I Drink Every Night With a Lookalike of a Popular Idol on the Riverbank
Even in September, the muggy air enveloping the city felt as if the entire city were sighing deeply.
I hadn’t seen Nanase-san even once since I was told that I wouldn’t be able to meet her anymore. Occasionally, I would receive photos of her drinking alone in her room or at a ryokan, along with messages from a drunk person named “Nanapa.”
“So, how’s it going with that lookalike?”
During lunch break at the café, my colleague Narumi smiled mischievously while twirling pasta in front of me. Her cheerful voice was a bit too bright for this lazy afternoon.
“Well, I haven’t been able to meet her lately…”
“Huh? Why? Did you do something wrong?”
“No, that’s not it! Apparently, she’s in the middle of a big project.”
“Hmm. Well, whatever.”
Narumi put down her fork disinterestedly, and at that moment, I noticed the gaze of a man sitting in the corner of the store. He had his cap pulled down low over his eyes, and his face was more than half covered by a mask. The man was staring intently at us… no, at Narumi.
“Narumi, that guy… I feel like he’s been staring at us the whole time…”
I whispered, and Narumi also looked over there with a puzzled expression. Then, her face suddenly changed.
“…No way. Could it be…”
“Do you know him?”
“Of course not! Well… after 24 years of hardship, maybe my time to be popular has finally come…”
“That also falls under ‘no way’…”
“Huh?”
Narumi’s pressure intensified.
“Narumi-san is a wonderful person, both in appearance and personality, who is loved by everyone.”
“Yeah, yeah. That’s good.”
Narumi nodded in satisfaction, but he still didn’t take his eyes off us, sending a chill down my spine.
…A stalker?
No way.
Narumi is cheerful and not the type to make enemies. But the man’s gaze was sticky, and it was clearly not friendly.
“But are you sure you’re okay? What if he waits for you after work or something… I’ll walk you home for a while.”
“…Hmm… That offer is helpful, but if he really is a stalker, wouldn’t it be dangerous to have a man with you? He might get even more worked up if he thinks, ‘he’s her boyfriend!’”
“I’m not an idol…”
“Well, maybe I am an idol to him. Hmm… but maybe it’s okay to scare him a little?”
“No way. I’ll talk to him first.”
“Eh… won’t that make it even more dangerous?”
Narumi asked quietly.
“It’s okay, it’s okay.”
“What’s your basis for that?”
“…I don’t have one. But we eat lunch together pretty often, so it wouldn’t be surprising if he misunderstood something.”
“That I’m your girlfriend?”
“Well, yeah… something like that.”
The two of us stared at each other. Then we both burst out laughing and said, “No way!” at the same time.
“Then… let’s talk about it. Let’s leave this place… and wait at the corner of that curry shop? you’ll go into the shop once and then I sneak around behind to flank him.”
“Yeah, that’s fine. Let’s do that.”
After a quick strategy meeting with Narumi, we left the shop without finishing our lunch.
As we walked side by side, Narumi took out a hand mirror and started looking at her face.
“You don’t have to worry about that now…”
“No, he’s following us. The guy from earlier.”
“What? Seriously?”
“Yeah. Well… good luck.”
We turned the corner and hid behind a vending machine so the person behind us couldn’t see us. Narumi also went into the curry shop so he couldn’t see us.
Soon, footsteps approached. My heart was pounding uncontrollably.
The footsteps grew louder. I mustered my courage and stepped out from behind the vending machine.
There stood an unfamiliar man. But he must be the one who had been watching us from the restaurant where we had lunch.
“Ugh!?”
“You’ve been following us from the restaurant, right? Are you my grilfriend’s acquaintance?”
The tension made the intonation of “girlfriend” sound strange, but there was no time to correct it.
“Huh… girlfriend? Is that right?”
“Eh? Well, yeah… I guess so…”
“I see… I understand.”
“You understand!?”
“Yes. I won’t come here anymore, so don’t worry.”
“H… haaa…”
That person left after saying only that. Narumi, who had been circling around to flank me, came over, but when she saw that I was alone, she tilted her head.
“Oh… did he get away?”
“No, I talked to him. he asked, ‘Is that so?’ so I answered, ‘Yes,’ and he said he wouldn’t come back.”
