Chapter 3
That night
(Sigh… Today was seriously exhausting.)
(There are plenty of fish in the sea, but the industry only ever focuses on the people who make it big.)
(So it’s just me working all the time—Well, I should be jumping for joy over that…)
(And there’s lots of people who try to cozy up to kids with a lot of energy, inviting them to dinner and stuff. And that’s a pretty good deal, too, since it saves on food costs.)
(But a coworker isn’t your friend, and they’re not family either.)
(I have to think of a way to keep them entertained so that they’ll do their work, and so they don ’t get too comfortable.)
(But I’m really worn thin… I couldn’t even concentrate because I was too worried about those weird kids.)
(I was just all over the place today.)
(Sena-kun, Yuuki-kun, and Narukami-kun.)
(We’re from different generations, so I don’t really get involved with them, usually.)
(That’s why I don’t know basically anything about them.)
(But from what Narukami-kun said, the other two have some kind of problem.)
(I didn’t understand many of the details, but I guess it’s something like, Sena-kun’s got some over-demanding parents, or at least they’re really annoying—)
(Even today, they came in fangs bared and forced their son—Sena-kun to leave.)
(As it turns out, Sena-kun didn’t actually have any work today; he just came to see Yuuki-kun.)
(But I guess his parents went and filed a missing persons report, and then there was all this weird commotion going on.)
(Yuuki-kun was also kind of weird. When you’re that young, it’s normal for a guardian to be close by—)
(But in the end, no one who looked like his parents ever showed up at all.)
(It’s like Sena-kun was acting like a substitute parent, with how he was taking care of him and sticking so close to him.)
(But Sena-kun’s still a kid, himself. That kind of thing feels unhealthy, in a way.)
(Well, that’s their business. Narukami-kun even said not to get involved, so it’s probably better to just stay out of it.)
… ♪
…? Hm?
Uh? Wait, Yuuki-kun…?
Um, good… evening?
Oh, yeah, good evening. But hey, what are you doing out so late at night?
I was wondering the same thing this afternoon, but are your parents not with you?
Oh… So your parents are in poor health. That’s why they didn’t accompany you today.
But I mean, no matter what the reason is, they shouldn’t just leave a little kid all alone—
???
Oh, sorry. I’m using a lot of big words. Umm, Yuuki-kun. Yuuki Makoto-kun?
Yeah. I’m Yuuki Makoto.
I’ll do my best!
(With what? Or, no, it has this certain feeling, like… it was hounded into him to say that kind of thing when he’s talking to adults, so he’s just doing it without thinking?)
Umm, Yuuki-kun, did you have any business with me? Uh, no I mean, do you want to talk to me… or do something? With me?
(Argh! I keep getting jerked around by these kids, and now I’m even using baby talk! It’s so hard to deal with kids!)
Onii-chan?
Yeah. Sena Izumi-onii-chan.
Oh, that guy. So you call him your onii-chan? You must be real good friends.
Onii-chan’s real nice. Ehehe.
(Whoa, so he does laugh. When he’s smiling, he really looks his age.)
But anyway, what do you mean that you came out here to see him? The only thing at the end of this road is my modeling agency, so…?
Yeah. Onii-chan’s working there now.
Huh? Did my agency offer him a job? Or did he transfer over…?
Dunno. He gave me a map and said to come if anything happened.
Nothing happened, but I’m going. Ehehe.
(Umm… I can’t figure anything out from just talking to Yuuki-kun. I want to talk to an adult who knows what’s going on so they can explain the details to me.)
(But anyway, I can’t just leave a kid out here on the street at night.)
Hey, Yuuki-kun. If you have business with my agency, I’ll take you with me. Come on, let’s hold hands so you don’t fall.
(Gh, that makes me sound like a creep, doesn’t it? Urgh, I have no idea how to talk to kids.)
Thank you very much. Thank you for always doing so much for me.
Always doing so much for you…?
(What’s up with him… I know I was tired of the monotony of middle school and modeling jobs—)
(But who’d ask to get wrapped up in an incomprehensible situation like this?)
Makoto speaks exclusively in hiragana, which is often used for “kid-speak” in writing because small kids don’t know many kanji, if any at all, until they start learning it in school. He also uses really small and simple words and phrases because, well, he’s a kid, and he seems to throw out “set phrases” at somewhat awkward, but still relatively applicable times, which shows he’s learned (or is learning) the industry lingo but in a very childish “I don’t really get it” kind of way. It’s cute (i’m sobbing).
For the record, Makoto is still using boku as his personal pronoun like he does in the present, but as per the rest of his speech, it’s written in hiragana (ぼく) as opposed to the usual kanji (僕).