Chapter 175: The Uninvited Guest

Under the bright autumn afternoon sun above ground in Sakuragicho, the livehouse where sugar starlight often rehearsed and performed echoed underground with nothing but the sounds of performers rising and falling.

The intense rhythm of the drum kit and the roar of the bass stopped for a moment.

The air was thick with a sticky scent mixed with sweat and body fragrance.

Kiyono Arisa set the microphone in her hand aside. Her entire body looked as if she had just been pulled out of water.

Her chestnut-colored long hair, usually kept perfectly neat, was now damp and clinging to the back of her neck.

Under the spinning blades of the fan in the livehouse, it brought her a faint chill.

Her bandmates were nearby discussing what to eat during the lunch break.

Kiyono Arisa, however, simply lowered her head and mechanically packed up her personal belongings.

…Her mood could not match the rhythm of her teammates.

Originally, the stage and the rehearsal room had been her only refuge.

Only here— amid the blinding spotlights and the deafening sound of instruments— could she briefly remember why she felt happy.

…But now, even this refuge no longer felt safe.

That possible stalker she had begun to notice might not merely follow her occasionally.

It was more likely that they were constantly watching her movements.

Even when she stood on stage, dancing and singing.

That gaze might still be lurking somewhere in a corner nearby, clinging to her like a shadow.

“……”

“ALISA, we are going to eat—ALISA?”

“You all go ahead. I will rest for a while and figure something out later.”

Replying casually to her teammate, Kiyono Arisa left the rehearsal room and walked through the dim corridor whose walls were covered with posters of various visual kei bands.

Not far from the dressing room door, several band members about her age were leaning against a vending machine while chatting.

“That show was incredible. The lead singer literally jumped into the crowd when he got off stage. Ha!”

“Yeah. Half the sound system broke, but everyone was still happy. That is rock!”

Listening to their energetic, carefree laughter, Kiyono Arisa felt a strange bitterness rising in her chest.

Once upon a time, she had been one of them.

She had once discussed a beautiful vocal run with her bandmates at roadside stalls until deep into the night.

She had once been so excited about performing on a stage— even one with only a dozen spectators— that she could not sleep all night.

But now?

She had to wear sunglasses and a mask when walking on the street.

When entering or leaving the livehouse, she had to slip through back alleys like a fugitive avoiding the police.

The malice directed at her by unknown people with unknown motives hovered above her head like a swarm of bees that could descend at any moment and leave her covered in stings.

They knew what she ate for lunch. They knew what time she trained in the afternoon.

They might even know exactly which shop she would go to eat at later.

Kiyono Arisa bit her lip.

How long would this life continue?

…Would this hiding ever reach a finish line?

The chestnut-haired idol pushed open the dressing room door belonging to her group. In the mirror inside, it reflected a girl with a pale face and eyes filled with exhaustion and gloom.

“……”

She turned her head away in disgust, unwilling to look at the person in the mirror.

The girl picked up a towel and vigorously wiped the sweat remaining on her body.

Because of the force of her movements, she accidentally knocked down a handbag her teammate had placed in front of the makeup mirror.

Its contents spilled out.

Kiyono Arisa crouched down to pick them up one by one. When she picked up a soft sheet of paper, her movement paused slightly.

They were several tickets for an anniversary performance.

Looking at the tickets, someone she had once given them to appeared in her mind.

Xiao Chun Miura…

She softly spoke that name in her heart.

The girl who always wore a restrained smile— paired with a delicate appearance that naturally made people want to protect her, giving her a slightly airheaded impression.

Now she had become the only person Kiyono Arisa could talk to about these things.

Although Kiyono Arisa was extremely unwilling to admit it, during the past few times when she felt unable to hold on any longer, she had unconsciously begun to hope for the notification sound of a message on her mobile phone—hoping it was a text from Xiao Chun Miura.

“……”

After silently finishing wiping herself down, Kiyono Arisa took out her mobile phone and glanced at it.

…Not yet.

Almost without realizing it herself, she let out a faint sigh.

Then she pulled a loose black hoodie from her locker and prepared to go out to the street for something to eat.

“…Hm?”

However, when she was about to leave, she noticed that the cup that should have been in her locker was missing.

She narrowed her eyes and thought for a moment before remembering she had brought it to the training room.

The girl left the dressing room, intending to return to the rehearsal room to retrieve the cup she had forgotten.

Before she reached the door of the rehearsal room, however, the livehouse security guard called out to her from afar.

The guard jogged over a couple of steps and approached under Kiyono Arisa’s puzzled gaze.

“Miss, are you from that sugar star something group—”

Kiyono Arisa frowned. A sudden irritation made her instinctively pull her cap lower.

“What is it? If you have something to say, just say it, sir.”

“Someone is looking for a member of your group.” The guard pointed toward the entrance.

“A girl is waiting at the door. She asked me where your group members were.”

“I looked around and heard you all went to eat… Hm? If everyone went to eat, why did you not go?”

The guard asked in belated confusion.

“I was just about to go.”

Kiyono Arisa replied helplessly.

She wanted to escape from here. The longer she stayed, the stronger the urge became.

“I do not want to see—”

“She said she is a friend from your school.”

Hearing that, Kiyono Arisa’s heart suddenly jumped.

A friend from school?

And she knew her name.

At the livehouse she always used the stage name ALISA.

Although her teammates knew her real name, they had long since formed the habit of addressing each other by their stage names.

Specifically mentioning she was her friend.

At this time, a school friend who would come looking for her…

…Could it be Xiao Chun Miura?

“I understand.”

Kiyono Arisa turned her head and replied quietly.

“Thank you for the trouble, sir.”

“It is nothing.”

After parting with the guard, Kiyono Arisa returned to the rehearsal room and took her cup.

Then she turned and left the rehearsal room, walking toward the livehouse entrance—dim, cold, and covered in graffiti.

…Did she have something she needed to say in person?

Kiyono Arisa wondered.

Normally, when contacting her, Xiao Chun Miura would send messages on LIME.

Coming all the way to the livehouse…

Thinking this, Kiyono Arisa pushed open the heavy soundproof door.

A damp gust of wind rushed toward her, blowing the loose strands of hair on her forehead.

In the shadows at the entrance, a vague figure stood beside the iron gate.

Because the light was too dim, Kiyono Arisa could not see the person’s face clearly.

But the outline of the figure carried the slender feeling of a high school girl.

Kiyono Arisa took a deep breath.

She stepped across the threshold and, within that cold patch of light and shadow, spoke to the figure.

“Xiao Chun Miura, did you send a new—”

Before she finished speaking, she had already walked very close within a few seconds.

And because of that, she clearly saw who was standing by the dark wall.

Kiyono Arisa’s voice stopped abruptly.

She knew that person.

And it was not Xiao Chun Miura.