"...So, you’re quitting acting?"
"Yes. I’m sorry to have to tell you this, President."
As Kaoru bowed his head, Toshiro stared at the boy with his usual stubborn expression, then ran a hand through his hair and let out a sigh.
He’d come back from that other company’s president with a swollen face, explained everything, and now he was saying he wanted to quit acting.
Was the girl older? Well, if she was older, then she was older. But how did a relationship that had only started from meeting at a workshop turn into something where he’d be willing to give up everything for her?
Was acting class really that fun? Then again, if you locked a boy and a girl in their prime together for hours, and both of them were good-looking, it made sense they’d hit it off.
Was this some kind of modern teen dating trend, like throwing scissors? Had they learned it from the internet?
Still, Kaoru had turned out to be a pretty manly kid. Guess my eye for people hasn’t gone completely dead after all.
But if the dating rumor was true and he accepted it and kept seeing her—ah, no, that wouldn’t do. If Kaoru quit, it would be a huge blow to him both as president and as a director.
Ah, right. Hikaru exists.
Still, it would be a little lonely without this kid... no, what am I even thinking?
"...Haa. In a way, that’s a very you way to take responsibility."
Shaking off the many thoughts flashing through his head, Toshiro leaned his elbow on the table, still with one hand in his hair.
Kaoru, who had unintentionally gotten a front-row view of the president’s slicked-back hair.
Toshiro, displaying the anguish and pathos of a middle-aged man in person, straightened up and looked at Kaoru.
"If you’ve decided that’s what you’re going to do... then do it."
"......"
"It’s not like I can stop you even if I wanted to, and this isn’t a situation I can do anything about. You’ve always been that kind of kid. You’ll probably wrap this up on your own again."
"...That sounds like something you’d say, President."
"Because I’m an "adult." You and I are both adults who grew up early in this shitty world. You deal with the things you cause yourself. That’s the motto of an "adult.""
"...Thank you."
As Kaoru bowed his head in gratitude, Toshiro waved a hand and let out another heavy sigh, still clearly shaken, then clicked his tongue.
He hadn’t expected to end up suffering like this because he got tangled up with such a strange kid. Still, over the three years he had watched Kaoru’s talent and character from the closest possible distance, he couldn’t help feeling sorry about Kaoru’s decision.
Three years was short if you thought of it one way, long if you thought of it another. But the mark Kaoru had left on his life and on the troupe had grown into something impossible to ignore.
Swallowing the lingering regret, emptiness, disappointment, and sadness that kept making him smack his lips, Toshiro picked up the barley tea that had gone cold and took a sip.
"I’ll leave your spot open in the troupe. Well, after a while, give me a call or something. Stuff like this happens all the time in this business, about as often as the weather forecast."
"Yes. I’ll come by now and then. I’m sorry it had to end like this, President. And thank you for understanding me."
"Enough with the syrupy talk. Go out there and say goodbye to the others. They’ve been worried sick, even if they were mad at you for being the youngest in the troupe and a fellow actor."
"Yes."
Kaoru stood and bowed to Toshiro.
Toshiro nodded back, took another sip of barley tea, then turned his gaze to the shelf Kaoru had put a hole in.
"Wait."
Something that had just occurred to him made Toshiro call out to Kaoru as he was about to open the door and leave. His eyes gleamed with seriousness.
"...You were the one who confessed first?"
What kind of insane question was that?
Kaoru couldn’t help letting out a laugh at the absurdity that hit him like a blow to the head.
"Are you that curious?"
"Of course I am."
"...I’ll tell you later."
Seeing through the meaning behind Kaoru’s refusal to answer, Toshiro nodded.
"I’ll wait."
After bowing once more, Kaoru left the office. The moment he closed the door, he found his younger brother Hikaru standing beside it, and with an unreadable smile, he walked over to him.
"Brother."
"Did you need something from the President? Have you eaten?"
"Yeah. Brother. I wasn’t trying to listen, but... are you really retiring? Is the rumor true? What are you going to do!"
Hikaru took Kaoru’s hand with a face full of concern.
His eyes were even watering a little, and he looked exactly like a kind younger brother worrying about his older brother.
Toshiro had told him. Hikaru had been so worried about his brother that he hadn’t even been able to eat properly.
Kaoru looked down at Hikaru in silence.
"If you’re gone... I’ll be left alone in the troupe, won’t I? Is that girl really that important to you? She’s famous too, but not more than you. You need to live, at least! Is she really worth throwing away all of your [star talent] for!"
Even when Hikaru asked with exaggerated anger, Kaoru looked down at him calmly, without the slightest shake in his expression.
Those blue eyes, shining with unwavering brilliance, were like a sun that could see straight through the truth.
