"This is stupid."

"No, it´s not. It´s funny."

"I think I have to agree with your sister on this one Aqua."

Why were they teaming up on him? Shouldn't it be the ones getting punished together against the punisher?

Although… he was really the only one getting punished here, wasn't he?

"Maybe you didn't catch the rules correctly, so let me spell them out for you one more time. Both of you are getting asked the same question, like ' Which one of you is better at sports?' and then you and Kana have to answer who it is without seeing the other's response. If you´re in sync; great! If you´re not; you're getting a piece of cake in your face! That´s why I had you change out of our fan shirt before. Easy enough I´d say."

"Jup, jup. Totally reasonable." Kana nodded.

"…my objections go beyond the understanding of the rules…"

"Great then we don't have a problem!"

How any sane person could come to this conclusion after their conversation would forever remain a mystery to him, but it was too late to refuse now anyway. He was already sitting back to back with Kana and the cameras were rolling.

"One more thing." Aqua looked over his shoulder and even though he couldn't quite see it, he was absolutely sure that the red-haired actress was currently grinning like a kid in a candy store. "You are going to answer truthfully right? If you purposely let me eat cake we will have a serious problem."

"My dear Aqua! I´m shocked! What kind of devil do you think possesses me?"

Well, at least she wasn't pretending to be emotionless anymore…

He couldn't help but wonder what had changed between half an hour ago and now. The only difference he could think of was the fact that her wristband containing the heart rate monitor had gotten lost somewhere as the girl had changed out of her cooking clothes.

Kana didn't really seem to be bothered by it though.

Actually, her mood had increased significantly afterward now that he thought about it.

Curious.

Choosing to concentrate on the task at hand rather than any speculations about the suddenly all too talkative girl at his backside, he turned back around with a small pout. "Let´s just get this over with."

"Okaaay question one! Which of you geniuses is better at school?"

That wasn't much of a question. Kana would be downright lying if she didn't choose him. So he held up the blue sign.

"Weeeell, to proof I´m not trying to fool anybody…" She held up the blue sign as well.

"In sync! Well done. That wasn't half bad right dear brother?" The look on his sister's face told him everything he needed to know. The questions wouldn't become any easier from here on out.

"Just continue."

"Question two! Which one of you is the better singer?"

That was an easy one as well. He held up the red sign immediately.

"In sync once more! You like Kana´s singing voice so much Aqua?"

"…More than I like yours…" Ruby slightly pinched him in the arm. "Nice hat by the way." His sister had been forced to wear a signature 50 Cent base cap after her defeat in the rap battle from before. Turns out she had been running away from that up until they caught her right before the current game started.

It looked hilarious.

"I´ll choose to ignore that." The slight snickering behind him made his pending annoyance about his current predicament feel far less severe. He had missed that.

"Next question: Which one of you is more stubborn?"

Okay, this question was unanswerable. They were both unbelievably stubborn! He was stubborn enough to work on a single goal for more than a decade without any gains and she was stubborn enough to never give up on her acting career even though the entire world seemed to be against her most of the time.

And she was Kana so that was a bonus point. Which means…

He held up the red sign.

"In sync again! Wow! My brother is like the personification of stubbornness in my opinion. What does that say about you Senpai? Haha."

"It says that people shouldn't get on my bad side because I won't let them get away." He couldn't help but crack a smile again. A look at Ruby´s slightly terrified face was enough to know that Kana was currently pretty frightening.

"Yeah… next question! Which one of you likes me the most?!"

"Seriously?" He just looked at her with a raised eyebrow.

"You really want people to like you huh? Has she always been that way?" Kana seemed to do the same apparently.

"Pretty much. You know her Google history, right?"

"Yeah and her Instagram search history…"

"And her twitter feet…"

To stop this, Ruby stomped on the ground with as much force as her small frame would allow.

"Would you two cruel people just answer the question before I start crying!"

Without hesitation, he held up the blue sign. And he already knew that they were in sync with that.

"Correct! Ooooh." Ruby actually bent down to give him a quick hug. Pretty embarrassing but he knew she liked that sort of public affection so he didn't object.

"It´s not that I don't love you Ruby, but there is just no competing with that siscon over there."

"Oooooh!" And now Kana was getting hugged.

