I Drink Every Night With a Lookalike of a Popular Idol on the Riverbank
The riverbank after the rain was more humid than usual. Although the temperature wasn’t that high, the humidity was high, making it quite uncomfortable.
Even on a day like that, Nanase was waiting patiently. Standing alone on the wet ground, she looked like a ghost.
“Nanase, sorry to keep you waiting.”
When I called out to her, Nanase turned around with her usual listless expression.
“Hey, Yosuke.”
“Is the ground wet?”
“Hmm. Yeah. It’s a bit tricky to sit down because of how wet it is.”
Nanase had been standing there for a while, and she answered while moving her feet.
“Then… let’s just drink here.”
“No, let’s walk around a bit. This area.”
“That’s a good idea.”
“Then, it’s decided.”
Nanase smiled and turned around.
As the two of us started walking along the riverbank, the unique scent of rain tickled our noses.
“Hey, it’s the scent of geosmin.”
“Geosmin?”
“It’s the component of the ‘after-rain scent.’”
“You don’t have to say it’s a component… Well, it’s the smell of after-rain.”
“Yeah. It’s geosmin.”
“That suddenly makes me feel uncomfortable!”
Nanase chuckled and took a sip of her canned chuhai.
“Nanase-san, there’s a puddle there.”
“Oh, wow.”
Nanase-san hurriedly jumped toward me to avoid the puddle. When she almost fell from the momentum, I supported her, and Nanase-san laughed, “Mfuu,” and wiped the seven percent lemon juice on her hand with her mouth.
“What… Are you okay today?”
“What’s wrong?”
“Your speech is slurring!”
“It’s not slurring!”
She was completely drunk. It would be better to sit down and talk, but on a day like this, there was nowhere to sit.
Nanase started walking alone, taking unnecessary detours around puddles, bumping into me, and then moving away.
“Are you really okay?”
“Um, I’m okay… but not really. Well, my eyesight is a little bad today. I can’t see puddles very well. Yosuke, be my guide dog.”
Saying that, Nanase came up beside me and took my hand.
“What, your eyesight is bad? You said it was fine before…”
“Hmm. It’s just one of those days. Just one of those days, you know.”
Nanase said that and squeezed my hand tightly.
“Well… it would be dangerous if you fell.”
“Haha… that’s right.”
The two of us walked aimlessly, holding cans in our free hands.
“Hey, Yosuke.”
“What’s wrong?”
“Can I show you a little bit of my annoying side?”
“Not this?”
I said jokingly, shaking the hands we were holding.
“Haha… You’re saying that, but you’re holding my hand too.”
“Well, anyway! What is it?”
“This one who’s abnormally grateful for the smell after the rain is annoying.”
“Ah, that’s something a troublesome person would say. It’s the kind of thing someone who’s seen it all would say with a cold eye.”
“Fufu… Yeah. That’s right. I was thinking about it while waiting for Yousuke. It’s a three-way stalemate between the part of me that says, ‘This smell is nice,’ the part that says, ‘You’re just getting drunk on the fact that you’re thinking about it,’ and the part that says, ‘You’re just looking at everything with a cynical eye.’”
“The last one seems like the easiest to live with.”
“Yeah. You shouldn’t worry about other people. Well, it’s all about yourself anyway.”
“But isn’t it true that your own existence becomes a mirror for other people?”
When I blurted that out, it seemed to really hit home for Nanase, and she murmured, “I see…” in a unusually low voice.
“Well… maybe so. You have to do that to be liked by many people.”
“The world of stylists is tough, isn’t it? Unlike office workers, you have to create your own work.”
“Haha… well, that’s how it is.”
“But… it’s like having multiple personalities. There’s the self that observes the self, and then there’s the self that observes that self.”
Nanase muttered, “Multiple personalities… I guess that’s okay,” as if talking to herself.
“Okay!?”
“No, it’s not okay. I just thought it might be useful.”
“Useful for what!?”
“Well, for example, if there was another personality of mine besides the stylist, and that person was an idol…”
“Nanase as an idol…”
“Eh, is that bad?”
“No, not at all. I had two thoughts… The first was that it would be a waste to have someone who looks exactly like Yunagi being consumed by the media. And the second was that a personality that’s meta on top of meta might be more appealing to everyone.”
“Would the riverside mode be no good?”
“I think it’s the best option right now.”
“…then okay.”
Nanase spoke quickly in a hard-to-hear voice, clenching her fist and closing the distance until her arm touched mine.
“Huh? What?”
“Nothing. There was a puddle.”
“I can see that…”
“You’re sharp.”
“I’m not usually that slow…”
“Hehe… Not when it comes to the basics.”
When Nanase-san tightened her grip, I tightened mine in response. We were able to do that, so I wasn’t that slow, but it seemed like there was something else I wasn’t picking up on.
Maiasa