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“Hmm.”
Hikaru Kamiki stares thoughtfully at the paper on his desk.
“He’s figured it out, huh?”, he opines.
Sighing, he slumps his shoulders. Despite that, he still manages a smile to his aide. “Thank you once again, Ayaka.”
“It was a pleasure, as always,” she says in return, before exiting the room. The door closes with a quiet click.
“Ha,” Hikaru snorts to himself. “I doubt this one was very enjoyable.”
He shuffles in place, uncomfortable. “It won’t be very fun for me, either…”, he trails off, looking up at the ceiling, then to the clock, then out the window.
Another sigh. “Well, knowing this now… that movie’s not going to be very flattering to me, will it?” He takes out a blank piece of paper, and a pen.
“No time to waste…”
---
Aquamarine Hoshino stares blankly at the paper on his desk.
TO AQUAMARINE HOSHINO:
YOU ARE PERSONALLY INVITED TO THE OFFICE OF HIKARU KAMIKI
ORCHID PRODUCTIONS
MAY 7TH - 20:00
w… what?
It’s been a hectic few months for Aqua. With his parentage revealed, new jobs had begun to stack up as the public’s hype for the children of the deceased idol had skyrocketed. He’d put his all into helping with Gotanda’s movie, ensuring its accuracy while also pushing to include his accusations against Kamiki in. And all the while, he’d continued the search for Kamiki himself, hell bent on exacting revenge.
And now, his location just falls into his lap, just like that?!
He opens up the envelope further. There’s a picture of Kamiki holding a piece of paper. It… also invites Aqua specifically.
So it must be real.
What to do?
I…
Aqua was not prepared for this. He was ready to die, ready to kill, ready to lose everyone he loved, just for this. But he wasn’t prepared for his quest to suddenly arrive at a conclusion, just like this.
But at the same time… you can’t look a gift horse in the mouth, can you?
Sighing, his hands shaking, Aqua crumples up the letter. He’s going. And he can’t let anyone else know about it.
---
Aqua arrives in the lobby of the building around fifteen minutes early. It’s always important to be punctual, after all.
It’s a quiet area. The building itself isn’t rundown, but isn’t the fanciest, either. Makes sense, as although Kamiki is a genius who’s built his own idol production company from scratch, he’s only been at it for a decade and a bit. It’s not one of the biggest idol companies in Japan.
Aqua’s here to ensure that it never will be.
“Huh?! What are you doing here?”
Aqua swivels around. There, in the doorway he’d just walked through, stands… Ruby. Quite incensed to see him. They still haven’t made up, since he revealed to the world that they were Ai’s children.
He glares. “I could ask the same thing of you.”
“It’s none of your fucking business! Now get out of my way!”, she yells angrily, before running past him and to the receptionist.
…Who tiredly looks up at her. “Ruby Hoshino, I presume?”
“Yes, indeed!” She flashes a smile. Clearly not a genuine one, but at this point, does it even matter?
“And is that Aqua Hoshino behind you?”
“Yes,” he responds in the few seconds his sister’s shocked into silence. “That’s me.”
The receptionist nods. “Alright. You’re both expected,” he says. He points to the elevator. “Go to the 8th floor.”
It seems that they’re both expected by Kamiki. Curious.
They both step in, and only at that point does he realize.
Does Kamiki know I’m onto him?
He suppresses a panic attack. It’s too late to back down now, anyways. He doesn’t know what his sister knows, but he hopes he’s succeeded in keeping it from her. He doesn’t think Gotanda or Ichigo would mention it to anyone.
…Would they?
Aqua realizes, slowly, that Ichigo would tell her. He hates Kamiki as much as they both do. Why wouldn’t he give her the information necessary to succeed?
And it’s at that moment that Aqua comes to the conclusion, with horror, that they’ve walked into a trap.
---
Hikaru’s waiting for them in his office.
His secretary guides the twins in. “Have a seat,” he offers with a hand.
They oblige. Ruby looks to have fire in her eyes, while Aqua… seems a lot more tentative. Makes sense considering their personalities, but from the intel he’s been given Aqua usually is a lot more animated when discussing matters concerning him.
This could throw a wrench into things , he thinks, but I should still have it on lock, so no changes to the plan for now.
“Your eyes really do look like your mother.”
Now that, that sets them on edge. Perfect. Just as he expected.
He can already tell what they’re thinking. How dare you?
“If you look closely, you might find that my eyes are similar, too.”
Just a throwaway line, but it’s enough to at least make Ruby’s eyes widen. Aqua is stone cold as ever, although Hikaru doubts he’s doing much better. He’s just always been much better at hiding his feelings behind that persona, it seems.
“I’ve looked at the mirror a lot,” he says to ward off that train of questioning.
And now, for the first wham line… “It was all I had left of your mother, really.”
Ruby… doesn’t quite snap. “You have the audacity to say that? Really?”
A moment of silence.
Hikaru sighs. “You seem to be… under some misconceptions.”
