< Episode 1 ratings hit 38.9%, a new all-time record... 【Bird in a Cage】 takes the box office by storm! >
< 【Bird in a Cage】 peaks at 43.4%... sets the highest first-episode rating in drama history >
< "Who hasn’t watched it?" Stars’ SNS live-viewing 인증 relay goes viral >
< Live-streaming servers crash from traffic overload... viewers complain in droves >
< "What on earth are the actors wearing?" 【Bird in a Cage】 sparks an overnight sellout frenzy >
With the airing of episode 1 of 【Bird in a Cage】, all of Japan was set ablaze overnight.
Monday night at 9 p.m.ㅡ the long-standing golden slot for Fuji TV dramas, the so-called revival of "getsuku," was also confirmed.
Twitter, Instagram, YouTube, even NicoNico and all kinds of major websites...
Like a flood, 【Bird in a Cage】 and related keywords overflowed as real-time trending topics.
- @Sasuga_GenKing : Is Ai-chan in that convenience store uniform for real? Seriously looking for someone to smack my head. I don’t think I can wait until next week. Let’s just survive one day at a time!
- @JJorokyChan_123 : I think I enjoyed it too much. It’s on endless replay in my head... Ai-chan and Kami-chan are such a crazy heart-fluttering combo, aren’t they? ㅠㅠㅠㅠ
- @Business_MiKi22 : I was watching with my family... the moment I saw "glasses Kami-sama" in the first airport scene, I let out the most vulgar scream...
- @fakePanzze_Thief340 : Damn it, the site crashed from traffic yesterday and I couldn’t watch for ten minutes. If you’re charging 1,000 yen a month in subscription fees, then buy some damn servers, you bastards.
From testimonies about people suffering aftereffects after watching the drama yesterday, to confessions that they’d socially killed themselves in front of their families—
- Seriously, that Kamiki bastard building a harem in the drama is kind of pissing me off, what do I do?
ㄴ If you hate it that much, be born as Kamiki in your next life.
ㄴ RE: Eat shit, idiot ww
- My mom was spewing curse words at Yoshikawa Yuriko’s first appearance yesterday... why does she look so damn vicious www
ㄴ Fair, though, her eyes really were terrifying from the start.
ㄴ If I were Kamiki, I’d have pissed myself right there.
ㄴ You’d piss yourself even if you weren’t him.
- Anyone actually been to the funeral home that showed up in yesterday’s drama?
ㄴ Me! Isn’t it near some hospital in Shibuya?
ㄴ Nah, that’s a lie. It was a set www
ㄴ ? Not a set, idiot;; I know someone who works there as a funeral director.
- Mr. Kunimura’s performance really showed the seasoned gravitas of a veteran. Such an amazing actor should live long, please.
- The actors’ performances were so strong I didn’t even notice time passing.
ㄴ Even the passing extras looked like they were acting well www
ㄴ RE: I couldn’t even tell if the convenience store scene was with a real married couple.
- It was hard to believe they were a real married couple. It’s amazing how they acted like complete strangers.
- Glasses-wearing Kamiki bowing his head in submission. It felt like looking at real office workers... depressing.
- Please tell me where Ai-chan works at that convenience store. Anywhere is fine...
ㄴ If you go there, the part-time worker will greet you in -2.6 seconds
ㄴ You want to get body-slammed too, huh ww
- That S-brand handbag Yoshikawa Yuriko carried as a prop yesterday, was that price for real...
ㄴ People like us should just carry eco-bags
ㄴ Let’s start a movement to pass down the randoseru our parents bought us to our kids www
ㄴ Wow, you even have a randoseru... I’m jealous...
- Honestly, anyone looking forward to the twins making a cameo?
ㄴ No. Wake up.
ㄴ RE: What the hell is this guy lol?
- Heard from an acquaintance that they’re talking about making a season 2.
ㄴ No. Wake up.
ㄴ RE: Your mom
Even those who watched the drama and poured out every kind of reaction like a waterfall.
From immediately after the drama ended until Tuesday lunchtime the next day, all of Japan was filled with topics about 【Bird in a Cage】, both in real life and online.
And the ripple effect naturally...
"Anyone watched the drama with Ruby’s parents in it yesterday!"
