions had overflowed all at once.
Rentaro had always been a crybaby, and once he lost control of himself, Kaoru broke out in a nervous sweat as he tried to comfort his weeping older brother.
"Kaoru."
"Yuno. Congratulations. Please take good care of Rentaro, big brother."
"Oh, no. Hehe... thank you. Thanks to meeting you, Kaoru, I was able to meet such a wonderful person."
Yuno, beautifully made up as a bride, blushed as she offered her thanks. Kaoru smiled and nodded.
"Please be happy. That’ll make me feel proud too."
The ceremony went smoothly and on a grand scale. Between the guests Rentaro invited and the guests Yuno invited, there were well over 150 people, even excluding family and friends.
People from all walks of life had poured in, from Rentaro’s connections as an agency head to Yuno’s connections from working at a famous magazine company.
Unlike Kaoru and Ai’s wedding, it had unfolded in a flurry of activity, and President Ichigo and Toshiro, in particular, looked exhausted from being crushed by the crowd as they gulped down cold water.
Director Gotanda couldn’t attend because he had caught the flu, but he sent his gift money through Kaoru.
As if the wedding had brought back vivid memories of her own, Ai smiled brightly the entire time, her starlit eyes shining as the ceremony went on.
Miyako, too, applauded and congratulated the bride and groom.
This time as well, Aqua and Ruby took part as flower children, scattering petals over the wedding carpet. Kaoru didn’t miss a single moment and captured all of it on camera.
When the New Year came, Ame grew used to walking on her own. The twins played with Ame as always and spent their days happily by Ai’s side.
Now that she had become an experienced driver, Ai sold her first used car and bought a new one.
For B Komachi’s return on April 1st, Ai and the members began recording their album and preparing the release. Since it would be their first full-group comeback in three years, President Ichigo and Miyako poured their hearts into the preparations.
It was also a milestone project: the first work ever handled 100 percent by Ichigo Production’s first subsidiary and record label, Ichigo Label, from production to album creation and distribution.
The regular album title was set as "Forever : STE(B) ONE," and the working title of the lead track was "Cat walk."
Director Gotanda’s first independent film with Kaoru, "My Sea," swept most of the film awards, including the Japan Academy Film Prize.
Through "My Sea," Director Gotanda won his first-ever Best Picture and Best Director awards, while Kaoru won Best Actor at every film awards ceremony and critics association in Japan.
After scoring a massive hit that was praised both for box office success and artistic merit in a work he had made with Kaoru, Director Gotanda instead...
"If I go outside like this, I might die in some freak traffic accident. Isn’t that just the way of give and take? The affairs of the world are basically no different from a ‘barter,’ are they?"
...and armed himself with the bizarre caution of not stepping a single foot outside for an entire month.
Of course, Kaoru could understand it.
When success came out of nowhere and the gap between yesterday and today became as wide as heaven and earth, it was only natural to become afraid that something bad might happen.
Still, his month-long seclusion led to the rare phenomenon of people mistaking Director Gotanda’s behavior for a mysterious, reclusive image.
Then March came, and around the time Ai began busy rehearsals in earnest for her comeback stage.
Kaoru, who had taken a temporary break from activities to care for Ame, visited the Rararai Theater Troupe with the twins.
Since it was also known educationally that visiting a father’s workplace was good for children’s emotional development and future choices, Kaoru made up his mind and brought the three siblings to the troupe.
He had given them advance notice, so President Toshiro and a few senior and junior troupe members came out to welcome the three siblings.
"Hello!"
"Hello."
"Baba~ Hi~"
At the appearance of the Hoshino siblings, whose lovely faces resembled their parents, the troupe members melted into grins and waved back.
"Oh my goodness! They’re so pretty!"
"Hellooo~"
"They’re adorable! How can they be this cute?"
Aqua shyly thanked them, while Ruby enjoyed the attention and affection with her own uniquely cute, charming smile.
Ame, naturally, only waved lazily from Kaoru’s arms.
Kaoru handed President Toshiro a package of donuts and coffee for the troupe members, then took the twins to see the stage first.
"Wow... it’s big!"
"Waaah..."