Kaoru gave a faint, meaningful smile, freed his hand from Hikaru’s grip, and placed a hand on his brother’s shoulder.
"Yeah. She is."
"......"
Kaoru’s sincerity, with not a shred of [lie] mixed in. Hikaru’s eyes twitched before he could stop them, and he looked at his brother with a strange expression. The kind younger brother who had been worrying about him just a moment ago vanished in an instant. But soon Hikaru, expertly putting on tears again, grabbed the arm resting on his shoulder and said,
"I see.... If you’re saying that much, then that girl really is an amazing person in all kinds of ways."
"So, Hikaru."
"!"
Then came the terrible pain in his shoulder. Kaoru still wore that meaningful smile, keeping the gaze of a gentle older brother looking at his beloved younger brother, while tightening his grip with his right hand on Hikaru’s shoulder.
The strength was on a level Hikaru couldn’t even compare himself to. He flinched, trying to hide the crack that had finally appeared in his mask from the pain, but before he could, Kaoru met his eyes directly and spoke in a quiet voice.
"If anyone touches someone precious to me, I won’t forgive them. I’ll make them regret ever being alive. No matter who they are."
"......!"
"You, too, think of me as someone [precious], don’t you? So you understand how I feel, right?"
Hikaru broke out in a cold sweat and gave an awkward smile. By now, he didn’t even seem interested in hiding it anymore; his eyes were already glinting with black [gaze] as he looked at his brother.
Kaoru removed his hand from Hikaru’s shoulder, where the younger boy had nodded instead of answering, and passed by him.
"Take care of the troupe while I’m gone. I’m counting on you."
"......"
Hikaru clutched his shoulder from the dull pain and watched his brother’s back, a strange smile curling on his lips.
It was, at the very least, absolutely not the affectionate smile of a younger brother worried about and loving his older brother.
-
Monday morning, two days after the dating rumor was reported.
Entertainment programs, internet newspapers and magazines, and celebrity papers all began running shocking reports at once.
< Child actor 'Kamiki Kaoru' announces sudden retirement >
< "I’m deeply sorry to those who were hurt by the dating rumor... I will retire from acting." >
< "I felt miserable having my private life photographed like a criminal... hurting a close friend..." >
< Agency says, "They were just close colleagues. We’re very sorry." Dismisses dating rumor. >
< Rararai Theater Troupe representative: "We have nothing to say... We respect Kaoru’s wishes." >
The news that child actor [Black Rose of the Mastermind], who had risen to fame and was rapidly becoming the next big star, was retiring sent shockwaves through both the entertainment world and the general public.
His beautiful, handsome looks, his genius-level acting, and his quiet private life devoted only to theater until the dating rumor.
Some members of the public, having had Kaoru’s image deeply etched into their minds, criticized the indecent entertainment media that treated celebrities’ private lives like a game or a form of amusement, taking secret photos and publishing stories on a "better safe than sorry" basis. The internet was the same; in the comments under the news and on all kinds of forum boards, a fierce argument erupted over Kaoru’s retirement.
- Celebrities are people too. Besides, this kid was still a developing actor. He could absolutely hang out with a friend he gets along with, right?
- Yeah, no. He bailed because he got caught, what a punk lol
- The loser above should go outside once in a while.
- Poor Kaoru-kun! ㅠㅠㅠㅠㅠㅠㅠ
- I’m sick of these random celebrity scandal reports. Do you people still not realize this is all a scheme to hide political conspiracies?
- Damn it. I binge-watched the whole drama yesterday;
- As long as Ai-chan is safe, that’s all that matters. Fuck that bastard. Rot in hell. Ai-chan should be careful who she befriends.
- Protect Ai-chan! Protect Ai-chan! What the hell are the agency bastards doing!?
- I heard B Komachi’s Budokan concert ticket reservations open the day after tomorrow. That bastard almost ruined everything.
- What’s the point of B Komachi without Ai-chan? But wow, he really was sneaking out to meet her at night lol. Ai-chan’s pretty wild~ Kind of disappointing, maybe.
- Honestly, they looked good together... The guy’s the only one screwed now that he broke up with the girl he matched with and retired as a rising actor ww
After announcing his retirement, Kaoru cut off contact with all outside media and went only between school and home.
At school too, people whispered about him or avoided him, and there was even a commotion when reporters showed up at the school... but in the end, nothing happened.
The application period for high schools was just around the corner, and entrance exams would begin in January.
Kaoru decided to apply to Kaisei High School Academy, one of the most prestigious private high schools in the Kanto region.
Since the die had already been cast, this was also an important time to return to civilian life and prepare for the future instead of continuing as an actor.
Even when he called Ai to wish her a happy birthday, she cared more about worrying over Kaoru than celebrating her own birthday.
