"Mom, mom! Rewind it! I want to watch it again!"
"Aka-chan really loves Ryo, doesn't she?"
Her mother chuckled, picking up the remote to rewind the tape to the beginning.
"Because I think Ryo is amazing."
Kurokawa Akane stared unblinking at the TV screen, watching five-year-old Kitagawa Ryo's debut performance in a morning drama.
"A child actor genius who can make everyone laugh in just ten seconds."
"So handsome, such incredible acting, and he's still a top-tier actor now. To keep improving like that... it's really amazing."
As she spoke, Akane's eyes sparkled with admiration. She even stepped closer to the TV, reaching out as if trying to touch Ryo's face through the screen.
"Well then, Aka-chan, do you want to try acting too?"
Mr. Kurokawa looked up from his newspaper with a smile.
"Oh, that sounds wonderful! Our Aka-chan is just as cute!"
Her mother gently patted her head.
"When we went to the theater last time, Mr. Kindaichi mentioned LALALAI Troupe is recruiting child actors. What do you think?"
Having noticed their daughter's interest, they quietly paved the way while waiting for her decision.
"But... I'm so shy and timid. I'm no good at anything..."
Akane shrank back like a nervous kitten.
"That's nothing to worry about. Even if you don't become an actor, this experience could help you grow. Aka-chan, you can't keep being so timid."
Her father's tone carried gentle firmness, while her mother sweetened the deal:
"And who knows? You might even get to perform with Ryo."
"That award-winning film he was in had a girl about your age. I heard she impressed him so much, he had his agency sign her."
Mr. Kurokawa nodded in agreement.
"Like Mr. Kindaichi said, Kitagawa Ryo loves mentoring juniors. And after all, he started at LALALAI Troupe too."
"If Aka-chan joins, you'd be his direct junior!"
At this, Akane finally nodded with determination.
She looked at Ryo on the screen, her mind filled with one thought:
If I could share the stage with Ryo even once... I'd die happy.
"I just started my break, and you're already putting me to work?"
"No choice here! Got dragged into client drinks—had to sneak to the bathroom to call you—"
A loud belch echoed through the phone before Kindaichi Toshiro hurriedly added:
"Six PM, third-floor meeting room at the troupe building. You know where the key is. Just go check for me. Gotta go—they're calling me back!"
"Damn it, in all my years drinking, this is the first time I've been mocked for excusing myself to puke! Just wait till I show them how it's really—"
The call cut off. Ryo sighed, pocketing his phone. Kindaichi was in his mid-forties with no intention of settling down, having poured his soul into LALALAI Troupe during its lean years. To outsiders, the troupe might as well have been his child.
If only he'd stop joking about becoming mine and Ruby's foster father every other week...
After telling Ruby—glued to the TV—he'd be out, Ryo headed to the troupe building. His apartment wasn't far, so he opted to walk rather than trouble Mr. Izaki for a ride.
According to Kindaichi, he'd promised to meet the Kurokawas tonight. Their daughter wanted to join the troupe, and this meeting was to discuss details.
But then director Masaya Kaburagi suddenly called—their long-awaited 2.5D stage play project had finally gotten the green light, requiring immediate negotiations. With no choice, Kindaichi had to cancel on the Kurokawas and rope Ryo in as a last-minute replacement.
Since this was a prearranged meeting and Kindaichi was the troupe's director, sending a lower-ranking staff member would have been rude. That left Ryo—the only one in the troupe who could stand as Kindaichi's equal.
As Ryo entered the building and headed for the third-floor meeting room, he nearly collided with someone at the stairwell.
Both moving slowly, the impact was light. Ryo barely stumbled, looking down at the girl who'd bumped into his chest.
"Ai? What are you doing here?"
"Sorry— Oh! Ryo!"
Hoshino Ai, mid-apology, brightened upon seeing him and cheerfully raised her hand.
"Had some free time, so I thought I'd check out how LALALAI Troupe's doing now."
She flashed a peace sign.
"I am one of its legendary alumni, after all."
"Legendary? Two and a half years of training with barely any stage time?"
Ryo teased before asking,
"Notice any changes?"
"Just finished looking around the first floor. Seems about the same?"
"They've upgraded the stage equipment quite a bit. If you're interested, you should take a look. It's nothing like when we performed."
Ryo checked his phone and sighed apologetically.
"I've got a meeting, so I can't join you."
"Right, why are you here?"
"Filling in for Kindaichi. Recruitment meeting."
Ryo glanced at Ai and quipped dramatically,
"Let's just hope this one doesn't bolt after training like someone did. Poor Kindaichi nearly had an aneurysm."