Aqua and Ruby looked around the unexpectedly spacious theater with wide eyes.
Holding Ame, Kaoru smiled quietly.
Long before the twins were born—
He remembered the day he first... no, second met Ai.
He had walked around with his wife, showing her the stage and the audience seats, introducing everything to her.
And now, after time had passed, the beloved children who looked so much like him and Ai were standing here again.
"..."
At the strange, indescribable feeling swelling in his chest, Kaoru turned his head for a moment and looked up at the stage.
His heart filled, old memories resurfaced, and so did the memories that had flowed by over the years, along with the thought that he wished his wife were beside him in this moment.
And then, all at once, the realization that he was the father of three children, along with a fierce desire to one day stand on this stage with at least one of them—Aqua, Ruby, or Ame—flared up like a blaze.
Kaoru’s blue eyes shimmered brilliantly.
"Baba~"
"Haha, Ame."
When Ame reached out with her right hand and tried to pat Kaoru’s face, Kaoru laughed and touched foreheads with his youngest daughter.
Since they had already been given permission, Aqua and Ruby trotted up onto the stage and looked out at the audience seats.
Kaoru asked the engineer to keep the audience area dim and adjust the stage lights exactly as they would be during a performance.
Looking at the twins from below the stage, only Aqua and Ruby stood tall on the wide platform, creating a strange atmosphere.
"Hee... it’s, it’s high?! It’s really high!"
"..."
Ruby’s eyes sparkled as she stared at the vast drop between the audience area and the stage, unable to hide her surprise.
Aqua looked up at the lights once, then slowly walked across the stage and gazed out at the audience seats.
If Ruby was interested in the physical structure and layout, Aqua was interested in something a little different.
"Father... on this stage..."
Out toward that place, now empty but once packed with an audience.
He would have become the main character of a story and given a passionate performance, feeling the trembling emotions and hearts of the audience.
On this stage, where every expression in the audience could be seen clearly.
In a world of his own, portraying and performing as a person who did not exist but whom he had made real himself—his father’s figure appeared in Aqua’s mind.
"I’m not running away anymore!"
It was as if Aqua could hear that bold voice echoing in his ears, see him clenching a fist and pouring his soul into a performance toward the audience.
He had never seen a play before, but...
"How is it?"
Before long, Kaoru had come up onto the stage and asked the twins with a smile.
Ruby’s eyes sparkled as she pointed at the audience seats and the back of the stage.
"Papa! You act here and keep performing in front of people?"
"Haha. You keep going here until the performance is over. Hmm... see that? To set up the props needed for the stage, they swoosh that big red curtain like this and set everything up quickly. Down below the stage, they keep checking the script, the blocking, and the costumes too."
"Waaah... that’s amazing!"
While Ruby nodded, Aqua looked up at Kaoru and asked quietly.
"Dad..."
"Hm?"
"...When you act, do you keep watching the audience’s reactions too?"
At Aqua’s question, Kaoru smiled faintly.
The audience’s reactions... in truth, when he was performing on stage, he was the type to get so immersed in his acting that he didn’t pay attention to them.
But from what he’d heard from the troupe members... aside from when he was acting, he paid attention to everything one hundred percent.
In fact, one senior troupe member had even singled out a middle-aged woman who wasn’t paying attention to the play and spent the entire performance viciously criticizing her from behind the stage, like someone crunching popcorn.
That was probably why Aqua had asked.
"Dad’s too busy acting to look around much. Haha. I heard my colleagues do keep an eye on the audience, though. Why, Aqua? Do you want to try it too?"
"Huh? Ah... um..."
He had only tried to probe a little—he had expected Aqua to wave it off and jump back, saying no.
But Aqua hesitated before answering and seriously thought it over, and Kaoru couldn’t help but raise a brow.
He was more interested in acting and theater than Kaoru had expected!
Kaoru felt the sound of angelic bells ringing in his head and hugged Ame tightly.
But it was too early to get his hopes up. Once you actually tried to make someone act, you found out whether they were stage material or not.
"Humming~♬"
Just look at Ruby, dancing while copying Ai’s choreography exactly at the edge of the stage, right in front of the audience seats.
Ruby had the temperament of a "singer" rather than an "actor" on this stage.
