< Tears Explosion, [Caged Bird] Breaks Its Own Highest Ratings Record >
< The competing drama in the same time slot is at 1% viewership... Is Kobayashi Kohei, who was paid the highest fee in history, losing face? >
With Ai and Kana’s tear-jerking top-tier performances, praise poured in both online and offline.
And even more—
< Donations for cancer patients surpass 500% of the target... Officials say, "We are deeply grateful for your support." >
There were even rare news reports that the many donations and sponsorships for patients with hard-to-treat cancers, such as rare incurable cancers and pediatric cancer patients, had far exceeded the target and achieved the full excess amount...
In other words, the drama’s so-called “positive influence” was beginning to be widely recognized.
In Korea and China, where the drama was being simulcast through OTT, overwhelmingly positive reactions centered on the scene where Ai hugged the school shirt of her deceased daughter and broke down sobbing.
"Sniff."
Akane rubbed at her eyes, which still hadn’t fully lost their puffiness, and sniffled.
Because she had cried so much while watching the drama yesterday, the swelling still hadn’t gone down properly even after coming to school.
Arima Kana, who was practically her mortal enemy(...), had left Akane with no choice but to take a huge shock as an [actor] after seeing Kana’s performance.
As a fellow [actor], it was obvious just how much Kana had cut to the bone and delivered a proper performance.
To Kana, who had performed brilliantly and dazzlingly like the [sun] without shrinking back even beside the great senior Ai—
For the first time in a long while, Akane could once again bring out the untainted admiration she still kept in her heart for her.
It was frustrating, and as a fellow actor she felt competitive too, and she thought she had to do better, practice more, and work harder—
"Sniff!"
Akane sniffled and made the same vow once more.
"Ahem... cough, cough... right. Good Tuesday morning..."
"Sniff."
"Snrk-"
"Sniff."
Not only her classmates, but even the homeroom teacher, a middle-aged man, had lost his voice and had puffy eyes.
It seemed the suffering from last night’s crying fit... thankfully, wasn’t hers alone.
"......"
"......"
"Sniff."
Rentaro quietly drank his coffee, unable to hide his consistently gloomy expression, like a depressed Shiba Inu whose energy had been drained away.
His naturally tearful, soft-hearted nature seemed to have exploded and overflowed while watching the drama last night.
Kaoru scratched his cheek and stared at the tearful Rentaro before saying,
"You were the only one crying again, weren’t you?"
"N-no! Yuno cried a lot too... We hugged each other and cried so much yesterday. We used up an entire box of tissues, you know? Ugh... really, seriously. We cried so much... sob."
"......"
Rentaro pulled a tissue from the box on the table and dabbed at his damp eyes before sniffing and saying,
"I called Kana-chan this morning and praised her a ton. I couldn’t talk long because she was on her way to school, but... I think Kana-chan really grew a lot through this work. Hmm. When actors grow to the next stage like that, the change shows right away, doesn’t it?"
"Yeah."
"Ai-san was amazing too. Wow... you know, once people become parents... their tear trigger really does change. Sometimes I even tear up just looking at her..."
As he spoke, Rentaro seemed to get emotional again, and Kaoru, as if used to it, pulled out several tissues and handed them over.
"Sniff, thanks. Sob sob— ughhh—"
"......"
He couldn’t empathize with Rentaro’s tears(?), but he could empathize with Rentaro’s words.
After becoming parents, after becoming adults, even after passing thirty, Kaoru and Ai’s emotions still put their children first.
Even when they went somewhere nice as a couple or ate good food, their thoughts quickly turned to the babies.
They’d think about coming again later with the babies, or about how the babies would probably eat it deliciously.
Sometimes just looking at them made you full, and sometimes just looking at them made you cry.
That was what children were. They were beings you were grateful for simply because they were born, and who made you proud and teary-eyed just by growing well on their own.
"...Ai had a really hard time while filming. The role she was playing was that kind of role, so she couldn’t help thinking about the babies."
"Yeah. I heard... Yesterday, during the scene where Kana-chan was crying while hugging the school shirt, Director Gotanda said it would’ve been a disaster if you hadn’t comforted her."
"Ah..."
Rentaro sniffled and lifted his coffee cup, saying in a playful voice,
"See? I’m telling you, the husband has to work harder~ haha."
