Translation: Chelly
Editing/Proofreading: Henry, Scarlet
Chapter 7
“…Um.”
After informing Mao-san that the meeting had concluded, and sidestepping her suggestive remark about how long it took, I made my way straight home.
As I unlocked the door and stepped inside, I found a monstrous sight.
There, sitting cross-legged and clutching a bottle of whiskey, was a creature staring me down.
“H-how did you get in?”
I thought I’d locked the place when I left.
Glancing at Akira in confusion, she wordlessly pointed her eyes toward a shelf near the entrance.
On it lay a spare key to my apartment.
It’s the one I usually hide under the potted plant outside. How did she know? Was my hiding spot too obvious?
As these thoughts crossed my mind, I returned my gaze to Akira.
She continued to glare at me without moving a muscle.
“Wh-what is it?”
Unable to bear the silence any longer, I asked. Her eyebrows furrowed instantly.
“What do you mean ‘What is it’?!”
Her voice echoed. It felt as if the room was shaking. No, it really did shake.
She slammed the half-empty whiskey bottle onto the floor and abruptly stood up.
Then she strode over to me, pointing an accusing finger at my chest as if she were about to impale me with it.
“Why. Were. You. Meeting. With. Anna?!”
“H-huh…?”
I was puzzled, wondering how Akira could have known about it. Before I could say anything else, she launched into a tirade.
“Why were you having tea at a café with that frivolous woman?! And where did you go after that?!”
“Well, um…”
“Don’t play games with me! You went into a hotel, didn’t you?! Gynophobia? Really? Have you been lying all this time? How can someone with gynophobia go into a hotel with a woman like that?! What a convenient phobia you’ve got there! Explain yourself!”
“W-wait a—”
“And you were there for the entire two hours? I tried calling you twice, and you hung up both times! If you have nothing to hide, why would you do that?! You even turned off your phone!”
“Akira!”
Unable to withstand her relentless assault, I grabbed both her shoulders.
“Huh…?”
She flinched and stared at me with wide eyes.
“Oh…s-sorry… Just hear me out, okay?”
As I hurriedly let go of her, she blinked at me multiple times.
Then she turned to her side and fell silent.
She seemed to calm down for the time being, which was a relief.
“How did you know I was with Maomi-san today? Did you Mao-san tell you?”
When I asked, Akira, seemingly snapping back to her senses, tilted her head.
“Huh? What does Mao have to do with anything?”
“It was a task…that Mao-san had asked me to carry out.”
“A task? Including going to the hotel?”
“W-well, that…was unplanned.”
“Oh, wow, so you’re saying you got carried away?”
“No, no! Just listen to me!”
“I am listening! But going to a hotel makes no sense!”
“I don’t get it either, okay?!”
As I screamed in a way that didn’t help my case, Akira let out an exasperated “Huh?”
It’s only natural that she would misunderstand. All I can do is honestly tell her what happened.
But more importantly…
“If Mao-san didn’t tell you, then how did you know?”
I asked. Akira awkwardly looked away and mumbled.
“That’s because…he…”
“He…?”
As I tilted my head, a silhouette emerged from the entrance to the living room.
“‘Sup. Did you have a good time?”
“Wha…?! Huh?!”
I looked at the grinning, bearded man holding a glass filled with amber liquid and was taken aback.
“Kasugai-san?! Why…?!”
It was the journalist from Shukan Buntou, Yoshiharu Kasugai.
Still grinning, he beckoned me.
“C’mon, let’s have a drink. There’s a lot I wanna hear.”
Why were Akira and Kasugai-san in my apartment when I was away?
Isn’t that essentially trespassing?
When I looked at Akira, she turned her face away, took a firm hold of the whiskey bottle, and headed to the living room.
“Wh-what’s going on…?”
Why do I feel so out of place in my own home?!
Grumbling internally, I reluctantly followed them.
***
To sum it up, it seemed to go like this:
Kasugai-san had a certain “favor” to ask of Akira and wanted a chance to talk to her privately.
Although he knew her, he didn’t feel their relationship was close enough to comfortably ask her for a favor. So, he chose to go through me to get closer to her.
He already knew where I lived. Given his skill set, it would have been easy for him to observe an ordinary college student like me without me even realizing it.
Coincidentally, he had been tracking my whereabouts today and even took pictures of me hanging out with Anna Maomi.
Seizing the moment, he texted Akira, “Hey, your boyfriend just went into a hotel with a sexy actress.” And that’s how we got here.
“See, these are good shots, aren’t they?”
Kasugai-san, perhaps buoyed by alcohol, smugly showed me the Polaroid photos.
“This one’s you talkin’ to Anna Maomi in the café. And this one’s you being dragged into the hotel.”
“Stop it, please. Make sure you throw those away.”
When I expressed my disgust, he chuckled, while Akira raised her eyebrows.
