[Kurokawa Akane]
On her way home from the set, Kurokawa Akane walked while gazing at her notebook filled with Aqua's preferences.
"I'll give it my all. Aqua went through the trouble of making that video for me. He braved the typhoon to find me. I was happy. I need to return the favor. If I act according to Aqua's tastes and appeal to him... Will he be pleased?"
Since that day, Kurokawa Akane slowly began investigating Hoshino Ai.
At the library.
"Ai from B-Komachi... or rather, Ai the actress...? First, I need to gather all the materials I can."
At home, with her eyes fixed solely on the monitor.
"Her defining feature... must be those eyes. Does it stem from confidence?"
"Then, her need for recognition is satisfied. Her friendships... not much difference between then and now. It seems she never really wanted to form friendships from the start."
"But there must be something in her romantic relationships."
"Is her family environment good? ... No, if we're talking about personality formation, it must have been poor... Although it seems to have changed, that's likely due to one person..."
"There's a distortion in how she harbors affection. The way she desires affection from someone is like an obsession, wanting them to focus only on her."
"Secretiveness and a desire for exposure... This also feels like it decreased from some point."
"She says outrageous things and acts contrary, but she's a perfectionist who desires perfection more than anyone."
"Generosity and an excessive obsession with one specific person."
"Tends to save money but is somewhat indifferent to fashion... This also changed at some point to care about fashion."
"Good eyesight. Hypersensitive hearing and smell. Stride is quite wide. Education level is on the lower side."
"Chopstick handling is a bit off."
"Tendencies toward developmental disorders."
"Imbalance typical of someone who experienced puberty."
"Destructive behaviors from childhood seem to have gradually improved with age."
"The most important thing is her excessive obsession with her current lover, Hoshino Yume... Did their meeting change something?"
In the dark room, solely investigating Hoshino Ai, Akane soon switched the screen.
"Yume Senpai..."
"He seems to have had an obsession with something since childhood."
"He didn't shed a tear when his parents passed away. Are his emotions dried up?"
"As he grew older, he seems to be driven by something."
"Trauma from the past? Or was there some incident?"
"He strictly separates public and private matters."
"Privately, he's kind to everyone, but publicly, not a hint of personal emotion."
"... He seems capable of killing someone without hesitation for the sake of another."
"He acts as if he divides his work as an actor and as a bodyguard into private and public."
"No information about his work as a bodyguard, but the one thing that's clear is that he never failed."
"Similar to Hoshino Ai, but he pursues perfection in actions, a perfectionist nature."
"When working, he always takes nearly perfect calculated actions. Perfect charisma that completely controls his surroundings and leads them as he desires."
"Overwhelming talent that no one can match."
"Excessive obsession with the past... What is he obsessed with?"
"He lived with Hoshino Ai since childhood, and from when Ai turned 15, his behavior cautiously changed."
"After the incident right before Hoshino Ai's dome performance, an almost perfect obsession with Ai's 'safety'."
"... What happened between the two of them?"
Kurokawa Akane's near-obsessive investigation allowed her to vaguely guess at Hoshino Yume's actions that no one else had uncovered.
She perfectly grasped what the excessive 'obsession' was that even Hoshino Ai, Hoshino Aqua, and Hoshino Ruby didn't know about.
[Hoshino Yume]
"So, it seems Miss Akane's issue was resolved well."
Good, good.
"That aside, where were you all day, Dad?"
"Ah... I had some business to attend to, so I went to Miyazaki and back."
"Miyazaki...?"
He seems a bit suspicious of my words... Well, it's only natural to be curious. After all, that's where Amamiya Goro, Aqua's past life, died.
"Ah~ Well, the matter was resolved fine, so no problem~ Anyway..."
I wonder how far Kurokawa Akane has studied Hoshino Ai. I'm curious.
"I want to tag along to the next filming. Is that okay?"
"Huh!? What nonsense are you..."
At my words, Aqua flusteredly stood up from his chair, but.
"Ah~ It's fine, it's fine. I happen to know some staff there, so if I say I'm just dropping by to say hi, it should be okay. And besides, most people know I've got your back, so it won't be a big issue, right?"
Of course, not just Aqua, but Ruby's back is watched too, to some extent they probably know.
The difference with Aqua is that Ruby has me, Senior Hikari, and one more, so three people watching her back.
"No... Hah... Do as you please... Just come secretly and don't get caught..."
"Haha! Thanks!"
"Ugh!? Don't hug me!!"
Is Aqua already hitting puberty...?
The next day, after dropping Ai off at Ichigo Production due to her schedule, I secretly headed to Aqua's filming location.
