Chapter 6

—It was like that, essentially.

Speaking badly of them will only cause offense, but each one of those children had many problems in their lives. They really did put me through the wringer.

If I may be frank: I was still in middle school at the time. It was simply too much for me to handle.

—I can imagine. C-kun in particular—His parents seemed to be quite the nuisance.

Well, I am exaggerating in a few places, so don’t take all of this at face value.

But it seems both C-kun and his parents have calmed down considerably since then.

I do want to follow up with that and say I can understand how his parents felt, at least a little bit.

They raised him with the utmost attention and care, and he was a good boy who listened to everything they said—

And then their precious son began to change right under their noses. And it was all because of C-kun’s close relationship with B-kun.

Supposedly, the parents had a strong attachment to their son, and they got anxious about this.

And so that excessive love and affection probably turned into jealousy, and it manifested as excessive meddling in their son’s life.

But regardless, adults should be able to control their emotions better than that.

At the very least, I wished they would have respected and prioritized their son’s feelings a little more—and I still think that even now.

That kind of overbearing control and protection can absolutely be a form of violence.

……

Oh, apologies. This was just supposed to be a follow-up, but it turned into some scathing gossip. Should we change the topic?

I haven’t even gotten to that all-important story of the department store, so I’ll skip ahead in time just a bit.

You seemed to be interested in the incident, after all. It happened some time after C-kun transferred to my agency.

Hey, Kunugi.

…Call me Kunugi-senpai at least. I’ve been around longer than you, and I’m older, okay?

Cuckoo Bee-senpai.¹

What part of me’s a bee?! That’s nowhere near my name, even if you are trying to make a play on words.

Shut up, you’re sooo annoying.

I wish you’d stop calling anything and everything annoying or gross or whatever. Seriously, this is exactly why kids these days are…

(…Well, I am glad he can talk to us more normally, especially compared to how he was when he first transferred to the agency.)

(Fufu, as easygoing as I am, I’d still probably blow my top if a full-on adult took that kind of attitude with me, but when I remember they’re just cute little kids, it doesn’t really bother me.)

…What’re you smiling about. That’s gross.

Do you just try to piss everyone off whenever you speak? If you aren’t more considerate of others, you’ll never make any friends, you know.

As long as I have Yuu-kun, I’m fine.

Right. In order to be with Yuu-kun, I need you on board.

Huh? What do you mean? Yuu-kun is Yuuki-kun, I know that, but hasn’t he been getting more and more successful lately…?

Duh, it’s Yuu-kun.

But whatever, just… ngh.

Ngh?

Ngh…!

I can’t understand you if you just make noises. …Umm, so what’s this poster?

Whoa, don’t shove it at me!

Yuu-kun, is he in this movie? Like, performing in it?

Hmm… Has he been getting into acting?

I don’t know if I like that they’re making him do so many things, since he’s so young.

But do you think he’ll be okay? Yuuki-kun seems like a pretty timid kid, so can he even act in front of people?

I’m gonna be in that movie too.

Huh, really? I haven’t heard anything about that. Congrats, though…?

Fufu, I’m glad, actually. You’ll get to work with your friend.

…If I don’t, Yuu-kun’s gonna go splat. So, umm, I have to be in the movie too.

So Kunugi…senpai, please tell me what I need to do to make that happen.

…?