Truthfully, Ryo had never fully understood Ai's decision back then. Their play The Wild Party had proven her acting talent, yet shortly after their trip to Miyazaki, she'd shifted focus back to idol work.
At the time, her idol career was taking off, and she no longer struggled financially like when they first met. There was no obvious reason for her to keep acting—after all, Ryo had initially recruited her to LALALAI as a "side job."
But that was four years ago. Bringing it up now was just playful banter.
Yet Ai's cheerful expression faltered. She pressed her lips together before forcing her usual smile.
"I really did cause trouble for the troupe back then."
"Don't take it so seriously. No one blames you—not even Kindaichi."
Noticing her unusual reaction, Ryo quickly reassured her before waving goodbye.
"I'll be in the third-floor meeting room."
Then, as if fleeing, he added:
"...Last night's photo was really pretty too."
And dashed up the stairs.
"Hello, I'm Kitagawa Ryo from LALALAI Troupe."
"Yes, Mr. Kindaichi had an urgent matter, so I'll be handling tonight's discussion."
After a short wait in the meeting room, Ryo welcomed the Kurokawa family.
The Kurokawas looked unchanged from their meeting in Miyazaki years ago, though now with a timid little girl half-hidden behind her mother.
"Akane, right?"
Ryo crouched to her eye level, offering his most disarming smile.
"I actually knew your name before you were born."
"I thought it was beautiful back then—and now I see it fits a very lovely girl."
With just a few words, he eased her nerves. Akane shyly introduced herself:
"I'm Kurokawa Akane... I've always been Ryo's fan."
Her voice was soft, her demeanor sweet—Ryo's first impression was excellent.
"Thank you for enjoying my performances."
After chatting with Akane, Ryo stood to discuss logistics with her parents. A staff member entered with tea for the adults and juice with snacks for Akane.
When Ryo saw it was Ai carrying the tray, he barely suppressed a twitch. But calling her out would be awkward, so he let her play the role of his "assistant," standing dutifully behind him.
"Regarding Akane, as you know, LALALAI Troupe is transitioning but remains focused on traditional theater. Our child actor program trains them primarily for stage work."
"I want to be clear: if Akane dreams of TV roles that her friends can see, the troupe likely won't provide those opportunities soon."
Ryo's tone was earnest, but he quickly added:
"However, we don't restrict actors from auditioning elsewhere. If she builds her skills and meets quarterly performance quotas in her contract, she's free to pursue other projects."
After Ryo's explanation, the Kurokawas didn't respond immediately. Instead, they turned to Akane, summarizing everything simply for her input.
Ryo and Ai watched silently.
They watched parents patiently explain an entire career path to a four-year-old—and wait for her answer.
"Can I perform with Ryo?"
Akane asked.
"I'll teach you acting skills. And if you work hard, yes—we'll share the stage."
Ryo had answered this countless times.
"But becoming an actor isn't just about passion. Every minute onstage requires countless hours of practice offstage."
"It's exhausting."
Truthfully, Ryo hesitated to encourage such a young child into showbiz—especially after meeting Arima Kana, around Akane's age.
"I can do it."
But Akane was more determined than he expected. She grasped her parents' hands.
"And... Mom and Dad will support me."
She loved her parents. Loved her family.
Ryo had millions of fans, but she would always have at least two—her very first audience.
Parents grateful for their child. A child grateful for her parents.
Watching them, Ai and Ryo felt an inexplicable melancholy.
"Alright."
Ryo took a deep breath and handed over the contract.
"By the way, have you thought about a stage name?"
As Akane carefully signed, Ryo asked casually.
"I love the name Mom and Dad gave me... but I do want a stage name too."
Her small face scrunched in conflict.
"How about keeping 'Akane' but changing the kanji?"
Ryo suggested.
"For 'Akane,' there's Aka-ne, Shu-on, Kurenai... Lots of options. Which do you like?"
"Aka-ne."
She looked up at Ryo and declared.
"Kurokawa Aka-ne."
Ryo smiled encouragingly.
"I believe that name will shine as one of LALALAI Troupe's stars."
After seeing the Kurokawas off, Ryo and Ai simultaneously collapsed onto the meeting room couch.
"They're a good family."
Ai said abruptly.
"Yeah."
Ryo agreed just as vaguely.
"In the past ten years... I've only ever said 'Mom' onstage."
"I've said it more. I've performed more."
"Think I said it most in Oedipus Rex."
"I've watched your recording of that."
Ai looked at Ryo, suddenly remembering her own mother—a woman whose face she could no longer recall, who'd gone to prison for theft and never came for her after release.
"But that play's too heavy with fate. Like no matter what you do, you can't escape it... feels oppressive."
"Yeah."
