Chapter 68: The Day of the Fan Meeting ②

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Translator: Soafp

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We all ended up doing a full cleanup of Kokoa-san's house.

There were cosmetic samples, cardboard boxes, paper bags, leftover food, out-of-season clothes, single socks, all kinds of mail…

That said, most of the trash had already been packed into bags.

Just carrying it outside made the room look completely different.

“Whoa— the room got so much bigger!”

Kokoa-san's eyes widened after just a bit of cleaning.

We, on the other hand, were completely exhausted, slumped down on the living room floor.

Since Kokoa had work afterward, we couldn't push her too hard, so in the end, the three of us did most of the cleaning.

Nodoka glared at Kokoa.

“It didn't get bigger— it was always this big! You just made it feel cramped by using it like that!!”

“Y-yes… I'm sorry…”

There was no trace left of the nervous Nodoka from earlier.

Instead, she now sounded completely natural lecturing her, like she'd suddenly become her mother.

I wonder if this is what she's like when she scolds Anna.

“B-but more importantly, Kokoa-san… there's something I've been wondering…”

The next moment, Nodoka switched back into introvert mode.

Maybe inside her, gyaru mode, housewife mode, and introvert mode are all installed like separate apps.

“For color care, what do you usually do? I didn't see any color shampoo or anything like that in the trash.”

“Hm? I don't use stuff like that. I mean, I didn't dye my hair.”

““Huh?””

Airi and I both widened our eyes at that answer.

This vivid red hair… is natural?

As if reading my thoughts, Kokoa spoke.

“People misunderstand because of my hair color, but I was born with it! My dad is Irish.”

“Oh, so you're half?”

“No, my maternal grandfather was apparently white too, though I don't know his nationality. So if you want to put it that way, I'm actually three-quarters.”

So that means only 25% Japanese.

Even so, her facial features look quite Japanese.

She didn't seem like she was lying, and there'd be no reason to exaggerate something like that.

It just made me appreciate the mystery of genetics.

(Maybe this is part of her natural idol appeal.)

Even without the jirai-style fashion, just having naturally red hair already makes her stand out.

Airi smiled faintly and asked,

“So then, Miyoko-san, is the hair down there red too?”

“That hair? …I-it's not! It's not that red!!”

“Oh? So a little—”

“W-wait, wait!! There's a guy here, can we stop this topic already!?”

“Want to take a bath together later, Miyoko-san?”

“I am absolutely not bathing with you, secretary!! And my name is not Miyoko!!”

…Yeah, I decided to pretend I didn't hear any of that.

---

We got back into the hire car and soon arrived at the venue.

Thankfully, just as Nodoka predicted, we weren't late.

The manager widened his eyes the moment he saw Kokoa.

“Something about today— your makeup and hair look much more natural than usual.”

“Actually, Nodo-san helped me! She's super skilled!”

“Nodo-san?”

With a bright smile, Kokoa grabbed Nodoka by the shoulders and pushed her forward.

As expected, Nodoka panicked, not knowing what to do.

“Ah, um, well… I-I'm Nodoka Komori.”

“Oh? You're the fiancée that Fukagawa-san mentioned?”

“Y-yes! Th-that— ow!”

…This time she bit her tongue.

Behind her, Airi chuckled quietly.

The manager looked at me, Airi, and Nodoka in turn, then for some reason gave an exaggerated cough.

…She's not misunderstanding something weird, is she?

“Fukagawa-san, please come this way.”

“Ah, if there's anything we can help with, we'd be happy to.”

“Huh? But you're the sponsor…”

“I'm not the type to just sit around doing nothing.”

Kokoa puffed out her chest proudly.

“That's right! The sponsors are super nice! They even cleaned almost my entire house!”

“Miyoko!! What exactly did you make Fukagawa-san do!?”

“N-no, it wasn't like I made them!”

“You're in trouble later!!”

“Eeeek…”

Seeing this side of her really reminds me—she's still just a middle schooler.

The manager looked at us again and spoke hesitantly.

“In that case, we'd really appreciate your help. As you can see, we're quite short on staff…”

“Of course. I don't know how much help we'll be, but we'll do what we can.”

“Thank you very much, truly.”

After that, as expected, we were given simple tasks.