The game continued on for a couple of more questions after that and the two of them continued to be perfectly in sync!

It wasn't that much of a surprise. They had spent a lot of time together in the past months and had grown accordingly close. They knew each other in and out at this point. Or… well, she knew most of him in and out… the parts he didn't try to hide from her, but on which his entire existence up until now had been founded on

The longer the game lasted, the giddier the person at his backside seemed to get. After some questions, she actually brushed his arm with her hand or tried to bump against his head with her own to annoy him.

It was good to see that she could still loosen up during these games. The cooking challenge and his failure to get her out of her shell had made him fear the worst, but apparently, it had been a one-off thing.

"Okay. You guys are good. I admit it. But this one right here is the most difficult question yet; Which one of you is the better actor?"

What? That was not a difficult question. In fact, that might be the easiest of them all.

Without any hesitation once again he put up the red sign.

He totally didn't expect it when he got hit by a delicious strawberry cheese cake a few seconds later. Right on the nose no less.

"Wrong! Ha! Finally! How does that cake taste Aqua?" Ruby´s words nearly didn't reach him. He was absolutely confused.

"What the heck Aqua?! You chose me?" She couldn't be serious.

"Of course I choose you! It´s not even a competition! Compared to you I´m a complete novice." The cake had gotten over his entire face and he was desperately trying to push it away somewhat. Which was difficult because Kana had seemingly turned around on her chair and started to shake him.

"But-"

"Senpai!" Ruby stepped in and put a hand on Kana´s shoulder. "He is right. You are crazy for even thinking otherwise. Just take the compliment. But thanks for that cake though! You got that on tape Miyako?!"

Only then did he realize that his surrogate mother was standing behind a barrier before him with a smartphone in hand.

She was apparently scrolling through her gallery and gave her daughter a big thumbs up.

He was very tempted to just walk away right now and clean himself up under a warm shower, but the next thing that happened distracted him enough to even think about acting this way entirely.

Kana started to laugh loudly.

More heartfelt than he had ever heard her before.

"You guys are so stupid!" It was like she was finally allowing herself to be a normal seventeen-year-old girl without any responsibilities concerning her career or baggage from her past holding her down. For just a small moment, she simply enjoyed herself. "And you look ridiculous Aqua! Why couldn't we have been more out of sync before? It´s totally worth it!"

…Maybe too much of a good thing was still too much… but not now.

Fortunately, nobody was able to detect the smile which was hidden under all the cake that was smeared on his face.

The game continued for another couple of questions and Aqua was hit with a piece of cake two more times. Not because the both of them weren´t in sync anymore though, but because Kana had apparently enjoyed the first time a bit too much and was all too eager to see it again. He was lucky she only decided to do it twice more before his sister ran out of questions.

When the camera went off, he was pretending like the whole thing had been a complete torture for him, but nobody believed him. Especially not the two girls involved. Both of them were giggling and laughing together and Aqua wondered if he had ever seen the two of them so close together.

He also got reminded of something.

There was something special about Kana when she finally let go for once. Just like that time on stage, when she decided to stop thinking about others and simply act for herself. It drew people towards her or at least it drew him towards her. It was a completely different kind of attraction than the one Ai or Akane were able to emit, but it was equally as strong.

Deep inside he found himself hoping it was even stronger.

.

.

.

Mumbling wasn't really something she was known for. Keeping pent-up feelings to herself was her general approach to things most of the time and everybody only remotely close to her knew it. She didn't want to inconvenience other people with her own problems.

However, right now, Akane couldn't help herself. She kept staring at the little monitor in front of her.

The device currently displayed her moderating partner, her boyfriend, her savior, desperately trying to clean his face from the cake that had been forced upon him, while a red-haired girl easily laughed at him from behind, casually keeping her hand on his upper arm in a show of intimacy.

The words she was thinking just happened to escape her at the sight.

"How should I ever compete with that?"

It all looked so unbearably easy. Like Kana didn't even have to try at all to reach him in a way she was desperately trying to replicate.

No.

It was more than that.

If she wasn't mistaken, the less her rival seemed to actually try and instead just went with the flow of the moment, the easier it apparently got.

Akane just didn't understand. Despite the differences in their characters that were obvious for everybody to identify, and even despite their completely diverging approach to acting, their shared passion, she had always believed that Kana and herself were pretty similar people at their core.

