August 8.
The film
"You in the Time That Falls Like Rain"
opened and kept drawing crowds day after day. Local reports also covered its invitation to the non-competitive section of the Venice International Film Festival, which would be held in September.By the last day of August, the movie had won over audiences with the story of a son who is sent back to the past by rain that turns back time, and struggles to save his mother, who died in a mysterious accident. In just one week, it surpassed two million viewers.
The overwhelming consensus was that Kaoru Kamiki’s full-bodied performance, bursting with emotion, carried the film from beginning to end.
As its popularity and fame soared, he calmly kept up his activities, even granting an exclusive one-on-one interview to
"Cinema Junpo"
, Japan’s most prestigious and authoritative film magazine.After the release, he appeared on high-rated variety shows and talk shows to promote the film. Once his schedule was done, Kaoru made one final appearance on
"XMAPxXMAP"
, where Ai had once appeared, together with Aragaki Satomi.He went on
"XMAPxXMAP Bistro"
with Aragaki Satomi, greeted the XMAP members, and met Takuya Kusanagi and Tsuyoshi Inagaki for the first time.Kaoru met two famous actors who were senior veterans of the entertainment world and still active to this day.
"It’s a pleasure to meet you. I’m Kaoru Kamiki."
"Ah! Nice to meet you, Kamiki-kun! I really enjoyed the movie!"
"Nice to meet you! Seeing you in person, your aura is on a whole different level."
At Kaoru’s polite greeting, delivered in person in their waiting room, both Takuya and Tsuyoshi welcomed him with smiles. They were both outstanding actors, so they could immediately see Kaoru’s talent at a glance.
Soon the recording began, and Aragaki Satomi’s easy poise, together with Kaoru’s serious, unpretentious honesty, was more than enough to carry the show.
After successfully finishing all the promotional work for the film, Kaoru returned to the troupe and resumed performing. No matter how you looked at it, the theater was the most comfortable refuge for him.
Even after that, drama offers, other film scripts, and casting requests kept pouring in nonstop, and with commercials and photo shoots filling his days, September drew near.
And then—
"……."
Kaoru received a message through an end-to-end encrypted program, reporting that the astronomical amount of dollars he had accumulated in his past life had been safely deposited beyond the reach of surveillance in banks in Switzerland, the Virgin Islands, Panama, Europe, and even Southeast Asia.
The role of the so-called asset managers was more important than anything else. They had to manage assets worth as much as tens of trillions of won while evading the eyes of financial authorities and governments around the world, so the cost of paying them was enormous, proportionate to the risk.
Kaoru knew very well the ecology of people who could never live under the sun, so he gladly paid the staggering sum. It was an investment in the future, a provision for his own plans.
From his past life, Kaoru had personally seen and understood the process by which cash of unclear origin, nominee accounts, nominee trusts, real estate, and bearer bonds—money far beyond anything visible on the surface—slipped out of management and flowed into every corner of the world. It was an open secret that even governments secretly made use of it and quietly built slush funds of their own.
Like currents deep beneath the sea, far below the surface. Invisible, yet impossible to measure by ordinary means.
After a long, long time, Kaoru confirmed the cash assets that had been safely deposited in banks within Japan.
The role of the
"dummy company"
he had established in Panama was also over. The investment stakes held by companies he had set up in the Middle East and Europe had done their job perfectly as insurance cards for the private investment company he had already established in Japan.With that, the assets, now completely laundered and freed from tax, legal, and administrative problems, would become the
"spear"
and"shield"
that protected his family."……."
A long list of Japanese media companies and bank holding companies, neatly organized in an Excel sheet on the monitor.
A faint red
"starlight"
bloomed in his cold blue eyes.-
September 12.
The day Aqua and Ruby turned three, and the day they would undergo
"Shichi-Go-San"
!"Kyyaaah—♥ So pretty, Ruby!"
Ruby wore a kimono made from expensive, high-quality fabric, with flowers beautifully embroidered across a gorgeous arrangement of crimson and red.
"Kyyaaah—♥ So cool, Aqua!"
Aqua wore a kimono made from the same expensive, high-quality fabric, with flowers beautifully embroidered across a striking arrangement of deep blue and sky blue.
Ai’s star-bright eyes shone as she kept snapping photos with her phone, trying to capture Aqua and Ruby’s adorable, precious expressions.
Miyako was no different.
"Aqua! Look this way!"
"Ruby~♥ How about a peace sign?"
"……."
The two of them worked hard to capture every last bit of the twins’ unforgettable cuteness in photos.
What a scene, right there in the studio where they had come to take pictures.
Ichigo let out a long sigh and shook his head, feeling embarrassed on behalf of the mother and daughter pair’s shameless enthusiasm.
"All right! We’ll begin the shoot!"
"Ah, yes, yes. Come on, then."
When the photographer, who had entered the waiting room, said the preparations were complete, Ichigo answered and led Miyako, Ai, and the twins into the studio.
Since they were still publicly known as the Saito couple’s children, the studio schedule listed them as
"Saito Aquamarine"
and"Saito Ruby"
.Ai’s heart ached a little when she saw that, but she quickly pushed it aside and smiled brightly.