Ryo nodded, raising a hand to block the ceiling light as he softly recited his own notes on the play:
"Fate will always catch your steps, until it fulfills the future it chose for you."
Weekly Entertainment Scoop Editorial Department
Tanaka, the reporter who'd cemented his status years ago with Shocking! The Truth Behind Famous Actor Kitagawa Susumu's Death—, once again faced a deadline with no material.
"This week's big news is just B-Komachi's Tokyo Dome concert announcement. Everyone knows that already—no exclusivity."
"If we're desperate, just recycle some Ryo and Ai rumors."
"Their last scandal was years ago. How many times can we reuse 'Ai left LALALAI Troupe, their interactions dwindled'?"
After some frustrated discussion, Tanaka grabbed his cigarettes for a stress-relieving walk.
But barely steps outside, an older woman intercepted him.
"Who—? What do you want?"
Tanaka frowned. On closer inspection, she wasn't elderly—maybe mid-forties, though her gray hair had misled him.
"You're that famous reporter Tanaka, right?"
The woman grinned conspiratorially, stepping closer.
A fermented stench hit him. Her clothes were dingy, her face haggard—and her right hand was missing half a pinky finger.
The stump looked years old.
She pointed at a building's exterior screen, currently airing an Ai-endorsed ad.
"I'm... her mother."
Tanaka startled, then scoffed.
"Hoshino Ai grew up in an orphanage. Her birth mother went to jail for theft and vanished after release."
The woman's eyes darted. She pouted, raising her mutilated hand.
"I had no choice."
"If I didn't steal, we'd have starved."
"But I got caught. In prison, I worried sick about Ai. After release, I heard she'd been taken to an orphanage."
"I thought... if Ai lived with a thief for a mother, she'd never escape that shame."
"So even though it broke my heart... I left for her sake."
"What mother wants to abandon her child?"
"But now she's so successful... a Tokyo Dome concert... I'm so proud..."
As she rambled, the ad ended, replaced by the evening news:
"Director Gotanda Taishi's film Spider continues to spark domestic and international debate—"
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I'm not quite sure where to begin, so let me start with this book. The concept for this [Oshi no Ko] fanfiction went through four complete overhauls due to inherent challenges in the setup—it's nearly impossible to have the best of both worlds with fan-works for this series.
If I followed the original storyline to write about the next generation, even if I altered the timeline where Hoshino Ai was murdered, it still wouldn't feel satisfying. The best solution, then, was to eliminate the tragedy at its root.
But doing so would effectively remove Aqua and Ruby from the story, upending the original premise entirely. Early on, this paradox troubled me for quite a while.
It wasn't until the beginning of January that I settled on the current setup—preserving Ruby's character by having her reincarnate four years after her death in the original timeline, keeping her defining traits (like arguing with people online as a baby), while allowing Aqua to continue living as Dr. Gorou.
The protagonist's age also went through multiple adjustments. He needed to be younger than Ai, but not too young, or he'd miss key events. Yet he couldn't be too close in age, or the gap between him and the next-gen characters, Arima Kana and Kurokawa Akane, would feel awkward.
In the end, I settled on a four-year age difference between him and Ai, making him eleven years older than Kana and Akane.
Readers familiar with the source material will recall Akane mentioning to Ruby that she's open to a decade-plus age gap in relationships—emotional maturity matters more. Combined with the legacy of the LALALAI Theatre Company, this narrative thread works smoothly.
As for Arima Kana, her childhood as a star wasn't easy due to her mother's influence. To meaningfully intervene, the protagonist couldn't be a peer like Aqua in the original—a three- or four-year-old child lacks the agency to change anything.
So, in Kana's childhood arc, the protagonist appears as a fifteen-year-old, old enough to take direct action.
Whether readers will approve or not, this is the most balanced solution I could devise to weave together Ai, Ruby, Kana, and Akane's storylines.
Now, about the plot itself.
I'm the type of writer who builds original stories using the source material's characters and world while echoing its themes—something evident in the pre-release chapters.
For instance, since MEM-cho is known for her cute cat-like smile in the original, I gave her a kigurumi (mascot costume) design called [Watermelon Kitty], while Ai's [Strawberry Bunny] references her rabbit outfit in the MV.
The theatrical elements tied to the LALALAI Theatre Company come from my own love of drama. For TV and film production scenes, I've researched extensively—even studying textbooks like Fundamentals of Dramatic Performance from the Central Academy of Drama—to keep the writing both authentic and engaging.
As I've said before, I wanted to write a fanfiction that removes all the flaws of the original while preserving its charm. I hope you enjoy it.
Also support my patreon.
My patreon: patreon.com/Fanfable