Stealing Spree

Shortly after Kaoru-san’s interrogation on why we were late while she was noticeably attempting to hide the fact that she fell asleep while waiting for us, she resignedly dropped it after a while and let us in the car.

As I got on the passenger’s seat, I caught her sighing. She did try to keep it hidden though but with my observational skills, it failed to elude me when her side frame was the first thing I saw upon opening that door.

It was pretty clear that she was being critical of herself again despite my lie being too obvious. Most likely, she was scolding herself internally for falling asleep while on the job.

Having been made aware of this side of her, it’s hard to pretend not to notice it. Add the fact that I made a promise to help her, I found myself reaching my hand to her head, patting her a few times like I always do whenever I was trying to comfort my girls.

Even if I quickly realized that I shouldn’t have done that, it was already too late to pull it back. I could only stop when she raised her head and turned her head in my direction.

Before a question popped up on top of her head, I chuckled lightly. “Kaoru-san, thanks for waiting for us. And… I think it’s great that you took the chance to rest.”

Of course, there’s no need to point out what I observed. For sure, she’d also picked up that I was trying to pull her away from her self-blame.

A moment later, a complex expression surfaced on her face as she slowly shook her head.

“... It’s my job, Onoda-kun.”

That’s all she said, ending that conversation.

Following that, the four girls also entered the car and we set off to our next destination.

Now that the day was about to end and we already decided to stay the night here rather than take the last train home, the girls were still excited about what was waiting for us tonight.

Well, I did tell them about my promise to meet Chisato-nee-san in exchange for that break that Kaoru-san got.

Since it’s not convenient to meet outside and Yue insisted on having us stay in the same place as her, Kaoru-san already prepared the unit next to Yue’s.

For security reasons, the company actually bought three units in that building and placed her in the middle. That way, even if she sometimes streams to sing for her fans on the internet, no neighbor would figure out her identity.

I just had no idea if they also bought the whole floor because Yue told me she never saw any of her same-floor neighbors.

Tonight, the place that Kaoru-san prepared was the other unit next door for the four girls. As for me… Kaoru-san didn’t make it too difficult to allow me to stay with Yue.

Whether the company knew about me or not, I was still unsure. Nonetheless, since Kaoru-san handles everything for Yue, the higher-ups probably knew or heard about it directly from Yue.

Also, when I asked Kaoru-san if I could tell Chisato-nee-san where I would be staying, she said the producer knew and was already waiting for us there.

… She’s really excited to meet me outside of work, isn’t she?

In any case, my girls have a positive impression of her so there’s really no problem to have her sit with us on the table. During that short duration when I disguised myself as a staff member and waited for them inside the recording room, Chisato-nee-san already got acquainted with them. She also tried to clear up the misunderstanding to Yue regarding what she said earlier.

Still, even if that happened, the song they performed managed to clue her in on what was really going on between us.

This time, even if Chisato-nee-san wanted to catch up with me, she was also excited to hear more from the girls.

Her days must have been boring and busy since Director Iwanami said that she was only excited whenever she was bringing me up. When that’s not on the table, she’s more straight-laced and workaholic.

Not gonna lie, I could really imagine her acting like that at all. Her impression of me years ago was just a stark contrast to it. Akane also said the same but my silly girl was more focused on why Chisato-nee-san seemed so fixated on me when we have countless cousins within that side of the family.

Fifteen minutes later, we arrived at the condominium building. It’s located not far from the other big buildings so even at this time of the night, people still littered the streets.

Kaoru-san drove the car into the parking lot and we went inside through the door connected to it. Only one security officer was stationed there. He easily let us pass after recognizing Kaoru-

san and gave us some kind of card key.

She led us to an elevator that needed that key to access which directly brought us to the unit’s floor.

“Looks like I don’t need to worry anymore about Yue’s security. It’s been done meticulously.” I couldn’t help but comment as the elevator started ascending.

“She’s been given the highest priority recently. It’s not like this before.” Kaoru-san calmly answered without glancing back at us.

“They said I’m becoming more popular because of my crazy stint. Paparazzi are starting to get more scoop about me. Hehe. They raised the security level so even my exit here is private.”

Yue then chimed in as she elaborated further.

“I see. What about when you’re coming to school?”

We already talked about this before but hearing that her setup changed a bit from before, I could only be curious if it also changed there.

She mostly goes to school once a week at most to get more study materials, submit her homeworks, and sit in the classroom for a period or two.

Whenever she’s present, she’s always the center of attention even though other celebrities are attending the same school.

“Ah. They still cannot enter it. I told you, right? It’s a school founded for people like us. The security there is top notch and the students were either children of celebrities themselves or other influential people. Paparazzis cannot trespass or they’ll get their expensive cameras confiscated.”

“Good.”

I guess I was worrying for nothing, huh? But I don’t think I’m stepping my bounds here. Ever since I introduced myself to Kaoru-san when she picked up Yue back then, I’ve already been deeply involved with her and they acknowledged it.

“I’m curious. What is it like to only come to school once a week? I wish I could also do the same.” This time, Miho raised a question. The girl had this occasional mood of not wanting to go to school and just sitting in front of her keyboard once in a while. Her usual excuse was that she caught a cold.

Akane and Yua’s interests were also piqued so they all turned to Yue.

“How, huh? Initially, I feel like I’m missing out on a lot of things. Like making friends and enjoying my youth. That feeling gradually disappeared when I also encountered more people in the same industry. However, there are more people like that guy from earlier. They’re proud of their status and if you’re not more popular than them, they’ll always act superior. That’s why… I can say I only have one or two artists I consider my friends. And they’re all from a different company.”

The three girls couldn’t help but nod when Yue somehow went on a tangent to talk about her friends.

I heard about those friends of hers. They’re also curious about her relationship but since they’re not from the same company, Yue could only keep it from them. I mean, even if she trusts them, she’s cautious about the rival company behind them. She said she’ll tell them about me on the next occasion I come here to see her. Which means, she’s going to bring me to meet them…

The elevator ride was only more than a minute so when she finished speaking, we already arrived at her unit’s floor.

Still with Kaoru-san’s lead, we continued to her unit where Chisato-nee-san was already waiting by the door.

As soon as she spotted us, the woman, who had already changed out of her earlier attire, energetically waved at us. Her air of authority is nowhere to be seen.