"Okay, cut! Everyone, you really worked hard all this time."
Director Gotanda, who had shouted the cut signal, took off his headphones, stood up from his chair, and clapped as he called out.
"Thank you for your hard work!"
"Waaah~!"
"You all worked so hard!"
"Hahaha!"
Clap clap clap-!
The staff, who had sweated through the sweltering summer and worked themselves to the bone, also applauded, cheering and high-fiving one another to comfort each other for all their effort.
Kaoru walked up to Yoshihiro Kunimura, who was sitting at a table with a smile on his face, and bowed deeply before speaking.
"It was truly an honor to work on a project together again, Mr. Kunimura."
"Haha... no, the honor was mine too, being able to work with you, Kamiki-kun. I was disappointed we couldn’t work together longer on [My Sea]... but now I really have no regrets left. Hahaha."
"Please don’t say that. If the opportunity comes, I’m sure we’ll meet again."
"Mm...."
For a moment, Yoshihiro lifted his wrinkled eyes, carrying the weight of years, and looked at Kaoru.
The young, beautiful, firm, and unyielding brilliance of those blue eyes met Yoshihiro’s gaze calmly.
Before long, Yoshihiro wore a faint smile and extended his wrinkled right hand to Kaoru, offering a handshake.
"Yes. Let’s... definitely do that."
Kaoru took the wrinkled right hand of the veteran actor who had devoted his life to acting and shook it with his own right hand.
"Thank you for your hard work, Director."
After shaking hands with Yoshihiro, Kaoru went over to Director Gotanda, who had finished sharing his thoughts with the staff, and greeted him.
Director Gotanda loosened the hair tied back in a ponytail, patted Kaoru on the shoulder, and laughed.
"Yeah, Kaoru. You worked hard too. I did, of course, but not as much as you. If it hadn’t been for that damn bastard, we wouldn’t have had to drag this out into this infernal furnace of a season."
"Haha... still, these kinds of experiences become memories in the end, don’t they? There was a lot going on, but that just means it’ll be hard to forget."
"Mm. Good words. Right. It’s the kind of memory you can talk about later over drinks, as a story to go with the snacks. It’s also a pretty special career experience."
"Haha.... Ah, by the way, where are Ai and Ms. Yoshikawa...?"
Kaoru chuckled and looked around the set, searching for his wife, who had been standing beside Director Gotanda and watching the shoot with Yuriko until just a moment ago.
"Who knows. Well, they’re probably greeting the makeup and costume staff. That’s usually where actresses get attached, isn’t it?"
"...."
Given his wife’s personality, once a [crank-up] like this happened, she would have been dashing around from one side to another like an excited rabbit, thanking the staff.
And yet neither Ai nor Yuriko was anywhere to be seen.
Kaoru tilted his head and smiled as he received handshakes from the team leaders of each department who came up to him.
"Oh, wow, you really worked hard in this heat, Kamiki-san."
"Ah, yes. You worked hard too, Director of Photography. Um, sir, could my wife perhaps be somewhere...?"
"Hm? Ai-san? Oh, I think she and Director Gotanda went toward the parking lot together after he called cut?"
"...The parking lot?"
"Yeah, the parking lot. Ah, Kamiki-san. There’ll be plenty of competition later at the dinner party, so right now, take a picture with me!"
"Ah, yes. Of course I’ll take one with you, lighting director. Haha."
"Hey, let me in too! Come on~ taking pictures with just Mr. Saito is unfair~!"
As sweat-soaked men rushed to claim the spot beside him for photos—
Kaoru bent his knees to match their height and let out an awkward laugh, breaking into a cold sweat.
Even though the photo poses of these middle-aged men with families—interlocking fingers, arms around shoulders, linked arms, and all—might have been uncomfortable, Kaoru, as the professional actor he was, didn’t waver and kept his own clear, bright smile fixed on the camera.
"Huh?! Ai-san! Why is there a cake?!"
Right after the photo was taken, a staff member’s startled voice rang out from behind them.
At that shout, everyone’s gaze turned all at once toward the back of the set.
'Cake?'
At the sudden word, Kaoru’s eyebrow twitched slightly.
With his tall frame and excellent eyesight, he looked toward the direction the voice had come from at the back of the set—
"Huh?"
His blue eyes trembled in surprise.
The reason was none other than...
"Ta-da-★ It’s a surprise cake!"
"Thank you all for your hard work! Waaah~!"
"Thank you for all your hard work!!!"
