LIGHTNOVELWORLD Chapter 8_ A Popular Idol
“You could tell that Kaede-chan was going to reject you, couldn’t you?”
Hirawa-san looked down at me with a smile, although it seemed more real than the ones she was showing before—in a mischievous way.
“I guess I did.”
“And that really hurt your feelings, didn’t it?”
“It sure did.”
“I’m glad you’re funny as well, Riku-kun.”
“I’m not sure what you’re talking about.”
She finally let go of my hand. I brushed some of the makeup off of it. It was a little annoying that she decided to make her point in such a way. She stared at me as I did so.
“Aah, sorry about that. I just wanted to see what your reaction was~.”
“Couldn’t you have done something else? You’re going to need to put on more makeup now as well.”
There was a patch on her face that was slightly more pale than the other parts.
She pressed her cheeks with her hands.
“You don’t need to worry about that, Riku-kun. I’m cute without makeup as well!”
“When were we on a first-name basis?”
“Aha, I’m just used to calling people by their first name. Most of my fans call me Karin-chan or Karin-sama, you know~. You can call me that too if you want!”
“I’m not sure.”
“Come on~ If you want, I’ll let you just call me Karin.”
“I’ll call you Karin-san then. Also I want to continue watch the show, so can you just tell me what you’re here for?”
She laughed a little before taking a seat next to me.
Turning her head, she leaned on my arm.
“Haa, you don’t need to brush me off so much~. I might’ve come to you, but I’m still a celebrity, you know?”
“Why are you talking to me in such a roundabout way?”
“Hehe, well, I want to help you. More accurately, I want us to help each other.”
“I don’t see how someone like me could help you.”
She kneeled up on the seat next to mine. Looking right into my eyes, she wrapped her arms around my shoulders. I could feel her breathing into my face—a subtle minty smell. Thankfully her breath wasn’t bad.
“If I wasn’t an idol, I’d make you my boyfriend.”
“It sure is a shame that you are one, then.”
“Aha, I want you to be my right-hand man, like an assistant. Watching you on the show, I can tell that you’re reliable and, most importantly, that you’re capable.”
“I’m not really interested in becoming an assistant.”
“Alright then, we can just be close friends then.”
“I don’t like how you’re using this foot-in-the-door tactic. More importantly, this isn’t really how you make close friends, you know.”
She giggled.
“Well, do you not want to?”
She made a sad expression, although she wasn’t really sad.
“Not really.”
Shuffling toward me, she leaned forward until she was sitting over my lap. Her thighs pressed onto mine as she fixed up her skirt. From this close, her perfume was quite noticeable.
“Hey, Riku-kun, we could help each other.”
I looked at her.
“You know, you can just ask me normally.”
“Eh?”
The two of us stared at each other for a moment.
Suddenly, her cheeks began to turn red. She pushed me back, unintentionally causing herself to fall off the chair onto the ground. A dense thump echoed through the room.
“Ow…”
“Don’t get embarrassed on me after starting it.”
“I can’t help it… it’s way more embarrassing when you just stare at me emotionlessly like that. At least react or something.”
“I thought you talked to me knowing that.”
“Still, I’m much more used to people getting flustered when I talk to them.”
She picked herself off the ground, sitting back on the chairs, a little bit further away from me this time.
“A-anyways, what do you think of my proposal?”
“The proposal of being your friend?”
“Yeah—wait, not that… what was I even saying before?
“I don’t really remember either.”
She laughed a little.
“Well, Riku-kun, do you want to watch my performance? I’ll give you some good tickets, ones in the VIP area. It’s in a few hours.”
“I’m not really a big fan of idol concerts.”
“Kaede-chan will be there as well. She’s a fan of mine, you know?”
I guess it might be worth it, then.
“I’ll come then.”
“Haa, do you have that much of a crush on her? Or maybe you’re just playing hard-to-get.”
“It’s neither of those.”
“Hehe, I’ll even let you come to my hand-shaking session. Although you might have to wait in line, I’m pretty popular.”
“It’ll give me plenty of time to wipe my hand on every dirty surface I can find.”
“I’ll spit on my hand then. Unless you’re the type of boy who likes that kind of stuff~?”
This was getting pointless.
“Aha, but in all seriousness, do you actually not have a crush on Kaede-chan? Why else would you want to meet her again, then?”
“It’s a long story.”
“Come on, I’ve got plenty of time.”
“Don’t you need to rehearse for your concert?”
“I’ve already memorised it; what’s the point of rehearsing it again?”
“I suppose that makes sense.”
…
I looked up at the television. It seemed that every single girl pressed their button. With the same sad music that played in the background when I left, the boy walked back down the stage into the elevator.
Well, I missed basically the entire segment as a result of Karin-san.
“Looks like that boy wasn’t liked very much~.”
“Yeah. You know, I actually wanted to watch it.”
“It’s not that interesting, is it? The girls and the boys, they’re all so boring. They’re all so dumb.”
“That’s pretty condescending.”
“I don’t watch any reality television shows. I much prefer movies. It’s not fun unless the characters are smart, don’t you think?”
“I don’t watch that many shows.”
Karin giggled and talked in a teasing voice.
“Aw, but you said that one of your biggest interests was watching movies~”
“That was a lie.”
“Haa, don’t worry, I know that. Still, you’re pretty confident, going up and lying so much.”
“Is that confidence?”
“Who knows~?”
She looked down at her phone.
“Ah, I might actually need to go now.”
Karin-san stood up and grabbed a ticket from her pocket.
“Here, I’ll be waiting for you~”
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