“No way! You’re keeping those as critical evidence! They’ll come in handy for a big apology press conference in the future.”
She retorted, mimicking some snarky comment from a travel show. She had been glaring at me, and it was quite intimidating.
I considered asking her why she was so concerned, given we weren’t dating, but I stayed silent as the atmosphere wasn’t right for such a question.
“So? What’s this task you’re talking about? You were asked by Mao, right? Even if I give you the benefit of the doubt, explain the whole situation. I won’t forgive you if I’m not convinced.”
“Well, that’s…”
I hesitated, wondering whether I should tell Akira about Anju.
“Why are you quiet?! So, you’re saying Mao never actually asked you to do it?!”
Akira pounded the table with both her hands.
Kasugai-san snorted, then mumbled, “You’re not a gorilla, y’know.” Meeting his gaze, Akira shot him a death stare. Sensing the tension in the air, Kasugai-san casually took a sip of his whiskey.
“It’s true, Mao-san did ask me to meet Anna Maomi.”
“Then tell me, why?!”
She persisted.
But I was still scared to talk.
If I conveyed Anju’s feelings to her, I had a feeling she would explode in anger and probably confront Anju directly.
That’s something I wanted to avoid right now.
“…I’m afraid I can’t tell you.”
I concluded after some thought. Akira took a deep breath and fell silent, her gaze dropping.
“…A-Akira?”
I nervously called out to her as she drooped her head and shoulders.
“…Did…sleep…her…”
“Huh…?”
She muttered something I couldn’t quite catch.
Suddenly, she lifted her face, tears streaming down her cheeks.
“So you did sleep with her!”
She screamed. Kasugai-san, who was sitting a bit away, looked visibly shocked.
“Waaah!”
Is she seriously crying like some character out of a manga?
“Hey…A-Akira…?!”
Her tears wouldn’t stop.
While sobbing uncontrollably, she repeatedly struck my arm in anger.
“You slept with that slut! You’re always giving me the cold shoulder, but you had no problem sleeping with that woman! So it’s all about boobs, huh?!”
“Whoa…”
Kasugai-san looked at Akira with a mixture of amusement and bewilderment.
“No, I’m telling you, nothing happened.”
“And you lied about it being for work! You ignored my calls! You did it with her! Unforgivable! Waaah! Ugh…”
I thought Akira was simply continuing to cry, but she suddenly froze, her face turning pale.
It was a painfully familiar scene.
In the next instant, she sprang up like a meerkat and bolted for the bathroom.
Next came the sounds of a door being hastily opened, followed by vomiting.
I let out a deep sigh, resting my hand on my forehead.
As I slowly raised my head, my eyes met Kasugai-san’s.
“…She’s quite a handful, isn’t she?”
He said, a downcast expression on his face.
I couldn’t help but agree.
“Maybe I should write about this. ‘Top Idol Gets Drunk and Throws Up at a College Student’s House!’”
“P-please don’t!”
He spoke with an unusually serious tone, which made me panic and raise my voice.
“As if I’d write somethin’ so trivial.”
He snorted dismissively.
Just then, another loud retching sound came from the bathroom.
He gestured toward me with a look of exasperation.
“Better put away that whiskey bottle.”
I nodded in agreement and quickly tucked the bottle Akira had been drinking from into a closet full of guest futons.
***
“I won’t forgive you… I won’t forgive you… I won’t ever forgive you…”
Akira sat in the corner of the room, her back against the wall cross-legged, muttering curses under her breath.
“A-Akira…”
“I won’t forgive you!”
“…Okay.”
It seemed the misunderstanding hadn’t been cleared up, but there was nothing that could be done about it now.
I understand how frustrating it can be to see a friend who’s normally reserved around you getting along easily with another woman.
As my gaze wandered, I locked eyes with Kasugai-san once again.
A thought suddenly crossed my mind.
“By the way…what is this ‘favor’ you mentioned to Akira?”
It had been on my mind.
After all, Kasugai-san is still a journalist for Shukan Buntou. I know very well that he wouldn’t do anything unless there was something in it for him.
The favor he’s asking is most likely work-related.
When I asked, he glanced briefly at Akira, who was curled up in a corner, and sighed before nodding.
“Well, I suppose I can tell ya. From what I’ve heard, you’ve also joined ‘that side,’ huh?”
By “that side,” he probably meant “the agency’s side.”
“Well…it’s more like a personal part-time job.”
“It’s the same thing. You’ve even brought evidence of your cheating as a housewarming gift, so shall we get to the main topic?”
“No, it’s not like that at all…”
“Cheater! Drop dead!”
Akira hurled an insult from behind me, and all I could muster was a wry smile.
Kasugai-san shot her a stern glance before turning his eyes back to me.
“…It concerns Anju Majima.”
“…Anju, you say?”
My heart skipped a beat when Anju’s name was mentioned unexpectedly.