People driven by an inherent desire to succeed in their field of expertise, with a competitive aspect to their personality that could overwhelm pretty much everything else that defined them for periods at a time.

Of course, she didn't know Kana personally.

She knew Kana Arima, the actress, the former prodigy that had always attempted to upstage her in everything she tried. The girl that seemingly came from acting privilege Akane could only dream of, giving her an unfair advantage against her competitors which she didn't hesitate to make full use of.

Even earlier than that, she thought she knew the actress Kana Arima that was her role model. The girl with all her mesmerizing star power, who inspired her to get into the field of acting in the first place and whom she aspired to be like.

That person had turned out to be nothing but an illusion. A projection Akane had wanted to see in her when she still believed that all people were inherently good and pure. Something only a stupid child could actually believe in.

Ever since Tokyo Blade, Akane wanted to believe that she was slowly getting to know the real Kana Arima though. And she turned out to be a combination of everything she had ever thought about her and so much more.

They were still rivals, they still had a completely different outlook on the industry and how one should portray himself in it. But at the same time, they both suffered immensely because of their passion. Kana didn't have it as easy in life as Akane had convinced herself she had for so many years. It was extremely obvious by the way she was putting everyone else's needs in front of her own when on stage.

A person who was completely sure of herself wouldn't have needed to be forcefully dragged out from the shadows by almost everybody around them.

Which is why she was so delighted when she turned out to be able to eventually push all that nonsense to the wayside and shined like the star everybody knew she could be.

"Why isn't she always like that?"

The conclusion she had come to after spending more time with her, especially in the moments where they weren't on stage, but in the privacy of rehearsals or when they had visited Miss Kichijouji´s apartment together, was that Kana was far closer to the person she had initially envisioned her to be as a child, when the pressure was off.

When she could simply be herself without any fear of negative consequences, the red-haired girl that had been a thorn in her side since forever could truly be an equally lovely, caring, and fascinating person.

"Why can't I be more like her?"

Aqua seemed to agree with her own assessment of Kana.

In contrast to herself, the actress-turned-idol didn't need to put up any sort of act to have the guy's complete attention on her every single second she spent with him. It all came so frustratingly naturally. Anybody who would deny that those two had chemistry would be a blatant liar, even though Akane herself would deny it until her dying breath if anybody asked her about it right this second.

The only person that didn't seem to recognize just how much power she was holding was Kana herself. Otherwise, it would be completely unimaginable that she hadn't stolen him from under her nose a long time ago.

This was all so horribly unfair. It should be her by his side after all.

He had saved her life. She was willing to do everything for him if he only said the word, and yet she knew him well enough to understand that he never would.

How could another person have an even closer connection to him than herself?

She had cried for him. She had cared for him. She had even laughed with him. And yet it all seemed so horribly in vain as she looked at those moving images of pure happiness on the monitor in front of her.

"What is wrong with me?"

Before the tears that had started to build up in her eyes over the last few minutes could spill out, she felt a soft hand on her shoulder. It was tempting to switch back into character for a second to hide all the emotions that had clouded her mind, but luckily she noticed quickly enough who actually stood beside her.

"Nothing is wrong with you Akane. Whatever would make you think that? You are awesome!"

Was there another person on earth that could compliment somebody else as often and as easily as Mem did, while still having it mean so much each and every time? Probably not

"Why do you look so down? They are just goofing around up there." She pointed at the monitor. "It´s nothing too serious. It would be just the same if you were the one sitting there with him."

Akane managed to smile sadly in return.

"I think we both know that isn't true."

"You don't know that!"

"I do."

The silence that followed pretty much proved her point.

"I just want to know why?" She opened up again. Mem was someone she knew could keep a secret. "Do I really have to put up an act for him 24/7 to get him to pay me the same kind of attention? Is it even okay for me to do so? I just don't know anymore…"

Her rumbling would have continued, but Mem put a stop to it once more when she closed the distance between the two and hugged her like there was no tomorrow.

"You don't have to do anything! You are great just as you are! There is no need for you to try to be someone you´re not for the sake of somebody else." Even though this type of pep talk was almost expected, it still felt nice to hear it out of the mouth of somebody as earnest as Mem. "I think your real self is far cooler than that character could ever be! If that jerk Aqua doesn't realize that, then it´s just his bad!"

