Sayaka Maizono took the whole scene in.
How should she put it?
In her mind, an idol like Ai Hoshino ought to receive affection and adoration from the opposite sex as a matter of course.
Even without the idol title, simply being a beautiful girl was enough to have any number of men fussing over her, spoiling her rotten.
But between Lin Ye and Ai Hoshino, Sayaka Maizono saw nothing of the sort.
As far as she could tell, Lin Ye didn't shower Ai Hoshino with that kind of excessive devotion at all. In their dynamic, he was the one who held the upper hand.
Maybe that was exactly why Ai-senpai liked him so much.
Only someone in love would allow that, would give ground like that.
Was that a good thing?
Not particularly, in Sayaka Maizono's opinion. If it were her, she wouldn't be so willing. But since Ai-senpai was willing herself, there was nothing more for Sayaka to say.
As long as Senpai was happy.
"Come on, Sayaka, let's go get changed first."
Ai Hoshino took Sayaka Maizono's hand and pulled her toward the changing room.
Not far off, the others who had been spying from the corner scattered in a hurry, clearing out fast.
Before long, only Lin Ye and Saito the manager were left.
Saito walked over to Lin Ye. With Ai Hoshino gone, this was the best chance he'd get to speak with the young man alone.
"Hello, Mr. Lin."
"Hello, Manager Saito."
Lin Ye kept his manners with the older man.
"You and Ai-chan dating — I certainly have no objection to that."
He laid out his position first, so Lin Ye wouldn't read anything else into what followed.
"Thank you."
"It's just that, if possible, for the sake of Ai-chan's career, so as not to damage it, I'd like the two of you to keep the relationship secret. In public you absolutely must avoid being recognized."
Saito's tone was deadly earnest.
"The moment word gets out that Ai-chan has a boyfriend, the blow to her career and her future would be devastating."
He let out a soft sigh. "You may not understand how the idol world works over here. At Ai-chan's age — even ten years older — she can't have a boyfriend out in the open. If people find out, the fans will turn on her. However much they loved her before, that's how rabid and hateful they'll become."
Lin Ye understood, of course.
Even back home, where audiences were more forgiving, fans still carried a streak of possessiveness. Here in Japan it ran far stronger.
An idol was practically regarded as private property. No fan wanted their idol to have a real-life partner, and if it ever happened, that adoration curdled into something ugly.
"I know that a while back the big star Mai Sakurajima was outed for dating, and she even held a press conference admitting the relationship, and the fans accepted it — more than that, plenty of people became her fans because of it. But that is an extremely rare case," Saito went on.
The Sakurajima incident, in the eyes of industry people like him, had been an enormous gamble.
The press conference afterward especially — that was walking a tightrope over a canyon. Mai Sakurajima had said with her own mouth that she had a boyfriend, confirming every rumor that had been circulating online.
It could very easily have shoved her into an abyss with no way back out.
Whether the fans would accept it — no one could have predicted that.
And once the person herself confirmed it, there'd be no explaining anything away afterward, no matter how badly you wanted to.
It was only thanks to her own sincerity and charisma, plus a sliver of luck, that Mai Sakurajima's explanation landed. The fans accepted that she had a boyfriend, that she was already in a relationship.
But Saito didn't want Lin Ye taking the unwritten rules of the entertainment world lightly because of that one case, imagining that dating Ai Hoshino openly wouldn't do much harm to her career.
So this time he had to spell it out, to leave no room for misunderstanding.
Lin Ye understood what Saito meant. As a manager, naturally he didn't want Ai Hoshino's career derailed by romance — once a relationship went public, it was near enough a death sentence. But because of everything Haruno had done lately, neither Saito nor the agency could interfere much in Ai Hoshino's private life anymore.
Even in the worst case, all they'd lose was Ai Hoshino, their cash cow. Unacceptable, sure, but hardly the first time such a thing had happened in this business.
It was nothing new.
