Haruka looked directly into her eyes.
“When you stand on stage, all those thousands of people waving glow sticks—do you think they come to see you because of that investor?”
Yuki’s eyes opened slightly.
“They stand there because they love Shirakawa Yuki’s voice, because they think that white hair looks like a snow spirit under the lights.”
Haruka shoved the warm can of tea back into Yuki’s hands, her gaze clear and firm.
“So you were a supporting character in someone else’s love story. So what? On a stage that belongs to you, you’re the absolute protagonist.”
“To punish the fans who truly love you and wait for your songs just because someone doesn’t love you—that’s a pretty lame reason to retire! The line of people wanting to hear you sing could stretch from here all the way to Shibuya crossing.”
Yuki stared blankly at Haruka.
She looked at this junior who was usually so cheerful and carefree, now gazing at her with a mature look that seemed to have seen through the trials of life.
Gradually, a faint light gathered again in Yuki’s empty eyes.
“Pfft—”
Suddenly, she covered her mouth and laughed.
Though tears still clung to the corners of her eyes, that smile was one of complete relief.
“Haruka… did you secretly enroll in some life philosophy master class after the car accident? You’re spouting all these big truths.”
“Hehe, I was bored in the hospital bed, so I just read a couple of romance light novels.”
Haruka realized her tone had been a bit too “preachy,” so she quickly scratched her head and switched back to her energetic sixteen-year-old persona at light speed.
“But you’re right.”
Yuki took a deep breath and slapped her cheeks.
“Running away with my tail between my legs really is too lame. I earned my stage one step at a time.”
Seeing her senior finally step out of that dead end, Haruka mentally gave herself a V-sign.
‘Great, with just a few words I perfectly solved a love problem, averted the disaster of heartbroken fans, and defused a major industry earthquake. Perfect!’
“Hmph…”
However, just as Haruka was mentally patting herself on the back, the now-healed Yuki suddenly turned her head and looked her up and down with an extremely amused, almost gossipy expression.
“But speaking of which, Haruka.”
A mischievous smile curled at the corner of Yuki’s mouth.
“All that love theory you just spouted—could it be that our pure and innocent Hoshino Haruka has finally woken up?”
“Huh?! I haven’t!”
“Is that so?”
Yuki leaned in a little, blinking her beautiful eyes.
“Actually, most of what I said earlier was just angry words. Like I told you from the start, your senior here isn’t as fragile as you think.”
“…”
‘You’re not letting that line go, are you?’
“Originally I just wanted to use you as a confidant, let you whine like before, shed a couple tears with me, and vent. But then you suddenly started feeding me chicken soup like a seasoned veteran who’s been through stormy seas. I was really startled. I’ve heard similar versions of those nice words countless times, but coming from you…”
“It’s really cute.”
“…”
Yuki leaned closer and closer, that delicate face growing larger in Haruka’s vision.
Alarms began ringing in Haruka’s mind, and she quietly shifted her body toward the edge of the bench.
“I’m saying, what if it were you?”
Yuki pressed on step by step.
“What if you… accidentally fell in love with someone you absolutely shouldn’t? For example… hmm, your always-stoic manager Mizutani? What would you do?”
“Cough, cough, cough—!!!”
Haruka choked violently on her own saliva.
“I-I-I… I don’t know what you’re talking about! Ritsu-san is my manager! He’s an old man! A workaholic! How could I possibly like him! Absolutely not! Not at all!”
Haruka waved her hands frantically in front of her chest, speaking incoherently, her voice so loud that it startled the sparrows on a distant tree.
“And I’m an idol! You’re a singer, you can freely date, but I’m an idol—love is forbidden!”
However, as soon as she shouted that, she regretted it.
She realized her reaction just now had practically stamped “I have something to hide” on her forehead.
“Ahem.”
Haruka quickly made a fist and pressed it to her lips, clearing her throat forcefully, and forcibly restored a proper sitting posture.
“Anyway, I just choked on my saliva. Please pretend you didn’t see anything.”
