Tokyo's Most Affectionate - Chapter 65

Itsuragi’s Incoming Call

After replenishing with water, Kurosawa and Ichinose continued to enjoy their time in the sea, engaging not only in swimming but also playing in the water along the beach.

It wasn’t until after noon that they decided to take a break.

Choosing a nearby beachside café called “Sea House,” they sat down without bothering to change clothes and ordered some food casually.

“Swimming in the sea is so tiring.”

Ichinose, feeling completely drained, slumped on the table like a puddle of mud. 

While she had been to the beach before, it was usually alone or with family, and the experience was relatively relaxed.

“It’s a bit tiring, but I had a great time swimming.” Kurosawa remained energetic.

“Yamamoto said you’re too weak and wanted to take you to the gym. If he knew how good your stamina is, I wonder what expression he would have.” Ichinose sat up, observing him, and couldn’t help but marvel.

“Hahaha.”

“Hikaru-kun, with your strong physique, why do you have low blood sugar?”

“Low blood sugar doesn’t necessarily mean weakness; it can also occur if you intake too little sugar.” Kurosawa pondered for a moment. Since he had already lied, he decided to continue with it.

The emergence of one lie would be followed by countless others. Nevertheless, this wasn’t a malicious lie, and he felt no psychological burden.

“Do you rarely eat sweets?”

“I didn’t like them much before, but now I have to eat them.”

“Oh, here, take this.”

Bringing up the topic, Ichinose remembered something and reached into her swimsuit to pull out an item, placing it on the table.

“A lollipop?”

“I bought it yesterday.”

“Do you always carry it with you?”

“Well, I thought you might have low blood sugar and would feel dizzy.”

Ichinose nodded, not denying it. She had anticipated that a day at the beach would consume a lot of energy, so she bought a few sweets yesterday.

“Thanks.”

Kurosawa didn’t hesitate, he took it, unwrapped the candy, and started eating. Even if he didn’t have low blood sugar, having some sugar from time to time was a good thing.

For humans, consuming sugar could make the brain more agile and create a sense of pleasure.

Before long, the waiter brought two bowls of fried noodles.

“I’m starting.”

Holding chopsticks, the two followed the Neon tradition of making a toast before the meal. As they opened their mouths together, they shared a smile and began to eat.

The advantage of eating together was that it never felt lonely.

After a while, Ichinose’s phone suddenly played a tune – the melody of “Little Love Song.”

“I have a call.”

Ichinose took her phone out of the waterproof case.

“Is it her again?”

With a glance, she nodded with a bit of a headache.

“Who?” Kurosawa sensed her frustration.

“Miss Itsuragi…” Ichinose showed him the phone and explained, “She’s the talent scout. I’ve made it clear to her that you don’t want to be a singer, but she’s persistent and wants to talk to you in person.”

“Is it that difficult… are you going to answer it or not?”

Kurosawa wanted to know how she would handle it.

As for Itsuragi not giving up, he wasn’t surprised. 

On the way back and forth to Fuji-Q Highland, Itsuragi had made it very clear that she saw great potential in the Karaoke Song Deity and obviously wouldn’t easily give up.

“I have to answer because I haven’t returned the money to her yet.” Ichinose pressed a button with one hand and answered the call.

Then, she placed the phone to her ear and began to speak.

“Hello.”

“I’m having lunch.”

“He doesn’t want to be a singer.”

“He can’t meet with you either.”

“Even if there’s a way to contact him, can I ask him first?”

Kurosawa couldn’t hear what Itsuragi was saying, but he could roughly guess her attitude.

Then, with one hand covering the phone’s microphone, Ichinose whispered.

“Hikaru-kun, what should I do? She’s very persistent, and I can’t refuse her.”

“Ahem-hem.”

Kurosawa thought for a moment, coughed twice, tested his voice, and then gestured to her.

Seeing his strange actions, Ichinose raised an eyebrow but still handed him the phone.

“Hello.”

Kurosawa spoke, but his voice changed to Hinata’s tone.

As soon as these words came out, Ichinose on the other side widened her eyes, completely bewildered.

How was Hikaru-kun this amazing? He could even change his voice, directly imitating Hinata’s vocal tone.

“Hello, I’m Itsuragi Runa. Nice to meet you for the first time.”

On the other end of the phone, Itsuragi didn’t recognize the voice and didn’t realize it was Kurosawa. She just introduced herself.

“I’m Yamamoto Hinata. Nice to meet you,” Kurosawa directly made up a false name.

“Mr. Yamamoto, has Miss Ichinose informed you of my situation?”

“I know. The only thing I want to say to you is that I don’t want to be a singer.”

“I wonder why. Is it because you don’t want to show your face, or do you think being a singer has no future?”

“Both.”

“Well, have you heard of Fujiwara Rika?”

“I have.”

Kurosawa had checked beforehand; it would have been strange if he hadn’t heard of her.

“She is my contracted artist. Although I’m not a big celebrity, I have some reputation in the industry. People call me the sharp-eyed Itsuragi Runa.

I believe with your skills and talent, as long as you sign with me, I and the company will work together to tailor-make suitable composers and lyricists for you. With a strong collaboration, we will definitely make you the rising star that rivals Rika Fujiwara.”

This persuasion was very tempting and demonstrated strength and credibility.

“There’s no need, please don’t disturb me anymore.” However, Kurosawa’s attitude was very cold.

Setting aside whether he wanted to be a singer or not, he had to stop this matter.

If Itsuragi followed and investigated, discovering his relationship with Ichinose, and if Ninomiya found out, it would become a troublesome matter.

There are many choices in life, and some choices will affect one’s entire life.

“Mr. Yamamoto, are you really not considering it?”

Itsuragi still didn’t give up on persuasion and exploration.

As an agent, she also had the responsibility of a talent scout, not willing to miss out on a talented young person.

“I’m not considering it. Just like this, later, I will have Yuki return the money to you.”

“That’s just a small amount of money. Compared to that, I want to talk to you in person. Can you give me a chance? If…”

“I can’t. I’m very busy. Goodbye.”

Kurosawa didn’t wait for her to finish speaking and swiftly hung up the phone.

“Done.”

Kurosawa handed the phone to Ichinose.

“What happened?”

As she took the phone, Kurosawa noticed her gaze and expression returning to normal, so he asked.

“I just suddenly felt that there’s another side to you, Hikaru-kun,” Ichinose murmured a bit.

At first, it was okay, but towards the end, Kurosawa’s attitude was quite cold and a bit intimidating.

This was different from her impression of him – the gentle, considerate, mature, polite, and gentlemanly Kurosawa.

At this moment, she suddenly realized that she knew too little about Kurosawa.