Actor and singer.
The two professions were similar, yet different.
Since they had inherited both his blood and Ai’s, the twin siblings would surely have talent for both acting and singing.
But which side they were more specialized in, and which side would let them shine more brilliantly, was something only time would tell.
Kaoru had looked at countless actors over the years. From delivering lines to the knack for carrying emotion.
At a glance, he could tell.
Whether someone had it or not.
So then, what about Aqua?
"Ahem. All right, then. Shall we head to the practice room next?"
"Yeeees~!"
"Ah... yes."
The thoughtful Aqua and the humming Ruby, who had been dancing, followed behind Kaoru like ducklings as he led them backstage.
Kaoru returned from backstage into the corridor leading straight to the practice rooms, greeting the troupe members he passed along the way.
The twins also busied themselves greeting people back with bright smiles.
The largest practice room, A Practice Room, was the one most members used.
Since he had specially asked President Toshiro for permission, the practice room was quiet and empty of members.
Kaoru changed into his indoor shoes, then took the twins’ shoes out of the bag and changed them into the indoor sneakers he had specially prepared at home.
"Waaahhh~★"
Doo-doo-doo-doo!
Faced with the large open space, Ruby ran around the practice room excitedly.
Aqua, just as he had on the stage, looked around every corner of the practice room.
Kaoru opened his locker and took out the script collection for "The Bird That Flies Through the Sky" tucked in one corner.
"Daaah~"
"Yes, Ame. Haha. This is for Daddy to look at."
"Daaah~"
When Ame, snug in the baby carrier, showed interest and reached out, Kaoru smiled and immediately took out a squeaking duck toy to block his youngest daughter’s curiosity.
Quack! Quack!
"Daaang~"
Having successfully redirected her attention, Kaoru let out a relieved breath and called Ruby, who was bouncing around the practice room, and Aqua, who was absorbed in sightseeing, to hand them the script.
"This is a script collection Daddy practiced with before. Hmm... actually, this is the script I used back when I was teaching your mom acting. Haha. Aqua, Ruby. Here."
"..."The Bird That Flies Through the Sky?"
"T-this is the script Mama actually read...?"
Though it had faded a little with age, Aqua and Ruby noticed that Kaoru and Ai’s sweat from their school days had soaked into it, and they looked over the script with wide eyes.
A script that held the pink aura of the young Mama and Papa, who had once practiced together romantically in the rehearsal room, teaching and learning acting side by side.
"Haaah... sss..."
Ruby secretly buried her nose in the script so Kaoru wouldn’t see and inhaled its scent, then hugged the script collection tightly to her chest, her eyes sparkling.
Was there ever such a glorious thing?!
The crystallization of the thrilling "almost-relationship" between her favorite and second favorite, now in her hands?!
She would preserve this forever and keep it for generations to come. Ruby drooled a little as she opened the script collection. In the corners, she could see messy handwriting identical to Ai’s, written all over the edges.
Aqua was the same; he handled the script collection with trembling hands, like it was a sacred object, and read through it.
"...Aqua? Ruby? Daddy’s still talking~?"
Kaoru, slightly flustered by the twins’ wildly off-kilter reaction, called them back and brought their attention around.
The twins came to their senses, hugged the script tightly, and stood up straight, looking at Kaoru with sparkling eyes.
"The reason Daddy gave Aqua and Ruby this script collection is simple. I want you to look through it and try acting for a little while, just like Mom and Dad used to do back then."
"Ah! Like a job experience thing! Right, Papa?"
"Haha, Ruby’s right. Now, sit down and turn to page 155."
Kaoru smiled softly and carefully held Ame, who had already fallen asleep clutching the duck toy, before sitting down on the floor.
The twins followed Kaoru and sat on the floor, opening the script collection.
Kaoru had already picked out a short, easy scene that the twins could handle.
P. 155
"Found it!"
"Are Ruby and I going to practice this ourselves?"
"Yeah. It’s not difficult or complicated. See there? There’s a line where a little kid named Mamoru talks about his parents in front of his friends. Do you see it?"
Aqua and Ruby nodded at the same time.