…Though in reality, the boxes we had to carry were heavier and more numerous than expected.

It wasn't easy work at all.

Airi suddenly lowered her voice.

“This kind of feels like before I met you, Ren-kun. It hasn't been that long, but it feels like such a long time ago.”

“Really?”

“Ah, of course, I like this job much more now. Because I get to be with you.”

She casually throws out straightforward lines like that with a completely serious face, at the most unexpected times.

Which just makes it embarrassing for me.

“Ren-kun, it's easier if you do it like this.”

“Oh? Yeah, you're right. Thanks.”

As expected from someone with a lot of part-time job experience, Airi quickly picked up the tricks of the work.

She might even be better at this than me.

In a setting like this, I'm just a high schooler after all.

One of the staff handed me a box.

“Could you take this to the waiting room?”

“Ah, sure.”

I took it without thinking, then realized—

The waiting room… that's where the other members of Jirai-chan Syndrome are.

…There's no way I'll walk into something awkward, right?

Well, this isn't a manga or anime. If there was even a small chance of that, they wouldn't have asked me.

Still, just in case, I knocked politely before entering.

“I was told to bring this here— where should I put it?”

Inside were the idols I'd seen at the guerrilla live the other day.

Kokoa wasn't there—only the remaining four members.

None of them spoke. They just silently stared at their phones.

The atmosphere was strangely quiet… heavy.

Maybe it's just my imagination. Or maybe it's always like this.

A girl with a black bob cut replied,

“Just put it anywhere over there.”

“…”

She didn't even look at me, lazily waving her hand like she was shooing away a stray dog.

It felt different from when I first met Kokoa.

Kokoa had gotten angry at my unreasonable demands because she cared.

But from these four—

I couldn't feel any motivation at all.

“Ah, Sponsor-sama, what are you doing here? Don't tell me you came to peek at us changing?”

At that moment, Kokoa's voice came from behind me.

“As if. I just came to drop this off.”

“You're really helping us out?”

“Of course.”

“Wow, I'm so happy! Sponsor-sama, you're the best!”

Still holding the box, I felt Kokoa gently place her hand over mine.

…For some reason, she only does this kind of physical contact when Nodoka and Airi aren't around.

What is she thinking?

“Oh, right! Sponsor-sama, let me properly introduce you.”

“Huh? No, you don't have to go out of your way—”

“No, I do! You're our important sponsor!”

As soon as I put the box down, Kokoa grabbed my hand and pulled me to the center of the room.

Then she raised her voice cheerfully toward the others.

“Everyone! This is Ren Fukagawa-sama, the sponsor who started supporting us after the beach live the other day!”

But their reaction was cold.

No—beyond cold, it was pure indifference.

Not a single one of them responded.

“Come on, everyone! He came all the way here in person—at least greet him!”

Seeing this, Kokoa walked up to them and forcibly made them stand.

The girl with the black bob sighed in clear annoyance.

“Hello.”

“Ah, yes, hello.”

“Say it properly, like an idol! What was that?”

At that, the bob-haired girl glared at Kokoa.

“He's your sponsor, right? Not ours.”

“Huh? N-no, that's not true! He supports Jirai-chan Syndrome, not just me!”

“Really? Then what about that car you came in today? The one only you get to ride?”

“W-well, that's…”

Damn. Do they think I'm giving Kokoa special treatment?

I cleared my throat and stepped into the awkward tension.

“The exclusive hire car for this month isn't just for Kokoa-san. If you'd like, I can arrange the same for all of you.”

“Oh? Is that so. Well, thanks, I guess.”

The bob-haired girl snorted.

“Must be nice, Kokoa-chan. Fans, the agency, sponsors—everyone puts you first. Well, I guess it makes sense. You sing the best, dance the best, and you're the cutest out of all of us.”

“E-everyone's good too! And cute!”

“We know. We know we can't beat you at anything.”

The other three just stood there silently.

None of them argued with her.

“We'll do our best today too—as props to make Kokoa-chan shine. Looking forward to it.”

…How did I end up in such an uncomfortable situation?

Airi's words suddenly crossed my mind—

That she didn't really like the sparkly atmosphere unique to idols.

…Where exactly is the “sparkle” here?

I almost felt like interrogating her about that for an hour.