Chapter 1

—And you know what happened next.

I deftly suppressed the unidentified monster—the kigurumi man.

I launched a surprise attack from behind. Forgive my methods for being a little cowardly.

I’m no tokusatsu hero, but I had no other options; we had been driven into a corner.

But with that, we were able to survive the odd situation safe and sound.

Then the kids, scared out of their minds, were taken into custody by the police and their parents, who were all worried sick.

Their precious children had gone missing and then were attacked by a suspicious person…

As you can expect, Sena-kun’s—sorry, I mean C-kun’s parents weren’t even able to lose their tempers.

They just sobbed as they held their beloved C-kun tight, and they didn’t move for a while.

And even though A-kun’s home was devoid of warmth, his family rushed to come get him, all in a frenzy—

They apologized for leaving him alone, and it seems they’d had a change of heart.

B-kun’s mother, who’d raised him all alone, even fainted from relief the moment she held him in her arms.

My parents, too, obviously had been worried and rushed over, but they were the first to get their bearings.

Despite all the chaos, the incident at the department store more or less resolved with a happy ending.

It was afterward that took a turn for the worse.

The aim and purpose of that suspicious costumed person has never been uncovered, but it seems they were attacking and incapacitating the security guards.

They slipped in through a backdoor, cut off power to the elevators, then began to target us on a whim.

Naturally, the department store was blamed for the negligence of their security and their lack of awareness toward crime prevention.

Of course, the agencies I and B-kun belonged to were also accused of mismanagement for allowing their models to get involved in such an incident—

And as a result of all the trouble, the movie that B-kun was supposed to star in, Kleiner Faust, was canceled, and the whole thing was shelved.

Lately, B-kun has been working as an actor once again, and it seems there’s been talk that it’ll be picked up again to capitalize on the buzz.

This time, though, the film won’t be about “kleiner” Faust.

…Will B-kun be Dr. Faust, the man who obtained everything and was still unsatisfied?

Or will he be Mephistopheles, who tried to steal his soul by granting his wish?

Well, none of that matters right now.

The people involved received a lot of backlash from the public, and the business itself took quite the hit and suffered hardships.

That’s why even now the related parties are tight-lipped about the incident. It was unfortunate for everyone, and they’d like to keep it buried in the past.

For me, though, it was a turning point in my life.

My agency was livid with me and blamed me for putting children in harm’s way. After that, our relationship turned south.

It’s cruel, don’t you think? They did nothing themselves, then pushed everything onto a middle school student—

And when they weren’t satisfied with just that, they took out their anger on me, too.

If they’d been my parents, it would have been a toxic relationship. And on top of it all, I was falsely painted as a troublemaker, even though I’d only been caught up in the incident.

My modeling opportunities decreased, so I shifted my focus to studying for my exams.

I’d also started to dislike working for that agency.

And so, following in the footsteps of Sagami Jin, who I’d been a fan of—I entered Yumenosaki Academy.

And I set my sights on becoming an idol. All things considered, I just wanted to change the situation I was in, since it was taking its toll on me.

While I was struggling to pass the entrance exams and enter the unfamiliar world of idols, I didn’t actually have much contact with those other children.

Looking back on it, I was only involved with them as “Kunugi Akiomi, the model” for a short time.

I still know them now as a teacher at their school and as a staff member at ES, though.

For some reason, A-kun seems to really love me, so he keeps coming by to see me… I don’t fully understand it, but he holds me in incredibly high regard.

Nowadays, though, I’m sure he has many more people around him whom he cherishes even more than me.

He won’t be lonely, even if I’m no longer there to hold his hand and walk with him, right?