The School’s Top Idol Is Acting Like She’s My Childhood Friend for Some Reason and Just Keeps Closing the Distance on Her Own…?! ~Stop Getting All Gloomy on Me Just Because I Turned You Down!~
The afternoon class felt just a little longer than usual.
The words I’d exchanged with Hoshimiya during lunch break kept lingering in my mind.
“You’re already here.”
Even though I was the one who said it, my face flushed every time I thought back on it.
That was a slip of the tongue.
It was definitely a slip of the tongue.
I’m in trouble because Rino Hoshimiya has left too deep an impression on me. I shouldn’t have said that to her. She’s the type who picks up every single word I say, puts them in a pretty box, and saves them as memories all on her own.
And it doesn’t end with just saving them.
She takes them out periodically to look at them, adds meaning to them, adds weight to them, and before I know it, she turns them into “our precious memories.”
It’s way too dangerous.
During class, Hoshimiya, sitting to my right, was in an unusually good mood.
Her hand movements as she took notes were as meticulous as ever, and her answers when called on by the teacher were flawless. But every now and then, she’d glance my way. When our eyes met, the corners of her mouth would turn up just a little.
That smile looked like she was recalling what we’d said during lunch break, so I quickly looked away.
But for some reason, even as I looked down at my notebook, Hoshimiya’s face kept popping into my mind.
I might be in serious trouble.
When school let out, Hoshimiya started getting ready for work.
She’d said she had a photo shoot today. Hara and Shinozaki, who’d stayed behind in the classroom, surrounded her in their usual way.
“Rino, work again today? You’re such a hot commodity.”
“Hoshimiya Rino-san, you’re becoming so out of reach.”
When Shinozaki said this in a sleepy voice, Hoshimiya gave a soft laugh.
“That’s not true. I just want to be Rino here at school.”
Hearing those words, I paused for a moment.
She wants to be just Rino here at school.
Then, which one of them is the girl I see?
Hoshimiya Rino, the celebrity.
Hoshimiya, the class favorite.
Or that heavy-hearted girl who grabbed my sleeve behind the storage room and said, “I want to stay inside you, Seita.”
Probably, they’re all the same.
Thinking that made it even more complicated.
“Seita.”
Hoshimiya came over to my desk.
Hara and Shinozaki’s gazes immediately turned toward us.
“I’ll text you when I’m done with work.”
“Okay.”
“Make sure you reply.”
“I’ll reply when I notice.”
“I’ll text you enough times to make sure you notice.”
“That’s why I’m scared.”
Hoshimiya smiled slightly.
But deep in her eyes, the anxiety I’d seen during lunch break still lingered.
“I heard there’s a scene today where I’ll be in a shot with a guy.”
“Is that so?”
“Yeah. It’s for a magazine feature. Something like a spring after-school date.”
My hand stopped moving.
An after-school date.
Rino Hoshimiya taking photos like that with someone other than me.
It’s work.
Just work.
I know that.
She’s a celebrity; of course she has shoots like this. It’s none of my business to feel this way.
Yet, deep down, my heart fluttered just a little.
Hoshimiya didn’t miss my reaction.
“…Seita, did that bother you just now?”
“Not really.”
“Really?”
“It’s just work.”
“It’s just work.”
Hoshimiya nodded.
But for some reason, she looked a little happy.
“But if you felt even a little bit uncomfortable, Seita, then maybe I can do my best.”
“Why would that be the case?”
“Because it means I’m on your mind, right?”
It’s heavy.
It’s heavy from morning till night.
Hara was covering her mouth and grinning. Shinozaki muttered under her breath, “Wow, Rino’s back to her usual self.”
I pretended not to hear her
“Seita.”
“What is it?”
“During filming, I’ll be Hoshimiya Rino. But once it’s over, I’ll go back to being Seita’s Rino.”
“She’s not mine.”
“For now, anyway.”
“Not even ‘for now’.”
Hoshimiya smiled contentedly.
I found myself watching her back as she walked out of the classroom.
This time, before Hara could point it out, I pretended to rummage through my bag on purpose.
“Takahara-kun, you’re really bad at hiding things, aren’t you?”
“You were totally watching.”
