Aqua needed to write everything down before he forgot anything useful. Before he became so absorbed by his self-hate and his concern for Cobalt that he carelessly discarded the insights which Cobalt's performance had shown him. Aqua grabbed one of the forgotten pieces of his script and started jotting characters onto the paper.
Cobalt's Ryosuke believed the Father to be younger if not the same age as Ai at the time of her pregnancy. An age range of thirteen to sixteen should suffice, which would mean the Father would be in his early thirties or late twenties today.
He and Ryosuke had been on speaking terms. The Father had been well aware of the exploitable obsession on Ai. Given Ryosuke's otaku ways, then they might have met each other when attending one of Ai's concerts, or during an alternative outing related to Ai. A mutual interest in her would have planted a seed for future interactions. It may have just been happenstance for them meeting, and it became a lucky coincidence that Ryosuke could be used as a proxy… Aqua can review this point more in-depthly later.
The Father was quite smart as a teenager. Past Ryosuke's jealousy of him, the Father must have had his share of keen intelligence and enticing charisma in order to draw Ai's interest. Aqua should assume the worst and that this compelling character did not let his skills atrophy into adulthood.
Ryosuke had accused the Father of being madly fixated on Ai, of loving and hating her. Could that mean in the current day, the Father was also a bachelor? With no trophy wife or a half-hearted girlfriend partnered for mere appearances to honor his own feelings for Ai? Or, depending on the level of obsession with Ai, did he rely on particular Ai-branded or related substitutes to satisfy his want for the ex-idol? Aqua will need to cross-reference such traits with the remaining names in his list, if any of them matched.
Even accounting for Aqua's slip of his own perverse pleasure at seeing the false front of Ryosuke emotionally tearing himself apart, the crazed stalker believed Ai became a… monster, and he thought the Father desired to erase the supposed monster she had turned into.
It may only be more delusions from Ryosuke, stubbornly avoiding accountability for his own monstrous actions, but that type of mentality may have also been adopted by the Father to justify his role in the attacks on Ai. The pregnancy could have been taken as an unforgivable slight… Ai had admitted that she had struggled to admit her love for her children. During her time with the Father, was he affronted that she could not loudly proclaim her love for him? And the rejection evolved into obsession.
Ryosuke also claimed the Father had been the one to supply him the bouquet of flowers which had held the kitchen knife which inflicted those cuts on Ai and Cobalt. Aqua barely even remembered the broken green stems and scattered white petals between the bloodstains on the floor, only actually noticing them once the authorities had escorted them outside of the apartment. Those flowers had been… they hadn't been roses, were they? If Cobalt had an appreciation for blue roses, was there meaning behind the Father allegedly making use of white roses?
Aqua was adding an extra note in the margins of his current page to research white roses later when the paper was pulled out of his hands.
He only now realized he was on his knees, having barely lifted himself after falling forward earlier. Looking up, he saw Ichigo with his usually tinted glasses removed, an expression of confusion and concern on his face.
Damn, Aqua also just realized how much sweat he had let fall on the scattered pieces of paper around him, and how ragged his breathing had gotten. Aqua relied on familiar breathing exercises to steady himself.
As the sensations of each bruise and cut on his body returned, Aqua found himself being supported by Ichigo and placed on a chair standing right side up.
Wait, Cobie! He had his share of wounds, including a bloody nose. Aqua needed to–
Ichigo pushed Aqua by his shoulder against the chair. "Relax," he said. "Nanakura's looking after Cobie. He's already stopped crying, getting his nose looked out."
Rin Nanakura. One of the actresses on Strawberry Productions' payroll. She had a little sister and was a good choice as any to care for Cobalt.
Ichigo was appraising Aqua's injuries and wiping away some of the blood with a towel he must have picked up from elsewhere in the office. "He said you guys were practicing acting?" Ichigo continued. "What the hell kind of acting exercise leads to this? Why were you and Cobalt trying to punch each other's teeth out?"
There was no time to construct an elaborate, believable story. Aqua had never intended for things to deteriorate to this degree. He had to pay for it. "It was… I let things go too far."
"What did you even start?"
It all poured out of Aqua. He reached his limit of stopping himself from outright confessing his sins. "You saw how Cobalt acted the other night, embodying the stalker who assaulted him and Ai on that day when the dome concert was originally supposed to take place."
