Chapter 7: Rest After A Long Day
In the silence that followed, Ai's gaze quickly darted between the four other people inside the room with her. She was still confused by the puzzled reactions she received when she mentioned Saitou Ichigo, the man who had taken her from the bottom to near the peak of the idol world.
For reasons she was yet to be clued in on, Aqua had informed her that Miyako was President Saitou, not her husband. She was sure that her manager was not someone who would easily give up her position as the president of Strawberry Productions owing to what he had given for the success of the agency.
To learn that his wife had seemingly taken over the reins seemed too farfetched for her to accept and the only other explanation she could come up with was that Strawberry Productions was now run by the two of them, both using the pseudonym "President Saitou."
However, recalling what Aqua had just said to her, she knew that was not the case.
Slowly, she stared at Miyako with widened eyes.
"Miyako-san? You're the President of Strawberry Productions?" Ai asked softly.
Holding her breath, she waited for the answer. There was no cause for deception from her son but she wanted to be sure.
"I am" she nodded, "For a while, I've held this position."
Ai's sight was fixed on the woman but her mind was somewhere else.
She tried her best to keep the shock from the discovery at bay as her mind raced to make sense of the information she had been fed. That revelation had come from left field and could potentially have severe ramifications in regards to her plans to subtly connect her past identity to who she was now.
"W-Well…I…" she attempted a sentence.
However, it was becoming more and more difficult to remain coherent and she could not continue speaking any more.
Thankfully, Wataru intervened at the right moment.
"Aiko-chan, you only know the name "President Saitou", didn't you?" he chuckled, "Well, the website for Strawberry Productions only listed the head of the agency as that. It's only logical if someone accidentally makes a mistake like that every now and then."
Ai wasn't exactly convinced that his explanation would paper over the cracks in her new identity owing to that mishap.
She silently watched the unreadable gaze on Miyako's face steadily shift from Wataru towards her. There was an underlying intensity in the woman's stare and Ai held her breath, wondering if there was a chance that she would buy into the flimsy clarification from Wataru.
A moment later though, Miyako put her hand to her face; a gesture which puzzled Ai.
"I should take note of that…" she let out a sigh, "This is not the first time people have mistaken me for my…the previous president."
An air of relief entered Ai's body immediately, letting her know she was able to rest easy.
Somehow, Wataru's words had proven to be exactly what was needed to be said to let her off the hook. She was in disbelief that he could diffuse the tension that easily.
"Aqua…" Miyako turned to the blonde boy behind her, "Remind me to tell someone from the agency to make sure my full name is up on the website."
Aqua nodded before continuing to subtly observe what the two visitors were doing.
"So..." the woman then shifted her sights back to Ai, albeit without a stern expression that time, "Aiko-chan, you require my contact number then?"
Luckily, the girl already had a good reason to answer affirmatively.
Having already voiced her interest in being in an idol group with Ruby as well as signing a contract with Strawberry Productions, saving the president's contact information in her device was, of course, something she definitely needed to do.
"Yes, President Saitou" Ai nodded, smiling.
Miyako then handed her a business card which contained her name, address and her contact number.
"It'll also be useful to have a number to call in case Cross-san can't be bothered to pick his phone up" she gave a slight glare at Wataru, "He is a busy man after all."
Wataru nervously smiled.
"Ah! I apologize for that…hehe…"
"I'm starting to think you put your phone on silent on purpose…and you probably have it on silent right now as well."
"I…hehe…I can't exactly say that's not the truth."
While the two adults were interacting for a moment, Ai's attention was taken by the twins whispering something to each other. With the sound of a different chatter masking everything else, it was difficult to make a guess on what the siblings were secretly discussing.
Before long though, she would get a gist of what it was about.
Holding her phone in her hands, Ruby approached Ai with a sheepish expression.
"Y-Yamada-senpai…" she laughed nervily, "Hehe…I…I think we should give each other our numbers as well…"
Instinctively, Ai clenched her purse, making sure that she was still in possession of the device she found in her school bag earlier that day. To her relief, it was still there and she wasted no time taking it out.
