Episode 1

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I Drink Every Night With a Lookalike of a Popular Idol on the Riverbank

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The air by the river smells like Sunday. Even though it’s only Tuesday, 7 p.m.

I, Aikawa Yosuke, felt the warm breeze caressing my cheeks as I pondered such things.

My usual spot on the riverbank. Halfway between my office and my home. Neither public nor private, this concrete embankment is my regular spot.

I take a sip of the canned chu-hi I bought at the convenience store. Lemon-flavored, 7% alcohol. The name is “Strong Lemon.” Cheap, quick, and it loosens the screws in my head—the usual.

A “clink” sound echoed unusually loudly. Next to me.

Right next to me.

Slowly lifting my head, I noticed a woman had arrived without me noticing, sitting on the retaining wall just like me.

She wore a cap pulled low over her eyes, and behind her fashionable glasses without prescription lenses, her long eyelashes were lowered. She wore a loose-fitting hoodie, slightly short pants, and sneakers—a stylish outfit, but not something you’d expect someone to wear after work.

Most of her face was hidden, yet there was an inexplicable presence about her that seemed to alter the atmosphere simply by her being there.

In her hand was a can of canned chu-hai identical to mine. Lemon-flavored, 7 percent alcohol.

It was awkward…

I didn’t know the right thing to do in this situation. Should I nod politely? But she wasn’t looking at me. It would be terrible if she thought I was being overly self-conscious. On the other hand, standing up deliberately would also be odd.

In the end, all I could do was stare blankly at the stagnant flow of the river in front of me.

The river surface reflected the last rays of the setting sun, flickering with light.

After enough time had passed for the alcohol to take effect, it was the woman who broke the awkward silence.

“…This is delicious, isn’t it?”

It was like a mutter, but it was clearly directed at me.

For a moment, I doubted my own ears. What, me? Are you talking to me?

“Ah… um… yes. Well… it’s good that it’s not too sweet.”

My voice sounded strangely high-pitched.

“Ah, I understand. Sweet things are somehow different, aren’t they? Emotionally.”

“Yeah. Especially after work…”

“I get it! Totally. What I’m looking for is something that really hits the spot.”

“Exactly.”

It felt strange. Even though we had just met, it was as if we were old friends, our conversation flowing smoothly.

“Do you always come here?”

She asked.

“Huh? Oh, yeah. Well, mostly…”

“I see. I came here for the first time today. It’s relaxing… The sky is so wide. I just sat down.”

“Yeah… It’s wide, isn’t it?”

Now that she mentioned it, it was true.

Unlike the crowded city center, there was nothing to block the view here. Behind us and across the river were rows of apartment buildings, but when we looked up, they didn’t obstruct our view.

She was staring at the apartment buildings next to her.

“It’s strange, isn’t it? From here, they look like small boxes, but inside, they’re divided into many rooms, each with a family living in it, each with their own life. Isn’t that amazing?”

“Definitely. I think about that when I’m on the bullet train, too. Every time I pass through an unfamiliar town or village. Even that old house standing alone in the rice fields must be someone’s childhood home.”

“Haha… Same here. So, who do you think lives in that corner room on the top floor?”

The woman pointed to the apartment building across the river.

“Me.”

“What!?”

“Just kidding.”

“You scared me…”

When I joked, the woman smiled with narrowed eyes.

“Well… since it’s on the top floor, it must be someone with money, right?”

“Yeah, I think so. Why are you drinking here, onii san? Did something bad happen that made you want to drown your sorrows?”

“No… it’s just a mood thing. The ceiling is too low at home.”

“How big is your room?”

“Six tatami mats.”

“Then the ceiling is also 6 tatami mats. How many tatami mats is this place?”

She looked up at the sky, where stars were just beginning to appear, and said that. Her face, which had been hidden by the brim of her hat, was now clearly visible.

Her profile had distinct shadows, like a sculpture, and she was the kind of person who could be described as a “beauty” without hesitation.

I couldn’t help but laugh at her attempt to compare the vastness of the sky to the number of tatami mats.

“Haha… That’s true. How many tatami mats is it?”

“Want to try?”

“Fermi estimation?”

“That’s not something a drunk person would do.”

The woman shrugged her shoulders with an intelligent smile.

“But… isn’t it strange? A woman drinking canned chu-hi alone in a place like this?”

“No. It’s not like that… I’m alone too. We’re in the same boat, so to speak.”

“Fufu. Right. We’re in the same boat, aren’t we?”

She smiled softly.

At that moment, I suddenly thought.

Huh…?

I feel like I’ve seen her somewhere before…

The smallness of her facial features. The slender line of her neck. The slender wrist peeking out from her hoodie.