The blond girl pulled away from her a little so that she could look into her eyes. There was so much understanding in her expression and honest affection for the girl she was looking at, that it almost made her tear up again.

"Don't tell him I said that though, yeah? Pretty please?"

A chuckle escaped her mouth before she could help it.

The fondness hadn't left Mem´s face when she spoke up again, but she looked a bit more serious than before.

"Can I be totally honest with you one more time?"

"You? Of course. Always."

A long exhale followed, proving that what came next definitely wasn't easy for her energetic friend.

"I think you should stop it with that character altogether. I know I was the one who pretty much pressured you into it in the first place, and it is still okay to revert to it when you feel like you have to protect yourself don't get me wrong, but I don't think you should… abuse its side effects if you know what I mean?"

Once again it felt like a knife to the heart for her. Had she been so pathetically obvious?

"I know. I´m so sorry. I just didn't know what to do anymore. I… don't want to lose him. And I don't want to lose to Kana either."

A little bit of fight came back to her voice, even though she knew it was probably for naught.

"Don't sweat it girly! We all make mistakes or lie about stuff at some point. Even when it comes to important topics. I mean, your tini tiny lie doesn't even come close to my-" Suddenly Mem vigorously shook her head. "Never mind that! What I meant to say was; trust me, it's far from too late for you to turn this ship around! The real you is pretty awesome after all. And even if it is, there are a lot of other ships in the ocean just waiting to be captured!"

Again, Akane couldn't help but smile. Mem was a pro at cheering people up. And at reading people's emotions in general. Come to think of it, hadn't she been the first one to come looking for her back at LoveNow?

Aqua hadn't been her only savior back then after all.

It was far past time that Akane expressed her gratitude to the girl, she decided.

Not wasting another second, the idol whose fan shirt she was still currently wearing found herself enveloped in another tight hug.

"You know what Mem? If anybody is awesome around here, it's you!"

"Please! What else is new?!" Both of them were laughing now and Akane felt like a weight had been lifted from her shoulders.

Perhaps she wasn't going to win this fight in the end, even though she gave it her best shot, but she wasn't going to lose herself while trying to win it either.

"Let's do a Reel for Instagram! You´re still free for the moment, right?"

"I am."

"Sweet! Then let's go over to the basketball field! I think your next segment is going to be there anyways right? Perhaps we can promote that even a tiny bit!"

And so, she got dragged away by her only slightly overexcited friend.

She felt revitalized after talking with Mem. Hopefully, someday, she could be a little bit more like her. Not worrying so much about so many different things all at once, and instead focusing on the brightness that was right in front of her.

How difficult that would actually be became obvious right from the get-go, as they passed Ruby on their way to the basketball field.

Aqua´s baby sister smiled brightly at Mem, although with a hint of mischief hidden in her bright eyes.

When she looked at Akane though, there was nothing hidden anymore. The girl barely greeted her and didn't even seem to be able to look her in the eyes.

It only then occurred to her how her selfish decision of taking on the character of Ai so often during the stream must have affected her as well.

Of course. How could she have been so stupid? If her suspicions were correct then it was only natural for Ruby to resent her for her behavior.

There had to be a way to make it up to her right? Even though she couldn't think of one right now.

In any case, step one would be to follow Mem´s advice and stop pretending to be someone she was not for today.

Enough with the lies. The real Akane Kurokawa was going to moderate the rest of the stream from now on and she was going to make a damn good job of it!

The thought reminded her of something, however. There was still one unanswered question from her conversation from before, wasn't there?

"Say Mem."

"Hmm?"

"What was that earlier about a lie of yours that my own paled in comparison to?"

"Argh!" She always sounded like she was being shot when somebody negatively surprised her. "Weeell, let's just say my lie is currently as old as a second-year elementary school kid."

"Huh. That doesn't explain anything."

"Another time okay! I´m too busy right now to be pitied by yet another lucky teenager at the moment!"

"But you are also a lucky-" Her eyes went wide as a suspicion came to her mind like a grandma arriving at the nursing home. "Wait, you don't mean-"

"I said not now! Now is Reel time, so shush!"

