"Ah, I’m late with the introductions. This friend is the ace member of [B Komachi] from [Ichigo Production]."
"Nice to meet you! I’m [Ai]!"
"……."
Sparkle
Bright smiles, a beautiful and cute face, and eyes that shone with a brilliance far beyond any of that.
The girl’s glittering [gaze] lit up the boy’s eyes as they met, creating a dreamy impression, like someone who had just seen a mirage and felt their soul being drawn in…
'What is this.'
It didn’t happen.
[Idol], [B Komachi], [Ai]?
What was that supposed to be?
Kaoru’s mind stalled for a moment at the unexpected situation.
Why on earth was an idol at a theater troupe?
For Kaoru, whose idea of "songs" had always been limited to the old American pop and jazz he listened to in his past life, this sudden idol girl invasion of the troupe was just absurd.
'More than that… this girl. She’s the one who dropped her hairpin on the train about two years ago.'
Kaoru finally remembered the girl he had seen about two years earlier, in the human hell that was the train, when he had rushed out to pick up her hairpin, grabbed her arm, and shoved it into her hand.
It had been less than a second, but the boy, with his excellent memory, had not forgotten that encounter and now recalled it.
Even so, what Kaoru had felt in that fleeting moment was this:
Unlike the current [idol] energy the girl was showing now, back then she had seemed quiet, deep, and a little dark.
But he hated unsolvable equations, so he cut off the flood of thoughts filling his head and greeted Ai with the most natural smile he could manage.
"Ah, yes. Hello. I’m Kaoru Kamiki."
"…Huh?"
As soon as she heard Kaoru’s greeting, the girl tilted her head slightly, looking like she was about to remember something.
It was as if the information in her head was hidden behind a thick curtain. The boy in front of her felt familiar, yet strangely like a complete stranger.
She’d never seen his face before, but something about him—had they met somewhere before…?
Right after meeting, the two of them were staring at each other in the air with some strangely sticky tension, as if they were boring into each other’s faces.
Realizing he’d made a mistake, Kaburagi Masaya hurriedly snapped his fingers and said, "[B Komachi] has been skyrocketing in popularity lately. The president of [Ichigo Production] has been getting nonstop calls about it, too. Since the troupe just happened to be holding a workshop, I thought it would be a great chance for Ai to learn a lot. This is exactly the age to be learning and gaining experience, isn’t it?"
At Masaya’s words, Toshiro nodded and said, "That’s right. This is the time when experience matters most. Ai, Kaoru here will guide you well, so relax and follow his lead."
"Huh? Me?"
With Toshiro’s sudden dumping of the task on him, Kaoru, unlike his usual indifferent self, was so startled that he pointed at himself.
Seeing his reaction, as if he’d just been assigned a punishment, Toshiro folded his arms with his usual stubborn expression and said, "Then who else is there? Hikaru isn’t even around."
"…I see. I’ve got the second script reading coming up soon, but fine."
"You’ve already memorized the whole script, so why are you complaining? There’s still time before the performance anyway."
"Understood."
Kaoru answered reluctantly with a sulky face full of irritation.
"……."
"Follow me."
The girl stared blankly at the boy, then seemed a little startled by Kaoru’s words as he coolly turned his back after telling her to follow.
Without realizing it, she looked up at Masaya, hesitating over what to do—
"Let’s go inside and have some tea, Producer."
"Ah, shall we? Ai, take a look around for a bit."
"Ah…"
The adult who had brought her left with the troupe head. The bright, confident [idol] image she had shown Kaoru a moment ago vanished, and she trailed after Kaoru like someone left alone in an unfamiliar place.
"……Hm."
"……."
Kaoru, for his part, was also at a loss for how to deal with the girl following just behind him rather than beside him.
It was awkward.
Kaoru was genuinely curious what the odds were of running into the girl from the train again after two years, and as an idol and a theater actor, no less.
"You can take off your hat here."
"Ah, yes."
At his words, the girl hurriedly removed her hat.
When she did, Kaoru saw the cute rabbit hairpin he had returned to her two years ago neatly clipped to her bangs, and he couldn’t help but laugh.
Was this girl [a girl who runs through time]?
She looked as if absolutely nothing had changed, from two years ago until now.
The only thing that had changed was that they now knew who each other was.
They couldn’t keep standing around awkwardly like this. Kaoru decided to show some senior dignity to the girl, who was fidgeting with her fingers while looking around the troupe.
"How old are you?"
"Ah… I’m fourteen now. My birthday is coming up soon, though."
"…You’re older than me, then. My birthday already passed, so I’m fourteen too."
"Aha~ Is that so?"
For a moment, a hint of senior pride flashed in Ai’s eyes.
"Among Ai’s fans, there are quite a few who are the same age as Kaoru-kun."