“What? What do you mean?”
“I don’t know… Just be careful for a while… I’ll walk you home today…”
“Okay. Thanks. You’re reliable.”
Narumi smiled and patted me on the shoulder. With that smile and gesture, I thought that if she wasn’t so obsessed with idols in her private life, she could easily have a boyfriend.
◆
In the conference room of the building where the agency was located, Misaki Kuroda was on the phone with the investigator she had hired.
“—Yes, yes. I see? The recording file… Yes. I’ll open it.”
Kuroda pressed the play button, and Aikawa’s voice came through.
“You’ve been following her from the store, right? Are you my girlfriend’s acquaintance?”
girlfriend’s acquaintance. The intonation could also be interpreted as referring to a lover.
“Is this… evidence that Aikawa Yosuke is dating Narumi Chiaki?”
“Huh… yes. After they left work together at the regular time, they walked toward Narumi’s home while talking intimately.”
“Did they go inside the room?”
“No, they parted ways at the entrance, and Aikawa went home via the riverbank.”
“Hm… Maybe you should have checked more thoroughly? This is like Zarboni not confirming Vegeta’s death.”
“Huh… Zarboni?”
Kuroda inwardly sighed, thinking, “This generation doesn’t get Dragon Ball references.”
“Nothing. Well… this is fine for now. Thank you.”
After hanging up the phone, Kuroda pondered alone.
“A passionate fan’s boyfriend… getting close to her for her sake… asking for favors? But eventually, it won’t make sense unless Narumi meets him too? A one-time chance? A love triangle? Well, whatever the goal is… it’s certain that he has a girlfriend.”
Now is not the time to use this information. Wait until the summer rush is over. Then I can talk to Nagi again.
“Aikawa Yosuke… You’re not a harmless person after all.”
There are no good people who approach idols who are implicitly forbidden from dating. Kuroda’s conviction grew stronger.
◆
Time passed, and on a September night, the sound of insects began to signal the arrival of autumn.
On the day of our reunion, I found myself drawn to the usual riverside.
She was there.
Her familiar back, unchanged from before. Sitting and gazing across the river.
I didn’t know how to address her, so I stood a little distance away.
Eventually, she noticed me. An awkward silence was broken by the chirping of insects.
“…Your hair has grown a little, hasn’t it?”
She nodded in response to the words I finally managed to squeeze out.
“Hehe… Stop using honorifics. It makes me laugh. Your hair has grown too, Yosuke.”
After that, the conversation stopped again. The distance between us felt a little farther than before.
I sat down four cans of canned chu-hi away, and Nanase-san moved two cans closer.
She opened the can she was holding with a small “pop” sound.
Then she looked at me with a searching gaze.
“…Did you get a girlfriend?”
“No way… I’ve been working all the time. What about you, Nanase-san?”
“Same here. I’ve been working all the time. There’s no difference between weekdays and weekends. . it’s been tough. Look at this. I got sunburned here.”
Nanase-san showed me her ankle. It seemed like she had gotten sunburned in a pattern that matched the shape of her sandals.
“Wow… that’s tough.”
“It was tough… Well, cheers. It’s been a while.”
“Yeah. It’s been a while.”
The two of them clinked their cans of chuhai together. A slight cold breeze blew through.
“Hey, Yosuke. Summer’s over, isn’t it?”
“I didn’t do anything, though.”
“What are you going to do in the fall?”
“Nothing.”
“What about winter?”
“Nothing.”
“Hmm, that’s great. Let’s just do nothing.”
When I said that without hesitation, Nanase laughed and took a sip of her canned chu-hi, humming a song whose title I didn’t know.
“Whose song is that?”
“Oh, Fujifabric. I’ve been singing it a lot lately.”
“Huh…”
The conversation didn’t go anywhere. But I felt a sense of relief at seeing Nanase again, enough to think that was okay.
◆
When I got home and was mindlessly scrolling through social media, a video that looked like a live performance of Luminas Tears from this summer came up.
“What an amazing cover… Everyone is amazing…”
It seemed they had performed a cover song. It was the same melody as the song Nanase-san had been humming by the riverbank.
“I guess the staff who accompanied them must have been listening to it the whole time… It’s the kind of song that sticks in your head after hearing it so many times…”
Maiasa