On the Way Home
Ayane rubbed her full, rounded belly.
"Big trouble, Shin-ssi. Ayane's stomach feels like it's gonna burst."
"You should've eaten in moderation."
Ayane bristled at Tae-il's scolding.
"But it was so delicious! How could I resist? And technically, you took me there, so it's your fault!"
"What kind of nonsense is that?"
"Right here!"
Ayane stuck out her tongue sulkily and strode ahead.
Her stomach might be stuffed, but she moved with plenty of energy—no sign of side cramps.
"Shin-ssi! Hurry up or we'll miss the train!"
"It's not even the last one yet…."
Ayane waved from way up ahead.
Tae-il widened his stride and caught up to her in no time.
As they walked side by side down the quiet street, Ayane naturally hooked her arm through his.
"What if Ayane gets fat, Shin-ssi? What would you do?"
"Dunno. Never really thought about it."
"Your love has grown cold!"
"Why bring love into this? You're such a buzzkill."
Tae-il himself had zero experience with romantic love, after all.
"Chubby Ayane, huh…."
His indifferent gaze quickly scanned her up and down.
He could picture it easily enough. Sure, his imagination drew heavily from doujinshi, but it was more than enough to fill in the gaps. Tae-il sent a silent thanks to his past life's fan creators.
"What? You wouldn't mind if I gained weight?"
"Really?"
"Yeah. Even if you did, you'd still be pretty."
"Whoa, Shin-ssi, aren't you actually a total player?"
Ayane recoiled in exaggerated disgust, putting some distance between them.
Tae-il clicked his tongue in annoyance.
"If I were a player, I'd be out with other girls by now, you idiot."
"You went Live House hopping and everything. No girls you hooked up with even once?"
"As if."
He grumbled that the most he could manage was guys anyway.
"Who's the guy?"
"There is one. The dude who gave us those tickets this time. Pretty famous. He streams on YouTube."
"Ohhh. So Shin-ssi has friends besides Ayane."
Ayane clasped her hands behind her back and marched along stiff-legged, like a robot.
The narrow curb jutting between the sidewalk blocks and flower bed.
She hopped up onto it and teetered forward, balancing like she was on a parallel bar, swaying her upper body dramatically.
"So you're gonna form a band with him?"
"Nah."
Ayane tilted her head.
"Why not?"
"He's got skills, sure, but he's already killing it on YouTube and NicoNico."
"Must be super famous."
"Yeah. At least 300k subscribers. No reason for him to collab with a nobody like me."
Tae-il added that unless the guy made some catastrophic screw-up, he'd never have to worry about money for life.
By contrast, the path Tae-il wanted to take was shrouded in uncertainty—a future so murky and unreliable that no investor in their right mind would touch it. The worst kind of trash investment.
Abundance breeds laziness. A guy already living comfortably had no reason to hop aboard Tae-il's wild pitch and risk a new challenge.
Even a galleon crewed by the sturdiest, most elite sailors couldn't guarantee safe passage across the Pacific. And the ship Tae-il was boarding was a battered old tub that didn't even measure up.
No one but a suicidal dreamer chasing pipe dreams would climb aboard that.
But that's exactly the kind of fool Tae-il was looking for.
A Sancho for his Don Quixote.
"Plus, that guy's love life is a total mess. Debut with him and it'd be scandal central."
"Shin-ssi hangs out with people like that? Wild… Huh?"
Ayane, who had been hanging on his every word, suddenly slipped at the street corner.
Tae-il bolted to her side in alarm.
"Ayane! You okay?!"
"Ow!"
Her ankle was already swelling. When Tae-il gingerly touched it, she yelped in pain.
"No helping it. Hop on."
He crouched down and offered his back.
"I-I'm fine! Really! Just need a quick rest!"
"Get on while I'm asking nicely."
"R-Really, I'm…."
"If your ankle's fine, what was that stunt at the Live House?"
"Ugh, no arguing that…."