Even though Kaoru couldn’t be here, she was happy just to be able to take photos with Aqua and Marin as their mother.
[Next Shichi-Go-San, our whole family can take a picture together. Don’t worry, Ai. That will definitely happen.]
Hearing her husband’s warm voice through the phone, Ai felt the pain she had been carrying in her heart, and had been trying so hard to ignore, melt away.
Just as Kaoru had promised, just as she believed, just as she truly loved her family.
Surely, a few years from now, they would be able to celebrate special days together as a complete family, and be captured in a single photograph.
For the sake of someone precious. She endured, held on, and made that resolve once more.
"All right! Taking the picture!"
Aqua and Ruby smiled brightly, and the Saito couple and Ai also turned toward the camera with happy smiles.
Click.
-
Time passed, and October arrived.
Ai’s solo photobook was published and took first place in weekly sales both online and offline, while the film
"You in the Time That Falls Like Rain"
was on the verge of surpassing ten million viewers.Amid all the celebratory news, the atmosphere in a private room at an upscale Japanese restaurant in Tokyo’s Minato Ward was heavy and subdued.
That was because Rentarou and Ichigo were meeting in secret.
"I-I’m pleased to meet you, sir. I’m Rentarou Murakami of Stani-On."
Rentarou, who had arrived first, bowed politely to Ichigo and handed over his business card. Ichigo was one year older and a senior in the industry, after all.
Ichigo accepted the card and returned the greeting with equal courtesy, bowing in kind.
"Yes. It’s a pleasure to meet you. I’m Ichigo Saito of Ichigo Production."
When Ichigo handed over his own business card, Rentarou took it and gestured for him to sit.
"Please, have a seat! The food should be out soon. Haha. And some drinks too…"
"No. No, that won’t be necessary."
It wasn’t the time for drinking, and neither was he in the mood. At Ichigo’s sharp refusal, Rentarou licked his dry lips and sat down.
It was a time when they should have been celebrating the good news, but the faces of the two agency heads looked as dark as if they were ten minutes from death.
The mood was so heavy that anyone seeing them would have mistaken the place for a funeral parlor.
Even after the ordered dishes arrived and the waiter withdrew, the two men remained silent, staring at the table and not even picking up their chopsticks, as if they had agreed in advance.
Neither the timid Rentarou nor the easygoing Ichigo said a word.
They only swallowed dryly in silence.
"...So."
"So..."
"Ah, please go first."
"Ah, yes... Ahem!"
When Rentarou yielded first, Ichigo cleared his throat and began.
"I appreciate you making time despite how busy you must be."
"Oh, not at all."
"The reason I asked to meet you like this, to be honest, is... as you can probably guess... to discuss
"that issue"
.""Yes. I was fully expecting that..."
"...I thought that if you had any plans for how you intended to handle it, we should share them and try to minimize the damage as much as possible."
"Hoo..."
Rentarou let out a sigh so deep it seemed to sink the ground itself, then nodded at Ichigo’s words.
That was exactly what he wanted to say. Tears shimmered in his timid eyes.
Plans.
Plans...?
At this point, more than a month had passed, almost two, since he learned the truth. Was there even such a thing as a plan?
Rentarou looked at Ichigo with a detached smile, like someone with five minutes left to live, and said,
"I... for now... am thinking of focusing on the reporters..."
"……."
That doesn’t solve anything at all, does it?!?!?!?
At the dying smile on Rentarou’s face, Ichigo’s eyes behind his sunglasses trembled violently as cold sweat broke out.
He had thought Rentarou would have some kind of plan. He was one year younger, but he had heard rumors that he was sharp and highly capable at his job, so he thought he might have some insight.
Instead, Rentarou’s watery eyes clearly seemed to be asking for advice from him.
Ichigo gulped down a mouthful of cold water and set the cup down.
"...I see. I... have been trying to quietly line up as many journalists I know as possible in advance, but..."
"……."
Another suffocating silence fell.
Rentarou stared at the beautifully arranged sashimi on the table with a hollow look, like someone with only a minute left to live.
Before long, his own fate would probably end up stripped down to bone and flesh just like that.
Ichigo seemed to feel the same way, because he pushed his sunglasses up and let out a long sigh.
"...As you probably know from the details, I adopted Ai when she was twelve."
"Yes. That must have been a difficult decision..."
"Back then, she was just a kid in an institution, and I figured it would be better to put her on my family register than leave her under a guardian. It wasn’t something I started out of any moral noble cause."
"……."
"A little while ago... I got a call saying the dissolution of adoption review had been completed. Legally, Ai is no longer my foster daughter. As I understand it, they’re going to the court now to change her surname and handle the family register and all that... It feels strange, really."
Rentarou listened quietly to Ichigo’s words. Ichigo had not come here simply as a
"president"
. Rentarou could easily tell that he was sitting here as both a"president"
and a"father"
.Ichigo frowned, sighed, and scratched the back of his head.
"Maybe other people don’t know, but I did my best for Ai. I know the others complain that I favor her. It’s not just because she’s more popular than the others.
