I Drink Every Night With a Lookalike of a Popular Idol on the Riverbank
On Sunday afternoon, we agreed to meet in Jimbocho.
We didn’t set a specific time, but decided that each of us would get ready after waking up and head to the café chain where we were meeting.
I sat at a table at the edge of the store, fiddling with my smartphone while waiting for Nanase, when I heard a voice behind me say, “Sorry to keep you waiting, Yosuke.”
When I turned around, there stood someone wearing a hoodie and shorts that looked like Nanase-san. What was unusual was that her face was completely hidden by large sunglasses, a mask, and a hat, making her look more like a suspicious person than someone in disguise.
“Wait… Nanase-san… right?”
“Yeah. Is there anyone who would mistake me for someone else?”
“Well… maybe one person who looks exactly like you…”
“Oh, right.”
In a normal conversation, she would have smiled here, but her eyes and mouth were hidden by the sunglasses and mask. When she shifted the sunglasses slightly, I could see the beautiful eyes that only Nanase and Yunagi had, so I knew it was her.
Nanase must find it painful to be mistaken for Yunagi. She’s not a celebrity, yet she has to take precautions that even ordinary celebrities don’t need to take, and I can’t help but feel sorry for her.
“You know… it’s like that.”
“Like what?”
“You know… that thing.”
“Oh, I get it. You’re saying I am hiding my face as carelessly as a streamer from a few years ago who refuses to show her face but wants to be fawned over by exposing her body, right, Yosuke?”
“There’s no malice intended!”
“Oh, did I get it wrong?”
“Right now, even though she’s wearing sunglasses and a mask, I can tell Nanase is smiling.”
“At this rate, I might as well be wearing underwear that lets people see through it.”
“Nanase-san!?”
“Hehe… Shall we go? Let’s start with the used bookstore, right?”
Nanase-san is taking advantage of the fact that her face is completely hidden to say and do whatever she wants. Without showing her true face, she reached out her hand and helped me stand up.
◆
We first entered the largest new bookstore. The air was cool and air-conditioned, and there was the smell of new paper and ink. It was a soothing smell.
“Yousuke, which section do you usually look at?”
“I usually look at literature and… design-related books. They’re useful for work.”
“Hmm, I see… Can I look over here?”
She pointed to the fashion magazine section. Oh, right. She’s a stylist, after all. She’s studying here, as expected.
We wandered around separate shelves for a while.
Occasionally, I could see her in the distance. She was reading a thick magazine with a serious expression on her face. Her profile in work mode looked a little different from the usual her I saw at the riverbank.
Well, her face was hidden by sunglasses and a mask, so it was just my imagination.
We must have been there for about half an hour. She came running over to me.
“Hey, Yosuke. Look at this.”
She handed me a large photo book filled with images of old foreign cities. Stone-built streets, overcast skies, grasslands without trees. All of them were scenes brimming with a foreign atmosphere.
“It’s beautiful. Where is this?”
“I don’t know. But someday, I’d like to stroll leisurely through a town like this, where no one knows me.”
She said that and looked off into the distance for a moment. She was wearing sunglasses, so this is just my imagination.
◆
After leaving the bookstore, we headed toward the main event of the day. A super-famous ramen shop featured on TV and in magazines.
But.
“Wow…”
The moment we arrived at the store, we were speechless. The weekend line was far beyond my imagination. It stretched around the corner and continued on for a long distance.
“This… this is… lunch, or rather… dinner?”
“Yeah… three hours… no, maybe four hours wait…”
The perfect weekend was shattered in just a few hours. We had both assumed it would only take an hour at most, so we turned around and left without even waiting in line.
“I’m sorry, Nanase-san. Thank you for coming with me…”
I apologized sincerely, but she smiled softly as she looked at my face. She was wearing sunglasses and a mask, but I could tell her eyes were narrowed in a smile.
“It’s okay. Unexpected things like this are fun. So, then…”
She said in a voice like a child who had come up with a mischievous idea.
“Can I go to your house, Yousuke?”
“Eh…?”
“Let’s have cup noodles instead of ramen. Are you cleaning your room?”
That bold and innocent proposal. My heart skipped a beat again.
“I-I guess so… but there’s really nothing there.”
“Hmm. It’s okay if there’s nothing. I’ll be there. Let’s go? First, we need to stock up on supplies. There’s something else besides cup noodles.”
“Could it be… seven percent?”
“Hmm. Lemon. Do you have a cup?”
