The day episode 3 aired.
For some reason, Kaoru found himself experiencing the bizarre coincidence of Ai having no schedule on drama broadcast days three separate times.
He couldn’t help but marvel at Ichigo’s godlike scheduling skills.
Ai was currently devouring the vanilla pint of Häagen-Dazs she had prepared for today, as if she meant to finish the whole thing, and was fully focused on the drama.
Ruby was focused too, eating the ice cream Ai fed her one spoonful at a time while nestled in her arms, looking ready to clamp down with her adorable toothless gums if anyone so much as touched her while she watched.
"……."
"……."
Kaoru and Aqua couldn’t even open their mouths in the face of the two women’s blazing intensity.
Especially Kaoru, who soon began to feel a faint sense of unease as he realized his own screen time in the drama would be ending soon.
"I never thought I’d end up worrying about this…"
Even when he had received the script, started filming, and even suffered through two days of outdoor shooting with a rough draft script when the writer’s strike caused the special episode to fall through.
Kaoru had listed the role’s moderate screentime and manageable filming schedule as advantages, and he hadn’t cared all that much about the drama’s popularity.
Besides… he had only acted according to the script…
"It’s the student council president’s authority."
"That’s right! That’s right! Of course it’s the student council president’s authority! How dare you try to challenge it! Nham-nham-"
"Taaah! Taaahhh!!"
Even Miyako, who had been drinking beer while the two of them cheered and squealed over the ice cream, joined in with obvious excitement.
"That kind of guy needs to be taught a proper lesson so he never acts up again!"
"……."
It had been a week since Director Sojiro had been avoiding Kaoru’s calls. Even when Kaoru tried to ask about his screen time, the director only sent suspicious replies like saying he was busy with editing or telling him not to worry.
Kaoru, breaking out in a light sweat, was finally beginning to understand what it meant to feel truly restless.
Now that episode 3 was heading into its midpoint…
Once again, the scene that should have come after the lead actors’ pointless dialogue had been pulled forward from episode 4 and inserted into the middle of episode 3.
What’s more, about a quarter of the lead cast’s lines that he remembered from the script had been cut or edited out again.
No matter how good the ratings were, was Director Sojiro really going to be all right?
"……."
Feeling conflicted, Kaoru pulled out his iPhone and checked Twitter, only to find that the real-time trend had already pushed "Student Council President" into the top three.
Only then did Kaoru truly sense that something was going wrong.
Had there ever been a drama where so much focus was placed on a supporting character with so little screen time compared to the leads?
Kaoru could confidently answer no.
"...So, what do you think of the transfer student in Class A, Class Rep Murakami?"
"He’s adapting well. Though we’re also keeping a close eye on him as a rather suspicious individual…"
"Keep monitoring his movements. And also…"
The schoolwide meeting scene with Junichi, which should have appeared in the previous episode, had been recycled into a flashback.
Kaoru’s blue eyes trembled.
This was impossible unless the director had talked it over with the writer.
What was going on?
"Eeeek! Kaoru’s on so much more today! This drama is seriously so fun!"
"Taaahhh!!!"
Unlike Kaoru’s cold blue eyes and the icy atmosphere on the TV, Ai—now buoyed by the happiness of having finished an entire tub of Häagen-Dazs—rubbed her head against the husband beside her and shouted with delight.
Kaoru quietly stroked Ai’s hair and forced an awkward smile.
"You like it that much?"
"Yep! Yep! Of course I do, when I get to see the student council president right in front of me! That scary student council president… smiles at me so kindly when he’s by my side. Heheh♥"
"Taaah!"
"R-Ruby likes it that much too?"
"Taaahhh!"
Carefully lifting Ruby, who was squirming in Ai’s arms with sparkling eyes and begging to be held, Kaoru wrapped one arm firmly around Aqua’s belly so he wouldn’t topple over.
The twins, still hugging his arm and half-lounging against him, watched the drama intently. Since they had finished an entire tub of vanilla ice cream, the sweet scent of vanilla drifted from Ai.
Somehow, Kaoru had ended up supporting three people, and now he was genuinely worried about how he’d react if next week all of his remaining screen time suddenly aired at once.
The online reaction he’d seen late was already looking bad, and if things kept going like this, there might even be an unprecedented disaster where the drama was sunk by a tidal wave of viewers.