Wearing furrowed brows, Ichigo ceased his cleaning of Aqua. "Yes… Cobalt took to the impression with the same dedication he uses when he tries to act like you and me, and the rest of us."
Still lightheaded, Aqua absently nodded. "Cobalt found ways to remember him, know him, so I wanted to see if he could emulate the stalker well enough to show me Ryosuke's true self. If I could understand the stalker's motivations, even if it was just more conjecture with no way to confirm their accuracy, then I would still be one step closer…"
"… to finding your father, the person who leaked Ai's address and you guys to the stalker in the first place."
His vision regaining focus, he guided them squarely on Ichigo's steadfast, frowning face.
From just a few words uttered by Aqua, Ichigo was already able to decipher what his ultimate goal was so swiftly? The veteran manager was no unintelligent individual, but still. How did he…
"You wanted to understand the stalker," Ichigo went on, pulling out a first aid kit from his side and beginning to rummage through it to apply its contents on Aqua. Aqua offered no resistance, no indignant insistence that he could treat himself, as he listened to what Ichigo had to say. "That was a line of thinking I already went down when I hired the private investigators to see if he had any accomplices."
"You already…" He and Aqua had evidently followed similar lines of thinking when investigating the root causes of Ai's assault.
Ichigo even said as much. "I suppose I should have known a smart kid like you would figure out how that stalker wasn't skilled enough to have tracked down Ai alone. Or that you would have connected the dots about him most likely being affiliated with your father. The question is, how long have you been looking? Has it been such a long search that you got desperate and decided to pull Cobie into it? Use his… unorthodox skillset?"
Aqua should have given Ai's adoptive father more credit. Of course Ichigio's own love of Ai would have led him to consider the possibility that her former lover could have had a part in facilitating Ryosuke's arrival at Ai's apartment.
To clarify Cobalt's involvement in all this, Aqua answered, "He doesn't know I'm looking for him, or about how our father was involved with the stalker. This…" Aqua uselessly waved at the mess they had created in the rehearsal room. "Cobie thinks this was an original script and characters I was fleshing out. I never meant for either of us to hurt each other like we did."
With bandages and an ice pack sufficiently provided to Aqua, Ichigo set aside the medical supplies. "You know, you and Ai aren't the first actors in the company. I've seen others become emotionally vulnerable and hurt while trying to find the right mental state to stay true to a performance. It happened once or twice with Nanakura. And with Ai, too. Never to the point of… to the level you and Cobalt were at, but I can…" Ichigo sighed, struggling to find the right thing to say. "I accepted the fact that Ai's kids have their eccentricities, but I also know you would never in your right mind want to kill Cobalt, or him to want to kill you. You can both learn from this and never let it happen again. Lord knows Cobalt has enough problems with his misunderstandings. Don't let this incident become even worse than what it was."
Yes… Aqua caused this disaster. He pushed Cobalt too far and let himself lose sight of his responsibilities as the eldest son of Ai. "I'm sorry. I never meant for things to escalate–" The words rang hollow to Aqua's heart. "No, I need to apologize to him, make sure he knows I caused this. I was the one who tried to kill him. He did nothing wrong."
Ichigo exhaled a humorless chuckle. "From the way Cobie asked me to tell you that he's willing to do the dating show you pitched him, it sounds like he already forgives you and wants to keep working with his big bro in spite of what happened here."
It can't be forgiveness. It must be penance for Cobie's own perceived crimes. This was still a grave miscalculation, a grand mistake, which Aqua still had to rectify.
Yet when Aqua tried to leave the room to find Cobalt, Ichigo firmly grabbed his arms and set him back down on the chair again. "The Blue Rose is retired," Ichigo pointed out, "and this was the first I've heard about you and him interested in a reality dating show. Not to mention it's you considering a reality TV job offer at all. Is it supposed to be somehow related to finding your father? And you're keeping Cobie in the dark about that last part?"
"I'm never involving Cobalt in this again," Aqua vowed immediately. "I will search for our father alone, like I always have."
After Ichigo secured Aqua in his seat a third time, Aqua finally got the message. This lecture wasn't done, and Aqua could do little more to defy Ichigo or avoid it if he was going to begin atonement for his own sins today.