Still, for now, the agency and Saito would rather it didn't happen at all.
"Relax. First of all, Ai-chan and I aren't even a couple right now. We're not officially dating."
That was the truth, but the truth wasn't enough. To outsiders, to fans, all it took was for someone to be seen close to Ai Hoshino and they'd be labeled her boyfriend.
At which point whether they were actually dating stopped mattering.
All it would take was his existence leaking out, a photo of the two of them together circulating, and somebody with an agenda giving public opinion a nudge — and the fans would take it as established fact.
"And even if we do date officially in the future, I'll be careful. And even if the fans do find out, even if it becomes common knowledge, don't worry. I'll handle it."
Handle it?
Saito's first reaction was doubt.
But then he remembered that the agency itself had already been bought out, and that the buyer was very likely the power standing behind Lin Ye — and he had no choice but to accept it.
"All right."
Saito knew he'd said enough for one day. There was no need to press further. Getting a guarantee like that out of Lin Ye was all he'd come for.
"Oh, and — "
Saito, about to leave, seemed to remember something.
"What is it?"
Lin Ye saw him hesitating there, words clearly stuck in his throat.
"Just say it."
Saito reached out, patted Lin Ye on the shoulder, and lowered his voice. "Don't get her pregnant."
One sentence was enough to make his meaning perfectly clear.
"Don't trade a moment's pleasure for a lifetime of trouble. Ai-chan is still very young."
With that said, Saito didn't hesitate a second longer. He turned and walked off.
What did he mean by that?
Lin Ye understood immediately.
He was afraid the two of them would end up with a child.
That wouldn't affect Lin Ye much — though he wasn't remotely prepared to be a father either. For Ai-chan, though, a child would mean at least a year with no idol career at all.
Recovering afterward and raising the child would eat up more time still. Even with a nanny, certain things could only be done by the Mother — by Ai-chan herself.
And on top of all that, at her age her body hadn't finished maturing.
So Lin Ye could only sigh at Saito's brand of concern.
"Rest easy."
In the end, Lin Ye gave him an answer.
Saito waved a hand over his shoulder without turning around, signaling that he'd heard.
To him, Ai Hoshino was practically a daughter.
And now that his daughter had a boyfriend, all the emotions of an aging father kept welling up in him.
"If something does happen to Ai-chan down the line, who takes over as the center?"
Saito didn't want that, obviously.
He wanted Ai-chan to stay up on that stage until she'd aged out of it naturally.
But what if. What if.
As their manager, he still had to think about the group's future.
It was time to start grooming someone.
One way or another, it had to be done.
Saito turned the question over and finally settled his thoughts on the young girl who was always hovering at Ai Hoshino's side.
Sayaka Maizono was still green, still lacking in plenty of ways as an idol — but he'd already glimpsed in her the makings of an outstanding one.
With proper, focused cultivation, she'd grow into an idol no weaker than Ai-chan.
Saito's heart stirred back to life.
The grief of losing Ai-chan was fading now.
As her manager, he'd always held enormous expectations for her.
And now, having realized how badly things could go for her down the road, he wouldn't change how he treated her — he'd go on the same as ever. But for the group's sake, and for his own career, he'd have to shift some of his time and energy onto that other girl, Sayaka Maizono.
That was Saito's decision.
In the changing room, chatter and laughter filled the air.
The girls were peeling off their gorgeous stage costumes.
In private — especially a whole cluster of them together, all that youthful energy — their real selves always came out.
Fabric rustled as the costumes came off.
Pale skin was left exposed to the air.
A giddy, warm atmosphere filled the room.
"Smack."
"Hey! What was that for, Mi-chan?"
A bashful voice rang out.
One of the girls had both arms crossed over herself, cheeks tinged pink.
"Your skin is so springy! Tell me your skincare routine."
Another girl, with long dark-blue hair, stared enviously, fingers still poking away.