"Me!"
"Me!"
"Me!!!"
It was only natural that it swept through Aqua and Ruby’s classmates as well as every student from first to third year, and even the entire teaching staff.
"Aqua-kun! Do you maybe know what happens in the next episode?"
"What’s going to happen? Is Yoshikawa Yuriko going to fight with your dad now?"
"Please tell me when your mom’s romance starts!!!!!!!! Pleeease!!! I’m begging you. I’ll pay five times the friendship fee!!!"
"Ruby-chan. Hm? Just tell me a little, okay? I’ll keep it secret! Hm?"
"My brother is seriously out of his mind right now. He rewatched episode 1 five times before dawn today."
"Ruu-chan! I’m so jealousss!!!"
"Guys, guys! My uncle used to work part-time at the convenience store where Ruu-chan’s mom appeared. Ten years ago, no less!"
"Ah, that’s a bit..."
Even amid the noisy chatter of the classmates surrounding them, Aqua and Ruby only answered as much as necessary and kept their expressions in check.
For one thing, they already knew exactly how the drama’s plot would unfold—
"...Hehe. Well, even Ruby and I don’t really know the progress or anything like that~ Sorry~!"
"What a shame!"
"I want to know!"
More than that, the way their friends had reacted after the previous set raid incident had left Ruby feeling a sense of disillusionment and emptiness about her "three years of middle school friendships."
So while it was cold, there was also an underlying intent not to let them get too close.
In any case, this kind of question barrage also couldn’t be avoided by Ame, who attended the same integrated school, Shirane Girls' Middle School.
"Ame! Ame! Hey-"
"I don’t know."
"Eh, eeeh? Don’t know what?"
Like a completely different child from the one who acted cute and affectionate with her family at home.
Ame brushed her long purple hair back behind her shoulders and, without taking her eyes off the book she was reading, said in a cold, indifferent voice just like her father’s,
"You were about to ask about the drama, weren’t you? Even if you ask Ame, I don’t know, so I have nothing to answer."
"Ah... s-sorry."
"A-Ame-chan, it’s really windy today!"
"Maybe she’s mad because we’re bothering her too much!"
At Ame’s especially chilly voice today—
the classmates flinched and stepped back, watching her carefully.
But this too...
'Phew. Absolutely! Absolutely! I can’t answer them, so I have to act like this today.'
It was a high-level stratagem Ame had devised to avoid saying anything unnecessary!
Her strategy of eliminating even the chance for conversation, let alone questions, thankfully worked.
Letting out a small sigh so her friends wouldn’t hear, Ame flipped the page of the book she was reading and complained inwardly.
'But why are people always curious about what comes next? A book isn’t fun if you start from the last page either...'
The young Ame simply couldn’t understand other people’s psychology at all.
. . .
At that time.
"......"
During break time, Akane was searching through her smartphone for topics about 【Bird in a Cage】, which she had watched live the day before.
For an actor who is still growing, it’s important to gain experience by working with excellent directors and excellent actors.
She was still a first-year high school student. The media, fans, and critics had all showered her with praise and all sorts of accolades for her acting.
But Akane already knew that she was still lacking, still incomplete, and had many things left to study and learn.
"Uu..."
While watching the drama yesterday, how much had she resented the hands of the clock ticking by?
Not only the superb direction by Director Gotanda, but also the meticulous and outstanding performances of the senior actors.
Her desire to appear in this wonderful drama, learn more, and gain more experience was a natural ambition for a growing actor.
It wasn’t some simplistic greed for the sake of boosting her acting career.
[Hehe, Akane-chan-★]
[Haha, Miss Akane.]
Only, her one small wish and hope was...
[You worked hard, Akane. Let’s go together.]
That she simply wanted to be with that [boy]...
Ping—
"!"
When the notification for Aqua’s reply from Line popped up at the top of the screen, a bright light flashed across Akane’s deep blue eyes for an instant.
With an unmistakable smile of honest joy spreading across her lips, she immediately tapped the notification and went to the chat room.
─ ─ ─ ─ ─ ─ ─
Aqua-kun)
- Thanks for enjoying it, Akane. I’ll tell my parents. They’ll be happy.
- After school, let’s meet at the troupe. Make sure you eat.
