Chapter 26: CH 26

Bittersweet

[Asatani-san, I’m sorry to contact you on a short notice.]

[I am also here to watch the show, but I noticed that there are some people waiting for you to come out. So if possible, it’d be better if you don’t leave using the staff exit.]

[I’m sure you’ll be fine if your manager is with you, but I think you should still be careful.]

[I know that this is none of my business, but I just wanted to let you know.]

I also thought about what would happen if the message was not read. After the recording was over, she might not have time to look at her phone.

Then I’d have to deal with those people waiting for her myself – That said, if I told them that waiting there would cause trouble, it’d be the same as picking a fight.

(…I hope they give up.)

It was like a double arrow, and it was hard not to notice that I was spying on them too. If a guard came to patrol the area, I might get suspected along with them as well…

“……”

The phone in my pocket vibrated. There was a reply from Asatani-san.

[Nagi-kun, putting the greetings aside, can I ask you something?]

[Yeah, that’s fine.]

[You’re saying that some people who just watched the recording are waiting for me outside the staff entrance?]

[I think so. We were seated close together, and I overheard them talking.]

There was a short pause before the next reply came. Eventually, the door to the staff entrance opened – A person who seemed to be a staff member came out, and I breathed a sigh of relief.

[I didn’t come with my manager today. There was a sudden work conflict with a girl from the same agency.]

[Then you’d better not come out alone. There are two men here. I heard them talking, and I don’t think Asatani-san should talk to them directly.]

My message was not returned for a while. I hid in the shadows and managed to avoid the staff who came out – The two men seemed to have hidden well and showed no signs of leaving.

[Okay, I got it. Those kinds of fans have come before.]

[There’s a staircase on the other side, so go down from there.]

That should take care of it now – I breathed a sigh of relief and typed a reply as quickly as I could.

[I’ll keep an eye on them to make sure they don’t make a move. When you get to a place where you feel safe, let me know.]

[Okay, thanks.]

To avoid the men waiting for her, she would have to take the stairs down from the sixth floor of the building – Considering the burden, I wondered if I should take the risk and pull the two men away from here.

–While I was thinking about this, I got a reply from Asatani-san much earlier than I had expected.

[Nagi-kun, do you have a minute?]

[I’m going to go out through the back door of the building. Could you please come?]

At this point, there was no time to hesitate. I would take Asatani-san to a safe place and think about everything after that.

When I was about to reply with an okay, the men began to argue irritably, as if they were fed up with Asatani-san’s inability to come out.

“What the h**l, she’s not coming out. Maybe there’s another route or something?”

“Then why don’t we just wait outside the building for her to come out? Let’s stake the place out front and back, so we don’t get caught.”

(…This is bad!)

On a Saturday afternoon, the building was crowded with shoppers up to the fourth floor. The elevator would take a long time to come up. It was faster to take the stairs down.

If the guests who attended the open recording got into a fight with each other, it might cause trouble for Asatani-san. I was not that bloodthirsty either – I’d prefer to avoid trouble if possible.

Without thinking about anything, I ran. I ran down the stairs as fast as I could – Before those two came down from the elevator.

I made my way to the back of the building – There were still some people here. I looked around to see if Asatani-san was fine on her own, but I couldn’t find her.

“…Nagi-kun.”

“……”

A small voice called out to me, and I turned around – There, Asatani-san, dressed in her casual clothes instead of her studio outfit, with her hair gathered in a bun, she was standing there, wearing a hat and red-framed glasses.

When looking from a distance, she didn’t look like ‘Kiritani-san’ who had just finished recording. However, if you were to look closely, she would indeed be recognized.

“Thanks for coming… So, about those guys…?”

“They said they were going to keep watch outside the building, so we have to make sure we don’t run into them…”

As I was saying this, I caught a glimpse of one of the two guys from earlier who had come around the back of the building. I was behind Asatani-san, so he hadn’t noticed me yet.

“They’re coming over. Let’s get out of here so they don’t notice us.”

“But we can’t go around the front entrance… There’s a huge crowd of people there.”

The two of them weren’t the only ones waiting. Fans who hadn’t won tickets to see the show, as well as people who were just passing by, seemed to have gathered here for some reason.

“…Nagi-kun, can you stay with me for a moment?”

“Asatani-san, I think I have a better idea…”

The only way to get away from here – From the back of the empty building, was through one of the two men who had already arrived.

He hadn’t noticed us yet. If that was the case, I’d better take my chances while he was still distracted. As I thought of this–

“Let’s go together.”

“……”

Asatani-san took my arm as she said this. With that, Asatani-san began to act. It was as if she had turned on her acting mode with that line. I guessed that she was playing the role of ‘a girl on a date with her boyfriend’. Because of this sunny weather, Asatani-san wasn’t wearing very thick clothes. When she snuggled into my arms, the parts of her body that shouldn’t be touched hit me.

