Chapter 215: L-Living Together? (3600 characters!) (Patreon)

Crushing out the cigarette in his hand, Nakashima Tetsuya glanced at the crew bento he'd just picked up.

It was a standard 1,500-yen bento.

Fried chicken, a green salad, and miso soup sealed in a small round insulated container.

Bento in hand, Nakashima Tetsuya walked toward the black-haired young man on the other side, who was laughing and chatting with Kakiya Kenji.

It had become his habit during every break in the shoot.

Minami Yuji was the number one young actor in Japan...

Nakashima Tetsuya had known that before filming even began.

That face, which could hold anyone's gaze, and an acting ability far beyond his years were proof enough.

But the more he worked alongside Minami Yuji, the more he realized the truth went far deeper than that.

As a member of the new generation of young actors, Minami Yuji turned out to be far more outstanding than he'd imagined.

And it wasn't only his acting or his looks.

It showed even more in how he dealt with people, in the maturity of his mind.

In all his years of filming, Nakashima Tetsuya had met countless dazzling young prodigies.

But kids like that more or less picked up the habits of the industry.

Put bluntly, a touch of arrogance about their own talent.

Never mind that they bowed and rattled off "Good day" and "Thank you for your hard work" at every turn.

The pride in their eyes was never really hidden.

Honestly, Nakashima Tetsuya didn't think a little pride like that was any problem.

He even thought that for someone of fifteen or sixteen to have achieved so much was quite remarkable.

Put in their shoes, he couldn't promise he'd have behaved any better.

After all, youthful pride... nearly every gifted actor goes through that phase.

Only after life has given them a beating

does that brilliant sharpness gradually get tucked away.

But...

Nakashima Tetsuya turned his gaze to the young man in front of him.

Minami Yuji gave him no such impression at all.

Forget the razor-edged aura peculiar to genius actors.

Day to day, Minami Yuji seemed to have drawn all of that presence completely inward.

If people like Frill Shiranui, Kana Arima, and Himekawa Taiki were blades polished spotless, gleaming with a chilling light,

then Minami Yuji was a famed sword resting quietly in its sheath on the rack.

He was also astonishingly adept at handling people, so adept that he hardly seemed a sixteen-year-old minor.

At times, talking with him, Nakashima Tetsuya felt as if he were speaking with a seasoned male actor of the industry.

Yet once he stepped onto the set,

the charm he displayed was far more vibrant than any veteran's.

That bewitching allure captured the cameramen's lenses in the blink of an eye.

It had even made Nakashima Tetsuya call several cameramen over and chew them out: with this many shots of Minami Yuji, where were the extras and the other leads?

Had they really stopped caring about the storyboards?

Now, watching Minami Yuji smile as he discussed the breakdown of the next action sequence with Kakiya Kenji,

Nakashima Tetsuya sat down and greeted him first.

"Yuji-kun, you seem to be in good spirits lately."

"Ah... Director Nakashima, please, have a seat."

The moment they saw Nakashima Tetsuya, Minami Yuji and Kakiya Kenji shifted over to make room.

As for good spirits...

Minami Yuji really had been in rather good spirits lately.

Because...

He glanced at the LINE icons on his phone, the cherry blossom one and the one with wine-red hair.

Even Minami Yuji couldn't help smiling and shaking his head.

As mentioned earlier,

both Kana Arima and Sakurajima Mai had now accepted his confession.

How could that not leave him feeling lighter?

After all... honestly, when he'd made the decision that "you're all my wings,"

Minami Yuji had already braced himself for every one of the girls to turn him down.

Because this was reality, not some novel or anime.

So when Kana Arima said she was willing to accept, it had already been astonishing enough for Minami Yuji.

Let alone Sakurajima Mai afterward.

That she could relent again, even after Kana Arima had already said yes, left Minami Yuji even more stunned.

But once the surprise and astonishment had passed,

an indescribable guilt toward the two girls welled up in his chest as well.

He was a mature man.

He knew full well how selfish this was toward both of them.

Precisely because of that, he felt all the more that he had to treat Kana Arima and Sakurajima Mai well.

Only then would he be worthy of the choice they had made.

But at the same time...

Shaking his head slightly as he thought back over the last two days, Minami Yuji was left speechless.

By all logic, he was a dependable adult who'd gotten himself two girlfriends, each beautiful in her own way and wonderful in character, and had successfully taken two steps forward. It should have been a cause for celebration, just like the male lead of an anime or novel.

After all, some anime defy common sense. Even if the harem swells to a terrifying hundred, everyone still gets along in harmony and marches forward hand in hand.

But in reality...

It! Was! Nothing! Like! That!

Girlfriends getting along in harmony? Marching forward hand in hand?

Such a thing simply didn't exist.

Sure, Kana Arima and Sakurajima Mai didn't quarrel, but the friction that was bound to exist was still there.

Reality wasn't "you love me, I love you, and we all live happily together," and that's the end of it.

And what mattered most...

Thinking of what had happened lately, Minami Yuji couldn't help finding it a little funny.

The reason was this:

Sakurajima Mai and Kana Arima were moving into his place!

Honestly.

A cute girlfriend willing to move in and live with him was, without a doubt, something Minami Yuji would have begged for.

But both of them at once? Wasn't that going a bit far?

Minami Yuji hadn't forgotten who these two girls were.