I heard Akira gasp.
Kasugai-san placed the cup he was holding on the table and continued.
“Her reason for retiring was that backdoor hostessin’ thing, right? But that issue got ‘temporarily’ resolved, thanks to Akira.”
“Temporarily…”
“Adults are often tempted to engage in unethical behavior, especially when money is involved. While exposin’ corruption may alter its form, it never fully goes away.”
Kasugai-san spoke matter-of-factly, his words laden with real-life experiences. He must have seen many such incidents.
“So, here’s the deal. Even if you’re not an expert, it’s clear that Akira Sezai and Anju Majima made an excellent team. Therefore, wouldn’t the logical next step for the agency—and for that brat over there—be to reunite Anju and Akira as a duo?”
As expected, his experience allowed him to see things from a broader perspective.
I remained silent and continued to stare at Kasugai-san.
“But until now, there’s no sign of Anju coming back. My impatient editor-in-chief told me to ‘get a scoop on what she’s up to.’”
“…I see.”
I muttered noncommittally, deep in thought.
Kasugai-san observed me intently.
“I shouldn’t say it,” I thought.
With the already delicate situation with Akira, the last thing we needed was a gossip magazine stirring things up.
If information were to leak to the public before Anju makes her decision, it could further delay her comeback.
“It’s a shame…but I haven’t heard anything about Anju…making a comeback.”
When I said that, I heard Akira take a deep breath, followed by the rustle of her satin hoodie.
“Why would you lie about that?”
I quickly turned around in surprise, and she was standing there, glaring at me.
Her eyes were ablaze with anger.
“You’re Mao’s assistant now, aren’t you? There’s no way you haven’t heard anything about it.”
I quickly glanced at Kasugai-san and noticed the corners of his mouth turning slightly upward.
Why isn’t he backing me up?
I shifted my gaze back to Akira, who looked as if she had just realized something.
“Anna Maomi…! She was close to Anju! They talked all the time!”
She looked me in the eye as if demanding an answer.
“You met with Anna because of Anju, didn’t you? That’s it, isn’t it?!”
Caught off guard, I shifted my gaze awkwardly.
Her expression twisted.
“Why…? Why would you hide this from me? You could have just told me. D-don’t tell me you’re also seeing Anju…?”
I couldn’t answer. Seeing me clench my jaw, she scoffed and shot me a scornful look.
“Ah, I get it… Mao, you…everyone’s moving forward without me. You think involving me would complicate things…and so you decided to keep me in the dark!”
“Akira, that’s not—”
“Don’t play with me! Anju is… Anju is…”
Tears welled up in Akira’s eyes.
“She’s…my partner…”
She spoke with a strained voice before running off.
“W-wait, Akira!”
Ignoring me, she hastily put on her shoes and stormed out of the entrance.
“Damn it…”
Nothing’s going as planned.
Mao-san and I were keeping things quiet for Akira and Anju’s sake.
But I understand why Akira would be hurt by this.
“…She’s a real force of nature, that one.”
Kasugai-san remarked nonchalantly. I couldn’t help but glare at him.
“Hey, hey, it’s not my fault.”
He raised his hands in defense.
True, it wasn’t his fault.
While his words had definitely been a trigger for Akira’s outburst, he was here just for work.
And he had shown enough good faith by talking to Akira and me before probing about Anju.
Still, I was filled with mixed feelings.
“I think it’s best…if you leave for today.”
Kasugai-san sighed and glanced at me sideways.
“Is Anju Majima considering a comeback?”
I shook my head.
“I can’t say anything.”
Hearing my firm response, he nodded.
“I see… Sorry to have intruded.”
He slowly got up and headed for the door.
As he put on his shoes, he turned to me.
“Hey, Okita boy.”
Kasugai-san said while stroking his chin.
“What is it?”
“Just an outsider’s opinion…but I think it’d be good if Ripqle made a comeback.”
Hearing that, I glared at him.
“I know that already…!”
Seeing my emotional response, he shrugged his shoulders.
“Whoa, easy there. Well, keep at it.”
Waving his hand, he left my apartment.
Listening to the sound of his footsteps fading down the hallway, I bit my lip.
“…How am I supposed to ‘keep at it’?”
I understand that Anju was resolute in her choice, and I’m still grappling with comprehending her feelings.
At the same time, I see how deeply Akira wants Anju to return, and how much investment she has put into that hope.
It seems that whichever decision I make, someone is bound to get hurt.
“It’s okay. Hurting someone is sometimes unavoidable.”
Maomi-san’s voice echoed in my mind.
But a part of me rebelled against that idea.
“There’s no way hurting them is okay…!”
With my fists clenched, I wrestled with the surge of emotions within me.
After Sleep Club 
At this point, just shout the truth. I hate it when stories do this, characters get hurt because MC is just too slow to resolve the misunderstanding….
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