I asked him to be my pretend-boyfriend but after a while I fell for him, but I can't seem to admit that fact! - Chapter 28: Date-4

Date-4

Akira and I were led to the event staff’s waiting room. The detailed explanations would be given there.

By the way, unrelated to the event, I couldn’t help but wonder, how could Akira and Shizuka be so at ease after that parfait? I mean, what’s going on inside their bellies?

I felt pretty stuffed after the enormous parfait, and if I didn’t keep my stomach in check, it felt like it might poke out, but both of them were as cool as cucumbers. It hardly seemed fair.

“Everyone! I’ve brought a substitute!”

Shizuka announced those words when we arrived at the waiting room.

“Meet Itsuki-chan… um, what’s your last name?”

A slightly awkward expression crossed Shizuka’s face. It seemed she had forgotten my last name.

“It’s Imamura.”

“Right! Imamura! Itsuki-chan! This is her first time, so everyone, please make sure to support her!”

“Yes!”

The staff was composed entirely of women. It was reassuring to have female staff for my first makeup show; it would have been strange to have a man involved in my makeup.

“Relax, Itsuki-chan. We were all beginners once, so even if you can’t do it perfectly, it’s no problem.”

“Ah, okay. Thank you.”

It felt like that support was enough to make Shizuka’s strong approach acceptable.

“Shizuka-san, what about him?”

One of the staff members asked about Akira.

“Oh, he’s our special guest.”

“Special guest?”

“Yeah, you know, Nana-chan was quite popular. I think some of the people that were looking forward to seeing her might come here, so…”

“That… makes sense.”

Huh… Am I really going to be a substitute for such an amazing person?

“Well, Itsuki-chan is cute, and she’s not less popular than Akira, right?”

But I think cuteness might not be the only factor here.

“That’s why I picked him.”

“Hmm…”

The staff still seemed somewhat puzzled.

But…

“Let me introduce him properly. He’s Akira from ‘Inherit Sound’!”

“Hello, I’m Akira.”

When Akira took off his hat and introduced himself, the staff reacted differently this time.

“It’s… Akira-sama!”

The waiting room was filled with excitement, and this was a first for this kind of thing to happen.

“Shizuka-san, why?”

“Is it okay? Did you get permission from the agency?”

“Why is Akira-sama here?”

“Shizuka-san, did you use your connections?”

“Is Akira-sama free afterward?”

“Will you join us for the wrap-up party?”

Question marks filled the room.

The excitement of the staff members hadn’t subsided yet.

“Come on, calm down… Akira must be in trouble too,” Shizuka said.

As Shizuka pointed out, Akira seemed perplexed.

“We got permission from ‘Inherit Sound’s’ agent, so you don’t need to worry about that.”

“Yay!”

I wonder when she managed to get it. Maybe while she was fiddling with her phone earlier?

“Akira is currently on a date, and we had to ask him forcefully to be here, so he won’t be joining the wrap-up party, only the event.”

“Ehhhh!”

The room filled with loud exclamations.

It felt like being in homeroom when everyone was excited. Of course, Shizuka was the teacher, and the staff were the students.

“Akira-sama, who were you on a date with?”

“Don’t tell me it was Shizuka-san!?”

“No, it wasn’t, idiots!”

Shizuka quickly countered the assumptions, and although she blushed slightly, she looked like she didn’t hate the teasing.

Wait, what’s this? Could it be that she’s not completely against it?

As Shizuka glanced at me, she smiled and came closer, hooking her arm around mine.

“Hold on, you’re all making too much noise! We’ll get complaints,” I interjected.

It was way too loud, and it felt like the aftermath of a school assembly. I never went to an all-girls’ school, but I wondered if this was the norm.

Then, Shizuka leaned in closer to me and whispered in my ear, “Don’t worry, I’m not going to take him from you.”

It was as if she knew what I had been worrying about all along.

***

After settling down and receiving instructions from the staff, it was almost time for the event.

“Feeling nervous?” Akira asked with his usual smile.

“Yeah, very,” I admitted. My heart was pounding.

“I get nervous too… right before going on stage,” Akira confessed.

Huh… Akira gets nervous?

“I never would’ve guessed that from the way you perform,” I said.

“But it’s true,” he assured me.

Surprising indeed.

“You know, Itsuki, no matter how nervous you are, it’s not something the audience notices easily. So, why not just go all out with your nerves?” he suggested.

“Go all out with my nerves… that’s a unique way to encourage someone,” I replied.

“I’m the guitarist and lead vocalist, right?” Akira continued.

“Yeah.”

“At the beginning, when I play the intro on my guitar, I’m nervous because of the instrument… and then I get nervous again when I start singing.”

“Is that so?”

“I’ve made a lot of mistakes during performances. Sometimes one mistake leads to another, and it’s frustrating.”

I had no idea.

“But… that’s just how live performances go. So, try to relax and enjoy it, just like me,” he said.

“Yeah.”

In his Akira-like way, he offered encouragement that was both easy to understand and not quite easy to grasp.

But thanks to Akira, it seemed like my nervousness had taken a vacation somewhere.