The summer that had seemed as if it would never end finally passed.
When the leaves began to fall, the family went camping for the first time at a car camping site near Tokyo.
"Waaah! Teacher, ah, big brother, big brother! Look at this! The marshmallows are bubbling!"
"Uh... Ruby? The marshmallows are burning!? Huh?!?"
Kaoru had originally planned to buy a camper, but because of Ai’s strict frugality and the hassle of maintenance, they rented one from a specialist company instead.
He parked in a good spot, set up the awning, lit the fire himself, and grilled meat over the grate.
Amemiya, watching the twins eagerly roast marshmallows while nestled in Ai’s arms, waved her hand and said, "Sis~ big bro~ um~ be careful! Fire is hot!"
"Fufufu-★ Kids? You heard what Ame said, right? You always have to be careful with fire."
""Yes!""
Kaoru smiled warmly at Aqua and Ruby’s spirited response, then used tongs to place the grilled meat, sausages, and vegetables onto plates and set them on the folding table.
"Now, marshmallows are nice and all, but eat plenty of meat too. If you want more, tell Dad. I’ll grill more for you."
""Okay~""
Watching the three siblings happily munch on the perfectly grilled meat, sausages, and vegetables, Kaoru drank nonalcoholic beer with Ai.
"Ruby. I’ll cut the sausage for you."
"Okay! Ame has to eat too, so cut it small! Here, ah~ Ruby will feed you meat~☆"
"Ugh... o-okay. Nham-"
"Ame wants to be fed too~! Ahh~!"
"Hehe~ Ame too, ahh~!"
Ai watched the three siblings huddled together, eating in such friendly harmony, with eyes full of happiness.
When she lifted her gaze, a beautiful night sky spread above her, the Milky Way shining with dazzling starlight.
Following the galaxy gathered in her star-bright eyes, she let out feelings as pure as a child’s.
Then a cool breeze brushed past, and Ai pulled her cardigan closed. Leaning against her husband’s shoulder, she smiled and whispered, "Let’s come here often. I want to come with the babies and have fun together."
Kaoru nodded and wrapped his right arm around his wife’s shoulders.
His wife’s sweet body scent lingered at the tip of his nose before dissolving into the wind.
"Then... should we buy the camper?"
"...Heh, who knows? Let’s decide after we come one more time."
"Heh. Got it."
The night of the family’s first camping trip deepened.
Time once again flew by in a flash.
The twins had reached sixth grade, and Ame was now on the verge of entering elementary school.
The drama Ruby had appeared in as a child actor in a supporting role had once again climbed back onto a successful track, and Aqua was also gradually building experience onstage in small roles, following President Toshiro’s policy.
Not only that, but thanks to Kaoru’s intervention, he also landed a minor role in a TV miniseries being produced as a one-off by Director Gotanda.
"Ta-da~!"
"Ruby, you were in this too?"
"Fuhihihi- think of it as Ruby’s surprise? I asked Papa and Mama to keep it secret! It wouldn’t be fun if I told you in advance~ big bro-ther~!"
"...Heh. Hah..."
Kaoru gave an awkward laugh and rubbed the back of his head, still stunned by Ruby’s surprise gift, when Director Gotanda came up behind him, rolled up the cue sheet, and tapped Aqua on the crown of the head.
"Hey, you precocious baby. You done memorizing the script and just loafing around?"
"Director."
"Hello~☆"
Aqua and Ruby bowed to greet Director Gotanda.
Called by the nickname "precocious baby," Aqua—well past the age where he could be called a baby—looked up at the bearded director with a faintly dissatisfied expression.
Director Gotanda coolly brushed off the affectionate(?) gaze of the "precocious baby," then nodded in satisfaction—still deadpan—at Ruby’s greeting, which was as cute and affectionate as her mother’s, and said, "Your dad begged and pleaded so hard that I let you two appear, so you’d better show what you can do. That way your dad can hold his head up."
Begged and pleaded?
Ruby’s eyes went cold as she glanced up at Director Gotanda.
Wasn’t this the very man who hadn’t even thought of her and her brother at first... and then came all the way to Kaoru’s house, drunk, clinging to his pant leg and begging him to appear?
Was this what happened when someone drank too much? Did their judgment get that wrecked?
Ruby quietly nodded, stroking her chin in the exact same pose as her mother.
'Absolutely, absolutely no alcohol!'
...
"......"
"Ame~ Mom brought you some apple slices~!"
"Thank you! Mom!"
Not as neat as her father’s, but still carefully sliced, the apple was speared with a fork and bitten into with an "ahh!" by Ame, who then read intently with the sharp eyes she had inherited from her father.
