My Childhood Friend, who became a National Idol, moved next door to my Run-down Apartment [Dropped]

“Phew…”

“It’s amazing. Why did you leave me like this until I got so stiff?”

As I applied light pressure with the massage, Mitsuki’s thigh twitched as the pain subsided.

My childhood friend, Toujou Mitsuki, was lying on my bed looking extremely embarrassed.

“Today, I tried harder than usual because I was excited that I could come home early after a long time, but…”

“Tried harder…? How so, can you explain?”

“The stairs were steeper than I thought… and halfway through, I realized I couldn’t do it anymore…”

The place which worsened her muscle cramps was none other than the steep stairs of our rundown apartment.

I carried Mitsuki in a princess carry and gently laid her down on the bed as she seemed exhausted from her dance lessons and proceeded to massage her thighs with a warm, steamed towel placed over her eyes and another on her thigh.

I wasn’t particularly skilled in massages, but the way I was doing it was similar to the way I usually did after exercising. It should ease her pain a little.

What surprised me more was that Mistuki didn’t do her usual post-dance lesson routine.

According to her, she usually did proper care after dance lessons.

“I thought I could go home quickly and do the massage myself! But then I saw how steep the stairs in this apartment were, and my muscle soreness worsened.”

It seemed like she hadn’t changed at all, still being subtly careless like in the past, and I found myself feeling somewhat relieved.

“Come on, lift your knee a bit more. Relax your body.”

“Mmm… Okay… Ahhn~…”

Mistuki was completely at my mercy.

Even though she looked embarrassed, she listened to me attentively.

In a way, it almost felt like she was regressing to her childhood self.

I should probably think twice before randomly fiddling with Mistuki’s slender legs, but my genuine concern outweighed any potential issues. She had come here after busy days, just to return to a comforting home(?), and now this happened.

As her childhood friend, if there was anything I could do to support her, I’d be more than happy to do it.

I pressed the warm towel against her thighs and used my fingers to gently massage from the upper to the middle, and then from the middle to the lower part of the thigh, ensuring it followed the blood flow and relaxed the muscles.

Using all ten fingers for the massage had a certain resemblance to playing the piano.

Mistuki seemed to have gotten used to the pressure a bit, and she peeked out from under the towel that covered her face.

“Kazu-kun, you’re too good at massages.”

Her relaxed voice made me chuckle involuntarily.

“Well, that’s good to hear.”

“Remember when you gave me a massage just once before? Back in our first year of middle school when I sprained my ankle during the relay race at the sports festival? It felt so good, and I wanted you to do it more, but you wouldn’t do it for me.”

Ah, I kind of remembered that.

Back then, I had massaged Mistuki’s thighs, just like I was doing now, to help with her ankle sprain.

But her smile was so radiant after just one massage that it embarrassed me as a pubescent teenager. I remember feeling awkward about it and not giving her more massages despite her asking a few times.

“Now that you’re willing to do it regularly, it’s motivating me to try even harder! The birth of Toujou Mitsuki’s personal massage therapist! Congratulations for the new hiring!”

It was such a fluffy-sounding title.

But I didn’t mind as long as it made Mistuki happy.

“Alright, I humbly accept your request. Supporting a top idol isn’t a bad gig either. But, are you okay with this? I mean, there might be scandals and other difficulties. People might get the wrong idea.”

Mistuki puffed up her cheeks and mumbled in a small voice, “It’s fine, really.”

Then she quickly returned to her usual cheerful smile.

“The manager has rented several apartments around here, ensuring no media personnel can enter the area, so I’m safe!”

And then she casually dropped this bombshell.

Wait, the scale of this revelation was way too different from what I expected.

This is the financial power of a top idol… I said that half in jest as I asked her.

“Oh, right! I thought I’ve heard the name of that company somewhere before…”

She started drawing an English word in the air with her finger and then exclaimed, “That’s it!”

“KAGARI Musical Instrument Manufacturing! It’s a big company that makes musical instruments! It’s the same name as that of your kouhai, right?”

My hand that was massaging her thighs stopped abruptly.

“…Kagari?”

I couldn’t help but picture the image of the cute little creature that always followed me around wherever I went.