But Kaoru, who took President Rentaro’s joke as a documentary fact, said with a bitter expression,
"You’re right... I wanted to be more of a support to her... As a husband, and as the same [actor]... I need to work harder."
"......?"
Rentaro’s expression turned grave, like “a city person looking at a wild man’s bizarre food.”
If the guy who was always one of the first names mentioned when people talked about a “good husband” in the industry said something like that...
Was he supposed to work himself to death in total exhaustion or something?
Rentaro took a sip of his bitter coffee, remembering Yuno’s icy smile as she barely held back her anger and said, “Could you do even half of what Kaoru-san does, honey?”
He had forgotten.
The obnoxious bastard in front of him was the public enemy of every married man!
Since the coffee was disgustingly bitter, Rentaro set the cup down and sank into the sofa backrest.
"Can you go now?"
"...Huh?"
"I suddenly... got tired..."
Kaoru watched the sulking Rentaro, now like a timid Shiba Inu, with a faint smile before shaking his head.
-
After his coffee time with Rentaro, Kaoru visited the troupe after a long while.
He brought plenty of delicious donuts and coffee for the troupe members and the president, and the members gave him an escort fit for a prime minister.
After chatting for a while, Kaoru went to the president’s office with donuts and coffee, just like he used to.
The person who welcomed him there was not only President Toshiro.
"Yo— haha. Long time no see, Kaoru-kun?"
"Ah, Producer. How have you been?"
Kaoru ran into Producer Kaburagi Masaya, who happened to be chatting over tea with President Toshiro.
In a broad sense, Producer Kaburagi was a close friend of President Toshiro, with a past history as a member of the [Rararai Theater Troupe]—
and in a narrower sense, he had brought Ai to a workshop at the [Rararai Theater Troupe], which was how they had met and become a couple.
So Kaoru smiled and shook hands warmly with Producer Kaburagi.
"I’ve been watching the drama, Kaoru-kun. How’s Ai doing?"
"Haha, yes. She’s doing well. Here— have some donuts and coffee, Producer. It’s the donut set President likes."
"Oh... you really didn’t have to."
Though he had gained a little weight, President Toshiro accepted the donut set and coffee Kaoru offered without hesitation.
Joy he couldn’t hide showed through his otherwise indifferent face.
Producer Kaburagi, who had high blood pressure from frequent drinking sessions, initially refused, but donuts and coffee were, after all, an irresistible healing time.
"Wow, the coffee here is really well made. Nice."
"We’ve been drinking it only from here for twenty years. It was the first café Kaoru discovered after joining the troupe."
"See? I’m telling you Kaoru-kun’s eye for good work isn’t just natural talent for nothing, haha."
The two middle-aged men, happily praising the coffee as they sipped their iced Americanos.
Kaoru smiled as well and drank his coffee.
"I hope I wasn’t interrupting your conversation."
"No, not at all. You came at exactly the right time, just when we were running out of things to talk about."
"Hahaha. Well, it’s not anything else—I just came because I had a few projects I’m pushing forward, and I wanted to cool my head a bit while chatting with the president."
At Producer Kaburagi’s naturally inserted work talk, a flash lit up Kaoru’s blue eyes for a moment.
"I see. And these projects are...?"
"Haha. Well, it’s still just at the ‘project’ stage, literally. You know that manga [Today Is Mild Flavor]? It’s a famous shoujo manga, and it looks like the drama adaptation rights are going to come our way."
"That’s good news."
"Hahaha. So— we’ve already run the numbers and made a few proposals, but... as always in this industry, the problem is money. How much it’ll cost, and whether it’ll make money— that kind of thing."
[Today Is Mild Flavor]. It was a work he couldn’t possibly not know.
Setting aside the fact that it was President Rentaro’s favorite shoujo manga, wasn’t it also a famous shoujo manga that had already finished but was still talked about to this day?
Long ago, he had attended a joint autograph event for couples with his wife, where he had shaken hands with and greeted the author [Kichijoji Yoriko], who came with her assistant [Samejiba Abiko].
"I see."
"Haha. That’s how projects are— they go well, then get shelved. I’m the only one getting a headache. There’s also a proposal to do an entertainment show with a dating-match concept using young promising talents. But I’m not so sure about that one either."
"A dating match... you say?"
"Exactly what it sounds like. Male and female cast members pick the person they like, confess, and start dating."
President Toshiro smiled, finished his donut, brushed off his hands, and added,
"It would definitely have great buzz."
