I Drink Every Night With a Lookalike of a Popular Idol on the Riverbank
It was Friday night after work. As I left the company building, feeling a sense of liberation, a woman was standing in front of me as if waiting for someone. She was wearing black pantsuit and thin-framed glasses.
“Aikawa Yosuke, right? This way, please.”
Her voice was cold and businesslike. I didn’t know her, but since she knew my name, I obediently followed her into the shadows.
“Yes, that’s me… But who are you?”
“I am Kuroda, the manager of Yunagi Nagi. To put it bluntly, please cease all contact with Yunagi Nagi from this point forward.”
Her tone was cold and unyielding. The words, which sounded like something out of a drama, left my mind blank. Don’t meet with her? Me? It was only once!
“Um… aren’t you mistaken? I’ve never met her before.”
“Don’t play dumb. We’ve already investigated that you’ve been having secret meetings with her at night by the riverbank.”
“Ah… no, that wasn’t her…”
I finally understood the situation and hurriedly explained.
“The person I’ve been meeting is someone named Nanase, who looks exactly like her. I think she’s a stylist or something…”
“A stylist?”
Kuroda sighed deeply, as if she were utterly exasperated.
“Aikawa-san. The person you call ‘Nanase’ is actually Yunagi Nagi. The fact that her days off from work perfectly align with Yunagi Nagi’s days off. At the festival the other day, after seeing your face, Nagi skipped the lyrics. Recently, after Nagi ate garlic as part of a penalty game on a variety show, the ‘Nanase’ you met that night also had the same… smell, didn’t she? With all these similarities, you still think she’s just a look-alike?”
The facts Kuroda-san mentioned were indeed things I had experienced or heard about. However, I couldn’t accept it.
“Yes. Because they’re look-alikes. I don’t know about the off-days matching up… As for the garlic, it was just a coincidence that she ate ramen on the same day, right? As for forgetting the lyrics… I don’t know the reason, but I met the real person once after that. I think they’re different people.”
When I said that too seriously, Kuroda pressed her temples with her fingers. Her face said, “This guy doesn’t get it.”
“But even if we assume that the person you always meet is the real one, why would she go to such lengths to pretend to be a look-alike?”
“Well…”
“Please provide evidence that Nanase isn’t Nanase.”
I blurted out without thinking. Kuroda looked taken aback for a moment.
“Evidence?”
“Yes. Because I’ve never heard Nanase-san say that she’s Yunagi Nagi. If she says she’s not the real one, then she’s not, right?”
Kuroda-san looked up at the sky, overwhelmed by my overly simple logic. Then, as if changing her strategy, she lowered her voice slightly and spoke to me.
“Aikawa-san. She’s doing this because it benefits her. Yunagi Nagi, a national idol, is meeting with you while hiding her true identity. That’s because the time she spends with you is the only time she can be just a regular girl. She’s lying because she doesn’t want to be recognized as herself.”
Those words were persuasive. Nanase-san’s occasionally lonely expression. Her face lighting up with genuine joy during our trivial conversations. Those images flashed through my mind.
If, by some chance, what Kuroda-san said was true. If I was just convinced that she was a “look-alike,” and in reality, that national idol was desperately lying for my sake.
There was only one thing I could do.
“…If what Kuroda-san said is true…”
I looked straight back at Kuroda-san.
“I should go along with that lie, right?”
“…Huh?”
“I don’t believe it, and I don’t believe it at all, but if she’s lying to meet me, then exposing that lie would be the worst thing I could do, right?”
I took a breath and continued.
“To be honest, it doesn’t matter to me either way. To me, Nanase is Nanase. Whether her job is a stylist or an idol, it doesn’t matter to me. It’s just a difference in occupation. If she says she’s ‘Nanase’ and a stylist, then that’s the truth to me.”
When I finished speaking, Kuroda-san said nothing, just stared at my face. In her stern eyes, I thought I saw a hint of something different—surprise, disbelief, and perhaps a touch of admiration.
Eventually, she exhaled softly, in a way she hadn’t before.
“…I understand. Please keep today’s meeting a secret from Nagi.”
“Hmm… There won’t be a chance to talk about it, though…”
“And one more thing. Please don’t hurt her.”
“You mean… Nanase-san, right?”
“Yes, that’s right.”
“Of course.”
Kuroda nodded satisfactorily, turned her back on me, and disappeared into the nighttime crowd.
Left alone, I could still feel my heart pounding.
“What was that just now…”
Still, Nanase should be waiting as usual by the riverbank. I hurried toward her.
Along the way, a truck wrapped in advertisements passed by. On it was a large print of Yunagi Nagi
She did look exactly like Nanase. Identical.
Our eyes locked with that Yunagi Nagi
Maybe Nanase really was…
The thought crossed my mind for a moment, but it didn’t really matter either way.
(Besides, if she were an idol, she wouldn’t be able to drink as much as she wanted, and it would be bad if she were photographed by a weekly magazine. Being a stylist is more relaxed…)
Thinking such things, I headed toward the riverbank.
◆
After leaving the scene, Kuroda opened her smartphone’s contact list and stopped her finger as she was about to tap on a certain person’s name. It was a report to the agency’s president.
And future countermeasures. However, what came to her mind was not such business-like thinking.
(That stubborn fool… He’s the real deal. He’s insanely insensitive… No, he has something beyond that…)
Yunagi, the product she was supposed to protect, was being threatened by a dangerous person. That perception was completely overturned. As long as he was by her side, Yunagi would be fine. There was no danger.
Instead, another thought arose in Kuroda’s mind.
(…Maybe I should support her? With that level of insensitivity, Nanase will probably have a hard time. Aikawa Yosuke is an interesting person.)
The skilled manager muttered this to herself and smiled slightly.
Maiasa