【 In life, things never go according to plan. 】
【 And yet, whatever is fated to continue will continue in the end, no matter what you do. 】
Director Gotanda loved these two maxims, which were no different from a kind of "fateful declaration" that pierced through human life.
This was not merely because he was an artist who stirred human emotions and made people feel joy, anger, sorrow, and pleasure.
It was more because he was the one who had personally witnessed, with his own eyes, the spectacular sight of those maxims coming true in reality.
Kamiki Kaoru, and Hoshino Ai.
About ten years ago... the man who agreed to a cameo appearance in the drama he was directing the moment he was asked, all for the sake of the woman he loved.
The irony of how he struggled as much as possible to avoid running into her, only for that very struggle to become the cause that ultimately forced him to face the beloved woman he should never have met.
As an "artist," as a "director," and as the "acquaintance" of the Kaoi couple, the pair responsible for the most passionate and intense love in Japan...!
If he could not melt down that experience, worth far more than gold and jewels, into the script, then what else could it be but a grave sin?
Sometimes reality is more dramatic than human imagination and creativity.
"......Heh."
Director Gotanda wore an intensely amused smile as he looked at the actors.
-
The 40th anniversary celebration of the Fukumoto Group, held at a famous hotel.
There, Fukumoto Mami and Fukumoto Hiroki attended as members of the family and executives of the group.
And Aizawa Honoka, who had taken a one-day part-time job at the request of an acquaintance she had become close with while working together at a supermarket.
On the surface, it would seem to be nothing more than an ordinary day at work.
However, the issue arising from the relationship between the two people who happened to meet in the same place was no different from a ticking time bomb that could put everyone in danger.
" ......! "
For the briefest instant.
Like a criminal, Aizawa Honoka averted her gaze from Fukumoto Hiroki, and as she flinched under Fukumoto Mami's cold voice and lowered her head, her eyes shook violently like a candle in the wind.
It was because she had noticed the ring on his left ring finger, something she had not seen when she met him.
Fukumoto Hiroki did not wear a wedding ring when he met Aizawa Honoka, and not even in daily life.
He claimed it was because he had ring-shaped rashes and eczema that made it itchy and uncomfortable, but in the end it was nothing more than an excuse to avoid wearing something as obvious as a wedding ring that showed his relationship with Fukumoto Mami.
"I don't know that person. I must have mistaken him for someone else for a moment."
" ! "
Fukumoto Hiroki's voice was deliberately cold.
Of course, they had to pretend not to know each other here if both of them were to remain safe.
So Fukumoto Hiroki chose to confess everything to Aizawa Honoka later, even if it was only after the fact.
He desperately wanted her to understand his heart, her heart that must have been hurt by his cowardice in choosing to run away once again.
The fear that if he lost her too, he would no longer have even a shred of courage left to go on living tightened around his heart like it was about to burst.
Unlike his cold voice, his two hands were trembling violently, and Director Gotanda's eyes gleamed sharply at that delicate expression of emotion.
'What incredible immersion.'
" ...... "
At Fukumoto Hiroki's resolute voice, Aizawa Honoka's starlit eyes lost their light in an instant and turned black like the night sky.
Betrayal, frustration, and despair toward him.
The man with whom she had grown closer little by little as they spent more time getting to know each other, opening the tightly shut doors of their hearts and sharing the same pain.
The man who had made her feel joy in an unworthy happiness every day, making her wonder whether he might be the precious person her daughter had spoken of, the one who would protect her.
More than the fact that the man who had appeared in her empty, hollow life turned out to be a married man.
Even though the situation called for her to pretend not to know him, Ai, fully immersed in Aizawa Honoka, could not help but let tears well up at the coldness of Fukumoto Hiroki, who cut her off so coldly in front of his lawful wife, a coldness she had never once felt before.
" ......Excuse me. If you have no business here, then I will be going...... "
The moment when the two people who should never have met were miraculously reunited in one place, led by cruel fate, was this brutal...?
Even as she tried to look away, Aizawa Honoka bit her lip tightly at the betrayal that kept piercing her chest like a dagger, and bowed politely with both hands clasped together.
Because she had lowered her body even further than the bow she made in order not to show the tears stained with betrayal and despair, her unkempt purple side hair fell loose.
" ...! "
Seeing that, Fukumoto Hiroki clenched his fists tightly at his own helplessness, unable to do anything, and then—
"I understand. Go ahead."