─ ─ ─ ─ ─ ─ ─
"Huuuu...!"
Her two hands gripping the smartphone tightened with force.
He was one year younger, yet far more mature than her, who was one year older—Aqua.
At that substantial reply, made up of long sentences and filled with his usual indifference yet unmistakable warmth.
At the happy relationship of being Aqua’s "partner" and "precious (?) acquaintance."
In an instant, a blush spread across Akane’s cheeks.
Her heart thumped fast, and the urge to spring up from her chair at any moment kicked at her mind furiously, but...
"......"
Exercising the stubborn patience that was one of her strengths, Akane lightly bit her lip and steadied her breathing.
For Aqua’s sake, she quickly composed the many sentences she wanted to send back in her head, then held her smartphone and touched the keyboard.
"Huhuhu-"
With all her excitement and fondness packed inside.
Like a shy letter neatly folded and sent off.
. . .
Meanwhile, at that same time.
A black beret sat prettily atop a short, glossy red bob.
The small girl with eyes as red and radiant as the sun and a cute, charming face stared at her smartphone and muttered in surprise,
"E, episode 1 ratings... was that even possible?"
The news that the first episode broadcast last night had achieved the astonishing record of 38.9% was enough to shock her as a drama cast member.
Of course, if you looked at the actors in the drama one by one...
'...I, I didn’t think it was impossible, but...'
Once again, Kana realized that she herself was truly an absurd "lucky girl."
In this cold industry where "ratings" were treated as the only truth, the fact that her name was on the cast list of a drama that had recorded 38.9% for its first episode still felt like a dream.
Because of this, after school started, she had made her face known to not only the entertainment department students but almost the entire student body of Youtou High School.
Her self-esteem, which had been at rock bottom, was slowly beginning to recover, but Kana did not act rashly.
More precisely, she couldn’t afford to do anything rash or irresponsible.
"......"
After succeeding as a child actor at age seven, she had experienced being drilled straight through the floor and buried in the basement, so she knew all too well that this popularity would eventually fade and die out.
For Kana, whose desire to be recognized and loved by people was so strong—
this "uncomfortable truth" still filled the foundation of her psyche and was not easy to shake off.
"Phew."
On the other hand, the pressure had only grown stronger. It hadn’t aired yet, but if it did, there was a high chance she’d once again be firmly branded as the daughter of senior actress [Ai].
Then she’d get cast in similar roles again, keep drifting from one such role to another, and by the time she entered university she’d be forgotten again and end up as a minor supporting role once more...
"Ah!"
Kana stood up from the bench and shook her head hard, forcing herself out of her negative thoughts.
What a fool’s game, worrying about a future that hadn’t even arrived and wasn’t even decided yet.
"......Just how long are you going to keep doing this?"
Sitting back down on the bench, Kana leaned her upper body slightly forward, pressed both hands to her forehead, and bit her lip hard.
When she closed her eyes, the self-reproach directed at herself kept circling in her mind in the form of words.
The self-blame born from her lowered self-esteem, which had already become a daily habit, did not easily improve.
They say failure is the mother of success, a stepping stone or lesson to help one rise again—but—
'Because it hurts that much.'
They never tell you that it also means going through a time so hard, painful, and lonely that you never want to experience it again.
The time of learning never comes with sweetness.
The young Kana could never deny that cruel experiential fact.
"......"
She had been in a good mood—then suddenly sank right down.
Even her shoulders, which had been lively just moments ago, were...
To change her gloomy mood—
Kana picked up the smartphone she had set beside her again, turned on the screen, and scrolled through the Line messages she had exchanged with senior [Ai] until this morning.
─ ─ ─ ─ ─ ─ ─
Senior Ai♥
- Kana-chan! You’re watching live, right? ☆٩(｡•ω<｡)و
.
.
.
- I want to see the scenes with Kana-chan too soon!
- I might definitely end up crying a lot.
- ๐·°(৹˃̵﹏˂̵৹)°·๐
─ ─ ─ ─ ─ ─ ─
The "cute" messages she had sent shortly after the drama started yesterday.
Moved by the affectionate messages, Kana—blushing herself—couldn’t hide her smile as she replied.
By nature, people are beings who constantly crave [love] and need affection and attention.