And there’s Ruby’s snap. “HOW DARE YOU! You left mother behind, left her to die, abandoned us as children, and now you think you can try to fool us?”
She stands up. “YOU KILLED MOTHER! And I’ll make sure you NEVER see the light of day again!”
Hikaru’s been watching Aqua’s face this entire time. It seems that he’s gotten progressively more shocked as his sister kept speaking. Did he not expect this?
And then she takes a knife out.
And then lunges.
Hikaru ducks.
He hears a scuffle. He’d told Ayaka to be prepared to stop a scuffle if it occurred, and it seems that she’s been successful.
“LET ME GO!”
“No.”
“HE’S A MURDERER!”
“If Kamiki-san had not directly ordered me not to, I’d just end things right here, insolent fool.”
Hikaru gets out from under the table. “That’s enough. Let me explain, and perhaps you’ll exit this room alive.”
Aqua’s face is now one of… shock still, but also a small bit of fear has crept in. He truly wasn’t expecting Ruby to do that, was he? And now, thanks to her, he’s stuck here.
Hikaru is sure that he was planning to do the deed himself. Now, he’s been completely prevented from even attempting it without immediately being taken down.
Ruby sits down, still fuming, and still giving Hikaru a death glare. “This isn’t over.”
He’s shaken by the attack, but Hikaru knows that if he wants to get out of here alive, he must nail what he’s about to say.
So here goes. “Your first assumption was that I killed your mother.”
A statement of fact. Aqua’s face hardens once more, his eyes narrowing.
“To that you must wonder, why? What motive could I possibly have?”
He looks up at the ceiling.
“And to that I say this.”
Then, he slams his hands down on the table. It startles both of the twins.
“NONE!”
Well, there’s no stopping himself now.
“Absolutely no reason. Why would I ever do that? I had no grief with Ai, absolutely none, and you must have found that out. We broke up amicably. I still treasured her as a friend, even after I gave her up for the sake of her career.”
He notices he’s starting to cry. Good. It enhances the effect. “I would have given my life up for her, had I known what was about to occur. She provided more to the world than I ever could.”
He balls his hands into fists. “And the worst thing is… it was my fault. The locals were vaguely aware that I was seeing her at the very least, it wouldn’t have been hard for any obsessed fan to find out.”
“And then, he must have seen me exiting her apartment. I know people have seen it, I’ve searched the dark web, I’ve seen photos.”
At this point, Hikaru just wants to slam his head on the desk, but he soldiers on. “It was entirely my fault for not being careful enough. I’ve lived with that grief for nearly two decades now.”
He looks Ruby in the eyes. “And you have the GALL to accuse me of doing it ON PURPOSE? WITHOUT EVIDENCE?”
He takes a moment to compose himself, and uses the time to gauge the situation. Ruby’s tearing up, herself. Aqua’s noticeably avoiding looking at him. Even Ayaka has her hand on her mouth, shocked.
Deep breaths, Hikaru. Deep breaths.
It’s time for the real show to begin.
“I have the evidence here,” he says. He turns his laptop to show them. “These are pictures I obtained on line, showing me exiting her house. This is how her location was found.”
He clicks on another tab. “The news sources stated that the culprit lived around the area. He likely made the connection, having seen both me and her in the area. Odds are, he had waited and seen her entering the house as confirmation.”
“And this,” he says as he closes his laptop, “is why you do not base your entire lives around falsehoods.”
Another deep breath.
“I’ve been watching you two,” Hikaru starts. “I’ve seen you hunt for clues. Burn bridges. Lie, cheat and steal. I’ve followed your journey to becoming two of the biggest celebrities in Japan, all for a quest to track me down.”
He glares at Ruby. “You’ve hurt a lot of people,” he pointedly states.
“I know what being an idol is like. I know how much stress it can put on you, how it can lead to you doing illogical things. You could argue that the two of you are the result of one of them.”
He takes one more deep, shuddering breath. “And I know what it’s like to be taken advantage of by one. I was raped by an idol at the age of twelve.”
Hikaru notices that Aqua’s eyes especially fly wide open. Does he know what he’s referring to?
No matter. “I’ve compiled a list of evidence. Interviews. Transcripts. Files. All that. A list of the bridges you’ve burnt and the lies you’ve sown to get you to this point. The point of slandering an innocent man in a movie that uses the name of a dead idol as a cudgel.”
He shakes his head. “How rude.”
“The data’s already been sent off to multiple news sites,” Hikaru states. Now it’s Ruby’s turn to start panicking. “I’ve given them the request to report on them starting at midnight.”
“The goal for me, here… is to remove you from the entertainment industry entirely.”
“But… why?”, asks Ruby, quietly. “You loved Ai; does that not extend to us?”
“Oh, it does. It truly, truly does,” Hikaru says. “I stayed away for your own health. I knew if I entered your lives then, that the media that followed me back then would catch on.”