"Right. Which means we’d have to scout out ‘useful’ promising talents."
"...If they were performers, actors—"
"Well. What we’re looking at isn’t ‘acting ability.’ It’s ‘usefulness.’ The kind of kids who can really drive up the buzz."
For a moment, a strange light flickered in Producer Kaburagi’s eyes.
He didn’t show it, but Kaoru could clearly see what Kaburagi was thinking.
‘...He’s eyeing our babies.’
Aqua and Ruby. To Producer Kaburagi, they would be the perfect ideal models.
But even after seeing Kaburagi’s gaze, Kaoru didn’t react in any special way and simply pretended not to notice.
In a “human” sense, Producer Kaburagi couldn’t be called a “bad person.”
He was faithful to his family despite his busy schedule, had an excellent career despite choosing the somewhat minor side of being an internet broadcasting producer, and was praised for his persistence in rolling up his sleeves, taking responsibility, raising people up, and seeing things through. Of course, there had never been rumors about his private life in the industry either.
However, if you asked whether he was a “good person” as an “industry person”...
‘A person who values only ruthless, realistic business.’
Kaoru had already defined him that way as he quietly looked into Kaburagi’s eyes.
For someone who possessed the best information routes imaginable, far beyond what reporters or industry insiders could compare to, if anyone asked whether Kaburagi’s business-oriented strengths were “right,” Kaoru would answer “No” without hesitation.
That was also why, ever since he had gotten to know Producer Kaburagi, he had consistently maintained an appropriate distance.
"Anyway, that’s how it is. Industry work doesn’t exactly go smoothly."
Quietly listening to the words of the professional industry man Kaburagi, President Toshiro pointed at him with his thumb and said,
"...Hard to believe, but this guy once dreamed of becoming a film director."
"...Huh?"
"What, haha... that was ages ago. Well, when I was young, so... tsk. Ahem."
Producer Kaburagi scratched his eyebrow, his face slightly red.
He also gave Kaoru an awkward smile out of the corner of his eye.
Everyone carries a [dream] in their heart, but those who collide with reality, give up on their dreams, and keep them only in their hearts are always like this.
They end up desperately clinging to another path they chose instead of that dream.
Kaoru checked his wristwatch and, with a bright smile to President Toshiro and Producer Kaburagi, said,
"I should get going now. It’s almost time for my youngest daughter’s swimming lesson to end."
President Toshiro and Producer Kaburagi rose from their seats with smiles and offered Kaoru a handshake.
Especially Producer Kaburagi, who gripped and shook Kaoru’s hand as though it were a sacred object. A thick smile came along with it.
After shaking hands and leaving the president’s office, Kaoru checked the time and looked for a moment at the closed office door.
"......"
After a brief thought and some mental sorting, Kaoru soon started walking again.
-
Monday night at 9 p.m. once again.
The crowded downtown streets were more than half as empty as usual, and the same was true for passengers on the trains.
If people were going to get home late, many of them would even ask the bar owner to turn on the TV.
Hospital doctors on duty, government officials on duty, and countless office workers working overtime hard from Monday onward.
All of them stared at their smartphone screens, waiting for the commercials to end and the drama to begin.
"Today it’s kinako mochi instead of Häagen-Dazs!"
Ai, snugly hugging Amber as she settled onto the sofa, stomped her feet like an excited rabbit.
Ame and Ruby also slid over, each carrying a small plastic container filled with kinako mochi, and quickly took their seats beside their mother.
"I’m so excited to eat with Mama!"
"Ame’s excited too!"
"Mom’s excited too! Or maybe I should say I’m thrilled~!"
"Oh~! I wanna eat!"
"Amber can’t. If you eat now, your tummy will hurt."
"Unni, eat?"
"Yeah~ I’m the big sister, after all! Hehe!"
At 9 p.m., mochi made of sugar and carbohydrates was the absolute worst enemy for anyone on a diet.
But even though Ai loved sweet snacks like Häagen-Dazs, her weight had stayed almost the same except when she was pregnant.
The ultimate weight of the Hoshino family women!
Ruby and Ame, who had inherited their mother’s superior, unbeatable DNA in full, were the same!
Watching his wife and three children already making a racket, Kaoru and Aqua, father and son, soon turned and looked at each other.
"Should we eat something too while we watch?"
