"This…"
Fujimine Yukiko finally sensed something off. She only wanted to introduce a friend to her parents, but their conversation sounded like they were interviewing a son-in-law! She didn't dare look at Hayashi Shuichi and quickly interrupted, "Dad, Mom, what are you talking about? What does Shuichi's future job have to do with me?"
"How could it not?" Mr. Fujimine replied, oblivious. "When you two start a family—"
Mrs. Fujimine, quicker to react, tugged her husband's arm and gave Hayashi Shuichi an apologetic look. "Sorry, Hayashi-kun. Yukiko's dad has been buried in work lately, scripting away, and he's a bit muddled. I'll take him to rest. You two have fun."
She pulled her husband toward the lounge, his complaints faintly audible. "Muddled? Weren't you the one saying our daughter's in love?"
Hayashi Shuichi coughed awkwardly. "I'm going to find Kogoro and Eri. You coming?"
"…I'll come too," Yukiko nodded, her face flushed.
They walked in silence and soon spotted Hibari Eri by the buffet, nibbling on a small cake.
"I forgot I haven't eaten dinner," Yukiko said, touching her stomach. She grabbed a cake from the buffet.
As she raised it to her mouth, Eri chimed in, "Cakes have a lot of calories. Eating this late? You'll gain weight."
"Uh…" Yukiko blinked at the cake, torn between reason and temptation.
After a long hesitation, she huffed, "You're eating too!"
"I don't gain weight easily," Eri smirked smugly. "Never have, never will."
Yukiko glanced enviously at Eri's figure, then at her cake, still wrestling with the choice.
"Just eat it," Hayashi Shuichi said with a chuckle. "It's one cake. Walk it off later."
Yukiko nodded eagerly and dug in.
"Tch, you'll be a fat fox someday," Eri muttered, sipping her juice.
Hayashi Shuichi stepped closer to Eri. "I saw you talking to some American stars earlier. Didn't look pleasant."
"I was asking about U.S. universities and practicing English," Eri said, frowning. "But they got hostile after hearing my questions."
Hayashi Shuichi shook his head. "Most of these so-called stars in the entertainment world have little education. Asking them about universities probably felt like an insult."
"Is that so?" Eri paused. "I didn't realize."
"Acting takes talent and effort, not degrees," Yukiko interjected. "Some Oscar winners didn't even finish high school."
"Curly-haired fox, don't you keep shouting about becoming a world-famous actress?" Eri teased. "Why not drop out now and chase your dream? Maybe you'll make it by next year."
"I thought about it, but my parents wouldn't allow it," Yukiko shot back. "Unlike you, glasses-girl, I won't study myself into an old maid."
"Hmph, I could go to university anytime!" Eri retorted.
"Then why are you still lingering at Teitan High?"
The girls' bickering grew heated, and Hayashi Shuichi stepped between them. "Enough. You two arguing in front of everyone? Embarrassing."
Both girls huffed, Eri sipping her juice, Yukiko eating her cake, neither speaking further.
When Yukiko finished, Hayashi Shuichi led them to find Mouri Kogoro.
They found him, armed with shamelessness and a few broken English phrases learned recently, nearly done collecting autographs on the photos.
"Oh, I know this one!" Kogoro said excitedly, holding up a Japanese actress's photo. "Miss Nagashima Yuko, my idol! I haven't seen her since she married and left the industry."
"Is Miss Nagashima here?" Yukiko asked, puzzled. "I only saw her husband, Director Miyagi, talking to someone."
Hayashi Shuichi glanced at the photo. "I saw her earlier, by the drinks table."
"Let's go! I need Miss Nagashima Yuko's autograph!" Kogoro rushed toward the hall's center, photo and pen in hand, the others trailing behind.
At the drinks table, they found Nagashima Yuko in a red dress, drinking alone, her mood visibly sour.
"Miss Nagashima, I'm a huge fan!" Kogoro bowed, offering the photo and pen. "Could you sign this?"
"Nagashima… it's been a while since anyone called me that," Yuko said, staring at the photo—a still from a drama where she held a wine glass with a hesitant expression.
As she spoke, Hayashi Shuichi frowned and glanced at Yukiko.
"What?" Yukiko asked, confused.
"Didn't you notice?" he whispered. "A couple came into the lounge earlier."
"She's the wife?"
Yukiko asked uncertainly. Her mind had been on Hayashi Shuichi taking advantage of her behind the curtain; she barely registered the voices outside. "I only remember the husband was sick, and his wife reminded him to take medicine."
"That's her," Hayashi Shuichi confirmed.
"Does it matter?" Yukiko said, her eyes gleaming. "That pearl brooch of hers is gorgeous. It'd look amazing with my dress."
On Nagashima Yuko's chest was a pearl brooch, its large, creamy central pearl surrounded by smaller pearls forming five petal-like accents.
Eri was also staring at the brooch, oblivious to Hayashi Shuichi and Yukiko's whispers.
Women's love for beautiful accessories was universal.
"I heard that pearl brooch was Director Miyagi's proposal gift to Nagashima," Yukiko gossiped. "Worth over a hundred million yen."
(End of Chapter)
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