Smiling brightly at her daughter, she opened the Contacts app, while secretly trying to get used to using the touchscreen features.
"Hey! Onii-chan!" Ruby excitedly smiled as she took Ai's phone.
Aqua narrowed his eyes at his sister.
"What? I'm right here…there's no need to be loud…"
Ignoring his sharp comment, Ruby quickly typed her phone number into the device.
"You should give Yamada-senpai your number too, onii-chan!"
The boy crossed his arms and glanced to the side, looking rather unbothered.
"Don't say things like that impulsively" he replied, "Do you even know if Yamada-senpai wants my number in her phone?"
"Well…well…" Ruby frowned, "A-Ask her then!"
Once more, Ai was caught simply staring at the duo with a pleasant smile on her face, enjoying their interactions. She wasn't too bothered with the way they were speaking with one another as long as she was certain they were together.
"I'd love to have your number too, Aqua-kun" she said confidently with a wink and a grin, "That will make it easier in case I can't reach out to Ruby-chan at times."
Aqua was surprised by her straightforward answer though he did not fail to keep his surprise a secret. While he wasn't close to addressing it in the form of a consistent thought, there was a slight bit of curiosity with the ease with which their senpai had basically opened herself up for a friendship with Ruby and to an extension, him.
He had not been unfamiliar with their senpais trying to bridge the gap between them and their kouhais but there was something unnatural about Ai's approach.
"Hmm…alright…" he said, receiving Ai's phone from Ruby.
Without missing a beat, he entered his number before handing the phone over to Ai.
"Here."
"Thank you!" Ai gave the duo another radiant smile, "I'll call you guys from time to time!"
"Mm-hmm!" Ruby eagerly nodded, "Gah! Onii-chan! Can you believe that someone famous like Yamada-senpai has our numbers?"
"I literally just watched it happen…"
Ai's green-tinted eyes met the blonde girl's gaze and the older girl could feel pure affection, admiration and awe emanating from her, an experience she had thought she'd never feel again flooded through her entire body. As she saw Aqua in her peripheral, she realized just how far away she was from the despondent void she found herself in after her death.
A friendly hand landing on her shoulder brought her back to reality before she could get lost in her thoughts.
"Well…"
She heard the familiar voice of a man she was starting to be acquainted to.
"…now that you have gotten the contacts you wanted…" Wataru spoke up, sporting a smile as always, "…maybe, we can head back home now. After all…" he chuckled, "…you have school tomorrow, Aiko-chan."
A moment was required by the girl to respond as she was reminded that in her new existence, she was about to spend a majority of the coming weeks with him.
But what he said wasn't entirely wrong either. She had, in fact, received contact information that was crucial to her. The other people around her may have believed that having the president's business card was simply enough but Ai had no doubt that the siblings' numbers held more importance to her.
"I suppose we can head back now then" she giggled before facing Miyako, "President Saitou…"
"Huhhh…It's so weird saying that to Miyako-san…hehe…"
She then turned to Aqua and then, Ruby.
"Aqua-kun…Ruby-chan…" Ai grinned brightly and then clasped her hands together, "I'll look forward to meeting all of you again!~"
The inflection and slight tilt of her head that followed her words were remnants of her old self. However, the gesture was done with genuine joy and anticipation for the next time she'd see the twins again. It was completely different from the countless times she had blessed others with the same tone and same mannerisms.
With her kids, it was just that special and honest.
"Ahh...I wish I could be with them for longer…but at least we're meeting again tomorrow!"
Using that thought to assure herself that ending the interaction for the night was alright, she prepared to head out of the office with Wataru.
"We'll work on the contract after school tomorrow" Miyako said.
"I'll see you tomorrow, senpai" Ruby was still beaming.
Meanwhile, Aqua was only staring blankly, the expression on his face left indecipherable.
