Bölüm 22

[AI ERROR / SAFETY BLOCK - RAW ENGLISH RETAINED]

“So summer break will end eventually.”I finally brought up the topic at work.

Mr.Matsuda realized what I meant and tucked in his head.He gave me a wary look.

“S-so?”

“I already bought what I wanted, so once summer break ends—”

“No!Don’t say it!”He cut me off before I could tell him I wanted to quit.“You’re abandoning me, Ry?!”

“I’m not ‘abandoning’ you; it’s not such a big deal…”

He had switched to calling me “Ry” now.Maybe he just got tired of “Ryo-Ryo,” or maybe he just found it too long a nickname.

“You just have to hire someone else.”

“What if we can’t find a man as good as you?!”

Does it have to be a man?

“Look harder.”

“See, hiring people is like pulling a loot box.It is exactly the same.”

“Oh, now that’s an analogy I can understand.”

He had gotten better with handling technology after I told him about this mobile game, which he really got into.Now he was raising idols in real life and within a game.

“A-hem.So, about Fushimi, how’s she been doing?”

Don’t just change the subject.

“She was really bummed out about failing the audition, but now she seems fine.”

We had just made plans to go to the summer festival with everyone.

“I see.That’s good.Would you mind telling her to come join my agency if she wants?”He stood up and gave me his business card.“Here, give her this.Tell her to come if she wants to seriously break into the industry.”

“Okay.”

I put the card away in my wallet so I wouldn’t lose it.

“She’s good enough to get to the last stage of the audition, and considering she’s childhood friends with Aika, maybe we could even make them a unit?”

I tried picturing Fushimi as an idol.

And if she was to form a group with Himeji… I could only picture something out of a shounen manga—rivals joining hands to take down a greater force.

In any case, she didn’t seem to have interest in that field.She probably wouldn’t do it.

“By the way, did Aika tell you she passed?”

“Yes.She told me the same day you told her.”

“I’m glad the director recognized her talent.I’m doubly glad because that also means my judgment was correct.”

After filming with her, I realized she had the charm to carry a whole project.She had the star quality, the charisma.

To think I had the opposite impression not so long ago.She must have just lacked the acting experience.

Maybe the person who had selected the winner felt the same way.

Though her charm clashed with her overly high self-esteem…

“She would also be great as a singing actress, not only an idol,” Mr.Matsuda said.

“From what I can tell from our film project, I think Fushimi’s better.”

Mr.Matsuda giggled.“There are lots of skilled and cute girls.But Aika has this special something.”

Why ask Fushimi to join the agency if you think that, then?

He correctly guessed what I was thinking and told me that he had high expectations for her future.Something that wasn’t taken into account in auditions.

“But you’re right, Ry.Aika’s still pretty bad.”

“Yet she passed.”

If Fushimi had better acting skills than Himeji… I wondered if there was another girl who was even better than Fushimi.

“Hopefully you don’t find this disappointing, but…,” he warned.“They told me on the phone that they liked her history of quitting the idol industry.I mean, the director wasn’t big on it, but the producer liked the drama aspect—a girl who ran from the idol field in tears, now returning to the stage once again, this time as an actress.”

“Did you tell Himeji that?”

“I would never.I can’t let her turn it down because of that.You see, this industry, that Aika’s already knee-deep in and Fushimi’s trying to enter, is a dog-eat-dog world.Sometimes we adults must play dirty.”

So technically, Fushimi didn’t lose.

I didn’t want to dampen Himeji’s pure excitement for having won, though, so I erased this whole conversation from my brain.

“Was she happy when she told you about it?”

“Yes, she was beaming.”

“I can imagine.So are you rooting for her?”

“Of course.”

“Would you help her out if you had the chance?”

I feel like there was something off in the way he phrased that.

“…Yes.If there’s anything I can do.”

“I was so sure of it when I saw how her expression changed after we ran into you that day.”He meant when I’d met her right after seeing Fushimioff for the audition; Himeji was restless up until then.“I felt it would be okay if she fell in love, if she got hurt and cried, if it was with you.She’d be able to use that experience to help further express her emotions.She’s too pure as she is now.”

He then asked of me:

“That’s why, for her sake, I want you to be her boyfriend.”