“Of course I do!”
She laughed and gently pulled my arm.
◆
It was the first time we had visited my room together. It was a simple one-room apartment with few belongings and no sense of daily life.
As soon as she entered the room, she took off her mask, sunglasses, and hat and laughed happily, “Wow, there really is nothing here.”
The sight of someone I was so used to seeing, someone I usually met by the riverbank, now in my familiar room, made my heart flutter a little.
We poured hot water into the slightly luxurious cup noodles we bought at the convenience store and sat side by side in front of the TV.
“Well, well… this is a nice break.”
“Huh… really?”
“Yeah, really. It’s hot outside, you know.”
“Well… I guess so. The movie… anything is fine.”
“Yeah, anything is fine.”
We randomly selected a Japanese film from the rankings on a subscription app. I didn’t know anything about the genre, but it started with a gloomy atmosphere, so it seemed perfect for eating cup noodles instead of ramen from a famous restaurant.
After about five minutes, Yunagi Nagi appeared. I’ve never spoken to her before, but she looks familiar.
“Oh, it’s Nanase-san.”
I muttered casually.
Then Nanase-san, sitting next to me, coughed.
She had been happily slurping her noodles until then, but she stopped suddenly and stared intently at the TV screen.
“No, that’s Yunagi Nagi. It’s not me.”
“Oh… right. I was just thinking how similar you two look.”
“Well, sort of.”
“But… she’s supposed to be a cute idol, so it’s surprising to see her in such a gloomy movie… I mean, I can understand if it were a romantic comedy that middle schoolers would watch, but…”
“Well, you can only be cute and adorable when you’re young. When it comes to expanding your career prospects for the future, acting is a viable option. What she’s doing now is that even if an actor does ‘physical acting,’ it’s normal, but if an active idol does it, people will say, ‘That person!’ and she’ll be praised beyond her actual abilities.”
“As expected of an anti-fan’s commentary… you’re ruthless, as if it were your own business…”
Nanase choked on her ramen again.
“Are you okay? Is it spicy?”
“No, it’s not spicy.”
Nanase smiled slyly, her mouth corners stained red from the soup.
She returned her gaze to the movie. It seemed that Yuna was an important character, but not on the protagonist’s side. The protagonist’s heroine was played by a popular young actress.
“Ah… what was her name again? Oh! Takamura Karen. She’s popular, isn’t she? She’s beautiful, too.”
I was excited to see the actress I secretly admired appear on screen.
Glancing over at her neighbor, I noticed that Nanase’s mouth was slightly pursed.
“…Hm.”
Her voice was clearly displeased.
“What’s wrong, Nanase?”
When I asked her, she turned away and took a sip of her canned chu-hi.
“Nothing… But Yunagi Nagi is a good actress too. She’s cute. She’s not inferior.”
I couldn’t help but laugh at her childish, competitive tone.
“Even her haters praise Yunagi… Well, she does fit the role of a villain, and she doesn’t seem out of place.”
“Right? Besides, Takamura Karen is said to have a bad personality. She doesn’t greet the staff when she meets them on set, she harasses her manager, she’s slow to memorize her lines, she keeps messing up takes, she’s always late… I wonder how many times she’s delayed the shooting schedule… I’ve heard that before… Ah… Ahaha…”
Nanase-san is conducting a negative campaign against Takamura Karen with a lot of emotion in her voice.
As a stylist, she probably hears all kinds of stories from various sources. The fact that she’s telling me this might be a sign that she trusts me not to spread it around.
“Hey, Nanase-san…”
I suddenly wanted to ask her about something I had noticed, so I spoke up.
Nanase-san replied, “Hmm. What is it?” with a slightly wary attitude.
“Nanase-san, you don’t like many celebrities, do you? You dislike Takamura Karen much more than Yunagi Nagi.”
When I said that, Nanase-san stumbled.
“Haha… Yeah, that’s right. I think I basically don’t like people. The only people I like are those in specific relationships… I guess.”
“So, that means…”
“No, it doesn’t mean you, Yosuke! It’s… um… well… it’s like a fan relationship! It’s like the relationship between an idol and a fan! It’s like being a fan!”
“Oh, I see… I was surprised…”
For some reason, Nanase sulked again and tapped my shoulder.
“Don’t be surprised.”
“Don’t be surprised?”
“Yeah, don’t be surprised.”
Nanase glared at Takamura as if she were her enemy while slurping her ramen soup.
Maiasa