"Listen, Aqua," Ichigo began as he made sure he had Aqua's full attention, "I already put in the leg work in searching for your father years ago. Back then, after going through the list of possible security leaks in the company, the last logical slip I could find was Ai telling her ex-boyfriend her new apartment address. I confronted her about it, a while after we moved in together at the house, but she wouldn't listen. She would never give up his name."
The analytical side of Aqua once more set aside his turmoil over Cobalt, at least for the moment, to truly realize the implications of this new revelation.
First the visits with the stalker's parents had been kept secret from Aqua. Now another vital piece of information was only now being shared with him: Ichigo had the conviction to interrogate Ai directly for information on the Father.
Of course he did. Ichigo wasn't Ai's honored son duty-bound to support her happiness in life. As her manager – and more importantly as her father – Ichigo was willing to make her deeply unhappy by making memories of the Father resurface if it would ultimately help guarantee her safety.
Once more squashing the compulsions to find Cobie and hold him in his arms, Aqua directed a question at Ichigo. "Did she believe that my father had a hand in the assault? Was she afraid of seeing him again?"
Ichigo slowly shook his head. "Ai was never afraid. She didn't say it outright, but for some reason, she had full confidence that he would never hurt her or any of us again."
If only they could all be so optimistic.
"I didn't have the same faith as her," Ichigo said in unknowing agreement, "so I started searching for him with my own resources. Of course, all the prime suspects were people she's met in the entertainment industry throughout her idol career, but there were still too many to pinpoint the most likely among them. I hired psychologists and former police detectives to compile a profile for him. It eventually came to the point where I even had them build up a profile on the stalker himself, to gauge how Ai's ex could have reasonably learned of him, known he was unhinged enough to attempt an assault, and felt reassured that the stalker wouldn't be able to provide any information to reveal the ex's own identity."
A profile of the stalker? Could Cobalt have gotten his hands on it to improve his performance?
More importantly, a compilation of files on the Father by true experts in their fields would do wonders to enhance the data Aqua already had thus far.
"It's not as if anything actually actionable came from it," Ichigo said bitterly. "Between the investigation and securing work for you and Ai, and keeping Strawberry afloat, I let my marriage fall apart. Adding to that over the years, all the private security and the police officers invested in Ai's safety never encountered any threats that could be connected to her ex. Putting so much time and money into looking for your father was becoming more harmful to our lives – to my life – than helpful."
Ichigo's next revelation sent a sharp chill through Aqua.
"My best guess," he divulged, "is that Ai spoke with your father after the assault and made some sort of peace with him. The most danger any of us have been in since the dome concert were during Cobalt's episodes as the Blue Rose or Ruby getting into drama for her overprotective antics, so without any real leads or urgency in finding who your father is, I had to accept that it was a lost cause continuing the search."
Ai… Ai knew their father sent the stalker for her, and she still made peace with him?
She could make peace with the savage who orchestrated a travesty that could have ended with the heartless murder of her own son?
A savage who had already, in a fashion, brought about the death of the previous incarnation of her firstborn son.
And yet… Ichigio had to at least be right about there being no retaliation ever made by the father in the decade since the stalker's suicide. If Ai had come to some insane agreement with him, then… then that could explain it… but her love for her children, for Cobie, would surely outweigh any sense of trust in the father keeping his word? Even when Gorou could still be blinded by his original interpretation of Ai the idol, Aqua Hoshino could easily picture his mother gutting the father without hesitation if it meant her children's safety. Aqua would even help her, and no doubt so would Ruby. Not that Ai would ever pull them into a murder plot, but…
… The father likely eliminated any physical evidence, if any existed, linking him to the stalker. If any of the intelligence Aqua sported was hereditary, then the father probably had alibis ready if Ai ever put forth his name as a suspect in a murder conspiracy. Even if Ai spread the word and destroyed the father socially, ruined his career in whatever sector of the industry he was in, he could still live a life as a free man if there was no solid conviction in court. He could take on another name, go to another city, do whatever he pleased within the confines of the law…
So the only way to guarantee the removal of the threat of the father and make him pay for his crimes would be to murder him, deprive him of all his opportunities to find satisfaction out of life. Deny him any semblance of the happiness which he had nearly stolen away from Ai's family.
Aqua had made the decision to commit patricide long ago already. He hadn't made this pledge half-cocked, having planned a number of ways to ensure Aqua Hoshino would never be charged for any crimes once the father disappeared from the public eye.