"I’m fine. If there’s something you want to eat, Dad, should I prepare it?"
"Hmm... Ah! How about dried squid?"
"Oh, good idea! It’s perfect with mayonnaise!"
"Nice. Then!"
While the father and son happily searched the cabinet for dried squid—
"Kaoru! The drama’s starting!"
"Got it!"
In no time, the father and son had finished all their preparations, carried over a tray, and sat down at the living room table.
After the cosmetics commercial featuring Ai as a model ended, the drama began.
"...Huh?! I-it’s already here?"
Watching the drama begin, Ai exclaimed in surprise while chewing on kinako mochi.
As expected of a drama with a total of eight episodes, more than 60% of the filmed material had already aired.
[Hiroki], who had gone to the hotel for the founding ceremony of the [Fukumoto Group], was about to meet [Honoka]—
and the so-called “long-take kiss scene” was clearly about to appear too.
Fully familiar with the script, Aqua chewed and swallowed dried squid, then watched the TV while estimating the upcoming drama development and the distribution of the remaining episodes.
"Kyaaah!? M-mama and papa... m-met!?"
Ruby screamed in shock, clutching her head like Munch’s [The Scream].
At the [Fukumoto Group] founding ceremony, [Honoka] had been working part-time at someone else’s request!
There she ran into [Hiroki] and his wife [Mami].
To her, who didn’t even know the man she was seeing was a married man, or that he was a member of the [Fukumoto Group], [Fukumoto Mami]’s sociopathic obsession and hostility came as an even greater shock.
"What? Do you know this woman? You know her, don’t you? I’m asking you now."
"I don’t know her. I just mistook her for someone else for a moment."
Hiroki, who was frozen stiff with his back bent at ninety degrees, pretended not to know Honoka, who was equally stiff and flustered.
The two people meeting in the wrong place. Hiroki’s response was perfectly natural, but the viewers watching the drama were utterly shocked.
"Kyaaah-?! D-dad-!!! How could you do that!? How could you ignore Mama like that right there!"
"Dad is mean! Mama is so pitiful— waaah!"
At Hiroki’s cold, heartless response, Ruby and Ame grabbed the plastic container that had held the mochi as if they were about to rip their father’s head off.
Wasn’t that going too far?! Just last week he had been sweetly whispering love, and now he was doing something like that!
The drama was just a drama, but Kaoru, sweating buckets at the ferocious berserker mode of his two overly immersed daughters, gave an awkward smile.
"Sob. I was so sad at that time... Even though it was filming, even if it was just acting..."
"A, A, Ai?! You can’t pile on too, honey!"
""Kyaaaah-!""
When Ai joined in to tease her husband, hugging Amber tightly and pretending to cry, Ruby and Ame became even fiercer.
Aqua, too, seeing his father in the TV as such a trashy(?) man, found his gaze toward the real father sitting right beside him becoming a little less friendly.
"...Excuse me. If you have no business here, then I’ll be going..."
"I understand. Go ahead."
"...Mami!"
"What are you doing? Didn’t I say there’s no business here?"
Hiroki, with the person he loved right in front of him, could do nothing but clench his fists helplessly.
But Mami, as if to show him up, hooked her arm through his and snarled even more viciously at Honoka.
The Ruby-Ame sisters let out empty laughs, as if they had just swallowed ten sweet potatoes at once.
Even Amber, who was in Ai’s arms, seemed scared and disgusted by the acting of Yoshikawa Yuriko on the TV, burying her face in her mother’s chest.
However...
"Haa! Haa!"
During the founding ceremony, when Honoka was nowhere to be seen, Hiroki hurriedly went looking for her—
and once he realized she had fled this place as if running away, the drama’s atmosphere suddenly began to shift.
"Ooh—!"
"Holy shit!"
"Got it! Got it! Honoka went home, right now!"
"Damn it! I’d go too if I were her, you bastard!!"
"Cut off his balls, cut them off! You bastard!"
"Oi! In Osaka, that’s not something you can do, oi!"
The tavern owner and dozens of customers. Everyone’s eyes were fixed on the TV—
"Is he going to look for her, no way?"
"At the hotel entrance! Right! They said they filmed a running scene in front of the hotel!!!"
"Kyaaah! It must be real! No way!"
The on-duty nurses, together with the on-duty doctor, were all making a fuss in front of the TV, unable to hide their excited cries.
"Really? Did the two of them meet?"