"Well, it was nice seeing you kids tonight" Wataru interposed in between the farewells, "President Saitou, I'll give you a heads up regarding the new instrumental packs when they arrive, alright?"
"That will be most ideal, Cross-san" Miyako smiled.
The man then scratched the side of his face before facing Ai who was still taking in the sight of her two children, so close yet still a bit too far from her.
"Let's go, Aiko-chan" he told her.
After blinking once and letting out a sigh, Ai put a smile on her face and nodded.
"Okay!"
As he began stepping towards the door, she glanced back, noticing the three of them staring her way still. She giggled to herself before waving a hand at them.
The last sight she saw as she passed the genkan and eventually, the door, was of Ruby waving back at her and Aqua standing with his arms crossed.
While her sudden reunion with her children during her quest to get back in contact with people from Strawberry Productions was unexpected and far from the ideal scenario she wished for, she recognized it as being a significant step towards forging a close bond with them at a personal level.
The man leading her to where he parked his scooter was still a stranger at that point but he had also proven himself to be a possibly invaluable person in the long run, especially if she was on track to diving back into the entertainment industry again.
The slight chill of the early spring atmosphere and the darkened streets they stepped onto was refreshing and aided her in forming coherent thoughts regarding what the future held for her and for her children.
"I'm gonna be working as an idol with Ruby…and Aqua's an actor…like how I always envisioned…What more can a mother ask?"
Smiling to herself while Wataru was starting his vehicle, Ai found one more positive aspect to having an existence close to her children's ages. Had she still lived her old life, there was a large chance she would not be given the chance to share a stage with Ruby as an idol and she would not be given the freedom to follow Aqua's acting career as closely as she'd want.
Though she still wanted for the two of them to be aware that their mother was alive, experiencing their growth as entertainers at a similar pace as theirs was not something she hated.
"Ahhh~…I'm so lucky!" Ruby cooed as she sat down on the nearest couch, "Yamada-senpai is so freaking cool and so talented and I get to work with her very soon!"
After their two guests had left, Miyako took out her phone, scrolling through her messaging app while Ruby was going on and on about the recent developments. She couldn't blame the girl for her excitement though.
"I'm surprised she was able to stay unsigned for that long…" she mumbled.
"I can't wait to see her again!" Ruby nearly jumped from her exhilaration, "Oh! Oh! Can we make her join the agency faster? Ooohh! I can bring the contract tomorrow at school! We're in the Performing Arts program toget-"
"Patience, Ruby…" Miyako said calmly, "…I want to have someone of her calibre under our contract as well but you can't rush things like this."
The girl simply nodded with the same level of enthusiasm and began to make herself comfortable on the couch, ready to watch more of B-Komachi's live performances as part of her "research".
Before she could do so, she could not help but notice that Aqua was still standing in the same spot, unmoving since Wataru and Ai had left the room.
Not making much out of it, she put on a pair of headphones.
For Aqua though, the silence of Miyako quietly scrolling through her phone and Ruby's subtle humming provided the perfect ambience for him to gather his thoughts.
His firm gaze was fixed on the door, through which he had seen his senpai leave just a few minutes before.
She was probably on her way home with her companion, already several blocks away but still, something she did lingered strongly in his head. And the more he put his mind to it, the more he could no longer ignore a glaring detail he had just learnt about the light green-haired girl who had practically barged into their lives.
"I'll look forward to meeting all of you again!~"
Her voice, the tone with which she spoke and the short gesture had astonishingly reminded him of someone who had changed him. And the scene of her looking directly into his eyes replayed internally as a sensation he hadn't felt in a long while reverberated through his entire body.
Quietly, he muttered.
"…that…that was a good imitation…"
"You won't be heading out again for tonight, right?"
"…uh…I don't think I have anything to do outside, Itami-san."
"Alright then…in that case, I'll be locking the door. If you have a sudden reason to head outside, just use your key. I'll be in my room if you need me, Ai-chan!"
