Those crystal-clear, sea-blue eyes of his went wide in that very instant.
The brilliant light flickering within them looked as though someone had crushed up stardust and scattered it inside.
“That right there is the ‘real thing.’ The genuine article — just like Ai…
a real one…”
Standing off-set, gazing from afar at the filming taking place, Aqua Hoshino thought to himself.
A nearly perfect expression.
Body language richly expressing emotion.
Emotional control with not even half a hint of the stage fright so characteristic of koyaku.
This was the real thing.
Without a single doubt, the real thing.
But at the same time…
Aqua Hoshino didn’t say a word — he simply lowered his head.
His fingernails dug deep into his own flesh, bringing with them a faint sting of pain.
From within his chest welled up a searing, tearing emotion of pain, enough to make his ribcage convulse.
Aqua Hoshino knew.
This emotion was called bitter, unwilling resentment.
Yes.
As a transmigrator carrying the memories of two lifetimes, he felt genuinely happy from the bottom of his heart that his foster mother Saito Miyako had found such a talent.
But at the same time, deep inside, he also felt a strong, unwilling resentment.
That was simply human nature.
After all, any actor who saw acting on the level of Minami Yuji’s would probably feel the same emotion welling up in their heart — that he was simply far too good at it.
To say nothing of Aqua Hoshino, who had been putting in just as much effort, and could only get this far.
Looks like…
I’m going to have to disappoint Ai…
On that handsome, adorable little face of Aqua Hoshino’s there remained that same calm, expressionless look as ever, and yet that was what he was thinking.
Ichigo Pro was just a small agency.
The work opportunities they could land for their koyaku were even fewer and farther between.
In the past, the reason had been that the agency simply didn’t have a suitable koyaku.
Which was why Saito Miyako had tilted every single resource onto him.
But now a prodigy of Minami Yuji’s caliber had shown up.
Practically without needing to think about it — going forward, Saito Miyako was absolutely going to tilt every last resource Ichigo Pro had onto Minami Yuji.
The resources that had belonged to him would, in all likelihood, all be taken away by Minami Yuji.
But that, too, was perfectly normal.
After all, for the Ichigo Pro of right now, that was the best possible outcome.
Aqua Hoshino shook his head.
About this, he actually didn’t have any objection.
After all, his own talent as an actor wasn’t all that outstanding — that was a fact he had gradually come to accept over the past two years.
And the industry was simply like that.
Those without talent making way for those with talent — it was a matter of course.
It was just…
“I guess there’s still a bit of unwillingness left after all, huh, Ai?”
Taking out his phone, tapping the screen awake, he looked at the black-haired girl on it wearing that perfect smile.
Aqua Hoshino drew in a deep breath, softly apologized to the person in the photograph, then put the phone away and headed in the direction of the rest room.
As for the matter of becoming an actor — let it end here.
This was the choice Aqua Hoshino had made — the one he felt was rational, the one he felt was reasonable.
But…
The very instant he stepped into the staff rest room.
Those originally bright blue eyes were, in an instant, swallowed up by pitch-black darkness.
Unlike the smartphone from earlier.
This one was an old-model flip phone, with a B-Komachi merchandise charm hanging off of it.
And what came next had nothing to do with being an actor…
Aqua Hoshino placed his finger atop the ‘9’ key of the flip phone, silently trying to unlock it.
He absolutely had to…
he absolutely had to find that person — the one who had leaked Ai Hoshino’s residence…
the one who, even now, was still living so comfortably within the industry…
A sinister, vicious look — one that didn’t belong on a child’s face — flashed across his features for an instant.
And then…
he absolutely had to make that person die amid endless torment!
Click.
Click.
Click.
With every press of a button.
Aqua Hoshino felt a sensation as though something were about to come heaving up out of his stomach.
Because with every single button press, his mind would, without his even meaning to, drag him right back to that day.
The day Ai died!
It hurt so much!
The more he pressed the buttons, the more his fingertips could feel the sensation of Ai’s warm, sticky blood.
It was unbearable!
It was sickening!
But this was enough!
His eyes were savage.
This wasn’t just the process of hunting down Ai Hoshino’s murderer.
At the very same time, it was also a form of torment he was inflicting on himself!
He hated himself!
Why couldn’t he save Ai?!