"Yeah! Go to the station office! They met!"
The rookie train engineer who had just finished transport duties clapped clap! and ran to the station office—
"...Driver, the light changed."
"Ah, sorry!"
A taxi driver secretly listening on a smartphone DMB with earphones in was startled by the passenger’s words and hurriedly stepped on the accelerator.
And then—
"Huff! Huff! Huff!"
Hiroki, who had made the biggest decision of his life.
After his father’s death, he had spent his days running away, unable to do anything, like a rowboat swept along by the current.
At last, he threw off the shackles of being a member of the [Fukumoto family] and ran to find Honoka.
"Kyaaahhhhh! Papa! Runnnn!"
"Runnnn! Dadddd!!!"
Hiroki burst out of the hotel and sprinted madly toward the road!
The camera cuts came in breathlessly, and the editing moved swiftly and rapidly to intensify the sense of speed in the running scene.
A LADWIMPS song played, made up of pounding guitars, drums, and violins.
- There must still be something love can do - The one who gave me courage was you - So I want to write for you.
"Huff! Huff! Huff!"
Lyricism and sincerity. And Hiroki running like a madman through the Shinjuku streets!
Hiroki’s blue eyes, filled with regret, shone pitifully.
Even as his breath rose to his throat, even as he nearly tripped and fell, even as sweat blurred his vision!
"Huff! Huff! Haa! Haaah!"
All the memories he had shared with her, Honoka, flashed by rapidly in a montage following Hiroki’s running scene.
At the sight of Hiroki, who looked as if he might burst into tears at any moment yet was still running with clenched teeth toward the one he loved—
"......"
Aqua’s blue eyes were clearly wet as he simply watched his father’s emotions on TV without saying a word.
Ruby and Ame, who had resented Hiroki too.
Even Amber, who had been chewing on mochi in Ai’s arms.
- Why did you give us something we can’t have? Why can’t we be satisfied with dreams alone?
LADWIMPS’ deeply moving lyrics further magnified the emotions carried by Hiroki’s running.
Everyone watching TV prayed at the same time.
Please—
Please.
"Haa! Haa!"
The music stopped, and the Tokyo night sky was like the sun setting and darkness arriving.
Literally drenched in sweat, Hiroki adjusted his slipping black-rimmed glasses and panted hard.
Just a little farther, and he would reach her.
There she was, walking with weak steps, her heels making a clacking sound as she trudged along.
"Ahh, what do we do?"
Ruby, hands clasped tightly together, murmured in a pitiful voice.
Just like Ruby’s sorrow, Hiroki also strained desperately to calm his ragged breathing and shouted toward the lover right in front of him.
"Haa! Haa! Honoka-san! Honoka-san! Wait, please wait a moment, let’s talk for a second! Haa! Haa!"
But even with his cracked, dry voice, Honoka never stopped.
As soon as the scene switched to a long take, and the scene continued without a single cut, the viewers’ immersion reached its peak.
As the Steadicam followed the actors and the screen flowed seamlessly, more and more viewers gasped in shock.
The camera moved smoothly in front of Hiroki, then behind him again, placing the two actors on the same line in one frame.
"Please, go back right now. I don’t want to hear it."
A voice colder than cold, as if it might scream, spoken with all her strength while biting down hard.
Ame, too, found the whole situation frustrating and heartbreaking, and she leaned forward sharply, staring at the TV while gathering her long purple hair and letting out one sigh after another.
"I’m sorry I couldn’t tell you sooner!"
At Hiroki’s cry—
At the same time, viewers across the country let out their own sighs and laments as they focused on the drama.
But Honoka, after glaring at Hiroki, turned around again and went up the stairs—
Hiroki’s pale face was shown. The desperation that he could not lose her anymore was vividly visible beyond the screen.
Hiroki, approaching Honoka, did not make excuses for himself; instead, he desperately begged for forgiveness, admitting it was his fault.
"You heard all my circumstances, didn’t you! You’re trying to make me a mother my daughter would be ashamed of, aren’t you?"
"No! I was scared. I couldn’t tell you because I was afraid that if you knew the truth... you wouldn’t meet me!"
To Honoka, who trembled with betrayal and cried out that she had become a mother her daughter would be ashamed of—
Hiroki, instead of the “made-up” version of himself he had shown Honoka, poured out the truth while crying, exactly as he was: weak and covered in wounds.