The nickname "Ai-chan" rendered Ai speechless and caught her off guard. It was only a second later that she remembered that Wataru had informed her he would be referring to her as either "Aiko-chan" or "Ai-chan".
"Alright…" she nodded, watching him head towards his room on the other side of the apartment.
Her journey back towards her new home was filled with thoughts of her children and how lucky she was to have been given the gift of seeing them all grown up and living good lives without the presence of Hoshino Ai.
Slowly, she opened the door which led to her own room.
Before she entered, she stopped at the doorway as her attention was taken by the city lights outside her window.
Without turning the lights on, she took a couple of steps forward until she was right next to the large windows that gave her an unobstructed view of the cityscape: a glowing, radiant maze of skyscrapers and roads which gave off an illumination that seemed to last forever.
The muffled noise of the urban areas barely reached her ears as she was made aware that she was truly alive at that moment. A swift flashback to all that had transpired since escaping the void through Yamada Tarou's machinations caused her to frown a bit.
Putting a hand to her temple and resting her elbow against the glass, she allowed the glow of the city to impart its faint light upon her.
"…how…how did it come to this?..."
With no soul around her and within the confines of her room, Ai finally allowed herself to process the series of horrible events she had gone through.
"Why did this happen to me? Is this…my retribution?"
Her face began to slowly heat up from all of her suppressed emotions building up as different thoughts ran through her head in a steady succession. Tears welled up in the corner of her eyes, glistening with the iridescence of the city.
Trying not to cry audibly, she stared at the floor of her room, allowing her tears to trickle down the side of her face and onto the polished wooden boards below.
At the start of the day, she was Hoshino Ai, beginning to get a tighter grasp of the life of a mother with each passing day and prepared to celebrate her twentieth birthday. With the chance of a lifetime hanging in front of her in the form of a performance at Tokyo Dome, life was starting to be better at that point.
President Saitou and Miyako were by her side at a personal level, she had people like Producer Kaburagi looking out for her, the rest of B-Komachi were always there to support her through her idol career and most importantly, she had her four year old twins, the lights of her life, always with her.
"…why did…w-why did…h-he…he…"
And then, in a cruel twist of fate, her brief but troubled life was ended just when everything was clicking in place for her to obtain a more positive outlook.
Everything was completely burnt down by the consequences of what she had built up…she did it in search of love; healing, bringing joy into the hearts of her fans through her lies…and it all ended through the hands of a man who felt betrayed.
Closing her eyes, the tears flowed more freely and she dropped to the floor, her knees buckling due to the rush of emotions.
"…R-Ruby…A-Aqua…"
Now, she was brought back, given a new chance to follow a path initially divergent from the life that was taken from her. Her quest for true love all those years- from secret meetings with possible love interests, to affections that didn't truly come from the heart…those ventures had not prepared her for the love she harboured unconditionally for her kids.
While such a realization had given her peace of mind in her dying moments, the desire to live on, finally aware and unafraid of the motherly love consuming her heart had grown during her infinite time spent in the void after her death.
Ever since she was given a new existence as Yamada Aiko, she was no longer satisfied with just letting Aqua and Ruby know that she loved them through words. She now wished to act on that love.
"…no matter what…"
Planting her hand on the floor, she lifted herself up before she sat on her bed.
"…one way or another…I'll always show them I love them…"
There was a visible sign of conviction forming on her face as she stared sternly at the city beyond the windows of her room. That was something she had to thank Tarou for the next time they crossed paths. The second chance given to her was proving to be more and more precious with each passing moment.
Closing her eyes once more, she placed her hands on her lap. The time to wind down and give herself a period of introspection and contemplation had concluded.
Letting out a deep breath, there was one last thing she had to address though.
A thought she had pushed to the side for a while that could be crucial in the future.
"…my death…I'll need all the help I can get to uncover everything…"
Almost an hour after reaching her shared apartment, Ai had finally cleared her thoughts enough to continue browsing through the internet to gain as much information about Yamada Aiko before she rested her head upon the pillows of her rather comfortable bed.