He could not hide his shock at Yuriko's sudden arm-linking, something not in the script and never discussed beforehand.
Ai, who had been bowing her head, also could not hide the disturbance in her emotions, and her shoulders jerked.
Even though it was only acting, she had finally realized that in a single instant, the initiative over the man in front of her had clearly been stolen by another woman.
It was a good thing she had her head lowered; if she had been looking up, she would have broken immersion and failed to control her expression, ruining the take.
However, the veteran actress Ai desperately clenched her hands, trying to distinguish between work and private feelings.
" ...Mami!"
"What are you doing? I said I have no business here."
But—
Yuriko's arm-linking, an ad-lib not in the script, and Kaoru's voice, clearly flustered by it, reached her ears.
Then Yuriko's mocking voice, deliberately clinging even more tightly to Kaoru's right arm, struck again like a provocation.
Before she was Aizawa Honoka—
Hoshino Ai, her starlit pride, began to boil as if it were about to become a destructive black hole that would swallow everything.
Why would she do something like this...!
She had been happy because the long-awaited kiss scene was right around the corner, so why...!
'Huh? Wait...?'
Suddenly, she remembered that she had felt a similar emotion before.
When she first appeared in the drama Yuriko was in... Kaoru had secretly accepted Director Gotanda's request and made a cameo appearance.
And as the memory of them running into each other on set came back, the strange sensation of her emotions returning to that time shook Ai's heart.
Later, when she heard the full story from her husband, even he had said it was a truly unexpected encounter—and that was true for Ai as well.
They had to pass each other by while pretending not to know one another, and she had already understood perfectly well that this was necessary.
But once she actually found herself in that situation, Ai's heart, with the babies beside her, had been torn to shreds like rags.
'Right... right! Director Gotanda was definitely there too! So he was comparing Honoka's feelings to mine!'
Thanks to Yuriko's ad-lib, it felt as if the ultimate lightbulb had switched on in Ai's head, and a chill ran down her spine!
What if Kaoru had not greeted Ai then?
Like in Fukumoto Hiroki's situation, even though pretending not to know each other was the only way for both of them—and their families—to stay safe, Kaoru had greeted Ai.
Even during the script reading, and even during the mini-rehearsals they had done at home and on set with her husband, she had not realized it.
Hello. Have you been well?
How much courage did it take to say even such a simple greeting for the sake of the person he loved?
And.
For Hoshino Ai's husband, Kaoru, just to say that one line for her alone.
How much courage must he have summoned, fully prepared to bear all the aftershocks?
Once she thought that far, the intense joy and exhilaration that the strength of her husband's 【sincerity】 had been meant only for her filled her heart in an instant and swelled as if it would burst.
Since it was obvious that Aizawa Honoka would soon come to understand Fukumoto Hiroki's 【sincerity】 in body and heart alike!
There was no reason or need to feel 【jealousy】.
The 【love】 of Hoshino Ai and Kamiki Kaoru was no different from a proposition already proven true!
There was no obstacle left to block the path of the "ultimate idol," Hoshino Ai!
"Ok. Cut!"
At Yuriko's natural ad-lib, Director Gotanda called cut with a satisfied smile, despite his preference for filming according to a prearranged direction and script.
As both the screenwriter and director, he had seen through with his characteristic aesthetic sense exactly what Yuriko had intended with that ad-lib.
'Very clever.'
Thanks to that, the Kaoi couple had become even more deeply immersed and realistic, so it was a two-birds-with-one-stone result—no, a three-birds-with-one-stone harvest.
While Director Gotanda stroked his beard in satisfaction—
After hearing the cut, Yuriko immediately loosened the arm she had linked with Kaoru and said with a bright smile,
"Kaoru, were you surprised? Sorry. I couldn't exactly tell you in advance about something like this~"
At Yuriko's apology-that-wasn't-really-an-apology, Kaoru shook his head and replied with a faint smile.
"Haha, not at all. It's fine. If anything, I thought it was an ad-lib that suited Fukumoto Mami."
Like Director Gotanda, Kaoru also saw through Yuriko's arm-linking as a device that clearly showed viewers what kind of character Fukumoto Mami was.
Among Fukumoto Kenta's children in the story, Fukumoto Mami was the one who inherited the cold-blooded and sociopathic tendencies the most, and in the worst way.
Was the cold-blooded villainess who never once looked down on other people's pain, suffering, or feelings really in love with Fukumoto Hiroki? What did she even think of her husband?