Ai and Yuriko, who had been nowhere to be seen, and Mizutani Shigeru, who had already finished his scenes first.
The three of them... or rather, the large-built Shigeru was carrying a cake about five times bigger than an ordinary one—
while Ai and Yuriko clapped and thanked the staff.
Apparently none of them had expected this surprise event at all—Kaoru, and even the director standing beside him, stared blankly at it before the director finally asked,
"Wait, Kamiki-san, you knew about this too?"
Ignoring the question, Kaoru stared at the scene for a moment in a daze—
"Ah-! Kaoruu-♥ It’s a surprise event!"
After hugging and comforting the female staff members, his little wife noticed his gaze and turned this way with her signature starlit smile, waving at him...
"...Cute."
"Huh?"
Before he knew it, he had answered with a smile full of warmth at the corners of his mouth.
-
A high-end wagyu restaurant in Shinjuku.
Even though it was the hot summer in Tokyo, word had clearly already spread, because reporters, paparazzi, and fans were already lined up in the alleys around the restaurant and in front of the entrance.
As soon as it hit 7 p.m., the cast and staff began arriving one after another.
Except for Director Gotanda, they had little interest in the staff, so they began photographing the actors as they got out of their private cars and vans in casual clothes and entered the wagyu restaurant.
Not only the supporting cast but even the leads, knowing full well what was happening, simply ignored them or pretended not to notice as they went inside.
And then, Arima Kana, the only teenager and child actress among the cast of [The Bird That Flies Through the Sky], arrived at the wagyu restaurant.
In a car personally driven by none other than Kaoru Kamiki!
"...Ah! Wait a sec~ Here—hehe~ It suits you way better, Kana-chan!"
While chatting warmly with Kana in the back seat, Ai—who had come wearing a pretty light-blue dress—took a simple accessory bracelet strap she usually carried in her handbag and fastened it around Kana’s left wrist.
Kana, who was wearing a small accessory watch on her right wrist, lifted her left hand and looked at the simple red bracelet with a tiny star-shaped cubic stone set in the center, and her face slowly reddened.
For Kana, this precious gift carried Ai’s affection for her.
She gently touched the bracelet on her wrist and bowed her head with a smile full of [sincerity].
"Thank you... Ai-senpai."
"Hehe— It’s a present for Kana-chan! Even if you get caught on camera over there, it feels better if you look prettier!"
"Puhuh— yes, that’s right!"
Kaoru glanced at the rearview mirror and smiled at his wife, who was carefully checking Kana’s outfit with her starlit eye for detail.
At first, Rentaro had personally stepped up and offered to drive the van himself to take Kana separately—
but from Kana’s perspective, having the agency president himself drive her there was honestly pretty burdensome, and more importantly, Ai had thought of Kana, who would otherwise have to come alone, and suggested they ride together.
So Kaoru had gladly gone to Kana’s house himself to pick her up, and they had come together.
Of course, after receiving the call about riding together, Kana had been so tense and at a loss for what to do during the first five minutes in the car that she had hunched her shoulders up like a pill bug.
"Honey. Should I go to the restaurant first with Kana? I’ll park the car and come in."
"Okay! Be careful, Kaoru!"
"Thank you, senpai!"
Kaoru had the two of them get out first so he could park.
Ai got out first, and then Kana followed after her and got out of the car.
"Hey, hey, hey. That’s Kamiki Kaoru’s car, right?"
People who knew exactly what SUV model Kaoru drove watched the white foreign SUV that had stopped in front of the wagyu restaurant with sharp attention.
"That’s Kamiki’s car, isn’t it?"
"Oh, then Hoshino Ai must be with him too."
"Shoot, shoot, shoot."
When they spotted Ai getting out of the white foreign SUV together with Kana—
the speed of camera shutters firing became incredibly fast, like a sparrow’s wings flapping.
Even in the hot summer, reporters, fans, and paparazzi were sweating buckets as they eagerly started shooting for a single photo.
Some celebrities ignored them completely, even treating them as people who invaded their privacy and resenting them for it...
"Hehe-★ It’s okay, Kana-chan. Just look at the cameras with a little beep—like this. Just follow what I do, okay?"
"Ah, yes!"
Ai lifted her brilliant starry eyes with the relaxed smile of an [idol at the highest level] and waved lightly at the cameras facing them, as if greeting them.