“You two were good kids. You have… a semblance of a support system. Well, had. Before you drove almost all of them away.”
He decides to throw in an offhand detail. “Kana’s probably about to quit whether or not I release this information, really. You’ve pushed her to her limit.”
“This is what the entertainment industry does. It makes people go insane, and drops them at their lowest. I built my company to try to become a place where my employees could feel supported, but company support can only go so far when social media is hell bent on taking you down.”
“I want to see you two happy. I want to see you two rebuild your relationships with others. I want to see you two… become normal people. And I don’t think that can happen while your lives are in the spotlight.”
He sighs. “This is a mercy, really. I’m not going to report your attempt to end my life. I’m not going to slander you beyond this.”
“I just want you to learn from your mistakes, and move on.”
He stands up. “That will be all. Ayaka, please escort them out.”
---
The news comes in fast and hard.
The movie is immediately canceled as a result.
Ruby Hoshino’s Web of Lies, they call it.
The story outlines her masterminding of the cosplay situation. How she pushed her group mates to the brink, only considering success. How she turned rude and inconsiderate, pushing aside any sense of compassion all in the name of superstardom.
The public turns against her fast. They call for her to be fired from every public job they know of.
Aqua isn’t fully spared, either. He didn’t burn as many bridges, mostly because he refrained from building them in the first place. But his subterfuge trying to find his father is revealed, what with the DNA tests and such.
He’s considered a weirdo, yes. Probably should be fired, but at the end of the day, trying to figure out who your father is, is a reasonable enough goal. The witch hunt for him isn’t quite as strong.
Ruby quickly decides to put out an apology. On camera. Live.
“I would like to apologize, from the bottom of my heart, for all of the misdeeds I’ve committed,” she starts.
“A few years ago, I found that someone I had been close to previously had been murdered by the same person who killed my mother. I was heartbroken, and wanted answers.”
“I came to the conclusion that it had to have been my father who had given my mother’s address to the killer, and so I decided to find him and take revenge.”
“My entire rise to stardom after that point, was for this goal. Trying to gain his attention, and then take him down.”
“A few days ago, I met him. He was innocent. I had made up my entire reason to murder a man based on nothing but the ramblings of my own mind.”
“I will be resigning all of my public posts on television, in acting and as a member of B-Komachi. I am unfit to serve as a public face, and should not be treated as someone to look up to.”
“It pains me to do this, but I am certain that it is for the best. This is just the first step in a long journey of making up for my sins and rebuilding the bridges that I have burnt on a quest for misguided bloodlust.”
“I’m sorry. So, so sorry. This is Ruby Hoshino, signing out for, hopefully, the final time.”
---
Aqua knows he has to do this.
After resigning, Ruby went back to school, trying to figure out what to do with her life. Fortunately for him, he already knew what he was going to do.
He’d already been a doctor once. Why not do it again?
For now, he’s taken a job behind the scenes at Strawberry Productions. Miyako told him that he and his sister would always have a place at the company if they need it.
The scandal’s ironically actually increased the success of the company. Even though B-Komachi had disbanded, the many YouTubers they manage had seen an increase in support, as if the public thought that the company itself had suffered from their talent’s misdeeds.
As for himself… though the guilt of hunting down an innocent man weighs upon his already heavy survivor’s guilt, at the very least he now does not have the weight of finding him to begin with.
He’s free. Never to act again, never to be a celebrity again.
But that does not mean he does not want to reconnect with those he had shunned.
Aqua wants to see Kana again. He’d never fully succeeded at pushing her away, especially as they had become coworkers on the movie. But he had tried. Oh, had he tried. And he’d only hurt her in the process.
He had to make up for that. If he wanted to live a happy life, he had to rebuild the relationships he’d lost. These people were way too kind to him when he had always tried his best to not reciprocate, for him to not do so now that he felt he could.
But first… he decided to see someone who he had told he wanted to do with, and who had respected that decision.
He’d cut off that relationship entirely. He wanted nothing more than to build it once more.
Akane.
He knocks on the door.
He waits.
Akane, of course, opens the door.
Her face morphs from confusion to shock.
Aqua hasn’t spoken honestly in many, many years. But… better late than ever, right?
“Aqua?”
He takes a deep breath.
“Akane… I’m sorry.”
Akane begins to tear up. “Aqua… I saw the news.”
“It’s over,” he says. “I’m never making those mistakes again. I’m done pushing away the people who love me. I just want to live, and to make up for how much I’ve hurt people.”
He looks up at her. “Like you.”
She puts a hand on her mouth, beginning to sob. “Aqua…” she starts. “I can’t believe… you’ve finally saved yourself…”
She runs to hug him. “I’m so glad…”
It’s going to be a long road. But the people around him, Aqua knows, have been far too kind for far too long. To be this forgiving, after all the hurt he’s caused? He can’t believe it. It’s borderline illogical.
It’s time for him to repay it back.
He melts into the embrace. “I’m glad too.”