A two-faced woman who, regardless of time or place, would belittle and berate her husband in front of other people just because she suspected something—then suddenly link arms with him, casually performing a kind of "skinship" whose true intent was impossible to read.
Throughout filming, Yuriko had continuously and powerfully etched Fukumoto Mami's inhuman side into people's minds with her tremendous acting.
Because of that, Kaoru, who had truly shown his unfiltered embarrassment, was able to keep work and private life separate and continue the scene calmly even in front of his wife, who disliked physical contact with other actresses.
'If it's fortunate that Ai had her head lowered, then maybe that's a good thing......... Hm?'
Letting out a low breath, Kaoru turned his head to look at his wife and then froze in surprise.
And for good reason...!
Sparkle sparkle ★
"Heheh-★ That ad-lib was [the best], Yuriko!"
Kaoru was exactly five times more flustered than when he had been surprised by Yuriko's ad-lib.
Setting aside the fact that his wife, who had been bowing her waist and head, had figured out from the sound alone that Yuriko had linked arms with him—
'She's happy...?'
As one completely unexpected situation after another erupted, Kaoru could only stand there with a blank expression.
Ai, with her star-bright eyes sparkling like a supernova bursting forth, clasped both hands together and interlocked her fingers.
The one who was flustered by Ai's unpredictable, bouncy-ball-like reaction was not Kaoru alone.
"Huh? Ah, ahaha... th-thank you!"
Yuriko, sweating nervously, also covered her mouth and laughed awkwardly while waving her hands.
However, even a veteran actress could not stop her black eyes from being dyed with confusion and wandering this way and that through the air.
'Of course I couldn't predict this flow...!!!'
In truth, the "surface" reason Yuriko had linked arms was exactly what Director Gotanda and Kaoru had guessed.
It was to make Fukumoto Mami's character and justification easy to grasp at a glance—but in fact! There was another, "deeper" reason hidden beneath the surface.
'N-no way... did Miss Ai notice everything and turn the tables on me...?'
Yuriko unconsciously glanced at Kaoru's sturdy right forearm and swallowed dryly.
As an actress, this might be the first and last chance she ever had to attempt physical contact with Kaoru while sharing a scene with him!
The perfect opportunity to legally try skinship with Kaoru, who was known in the entertainment industry as an "impregnable fortress"!
And to Hoshino Ai, the one and only bride of Kaoru, the dream of every actress in the entertainment world!
The thrilling chance to make her feel jealous in a "legal" way... Yuriko's true feelings were so grim(?) that even she herself felt a stab of guilt in her conscience.
And because of that, she had been unable to hold back and had linked arms...!
"Yuriko-chan, how did you come up with the idea of linking arms with Kaoru? Kaoru didn't know either, right?"
"Y-yeah, I didn't. That's why it surprised me even more. I think it's something I should definitely learn from as an [actor]. Yeah."
"Ah... um... th-th-that..."
Right, she definitely saw through it 100%!
The "wife radar" that targeted women approaching her husband with impure intentions was said to have an absolute-hit law after all!
Like a thief with a guilty conscience, Yuriko trembled and could not properly meet Ai's laser-like starlit eyes.
Then—
"Hehe-★ Oh, right! You know? I think Kaoru is definitely! even! better than before!"
"Ugh?! Ai?"
"Heheh-! Thank you, as always! Ai will work hard to gather the courage for 【you】 too! Yeah!"
Watching Ai slip into her husband's arms in front of her and flaunt her affection...
Yuriko pressed her palms together as if in confession and bowed her head deeply as she cried out,
"S-s-sorry! Miss Ai!"
"Eeh?! Why are you saying that, Yuriko-san?"
"I-I-I can't really explain it, but I'm sorry.... I'm, I'm sorry!"
"Eh?! Please don't do that! Yuriko-san!? Your acting was amazing! I, I don't know why you're apologizing to me-!?"
"Hwaah! I won't do it again! I'm rooting for the two of you's love! Personally, it's my dream! Ugh! A-anyway- so, I'm sorry!"
"Eeeee-----!?"
In the chaos created by layered misunderstandings.
Director Gotanda, who had approached at some point, patted the bewildered Kaoru on the shoulder and said,
"Anyway, you need to pay more taxes."
"...Huh?"
"No talking back. Just pay more."
At Director Gotanda's tax remark, a strangely familiar sense of déjà vu flowed down Kaoru's spine.
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