Chapter 3: A Former Popular Idol Was Treated As A Surplus At A Party, So I'm Bringing It Back


TL: Akabane


***


"I'm going to ask you straight. Don't tell me you're that Ayane Kiraboshi?"


"I'm Ayane Kiraboshi. Oh, so you knew me, huh?"


"Well, there's no Japanese who doesn't know your name."


Ayane Kirahoshi was the center of the national idol group Genesistars, but two years ago she suddenly retired from performing.


As I recall, she quit because she wanted to focus on her studies.......


"You were the center of a national idol group, right?"


"What a shallow idea. Don't you know more about me?"


"Let's see ...... yes!　I was the manager of the 109th High School Football Championship."


"You know that because you were on the soccer team."


"Yeah, but I'm not a fan of Kirahoshi, so I don't know what else to tell you."


"Genesistars. An idol group of 90 sisters (setting) gathered to aim for the brightness of the star that started it all. Among them, only the girl who shines the true star can be the center. And that's me."


"You're boasting?"


"I'm proud of it. Because I can shine the same light as the stars in this starry sky..."


Kiraboshi stands up and looks up at the night sky with her hands spread wide.


"It was supposed to be......"


"What do you mean?"


"I had a disagreement with a girl in the same group and we clashed. We got into a big fight, and the gossip outlets picked up on it. It was a shameful thing to do as a professional."


"So the reason you quit wasn't because of academics or anything?"


"Of course not. Ayane Kirahoshi quit because she had a fight with a member. But I can't say that, can I?"


"......"


I couldn't find the words to reply.


If it was a cool protagonist from a manga or something, I would have said, "No, it's not like that!" or "It's not your fault!" and defend her, but I'm not a man worthy enough to say that.


Because I'm not a great person, either.


"Oh, I haven't run in a while, so I'm already sweating. Do you want to take a break somewhere?"


"By 'rest' do you mean a love hotel?"


"Love hotel?!　What are you talking about as a sacred idol?!"


"I'm a "former" idol."


"That's it, nyaa!"


"Why are you talking like a cat?"


"Ha. It's just a habit."


"What kind of habit?"


I also stand up, caught by Sasaki, and look up at the night sky.


The spring night breeze, which felt cold until a moment ago, felt comfortable on this riverbed.


"From the way you're talking, Kiraboshi seems to be having a lot of fun with guys. So I thought you might be asking me out too."


"H-Haaa⁈"


Kiraboshi's cheeks turned red, so much so that I could tell even by the moonlight.


"B-Baka!　A man like you ... there's no way I'd invite you from the beginning."


"Well, you're right."


I replied, lying down on the grass.


"I'm an athlete, but I'm so sloppy in my daily life, I wear jerseys all the time, and I spend all the money I get from my part-time job and money that send fron home on spikes. I'm a real pain in the ass."


"Don't be so self-deprecating!　You're a boy!"


"Of course I'm a boy!"


Sasaki sat back down next to me, perhaps to accommodate my nervous mood.


The two of us, blowing in the night breeze, felt like we were in our youth.


"I just realized something..."


"What's wrong?"


"Ayane Kiraboshi is a year older than me, right?"


"Huh, yeah?"


"......Sorry."


"Stop using honorifics. We're both first year university students."


"I'm sorry."


"Don't do that."


Sasaki gropes the head of my nose with her index finger as I lie down.


"Ya, I get it!　You don't mind if I call you Kiraboshi, do you?"


"Don't call me Kiraboshi. My real name is Ayane Sasaki."


"Okay, Sasaki. Is that okay?"


"Yes, that's fine."


Sasaki replied with a smile and popped the tip of my nose with her index finger.


"Even though you're such an idiot, you're good at soccer, aren't you?　Well, I'm the official manager of this championship, so I'll go and watch you in person."


"You don't have to come. I'll probably be on the bench for the next game."


"Don't be so wishy-washy!　Whether it's soccer or anything else, people who don't have ambition will just be weeded out!"


"You're talking like a hot-headed ex-idol!"


"I'll go to your next game and you must score a goal for sure!　If you don't, it's a penalty game!"


"A penalty game?"


"Yes, I'm going to the next game. I'll tell you what it's about. You're going to listen to one thing I say, anything I say. How about that?"


Wow. What a goofy promise.


If you promise badly, that puts more pressure on me and makes it harder to do it.......


"By the way, what if I score like I promised?"


"......Oh, congratulations. Whew."


"I got nothing, huh?"


"No choice, I'll buy you dinner then."


"Dinner?"


"I'll buy you a nice dinner. How about this?"


"How about it?　I'm sorry to hear that."


"If you refuse, I'll tell Igarashi-san and the others tomorrow that you forced me to have sex with you after I left with you, and I'll tell them everything about it."


That sounds like it might be troublesome.......


"I don't think it will do any damage if you tell everyone that I forced to f*ck you after we left the party, as if we were going to do it......."


"Aihara-san, she must be disappointed."


"You know, it's Azaki who likes Aihara."


"What, you don't like Aihara-san after talking to her so friendly?"


"Well, I think she's cute. She has a good body, likes soccer, and she is a pretty good-looking girl, but ...... Azaki is after her, and she's not my type to begin with."


"Hmm."


"What's with that suspicious look?"


"Well, let's put that aside. You promised me earlier, didn't you?"


Sasaki asks me while poking my chest with her index finger.


Even if we I score a goal in the next game, I'm sure Sasaki won't order me to do something terrible, and on the other hand, if I score, I'll be able to save one meal for dinner after the game.


"......Okay, I promise. I'll definitely score in the next game, whether I'm a starter or a substitute player."


"Yeah, yeah. That's what a boy does."


Sasaki then asked me the date of the next game, and after writing it down, she just ran off.


"See you later, Makishima!"


She was a former idol, a mysteriously hot-blooded coach, and a very friendly person.


She was a strange girl from start to finish.


Should I have taken her home at this hour?


No, the train station is close by, and it would be creepy to be so cautious, so I decided not to.


After seeing Sasaki off, I walked along the riverbed back to my apartment.


I took off my jacket and stretched out my legs on the couch while I checked my phone and found a message on the "Lime" chat app.


[I failed to take her home.]


I've become friends with my ex-idol to the point of making strange promises to her, but you guys.... I can't believe they haven't even been able to take her home. （I haven't either.)


I'm the one who did it right, but I'm going to have to put on airs and go along with this guy here.


[I was just used as an excuse to get out of the store. This girl Sasaki, she is like me, was just trying to make up the numbers.]


[Is that so?　I'm glad that's the case... I knew you were too much of a soccer fool to fall in love with someone like that.]


This guy's really annoying.


I'm going to block him for a week or so.




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Author's note:


I'll post every day from tomorrow.


Thank you very much for reading this far.


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