Messages full of [sincerity], informal and honest, from a senior who adored her and cherished her so much—
Kana, watching the drama with a pounding heart, was truly overjoyed.
─ ─ ─ ─ ─ ─ ─
= Yes! Senior! I just started watching live! - ̗̀( ˶'ᵕ'˶) ̖́-
= I want to see the scenes with senior too soon!
= Just like you said, senior, I think I’m going to cry a lot too... (๑•́₋•̩̥̀๑)
─ ─ ─ ─ ─ ─ ─
"...Uuuh."
As Kana recalled the messages she had replied with since last night, her face slowly reddened with embarrassment and shame.
Messages overflowing with too much excitement, making her want to kick the blanket in embarrassment.
Of course, she had slightly failed to control her excitement and sent a few too many emojis, which was somewhat impolite(?), but still...
Still, she was happy.
Even the special relationship of exchanging Line messages so casually with senior [Hoshino Ai] had made a great contribution to lifting Kana’s gloomy mood back up.
Of course...
─ ─ ─ ─ ─ ─ ─
Senior Ai♥
- Our kids really, really enjoyed it too! (๑˘ω˘ )و “
- Aku-chan and Ruby-chan were super absorbed in it! ( °̀ᗝ°́)و.*･ﾟ✧
- Especially Aku-chan seems to be looking forward to our scenes a little!
- Fufu! I guess I should tell him to brace himself ( •̀ ω •́ )✧
─ ─ ─ ─ ─ ─ ─
"...Looking forward to it...!"
Biting her lip lightly, Kana drew a smile across it like paint spreading.
A giggle—an uncontrollable laugh full of happiness—slipped through her moist lips.
That annoying, overly mature act, those annoyingly indifferent blue eyes that acted like they knew everything.
'Did he watch it with sparkling eyes like a little kid watching a robot cartoon?'
Pretending not to care, deliberately acting like it was nothing.
That day, the boy’s advice to her when they met in the practice room.
Kana would not forget, and by endlessly inferring those feelings and that heart, she had finally transformed them into her own [sincerity] and performed—
and he would see all of that clearly with his own eyes.
Then—
'...Hmph! Huhuhu-'
She’d casually ask senior Ai about it—
and later on.
If she ever met Aqua, that boy...
'Should I tease him?'
Or—
'Should I casually ask what he thought of my acting?'
What kind of reaction would he show? Would he just act all grown-up again and toss out a cool "you did well" with those indifferent eyes?
Whatever it was, her shy, happy imagination made her smile with crystal-clear brightness.
Like a child waiting for Christmas presents, like kids her age waiting for summer vacation.
"I wish time would pass faster..."
Without realizing that the dark shadow of anxiety and frustration that had been tormenting her—
had vanished without a trace beneath the bright [sunlight].
Looking at senior Ai’s message on her smartphone, Kana’s eyes shone as she said with a heart full of excitement,
-
Time passed, and one week later—
it was the broadcast day of 【Bird in a Cage】.
"You haven’t contacted me even once since you came back to the country?"
A cold, cruel gaze and voice so chilling it seemed to freeze the blood pierced Fukumoto Hiroki.
Unable to withstand her gaze, Hiroki shifted his eyes slightly and said,
"...I was busy greeting the chairman and going to a friend’s funeral home. Sorry."
After her husband’s words, she took a sip of wine and asked casually,
"What did Dad say?"
"......He didn’t really say anything. He just told me to do well with the Shibuya... branch. That was all."
As if she had never even heard that he had gone to a friend’s funeral home, Fukumoto Mami snorted and slowly swirled her wine glass.
"Of course you’ll handle it yourself."
"......"
"So do it properly. If Dad’s disappointed again this time, you’re finished. Understand?"
"...Sorry."
As Mami looked at Hiroki’s self-esteem in tatters, a flash of pleasure and desire swept through her eyes.
Like someone who took pleasure in breaking others, manipulating them, and endlessly trampling them down.
That cruel, cold nature belonging only to someone who had torn away the last strand of humanity themselves and thrown it onto the ground.
"Waaah! Papa! What are you doing-!!! Hurry up and run away and go to Mama already!"