"Oh, Yume-kun~"
"Long time no see, Director."
Thanks to this, I get to do a home visit to my son's filming site.
"Yeah, yeah. What brings you here suddenly?"
"Well, the juniors are shooting something interesting, so I wanted to see it for myself... Is that reason okay?"
"Haha!! Why not just say you came to see Aqua?"
"Something like that."
Well, most people who know I'm pushing Aqua are those with long careers or higher-ups.
"By the way, I don't see Miss Kurokawa at today's filming?"
According to Aqua, she was supposed to be in this week's shoot.
"Ah... She'll probably show up soon?"
"Hmm."
Shall I wait a bit?
While chatting with the director about this and that, the sound of a door opening was heard.
"Hoo... The protagonist's entrance?"
I'm looking forward to what kind of 'Hoshino Ai' performance Kurokawa Akane will show.
The reason I respect and highly evaluate Kurokawa Akane is because of her unique acting ability that shows an almost obsessive madness for the role she's playing.
"Everyone, I'm truly sorry for causing such a big inconvenience! I'll do my best to make up for it. Please take care of me!"
Apologizing as soon as she enters is good... Everything's good, but Miss Akane's personality is too timid and cautious.
"Then, standby, please."
"Oh... Starting?"
More importantly, behind Miss Akane, is that Aqua? Will he recognize me with my perfect disguise?
For reference, I dressed in such a way that I don't look like the real Hoshino Yume, so no one except the director recognized me.
"Let's go."
Lead like a man, Aqua!!!
"... Ah."
Aqua, who made eye contact with me, froze on the spot, then with a small mouth shape.
[Why are you here now?]
[I came right after dropping off Ai.]
[Please don't stand out and stay put.]
[Don't worry.]
After finishing the conversation with me through mouth shapes, Aqua let out a small sigh and prepared for filming... Is it something to sigh about...? Am I embarrassing him as a father!?
Anyway, that aside.
"Starting."
"Huh? What do you mean by starting, Yume-kun?"
"You'll understand when you see it."
Akane's talent is truly exceptional. Jumping right into acting like that.
"Yeah, that's right, Aqua."
"!?"
"!?"
Hah... This is really...
*She yawned.* "I'm so sleepy. They started filming way too early!"
I didn't expect it to be this good, Kurokawa Akane...
"Oh, is the camera rolling already?"
Oh dear, Aqua is already surprised. Well... I was surprised too... More than that...
*Yume chuckled.*
"Yume-kun?"
"Tehee★"
"Ah, excuse me... I'll take my leave now."
I've seen something good... Interesting. Kurokawa Akane. Along with Arima Kana, as perfect actors.
[I want to nurture her.]
Well, I'll leave the rest to Aqua. On my side, my schedule is about to get busy.
Leaving the filming location, since Ai's schedule ended just in time, I went to pick her up to head to the broadcasting station for the filming this weekend.
"Yume~ where are we going?"
"I told you, we're appearing together in the special episode of 'Living Alone' that I mentioned last time, right?"
Did you forget already?
"Ah~ right, right! I forgot for a moment★"
"Since it's a hastily scheduled shoot this weekend, we need to decide what to do and what not to do, so we're going early to find common ground and prepare, so we can film all weekend without any problems."
I was surprised when they said it's not one day but two days of filming.
Usually, filming ends in one day, but saying they'll film for two consecutive days means I'll have to follow along on weekends for both me and Ai's schedules...
I don't have many schedules on weekends anyway, so it's fine, but Ai...
"By the way, Yume, you'll be my manager this weekend, right?"
"... On Saturday, I only have one schedule, so after finishing that, I plan to stick around."
"Yay~★ Then we can be together all weekend~!"
"We're always together anyway..."
Mainly because you always stick to me.
"Ehehe~ Being together at home and being together while working feels different, you know~!!"
"Yeah, yeah."
Speaking of which, we should be arriving soon... Was it this way?
"Yume, not that way, over there."
"Ah, it was the other way?"
Finding my way is harder than I thought...
"Yume, your sense of direction hasn't changed!"
"I think I'm pretty good at finding my way."
"Normally, from our house to here by car takes 30 minutes, right?"
"Huh!? It's been over an hour now!?"
Seriously!? We've been circling around and just arrived now on a route that should take 30 minutes?
"Ahahahahahaha★"
"Don't just laugh, you should have told me!?"
Were we just wasting time for no reason?
"No~ I kind of wanted to spend time like this with you, Yume...?"
"Aiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiiii!!!!!!!!!!!!"
You've confessed your crime yourself!!!!!