Wearing comfortable handmade white shoes and a neat beige linen dress, and carrying a handbag from an ordinary mid-range brand instead of some expensive luxury label, true to her famously modest personality—
as if proving the saying that "the value of a brand is meaningless in the face of a perfect model," countless people, captivated by her aura, pressed their shutters as if bewitched.
Following Ai’s advice, Kana was a little awkward, but she steadied her trembling heart and waved toward the cameras with the prettiest, most confident smile she could manage.
The shutter sounds burst out at a tremendous speed, like a machine gun, trying to capture that fleeting moment of youthful, sun-bright, radiant smiles.
"Wow...!"
"Looks like Arima Kana came in the car too?"
"They’re both wearing similar bracelets? What brand is that?"
"No idea, just shoot!"
"Yes! This is it. This is it! We got it!"
"Send over all the outfit shots of those two who just went in. We need something viral."
"As expected... the top stars are different...!"
The time it took for them to get out of the car and walk into the restaurant was only six seconds.
Even that brief six-second moment was more than enough for Ai to display her starlit aura and charisma.
Six seconds—more than enough time to enchant the hearts of the many people holding cameras.
And Kana’s brief wave and smile during that moment received the full benefit of that synergy, adding a brilliance and charm that could not be compared to the countless moments captured in the past.
The people with cameras looked wistfully at the backs of the two women as they vanished into the restaurant in the blink of an eye, clicking their tongues in disappointment.
"When is Kamiki coming?"
"The parking lot is right behind the restaurant, so he should be here soon."
"You think so?"
The hopes of the people who had captured the best shots of Ai and Kana burned brightly.
However.
Their wish did not come true in reality.
That was because Kaoru, after parking the car, had come straight in through the back door of the restaurant from the parking lot.
-
Unless they were among the tiny handful of top-tier, wildly popular entertainers, most celebrities usually signed with agencies on a salary basis.
Because of that, many entertainers lived on wages that were similar to what ordinary employees at small and medium-sized companies earned, or sometimes even less.
On top of that, due to the limitations of the notorious and much-discussed [production committee] system, which is a defining feature of the Japanese drama, film, and anime industries, production budgets were heavily influenced by the companies and sponsors backing the project...
As a result, [crank-up] dinner parties—unlike the much rarer wrap parties held when a drama becomes a huge hit and everyone gathers to celebrate the final episode—where all the supporting actors and above, along with all the staff, gather together, were by no means common.
And even if a dinner party did happen, the chance that the venue would be a [top-class wagyu restaurant] located in the heart of Shinjuku was about as rare as a unique item dropping in an RPG game.
And so!
"Oh... if you put it in your mouth, it just melts away... So this is the real power of beef tongue?"
"Haa... this is seriously so delicious, isn’t it?"
"I should be saving it... but it melts away in my mouth like snow! No...!"
The staff and some of the actors who had been lucky enough to get this opportunity were all frantically grilling meat and shoving it into their mouths with burning eyes.
Like a runaway meat locomotive!
The cool air from the air conditioner, the cold draft beer, and even the sharp kick of a dab of wasabi on top of the juicy wagyu!
In the ecstasy of having all their exhaustion healed away, smiles of happiness never left people’s faces.
"Here. Eat up!"
And Kaoru, too, picked up the tongs himself and grilled wagyu for his wife and for Kana, the only teenager at the dinner party.
"Mm~★ It’s so delicious...!"
"W-wow—! Amazing. The meat is so tender, like butter... You’re incredible, Kamiki-senpai!"
As soon as Ai and Kana both put the beef Kaoru had grilled into their mouths, they felt a taste that truly made heaven dance in their mouths.
The beautiful beef sizzling on the grill!
And the radiant brown sheen of the perfectly balanced Maillard reaction, with no overly burnt parts!
Kaoru, who had carefully controlled the grilling time with his sharp observation and eyesight and put his heart into it, couldn’t help but smile at the praise from his wife and junior.
"If it’s not enough, I can order more, so eat as much as you like."
"Okay!"
"Yes!"
Kana’s eyes sparkled as she moved her chopsticks and stuffed herself with meat to her heart’s content.
She sometimes wanted to eat meat, but as a student she couldn’t eat much, and going to a solo restaurant always felt awkward in more ways than one.
Thankfully, her heavenly senior Kaoru was grilling the meat so kindly for her himself—
"Kana-chan. If you put scallions and wasabi on it like this, it’ll taste even better~"
"Yes! I’ll try it."
And Ai, sitting beside her, blinked a starlit wink and told her how to eat the wagyu even more deliciously, just like she was taking care of family—
so Kana was able to enjoy, for the first time in a long while, a happy dinner that filled not only her stomach but her heart as well.