“…Thanks for coming by today.”

“Oh, yeah…”

“Just play along with me. Look like you’re here just for fun.”

No matter how many disguises you wear, you would normally be noticed if you walk closely by someone. However, Noa Kiritani was able to s***w over even that ‘normally’ with her acting skills.

Even though the man saw us, he frowned and then took out his phone.

The tension peaked for a moment as we passed by. However,

“She’s not coming out the back either. What about the front? Since she’s not here, she must be there. Oh, forget it, she must be somewhere inconspicuous.”

We left the building and continued walking for a while – The town was bustling on a holiday, and gradually, the tension left me and I looked at Asatani-san who was walking next to me.

“U-Um… Asatani-san, I think we’re okay now…”

“Yeah. Nagi-kun is a good actor, isn’t he? You were so natural.”

“No, no, I’m just an amateur… More importantly, I’m sorry for messaging you so suddenly.”

We talked as we walked – Asatani-san was trying to head towards the station.

“I’m getting busy with work, but I don’t always have a manager to help me. Something like today has happened before… So Nagi-kun was very helpful today when he let me know.”

“…Um… I got the ticket from Nakano-san. I was wondering if I was allowed to come instead, as expected…”

There were so many questions I wanted to ask, but I didn’t know how much to ask them. I couldn’t get the words out.

Seeing me like this, Asatani-san was not dismayed and smiled coolly at me.

“Did you think I asked Yui-chan to give it to you or something like that…?”

“…I don’t know.”

“…I didn’t tell her that. She wanted to give it to Nagi-kun herself. I gave two tickets to Yui-chan, and she said she’d come too.”

Nakano-san was the one who took care of it, and Asatani-san didn’t ask her to do anything.

The reason why Nakano-san did so was probably because she thought I was still a fan of Asatani-san.

She didn’t know that I had confessed my feelings to Asatani-san and had already been dumped, so she probably did it with good intentions – I thought this was the right answer.

You are reading story It Seems That Takane, the Current Girlfriend, Definitely Doesn't Want to Lose to the Ex-girlfriend at novel35.com

“Ah… I wonder if I should’ve said that just now. It’s not Yui-chan’s fault. You must’ve been uncomfortable, right? I’m sure.”

“If that’s the case… The fact that I’m here, Asatani-san is…”

I wondered how she felt about me coming to the recording, when I wasn’t even given a ticket. Was it just an act when she looked at me and smiled during the recording – Or was it natural like I saw it?

“…Having someone you know makes you feel at ease, doesn’t it? But when I thought that Nagi-kun was watching me, I was still nervous. I couldn’t show my uncool side, but I had to strike a pose.”

“Oh, yeah… But it looked brilliant.”

“Thank you. I didn’t think it would look good on me, but I practiced a lot.. Ah, just now I imagined I must’ve looked very dumb. Doing this in front of the mirror.”

Asatani-san struck the pose she had shown during the recording.

Even if I preface it with ‘objectively’ or ‘generally’ or similar preamble, I shouldn’t think like a fan. I didn’t come here for that.

“I didn’t feel like you were bad at that kind of thing at all. I thought you were very good…”

“…Nagi-kun, you compliment me on everything, don’t you?”

“We-Well… Not necessarily everything…”

She didn’t seem to think that it was any good or anything like that. I thought I was looking at the general activities of ‘Kiritani Noa’ without bias.

–Asatani-san’s expression changed. There was something peeking out from behind that smile that did not reveal her true intentions.

“…Do you praise Takane-san like this too?”

I knew that this flow would surely lead to the topic of her.

I was going to make sure Asatani-san was okay, and then go home – That was all I was going to do. I hadn’t thought about what kind of conversation I would have with Asatani-san.

“…It’s not nice to talk like that now, is it? I know, I know. I have a bad personality.”

“I… I’m always grateful to Takane-san. And I don’t mean that as a compliment…”

“I see… It’s going well. Nagi-kun and Takane-san seem to be going at the right pace, don’t you?”

–If so, did that mean that Asatani-san and I didn’t have the right pace?

“Does Takane-san know about today?”

“I told her properly. Takane-san said… If I was going to go support a ‘friend,’ she said I should go.”

“I see… That sounds just like Takane-san.”

With the way things were going, there was no chance that we would continue our conversation. As I thought this, Asatani-san did something out of my imagination – As she walked next to me, she said,

“Nagi-kun, would you like to have tea with me now?”

She had never asked me out like this before.

As ‘friends’, it was normal to go to a cafe together. I could also tell that Asatani-san was trying to thank me.

