LIGHTNOVELWORLD Chapter 12_ Conversation
With only a minute or so left, I made my way to Karin-san’s stall.
She had been staring at me for a little while now.
“So you’ve finally decided to come talk to me. I thought you were going to continue playing hard-to-get.”
“I’m not playing hard-to-get. Anyways, you said that Miyazaki-san was going to be here. So I assume you have a time in mind.”
She poked her tongue out of her mouth.
Oh my.
Well, it’s fine. I already figured that Karin-san probably didn’t bother to actually make a situation where I’d be able to talk to Miyazaki-san. Whatever the case, she wasn’t lying about her being a fan, so just attending this concert would help in the future.
I guess I’d make the most of it while I was here.
I wasn’t like I didn’t enjoy it.
“So Mizutaka-kun~, did I make your heart throb when you saw me dancing?”
“It wasn’t a great angle so I couldn’t really see.”
“You had the best angle in the entire stadium!”
She pouted and glared at me.
I could already begin to hear the frantic chatter of the hundreds of fans gathering at the entrance of the meet-and-greet.
Before I moved on, Karin-san passed me a camera.
“Here, I’ll let you take a special photo of me~. It’ll be your present.”
As I looked at the camera, she made a little pose and smiled into the lens. From what I could tell, it was one of those instant cameras which printed the photo as soon as it was taken. They were notorious for producing bad-quality photos, but I guess any quality is okay when it’s a photo with your idol.
Flicking through some of the different settings, I noticed that Karin-san’s face was beginning to tense up. Her expression looked as if it was melting away.
“…c-come on~. Hurry up and take the photo already!”
“I took it ages ago.”
“Eh?”
The camera had all of the previous photos stored on it, so I was able to see many of the awkward pictures taken with her fans. Some were grabbing her waist, whilst others were clearly trying to feel her body.
She snatched the camera back out of my hands.
“You should’ve said something earlier! Also, what are you looking at?!”
She sighed.
“You didn’t even print the photo of me.”
Pressing a few buttons on the camera, she printed out the photo I had taken earlier and handed it to me.
“Take good care of it. People pay good money to take a photo of me!”
“Yeah, yeah. I’ll do that.”
I slid the photo into my pocket.
People were beginning to flood into the room, pushing and shoving as they slowly sorted themselves into lines.
Well, it’s about time I get out of here.
Making my way back over to the staff member, he looked around before leading me to the back of the stage.
• ───────────────── •
Ah, there was something I need to talk to Karin-san about.
I was sitting alone in the dark rehearsal area. The girls obviously couldn’t come over until after their meet-and-greet, so the staff member informed me that I’d have to wait.
To be honest, I didn’t even mind the peace and quiet.
I liked it more than being in the other room.
Suddenly, I felt a vibration from my phone. Opening it up, I saw a message. My contact details were provided to the dating show, so it was possible for the girls to contact me, even if I couldn’t contact them.
—Is this Mizutaka-kun?
—Yes. Who is this?
—Miyazaki Kaede, the girl from Sweeping Love—I’m angry at you—What are you doing right now?
—I’m at a Larenza concert.
—What the hell—Come back to the studio—I need to have a word with you.
I obviously couldn’t do that…
—I’m busy—Talk to me another time.
I was pretty surprised that she was being so straightforward. I was expecting something more indirect, I guess she’s pretty confident in herself. I did want to talk to her again, but now wasn’t the time.
She was a celebrity, after all. I’m assuming that she has no shortage of boys wanting to talk to her. As such, I wasn’t going to get anywhere with flattery, at least not at the moment.
She’s been typing for a while now…
—I’m at the Larenza concert as well—Where are you?
Why did it take you so long to type that?
—I’m backstage.
—What do you mean?
—I had a VIP ticket.
Again, Miyazaki-san seemed to be typing for a long time. I was getting bored, so I opened up the book that I was reading on my phone. Normally, I’d prefer to read the hard copies, but I didn’t have them on me.
A few seconds later, another notification from Miyazaki-san popped up on the top of my screen. At this point, there wasn’t much I could do with her, so I decided to ignore it. I’d likely just lower my likability if I continued to talk to her over the phone.
I’ll wait for her to talk to me in person.
…
A little while later, I heard the sound of the girls making their way into the rehearsal room. Now that I thought about it, it was probably weird that I was just sitting here awkwardly. The people who designed the Gold VIP ticket should’ve thought this through a bit more.
The first person to enter was Akari-san.
“Ah! Mizutaka-kun, you’re still here. Hahah, you scared me. I thought there was a peeping tom in here.”
“Sorry.”
“Don’t apologise! You’ve got the Gold VIP ticket, I’m sure you want to make the most of it. Do you want me to give you a hug or something~? I’m not as cute as Karin-san, though.”
I would be happy just sitting here silently.
Oh well, I guess I should stop reading.
“I’m good. Maybe I’ll just have a high-five.”
“Ahaha, are you a virgin?! That’s the funniest thing I’ve heard you say today!”
Akari-san ran over to me and grabbed my wrist.
“Here, you can have a big high-five.”
She slapped my hand with all her strength.
“Oww…”
“You shouldn’t have slapped it so hard.”
A few moments later, the rest of the girls entered the room as well.
Ah, why is talking to people so tiring…