As if she were no longer the girl who had been all shrunk up just a moment ago, Ai puffed herself up, her eyes brimming with [love], just like when they first met, now that her age had been revealed.
She was an unexpectedly unpredictable, bouncy, self-paced sort of person, but Kaoru looked at her and let out a small snort of laughter before saying only, "I see."
He didn’t get dragged into her pace. Instead, he calmly pointed at the stage with his index finger.
"That stage over there is the troupe’s stage. There are lights above it. It’s hard to see because of the curtain in back, but there’s a much larger space inside."
"……Wow. Really!"
"Yes. The audience seating is 150 seats on the first floor and 200 in the basement. It’s not a huge number, but I understand it’s not small for a troupe of this size."
"……Wow. I see!"
Seeing that she was giving him nothing but forced reactions, as if she had no interest at all, Kaoru turned his head slightly to look at her.
Unlike the impression he’d had when they met on the train, her personality was impossible to pin down.
To put it simply, he got the strong feeling that something was mentally [lacking].
When she was in an unfamiliar place in front of unfamiliar people, she would shrink up with tension and caution, acting defensive and trying not to interact with the outside world much—
But when introducing herself as an idol or talking about matters related to her own work, she would suddenly pack her eyes and movements with all the [idol]-ness of a machine—
And when she was in a situation where she had to guide him around the troupe as Toshiro had ordered, she would blatantly act uninterested and show a childlike side.
After finishing his thoughts, Kaoru looked away and said in a flat voice, "Why did you come to the troupe workshop, Ai?"
"Ah—well—Producer said it would be good to gain more experience. I’m an [idol], but I’m also very interested in acting. To be loved by everyone—"
"No. That’s not what I’m asking."
"…Pardon?"
At Kaoru’s firm answer, Ai, who had been about to raise her right hand in a V and smile with her usual [love], flinched in surprise.
Eyes filled with trembling starlight.
Kaoru looked down at her with his usual indifferent expression, his much taller frame looming over her, and said again, "Why did you come here?"
"…Me? I just said it, experience—"
"No. You didn’t come here to gain experience, did you? You just came because Producer Kaburagi asked you to come, and you followed along because you didn’t want to refuse."
Kaoru instantly saw through Ai’s lie with sharp precision.
For someone who had spent his past life surviving death threats that would have killed a normal person countless times over, seeing through the lie of a girl who was only about to turn fifteen was not difficult.
To Kaoru, who showed no desire whatsoever to match her pace, Ai looked like a child being scolded. She met his eyes, then looked away, clasped both hands together, fiddled with her fingers, and bit her lip.
Kaoru’s coldness was hard to believe for a boy not even a year younger than her.
Startled by that chill, Ai fidgeted with the hem of her hoodie and shrank inwardly.
But perhaps unwilling to lose to a boy younger than herself, she quickly forced a relaxed smile and said, "…Well, if I said no, that would be a [lie], wouldn’t it? But he took time out of his busy schedule for me, so I shouldn’t refuse his kindness. I couldn’t tell Kaoru so [honestly]."
"No. It’s fine. If it felt like I was snapping at you, I apologize. I have absolutely no intention of criticizing you, Ai. Just—"
Leaving the word "just" hanging, Kaoru strode up onto the lit stage.
Ai stared at him, unable to understand why he had suddenly left her behind and gone up onto the stage.
"!"
As soon as Kaoru stood at center stage, he looked down at Ai and motioned for her to come up.
Ai, startled, looked around, then looked back at Kaoru and shook her head.
"……."
Under Kaoru’s gaze, Ai had no choice but to go up onto the stage.
Black turtleneck and jeans. Black shoes. Blond hair shining brilliantly under the lights.
Worn hoodie, jeans that showed a little knee, old sneakers. Purple hair glowing softly like starlight under the lights.
Only Kaoru and Ai stood quietly in the center of the wide stage, bathed in the dazzling stage lights.
Scattered throughout the audience seats were actors discussing the upcoming workshop group performances, or gesturing wildly to the staff while explaining stage direction.
But since it was practically impossible to fill all 150 seats, the far side beyond the reach of the lights looked as deep and empty as the night sky.
On the stage, where the whole audience layout could be seen as clearly as from a mountain summit—
"……."
Ai, who still didn’t know what she was supposed to do after climbing up, followed Kaoru’s gaze and looked out over the audience seats as well.
"You said you’re a [singer], right?"
"…More precisely, I’m an [idol] with [B Komachi]."
"When you stand on stage, do you look out at the audience like this too? The same way I’m looking at them now?"
"…Yes. The stages Ai stands on are smaller than this, and the audience is a little smaller too. But why?"
"I’m the same. We [actors] are people who tell [stories] instead of songs. The fact that you came to the [Rararai Theater Troupe] workshop to learn good things and gain experience is a good thing as a member of the troupe. In fact, I’m glad. It’ll become good nourishment for your future."