“As a token of gratitude, I’ll treat you to a cake. Do you like sweets? Or maybe do you want to have dinner? Anything is fine, as long as it’s in my pocket–“

Asatani-san appeared to be floundering.

I thought about accepting her offer – Yet, I had to refuse.

“I’ll drop you off somewhere you can relax and then I’ll leave. If you want me to wait for your pickup, I’ll stay with you until then.”

Never before had I felt such pain as I did when those words went down my throat.

Asatani-san’s expression lost its color – However, it was only for a moment.

As soon as she returned to her usual cheerful expression, Asatani-san gently pulled away from my arms.

“Then… I think I can handle it now. I’ll ask my mom to pick me up.  Can we go to the roundabout in front of the station?”

“Yeah. Can I walk with you till there?”

“Yeah. But it would be better if my mother doesn’t see you. She’ll get the wrong idea.”

“All right, I’ll be careful.”

This time, on our walk together, Asatani-san went a little ahead of me so that we wouldn’t stand out in the line, and I followed behind.

On the way to the roundabout, Asatani-san stopped in front of a vending machine. She took out her commuter pass. It seemed that she was trying to buy a drink with electronic money.

“Do you want something to drink, Nagi-kun? You must be thirsty after all that running.”

“No, if we’re only waiting for a bit–“

“Is cold coffee okay?”

“… Th-Thank you…”

I received a cold can of coffee. At a time like this, a sweet drink might make me thirsty, but I didn’t really care.

–However, it felt odd.

I was pretty sure I hadn’t told Asatani-san what kind of drink I liked or anything like that. In junior high school, when we went out together to buy something for the exchange meeting between the reading club and the astronomy club, I even told her that I didn’t care if it was tea, juice, or anything else.

This canned coffee was only sold at train stations. Without asking me if I wanted something else, Asatani-san had one choice and chose this one.

“…You’re not going to drink?”

“Oh, yeah… Thank you, Asatani-san.”

I opened the tab of the canned coffee and took a sip. It tasted just like the coffee Takane had given me – Of course it did, it was the same product.

But I couldn’t choke down any of it because I was worried about being stared at. I didn’t even want to drink it all at once, I wanted to take a moment.

–And I shouldn’t have let myself get distracted for a moment like that.

“Don’t you like it?”

“…Ah…!”

Asatani-san took the can in my hands with both hands. Then, right in front of my eyes, she sipped the drink.

Her white throat moved slightly. Then she handed the can back to me.

“…It’s a little bitter. So Nagi-kun likes this kind of drink.”

She didn’t have a bitter look on her face. And Asatani-san’s eyes were looking at me–

“I know too, you know? Nagi-kun’s good points.”

I had no idea what to say now that she said that.

It was said as a friend. But if she had said that to me when we were dating, I would have taken it differently.

I had to shake off that ‘what if’. I came here to erase it completely from my mind.

“…Thank you for coming today. I’m glad you’re here, Nagi-kun. It made me want to work harder.”

What do you want me to say, with that look on your face?

She looked like she was in love, even though that misconception was long overdue.

“Ah… I think it’s almost here. She said she was just heading over.”

“…Alright. Then, see you…at school.”

“Yeah. Give my regards to Takane-san. To Yui-chan too.”

Asatani-san gave me a small wave. I left the roundabout and walked towards the direction of my house.

A white car slid into the roundabout, and Asatani-san got into it. The car quickly drove away and disappeared from my sight.　

If only it had come to pick her up a little earlier. But I shouldn’t think about that.

Asatani-san had become well known as “Noa Kiriya”. Still, there were times when the people in her agency couldn’t keep up.

In times of trouble, it was mutual. Still, I thought – wasn’t it ridiculous that I, who was dumped so easily, was still here saying that I was worried about Asatani-san.

This can of coffee and Asatani-san’s expression negated that thought.

Even if it was just an act, I couldn’t tell what she was thinking when she looked at me like that.

You can find story with these keywords: It Seems That Takane, the Current Girlfriend, Definitely Doesn't Want to Lose to the Ex-girlfriend, Read It Seems That Takane, the Current Girlfriend, Definitely Doesn't Want to Lose to the Ex-girlfriend, It Seems That Takane, the Current Girlfriend, Definitely Doesn't Want to Lose to the Ex-girlfriend novel, It Seems That Takane, the Current Girlfriend, Definitely Doesn't Want to Lose to the Ex-girlfriend book, It Seems That Takane, the Current Girlfriend, Definitely Doesn't Want to Lose to the Ex-girlfriend story, It Seems That Takane, the Current Girlfriend, Definitely Doesn't Want to Lose to the Ex-girlfriend full, It Seems That Takane, the Current Girlfriend, Definitely Doesn't Want to Lose to the Ex-girlfriend Latest Chapter