But conversely, Ai could have been more wary of being arrested for murder. She might have been willing to kill the father in the absence of a strong case to make in court to convict him, but the thought of her being taken away from her children and sequestered in prison for Lord knows how long might have been enough for her to find other means of keeping the father pacified.
If… If Ai survived the stalker attack, was the Father still appeased by the backlash of Ai no longer being able to shine as an idol? Even if she still lived as a celebrity to this day, she was only one of many famous actresses, not the actress in the same way she had been the idol. And her name ultimately shared the spotlight with Aqua's, Cobalt's, and soon Ruby's. Ai wasn't the spearhead of B-Komachi anymore. She was only one component of the Hoshino family of entertainment stars.
Ai gets to live her happy life no longer as an idol, and the Father gets to live with reassurance that she will never expose his crimes.
There had to be more to the story. What could they have possibly said to each other to agree on this arrangement? What was the true motivation for him to want to take Ai's life? And what exactly were the conditions he accepted to keep from attempting more assassinations on Ai over the years?
Aqua didn't even entertain the possibility of Ai already having killed the Father and hiding his death. She would have outright told Cobie that he was dead if that was the case instead of simply saying they no longer loved each other.
Thinking hard, Aqua retraced his steps to the days and weeks after Ai's assault. "Ai was never not around me, Ruby, or Cobalt," he muttered, "after she and Cobalt were released from the hospital. There wouldn't have been any time to meet with our father during the dome concert itself, and there was too much extra security after the concert for her to have any secret rendezvous with him. That means she must have spoken with my father at the hospital, during a gap in time when none of us were with her and Cobie."
"… You're calling your mother by her first name again, Aqua," Ichigo warned. Aqua didn't care. He worked better when he created personal distance to the parties in his investigation, keeping his bias from making mistakes like had done with Cobie earlier today. "Don't get so obsessed over this."
Over ten years too late for that. "I wasn't able to find any history of calls or messages on any of her cell phones from that time," Aqua recalled. "There could have been another spare phone or a disposable burner she never told anyone about. If not speaking purely over the phone, my father could have been invited by Ai and given directions to avoid the hospital workers, token security personnel, or any of us from Strawberry so they could speak in-person. Maybe while Cobie was asleep, so he would also stay ignorant of our father."
Ichigo let out a tired sigh. "I already ran the math and put way too much money into checking if Ai had any secret visitors during her hospital stint. If she did, there weren't any logs or camera footage that would give any more leads for that." Ichigo firmly clasped Aqua's shoulders, made them look one another in the eye, but Aqua's mind was still running a mile a minute. "The identity of your father is a dead-end, Aqua. A non-threat, a non-entity. You need to forget about him like Ai has."
Impossible. "I've been searching for my father ever since the dome concert," Aqua asserted. "For longer than you, since you clearly already ended your search. It's why… No, it's only one reason why I became an actor, but it's the most important one."
Ichigo's frown deepened. "You mean… You take on acting gigs mostly to get to know other people in entertainment who can connect you with more jobs until you eventually meet your father?"
"Exactly." Perhaps Ichigo could join Aqua's small cabal of himself and Director Gotanda regarding the search. "I do enjoy acting, but I'm not giving up–"
Aqua found himself being manhandled again, picked up by Ichigo and slammed against the wall.
His remnant fighting instincts reigniting, Aqua prevented himself from being too dazed or imbalanced by the sudden move. He remained fully conscious, taking in the fierce glare Ichigo was giving him.
It was a bit of a surprise to Aqua at how he didn't feel as intimidated compared to when he was facing the fantasy-made-real of Ryosuke. Though Ichigo was effectively the Hoshino family patriarch, Aqua was more often cowed by Ai's disapproving looks than Ichigo restoring to physical threats, the latter rarely occurring in the first place.
So, Aqua met Ichigo's leer with a stone-faced wall.
In response, Ichigo gritted his teeth. "You want to keep looking even after everything I told you? After you and Cobalt started fighting because of you grasping at straws with his imitation of the stalker? You saw him bawling tears again, and someone could have gotten seriously hurt if I didn't step in. You don't even know if anything from this roleplay exercise is actually accurate to how your father and the stalker really were as people."
No, Aqua has underestimated Cobalt too many times before. There had to be insights that can be salvaged from Aqua's terrible mistake. "When I find our father, there will never be any more doubts about our safety."