Even though curiosity was nearly bubbling over inside her right now, she barely managed to keep it in check.

For now at least.

.

.

.

With the suitable excuse of having to take a shower so that he could remove the rest of the cake from his face and hair, Aqua was finally able to take a slightly longer break and even eat a little for the first time in hours.

Akane was filling in for him most of the time and if she wasn't available, because she herself was involved in a game or was otherwise preoccupied, then Pieyon or another talent would switch in for a moderation or two.

The entire event was professional until its very last pore, but the presentation was very much on the casual side most of the time.

If he really wanted to, he could have easily eaten a snack in front of the camera, while moderating towards the next segment. Neither the audience nor the staff would have judged him for it. He simply chose not to, because it wasn't really his style to present himself in this way.

This casualness didn't take away from the success of the day up until now.

All in all the stream was getting overwhelmingly positive reviews so far, judging by the contributions in chat and the opinions one could find on social media using the hashtag #strawberrystream2023. Mostly though, it was on the financial side of things where they truly outperformed the expectations of approximately everybody.

Just a little after halftime they were already hitting the five million dollar donation benchmark. "Only" three million more to go and they would have reached a new record.

Some of the donations were especially noteworthy.

A person with the account name "Frillgotyourtongue06", who wanted to remain anonymous actually donated a whopping 10000 dollars all at once. One of the biggest private donations of the whole stream.

As a reward, Aqua had to read out some sort of poem from a person he didn't know but which sounded pretty dark and gloomy. Ruby had a good laugh at that but wouldn't really explain why.

Their colleagues from Tokyo Blade, as well as Yuki, Nobu, and Kengo from LoveNow, all significantly contributed as well. Their donations in and of themselves weren't everything though, as all of them made social media posts about the event as well. The talents on the show were also active online whenever the schedule would allow them to be and so the stream was able to reach a truly astonishing amount of people.

The longer the event went on, the more comfortable everybody got in their respective role.

Tensions had been running high at the beginning, and he was definitely not innocent in that development, but all in all, their closest group was having fun with all the stupid games and punishments and started to relax more and more. Even Kana and Akane who were still far away from being the closest of friends, teamed up in a couple of games.

The chat even demanded as much, seeing as they both had an incredibly good reputation after the resounding success of Tokyo Blade and many people wanted to see them both together in a different, more casual environment.

They seemed to be getting along a little better than expected as well. Or at the minimum they weren't at each other's throats half the time.

…at least as soon as Akane had stopped getting in character.

Aqua didn't know why she had decided to stop all of a sudden. He definitely hadn't asked for it, and Akane wasn't willing to explain herself on her own accord as it seemed, but he was more than a little relieved at the development.

The two actresses had played charade against Pieyon and Miyako, who had been dragged into the whole thing by the chicken man himself, who wanted to try his hands on a non-sport related activity for a change, and even though they didn't win, they didn't kill each other either. Perhaps they wanted to avoid public outrage, but Aqua wanted to believe that they could get along on some level when the pressures of the entertainment industry and unfortunately his own presence weren't involved.

At some point, he couldn't help but wonder if that could be his life from now on. One in which he wouldn't need to be deceitful and work on ulterior and selfish goals at any moment, only pretending to enjoy himself so that other people wouldn't get suspicious of him.

Perhaps from now on, he could actually enjoy these gatherings. Be they on a private or a professional basis. Almost everybody seemed to be having fun here, so why shouldn't he be able to replicate that in the future?

Did he really deserve this though? Had he not ruined this chance already by his actions in the past? Was someone as guilty as him even allowed to feel this free?

Every time these kinds of thoughts were trying to cloud his mind tonight, somebody stepped up and distracted him with some trivial thing. He never had the chance to feel too down on himself. The people around wouldn't let it happen. Not today.

A part of him sincerely hoped that this wasn't a one-and-done. That he could justify this sort of behavior when he was all alone in front of a mirror even a month from now and beyond.

It was only a couple of days ago that he had last given in to his paranoia after all.

Right now though, he still had a job to finish.

They were closing in on the finale and although he wasn't a part of it per se, he knew that he would have to do what he always did during B-Komachi´s concerts. Maybe this time he would crank it up another notch.

There wasn't really a reason for it.

He just wanted to.