His explanation continued—that he had been afraid the everyday life he shared with Honoka would disappear if she learned the truth—
And along with the gradually swelling music, Honoka’s starlit eyes, wavering as she struggled with Hiroki’s [honestly], trembled violently.
"Lies! And then... you’d just pretend not to know me again!"
But Honoka, who had been trying hard to deny his sincerity, adjusted her handbag again and turned her back on Hiroki as she left the place.
"Ah! Noooo-"
Ruby’s red starlit eyes, completely immersed, began to shake.
She already knew the content through the script, but to be honest, the script was no longer something she needed to care about.
If Honoka ended up hating and resenting Hiroki forever like this!
"Dad! What do we do! Go catch Mom quicklyyyy!"
"A, Ame! Just a second is fine."
Unable to hold back any longer, Ame grabbed the real father’s shoulder instead of the TV father’s and shook him hard, pleading.
"It wasn’t to ignore her for my sake, it was for Honoka-san’s sake!"
"Don’t follow me. I’ll call the police!"
As Hiroki, who had gone down the stairs, grabbed Honoka’s hand—
Honoka threw the handbag she had been carrying on her shoulder straight at Hiroki.
"Let go of this!"
Thwack—!
"Kya?!"
"Huh."
Everyone in the Hoshino family except Kaoru was shocked at once, their eyes wide in disbelief.
Because it was a long-take scene, editing was limited, but literally—the thrown handbag had “directly hit” Kaoru’s face.
It had been surprising when they filmed it too, but seeing it directly on screen was definitely a shocking and dizzying moment.
Feeling terribly sorry, Ai found herself looking at her husband sitting in front of the table without realizing it.
And the impact of that was vividly reflected on Honoka’s face in the screen as well.
Honoka’s expression was raw, clearly showing shock and panic.
But Hiroki, unfazed even with his glasses knocked off, spoke with his moist, sad blue eyes fully exposed.
"...Even if you take it as an excuse... please give me just a little of Honoka-san’s time...."
"...Sniff."
From that line onward, Ai and the Ruby girls could no longer hold back their tears.
Honoka clenched her small fist and repeatedly pounded Hiroki’s chest as she cried out like a wail,
"No! No! No! Why should I believe you? After making me the bad woman like this, why should I believe you again!?"
"Honoka-san!"
"No matter how much you beg for forgiveness, it won’t change!!! It’s all the same! Losing things and being abandoned! Making me hope on my own, saying you love me, saying you can’t live without me, lying to me— and then you’d just leave on your own anyway—! I hate it! This kind of thing, never again...!"
"Honoka-!!!"
Hiroki grabbed Honoka’s hand as she beat his chest and shouted.
That the person who had smiled at him without prejudice in a life of losing precious things and being abandoned was Honoka.
"......"
"......"
"......"
"......"
At that moment, all at once—
All the viewers forgot even to breathe and stared blankly at Hiroki, swallowing dry saliva.
In a hellish life where, no matter how much he struggled, nothing changed and things only got worse—
And the desperate confession of a man who feared losing the miracle that had finally come to him and had to hide all the truth.
But in the end, Honoka tried to refuse again, and Hiroki took off his wedding ring right before her eyes.
"...!"
Honoka’s delicate emotions created a strange atmosphere, where joy and sorrow coexisted.
And yet,
"Waaah...."
The Aqua-Ruby siblings, with goosebumps rising all over their bodies, bit down hard on their lips.
Their hearts were about to burst, and they even felt electricity crackling through their whole bodies.
They couldn’t take their eyes off it for even a single moment.
"Hah!"
Ai was the same.
Very soon, the long-awaited kiss scene with her husband would appear.
Her heart pounded as if it would burst. She felt a thrill so intense it tingled at the nape of her neck and around her throat.
And finally—
As if determined not to miss it this time—
Snap!
"Ah?!"
Hiroki seized Honoka’s hand as she turned away to leave and shoved her against the wall.
With his large build and strength, she couldn’t even think of resisting—
"Hwet?!"
At Ruby’s shocked cry—
Hiroki’s hands, tightly gripping both of Honoka’s wrists, pinned her arms to the wall.
Then, bending his knees slightly and lowering his head, Hiroki kissed Honoka’s lips!
At last, the kiss scene between the parents everyone had been waiting for—
"Gyaoouaouwaaa...?!"
