Chapter 6

Ngh, sob… Yuuta-kuuuun…

—Kukuku. You seem quite troubled.

Th–that voice?! I don’t even have to look to recognize that way of talking! Sakuma-senpai!

What’s shakin’~ ♪ Are you here to get something to drink? There’s a new kind of tomato juice out—It’s in the vending machine right now.

Hm, that does sound nice. I’ll make sure to get some later ♪

…But never mind that. I happen to have nothing scheduled for me in the afternoon, so I’ve been spending it doing some reading in my room.

But a certain someone made contact with me, so I dropped everything and came over to the ES building.

Dropped everything? Why, did something happen? Then why’re you worrying about me—You need to get to the scene of the crime (?)…

In a sense, this is the scene of the crime. And just as I was told, I found you, breathing out a heavy sigh.

……

…Umm, then was there some kinda trouble in CosPro maybe?

Kukuku, it helps that you’re so quick to pick up on things. Because he’s in the same agency as you and Yuuta-kun, Kagehira-kun happened to oversee what happened between you two.

The atmosphere must have been quite heavy: He called Itsuki-kun without any delay, and Itsuki-kun called me…

And thus I came rushing over to find you.

Urgh, I can’t believe we got other people wrapped up in this. I’ll have to tell them I’m sorry later…

You don’t have to worry about me. I am A-okay, so maybe you could go check on Yuuta-kun instead?

I did actually see Yuuta-kun while I was searching for you.

He was wolfing down some alarmingly spicy food… He seemed entirely absorbed in it, so I passed him by.

He said he was going to cool his head though! And then he just went after the spicy food anyway…?!

(whispering) Of course, it appeared that someone else had already made his move on Yuuta-kun.

Mm? What’d you say?

I was merely worrying about him. Will he really be all right eating so much spicy food…?

In any case, it was specifically you I wanted to speak with.

Me…?

No matter what may come to pass, you both will always be my beloved, precious children.

Though during the SS Qualifying Rounds, I was quite lonely watching you get so friendly with Kaoru-kun.

And during the Finals, we hardly found the time to speak to each other. So come now, let’s take this opportunity to talk, Hinata-kun.

You’re lonely…? What are you, my girlfriend?

Well, when you put it that way, I guess I was in the mood to talk to someone.

I’m pretty much the only one who doesn’t have anyone fussing over them, so it does make me feel like I can talk to you. Is this reverse psychology or something?

Fufu, come at me with whatever you’d like ♪ I can keep a secret; I won’t tell a soul ☆

Wow, you’re really getting into this!

…But you already know something happened between us, don’t you?

Then I don’t really have anything to hide, and I don’t want to make you worry any more than you already have…

So I guess as Aoi Hinata from 2wink, I should show my sincerity and respect to you.

Hm… Would I be going too far in saying you’ve nothing to worry about in using me as a confidante?

Ahaha… You can go as far as you want. I still can’t be completely honest with you either, after all.

……

But even if you wanna chat, I have no idea what we should chat about…

Even though I do think I’m one of the more charismatic ones out of the idols who’re treated like noobs.

But honestly, I’m really not that good at talking about personal things. So if you could be patient with me even if I stumble over things here and there, I’d appreciate it.

Umm, so. The truth is I—

—I know it’s a long story, but the TLDR is that Hinata-kun made Yuuta-kun say some pretty terrible things…

And even though I made him say those things, I couldn’t even say anything back, and that just pissed him off even more. That’s the worst part of it all.

Hmm…

I guess this is the price I have to pay for always running away, huh… That’s what it feels like, at least.

I can turn my back on everything when I’m running away, but when I have to face him head-on I have no idea what I should even do. I don’t know how to butt heads with him at all.

And if I could butt heads with him, if I ever let out my true feelings and something I said hurt him even a little, I know I’d regret it forever—

That’s why I’m trying not to step on his toes! Yuuta-kun is just so cute, he’s way too cute!

Try not to let your feelings overtake and deceive you. I’m aware you must be embarrassed to reveal your weakness like this, but…

Weakness… Ngh, I guess so.

It’s like, once I saw how strong Yuuta-kun was, I started seeing how weak I really am.

In the Qualifying Rounds, during SDS. Yuuta-kun carried out all the plans… because he had a power I could never, ever have.