Her standing, which had been shaken by the dating rumor, not only recovered like a miracle thanks to Kaoru’s retirement but rose even higher, and she worked even harder as B Komachi’s ace.
Still, Ai remained deeply sorry about Kaoru’s retirement. Knowing that, Kaoru didn’t bother telling her again not to worry.
"If you feel bad, then sing even harder for me. That’s enough. If you show the fans your sincerity, I’ll gain strength from it too."
- ...Okay! I got it! Since I got Kaoru’s sincere support, I’ll do my best too★
Kaoru called Ai every day. Sometimes Kaoru called her, and sometimes Ai called first. Of course, the latter happened overwhelmingly more often.
But Kaoru never found it annoying or troublesome. On the contrary, he kept talking with her so she wouldn’t worry, soothing her fears and anxiety about the future, understanding and embracing her obsessive longing toward him in the name of love and happiness, and exchanging affection with her through constant conversation.
When Ai called at 2 a.m. in a deeply depressed, dark voice, calling out his name desperately, it was painful to think that this girl was the brightest [idol] on screen more than anyone else.
But the boy understood.
He understood the fear of finally having happiness in his hands, only to tremble at the thought of losing it again. The anxiety and restlessness of being dragged back into those dark, hopeless days of the past.
He knew Ai felt that same emotion too. No, she might have been feeling it even more strongly than he imagined. So he gave it his all.
Ai, who had been unable to hide her anxiety because she couldn’t meet Kaoru, gradually regained her stability through the boy’s efforts as time passed.
Since the year was drawing to a close, Ai, now busy preparing for the Budokan concert that was being called the "dream stage," said she probably wouldn’t even have time to call Kaoru often, and apologized, saying she’d at least send him texts.
Kaoru wanted to be there to support Ai at that historic Budokan concert, the finale that would mark her glorious rise to the top, if not for this dating rumor report. But the circumstances were absolutely terrible.
Ai, hearing her lover apologize over and over for not being able to go, shook her head so hard it seemed to come through the phone.
Kaoru, who ended up sweating buckets while comforting Ai as she grew depressed and said she wanted to see him because she felt sorry and disappointed about it being her fault, told her that he had his own busy [things to do] and would make time to contact her as much as he could.
[Things to do].
Things to do. Kaoru had things to do.
Things to resolve.
Kaoru still remembered every memory and skill from his past life, not a single letter forgotten, all intact in his mind.
The same applied to his physical senses and skills.
Living as a student in Japan, one of the five most peaceful countries in the world, and in Tokyo, the city with the lowest crime rate in Japan, Kaoru had almost never used them—so rarely that he probably couldn’t even count them on ten fingers.
And his mindset—his utterly vicious, tenacious, obsessive mindset, the kind of mindset that would ensure a mission succeeded no matter what, even if the Earth were to end in an hour after the target had been chosen—had remained exactly the same, perhaps even sharpened more than it had in his previous life.
And today, after finishing his [things to do], he finally moved on to [settlement].
"Hoo..."
Kaoru, wearing a mask and a black cap, let out a quiet breath.
When Marie died in his previous life, he had clawed his way through that hell alone, in the flesh, and eventually succeeded in his revenge. For him, the process of waiting and preparing had never been a wasted experience.
The boy already understood in his own body the somewhat dangerous and extreme belief of "an eye for an eye, a tooth for a tooth."
And when he carried that out in the real world with his own hands—he knew better than anyone in this world how to make a target tremble in fear greater than death.
That was why Kaoru pointed at the dozens of photos and cassette tapes laid out on the table and said to the other man with a cold, bloodless stare,
"...So. Are you thinking clearly now?"
"......Uh, uh, uh, th-tha-that..."
Hashimoto Kusuke, the one-man representative and reporter for [Weekly Shunsho Report], who had broken the exclusive story on the dating rumor between Kamiki Kaoru and Hoshino Ai, was terrified.
Shaking uncontrollably, not even noticing the cold sweat pouring down into his eyes, he lowered his head to avoid Kaoru’s sharp gaze.
Dozens of photos on the table, taken while stalking and tailing him.
Photos of him entering a motel with a minor for compensated dating, photos of him going into an illegal establishment and drinking with entertainment industry contacts while receiving hospitality.
Not to mention the phone recordings—how in the world had he gotten them? Recordings involving private matters, including compensated dating and other unspeakable sexual misconduct, and even recordings of schemes with people from the other side to ruin some celebrity with whatever rumor they could cook up.
Even worse—
"I-I’m dead if that gets exposed too."
He even had the recording tape of a scandal tangled up like a spiderweb between the underworld and the political world, recorded while speaking with a journalist he knew.
Not only that, Kaoru pulled new photos out of a paper bag and placed them on the table—photos of people other than him.
When Hashimoto Kusuke checked the faces of the people in the photos, he couldn’t even speak, only opening and closing his mouth.