The script collection contained rough descriptions of the situation and the characters along with the lines.
In "The Bird That Flies Through the Sky," which was based on the collapse of Japan’s bubble economy in the 1980s, Matsuko had been promised in marriage to Sosuke, but when his family fell apart, she ended up looking for a new match.
This was the scene where Mamoru, Sosuke’s youngest brother, knew that the family was in trouble but stubbornly denied it and bragged about it in front of his friends.
Even without Kaoru telling them to, Aqua and Ruby inferred Mamoru’s situation on their own and focused on the script.
Of course, Kaoru didn’t miss that.
After briefly explaining the rough plot of "The Bird That Flies Through the Sky" and Mamoru’s setup and situation, Kaoru pointed at the script and said,
"How is it? What kind of feelings do you think Mamoru has?"
"...He wants to brag in front of his friends, but can’t, so I think he’d hate his family."
At Ruby’s words, Aqua nodded too and said,
"It feels like he’s bragging even more on purpose because he’s afraid his friends will find out the truth."
Kaoru nodded and gently stroked the twins’ heads.
"Right. Like Aqua and Ruby said, that’s one way to infer Mamoru’s feelings and emotions. To act as Mamoru, you imagine those emotions and feelings, and then perform as if you are becoming Mamoru yourself."
He explained it as simply and concisely as possible, since going any further might make the twins struggle.
But the twins understood exactly what Kaoru was trying to say.
Aqua touched his chin and focused on the script, while Ruby pouted her lips slightly and focused on the script too.
About five minutes later, Kaoru clapped his hands and said he would let Aqua try acting first.
"Ruby will be Child 1, and Daddy will be Child 2. If you can’t remember the lines, you can look at the script and read along, so don’t be nervous. Okay?"
"Yes."
Aqua took a quiet breath and began acting.
"My father... see over there, next to Tokyo Tower? One of those tallest buildings over there is the company where my father works! Jealous?"
At Aqua’s line, Ruby and Kaoru took turns delivering their lines.
"Waaah~ I’m jealous~"
"Then does Mamoru eat steak all the time and even have servants and stuff?"
Even while speaking his lines, Kaoru kept his sharp blue eyes fixed on Aqua.
His voice, his emotions, his gaze, his tone. Kaoru took in every detail of Aqua’s Mamoru without missing a thing.
"Hooah."
As soon as the acting ended, Aqua let out a breath and wiped away cold sweat.
Kaoru and Ruby clapped enthusiastically to encourage him.
Straight away, it was Ruby’s turn.
"I’ll start!"
"All right!"
Unlike Aqua, Ruby held her breath for a moment, exhaled, and then immediately dove into the acting.
"My father... see over there, next to Tokyo Tower? One of those tallest buildings over there is the company where my father works! Jealous?"
"Waaah~ I’m jealous~"
"Then does Mamoru eat steak all the time and even have servants and stuff?"
Likewise, voice, emotion, gaze, tone. Kaoru took in every detail of Ruby’s Mamoru without missing a thing.
Fully focused on analyzing them as "actors" to be evaluated, not as his own children, Kaoru quietly nodded.
"My heart was racing so fast! Wow~★"
"That was amazing, Ruby! As expected of my little sister!"
"Good job, our daughter."
Aqua and Kaoru applauded and praised Ruby’s acting.
Ruby’s face flushed slightly as she bounced and then slipped in between Aqua and Kaoru with a little hop, smiling.
Kaoru stroked the twins’ cute heads and said,
"So, how was it? Not difficult, right?"
"Yes. It was awkward because it was my first time, but... it felt new and fun."
"Ruby felt like she became someone else! It was even more fun because it felt like Papa and big brother were responding to me?"
"Haha. Good. If Aqua and Ruby had fun, then Daddy’s happy too."
Kaoru and the twins sat in the practice room and chatted for a while.
About ten minutes later, the family left the practice room, retraced their steps, went back up toward the stage, and then down into the audience seats.
Kaoru glanced at the stage and casually said to the twins walking ahead of him,
"...Mom said she first met Dad here, right? It’s a secret, but actually, Dad met Mom here for the second time."
"Eeeh!?"
"?!"