"Huuuh."
At Kaoru’s quiet sigh, Ai turned her head slightly from where she was leaning against him and looked up at her husband.
"What’s wrong, Kaoru?"
"Huh? Ah, nothing. Haha. Lean on me more comfortably, Ai."
"……."
Ai’s starlit eyes glimmered faintly as she looked at her husband, then turned back to the drama.
It was almost time for the drama to end.
With Kaoru’s screen time held hostage, and viewers exhausted by the leads’ clumsy acting and the advertisers’ full-course PPL parade—
- It’s the end already? Wasn’t this only episode 3? (Likes 0 / Retweets )
- When does the student council president show up? (Likes 1 / Retweets 0)
- Change the title to "Coming Closer to You: Student Council President" alreadyyyyy (Likes 888 / Retweets 4.1k)
- If you nodded off and missed the middle, quietly hit like lol (Likes 1.4k / Retweets 2k)
—the complaints were pouring in in real time.
"Haaahm— I’m sleepy… so why are they even there right now?"
Miyako, after crumpling an empty beer can and setting it on the table, rubbed her sleepy eyes and asked. Kaoru, ever helpful, instantly recalled the scene number from the script and explained.
"It’s the scene where they’re discussing what to do after the club gets shut down."
"Why did the club get shut down?"
"Uh…"
At Ai’s innocent question, asked so naturally, Kaoru lost his words for a moment and fell into thought.
Right.
Ai had definitely watched both episodes 1 and 2, but aside from the scenes where he appeared, she had probably been bored enough to do other things, stare blankly, play with the twins, or grumble about when Kaoru would finally show up.
The twins, too, had never exactly looked fully awake in the parts where he didn’t appear, half-dozing in power-saving mode.
Given how hard it was to focus on the drama’s content and pacing in the first place, Kaoru was already grateful that Ai had kept watching at all.
"I… told them to shut it down. There weren’t enough people."
"Ah! I see! The student council president is really, really strong?!"
"Taaah?!"
"Taa!"
At Kaoru’s simple explanation, which showed off the force of his overwhelming authority, Ai’s starlit eyes sparkled like a little girl’s as she looked at her husband.
Kaoru wordlessly gave a thumbs-up, then snuck kisses onto the cheeks of the twin siblings, who were looking up at him with the same glittering eyes, and let out a snort of laughter.
At Miyako’s incredulous look, Kaoru cleared his throat awkwardly, then once again had to doubt his own eyes at the voice coming from the TV and tilt his head.
"Not bad."
"Huh?! Isn’t it almost over now?"
"Seems like it. Kaoru’s been showing up a lot today. Didn’t last week end with Kaoru’s face too?"
Kaoru couldn’t answer Ai or Miyako’s questions. He didn’t know the reason either.
"W-what do you mean?"
When the heroine stammered and asked what the problem was with a confused look on her face—
"……."
the student council president gave a faint smile, cold yet somehow boyish, like he had just landed a solid hit of his own.
In those blue eyes that had held nothing but cold, rule-bound logic, a trace of human warmth finally rose like spring haze.
The drama’s ending captured that warm smile in a full frontal shot, filling the screen, as if it were a flower slowly blooming in slow motion on a spring day.
The faint smile and gaze he had never once shown as the student council president. The charm of that gap, of seeing something previously hidden, brought with it a truly explosive aftereffect.
"Ah."
At some point, Ai had sat up straight instead of leaning on Kaoru’s shoulder, and now she covered her mouth with both hands and let out a small gasp, dazed.
Miyako, too, silently hung her mouth open and stared blankly at the TV.
Aqua and Ruby.
The twin siblings in Kaoru’s arms also stopped wriggling and quietly stared at the screen.
♬♪♩-
As a calm piano BGM played and the drama ended—
"Kyaaaaaaaah— Kaoruuuuuuu! Just how much more can you give ussss! Kyaaaaaaa♥"
"Oh my! Oh my! Oh my! Oh my! Oh my! Oh my! Is this for real!? It’s 100%, right? Right? It is, isn’t it? Kaoru-kun?!"
"Taaahhh! Taa! Taa! Taaahhh!?"
"Taaah…!!"