She had already changed into her nightgown, prepared to fall asleep at any moment.
Half of the lights inside her bedroom were lit with the intentions of switching them off once her scouring of the internet was done. The time spent fiddling with her phone had made her familiar with the newer model of the essential device which was leaps and bounds more advanced than the phones she used to keep with her.
The multi-SIM feature had made it possible for her to have the privacy of three devices in one, no longer making it a hassle if she ever had to use three separate numbers again.
A startling discovery she had made in her moment of solitude was that there were no news about Saitou Ichigo, her old manager, for over a decade since she had passed in her current reality. A deep sense of longing grew within her as the man had been like a father for her.
After another bout of browsing and learning that she had performances at small venues recently, she absentmindedly opened her contacts.
"Ah…right…" she giggled to herself, rolling to her side.
Her thumb hovered over a contact named "Ruby."
There was an almost irresistible urge to tap on the name and open up the avenue to another conversation with her daughter. Hearing her cute voice one more time before she readied herself for a night's sleep after a day full of ups and downs, as well as ordeals which transcended space and time itself, would be a satisfactory end to her first day in her new life.
Her sight then fell upon the time displayed on the screen of her phone.
"…Do I want to disturb her at this time though?..."
The current time had proven to be an unexpected obstacle in her abrupt quest to chat with Ruby.
Her parental instincts then kicked in, reminding her that it would be unwise for her to keep Ruby from having a good night sleep, especially since it would be a school day the next day.
With a small pout, she closed her phone, putting it on standby mode as she laid on her back, allowing her body to feel the soft fabric of the blanket spread on top of her bed.
"…this still feels so good…" she mumbled to herself, smiling all the while.
While she closed her eyes, she could sense the steady grips of sleep trying to wrestle her hold on her senses so she could enjoy a much deserved rest.
However, before she was given the chance to do so, a knock on the door to her bedroom took her attention.
As she set up, she instantly wondered who it would be.
Luckily, she understood it was the person she was sharing the luxury apartment with.
A voice which followed the knock confirmed her assumption.
"Ai-chan? Are you asleep already?"
Wataru's distinct voice asked politely from the other side of the bedroom.
Believing his appearance to have a strong cause behind it, she decided to give him entry into her room.
"No, I'm still awake" she replied with a smile.
"Oh! May I come in then?"
"Sure!"
The door clicked open a moment later as the doorknob turned. Without a creak, it swung inwards, revealing Wataru, still dressed in his casual clothes and holding a bottle of water.
"Have you spoken to any of your family yet?" he asked.
In a confused daze, Ai almost answered with a "yes" before she realized that he was speaking about the Yamada family and not her recent meetings with Ruby and Aqua. She instantly shifted her expression from puzzlement to that of soft delight to mask what she felt.
"Not yet, Itami-san" she replied, keeping her phone to her side.
"Okay then…" he let out a chuckle, "I have a feeling I might be getting a call soon if that is the case. After all, they'll likely check up on you, their star, won't they?"
At that moment, Ai understood she hadn't given too much thought about the family she had found herself to be a part of. All of her focus had been on the side of her life she had left behind in the years lost and she had barely put any importance to her new existence's already laid out background.
"Ehh…maybe…" she nervously laughed, "Hehe…they haven't called me yet so…"
"Eh? Really?" Wataru raised his eyebrow, "Not even your uncle?"
His question had caused her to do a double-take to make sure he had not suddenly revealed that he was aware of everything that had occurred.
A couple of seconds of silence loomed over the two of them.
But there were no signs to indicate that he knew about her journey so she resorted to answering him properly.
"No no" she giggled to hide her thoughts, "Not even from him."
"Huh?...I guess he must be busy then" he shrugged, "Yamada-san was the one who informed me of your imminent arrival a couple of hours ago."
That small bit of information was an indirect assurance from Yamada Tarou that he was still looking out for her. Whether or not, he was acting as her uncle or as an otherworldly entity who had accompanied her through different realities, the enigmatic man was seemingly always there for her in the shadows.