"Hashimoto Sakura, 20 years old. Your daughter. Hashimoto Sadako, your elderly mother living in Gunma Prefecture. Morishita Futaba, your ex-wife."
"......"
"There are only two things I want. Or maybe one."
"......"
Hashimoto Kusuke looked at Kaoru with eyes shaking in terror.
He had never once had the guts to act smug and say, go ahead and leak it if you want.
Setting the photos aside, he had no idea that Kaoru would also have the files from a safe that could only be opened with fingerprint recognition, the files on a hard drive protected by a password, and even the recordings from his phone.
It was the most horrifying thing he had ever experienced in his life.
This was different.
Completely different.
He had never dreamed that every move he made was being watched, that he was being tailed, and that all the personal information on the people around him had already been thoroughly dug up.
Was this [Revenge]?
Was this boy not just an actor? Was he not just an ordinary boy about to enter high school? Was he not just a good-looking child actor who happened to be good at acting? Was he a special forces operative? A secret weapon hidden and controlled by the government? A spy from the Cabinet Intelligence and Research Office?
Looking at the boy before him, Hashimoto Kusuke felt his entire sense of common sense collapse into despair.
When Kaoru denied the dating rumor as baseless after retiring about a month after the report, Hashimoto Kusuke had laughed until his stomach hurt.
He’d said the kid was clever for his age.
He’d boasted to the hostesses beside him that the boy couldn’t fool his eyes and that, given time, he’d teach him a lesson properly with a follow-up report.
But now, only at this moment, had Hashimoto Kusuke finally realized it.
He had messed with the wrong person.
"Who tipped you off?"
Hashimoto Kusuke immediately dropped to his knees, making the most pathetic face in the world, and frantically clasped his hands together.
"I, I, th-the- if I tell you, th-these things are all-"
"......"
Without a word, Kaoru took out his phone and held up the screen showing a phone number right in front of Hashimoto Kusuke’s disgusting face.
The bright light from the phone illuminated the sweat-soaked skin around Hashimoto Kusuke’s eyes.
"...Ghk..."
His beloved daughter’s phone number.
Without a doubt, Sakura’s number.
Going limp, Hashimoto Kusuke slowly shifted his gaze and looked into Kaoru’s eyes, which were staring at him with a cold expression.
"Who tipped you off?"
The same question repeated like an emotionless machine.
Hashimoto Kusuke stared blankly at the dozens of photos and cassette tapes on the table.
Every human being has someone precious to them.
Whether they were a bloodless corporate raider,
a dictator who slaughtered millions,
a vile entertainment reporter who lived by selling celebrity gossip and rumors,
or a boy blackmailing that reporter after digging up everything about him.
If someone touched that precious person, whoever they were would have to pay the price. That was the way of the world.
Hashimoto Kusuke had now finished preparing to answer sincerely, in order to protect the family that would otherwise become the next victim.
"I-it was sent anonymously... by courier... It, it arrived by quick delivery. A-about six A4 pages printed with you and B Komachi’s Ai, s-saying you were having an affair. I, I really didn’t believe it at first! If you get photographed, it’s a problem if you just deny it all and say it isn’t true!"
"......"
"So I thought I’d wait about three months, and th-then I started investigating the people around you too. The, the retirement was a complete surprise! I’m sorry, I’m sorry. Please spare me! If this all gets out, I’m dead! I’m really dead! Just spare my life! I won’t do it again, I swear! I’ll live like a mouse! I’m sorry! Please, at least my family! I’ll pay for everything, I swear!"
Click—
Thud.
"...Eh...?"
Kaoru took a recorder from inside his coat, stopped the recording, pulled out the tape from inside, and set it on the table.
What?
With a dazed, almost deranged look in his eyes, Hashimoto Kusuke stared at the final tape Kaoru had placed on the table, and the inside of his pants grew warm.
Kaoru, taking his eyes off the man whose mind was no longer functioning normally, stood from the chair with his usual indifferent expression.
Leaving the photos and tapes on the table as if to make a point, the boy opened the office door as though his business was finished.
Cold wind slipped into the office through the opening.
Kaoru paused for a moment, turned his head, and looked at the stone-still Hashimoto Kusuke before speaking in a quiet voice.
"Now you can choose."
But Hashimoto Kusuke gave no answer, only kneeling there blankly and staring into space.
Kaoru closed the door and stepped out of the office, crossing the dark road with not a single light in sight.
Pure white snow fluttered through the cold wind. The flakes caught in the streetlight looked sharp and biting.
Only then did he suddenly remember that today was the first snowfall in Tokyo.
"...I miss her."
Thinking of the one person he wanted to see most at this very moment, Kaoru exhaled a white breath and quietly walked on.
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