The twins turned around at the same time and stared at Kaoru in shock.
When they had asked about it before, Ai had clearly said she first met Kaoru at the troupe!
Kaoru stifled a laugh so he wouldn’t wake Ame and recalled the memory as he said,
"The first time we met was on the train. Mom got off and dropped her hairpin, and Dad picked it up, got off quickly, and brought it to her."
"..."
"B-but Mom doesn’t remember that...?"
"Haha. Looks like she doesn’t. Well, I ran back after sprinting for the train, so she might not have seen Dad’s face. But..."
Kaoru’s blue eyes sparkled as if he were reminiscing about the past.
"Dad remembered Mom."
The first meeting with the wife he loved. That brief connection had led to the fateful meeting that continued to this day.
Kaoru smiled with a face full of warm, varied emotions.
Aqua and Ruby could only stare blankly at their father’s face for a moment.
A miraculous meeting, a miraculous fate. And the treasure that proved that miracle was standing right in front of them.
"Come on, let’s go. For dinner tonight... fried chicken, Ruby’s favorite! And let’s pack up some rice bowls that Mom likes too!"
Kaoru strode forward energetically with the twins, who were still standing there dazed.
-
"Mmmn... so good..."
Late at night, after finishing rehearsal, Ai came home and ate her rice bowl while puffing out her cheeks like a hamster.
Kaoru, resting his chin on his hand, watched her eat.
After she had finished about half the rice bowl, Ai widened her eyes and said to Kaoru, chopsticks still in hand,
"Ah, you said you took the twins to the troupe earlier! How was it, Kaoru? Did the babies... like it?"
Kaoru smiled at the question, lifted his chin from his hand, leaned back against the chair, and nodded.
"They loved it. Since it was their first time there, they were looking around at everything with curiosity."
"Hee... I guess so~ I was really surprised too when I first went to the troupe with the producer and saw the stage."
"You were. You also got super bored, didn’t you?"
"...Eh~ Did I, did I? I don’t remember?"
Ai flinched and avoided the question by shoveling more rice bowl into her mouth.
Kaoru went on to tell her everything that had happened at the troupe earlier.
When he mentioned that he had had Aqua and Ruby try acting, Ai was startled.
"Acting?! Aqua and Ruby are already acting? Kyaaah- D-did you record it?"
"Ah."
"Idiot- Oruuu!"
"Shh. Hehe, you’ll wake the kids."
"Ughh- You should’ve recorded it. You should’ve! Ai couldn’t see it! I wanted to see Aqua and Ruby acting... sniff..."
"Sorry. Next time, we’ll definitely watch it together."
"...Promise."
"Promise."
"...Are the babies good at acting? How were they? Hm?"
At his wife’s question, her starlit eyes sparkling, Kaoru fell into thought for a moment.
Each of them clearly had a different style, but one thing was certain—
Kaoru thought, 'Aqua and Ruby both definitely have talent.'
They hadn’t fully bloomed yet, but the twins both clearly had real talent. That alone was reassuring beyond measure.
Kaoru had initially analyzed Ruby as the type to lead with her acting, while Aqua seemed like the type to harmonize and adjust around others.
But when it came to one’s own children, you either ended up wearing rose-colored glasses or setting the bar absurdly high for no reason.
So he planned to keep training them whenever he could, helping to analyze and sharpen Aqua and Ruby’s talents little by little.
After finishing his thoughts, Kaoru said with a strange smile,
"Of course. Whose babies do you think they are? If we teach them properly, they’ll become great actors like us."
"..."
Ai’s face slowly began to turn red.
Under the table, Kaoru’s toes had started tickling her toes.
She hadn’t even finished eating yet—what was this...?
It was good news that the twins had that much talent, but... all of a sudden?
Especially today, he was more aggressive than usual, unlike Kaoru.
Ai quietly stuffed the rest of her rice bowl into her mouth and sprang up from her chair.
"...Sh-shall I... get ready?"
"..."
"We still need to shower... hehe-♥"
At her embarrassed smile, carrying just a gram of temptation, Kaoru silently stood from his chair—
Squeal!
"Shh!"
He lifted Ai in a princess carry and immediately ran toward the bedroom.
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