With all she had experienced so far in the future as Yamada Aiko, she had so many questions she wanted to ask and since he was the only person she could speak to without restrictions, she wanted to approach him sooner or later with a clear mind, in order to have him answer questions that had been bugging her.
"Don't tell him I said this…" Wataru's light chuckle took her attention, "…hehe…he may be really blunt but he's very supportive of you and your career, you know."
Ai was surprised to learn about that when Tarou had not explicitly shown that he took much interest in her endeavours as his niece. He only seemed to be interested in how she lived out her second life but as Wataru did not look like a person who would lie to her, she opted to take his words as the truth.
"Oh…really?..." she turned away and smiled to herself, "…will he approve of me joining Strawberry Productions then?"
"I don't see why he wouldn't be" Wataru nodded, "Besides, he seems to be a closeted fan of that old idol group B-Komachi as well, believe or not."
"Huh? Really?"
There was a substantial amount of astonishment and a hint of joy in Ai's voice.
"I glanced at his phone once" Wataru laughed while shaking his head, "He had a photo of the B-Komachi girls as his wallpaper."
That reveal was too humorous for Ai to take in and she clutched her abdomen as she laughed heartily, imagining the typically stoic and unbothered Tarou to be living an existence where he was a big enough fan of B-Komachi to have them as his phone's wallpaper.
"Haha! I would've never guessed!"
Her laughter soon dissolved into a playful giggle.
"I am going to use that to tease him the next time I see him!"
For a brief second, Ai genuinely saw Tarou as her biological uncle…a normal uncle to a normal girl.
She had never thought it would be possible for her to see another person in the same light that she viewed Saitou Ichigo all those years ago. But the more she thought of what Tarou had led her through and done for her, she felt she could truly see him as family in the near future.
"He will not like that" Wataru grinned, "Here!"
The next moment, he tossed a bottle of water at her.
Owing to her reflexes, she managed to catch it perfectly.
"I don't think there's water inside the minibar. Make do with that, alright?"
Ai nodded and then smiled at the bald man, a non-verbal show of gratitude.
"Thank you" she told him.
"Have a good night, Ai-chan."
Wataru waved at her before closing the door behind him as he left her room. The sound of his footsteps dissipated gradually in between the walls separating the rooms of the apartment until no noise coming from him could be heard.
Ai stared at the door with a smile before she laid back down on her bed, letting out a couple of steady breaths.
"Come to think of it…I need to thank him too…don't I?"
The person she was sharing the apartment with had helped her reconnect with her children again and indirectly provided a chance for her to dive into the idol world with her daughter by her side. Not to mention, he had been super friendly and hospitable from the first moment they saw each other.
Besides current events, he was already primed and prepared to help her navigate the gruelling task of creating a music album, helping her in the production of her first album and he had assured her that she could pursue an idol career again even though working on album was an important task as well.
It had been less than twelve hours since she had been given a new form and a new life and she had already gathered a small group of important people- of family, friends and accomplices...both familiar and new.
Moving forward, she realized every single one of them would be crucial in making sure that she lived her new life to the fullest…fulfilling her dreams…uncovering mysteries…and ultimately, letting her children know that she was there with them…always.
Somewhere…in the comments section of a broadcast announcement.
Honestly…I don't give a shit about anyone else except Yuki-chan and Mem-cho.
whos even that actress girl? Y r they casting nobodies again? Smh
She'll be fine. It's a varied cast this time and that's always nice.
Lol have you even seen the previous seasons? nobodies like her will only leech off the screen time of others. Wish they'd kick her off the show.
You're saying that before an episode has aired?
the other girls are already bigger stars than her. You think she stands a chance? Lmao
It's not fair to count her out at this point.
Lol tell me without telling me you don't watch dating reality shows
I don't need to watch everything beforehand to know not to assume something so negative like that.
Whatever lmao…Im done wasting my time arguing