I went through my memories one by one. A classmate? A coworker? A client?

No, that’s not it.

But what is this sense of déjà vu?

As I pondered, she looked at me curiously.

“Is something wrong?”

“No, nothing! It’s nothing!”

I shook my head hastily. That’s right. It was déjà vu. That must be it.

At that moment, my smartphone vibrated in my pocket. I checked the time and saw that it was already quite late.

“Excuse me. I have to go now…”

“Oh, yes! I’m sorry for keeping you here.”

“No, it’s my pleasure. It was fun.”

“…Me too. Let’s do it again sometime. Fermi estimation.”

I felt a little reluctant as I stood up from the embankment.

“Well, see you later. No peeking at the sky first, okay?”

“Fufu… I know. See you.”

I didn’t know when that “see you” would be, or even if there would be a next time.

Still, we said it to each other as if it were natural.

Feeling her gaze on my back, I climbed the embankment and started walking home.

I replayed today’s events in my head.

She was a mysterious person.

I still couldn’t make out her face clearly.

But why did she feel so familiar?

Was it because we were drinking the same canned chu-hi? No, it wasn’t that…

Something was stuck in the back of my mind.

I felt like I could remember, but I couldn’t. It was an unpleasant feeling.

The light from the convenience store was unusually bright.

That’s when it happened.

The face of my colleague, Narumi Chiaki, suddenly flashed through my mind. 

She had an idol’s photo frame on her desk. She stared at it every day as if worshipping it. Even during work, she would talk about that girl without caring about anything else.

[Yousuke, you just don’t get it. Nagisa chan from Luminas Tears is a miracle of the modern age! That transparency! That fragility! Yet when she smiles, she’s like the sun—that gap!]

…That’s right.

Yunagi Nagi

I think that was her name.

I stopped in my tracks without thinking.

I distinctly heard the sound of dots connecting into a line.

It was her.

No, it wasn’t her. It was someone who looked exactly like her. A doppelgänger, a twin.

The girl who was on the riverbank earlier looked like Yunagi Nagi

That’s why I felt such a sense of déjà vu.

I see… I nodded to myself.

Well, it couldn’t be the real person.

The person who is said to be the undisputed center of a nationally popular idol group wouldn’t be drinking canned chu-hi alone on a riverbank on a weekday night.

There must be a schedule or security or something like that.

So…

It must be a look-alike…

They say there are three people in the world who look exactly like you.

　Even so…

That’s amazing.

Just being cute is already a kind of talent. What are the odds of being a look-alike of a national idol?

I bet she must have a hard time being mistaken for her all the time.

Maybe that’s why she was looking for a place where she could just sit alone and zone out.

Thinking about that, every little conversation I had earlier suddenly felt precious.

If I go to that place tomorrow,

will I see that “look-alike” again?

Just a little.

Just a little, I hoped as I stopped by the convenience store and threw the empty lemon highball can in the trash.

◆

As I watched the back of the stranger, a black minivan quietly pulled up.

The rear door opened, and a woman in a pantsuit, who looked like she was good at her job, got out. It was Manager Kuroda Misaki.

“Nagi-san. It’s time.”

Misaki looked at the can of chu-hai Nagi was holding and furrowed her brow slightly.

“Drinking that again… You’re not just taking care of yourself, are you?”

“…I’m sorry, Misaki-san.”

“I’m not asking you to apologize… So? Who was that person?”

Misaki’s sharp gaze turned toward the direction the man had left.

“…It’s nothing, just someone.”

“I’m trying not to chase after reporters… but what if that person sold it to a weekly magazine?”

“It’s okay. He just looked like an ordinary office worker. He didn’t seem to notice me. So it’s okay.”

“Just an ordinary office worker…”

“He doesn’t seem to know me at all. It’s been a while… since I could talk to someone without being pointed at.”

I looked again at the darkness where the man had disappeared.

That person wasn’t looking at Yunagi Nagi

He was looking at me as just a drunk girl wearing a cap.

And he talked to me just because we had the same preference for canned chu-hi.

I’m sure that person has no idea how much it lightened my heart that he didn’t know me.

“…Hey, Misaki-san.”

“What is it?”

“Can I come here again tomorrow?”

Misaki-san didn’t answer my question right away.

She just stared silently at the side profile of her clumsy national idol, looking a little exasperated and a little worried.

“Well… I can only say that I leave personal matters up to the individual. If you want to talk to someone who doesn’t know you, why not visit a nursing home? No one there will know you either.”

“I don’t want to be treated like a grandchild.”

I puffed out my cheeks and glared at Misaki. Misaki casually invited me into the car.

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Maiasa

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