"... Because you're going to kill your father. Is that right?
"..."
Aqua will need to start visiting the gym if he was going to win a contest of physical prowess should it come to that when he finally found the Father.
Losing his heated determination, Ichigo's eyes shifted from anger to a pity that came across as more condescending than anything to Aqua. "Your… Your pain, and your want to protect your family… Those are valid concerns, Aqua," Ichigo carefully said. "I'm not denying that. But your father is not a threat. There is no greater danger out there for us. If there was, Ai wouldn't be keeping his identity a secret. Becoming a murderer yourself won't help anyone. Trust me."
Ichigo didn't understand. He may have once felt the compulsion to murder the Father as well, but he's let the feeling cool over, grow complacent into an afterthought. It wasn't so frivolous a desire of Aqua's. He was well familiar with death already. He's seen it. Experienced it. Literally died once before, growing numb and losing all sensation of his body, feeling himself strain harshly to breathe his last breaths, his fleeting thoughts so confused and desperate to make sense of what had just happened to him, how unfair he wasn't able to help Ai give birth to the beautiful children she had eagerly wanted to pour her heart out to…
The reincarnation as one of Ai's children wasn't enough. The stalker's suicide wasn't enough. The Father was…
He had to be biding his time, given a very persuasive but ultimately deceptive accord for Ai to follow to shroud his name in mystery. If the Father had targeted Ai at the height of her idol career, then… then he might be planning on targeting Ruby when she reached her apex, or even Cobalt if his YouTube channel–
"I can see it on your face, Aqua," Ichigo said, making it clear to Aqua that his stoic front had broken. "You're rationalizing, thinking up excuses to keep looking. It's the same thing I did when I was president of Strawberry, justifying the work I did while neglecting Miyako. It kept me moving, even kept the company somewhat stable, but you saw how I burnt myself out. You stay the course on this revenge scheme, and it just might end even worse for you and everyone around you."
"… You know I won't stop," Aqua warned.
"… And if I tell Ai? Tell everyone what you plan to do if you do find him?"
If Ai knew… If she already knew of the Father's guilt, yet let him walk… "Then Ai will tell me to stop, and I won't know if I'll be able to listen to her."
Aqua already hurt Cobie. He never wanted to hurt Ai. She would never approve Aqua's quest for revenge. He needed to make sure she remained ignorant to his ultimate goal and therefore never ask him to cease his efforts.
Ichigo and Aqua stared at each other for a while longer until Ichigo decided to finally release him. Ichigo turned to the floor, beginning to clean up the mess of papers. Weighing his options, Aqua chose to help Ichigo and give himself time to better phrase the inevitable reconciliation with Cobie.
Moreover, Ichigo clearly had more to say to Aqua's declaration to never give up his search.
"I don't want to put any more stress on this family," Ichigo said as he dumped a collection of pages onto Aqua's gathered pile, "when you're just about to start high school, and Ruby's about to reform B-Komachi. So, you'll make a real promise to me that you'll never directly or intentionally involve your siblings, or Ai and Miyako while we're at it, with your little investigation."
Aqua could see where he was going with this. "You're letting me keep searching because you don't believe I'll find him."
A cynical guffaw escaped Ichigio's lips. "I paid good money for people whose entire jobs were to find psychotic criminals. They never came up with anything definitive for your father, so I doubt even a genius like you will be able to succeed where they failed."
Unless those hires were compromised, by influence from the Father himself, or even from Ai who had her own interests in keeping his identity from being discovered.
Aqua was falling deeper and deeper into this rabbit hole of what-ifs and probable scenarios, but he could at least give Ichigo one thing.
"I promise I won't tell everyone else about my search for my father or involve them in the search," Aqua promised with no sliver of dishonesty or deception, "knowingly or otherwise."
"Good."
Gotanda had expressed his doubts about the success of Aqua's ultimate goal, too. As long as Ichigo did nothing else to inhibit his efforts, Aqua was still confident he would achieve that dream of a world without that demon.
With his death, every Hoshino will be able to sleep soundly for the rest of their days.
"Cobie looked excited to work on the dating show with you," Ichigo added as they started for the door. "Put all that planning and theorizing for your father out of the equation. Start making it up to Cobalt, and let him make it up to you, by letting him join the show."
