"You want to talk?" Ishi was surprised Rinse's boss would be interested in him at the moment. They had just capped off what seemed to be a successful concert. One that the boy more or less had nothing to do with other than his conversation with the star idol. "Sure, if that's what you want."
"Of course, I'm not making any mistakes here." The man laughed. "And believe me, I think you'll like what I have to say." Ishi's experience in hearing that phrase caused him to lose confidence in what this conversation was going to bring. Most of the time when people told him that, he hated what was said. "Just come here and sit with me. No one's going to bother us."
Hopefully, this wasn't going to be a dealing with someone who probably shouldn't be near people Ishi's age. If so, then the boy was going to deal with it swiftly.
"Okay, so why do you want to talk to me about?" He asked. There didn't seem to be any connection between the two outside of Rinse. It's not like his dad ever worked a job for this studio before. And certainly their family had nothing to do with idols ever.
"I think you're a really special boy." This wasn't off to a great start. Maybe he could find a way to slide out of this one. "And I've noticed some of the things you've done lately." Okay, so this person was keeping an eye on him. Again, not anything that calmed his nerves about this situation.
"If you could get to the point." Ishi felt a little uncomfortable about this. So he wanted to rush things to try and return to his friends prompty.
"Sorry, I tend to ramble on sometimes." Teruhisa laughed. "Anyway, my point being that I wanted to offer you a job at the agency."
"What?" A job? He wanted him to work under this man?
"I mean after you graduate high school." He clarified his offer. "I hope you haven't gotten into your university of choice, because I don't think I can wait on a talent like yours."
"You must be mistaken." Even though Ishi couldn't believe this was happening, he knew that the wool wasn't being pulled over his eyes either. This man was being completely serious about asking him to work for him. "I don't even like idols all that much."
"Really? But you're pretty close to Rinse." He replied. "Plus, I'm aware of what you did for her today." Again, another revelation he wasn't prepared for. This man really had been paying a lot of attention to him. "I even checked in during your school's culture festival where you had some good advice for the young lady on stage." Apparently he saw that too somehow.
"What are you trying to say? That I'd make for some good producer in my future?"
"You said it yourself." He smiled, knowing that his intentions were understood. "I'd like to take you under my wing. So here's my business card, but I suppose if you ever wanted to talk. Rinse can help arrange a meeting for us."
"Um…" He was speechless as he accepted the card. There wasn't any good response that he could come up with after being given such a rare opportunity. "Thanks?"
"Please, I'd like you to strongly consider my offer. You've got plenty of time before you're done with schooling. So make your decision then." He let him go back to his friends. It seemed that this wouldn't be the last time they would ever see each other.
However, if Ishi thought his return to friends was coming up next, then he was going to be disappointed. Again, someone else had pulled onto his arm to give the boy a bit of a detour. This time, it was Chiana.
"Ishi, it's wonderful to run into you." She said to him in her cheerful manner.
"I guess it's nice to see you too." He replied, still a little jilted about his prior conversation. "Well, how about we join the others now?"
"Actually, maybe we shouldn't." That was a weird response from the girl. Why wouldn't she want to her close friend, Rinse? "It would really make Chiana's night if Ishi could spend some time with her."
"I don't know where this is coming from, but I'll entertain this silly thing you're asking for a little bit." Ishi decided to come with her as they went even further to the back. Since this venue was outside, they soon found themselves behind some stands where there were sparklers set up on a chair. It seemed that she had left them here ahead of time knowing that he'd come with her.
"This should be loads of fun." She skipped over to the sparklers and picked up a pair. She held one to him along with some matches.
"I see you're smart enough to get us alone." He commented on the emptiness to the shadows around them. "So I'd like to see Chinae now."
"…" She paused a moment, her eyes scanned their surroundings. It seemed she determined things were going to be safe considering… "Finally." Chiane spoke in the tone that he was more accustomed to coming from this girl. "You can't imagine how much I wanted to grind your friend's bones." Apparently as Chiana, she wasn't a fan of how she was treated by Otoya.
"He can be a bit of a handful." He agreed with her assessment. Though speaking of it now, he was a little worried for Rinse.
Looking over at this girl, he was impressed with how good idols were with costume changes. She wore something different to perform during the concert. Yet now she had returned to the green yukata from before like she had never changed out of it.
He accepted the sparkler and the pair lit their sticks. Soon, there were small sparks of light illuminating the grounds around them as she played with hers a little bit by swinging it around the air. As if drawing a picture or connecting the dots between the stars. Ishi was a little less exciting with his, as he shook it back and forth in front of his face.
"Sorry I had to steal you away for a little bit." She said. "It's just been a hectic night, so I really needed some time away from everyone." Of course, she brought him along during this supposed alone time for herself. So there was a bit of a message there to be found.
"I don't really mind hanging out with you." He responded. "As long as you don't mind me talking about sometime specific."
"And what would that be?" She got nervous about what he was going to bring up. It was unlikely that she would like it.
"Well, it's just that I know now why Chiana exists." Her mood took a downswing as she didn't respond at first to his statement. Instead, Chiane squatted down with her sparkler, now only keeping it still in her hand while she looked at it intently.
"I guess dad told you." She finally spoke up after some time of silence.
"I'm glad he was able to trust me with that information." Ishi responded by squatting down in front of her. He placed his sparkler over hers as their sticks combined to create a bigger light. "I wanted to tell you so you knew that I knew."
"And what? Do you want me to tell you more about it?"
"While I can't deny my curiosity. I understand that the subject's kind of touchy for you." That was a massive understatement. He knew that there were plenty of things in her life that she probably wished was different. "You've hidden it so far, so surely you don't want others finding out."
"I really can't let everyone know the truth." Chinae relented to nothing as she decided to tell him everything. "My dad, my mom, things certainly haven't been great growing up."
"Honestly, I think a lot of people at school already believe you've got problems at home." She was viewed as a bad person at their school. A girl who would miss class sometimes, as well as fail to do homework on numerous occasions. "I know that you'll say that it's for your dad's bills, but I also think that you enjoy being an idol."
"What?" Slowly, her eyes met his. Just from talking about her personal life, Ishi saw that tears were beginning to form.
"On stage." He explained his thought process. Even if Chiana's supposed to be an act, that didn't mean it wasn't Chinae out there singing and dancing for the crowd. The happiness on her face, that wasn't the kind people fake.
It used to perplex him on her ability to switch between the two personas. Certainly there was still a lot of acting involved considering the way she talked to him between the two. Yet they were still one person, and he was confident there was some of her true self being shown to everyone when she was like that.
"Sheesh." She was taken aback from his assessment. "You really think you got it all figured out, don't you?" Her face turned down after he said his piece as she replied.
"Well, am I wrong?" She didn't respond with words, but rather he felt something atop his head as he waited for an answer. Chinae put her hand over his hair and patted over it. "Uh…"
"I'm thanking you." She spoke without moving her head. The girl continued to stare at her sparkler. I'm really thankful that I got you here. It makes my life feel a lot less lonely." Finally, she turned her head up to look him in the eye. Tears had been streaming down her cheeks as she smiled.
"I'll take that to mean I'm right."