All four of them looked at the student council president at once, their eyes sparkling as they let out their excitement.
Ai, slapping Kaoru’s arm again and again with her palm while screaming in a delighted frenzy.
The twins, excited out of their minds in his arms.
And Miyako, who had gone back to the fridge for another beer.
"……."
But Kaoru himself couldn’t laugh, because he had no idea why the early part of the heroine’s conversation scene had been edited into such a sticky, sultry smile and made to close out the episode.
The die had been cast. Not by him, of course, and not on a board he had laid down either.
Resigned, Kaoru hugged his wife and the twins tightly and flung himself onto the sofa in heroic defeat.
-
< With the student council president’s smile… "Coming Closer to You" breaks past 13% ratings >
< Viewers shaken by the smile… demand surges for the fountain pen used by the student council president… >
< Peak minute-by-minute ratings top 24%… flood of parody videos online after the smile ending… >
< Reversal between the leads and the supporting cast… "By no means a desirable phenomenon" >
< The leads’ story pushed out of the spotlight… is all that remains the supporting actor’s smile? >
< Sighs over excessive PPL… where on earth are the viewers’ rights? >
After episode 3 aired, Kaoru felt as if his tongue was tying itself in knots from the fame that had begun slowly invading his everyday life.
His popularity had already been climbing steadily after "Black Rose of the Mastermind" and his first opening performance at "Grande Ensemble Tokyo" after his return.
But this was on a different level.
Before, only two or three out of ten people would barely recognize him. Now, it had reached the point where four or five out of ten recognized him as a matter of course.
"……."
"So why didn’t you just tone it down?"
"I’m being serious."
"Yeah. I’m sure you are. Slurp-"
Toshiro couldn’t hold back his laughter as he sipped his coffee.
On the way here, Kaoru had been thoroughly cornered by a group of middle school girl fans on the train, taken photos with all of them, and then escaped as if fleeing for his life. He brushed his bangs back and bit his lip.
"Why on earth would Producer Matsushige do that? Why would he pull something like this without discussing it with me even once?"
"Well…"
Dragging out his answer, Toshiro looked at Kaoru and clicked his tongue.
"You really don’t know, do you?"
At Toshiro’s question, Kaoru frowned slightly and asked back.
"...Pardon?"
So he really didn’t know. Toshiro took another sip of coffee and thought about how he could possibly open the eyes of this frustrating guy in front of him.
But no matter how he thought about it, this was beyond his abilities.
"If you really don’t know, then Producer Matsushige isn’t an idiot. He’s the one who first cast you on the street, isn’t he? He’s the very man who noticed your value before anyone else. There’s no way he’d just leave you alone. That frightening, savage bite you showed him isn’t something a director can just cover up."
"……."
"Trying to cover that up would be a complete failure as a director. If you can’t make use of an [actor] who can project the beautiful mise-en-scène you’ve dreamed of right in front of you, the very image that only existed in your imagination, then whether it’s art on screen or art on stage, that is absolutely—absolutely unforgivable."
At Toshiro’s words, spoken as both a veteran director and the head of a theater troupe, Kaoru frowned slightly and fell into thought. Toshiro set his coffee on the table and glanced at a shelf with a hole in it from long ago before saying,
"You’re a fine actor, but as a salaried worker who still has to sell a product, your mindset isn’t there yet. You don’t even know the value you yourself possess, so of course you can’t understand Producer Matsushige. And naturally, you can’t understand the interest of all the people drooling over you either. Well… maybe that stubbornness is your greatest strength."
"……."
Kaoru mulled over Toshiro’s words and still let out a short sigh, clearly dissatisfied.
He hadn’t bothered to mention it to Toshiro, but…
At school, there was already movement to bring down the current student council leadership and reelect Kaoru as student council president.
Still. There was probably no need to say that.
Ai… amazing. How could she do this…
An [idol] who could train fans however she pleased and turn anyone into a fan if she wanted.
Ai’s natural aura, shining onstage and still shining just as brightly even after stepping off it.
The qualities needed to be an actor and the qualities needed to fanservice the fans who love and adore you as an actor were entirely different categories.
Rubbing his temple, Kaoru let out a low sigh.
-
"There’s no rule in the school regulations that says you can’t establish a new club with the same nature as one that’s been shut down. It was a clever move, exploiting that loophole. Even the student council had no choice but to accept it."