As time slowly passed and the dinner party gradually grew livelier, Kaoru let out a small sigh and left his seat after Director Gotanda kept asking him to join them.
"Huaaah... hehe-★"
Ai, who had learned to drink from President Ichigo and had made nihonshu her favorite alcohol, savored the restaurant’s highest-grade sake to her heart’s content.
The more she drank, the more she preferred the clean, distinctive flavor of nihonshu over beer, which only made her bloated.
"Mm-hmm~♬"
With the drama shoot wrapped up well, having made good connections with good people, being able to spend time with Kana—a pretty, spirited girl one year younger than Ruby—and having built happy memories with the husband she had longed for in her dreams while freely performing as an [actor]—those precious times were truly happy memories and precious experiences for Ai.
Perhaps because of that, Ai, feeling pleasantly tipsy and having raised her alcohol limit a little more than usual, smiled sweetly and lovingly as she gently took Kana’s hand and said,
"Kana-chan~★ Aren’t you bored or sleepy?"
"Hehe! It’s okay, senpai. The dinner party atmosphere is fun and exciting, so I’m not bored at all~"
This kind of dinner-party experience would also be a good foundation for Kana’s growth as an actor.
Kana’s eyes seemed to say that.
"Is that so? Hehe, I’m glad."
At her admirable, steady composure, Ai smiled and gently stroked Kana’s head.
Then, all at once, a wish she had only ever kept in her heart... the wish of someday introducing her beloved daughter Ruby to good celebrity friends and kind older sisters, suddenly raised its head.
"I hope Kana-chan gets big and becomes an adult soon~ I want to drink with Kana-chan, and go eat delicious things together with our Ruby-chan too—★"
"...."
With the alcohol slowly warming her up, the cute girl spoke of her future hopes with a face slightly flushed like a happy baby rabbit.
At her senior’s affectionate, adorable coquetry—so cute and lovable it was beyond words—Kana’s heart pounded hard, and her face slowly reddened.
'H-how can you be this cute...? Is this even allowed?! That’s cheating, right?!'
Why... how could such a lovely and adorable woman be the [mother] of that, that, that infuriatingly grown-up-acting [boy]?!
Even though she was over thirty, she still had not a single wrinkle and retained the pure yet mature beauty of someone who seemed frozen in the days of her [B Komachi] debut...
and with the [natural flirting] she was openly directing at Kana, Kana found herself thinking without meaning to,
'If I were to act like Ai-senpai... all drunk and loose and acting cute...'
As she kept looking at that face from close enough that even their breaths seemed to touch, Kana realized that Aqua’s looks in her memory weren’t just a copy of Kaoru’s.
Rather, what if his hair had been purple? What if the color of his eyes had resembled Ai instead of Kaoru?
And if you added just a little of that uniquely cute feminine softness to his features!
Then Aqua’s appearance would be unmistakably just like Ai’s.
"...."
In Kana’s head, as if a virtual reality world were unfolding, the imagined rendering began naturally.
Aqua, like Ai-senpai, blushes and acts cute, speaking not with a stiff, indifferent expression but with a relaxed face full of cuteness.
Like this.
"Kana, want to drink a little more? You can stay over... I don’t mind."
"Hic—! Hic! Hic!"
Kana was startled by the sudden bout of hiccups that surged up and reflexively clapped a hand over her mouth.
Her red eyes trembled violently.
What on earth had she been thinking?
She was still a minor, after all?!
Drunk on the noisy dinner-party atmosphere, she had made a terrible(?) mistake she would never normally make!
At the imagination that had shattered her own guidelines without permission—
she felt embarrassed and ashamed of herself, bowed her head deeply as her face turned beet red, and shut her eyes tight to hide the world spinning before her like she was drunk.
But just as telling someone not to think about elephants only makes them think about elephants, no matter how hard she tried to erase it from her mind, the cute Aqua her imagination had created kept popping back up.
"Eh? Kana-chan, are you okay? You suddenly got the hiccups."
"Hic—! I-I’m fine! You don’t need to worry—hic!"
"Hee? Should I get you some digestive medicine?"
"I-I’m, hic! I’m fine! If I just—hic! drink some water for a moment, it’ll stop right away!"
Kana hurriedly gulped down water to stop the hiccups!
Ai blinked her starlit eyes and tilted her head, looking at the younger junior whose face had turned even redder than her own after drinking.
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