"Stop poking me."
"I'm nothing compared to you — and definitely nothing compared to Ai-chan. Now that's soft skin."
In an instant the conversation swung around to Ai Hoshino.
Ai Hoshino felt every gaze in the room land on her at once.
"That has to be the power of love."
One line, and the gossip in the changing room caught fire.
"Ai-chan, Ai-chan, tell us!"
"Yeah, yeah, how did you two even meet?"
"How long have you been together? How far have you gotten? Have you held hands?"
The chirping wouldn't stop.
Hemmed in on all sides, Ai Hoshino squirmed, with no idea how to escape.
"We're not — we're not dating!"
"Oh sure, we totally believe you. Glowing like that, skin that soft and fair — that's love doing the watering, isn't it?"
That set the other idols ablaze with curiosity all over again.
Right now, nothing mattered more than knowing exactly how far those two had gone.
"Have you done it? You've already done it, haven't you?"
One of the girls came right out and asked.
Ai Hoshino's face went scarlet.
"No way! Of course not!"
She fired back at once.
She and Lin Ye had shared plenty of charged moments, but they'd never crossed that line.
Not even that first time, in the love hotel during the Strange event.
She'd genuinely been thinking along those lines back then.
And afterward, once they'd come back, it had been the same.
But Lin Ye never touched her. He'd taken a few small liberties, and that was all.
Nothing more.
Ai Hoshino admired that upright side of him and at the same time felt her pride under attack. She shouldn't be so easy to resist. Lin-kun ought to do something — that was what a man was supposed to do.
If she hadn't known for a fact that his body responded normally, she'd have started wondering whether something was wrong with him.
In the end, all she could conclude was that Lin Ye hadn't truly accepted her yet, that deep down he didn't want her all that much.
Their relationship simply wasn't there yet.
It hurt.
Whatever else she was, she was a beautiful girl. Countless people liked her, fawned over her — and yet Lin Ye showed no such impulse, no such urge.
Even so.
Ai Hoshino had no intention of stopping there and giving up.
She would never give up on Lin Ye.
Someday she'd be his girlfriend, and closer to him than that.
And now — today, with Lin Ye showing up out of nowhere to surprise her — Ai Hoshino felt like she'd been handed a perfect opportunity.
He cared about her. Otherwise there was no way he'd have come today.
Her mood lifted higher, and her anticipation for tonight climbed with it.
"Nothing happened? Mi-chan, do you buy that?"
"Nope! Absolutely not."
One of the girls shook her head vigorously.
"Ai-chan, you were about a second away from kissing him right there on the stage. How could there be nothing... going on? We're not buying it."
"There isn't, there isn't, honestly! Nothing's happened!" Ai Hoshino argued for all she was worth.
For her this had to be settled, because if her friends here got the wrong idea, she'd be teased about it relentlessly for years.
Just imagining those days made her squirm.
She was not going through that again.
But by now, with the sole exception of Sayaka Maizono, the whole room had formed a united front against her. Ai Hoshino's face burned; she was flustered and frantic and utterly helpless.
"Senpai, let's get changed. Mr. Lin will get tired of waiting."
"Ah — right, right, right."
Ai Hoshino shot Sayaka Maizono a look of pure gratitude.
If not for Sayaka, she wouldn't have had a single excuse to get out of there.
She hurried to change.
The other idols didn't try to stop her.
"Oh, Ai-chan, be careful tonight!"
"It's been ages since you two saw each other. A boy builds up a lot of pressure, you know."
"You'd better be mentally prepared."
"Right, right! And whatever you do, use protection!"
The lewd remarks kept flying.
Talk like that would never happen out in the open. But here in the girls' changing room, where the mood was loose to begin with, these girls dropped every last inhibition and let the racier side of themselves run wild.
At last, under a barrage of knowing grins, Ai Hoshino got into her street clothes and fled the room.
Sayaka Maizono followed right on her heels.