Ruby’s face turned redder than a tomato, and she desperately covered the scream about to burst out with both hands—
"Hweeeee-?!"
Ame, who couldn’t close her mouth and had her starlit eyes shining brilliantly as she clenched her fists—
"...Wow."
And Aqua, who shook his head and successfully expressed all his emotions with a short but powerful exclamation.
Excluding Amber, who had already fallen asleep in her mother’s arms, the Aqua-Ruby-Ame siblings showed an enormous reaction to their parents’ kiss scene on TV and couldn’t look away.
Should they stand up and jump? Should they cover their faces with cushions? Or should they applaud their parents sitting beside them—
All three siblings were swept up in a torrent of emotions and didn’t know what to do.
"It’s okay if you push me away. If you want to push me away, then push me away."
"""!"""
It wasn’t over yet.
Hiroki, having briefly pulled his lips away, whispered to Honoka.
"I’ll come back to you again for however much you push me away. I’ll never lose you again."
Instead of answering, Honoka felt tears sliding down from between her closed eyelids and slowly bit his lips as if caressing them.
- I’m tired of beautiful love stories. I ran away because I was scared of the dreams everyone dreams.
You and I, who turned our backs on the light of the world. And yet—
Even so. There is definitely still something love can do—
There is definitely still something I can do for you.
The LADWIMPS song that had cut off after Hiroki’s running scene flowed back in softly.
The dark night sky. And the lonely streetlight that stood alone and lit up.
At last, under the streetlight, the kiss scene where the [honestly] of the two man and woman met.
Deeply, and desperately.
After the two poured everything into their kiss—
The drama ended and moved on to the preview for the next episode.
"Kyaaah...!"
"......"
Ai herself was embarrassed and squirmed her legs, not knowing what to do—
And Kaoru, in one corner of his mind, wondered whether it was really educationally appropriate to show this kiss scene to the babies.
But the drama was just a drama.
‘Director Gotanda must have... worked incredibly hard.’
Kaoru felt a little embarrassed about his own behavior—accepting his wife’s spoiled request to keep kissing her even after the cut sign.
From the difficulty of the long-take scene to the acting that demanded an extremely high level of emotional range.
The performance of himself and his wife, as seen through the screen...
‘I’ll never forget it for the rest of my life.’
Whether the family members other than himself could not escape the afterglow or not, Kaoru nodded with a smile.
"Pa, Papa!"
Ruby, her face bright red from overwhelming excitement and joy, trembled her hands and shouted toward Papa.
"It was so— so amazing! When you do it at home with Mama, you don’t do it like that— like that at all! Kyaaah!!! I might keep thinking about this every time Mama and Papa kiss now!"
"..."
"It was really the best!!! Both of you are truly the best [actors]!"
"..."
Aqua, his face flushed, sprang to his feet and clenched both fists toward his mother and father.
"Mom. Was it good? Kissing Dad."
"...Eeh? Ah, yeah... it, it was good. Hehe~★ Yeah~ actually, even after filming ended, we kept going a little longer, if I’m being honest— fufufu-"
As Ame, with a dreamy, dazed expression, asked her mother about her thoughts on the kiss scene—
Ai, embarrassed by her youngest daughter’s question yet not hiding it and speaking honestly as she was, smiled bashfully as she answered.
"Um..."
"That was really amazing!!! I’m so happy I was born as Mama and Papa’s daughter! I feel like I’m going to fly away! Kyaaah! Tonight is already over! This is definitely a multiple rewatch night!"
"Dad, Mom! Look! SNS is going crazy right now—!"
"Ame wants to become an adult soon too... when I’m an adult... like Mom and Dad... hehe..."
"Kyaaah~ I’m so embarrassed, but you’re all so happy that I’m just so happy too~! Yes yes! Kyaaah- if we ever film again, then yes~ I definitely want to do it again too~♥"
"......"
Kaoru stared blankly at his family’s rampage.
The family, each of them wildly excited and talking over one another, had become a complete chaos far beyond his ability to control.
"Haha."
Still, if the family was happy, that was enough.
The drama was just a drama, but—
Having finished adjusting to it, Kaoru let out a hearty laugh and looked at his family with a pleased expression.
"You know, Kaoru!"
"Hm?"
"...Should we do a little more, just the two of us? The kiss scene...?"
"......"
Of course, Kaoru’s real battle was only beginning now.
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