Why could he only watch as Ai died right there against his own chest?!
If he’d done this back then, if he’d done that back then…
wouldn’t the result have been better?
He had imagined it like this more times than he could count.
But after each round of imagining came an even more violent surge of pain.
His breathing grew ragged, sweat dampened the back of his shirt.
Even his finger, pressing keys to try passcodes, gradually came to a halt.
Just as he was clenching his teeth, suppressing the nausea welling up from his stomach, preparing to keep pressing keys and trying passcodes—
“You’re still doing this kind of thing, huh, Hoshino Aquamarine…
or should I say…
Aqua Hoshino.”
The voice suddenly rang out right in front of him.
Aqua Hoshino’s fingers froze, and he reflexively raised his head.
Standing in front of him was the black-haired boy, now with his makeup already removed.
Those pitch-black eyes were fixed on him without a single blink, as though they could see right through to the inside of his heart.
It was none other than Minami Yuji.
“You…”
Aqua Hoshino opened his mouth — he was startled by why the other party was even here.
But the other party seemed to see straight through what he was thinking, and spoke up as if talking to himself: “Ah…
the scenes I’m responsible for aren’t all that difficult.
Today I only had two scenes to shoot in total — barely took any time at all…”
“As for Auntie Miyako, she should be over discussing my pay rate with Director Gotanda right about now, so I came over first.”
So that was it…
Aqua Hoshino forced himself up from the floor.
“…” Minami Yuji.
Looking at the pale-faced Aqua Hoshino, Minami Yuji let out a ‘hah’ that seemed somewhere between speechless and pitying.
Seeing that expression on his face, Aqua Hoshino instinctively felt something was off.
Because just from those split-second changes of expression on Minami Yuji’s face, he sensed something — this koyaku in front of him, the one who gave him such an unbelievable feeling…
didn’t really seem like an eight-year-old child at all.
But very quickly, the other party did something that left him reeling even more.
Because Minami Yuji actually, right in front of him, extended a hand with a blank expression.
“The phone.
Give it to me.”
“Wh…?”
Aqua Hoshino had always been the type with calm expressions and calm emotions, but hearing this sudden statement from Minami Yuji, he couldn’t help knitting his brows.
After all, this was Ai Hoshino’s phone — there was a very real chance it held information about Ai Hoshino’s murderer hidden inside.
He clenched Ai Hoshino’s phone tight, preparing to ask the other party just what his intentions were.
But—
“Just hand it over.”
The instant those words landed.
Aqua Hoshino, the very next second, felt an indescribably enormous force come transmitting through his palm.
Right after that, he felt as though something in his hand had been taken away by the other party.
“What are you doing?!”
At this point, even the usually composed Aqua Hoshino couldn’t quite hold back his emotions.
If the other party did something to Ai Hoshino’s phone…
The moment that possibility crossed his mind, Aqua Hoshino, almost without a second’s hesitation, stepped forward, intending to take action.
However, the very next second.
“Alright, here, take it back.”
No struggle, no fight — just the very instant he took that step forward, the very phone he treated as his life’s anchor, Ai Hoshino’s phone, was stuffed right back into his hand by the other party.
But that wasn’t all.
Looking at the now-unlocked phone in front of him, Aqua Hoshino’s pupils contracted ever so slightly from sheer overwhelming shock.
Ai Hoshino’s phone passcode was five digits long in total.
And he, for the sake of cracking Ai Hoshino’s phone passcode, had spent two whole years brute-forcing it and still hadn’t been able to get past this standby page.
Yet the koyaku in front of him had punched in the passcode in less than a single second.
This…
was almost as if…
the other party had known the passcode from the very beginning.
Aqua Hoshino raised his head, his usually steady, calm gaze now stunned as it turned toward the Minami Yuji in front of him.
Under his stare.
The small little koyaku in front of him had already slowly seated himself, and as he sat down, lifted his gaze, looking back at him out of the corner of his eye.
“Quit messing with the phone for a bit.”
His left foot crossed over his right, his toes lifting up just slightly.
“I have something to talk to you about.”
His palm lifted up to prop against the side of that fair, clean face of his.
“In any case, sit down first.”
A finger lifted, pointing at the empty seat beside him.
“Aqua Hoshino.”
So Minami Yuji said.
____
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🔥 New history: Arknights Endfield: