"Huaaah~"
"Oh? You’re yawning a lot. Sleepy, Ruby?"
The child who had been brushing her mother’s long, lustrous blond hair—hair that gleamed just like her own—smiled and gently pinched her daughter’s hamster-like cheeks when they came into view.
Ruby, who had been grinning like a baby rabbit as she enjoyed the warm touch of her favorite mama’s hand on her plump, soft cheeks, nodded.
"Mhm! Actually... I stayed up late last night and binge-watched [Usurper] with my brother. Huaaah~"
"Is that so? Fufufu. If you go to bed early and wake up early, you won’t be tired like this. Still, I’m proud of you for eating the breakfast Mama made with your brother this morning, Ruby!"
"Heehee. I’m going to sleep early today. Tomorrow, Ruby will wake up first and wake Mama up!"
"All right. Mama will look forward to it."
Of course, they made that promise every time, and it was always Ruby who ended up being the one woken up.
Even if she slept a lot, seeing her grow up so healthy and strong made the child nothing but happy and grateful.
After finishing brushing the silky gold hair, she kissed Ruby’s cheek and patted her head.
"Good dreams, Ruby. Mama always loves you."
"Mmm~ Hehe! Ruby loves Mama most in the whole world too! Chu-chu~♡"
The happy mother-daughter time came to an end.
"Ame!"
"Mommy!"
With a fragrant body wash scent, the warm body heat of her youngest daughter was pressed right into the child’s arms.
Aqua, who had personally washed Ame’s hair, shook the water off his shirt and smiled awkwardly.
But Ame’s hair was dry and silky. Aqua had already finished drying and brushing it.
At their mother’s wide-eyed stare at his shirt, Aqua scratched his cheek.
"The water came out cold, so I slapped the shower head with my hand..."
"Hehe."
"Kya-ha-ha! Did it surprise you, Ame? Your brother needs to change his clothes. Right?"
"Mm-hm. I told Brother I was sorry... I was just too surprised."
As Ame looked up at him with an apologetic expression and explained, Aqua gave a small smile and said,
"It’s okay, Ame. I’ll be more careful next time."
He patted his youngest child’s head.
The child, whose starry eyes sparkled, kissed Ame’s cheek just as she had done for Ruby.
"Our little one, sleep well. Have sweet dreams! Mama always loves you."
"Yes~♥"
"And our little Akuu-chan?"
"M-Mom."
Embarrassed, Aqua’s face turned red as he flinched and stepped back, and the child puffed out her cheeks.
"Wahaha! Brother’s face is red~"
"Puuuu! You dodged again. Does Akuu-chan hate Mama’s kisses?"
"N-no! That’s not it! I-I’m in middle school now, so I’m all grown up and—"
"Even if you become a grandpa, Aqua will still be Mama’s son. Hng... Mama just wants to kiss her beloved son..."
"O-okay. I’m sorry! Please do it already! The kiss!"
She absolutely could not, no matter what, let the feelings of her favorite be hurt. That was a fan’s duty!
Aqua hurried over, his face red with embarrassment, bit his lip softly, and held out his cheek.
His gentle side was like Kaoru’s, but so was the way he was awkward about exchanging affection in front of other people.
The child, whose starry eyes glittered, smiled and planted a quick kiss on her son’s cheek.
"Mama always loves you, Akuu-chan. Thank you for always smiling so brightly, just like you do."
"...Yeah. I love you too, M-Mom."
"Mm~♥"
Grrr— I can’t take it anymore!
Ruby stormed out of the room, snorting in frustration, her starry eyes shining as she shouted,
"Mama! Give Ruby another kiss too!"
"Ame too! Ame too!"
"Eh~? Again? Kyaaa~♥"
The child let out a delighted scream as she was surrounded by daughters who wanted their mother’s lips!
"Hmph-hmph-hmph~"
After finishing the happy good-night kisses, the child entered the bedroom and immediately lay down on the bed.
"Hmph... hmph... hnnng... hnnn..."
The child, who had been smiling just moments ago, looked at the empty space beside her and quickly lost all her energy, her face crumpling.
Actually, she still needed to put on the lotion Miyako had given her as a gift... but now that she was in a bedroom without her husband, all of that energy had vanished completely.
The child, holding her smartphone, checked the reply Kaoru had sent earlier once more.
[Sorry, Ai. Something came up during filming, so I think I’ll be late. If you’re tired, don’t wait up and go to sleep first. Don’t doze off on the sofa while waiting. I love you. Say hi to the babies for me too.]
The child had texted him out of concern because he was coming home late, and when she heard the earth-shattering news her husband sent back, it felt like the sky was collapsing on her.
Between his drama filming and his recent movie work, her husband’s schedule was packed, and—
she herself had also been filming a drama, so the time she got to see Kaoru face-to-face had dropped a lot compared to before.
Her cheeks puffed out with disappointment and longing, and the child buried her smartphone against her chest and let out a long sigh.
"......"
She bit her lip softly, then sighed again.
The triplets only had a little while left before the break ended, but since it was still vacation, they often stayed up late at night... and
her husband was so busy it was hard even to see his face...
So naturally...
"Haah..."
she had no choice but to spend the night alone.
It had already been nearly three weeks since she and Kaoru last made love, and without realizing it, stress and fatigue had piled up, leaving her with pent-up emotional desire.
Only now was she beginning to understand why Miyako used to lie on the sofa with such an empty expression.
For someone who had been making love with her husband at least two or three times a week, even if only briefly, and who always felt happy afterward when she was held in Kaoru’s broad, solid arms and they whispered that they loved each other... this situation felt unbearably unfamiliar and frustrating.
"..."
The starlight in her starry eyes shimmered like a wavering night mist.
Her chest and abdomen tingled softly, and her drowsy mind gradually began to wake under the rising urge.
She grabbed the pillow that still held her husband’s scent, pulled it into her arms, and buried her face in it to breathe him in.
"Haah."
She swallowed dryly without meaning to. The desire that had been slowly rising like a candle suddenly grew fierce, as if someone had poured oil on it.
As a prickling, ticklish sensation spread from her spine through her whole body, she closed her eyes and let her imagination run wild.
"Kaoru... hng—"
Hot breaths spilled out, and her pulse quickened.
The strange, secretive sensation that tightened her chest, and the desire for pleasure, intertwined and swelled together.
One by one, she recalled the countless whispered words of love and heated moments she had shared with her husband in her mind, and slowly slipped her hand under the blanket, letting it drift downward.
"Hnn... hng..."
The quiet bedroom soon filled with—
the soft, breathless sounds of a wife longing for her husband’s arms, and with heat.
-
At the same time, on the outskirts of Tokyo, in a scrapyard.
The staff’s expressions were dark. Not only the directing team and the camera crew, but even the director, Kuramoto Ryoji, had put on sunglasses late at night, and fury was blazing behind them.
Because of the tense atmosphere on set, the other cast members could only sigh along with it or watch nervously.
The movie [Wolf Tail: Zero], which Kaoru was appearing in this time, was the official sequel to [Wolf Tail], in which Kaoru had appeared years earlier.
The basic premise was that the protagonist of [Wolf Tail] was assigned to the Public Security Division of the Metropolitan Police Department in the ending credits scene of the first film, hinting at a sequel, and this follow-up told the story of the same protagonist five years later, now a veteran.
With its massive box office success, Kaoru’s brilliant performance, and the dense action and chase scenes that were rare in Japanese cinema, a sequel to [Wolf Tail] was inevitable.
However, the script had been revised and polished for years, and conflict had dragged on between the production committee and the distributor over profit sharing, so the project had only been talked about until now, when it finally went into production.
"Damn it all! Seriously! Never work with those bastards again! Got it?!"
"Y-yes..."
"The stunt team couldn’t even take care of their own bodies properly and ended up with stomach flu all at once—does that even make sense?! I’ve been in this business for twenty years, and I’ve never heard of anything like this in my life!"
Director Kuramoto shouted in a rage, veins standing out in his neck. He was so furious that the finger pointing into the air was trembling.
According to the original shooting schedule, they were supposed to film a car chase through the scrapyard while evading gunfire from enemy spies, showing off all kinds of high-difficulty stunt driving, including drifts...
But just two hours earlier, they had been informed that the entire stunt team responsible for the driving doubles had gone out for a company dinner at a sashimi restaurant yesterday and come down with stomach flu together.
They had desperately tried to find another stunt team on short notice, but with it being the Obon holiday season, there was no answer.
The head of general affairs wet his dry lips as he mentally calculated the cost of renting the private scrapyard for the day and the holiday overtime pay for the staff and cast already on site.
In a situation that was clearly beyond saving.
Money was going out, time was going out, and despite the production team staying up all night with the camera crew to work out solutions for one of the film’s highlight scenes, the schedule had been thrown into chaos.
Director Kuramoto, sweeping back his thick gray hair, took off his sunglasses and rubbed his eyes.
"Haah... Call it off... This won’t work. If heaven says no, how can people go against it? We have to follow the natural order. Damn it all..."
With the unprecedented situation of having to cancel the entire setup they had laid out, sighs spread through the staff.
Even as Director Kuramoto rested a hand on his waist and tried to swallow his anger, Kaoru, who had been quietly watching from the back, approached and spoke softly.
"Director."
"...Ah, ah, oh. Goodness, Kaoru. I’m sorry, I’ve got no face to show you. You came all this way and I made you waste the trip."
"No. It’s fine. Um... is the car my stunt double would be driving exactly the same model as the one I drove during filming?"
At Kaoru’s sudden, inexplicable question, Director Kuramoto twitched his brow and thought for a moment before nodding.
"Yeah. Ah, yes, it’s the same. We brought a different one because it had to be handled roughly, but the model is the same. But why are you asking that..."
"If the stuntman can’t make it, may I do it? The vehicle stunt."
"......"
Not only Director Kuramoto, but everyone around him fell silent at once.
Even the staff who had been preparing to pack up turned their eyes toward him at the strange shift in atmosphere.
Director Kuramoto kept turning Kaoru’s words over in his mind, trying to figure out what he meant, but he couldn’t reach a conclusion.
So he asked,
"W-what are you talking about?"
At Director Kuramoto’s baffled question, Kaoru simply pointed to the flags marking the route the car would take.
"We can’t just cancel filming like this. I’ll do it. I... learned a little about it once."
"...N-no. Really? You’d have to do all kinds of things—drifting, slamming the wheel and immediately reversing after accelerating, and... th-there’s a lot to do. Stunt driving is incredibly hard! It’s dangerous!"
Faced with the director’s lack of faith and his doubts, Kaoru gave a faint smile and said,
"I’ve done worse. I’ll be fine."
At Kaoru’s calm confidence, Director Kuramoto let out a sharp "Hah!" and shook his head.
There had to be a reason he was so self-assured. It was Kaoru, after all, the one he had watched while working together on the film...
"No, but even so... stunt driving? Can he really do that?"
Still, since everything was already ruined, maybe it was better to at least try and fail than not try at all. With that thought, Director Kuramoto put his sunglasses back on, took a deep breath, and shouted,
"Meeting, gather up!"
Once Director Kuramoto made up his mind, things moved quickly.
The camera team, sound team, lighting team, directing team, and all the key department heads, including the editing chief who was comfortably resting at home, gathered with Kaoru in the trailer they used as a meeting room.
Originally, multiple stunt drivers were supposed to drive four cars, but with only Kaoru available, they had no choice but to use every filming trick and editing technique they had to make the ordinary driving skills of the other actors look good.
Since Kaoru had already put out the biggest fire, putting out the remaining embers was entirely the production team’s job.
They quickly called the scriptwriter into a video conference to revise the scene. Fortunately, the scriptwriter had worked with Director Kuramoto for a long time, so they were able to finish all the preparations within an hour.
"......"
Kaoru leaned against the driver’s seat with a calm expression.
He had wanted to finish filming early, go home, and make love to his wife after such a long time, but the plan had completely fallen apart.
Since it had been almost three weeks since they last made love, Kaoru had also accumulated stress and pent-up desire without realizing it.
[Kaoru♥]
Even for him, the happiness and pleasure of making love with his wife, skin against skin, was hard to resist.
- Yes, standby, please!
When the assistant director’s voice came through the radio installed in the car, Kaoru looked at the crew member in the passenger seat, who was fully geared up with a helmet and seat belt while holding a camera.
Within those tense eyes, doubt and fear flickered toward him.
To quickly edit and splice the cuts together, they needed to film a wide variety of shots, so beyond this take they would have to keep driving, turning, reversing, and generally putting on a whole spectacle for at least another hour.
But that didn’t matter.
As far as driving went, he had done it in his past life enough times to risk his life and get sick of it.
- All right, standby!
In the blue eyes of Kaoru’s, gripping the steering wheel with one hand—
- Action!
the red [starlight] blazed like a supernova.
Screeeech!Vroooom-!!!!!!
Kaoru slammed the clutch, shifted into manual, and floored the accelerator in one motion.
The crew member nearly lost the camera from the way Kaoru instantly pushed the car’s performance to its limit.
Right behind him, another car carrying an actor and a camera was following in pursuit.
It was a high-difficulty shot: following the predetermined route, they had to dodge the piles of wrecked cars like obstacles and drift around them to the left!
But Kaoru’s driving was relentless.
Screech-thunk-VROOOOM-!!!!!
Kaoru flashed past the cinematographer in an instant, turned the wheel, and lightly worked the clutch and gears.
The engine under the hood roared in response to the changed gear.
And then—
Baaang-!
Screeeech-!!
After checking the speedometer, Kaoru quickly stepped on the accelerator and lifted his foot from the clutch, sending the car twisting diagonally in an instant.
Despite its speed, the car laughed in the face of physics as it slid across the ground and swept around the pile of wrecked cars in a blink!
The tires screamed against the pavement, kicking up a storm of dust and a deafening roar, but Kaoru’s car smoothly rotated its body, slipping past the wreckage by the narrowest margin before surging straight ahead.
"..."
The crew member filming from the seat right beside him stared at Kaoru’s godlike driving, manipulating the wheel, clutch, gears, and accelerator without the slightest hesitation or stumble, and—
"Uh—"
his jaw dropped in shock.
At the unbelievable miracle unfolding before his eyes—
"Ah?!"
Director Kuramoto, who had been standing instead of sitting, too anxious to stay still, clutched his head and let out a cry of despair.
Vroooom-!Screeeech~
Vroom-Screech~
Of course, the actors’ cars, unable to match Kaoru’s driving skill, made clumsy sharp turns and chased after his vehicle, but it was hopeless.
"O-okay! Okay, cut! Cut! Cut! Cut!"
Shouting into the radio, Director Kuramoto ran toward Kaoru as he calmly drove back around, like a believer who had witnessed a miracle with his own eyes.
"N-no, this—wha—how—no—"
Kuramoto rushed over and clung to the driver’s-side window, and Kaoru met him with his usual indifferent gaze.
"Let’s move on to the next scene, Director."
"Y-yeah, right! Yes!"
Kuramoto turned and hurried off again, quickly checked the shooting route, moved the location, and took command of the drone and camera vehicles to begin the next shoot.
- Standby! Action!
Screeeech-Vrooooom!!
Kaoru’s car, which had been driving forward, spun 180 degrees like a top in an instant and faced the pursuing car head-on.
Even as the crew member filming from the passenger seat was going insane with motion sickness, Kaoru quickly adjusted the wheel, worked the clutch and gears, and reversed—
Vrooooom-!!!
Bang- bang-!
He thrust his right hand, holding a prop pistol, out the window and pulled the trigger at the chasing car.
Director Kuramoto and the staff beside him could only gape and clutch their heads at the same time.
From the start, the stunt team had been useless.
Kaoru’s stunt driving was sharper, more professional, and cleaner than anything the stunt drivers could do.
It was as if he had real experience driving like that to shake off pursuers—Kaoru controlled the car as freely as if it were part of his own body, performing stunt driving with effortless precision.
- S-standby! Action!!!!
Vroooom-!!!Screeeech!!!Screech!
While racing at incredible speed, he suddenly pulled the handbrake and used inertia to drift, and the youngest crew member filming from the passenger seat of Kaoru’s car ended up crying that it was too scary and he couldn’t take it anymore.
"......Cut. Haaah... Cut. It’s over. What time is it?"
"...It’s five minutes before 3 a.m."
"Hah... It’s done. Let’s wrap."
What might have taken even longer if they had used the stunt team was completed successfully thanks to Kaoru’s dedication(?), even the scenes they would otherwise have had to give up on, with not a single NG.
But the man himself was simply sitting on the car hood, calm and indifferent, sipping a cold 500 ml bottle of water brought to him by a staff member.
His blond hair, lit by moonlight and set lights, fluttered softly in the dawn breeze like strands of silk.
Director Kuramoto, staring blankly at a scene more cinematic than the movie itself, finally shook his head and muttered with a dry laugh,
"Heh... what a real monster. A monster."
-
The next day.
After finishing the morning shoot and coming home around lunchtime, the child felt a strange ache in her heart even in the noisy house where the triplets welcomed her.
And then—
"Mama! I’m going to get training with Auntie Taka and Auntie Kyunpan! Kiss-kiss~♥"
"Mom. I’m going to the troupe. We’ve got rehearsal for the performance. I’ll call you right away if I’m late!"
The twins each had something come up and went out.
Left alone to watch the house with her youngest daughter—
"Waaah!!!!"
tears blurred her vision.
She missed Kaoru so, so muchhhhh!!!
But. She was not the [ultimate idol] who would collapse here!
The child decided to go for a walk with Ame.
The sun was still hot, but Ame was bored from reading books at home all day without her older siblings, so it was a win-win.
The mother and daughter went for a walk together to a nearby park.
"Wow. It’s nice and cool."
The park, with its tall trees, was filled with the sound of cicadas and a refreshing breeze.
"Mom! It’s a cicada! I read in a book that they sleep underground for seven years before coming out and becoming cicadas!"
Whenever her adorable youngest daughter told her things she had read in books, the child smiled and chimed in.
Sometimes it was something she already knew, but other times Ame taught her things she didn’t know.
Whenever that happened, the child never spared her praise.
"Wow— huh? It’s Sakura-chan!"
"Huh? Sakura-chan?"
The child tilted her head, her starry eyes sparkling.
Sakura-chan was one of Ame’s classmates? Her closest friend?
Ame waved brightly at the friend who was walking toward her with a smile.
"Sakura-chan!"
"Ameeee!"
At school, Ame was usually aloof and didn’t smile much, so when Sakura saw her smiling at her, she lit up too and ran over to Ame, taking her hand.
Watching the happy reunion between her youngest and her friend, the child soon noticed the woman standing behind Sakura-chan, smiling as she greeted her.
"Hello."
"Ah, yes! Hello!"
Sakura-chan’s mother, a cute woman with a round, gentle face, smiled shyly as she greeted the child.
She introduced herself as Misae and said to just call her Nakamura-san.
The child exchanged greetings and noticed that Nakamura Misae was wearing maternity clothes.
"Hohoho... I’m seven months along now."
"Wow—★ Congratulations!"
Holding Misae’s hand, the child offered her congratulations with sparkling eyes.
After chatting briefly as fellow mothers, the two exchanged farewells and parted ways.
As Ame smiled and waved at her departing friend, she looked up at her mother with shining eyes and said,
"Sakura-chan’s going to be a big sister! She’s getting a little brother or sister!"
"Yes. Sakura’s mother told me. I’m sure a very cute little sibling will be born. Fufu."
"...Mom!"
"Hm?"
The child smiled and looked down at her youngest daughter.
The starlight shimmering in those bright blue eyes, so much like Kaoru’s, sparkled especially brightly.
Her youngest daughter, her face flushed with anticipation and hope, blossomed into a wide smile and shouted,
"Ame wants a little sibling too!"
To her youngest daughter, who had become a little child feeling envious of a friend getting a sibling—
"Hee?!"
the child was startled, her starry eyes flashing, and then she quickly broke into a happy smile and hugged her daughter tightly.
"So our Ame wants a little sibling too~!"
At last, hearing the words she had wanted so badly from her beloved youngest daughter filled her with pride and joy!
To keep the strange emotion rippling like waves in the depths of her starry eyes from being noticed, she pressed her lips to Ame’s cheek.
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