"H-Hirano-kun’s help was a huge part of it. If it hadn’t been for Hirano-kun, I never would have thought of that."
"So it was him after all? Even a worm has its own tricks, they say. The academy’s biggest troublemaker finally pulled off something worthwhile."
"...I’ll work hard. I’ll do it in a way that makes everyone take notice. I’ll raise the vocal training club into the best club in the academy!"
The student council president folded a fan once, then snapped it shut with crisp precision as he walked forward.
Episode 4 ended there, and after that the student council president’s screen time vanished.
Just as expected of a supporting character from the start.
The student council president did not appear again until the end of episode 4.
"Waaah! Why isn’t the student council president showing up?!"
"Taaah!?!?"
Ai complained to Kaoru with tears in her starlit eyes, and Ruby also protested to Kaoru, whining as if throwing a tantrum.
But there was nothing to be done.
That was all the footage they had originally shot.
In the eight-episode regular run, that amount had been Kaoru’s share.
After episode 3 aired, Kaoru had expected this much, and he sweated bullets trying to calm his wife and daughter down.
"Taa…."
At times like this, it would almost be better if Aqua would throw a tantrum too, like his wife and daughter! But Aqua simply wore a dejected face, quietly accepting the cruel reality in his father’s arms and looking gloomy.
The internet and the press were in an uproar too.
After the student council president’s exit, viewers who had never once seen that face before left protest posts on the viewer boards, in news comments, on community forums, and on social media.
Even so, the broadcaster showed no movement at all.
There were even voices saying it was normal to expect too much from the student council president’s screen time when he had been a supporting character from the beginning.
As predictions flooded in that ratings would nosedive starting from episode 5, viewers declared one after another that they were done with the show in preparation for being subjected once again to the lead actors’ wooden performances, the boring progression of the plot, and the endless parade of hopeless PPL.
Amid all the noise, Kaoru—
"It’s just a passing shower. Just a passing shower. If they can’t see my face anyway, they’ll forget soon enough."
—calmed his mind once more. Even when Hasegawa Yuno of "lon-lo" cautiously asked him during an interview after the drama wrapped whether that was really the end of his screen time, Kaoru coolly answered that he would only appear briefly at the very end and in the special episode.
After all, once the two days of rough-draft shooting were edited down, there would obviously be very little left.
Kaoru watched the situation unfold with a calm attitude.
And time passed, and episode 5 aired.
"Hiiing… I wasn’t going to watch today because you weren’t in it…"
Ai, who had turned on the TV for the sake of the drama’s ratings even though her husband wasn’t appearing, patted the equally dejected Ruby and looked at the screen.
Since Kaoru wasn’t appearing anyway, Miyako had gone to her room saying she was sleepy, and Kaoru himself sat on the sofa, staring at the TV with a composed expression.
"Kaoru! Did you meet lots of fans again today?"
During the commercial break before the drama started, Ai took out her phone, set it down beside her, and asked with a small smile.
Kaoru gave an awkward smile, nodded slightly, and said,
"Uh… a little too many?"
"Aha~ Hehe… did you get hugs too?"
Feigning ignorance, she asked, and Kaoru shook his head while fiddling with Aqua’s belly.
"No. Luckily, nobody asked for that."
"……."
Ai smiled and nodded. She wanted to ask why it had happened last time, but wasn’t the important thing that it hadn’t happened this time?
Kaoru, for his part, was starting to worry that people might begin recognizing him sneaking into the Saito couple’s house late at night, and was even considering wearing a wig or doing makeup to disguise himself.
With complicated feelings, Kaoru and Ai watched the TV as the drama began.
And then—
VROOOOOOM—!!!!!
"Kyaaa?! K-Kaoru?!"
"Cough! Hack! Cough!?!"
Ai screamed in shock.
Kaoru choked the moment he heard the familiar motorcycle sound coming from the TV.
His blue eyes shook violently.
Why?!
Today was definitely episode 5.
His own screen time wouldn’t come until the graduation ceremony near the end of the regular eight-episode run.
So why.
"Why is the motorcycle scene we filmed for the special episode rough draft airing now…?"
I got fooled again…!
Cold sweat began running down Kaoru’s back.
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