That… was doable.
Cobie's inclusion in the dating show will be enough compensation for Kaburagi to disclose the information he has on Ai. Though Cobalt would still be unknowingly contributing to the search, Aqua couldn't help it if the show was the optimal way for atonement and forgiveness to flourish between them.
If Cobalt decided to resume his quest for romantic love through the show, then Aqua could also take Ruby's place as matchmaker and try finding the girl who will finally make Cobie happy.
Which could very likely also mean Cobalt could start forgetting about the stalker and instead focus much of his excess energy into someone actually worthy of attention and love.
Kana had a good speech prepared for the Hoshino triplets once they were done with the Yoto High entrance ceremony. She'd give some reassurances that structurally, it should function like a normal school before she emphasized the plethora of teen celebrities making up the student populace. Kana had to start making good on her promise of being a good senpai to them, didn't she?
Strolling across the campus, she found one-third of the trio sitting at a bench, but she almost didn't recognize him.
As she approached him, Cobalt Hoshino spotted her and enthusiastically waved at her. "Hi, Arima-senpai! Now you're officially my senpai! Isn't that cool?"
Kana couldn't keep a straight face on, an amused smile breaking out. The face of Aqua Hoshino wearing fake glasses with overly big eyebrows and an exaggerated nose hanging a wide mustache over his mouth was just too silly.
"What's with the goofy mustache and glasses?" she asked as she snickered. She almost wished it actually was Aqua wearing the ridiculous prop. Cobalt snapping his fingers before pushing the bridge of the glasses against his face would've been a good look for the usually reserved Aqua.
"Oh, I looked into the dress code for this school. I'm technically allowed to wear this since it counts as a splint for my nose. One of my mom's costume maker friends made it for me!"
A nose splint? "You hurt your nose? Or recently had surgery there?"
"No surgery. It broke."
"It bro–"
Cobalt effortlessly removed the glasses-nose attachment, revealing what was definitely a nose shaped a little too asymmetrically.
"What happened to you?" Kana asked out of concern. The actress in her thought the combination of the misshapen nose and the old scar above it actually made Cobalt look quite the dashing, battle-scarred character if he was in an adventure story. Then she reminded herself that these were real injuries. Not that Cobalt seemed bothered by them, but she shouldn't be so careless of his wellbeing. She's seen and experienced how one's naivety tended to come back to bite them, and she had a feeling the dumb kid she had once known had gotten himself a broken nose by his own guileless nature, which also let him be able to keep on smiling happily regardless of him wincing when he poked at his nose. "Don't irritate it!"
"It's okay. I heal fast! As for how I broke it, I was with my friend Joe Sakamoto, and we paid him to–"
A newcomer arriving from behind the bench placed the apparently custom nose splint back on Cobalt's face. "A bully we know from middle school," Aqua clarified as he handed his brother a vending machine energy drink, "challenged Cobie to one last brawl before we split off to different high schools."
A brawl? As in a fist fight? Elemental Orel had action and fight scenes sometimes according to the brief perusing Kana did online, but she couldn't picture Cobalt Hoshino trading punches in a street brawl.
Kana scrutinized Aqua's face and compared it to Cobalt's. The older triplet had his own sparse but undeniable cuts covered by simple bandages. "Were you involved, too? Are you okay? Wait, did you both willfully get into a fight?!"
Aqua had the gall to shrug at Kana's tone. "It was in a real boxing ring at a gym, I'll have you know. I only had a few scratches and bruises. Cobalt took the brunt of the injuries."
Cobalt vigorously nodded. "Yeah, Joe put up such a good fight that it took both me and Aqua to beat him!" He twisted his head to look at Aqua. From where Kana stood, she watched as Cobalt gave him a conspicuous wink which Kana was pretty sure Cobalt intended to be inconspicuous. Aqua had to have noticed the failed attempt at subtlety, but he merely patted Cobalt's back as he drank his own energy drink.
"Okay…" Kana drawled out. If they had been duking it out in real recreational boxing matches, Kana had no reason to grill them on anything. Maybe on ruining their naturally attractive features when their faces were part of what helped get them work as entertainers, but it didn't feel right to get into a spat like that on her juniors' first day of high school. "It's good to see you're both doing alright."
She was going to ask about Ruby's whereabouts when Cobalt looked over Kana's shoulder and, if possible, made his grin spread even wider. "Hey there, Frill!"