You know this too, sir, but that’s how human hearts are, isn’t it?
You want to give more food to the child who can’t eat enough, and buy more for the one who’s sick, right? A kid who grew up in an institution, who knows nothing about the world, who says so casually that she’s never been loved by her mother—what else am I supposed to do for her?"
"That’s right, sir. I agree completely. I also had a rough upbringing myself, and I suffered because of the company, so I really wanted to treat Kaoru as well as anyone else, if not better. Let alone you, who raised her as if she were your own child..."
Ichigo let out another sigh.
He remembered the first time he saw Ai on the street.
He remembered the face of that little kid who had grown up in an institution, who said she didn’t know how to love, smiling as if nothing mattered, with dead eyes.
Back then, he had simply said that lying would be enough if it was to scout her, and that he didn’t care about anything else.
But now it was different.
He had grown older, gone through all kinds of things, and his heart had softened. He was worried sick. Kaoru was a boy, yes, but Ai was an idol and a girl. The dating rumor had luckily ended up as false reporting, but she had hidden her pregnancy and even suspended activities for a year after giving birth. Even after her return, she had to say
"I love you"
dozens, even hundreds of times a day to fans as part of her marketing as an idol.For Ichigo, who understood the ecology of the idol world better than Rentarou, it was obvious that once the truth came out, the public—always trying desperately to see only what they wanted to see—would point fingers and hurl abuse at Ai.
That was why he was so worried about the terrible pain she would have to endure.
"There’s no... real answer to this, is there? Even if we entertain hundreds or thousands of reporters and slip money to newspapers... this... will people really..."
"No. She’s going to get hurt a lot. Kaoru knows that, and Lady Ai probably... is prepared for it too. Aren’t the two of them probably more scared and more burdened than we are? They aren’t alone, after all—they have babies too."
"……."
But instead of timidity, Rentarou looked at Ichigo with eyes full of trust and said,
To the discouraged, worried Ichigo, Rentarou spoke the feelings he had come to understand.
"Kaoru is wiser and more mature than I am. He’s the kind of guy who has run himself ragged, doing everything he possibly could for his family to get this far, isn’t he?"
"……."
"Besides, he must have spent his whole life hiding like this. Kaoru told me that he could never leave Aqua and Ruby as people who would never be blessed.
Lady Ai feels the same way. No, I’d bet she feels it even more deeply than Kaoru does. She’s their mother, after all."
"……."
"Parents are strong. I believe in Kaoru. If it’s him, he’d do anything to protect Ai and his own children.
If I were Lady Ai, I’d believe in Kaoru too. There’s no way she wouldn’t have expected what you were thinking, sir.
Still, if the two of them chose this for themselves, then we—well, as adults with a few more years on us—have to do something. We have to do something, anything, to help them, don’t we?"
"……."
Ichigo looked into Rentarou’s eyes. They were shimmering with tears. Just as he treasured Ai, Rentarou treasured Kaoru.
Faith and trust.
If someone threw a stone at Ai, if someone threw a stone at Kaoru.
They were the kind of people who would leap in without hesitation, ready to take that stone in their place.
Rentarou and Ichigo. In that moment, they could understand each other’s hearts.
"……."
Memories rose and passed through Ichigo’s mind.
The day he first met Ai. The day he first brought her onto the stage. The countless days she had caused him trouble with her outlandish antics.
The day the dating rumor with Kaoru broke.
The day in a parking lot on the outskirts of Tokyo when she stopped him from throwing a punch at Kaoru, and became a woman who knew how to protect the one she
"loved"
.The day she came running to him, hugged him, and thanked him for allowing Kaoru. The day she told him she was pregnant, the cheeky little brat. The day she endured labor while waiting for Kaoru to arrive on a flight, clutching her swollen belly.
The day she held Aqua and Ruby in her arms and learned how to smile as a
"mother"
.The day she finally returned, and could smile with
"sincerity"
instead of"false mask"
.The days she smiled while hugging her husband, and smiled while hugging the twins.
And now, at last, she smiled with genuine sincerity and understood the meaning of living and of happiness.
So...
"...I see. She’s not a child anymore. She’s all grown up."
The twelve-year-old girl had grown into the mother of two children, the wife of one man, and Japan’s most famous idol, shining brilliantly like a star.
As an adult deciding her own present and future, Ichigo shook his head with a faint smile.
"Honestly... it seems like not only do the years keep adding up, but the worries do too."
"Haha... I always feel that way too."
With the atmosphere and their hearts much lighter than before, the two men let out snorts of laughter.
If there was no right answer, if they couldn’t avoid it, if they had to go through it.
"Would you like a drink?"
At Ichigo’s question, Rentarou grinned and said,
"I usually don’t drink, but for some reason, I feel like drinking today."
"Haha—there are days like that. Days when you want to drink until your nose is crooked! And the food is great too!"
"I’ll ring the bell."
Ding-dong.
In time with the clear chime of the bell, the two men burst into laughter.
Comments (0)
Please log in to leave a comment. Login or Register