She was going along for the late-night meal, after all.
"Sayaka, remember to take pictures! And keep an eye on Ai-chan — don't let some bad man carry her off to a hotel!"
"Hahaha —"
What remained behind was a room full of bright, giggling voices.
Girls that age were naturally at peak curiosity about romance.
They all had thoughts about it themselves.
But they also knew that as idols, that was one thing they couldn't touch.
For another thing, they never got the chance to meet a suitable man in the first place.
And their manager and the agency would never permit it.
Ai-chan was permitted — because someone was backing her.
They were young, but that didn't mean they had no grasp of how the world worked.
They knew Ai-chan was in a completely different situation from them.
The gap between one person and another could, sometimes, be wider than the gap between a person and a dog.
The changing room door clicked shut.
Sealing the two worlds off from each other.
Lin Ye waited alone outside.
Women took a long time to change; that meant a long wait.
He'd braced himself for it, but even so, this time felt excessive.
Footsteps.
The sound told Lin Ye she'd finally come out.
"Sorry, sorry, Lin-kun. I kept you waiting."
The girl in her street clothes looked genuinely anxious, terrified of having annoyed him. Where Lin Ye's feelings were concerned, she put them first.
"It's fine."
Lin Ye didn't mind.
His gaze settled on her.
Out of costume, her side ponytail had come loose into long hair over her shoulders — less lively now, more composed.
Because of the performance, even just a rehearsal, she still had her full stage makeup on.
Under the night lights, Ai Hoshino radiated a charm that tugged at something in a person.
Noticing his eyes on her, Ai Hoshino's cheeks colored faintly. She felt a flicker of embarrassment, but far more than that, delight.
This was the surest confirmation that Lin Ye acknowledged how attractive she was.
Ai Hoshino knew it.
Tonight.
Maybe tonight, this and that could happen.
So she thought.
Her pulse quickened for no reason she could name, and nerves crept in.
Watching all this, Sayaka Maizono felt like she'd taken another mouthful of couple-flavored poison. The two of them were only talking, doing nothing intimate at all, and yet she could swear they were flaunting their affection right in her face.
It was unbearable.
She was thoroughly miserable now.
Sayaka Maizono was in the full bloom of her youth, and deep down she wanted a romance of her own too. The sweeping, dramatic kind you saw in dramas and films would have been even better.
But she knew that was next to impossible for her.
Once you set foot on the idol path, romance was off the table for years. You even had to keep a careful distance from men in general, so fans wouldn't recognize you and wreck your career.
The moment you were exposed, your idol career would never advance another step. No growth, no future.
As for Ai-senpai — she was the exception.
Sayaka Maizono understood that much.
The rest of the girls had been quietly briefed by their manager: on the one hand, to keep their mouths shut; on the other, to keep their own heads straight and not get any ideas they shouldn't have because of Ai Hoshino's example.
Sayaka Maizono envied her. The special treatment Ai-senpai received from the agency and the manager certainly wasn't because she was outstanding.
No matter how outstanding an idol was, no agency would tolerate something that could destroy her image.
After all, an agency raised idols, poured traffic into them, and made them famous for one purpose: money. More money.
And once an idol got caught in the whirlpool of romance, once the fans stopped buying it and turned into haters, where was the money going to come from?
So the agency and the manager weren't tolerating it because Ai-senpai was exceptional. It could only be because...
Sayaka Maizono's eyes moved to Lin Ye.
The answer had to lie with this man.
He must be someone with enormous power and influence.
She'd heard from the other girls that the agency had been bought out.
The details were fuzzy, but she rated the rumor as very likely true. Otherwise how could the agency possibly allow Ai Hoshino to be this close to a man?
So Lin Ye had bought the agency for Ai Hoshino's sake.
As for why he didn't simply have her quit the idol business —
That was obvious: he respected Ai-senpai's own choice. He wouldn't force her to give up what she loved and the career she'd built. So instead... he'd chosen this way to protect her, and to let her be with him without any pressure at all.
