【 Once again, Forever STAR ★- like a morning star shot from the brilliant night sky- flying to you, Chu~★ 】
- Mama!!! Kyaaah! So awesome!
- Whoa-!!!!!! Whoa-!!!!!!
- Mama-! Amazing-! Ahahaha-!
The 15-second video of Aqua and Ame, holding the light sticks Ruby had made by hand and cheering at the top of their lungs in front of the TV, was uploaded to Kaoru’s YouTube channel.
The video ended abruptly after Ruby, who had come to her senses during the highlight dance section, tapped Aqua on the shoulder while starting to do otagei, and Ame, standing beside her, began whining at Kaoru, who was filming, to pick her up.
The video, which captured the face of Japan’s top celebrity family, was incredibly ordinary. The distance the public had felt toward them shrank in an instant.
A 15-second homemade clip with no tricks at all, just the adorable antics of three siblings, sent the public into a frenzy once again.
B Komachi’s comeback stage after three years also drew an enormous response.
< B Komachi’s "Forever STAR★B" takes first place on the Oricon singles chart and Japan Billboard HOT 100 >
< "Forever : STE(B) ONE" album first-week sales hit 1.18 million copies... setting a new record as the first debut-week million seller >
< B Komachi comeback sends "Music Station" to a peak rating of 42.8%... surpassing the 38.7% peak rating record from 1993 >
- I was watching it crying with my grandma and grandpa beside me...
- No matter what anyone says, Ai is Ai. She proved she’s absolutely the irreplaceable "invincible idol"!
ㄴ You’re only realizing that now.
ㄴ I’ve known since her debut, but it still made me slap my knee again.
- Am I the only one who wants to see Kamiki in stage costume doing the "Forever STAR★B" footwork dance?
ㄴ Oh...
ㄴ What do you mean, "oh"? You lunatic.
ㄴ With his build, if he wore it, maybe it’d look like some insane magical warrior girl costume? Ah! Visually, honestly, if you put a wig and makeup on him, he’s at Ai’s level or even higher!
ㄴ Ah, screw you, eat shit, you maniacs. Are you all insane...?
- The Aqua-Ruby siblings are so cute. If I go to the live venue, Ai will probably do "resu" for me, right? Like eye contact or waving?
ㄴ Of course she will, idiot. She’s a mom, so she even does private resu at home!
ㄴ What if Kamiki goes?
ㄴ Re: If Kamiki goes, it’d be totally fair even if he stormed the stage, lolololol
ㄴ lol you crazy bastard lol
- I’m so proud to be a fan of B Komachi.
- Every member has grown. Just like the concept... they’re no longer immature little girls.
- They delivered a miracle, a magical performance that made fans fall under the spell of that brilliant starlight.
ㄴ Five stars. Of course, ten stars is the maximum.
ㄴ RE: Eat shit.
- The choreography, the singing, the sincere eyes and smiles toward the fans. Everything was filled with "sincerity." Even I, on the other side of the TV, felt my heart race across time and space.
ㄴ That’s some serious emotion.
ㄴ Literary club senior, huh lol
B Komachi’s comeback took place on April 1st, but by December—by the end of the year—"Forever STAR★B" was still playing all over the streets.
And once again.
A miracle happened.
December 15th. Ai’s birthday.
Fifty-two thousand fans packed into Tokyo Dome waved colorful light sticks.
"Everyone! One more time, let’s shout it. What’s the "sign"!?"
Bathed in dazzling lights, Ai’s starry eyes sparkled as she shouted to her precious fans—
"B"—!!!!!!
The roar of 52,000 voices.
At last, after three years of waiting, Ai stood once again on the Tokyo Dome stage!
With the hot rush of excitement and pounding anticipation sweeping through her entire body—
"Kaoru! Aqua, Ruby, Ame! Watch me! I’ll pour in all the "love" and "sincerity" I’ve got!"
With a radiant smile, she raised her left hand high into the air, flashing a V sign.
- - -
- - -
- - -
"……."
Kaoru quietly drank his coffee. The wedding ring on the ring finger of his left hand, which held the cup, gleamed especially brightly.
Rentaro, now in his forties but still looking like he was in his early thirties, let out a long sigh as he calmly sorted the documents on his desk.
Getting older hadn’t exactly made him any better at running a company. Over the past three years, he had led the way by bringing in a solid lineup of actors through auditions, with Kaoru at the center of it all—but still.
It was hard.
"Haa..."
"You look tired."
"Man, I wish someone would just do the work for me.... I only want to raise actors."
"That’s your job, though."
"Except for approving paperwork and paying taxes!"
Kaoru chuckled softly and sipped his coffee. Rentaro, too, let out a sigh and took a sip.
