As nice as Youna would've loved to be with Ishi, and nobody else, her dream was never going to happen. There were others who were searching for them, and even the boy was trying to get everyone together.
Which is why it was no surprise to see Chiana as they walked. She wasn't alone either, as there was an older man standing by her side. That person being her father, of course.
"It's wonderful to run into the two of you." Quickly, Chiana already greeted the pair before anyone else had a chance to exchange words. "Father, these two are good friends of mine." Ishi wouldn't say that Chiana, or even Chinae, was particularity close to Youna. Though he didn't speak up about it since it didn't really matter. At the very least, those two were acquaintances.
"Hi, it's nice to meet you." Said Youna.
"Yeah, we're Ishi and Youna." Ishi formally introduced themselves as he shook hands with the man. The handshake was rather weak, not anything like when he shook the hands of people who worked with his dad.
"The pleasure is all mine." Her father responded. "My name's Hotaka. I've also heard that you two have also been spending time with my other daughter, Chiane." He seemed filled with pride that she was able to find some friends. As someone who appeared to be a loner for years in high school now, it was sweet for him to see her a bit happier.
Obviously, Ishi was aware that he knew of Chiane's secret. It's not like the man would be fooled into thinking he had two daughters. Though the boy was curious about whether he was aware of his own knowledge of the double identity.
"Well, she can be a bit of handful, but I'm glad that I got to know her after the tutoring we did over the Summer." Ishi replied.
"Yep, she can be nice when you get to know her." That was Youna's way of being nice about someone she knew to be a bit rude, while also not getting to know her at all.
A little bit of time passed, and soon enough the group were joined with Rinse. The idol was able to find some reprieve and get away from the concert grounds for a short while. They would be needing her soon, but there was more than enough time for the girl to get food with the rest of them. Of course, she was followed by Otoya who had been hanging around the concert grounds being a little flirty.
Ryugi was the last one to arrive. The girl was alone, which the others didn't pay any mind to except for Ishi. Her friends didn't seem to happy to see him, so he wondered how she convinced them to let her see him without them. Chances were, there wasn't any actual convincing going on.
"This seems like a good spot." The fact that someone's parent was here should've put a damper on things, but Chinae's father seemed to be a real nice person. "Ishi, was it?" He also seemed to be rather informal with the teens. "How about we pick up everyone some delicious food? I know of a stand that sells some of the most amazing takoyaki."
"Yeah, you should." Otoya was quick to get rid of him. The lucky boy would get the chance to be surrounding with pretty ladies for the time they were going to be gone.
"Sure, I'll help." Ishi accepted the request and soon the two were off. However, considering that he was the only one asked to aid, he knew that there was a reason for this. The pair walked for a fair bit of distance away from the group, so that no one that they knew would care to listen into their conversation. "So, what do you want to talk to me about?"
"I see that Chinae wasn't kidding about your perception." Her father didn't attempt to hide away from the subject at all." And your reputation as one who doesn't beat around the bush is also true it seems."
"Thanks." Regardless of how anyone else viewed it, he considered that statement to be a compliment. "Anyway, I'm taking it that you know that I know the truth."
"I figured she was going to be found out eventually." Hotaka sighed. "Honestly, a part of me was hoping that a person like you would've gotten her to bring herself out to the light."
"It's better for me to keep her identity a secret." Ishi explained himself. "I can't believe you would want to expose her. She's your daughter, and I doubt she wants that."
"It's only because of the reasons why she became an idol." He replied. "Surely you must be a little curious to learn of what got her to be this way."
"I can't deny that I'm not curious." He admitted. In fact, the honest side of him really wanted to find out the truth from Chinae. However, any attempt to get any answers were bricked off by her. "I'm under the assumption that she's not really into the whole idol business, so there must be a good reason."
"It's for me." He made the revelation as they stood in line for their food. "I bet you already noticed, haven't you?"
"Your handshake." So the lack of strength behind it was explained. Hotaka was born with a weak heart, and as a result had been to the hospital many times over the years. So that was why she put herself out there during compensated dating, and why she would eventually cover as an idol. Chiane had been working to raise money to support herself and pay for the bills created from her father's hospital stays and surgeries.
"Regrettably, I made a poor choice with marrying her mother." He wouldn't go deeply into the details about his former wife, but it was clear to Ishi this was beyond a simple broken marriage.
"I guessed that something happened with her mother." After all, Chiana put out an air of appearing to be living a cheerful happy life. Yet only her dad was joining her during this festival and concert. Though his first assumption was that her mom had passed away for whatever reason, so he didn't want to bring up any potential scars. However, the true scars came from what that woman did to them.
"I'm… Really sorry for Chinae." Her father's mood took a downturn from having to recall the memories. Ishi didn't ask him for this, but he would've been fine not getting deep into personal family issues out of respect. If he had known it would lead to this, then he probably wouldn't have probed for more out in public. "I brought her out into this world… Only to suffer." With that, he became silent.
The two of them quietly stood in line after he made that statement. The noises of the festival dominated over them. Its bright lights shone a light atop them, yet they gave off an aura of darkness surrounding them. Soon, it was their turn to order some food and they were able to pick up plenty of yummy delicious food for the others.
They began their trip back with bags in hand. The two were still quiet until finally, Ishi spoke up.
"Hey." He said, causing Hotaka to turn his head and look at the young boy. "Don't feel bad for Chinae."
"Hmm?" He was confused about Ishi's conviction in his statement. He barely knew anything of her situation, yet he was speaking as if he understood everything. "But-"
"I'm sure that things haven't been easy on either of you." That much was clear based on the story he was just told. "Obviously, you haven't seen everything we've seen with her at school." Or at the camp, and even the beach when she was playing as her sister. "But I can tell that… There hasn't been a moment that she's regretted the life she's been given."
"Ah geez." A tear ran down the man's cheek. As he wiped it away, Hotaka couldn't have felt any happier that this was one of Chinae's closest friends. "You know, if you want you should marry my daughter."
"Let's not ruin the moment." Ishi replied. He wasn't surprised by the response, which is why he said what he did. Though, his kind words shouldn't be confused with a white lie. From the way that Chinae was, he was confident that he wasn't wrong in that assessment.
Meanwhile, the others were waiting for them to return with some good eats. They were starving, but Otoya was fine with this opportunity to be with such pretty girls. However, that boy was a problem with what everyone sans Youna wanted to do. So they needed to get rid of him for the time being.
"Shoot, my dad didn't say anything about getting drinks." Chiana spoke up. "There's a great place that's got wonderful flavored drinks, but it's all the way down the way there."
"I know." Ryugi channeled her gyaru experience of getting some boy to be a gofer. It had been a while since she pulled it out, but there were no signs of rust in her skills. "O~toya" She spoke in a playful manner. "Could you be a darling and get us ladies some refreshments? She leaned in and gave a wink to really seal the deal.
"You got it." He answered them in earnest as he got up and dashed away on his mission.
"Sheesh, Ishi's right. Teenage boys really are easy."
"I'm pretty sure that he says the same about girls…" Youna agreed with her, but slowly her words trailed off. Once Otoya was out of the picture, she saw all of the girls' eyes turning over to her. Their glares appeared to be very scary, and she gulped in fear of what was to come.