Chapter 44: Revoking a Anti-Fan's Status
Ai seemed to be born with the ability to attract everyone's gaze.
No matter what lens she appeared in, she was always the most eye-catching one. Once you locked eyes with those star-filled violet gems, you would feel your entire being pulled in, your soul sinking into a bottomless black hole.
The brown-haired nurse clutched her document bag and stood at the street corner, her eyes fixed on Ai's performance.
After Dr. Amamiya disappeared four years ago, she had tried to understand the things he liked, and as a result, she quickly became a fan of Ai herself. Despite being indifferent to the doctor's "preaching" back then, she had turned into the exact same kind of person after he left.
From Sarina to Goro Amamiya, and now to this nurse, Ai was like an invisible chain linking them all together.
Though, considering two of those three were already "gone"...
—Ai is the bond, bonding one generation after another to their end.
By logic, Ai shouldn't have had this many fans in such a remote town. Yet, here she was, surrounded by a dense crowd. It was definitely Goro Amamiya's fault; he must have pitched her to every patient who came to the hospital like a devout missionary, accumulating a massive number of believers for Ai.
Surrounded by fans, Ai eventually sang "Into the Night." "Idol" hadn't been designed as a solo track during its arrangement—though she could sing it alone now—and most of the old B-Komachi songs were group numbers, leaving her with few choices.
There was no accompaniment, no microphone; it was just pure vocals. Without an amplifier, any noise would have drowned her out, but the fans present were unexpectedly well-behaved, staying silent throughout the entire performance.
Singing in such heat was a challenge. After finishing the song, she gasped slightly for air, wiped the sweat from her forehead, and shouted to the crowd:
"That's all for today! See you at the next concert!"
As if suddenly remembering something, she added hastily, "Remember to support our new movie! It's called... uh, the name, the name... right! It's called *Ghost Syndrome*! It won't disappoint you!"
Hikaru Hoshino clutched his head. The movie had only just started filming; who starts the hype this early?
The fans cheered "Oh!!" and gradually dispersed. Then Hikaru and Ruby re-emerged. He led them quickly away from the scene, repositioning Ai's baseball cap at a street corner.
"Here." Ai handed the bag she had been carrying to Hikaru.
"Hmm? What's this for?" Hikaru started playing dumb.
Ai burst out laughing. "To carry it for me, of course! Unless you really want to eat it, Biyoo?"
Hikaru awkwardly took the bag. Who would have thought there would be so many fans of Ai in this remote area? Right, who was the first person to spot Ai? Looking at her back, she seemed to be a nurse...
While the group rested, a figure quietly approached. Ai had just taken a sip of water when she felt a hand tap her shoulder, nearly making her spray the water onto Hikaru's face.
Ai looked back. "Eh? You look a bit familiar."
Before she could speak, the nurse said with a smile:
"You've matured quite a bit, Ai. If it were the old you, I feel like you wouldn't have been able to handle a fan commotion as perfectly as you did today."
Hikaru began to sneer, "I wonder who attracted them all in the first place."
"Shut up!" The nurse glared at him. "Scumbags have no right to speak!"
Hikaru rubbed his nose and stayed quiet. In her mind, he was likely still the "scumbag" husband who couldn't make it to his wife's delivery. But she wasn't wrong; Kamiki was indeed trash, and to a degree far beyond her imagination.
"I'm not sure if you remember me. I was the assistant to Dr. Amamiya, the one who delivered your babies."
Ruby's eyes flickered, but they quickly returned to calm. After all this time, she had to accept the fact that the Doctor was gone.
The nurse gently patted Ruby's head. "The children are very cute. If the Doctor could see them, he would be very happy. He was your die-hard fan when he was alive; his biggest regret was probably not being able to help you complete a smooth delivery."
The nurse's words made Ai feel a bit guilty. Ryosuke, her obsessive fan, was the one who killed the Doctor. Did his death have something to do with her as well...?
Hikaru suddenly took Ai's hand and gave it a gentle squeeze. Ai quickly pulled her hand away, looking at him huffily.
"It seems you're living a happy life now, so I can be at ease." The nurse first gave Hikaru a cold glance, then smiled at Ai. "I suppose I'm a fan of yours now too. If you can, please give me an autograph."
After receiving Ai's handwritten signature, the nurse waved goodbye, and the three watched her disappear at the end of the street.
"There really is a huge gap between different types of fans," Hikaru shrugged.
He was referring to Ryosuke and the nurse. Ryosuke, a stalker fan, didn't hesitate to break the law, while true fans like Goro Amamiya and the nurse only wanted their idol to have a better life. If all fans were like the latter, Ai wouldn't need to hide her private life so much.
Ai nodded her small head in deep agreement, while Ruby looked a bit lost, as she still didn't know who Ryosuke was.
—On the day Ai was almost assassinated, Ruby had been fast asleep. The news broadcast by the Tokyo Metropolitan Police had also obscured Ryosuke's personal information. Thus, Ruby only knew the Doctor had been killed by someone, but didn't know the murderer's face or motive.
If possible, neither Hikaru nor Aqua planned to tell her the truth.
The exhausted trio didn't eat dinner out and went straight back to the hotel. It happened to be the time the film crew was wrapping up for the day, so Hikaru went straight to question Gotanda about the Summer Festival.
"Isn't promoting the movie at a festival a duty of an actor?"
Gotanda said it as if it were common sense, which left Hikaru fuming.
However, he agreed with Gotanda's words. Since there was a ready-made stage, as a professional singer, there was no reason to miss it. It was just that the timing was tight, and being in Miyazaki without the help of Strawberry Productions made preparing a new song difficult.
Thinking this over, Hikaru returned to his room. He planned to seek help from Xini Entertainment and took out his phone to look for Takashi Kadomori's number.
Suddenly, a new email was pushed by the carrier, sent exactly five minutes ago.
Hikaru opened the email, and what met his eyes was a photograph.
—In the commercial street at dusk, Ai was waving goodbye to her fans.
The resolution was high, and it was clearly taken from a close distance, so it was definitely a sneak shot. Since phones sold in Japan cannot turn off the shutter sound, it must have been modified privately. A normal person wouldn't modify a phone just for one sneak shot, so the sender was likely a repeat offender.
Hikaru's gaze slowly turned cold.
Three sentences were attached after the photo as the culprit's greeting:
"Shopping with the victim must have been fun."
"As a criminal, can you really be this happy?"
A deep sense of malice wafted through the email, causing the air pressure in the room to drop to freezing point.
"Mr. Amagi... it's a pleasure to see you again too."