"How are Ruby and Aqua these days? Ah! Ruby’s amazing at acting, too, huh? I watched her drama, and her style really had that Ai feel to it, more than yours."
"Yeah. I’m coaching her to keep her natural instincts intact. Haha. Even Ai was surprised. During the camera test, she said it felt like she was looking at herself from back then."
"And Aqua?"
"Aqua’s doing well too. President Toshiro has been personally looking after him at the troupe. He seems to have high expectations for him as well. He’s been subtly hoping I’d push Aqua forward a bit more.
But he’s also showing great results academically, so his school teachers seem to want the same thing.
If Aqua ever truly decides he wants to become an actor, I’ll support him with everything I’ve got."
"He’s a green shoot in both school and acting... Ha. That’s amazing. The son is just like the father, and the daughter is just like the mother. How does that even happen?"
"Haha. Who knows? You’ll be surprised when Kotaro grows up, too."
"...I’m already surprised."
Thinking of his son, Kotaro, Rentaro gave a bitter smile. He wished Kotaro had taken after him.
Unlike Yuno, who didn’t shed many tears, he got hurt every time she looked at him strangely for crying over even the slightest sad thing.
That was why Rentaro had lately been wanting another daughter.
【 I love you- My Lover! Hold me tight. So I can become the happiest person in the world~ ♬ 】
Kaoru’s smartphone rang. As soon as Ai’s solo song, released earlier this year, began playing, Kaoru answered without even checking who it was.
"Yeah, Ai."
"Ghk... right, the assigned ringtone."
Rentaro remembered that he had set specific ringtones to play only for designated people. It was so sweet it felt like his teeth might rot. As far as he knew, only Kaoru’s wife and the twins were assigned to it.
Kaoru stood up from the sofa and walked toward the window as he spoke.
"To the manager?"
- Yep! They called saying the car won’t start all of a sudden! Uwaa~★ What a disaster~
It was probably because she knew he had no schedule today and called him anyway.
Kaoru smiled faintly.
"Got it, Ai. I’ll come get you right away."
After hanging up, Kaoru looked at Rentaro and said, "I think I need to go."
"Oh, sure~"
Rentaro smiled and saw Kaoru off.
-
"……."
"……Haa."
The mother standing beside her let out a deep sigh.
That heavy sigh settled on the girl’s shoulders and made them feel even heavier.
So this time, it was another throwaway extra role.
Arima Kana, who had once been a promising child actress in a leading role, let her red hair hang low as she bowed her head.
The albums she had released in hopes of a breakthrough miracle had also plummeted to disastrous sales, and Arima Kana the singer had been forgotten by the public in an instant.
It was hard to believe she now had to get worked up over a tiny morning drama extra role that came along only once in a blue moon—but even so, Arima Kana couldn’t give up acting.
For her mother’s expectations and love, for the people at her agency who worked hard for her, and so she could stand in front of a camera and act to her heart’s content once more....
"..."
She could never give up acting.
'No matter what it takes, I’ll reach it. I will...!'
Arima Kana, who had once been the object of someone else’s admiration and longing, likewise had someone she admired and longed for.
A magical performance that had been so intense it branded itself into her mind the very first time she saw it.
She kept watching that performance, imitating it, analyzing it, studying it, and struggling to make it her own.
The effort to reach her idol had only given even more brilliance to the girl who performed with genius that shone on herself as relentlessly as the sun.
'If I’d known they were her biological children... I wouldn’t have treated them like that!'
Arima Kana thought of the girl currently appearing as a child extra in the evening drama.
If they hadn’t parted on such bad terms, she might have had the luck to meet her idol much sooner than she had aimed for.
Arima Kana pushed through that endless regret and disappointment and kept working hard.
But—
The girl’s acting, which she had dismissed without even auditioning her, had changed far more than it had when they first met.
Arima Kana had overlooked one thing: the girl’s father was the very [actor] she had admired and longed for so deeply.
That performance, which had once relied entirely on untamed, untrained animal instinct, was now shining with a refined polish, like a beautiful [Ruby] carefully cut by a master jeweler with all his soul.
"...Haa..."
For the first time, Arima Kana felt that all her effort toward [acting] might... fade in comparison, and she was overwhelmed by helplessness.
Because the miserable feeling of her place slowly disappearing from the past, and the feeling of something she had expected would never catch up suddenly looking down at the top of her head, were beyond words.
Kana bit her lip tightly at her mother’s quiet sigh and walked out of the elevator toward the parking lot with a face that looked like she might cry.
"...Huh?"
Kana’s eyes widened.
She locked eyes with the person getting out of a car and walking toward her—her idol, Kamiki Kaoru.
For a moment, Arima Kana’s heart dropped with a heavy thud.
"..."
Kaoru, meeting Arima Kana’s eyes, instantly realized she had been startled by seeing him.