Ruby, who had inherited the female intuition that made emotional reading easy, as well as a mother’s instinct and a father’s judgment—
saw through Fukumoto Mami’s vicious gaslighting of Hiroki and couldn’t help but feel an overwhelming frustration, like she’d eaten a hundred sweet potatoes.
Eventually, she banged on the living room table and shouted at her father, who was sitting on the sofa watching TV—
"Ru, Ruby?"
To soothe his little sister, who had gotten too absorbed in the drama, Aqua grabbed her shoulders with a cold sweat on his brow and patted her.
Of course, because the exact same situation had happened last week, Kaoru—who was truly flustered—was also sweating as he tried to calm his overly immersed daughter.
"R-right! Hahaha! I completely understand how Ruby feels too. Mm! J-just wait a little longer~ In, yes, about next week or the week after, you’ll be able to go to Mom soon, so don’t worry too much. Hahaha!"
"Uuu— if he stays like that, Papa’s remaining life might get ruined beyond saving!"
"Ha, hahaha. Ruby~ Dr-drama is just drama, right? Look, see? Mom is resting her head on Dad’s leg like this right now, isn’t she? Hahaha!"
"Hee...★"
At her husband’s explanation, sweat practically dripping from his voice too, the child lying with her head on his thigh made her starry eyes sparkle.
In truth, she had already understood her daughter’s feelings a hundred times over, to the point that they felt like her own.
She hadn’t known while filming, but watching it on TV like this—Ai herself had no choice but to get swept up in the over-immersion, no matter how many times she told herself not to!
And in that situation—her beloved daughter Ruby scratching exactly the itchy spot for her—Ai could only feel deeply satisfied and proud.
"Eh! Who’s that man?!"
While Ame was quietly watching the drama,
as Ruby was soothing her father, the drama moved a little further forward...
and on TV appeared a scene where some suddenly introduced, sleazy-looking, big man approached the drunk Mami.
At the appearance of the unidentified figure, Hiroki’s eyes twitched with displeasure.
"...Mr. Yamazaki."
"Mr. Hiroki. It’s been a while, hasn’t it? I heard you came back to the country, but I didn’t expect to run into you here...."
Yamazaki Takeru, the deputy head of the Strategic Planning Division, the de facto control tower of the Fukumoto Group.
To run into the same man who had gone to the same university as Hiroki’s wife Mami, and had even once been a campus couple, at a restaurant.
His thick, heavy features, masculine good looks, and the intimidation from his large build came across as nothing short of malicious to the self-esteem-stripped Hiroki.
But what enraged him most was...
"Takeru-san... fufu, you came?"
"Ah, madam. You seem a little drunk."
Feigning ignorance, Takeru gave Hiroki an openly sneering look with a vile smile and naturally wrapped an arm around Mami’s shoulder.
Mami, too, had already moved closer to Takeru instead of her husband and waved her hand carelessly as she said,
"Hiroki, I’m going to have one more drink with Takeru-san. You can go first."
"......"
Though it was nothing more than a sham relationship bound not by [love] but rather by [anger] and [hatred], legally and socially they were still a "married couple."
At the disgusting behavior of crossing the line each was minimally supposed to keep, right before his eyes—
Hiroki’s face, feeling human humiliation, turned bright red with disgrace and fury.
"Ah, right. Mr. Hiroki."
"...What is it."
"My father-in-law—ah, the chairman—has very high expectations of you. He keeps talking to me about you as well."
"......"
"I’m looking forward to seeing how much of a result you’ll boast about from the Shibuya branch... I’ll be watching."
That sly smile, that blatant contempt and mockery.
With a sticky hand on Mami’s shoulder, Takeru made no effort to hide the signal that he was openly enjoying an affair.
Ba-dak—
A creepy cracking sound rang out in the close-up of Hiroki.
The twitching of his cheek muscles and the grinding of his teeth.
The BGM gradually rose, reflecting Hiroki’s unstable psyche.
Beyond his glasses, a storm of hatred and rage swept across his blue eyes.
But—
"...See you later."
Hiroki turned his head and passed the two of them by.
Takeru watched Hiroki’s back with his characteristic sleazy gaze, and Mami rubbed against his chest.
At that behavior—
"Kyyaaaah!!!!"
"Kuaaaah-!!!!!!"