She tried her best to feign calm, but her bright red ears had completely betrayed her.
‘What am I overreacting for? Isn’t this the classic case of trying to cover up?’
Yuki had just been in a better mood and wanted to tease her with a casual joke.
But seeing Haruka’s fierce reaction—face flushed, stammering like a cat whose tail had been stepped on—Yuki’s eyes instantly grew as wide as bells.
“Oh my god…”
Yuki covered her mouth.
“No way? Haruka, are you serious?!”
“Senior, don’t talk nonsense! I really don’t! Keep your voice down!”
Haruka was scared out of her wits and quickly made a “shush” gesture.
“If anyone hears this and it gets out, my idol career would probably be over by tomorrow…”
Watching this junior whose face was bright red and denying so desperately, the last shadow of Yuki’s broken heart instantly vanished.
She suddenly felt that compared to her own bitter one-sided love, this work-obsessed, incredibly dense junior’s “secret crush” was way more interesting!
“Oh my, oh my, you’re blushing.”
Yuki hugged Haruka like an understanding big sister who had discovered a new continent.
She tried to put on a deep mentor expression, but her smile, harder to suppress than an AK, had completely betrayed her delight.
“It’s okay, it’s okay, you don’t need to pretend in front of your senior! Even though I’m a failure in love, as the saying goes, ‘Long illness makes the patient a doctor’!”
“Come on, tell your senior: how far have you two gone? Has he held your hand? Has he said anything special to you?”
“Ahhh—it’s really not what you think—”
Haruka struggled desperately in Yuki’s arms.
She couldn’t very well shout, ‘My heart races because my male soul, inside this girl’s body, has developed unnecessary feelings for my best friend of over twenty years for some inexplicable reason!’
Just as Haruka felt she was about to be interrogated to death—
“Buzz—”
The phone in her bag vibrated like a heavenly sound.
Like grabbing a lifesaving straw, Haruka whipped out her phone at lightning speed.
On the screen flashed three big characters: [Manager].
“Ah! Ritsu-san is calling me! The minibus must have arrived!”
With a spring, Haruka broke free from Yuki’s arms, stood up straight, and gave a quick ninety-degree bow.
“Yuki-senpai! Thanks for the tea! Don’t forget you still have to sing! I’m off, bye—!”
With that, like a thief with a guilty conscience, she fled the scene without looking back.
Yuki sat on the bench, watching Haruka’s fleeing back, holding her stomach as she laughed uncontrollably.
“That blockhead really doesn’t know a good thing when she sees it.”
—
Haruka sprinted all the way to the hidden street corner outside the school gate and immediately spotted the familiar white minibus.
She pulled open the door, threw herself into the back seat, and panted heavily.
“Miss Hoshino? Did something happen?”
Mr. Uehara in the driver’s seat turned around in confusion and looked at her.
“Uh… no, nothing…”
“Is a fan following you or…”
“No, no, no, no, it’s nothing. I just got a bit cold and suddenly felt like running, haha…”
Even Haruka didn’t believe that excuse, but since Mr. Uehara saw she wasn’t in danger, he didn’t say anything.
“Miss Hoshino, Mr. Mizutani asked me to tell you that after we get back to the office, you should go to the B1 practice room first. Miss Meihe has some targeted rehab exercises she wants you to try. Today is just the first version; after you try them, she’ll go back and adjust.”
“Mm-hmm, got it. Thank you, Mr. Uehara.”
She adjusted her sitting posture and fastened her seatbelt.
Looking at the empty passenger seat, she breathed a sigh of relief.
‘Good thing he’s not here now, otherwise…’
Haruka thought back to the scene where that senior had tricked her with a simple conversation, and she felt so ashamed she wanted to crawl under the car.
‘Ugh, why did I get so worked up? Now she has something on me…’
‘Once or twice I can excuse it as a hardware problem, but how many times has this been? It can’t be that I really—’
‘Have improper feelings for my best bro.’