The more Sayaka Maizono thought about it, the more she envied her.
So, so envious.
If a man ever cared for her like that —
She'd fall. Completely, hopelessly, beyond saving.
The way Sayaka Maizono looked at Lin Ye changed.
"Sayaka? Sayaka..."
At some point Ai Hoshino had turned and fixed her attention on Sayaka Maizono, standing off to the side.
Seeing her lost in thought and glassy-eyed, Ai Hoshino raised a hand and waved it hard in front of her face to snap her out of it.
"Ah — sorry, sorry."
Sayaka Maizono came back to herself and shook her head in apology at once.
She really hadn't expected to drift off like that — and about her respected senpai's boyfriend, no less.
"What were you thinking about?"
"Nothing, nothing..."
But that reaction only made Ai Hoshino more interested. She didn't believe for a second that Sayaka had been thinking about nothing. She'd definitely been thinking about something.
An idea occurred to the purple-haired girl.
"You weren't thinking about... Lin-kun, were you?"
"Huh!"
Sayaka Maizono shook her head so hard it looked like it might come off. "No! No, absolutely not! How could I possibly —"
She denied it with everything she had, which only deepened Ai Hoshino's suspicions. Her gaze swung back and forth between Lin Ye and Sayaka Maizono.
"Lin-kun, Sayaka likes you."
That one line left Sayaka Maizono horrified. She grabbed Ai Hoshino's hand, scrambling to stop her. "Senpai, Senpai, don't say things like that! I really don't! How could I like your boyfriend?"
"Right, you definitely wouldn't like my boyfriend."
That gave Sayaka Maizono pause.
Wait —
"But Lin-kun isn't my boyfriend yet. So you liking him... isn't that perfectly normal?"
"No — no, it isn't, really, it isn't."
Sayaka Maizono protested with everything she had.
But looking at Ai Hoshino's face, she had no idea whether her protests were landing at all.
Hard to say. She wanted to cry.
As if she'd ever set her sights on the boy Ai-senpai loved.
"Actually, you know, Sayaka and I are so close —"
Ai Hoshino suddenly slipped around behind Sayaka Maizono, patted her shoulders lightly, then gave her cheek a pinch. "Sharing with Sayaka wouldn't be out of the question."
Sayaka Maizono's eyes went wide.
Sharing?
This had to be a joke. There was no way.
"I mean it!" Ai Hoshino continued. "Cross my heart. Lin-kun's quite the playboy, you know — he likes Mai Sakurajima too. One more girl wouldn't hurt. If Sayaka likes him, she can absolutely join me. We could be even closer than sisters —"
The sentence ended in a yelp. She clutched her head with both hands and stared at Lin Ye with watery eyes.
He'd just reached over and rapped her on the skull.
"That's enough joking around. We're going to get something to eat."
"Lin-kun, I'm serious! Sayaka's so cute, and you were staring at her this whole time. Letting her be your girlfriend alongside me — wouldn't that be great?"
Ai Hoshino blinked up at him, the picture of sincerity.
Lin Ye didn't buy it.
Ai Hoshino wasn't Haruno.
This girl was joking, pure and simple — testing him and Sayaka Maizono, nothing more.
"Make that joke again and I'll take her with me and leave you here by yourself."
That did it.
Ai Hoshino stood there, thoroughly stunned.
Sayaka Maizono covered her mouth and laughed despite herself.
She hadn't expected Lin Ye to pull that on her.
And then a thought surfaced out of nowhere — if it were true, how wonderful would that be?
She flung the thought straight out of her head.
No. She could never think like that.
It was wrong. That thought was a betrayal of her senpai, and no matter what, she couldn't allow herself to have it.
Sayaka Maizono shook her head hard, driving the idea out.