Kana turned around and saw Ruby Hoshino – appearing unusually downcast in her demeanor this morning – and a comparatively cooler flavor of beauty right next to the energetic daughter of Ai the idol; it was Frill Shiranui, the multi-talented performer with the looks and skills to draw countless people to whatever project she was in, whether it was music, modeling, or acting.
Shiranui was greeted by Cobalt by her given name, and she casually waved back at him. The Hoshinos knew her? Were they close friends with Shiranui?
Of course they did. Of course they knew more popular celebrities beyond Kana. They didn't live in a vacuum. She wasn't the limit of other entertainment talents their age they would know. Kana vaguely recalled Shiranui's sister also collaborating once or twice with Cobalt on Elemental Orel.
Stomping those unreasonable jealous inclinations down, Kana watched as Shiranui came closer to the Hoshino boys and tilted her head at them. "I heard about your fight. It's a shame you let your handsome faces get so beat up. I'd say my vision is getting worse just by looking at such tragically damaged beauties, but I'd be lying if I didn't acknowledge how hilarious the Groucho Marx look is."
Shiranui's deadpan sense of humor was awfully similar to Aqua's…
Cobalt giggled. "So! Did you agree to join Ruby's idol group, Frill?"
Ruby groaned and shook her head. "That's a negative, Cobie. No offense taken, Frill! I understand why…"
Frill regarded Ruby with deference. "I understand your disappointment. I'll still support you as a fan." After Ruby humbly thanked her, Frill turned her eyes toward Kana. "I don't believe we've formally met, but I do think I recognize you, Kana Arima."
Kana perked up at the instant recognition. "Yes, pleasure to meet you, Frill Shiranui!"
Frill's poker face never wavered, though her tone suggested intrigue. "So you were the person to inspire Aqua to become an actor."
At that, Kana's stock smile became more genuine. "I was?"
Pulling at his brother's sleeve, Cobalt confirmed it. "Yeah! Mom was part of his inspiration, of course, but you were the top-tier standard of what a child actor should be to Aqua. He always compared himself to you until he got more confident and comfortable as an actor."
The elder brother was intentionally looking away when Kana stepped around the bench to stand beside him. "Is that right?" she cheekily pried.
Aqua tried ignoring her. Out of respect for his lightly injured state, Kana pulled back and gathered the small group's attention.
"Well, Aqua, Ruby, Cobalt, and you, too, Shiranui, stick by me, and your dependable senpai and role model here will make sure getting through Yoto High is a piece of cake!"
As she went through her spiel about the school, Kana decided to take the Hoshino family's arrival into her life as a sign of good fortune for things to come in her life. If she maintained the strong work ethic she had been doing on her own up to this point, then doing so with new allies in the Hoshino triplets and their fair share of entertainment associates should yield even greater success and opportunities.
At the end of Kana's speech, Ruby yawned and lazily saluted. "Sounds good, loli-senpai."
Kana didn't hide her petty growl at the new nickname. It was a little better than salt-licker or the like, but hardly less infuriating.
Then Ruby's whole attitude turned on a dime, one from weariness into fascination as she stared Kana down.
"Hey, Arima, have you ever thought about becoming an idol?"
Rin Nanakura is actually a character from the series Pseudo Harem. Unrelated to OnK or its creators' other works, just a little cameo I felt like throwing in.
I may or may not start taking longer breaks between uploading chapters in the near future, depending on real life circumstances, but I hope it's been a good run for all you readers out there. I started this fanfic mostly on a whim and it's been a fun ride for me, both writing it and seeing people comment on it. Shoutout to the guy who took the time to add Light of Hope as a fanfic recommendation on TV Tropes.
I also recently realized this work has exceeded the maximum word count of the now second-longest fanfic I've ever written, so that's neat. I supposed planning and outlining primarily dialogue and internal thoughts flows more easily than conjuring fight scenes and considering super powers. On that note, if there's any ideas you readers might like to see in the future of this story, or anything you think could be improved with my writing, let me know.
Next time, Cobalt Hoshino will once again see if he can find peace and enlightenment through a tried and true method: Falling in Love!
Also, check out the AO3 version of this story to see a piece of OnK fan art by Giaar07. Very much not inspired or related to my story, but good art nonetheless.