Having fallen headfirst into reading around the age of five, Ame had devoured every volume of the fairy-tale collection they’d bought for the twins, and still wasn’t satisfied—she had even started pestering them to buy more books.
'So cute♥'
Ai smiled in satisfaction and knelt down, resting her folded arms on Ame’s desk.
With her chin on her arms, she watched her youngest daughter read with delighted affection.
As those starry eyes sparkled, Ame turned her head for a moment and smiled bashfully.
Seeing that adorable smile with her front teeth missing, Ai reached out and stroked her daughter’s hair.
"Eh- why?"
"Mm~ because our Ame looks so cute and lovely when she reads so hard?"
"Ugh- hehe..."
Just like Kaoru, the little girl was weak to praise, and her ears turned red as she smiled and fidgeted with her fingers.
After nibbling on her apple for a while, Ame quietly closed her book, climbed down from her chair, and toddled over to hug her mother tightly.
"I want to play with Mom right now... I can read later!"
The beloved daughter had stopped reading and thrown herself into her arms, so adorable that—
"Ame-★"
"Uwaa- Mommaaa-!"
Ai gathered her into her arms and burst into a happy laugh, her star-bright eyes shining.
【 [Rararai Theater Troupe - Matsumoto Child Center Volunteer Day] 】
President Toshiro, Kaoru, and the director of Matsumoto Child Center, holding banners made and colored by the troupe members themselves, finished their photo session with the reporters and shook hands.
"To finally meet you like this is truly an honor. Thanks to your donations, our center’s situation has improved so much. Hohoho. How can I ever express my gratitude... I’m really a fan of Kaoru’s, oh dear—hohoho—"
The director of Matsumoto Child Center, Yoko Akie, covered her beaming smile with her hand.
Kaoru wore a quiet smile and politely offered his hand as he said, "I’m the one who should be thanking you. Since you’re doing such good work, we should help out together with our president."
"Hohoho—oh my, what wonderful words you have~"
After shaking hands with her, Kaoru entered the center with President Toshiro. Naturally, the reporters followed, cameras in hand.
A year ago, after learning that President Toshiro had been personally supporting Matsumoto Child Center with his own money for years, Kaoru readily donated part of the money he had obtained by selling off his father’s assets.
"The multipurpose hall is finished, and they say the dormitory construction will be done before the end of the year."
"That’s great."
When a donation amount came in that was several times the center’s annual operating budget—money normally covered by government and city support plus donations from sponsors—Yoko Akie and the other staff were at first too shocked to do anything but doubt it, but President Toshiro’s explanation moved them deeply and filled them with gratitude.
Matsumoto Child Center.
As Kaoru looked around the second and third floors, which were still under construction, he fell into thought with his usual indifferent expression.
More than six years ago, he never would have expected to step into the child center whose name he had seen on the business card on President Toshiro’s desk.
He had tucked it away in his mind, but between family and work, he’d been too busy and had forgotten about it. Yet this place had somehow become a location that stirred a strange feeling in him.
Like someone who had already decided which drink to buy before even pressing the vending machine button.
Before even visiting, Kaoru had found a reasonless question rising in his mind, a desire to look around Matsumoto Child Center.
The truck carrying the donated goods will arrive soon—where should we move them to?
Senior! Please don’t overdo it, your back is already bad!
Hey, Koyuki! Where the hell did that idiot Ryoma go again?
Loud voices from the troupe members could be heard chattering outside the building.
The child center was located far from the Rararai Theater Troupe, and even quite a distance from central Tokyo, in a quiet, out-of-the-way place.
Why was President Toshiro... here?
As Kaoru’s suspicion deepened while he looked over the building, President Toshiro came up the stairs and said, "The truck will be here soon. Once you finish moving the donations and get the performance started... why are you staring like that?"
"No."
Realizing he had been staring at President Toshiro without meaning to, Kaoru shook his head and passed him on the stairs.
"You should be careful with your back too, President."
"...Ha, I’m not at the age where I should be hearing that yet."
Kaoru smirked and headed down the stairs.
After moving the donations together with the troupe members and center staff, Kaoru exchanged a few short interviews with the reporters and then went straight to the multipurpose hall to begin the performance.
Considering the age of the children watching the play, Toshiro had adapted [Hamlet] into a forty-minute version, and he watched the performance with a satisfied smile.
The children’s eyes sparkled as they watched Kaoru deliver a stirring performance as Hamlet and the troupe actors throw themselves into their roles and act brilliantly in perfect harmony with the characters.