"Huu..."
Ruby, Ame, and Aqua all at once.
The three siblings simultaneously cried out in shock and sighed, clutching their heads.
"Don’t you dare look down on our papa just because you look sleazy!!!"
"Exactly! He should be thrown in prison!"
While Ruby and Ame huffed and vented their anger—
"Haah."
Instead of an angry shout, Hiroki let out a resigned sigh and trudged out of the restaurant, walking aimlessly.
After leaving, no matter how many breaths he took, his chest kept feeling tight. He felt dazed, and his hands kept trembling.
As if an invisible hand were strangling his neck, he kept touching and kneading around his throat with his right hand—
and kept walking somewhere. Whether that place would be heaven, hell, or one of the countless "escape places" he had chosen before—
even he, walking through the lights of Tokyo that illuminated the darkness while making it all the more dizzying, didn’t know.
However—
- ♩ ♬ㅡ
The precarious, stumbling melody, like a lie, became utterly still the moment it met the bright light beyond the convenience store.
The hazy blue eyes, once muddied with wavering, anxiety, hatred, revenge, self-reproach, and self-loathing—
in an instant, shone without a tremor like a blue sea receiving bright sunlight.
"Haa... haa..."
- There...
Short but intense.
With Hiroki’s narration, the calm, comforting harmony of strings and guitar flowed again in the BGM.
"......"
His unstable breathing regained its calm as if it had been a lie.
The many dark thoughts that had been cluttering his mind finally quieted down.
His blue eyes, beyond the inside of the convenience store, shone like starlight toward the woman standing at the counter, fiddling with her wristwatch.
"Uu..."
Had she become so immersed in Hiroki’s emotions on screen?
Recognizing exactly what he was feeling was not difficult for her, who had lived both a past life and a present life.
Ruby, her eyes moistening, brought her hands together and to her mouth.
"......"
Sensing his little sister’s feelings, Aqua silently lifted his left hand, took Ruby’s right hand tightly, and patted the back of it.
Like a traveler wandering the wilderness without a destination, who at last—like a miracle—found his place of rest.
Hiroki stepped through the convenience store’s automatic door and walked toward the place he had chosen for reasons even he himself could not explain.
"Ah?! Y-you came?"
At the late hour, when the customer who had visited in the afternoon came back again—
those brilliant starlit eyes, shining with surprise and delight, looked Hiroki over from head to toe.
The sweat-slicked forehead and neck. His somewhat tired, disoriented appearance.
Only then did Hiroki realize that he had come here without any "purpose" or "reason" at all.
He awkwardly adjusted his glasses and, trying to somehow come up with a reason while also struggling to steady his trembling voice, said, a little incoherently,
"Well... I, I was hungry. I ate, uh, rice, dinner, but... it didn’t feel like I’d eaten anything, so... I was hungry and came to buy a lunch box. Also to return the money...."
She looked at him for a moment with surprised eyes, as he answered with all his might even though she hadn’t asked, then soon smiled and nodded.
"Ah... fufu! Welcome! The lunch boxes we ordered just arrived, so I’ve only just put out the fresh ones!"
"Yes, yes. Thank you. Ah, and—about the lunch box cost..."
"Fufu~ We’ll settle it all together at checkout!"
"Ah... yes."
He took out his wallet from inside his jacket, then put it back and immediately picked up any lunch box and brought it to the counter.
Ame, who had been watching TV, glanced over at her parents sitting on the sofa.
Even to their youngest daughter, the parents on TV and the parents in reality looked like completely different people, despite having the exact same faces and voices.
Come to think of it, it was really strange.
"That’ll be 410 yen!"
"Yes. Here... thank you for lunch today. Thanks to you... I ate well."
Including the 410 yen for the convenience store lunch box from noon, she received a total of 820 yen and chuckled as she said,
"Then I’m glad! I’ve received 410 yen. Would you like chopsticks?"
"Ah, yes. I, uh— I’m going to eat here. Yes."
Those brilliant starlit eyes. The kind smile and gentle voice.
She was only doing her job, Hiroki told himself as he shook his head and let out a sigh.
He decided to stay here and fill his stomach a little until he calmed down.
A wide shot of the convenience store interior filmed from outside briefly passed by.