"Nooo, Lin-kun, you can't do that! You can take me alone, or you can take both of us, but the one thing you absolutely cannot do is leave me here by myself."
Ai Hoshino registered her objection in the strongest possible terms.
Lin Ye laughed out loud.
The sound let Ai Hoshino breathe a little easier.
She'd known he was joking, of course — but what if he hadn't been?
That would have been a disaster. Now she could relax.
As for the future, she'd never let something like that actually happen.
"Let's go."
It was getting late and the place Lin Ye had picked was some distance from the train station, so this time he flagged down a taxi.
Sayaka Maizono, at least, winced a little at that. Taxi fares here were genuinely steep. It pained her.
Even though it wasn't her money.
It pained her all the same.
The three of them piled into the cab.
The driver took them to their destination: a yakitori restaurant.
Grilled skewers were exactly what a late-night meal called for.
"Order whatever you want."
Lin Ye gestured for the two of them to help themselves.
Ai Hoshino passed the menu to Sayaka Maizono. "You order, Sayaka. Order a lot."
"But..."
"Eat up. One indulgence now and then won't hurt anything, so stop worrying about your weight. We work out hard enough every day — one big meal once in a while is nothing."
Since Ai Hoshino put it that way, Sayaka Maizono stopped being polite and started ordering.
Pork belly, beef, lamb, meatball skewers and more — generous quantities all around.
A cheat meal. She'd been waiting ages for one.
Grilled meat and yakitori skewers were her favorites. She couldn't even remember the last time she'd had them.
Ten minutes later, the server brought out the first round.
"Dig in."
The faint aroma of grilled meat and spices filled the air.
Sayaka Maizono's appetite roared to life.
Ai Hoshino poured juice for all three of them, ice cold.
She took the first sip and shivered head to toe. Perfect.
"Lin-kun, here."
"This one's amazing. Try it."
Ai Hoshino had already eaten one piece off the skewer; now she held it out in front of Lin Ye.
It was a very intimate gesture.
The kind only couples did — or, at the very least, a man and woman with something going on between them.
Beside them, Sayaka Maizono stared blankly, her own skewer frozen in midair, forgotten.
The food was delicious. But watching the two of them, it started tasting bitter to her. Sour, even.
Ugh.
Why did it have to be like this?
Another mouthful of couple-flavored poison.
Another dose of envy straight to the heart.
She genuinely lost interest in doing anything at all.
Sayaka Maizono raised the skewer to her lips and chewed, tasting it properly.
Good — but with that sour, bitter edge, courtesy of the two people in front of her.
A second later, the bitterness sharpened, and it hurt worse.
Lin Ye took the bite without ceremony, completely unbothered by Sayaka Maizono's presence.
As far as he was concerned, whether Sayaka Maizono was there or not made no difference. He could simply ignore her.
Ai Hoshino letting her come along proved she trusted the girl. And if something did go wrong, Lin Ye had ways of making Sayaka Maizono pay the price and settle the account.
"How is it?"
"Pretty good."
Lin Ye nodded in approval.
The flavor really was decent.
Though if it hadn't been, he wouldn't have chosen this place.
"Mm-hm, now try this one."
Ai Hoshino held out another skewer.
When he didn't move, she leaned in closer, making her eagerness perfectly obvious.
Lin Ye took another bite.
"Heh heh. Well?"
"Not bad."
"Then let me try."
Ai Hoshino promptly went to work on the remaining pieces of beef.
As she chewed, the spice-soaked meat spread its flavor across her tongue, that crisp savory richness hitting every taste bud, and a satisfied smile crept onto her face.
More than the taste of the meat itself, though, what she cared about was that first gesture of his.
That was where the real pleasure came from.
So nice.
And so promising.
Ai Hoshino wanted more. Many, many more moments like it.
This was how a couple was supposed to be.
Tonight.
Tonight she'd get the two of them to make it official.
The cute girl with the long purple hair quietly made up her mind.
...
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