After the first performance held since the multipurpose hall was built came to an end, the troupe actors, having removed their makeup, took photos with the children at the center and signed autographs.
"Please take a picture with me too!"
"M-me too!"
"I’m a fan!"
"All right, everyone, let’s stay calm and line up in order. We can do each one by one."
Among them, the most popular by far was Kaoru.
When the TV was on, it was full of products Kaoru endorsed, or shows he appeared in, or news programs that regularly featured his face.
The same was true on the internet and social media.
Just like his wife, the legendary idol-turned-actress Ai Hoshino, there was no way not to know Kaoru, currently the most famous actor in Japan.
"Th-thank you."
Kaoru maintained his gentle smile from start to finish, sincerely giving the children autographs, photos, and all the fan service he could.
Only after the center director, worried he was causing too much trouble, changed the photos to group shots and limited autographs to one per five children did things finally calm down enough for him to breathe.
"Thank you so much. I don’t know how we can ever repay you..."
"Not at all. I’m just glad the children look so bright and healthy."
While President Toshiro stepped away for a bit to take care of another matter, Kaoru, who had practically become the acting representative, spoke with the director outside the hall.
"President Toshiro has been supporting us here for... almost ten years now. It’s not easy to keep supporting a place for that long. He may look stern on the outside, but he’s a very warm-hearted person."
Kaoru nodded at the child center director’s words.
Almost ten years meant at least eight or nine years of support.
He knew President Toshiro was a sentimental man, but the fact that he had supported a single child center for ten years was still surprising even to Kaoru.
Why hadn’t he told him sooner?
If he had, they could have helped out together with donations or volunteer work much earlier.
As Kaoru was lost in thought, the director clapped once and pointed to a bespectacled boy sitting blankly on a bench at the edge of the open lot.
"Ah. Mr. Kaoru. I was going to introduce him to you and then forgot. I meant to mention him while President Toshiro was here, but—"
"It’s fine. That boy is... ?"
"When President Toshiro first started supporting our center, he was also making separate anonymous personal donations."
"Anonymous personal donations?"
Kaoru tilted his head.
He had never heard from President Toshiro that he was making anonymous personal donations.
When Kaoru asked again, the director flinched, realizing she’d misspoken, and covered her mouth with a hand as she laughed awkwardly. "Oh dear—t-this is something I really shouldn’t be saying! I’ve said something unnecessary—hohoho—sorry. You won’t tell the president I said this, will you..."
"Of course..."
"Thank you, hoho. Taiki-kun! Taiki-kun! Could you come here?"
At her beckoning, the bespectacled boy who looked to be about middle school age rose from the bench and shuffled over here.
Even from a distance, his gloomy, dark atmosphere was obvious at a glance.
Kaoru focused his eyes to look more closely at the boy’s features as he approached quietly.
"Hello... I’m Taiki."
The boy bowed his head and greeted Kaoru.
But as Kaoru looked at the boy’s unfamiliar yet strangely familiar features, his eyes narrowed slightly.
"......"
His intuition trembled faintly, like an insect caught in a spiderweb.
But Kaoru could not prove the exact source of that strange warning himself.
Just "features that felt familiar" was not enough to explain the impression he was getting.
Forcing aside the unpleasant feeling that pierced his instincts, Kaoru extended a hand to the boy, who was tilting his head and looking up at him, and offered a handshake.
"I’m Kamiki Kaoru. Nice to meet you, Taiki-kun. It’s unusual to introduce yourself by your first name instead of your surname."
"Yes. My surname is... a secret."
"Hohoho~ Well, Ta, Taiki-kun is a bit, b-bit unusual, you know. Hohoho—teenage boys are all like this, aren’t they?"
"...Haha. Right. I understand."
Holding Taiki-kun’s hand in his own, Kaoru quietly savored the strange sensation seeping into his heart.
This encounter... somehow told him it would not be the last.
"Taiki-kun, what’s your dream?"
"...I’m not really sure, but... I want to be a civil servant, and lately I’ve also been thinking I’d like to try being an actor. Still, I’m not sure."
"...I see. I’ll be rooting for you, Taiki-kun. If you ever need help, you can contact the troupe anytime."
"...Thank you."
After bowing his head, Taiki-kun turned around and went back inside the center rather than to the open lot.
Watching him quietly, a shadow from the past fell over the blue eyes of Kaoru.
"......"
President Toshiro is definitely hiding something from me.
Feeling a chill breeze brush across his face, Kaoru kept the boy’s back in his eyes until it disappeared.
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