Beep—
As he took the lunch box out of the microwave and sat at the table by the window, nibbling at it little by little—
swish—!
"?"
A chilled 500ml bottle of water was set down on the corner of the table.
Looking up in surprise at the woman who had placed the water bottle, Hiroki immediately waved his hand and said,
"Ah, no. It’s fine. I—"
"It’s okay. It’s a ‘service’!"
"Ah—"
"Fufu, you looked thirsty."
Wearing gloves as she finished organizing the remaining ordered goods, she left behind a bright smile and headed toward the storage room behind the counter.
He stared blankly at her small back as she headed into the storage room, then slowly swallowed the food still in his mouth and turned his gaze toward the window.
"......"
As the focus shifted in the scenery outside the window, adjusting the depth of field, the shot gradually captured his face reflected in the glass.
At the same time as a soft acoustic guitar melody flowed—
a faint smile formed at the corner of his mouth.
"Kyaaaah-★ So cuteee~! Even when we filmed it, this was one of my favorite scenes!"
The child who had been lying on Kaoru’s thigh pillow sprang up and shouted, throwing herself into her husband’s arms.
From the middle to the latter half, the drama’s relationship between the two began to accelerate rapidly.
After that day’s meeting, Hiroki started going to that convenience store to buy lunch boxes instead of eating at the company cafeteria or outside restaurants.
Precisely because he wanted to see her.
She, too, welcomed the small changes in daily life brought by the bespectacled customer who had become a regular—
"I’m Aizawa Honoka!"
"I’m Matsukura Hiroki...."
while allowing themselves to become part of each other’s everyday lives, they quickly grew close, like old friends who had known each other from the start.
In fact, Honoka even started making side dishes herself to worry about his health, since he only ate convenience store lunch boxes—
and her 모습 became—
"...She looks incredibly happy."
Aqua, looking at Aizawa Honoka on the screen, murmured while silently watching the acting of emotions flowing through her eyes and expression.
She looked like someone who simply wanted to give the [affection] she had lost to someone else, anyone at all.
Honoka, absorbed in making side dishes that had become part of her repeated "daily life" for the sake of her newly close friend Hiroki, heard a familiar voice by her ear.
"Mom! What are you doing?"
"..."
Flinch—
Ruby instantly recognized whose voice it was and slightly furrowed her brows, but—
Aqua, hearing the familiar voice suddenly appear, unconsciously perked up his ears.
And—if the one who perked up was Honoka too, then after a brief pause she said,
"Mm. I’m cooking~"
in her usual bright voice.
Bright, but with a slightly bitter smile, she kept her eyes off the cutting board and resumed chopping.
Her back in the apron.
Following the natural light pouring in through the kitchen window, the camera slowly pulled back to capture Honoka’s full body—
- ♬♪~
As the OST played, the drama came to an end.
"Waaah-! How am I supposed to wait until next week againnn-!"
"Ame, I want to hibernate..."
Kaoru and Ai looked on fondly at their two daughters pouring out disappointed cries.
Ai, whose own back view in the drama had ended the episode and somehow still left a lingering aftertaste, slid down from the sofa and wrapped Ruby and Ame in her widely opened arms as she said,
"Huhuhu-! If you wait together with Mom, the time will pass quickly-★"
"Waaah- Mama~♥"
"Mom~♥"
At their beloved mother’s embrace, the sisters blossomed with happy smiles as if nothing had happened and threw themselves into her arms to monopolize her warmth to the fullest.
"......"
Aqua was also a little, no—very much jealous seeing that...
but to preserve his dignity as the older brother, he endured it with all his might.
Of course—
"Aqua-chan too, so he won’t be lonely, come here~!!!"
"Yes! Big brother too!"
"Wah! W-wait!"
"Kyaahaha-★"
Ai was not the kind of mother to leave her son lonely by himself.
With a starry smile, Ai hugged all three siblings tightly and burst into laughter.
"What about Dad?"
"Fufu- Ame~ Dad is... because Mom will give him a lot, a lot of hugs later, it’s fine!"
"Okay!"
"......"
The happy laughter of the Hoshino family, excluding Kaoru, filled the Monday night completely.
👍 I'm glad Ame got her name back lol