Hara and Shinozaki’s voices rang out.
“I wasn’t watching.”
“Yeah, right. Are you worried about Rino doing a ‘date-style’ photo shoot with another guy after school?”
“It’s job.”
“That’s not really an answer.”
Shinozaki chuckled softly.
I couldn’t think of anything to say back.
After getting home, I opened the side story of I Don’t Need Youth!! in my room.
I couldn’t concentrate.
Even when I read scenes where my favorite heroine was jealous of the protagonist, I couldn’t just brush it off as “heartwarming” like I used to. Every time I saw a description of the heroine cherishing the protagonist’s offhand remark, Hoshimiya came to mind.
What’s more, I couldn’t help but think about today’s shoot.
Hoshimiya walking side by side with someone.
Smiling for the camera.
Standing close enough to look like lovers, creating an atmosphere like an after-school date.
It’s work.
It’s just work.
The more I tell myself that, the more the uneasiness lingers.
My phone vibrated.
It was from Hoshimiya.
“I’m on a break right now.”
A photo followed.
It looked like the green room at a photo shoot. Hoshimiya was wearing a uniform-style outfit. It was a slightly more mature design than her usual school uniform. Her hair was styled beautifully, and there she was—Rino Hoshimiya, ready to grace the pages of a magazine.
“What do you think?”
I stared at the screen for a while.
“It suits you.”
Send.
Read immediately.
“Is that all?”
This is a hassle.
But it wasn’t like I didn’t have anything to say.
“You’re beautiful.”
After sending it, I turned my phone face down.
My face felt hot.
A few seconds later, it started shaking again.
“Because of you, Seita, my face won’t go back to normal.”
“The makeup artist asked me if I was blushing.”
I don’t know.
I don’t know.
More messages kept coming.
“My co-star asked me, ‘Do you have a crush on anyone?’”
My heart fluttered a little.
“What did you say?”
I sent it.
It was marked as read immediately.
“I said, ‘Maybe.’”
“And I said I wouldn’t tell you who.”
I held my breath.
The text on the screen was unusually bright.
“Seita, are you worried?”
I am worried.
But admitting that would be a loss.
“Just a little.”
“Just a little?”
Damn it.
I messed up again.
I type frantically.
“Quite a bit.”
Read.
There’s a brief pause.
“Well, I’ll let it slide.”
I collapsed onto the bed.
I stared at the ceiling, still clutching my phone.
What am I doing?
I’m completely at Hoshimiya’s mercy.
But even though I hate being at her mercy, here I am, waiting for her reply.
A few minutes later, another message arrived.
“I’m heading back to the shoot.”
“Am I still inside you, Seita?”
That sentence sounded like a joke, but it wasn’t.
Hoshimiya is genuinely anxious.
She’s afraid that while she’s out there smiling in front of people as a celebrity, she might fade away from my heart.
I thought for a moment before replying.
“You’re here.”
“You’re here so much it’s almost a nuisance.”
It was marked as read immediately.
Her reply was a little late.
“Seita, you’re really sneaky.”
“I like you.”
My heart nearly stopped.
“I like you.”
Just three words.
But those words from Hoshimiya carried so much weight.
Even through the smartphone screen, they blocked my escape route.
I typed and deleted the words over and over.
I’m not strong enough yet to reply, “I like you.”
But I can’t keep her at a distance anymore by not replying at all.
So, I typed.
“Good luck with the shoot.”
It was a cop-out reply.
But that was the limit of what I could do right now.
Hoshimiya replied immediately.
“Okay.”
“I’ll contact you again when I get back.”
“I won’t let you get away.”
I couldn’t help but give a wry smile at that last line.
It’s scary.
It’s heavy.
It’s a hassle.
And yet, somewhere deep down, I feel reassured.
I opened the side story of “I Don’t Need Youth!!” once more.
The heroine on those pages harbors deep, heavy emotions that the protagonist is unaware of.
In the past, I would have enjoyed that as part of the story.
Now it’s different.
In my own reality, there’s a heroine just like that.
What’s more, that heroine is an active top idol who texts me “I like you” from a magazine photo shoot.
My youth is, after all, a little off.
But I’ve gradually gotten used to that strangeness.
Maigetsu