Kaoru turned his head and met Ai’s eyes.
Ai also turned and met his gaze.
Only then did she realize something.
It wasn’t just their age.
"But if you came here with your own eyes covered and your ears blocked, determined not to take anything away from this place, is there really any experience for you to learn?"
"Th-that’s—"
Struck in the heart once again, Ai thought Kaoru’s words were a little too harsh, and this time she blushed and tried to argue back.
But Kaoru was faster.
"Singer or actor, it’s the same. It’s about conveying your feelings to your fans with [sincerity]. As a song, you deliver [sincerity]. As the protagonist of a story, you deliver [sincerity]. You grab hold of the heart that feels like it’s about to burst from the praise and cheers your fans send you, and sometimes you captivate the audience fiercely, sometimes seductively. That’s what you, an [idol], do."
The boy took a big step toward Ai, strengthened his voice, drove his breath hard into his belly, and said, "Feel it."
"…Feel what?"
"Feel what it is you want to do right now. And throw off that [false mask] you’re wearing this instant. Just as you are now, enjoy [yourself]."
"……."
It wasn’t just their age.
The boy in front of her, radiating unwavering confidence and charisma, was—
In himself, [truth], an [adult], and a [star] who could shine on his own.
Only then did Ai finally understand the feeling of [desire] that filled her heart and swept through her whole body.
"……."
Kaoru did not miss the starlike eyes of hers, trembling with confusion and surprise, and took all of it into his own eyes.
Then he looked away and turned to the staff and actors below the stage, who were now watching him and Ai with great interest.
After confirming their silent praise and cheers, Kaoru met Ai’s eyes again and said with a small smile, "Thank you for going along with me, Ai. Welcome to the [Rararai Theater Troupe] workshop."
"…Huh?"
Only belatedly realizing that she had, without knowing it, become Kaoru’s acting partner, Ai—
"Eeeh?! What is this, what is this, what is this!?"
—blushed furiously under the weight of all the gazes pouring down at her from below the stage, covering her face with both hands.
Still, even in that confusion, the words Kaoru had left behind echoed like thunder in her ears and brain, and Ai blushed even harder before hurriedly jumping down from the stage.
"Eeeh—die, handsome guy!"
"So annoying~"
"Give me back my school days~ Eeee~"
"Haha, sorry~ Sorry~ Everyone, mind your own business!"
The fellow actors hurled crumpled paper and empty plastic bottles at Kaoru while showering him with complaints.
Kaoru waved them off and hurriedly climbed down from the stage.
-
Late at night, after the workshop ended.
Kaburagi Masaya and Ai stood in front of the troupe building, catching their breath for a moment.
"How was it, Ai? Today’s workshop."
Masaya asked as he took a cigarette case from inside his jacket.
Ai delayed her answer for a moment and raised her head, looking up at the tiny sparkling stars floating in the dark night sky.
"…It was fine."
"Haha. Really? Haa… Then it was worth making time for."
Chk—
Masaya gave a small smile and flicked his lighter, lighting the cigarette.
Whether she was nodding in response to his words or nodding in agreement with the boy’s words still echoing in her head.
Only Ai herself would know her true feelings.
'I don’t think everything he said was acting.'
His strong voice, the confident expression and tone, the bold gestures he showed her—Ai felt no [lie] in it at all if it was supposed to be acting.
It felt more like a kind of hug filled with [sincerity].
A hug offered to her, someone who never made a fuss but had spent all this time shrinking inward and hiding herself away.
It might have been Kaoru’s own way of greeting, or maybe a kind of pity offered because he had seen through her inner self.
'It wasn’t bad. If anything, it was strange… in a really good way.'
With that odd feeling seeping into her heart before she knew it, Ai closed her eyes for a moment and let out a shallow breath.
The breath she exhaled turned into white smoke and drifted up into the night sky.
Kaoru’s honest emotions felt like the stars in the sky—something she could see, but never hold in her hands no matter how much she wanted to.
So she wanted to reach it.
She came to [desire] it, and [admire] it.
The boy’s [sincere] gaze.
"……."
Ai opened her eyes and took out her personal phone, staring intently at Kaoru’s number saved in her contacts as if trying to burn it into her eyes.
After the workshop performance ended, during the after-party, she had gathered her courage and approached Kaoru to ask whether, if their schedules ever matched, he might teach her acting sometimes or come watch her perform, and that was how she got his number.
'He looked like a panda bear that had been stung by a bee.'
Kaoru, who had stuffed his cheeks full of kimbap until they were puffed out, apparently with a huge appetite, had accepted coolly, taken her phone, entered his number, and handed it back without a care in the world.
Ai let a faint smile touch her lips, closed her phone, and clasped both hands together at her chest.
"I feel good - ★"
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