Not because she was scared, but because, judging from her expression and reaction, she was clearly his fan and had been surprised by the sudden encounter.
He hadn’t expected the little girl who had once appeared in his wife’s film, the little girl who had sung the cucumber exercise Ruby loved, to have grown this much.
He even felt genuinely glad to see her. This was their first time meeting in person, but she had always stood out for her astonishing acting ability.
Even though she had grown a lot since appearing in that film, Kaoru had never seen the grown-up Arima Kana on TV.
Kaoru remembered something Director Gotanda had once said.
【 It’s the fate of a child actor. Either quit here, or keep going no matter what.... It’s up to you to choose. 】
Maybe her situation was even worse than that. Going around with her mother and still not having a manager....
Kaoru, who knew the nature of this industry well, looked at the young girl who was barely older than the twins and felt both admiration and a deep pang of pity.
He smiled gently at the girl who hadn’t given up on her dream despite the harsh reality.
"Hello. You’re Arima Kana, right?"
"Ah, y-yes! Yes! H-hello!"
She had thought he would just ignore her and walk on, but when Kaoru greeted her unexpectedly, Arima Kana jumped in shock and hurriedly bowed, her face turning red.
'He knows my name!? He knows my name! Kamiki Kaoru knows my name!'
Her idol had recognized her face and name and spoken to her first. The unbelievable reality made Arima Kana’s heart pound so hard it felt ready to burst.
Her mother, apparently not expecting this either, flinched and stared at Kaoru. Kaoru smiled and bowed his head.
"Hello."
"Oh my... yes, hello? But..."
"Haha. A long time ago, my wife and Arima-san appeared together in Director Gotanda’s film. I remembered Arima-san because your acting left such an impression on me."
Arima Kana’s mouth corners shot upward violently.
"And the cucumber exercise, too. My daughter really loved the cucumber exercise."
And then she froze like a stone.
"Huh-!? Mmph!"
"Ah—oh my. Hohoho... yes...."
Kana covered her mouth, eyes trembling as she looked up at Kaoru.
She had no idea what to say—her mind had gone completely blank, and she didn’t know what to do.
What do I do in a moment like this?!
Kana decided to just blurt out the first thing that came to mind.
"U-um! I-if it’s not too much trouble, may I ask for your autograph!?"
"Haha, of course. I’d love to, but I don’t have any paper—"
"I-I do!"
"Oh, Kana! You—"
Kana quickly pulled a crumpled stack of A4 paper from her mother’s handbag. Even when her startled mother tried to stop her, Kana’s eyes sparkled as she carefully smoothed it out and handed it to Kaoru.
Kaoru met Kana’s gaze directly and gave her a quiet smile.
Taking the crumpled, shabby scrap of paper kindly, Kaoru pressed it against the wall beside him and signed it right away. He even wrote his name neatly in block letters before handing the paper back to Kana and gently patting her head.
"Eep!"
"I hope we can meet again someday. Not in a parking lot, but on a set—as actor to actor."
"Y-yes! I-I’ll do my best so I can meet you again, s-senpai! I’ll work really hard!"
Clutching the autograph tightly, Kana nodded at Kaoru’s words with a smile.
She was trying very hard not to show it, but Kana’s mother, whose eyes had twisted strangely, stared intently at Kaoru’s face.
"You didn’t have to do that...."
"Not at all."
Kaoru calmly met her gaze, gave a brief smile, and then passed by the mother and daughter to press the elevator button.
As soon as he did, Kana’s mother immediately led her daughter toward the parking lot.
Kana’s mother pushed firmly at her daughter’s back as the girl tried to resist and drag her feet.
"Kana, we need to go now."
"Yes...."
Kaoru gave Kana a small wave as he watched the elevator coming down from the eighth floor and thought to himself.
The look Kana’s birth mother had given him stirred up a bitter feeling in him.
Envy and jealousy over what one does not have blind people and cloud their judgment.
Did Kana’s birth mother see his behavior—his doting on her daughter—as nothing but disgusting hypocrisy?
She loved Arima Kana. At least as a mother.
Then, as a mother, if her daughter had been so happy to meet him, she would have at least tried to make a connection for her daughter, even if it meant swallowing her pride.
For the future of her precious, beloved daughter.
That is what parents should do. Because they are parents. Because the child is precious and loved.
Surely Kana’s birth mother knew better than anyone what kind of position Arima Kana was in.
And yet....
"Haa......"
Kaoru quietly closed his eyes and let out a deep sigh.
The elevator reached the first floor, and the moment the doors opened—an ear-splitting screech of tires rang out from the parking lot side.
Kaoru, having chosen the elevator instead of chasing after the departing car, stepped into the empty lift with no one else inside.
Comments (0)
Please log in to leave a comment. Login or Register