One was Sakurajima Mai, a celebrated actress known all over Japan since her days as a child actor, a famous performer who had walked the path of show business ahead of everyone else.

The other was Kana Arima, renowned for her acting, who had weathered a slump but was now the center of attention, the sun of a new era.

Both girls moving in... however he looked at it, it seemed rather improper.

After all, both of them were prime targets for the weekly tabloids and magazines.

Weren't they afraid of being photographed and exposed, of some reporter seizing the chance to run a headline like "Shock! Two genius actresses of the entertainment world living together with that famous actor!"?

If that pack of weekly journalists got hold of a weak point... things would blow up badly.

He himself didn't mind.

As the number one new-generation actor in the industry, even if a bit of gossip broke, he could calm the storm without much trouble. His many years of awards and accumulated achievements were right there to back him up.

And even if it really got out of hand, that wouldn't matter.

He still had SOUTH Web Corporation and Minami Pro.

But Kana Arima and Sakurajima Mai were different.

At worst it could even affect their acting careers, even though Japanese audiences were less harsh on actors than on idols.

After all, two girls living with one boy: that headline alone was enough to set imaginations running wild.

Minami Yuji had tried to talk Sakurajima Mai and Kana Arima out of it for exactly that reason.

But the answers he got from both Sakurajima Mai and Kana Arima were, one might say, airtight.

"I don't care. A girlfriend and boyfriend living together, isn't that perfectly normal? Besides, I'm living alone right now. Alone, you know? Making me run back and forth to my apartment by myself after every shoot, aren't you worried something will happen to your girlfriend, as my boyfriend? You know how safe Japan is these days."

Kana Arima said it without even looking up, swinging her small feet in their black stockings as she flipped through a magazine.

True, Japan billed itself as the safest country in Asia, but in Minami Yuji's view, saying all of Tokyo was perfectly safe... was a stretch.

Sometimes after wrapping a scene, he'd see drunk men, vagrants or office workers alike, clinging to utility poles, completely wasted.

And Kana Arima was only sixteen, nearly seventeen.

At that age, a girl living alone really wasn't all that safe.

Sakurajima Mai's reason was even harder to argue with.

The black-haired girl, who'd had a bit of a mischievous streak even in the original work, listened to his words, picked up the teacup on the table, took a sip, and simply asked back:

"If you can't manage even this little difficulty, how am I supposed to believe you can run a big, big harem?"

As she said it, the corners of her mouth curled playfully, and her lustrous violet eyes blinked at him. "Don't you agree? Yu~ji?"

How to put it...

If Kana Arima's words were a girlfriend's small willfulness and perfectly normal demand,

then Sakurajima Mai's words were clearly sharper.

Minami Yuji could plainly feel the resentment in the drawn-out tone of her voice.

That was only natural, though.

Sakurajima Mai had indeed accepted the situation, but she was bound to hold a little grudge. And that was understandable. Who would sincerely want to split what she loved with someone else?

So...

There was nothing for it.

Minami Yuji could only shake his head helplessly and agree to let them move in with him.

The only problem was that the two properties in Shibuya and Minato Ward couldn't be lived in for the time being.

They would probably have to move straight into the property in Chiyoda, the apartment with the custom-made large bed that Kana Arima and Sakurajima Mai had specifically requested.

There were two guest rooms there that he hadn't tidied up and was using as storage.

Misumi Hatsune had stayed in one of them last time.

After all, it was a luxury apartment Minami Yuji had bought at great expense, mainly for commuting to Minami Pro.

So just the floor space of the two guest rooms was already considerably bigger than either Kana Arima's or Sakurajima Mai's one-room apartments.

For that very reason,

as soon as tonight's shoot wrapped, he'd have to ride straight to Chiyoda and clean out both guest rooms so Kana Arima and Sakurajima Mai could move in.

And he had to remember that the shooting location now was a pier near Tokyo Bay.

They were mainly filming the final scene, where Fujiwara Kazuma blows up the Warehouse.

From here to his apartment in Chiyoda was at least an hour's drive.

On top of that, they wouldn't start shooting until seven or eight, once the night had fully darkened.

By the time they finished and he got home, Minami Yuji's conservative estimate was past ten o'clock.

Add cleaning two guest rooms, at the very least moving all the clutter out of the way, then sweeping, mopping, wiping...

There was no way to get it all clean and tidy in under two hours.

The thought of possibly working until midnight, or even into the small hours... and then having to pick up Kana Arima and Sakurajima Mai first thing in the morning...

Even Minami Yuji couldn't help sighing a little.

Of course.

Smack!

He slapped his own cheeks lightly.

Minami Yuji smiled and shook his head again, feeling he was being a bit too precious about it.

In Kana Arima's words, it would probably go something like this: you have two beautiful, adorable girlfriends who want to live with you, and you're dragging your feet like that? What kind of guy are you! Yuji, don't you know what happy trouble is?

So...

He polished off the rest of his bento without ceremony, turned to Nakashima Tetsuya, and asked, "We're shooting the Warehouse fire scene tonight, right, Director Nakashima?"

"Mm. More or less."

Nakashima Tetsuya nodded. "It's a fairly dangerous scene, and an expensive one. So, Yuji, are you confident you can nail it in one take?"

"Of course."

Minami Yuji nodded with a smile.

That's right.

Even if only for the sake of this so-called happy trouble...

He'd get tonight's shots done early!