Ayane couldn't win against his nagging and finally climbed onto his back, carefully wrapping her arms around him.
He always slouched, so it wasn't obvious, but Tae-il's shoulders and back were surprisingly broad.
A boy was still a boy.
"Shin-ssi, am I heavy? Ayane ate so much today."
"It's like one or two kilos at most."
"Not wrong, but it stings…."
Tae-il chuckled and soothed her as she fretted over her weight.
"Don't worry. Even if you gain some, you're still pretty—and you always will be."
"Shin-ssi, aren't you being way too smooth trying to flirt with Ayane?"
"Wasn't really flirting."
The arms draped over his shoulders tightened just a bit.
Tae-il coughed awkwardly.
"Don't say stuff like that in front of other girls, okay? They might get the wrong idea and think you're hitting on them."
"Wouldn't other girls being around in the first place be the issue?"
"There's Izumi-san, right?"
"She's… a bit different."
"You called her cute! Ayane saw her blush too!"
"Sure, but there's a pretty big age gap between us. She wouldn't see me as a guy."
Six whole years.
It might not seem like much later in life, but at their age, it was huge.
Just like how a twenty-something saw teens as total kids, not dating material.
"Besides, don't most girls prefer reliable older guys over younger ones?"
"That's sexist, Shin-ssi."
"Is it?"
"Not every guy likes younger girls. You like older ones."
"Have I ever said that?"
"I can just tell."
Do I? Tae-il wondered, suddenly confused.
But Ayane said it with such conviction—must've been some slip of the tongue on his part sometime.
The two strolled down the quiet street.
Akihabara had that rowdy reputation, but unlike Korea, nights in Japan were short; most shops had already closed, leaving only the occasional bar lit up at this hour.
People would pick up again near the station, but Tae-il savored the brief quiet.
Suddenly, Ayane murmured into his shoulder, lips brushing his shirt.
"Shin-ssi, you really gonna make a band?"
"Gotta. I promised."
In front of BARD, no less. Backing out now would be a lifelong black mark. He'd kick the blankets in regret forever.
"How'll you recruit members?"
"Beats me. Still thinking."
Even as he said it, the lineup for Burning Blaze floated naturally to mind.
Vocalist especially—no contest, it had to be Iris.
Twenty years of pro singer-voice actress know-how crammed into a teenage girl? No other option came close.
Above all, her voice was exactly his type. The songs he'd composed were made with her in mind from his past life.
Of course, they'd stayed dreams back then.
But here, they could become real. My dreams.
Arisugawa Iris wasn't some pro voice actress or singer whose fee ran into the tens of millions per call.
She lived well, sure, and was impossibly pretty, but she was just another student.
Teaming up with her would be a hundred—no, a thousand—times easier than begging a pro to sing his songs.
"No way to replace that voice and singing talent…."
"Huh? Who?"
"Just… thinking there's this insanely talented girl at school. Maybe I should pitch it to her."
"A girl?"
"…."
"It's a girl, huh?"
"…."
Silence spoke volumes.
Ayane got her revenge from atop his back.
All the way home.
Tae-il endured her relentless grilling about the identity of this mystery prodigy.
Luckily, there were plenty of empty seats on the way back.
Red light.
Hatsukawa stopped the car and glanced in the rearview mirror at the backseat.
Yahiro fiddled with his seaweed-like mop of curly blond hair—hat long gone somewhere—and kept grinning like an idiot. Izumi hugged her knees, soul seemingly fled, staring blankly out the window.
Whatever had happened, that meeting with the boy had clearly left a huge mark on both of them.
Hatsukawa couldn't hold back his itching curiosity any longer.
"How was the meeting?"
Yahiro answered first.
"Great. No—perfect. Inspiration's bursting out of me. Now I'm pondering how best to crush that kid and show him the pro wall. Ahh, but I'll still give his songs a listen. Gotta critique 'em thoroughly, make him cry."
"Haha, glad to hear it."
Isn't that a bit much?
Hatsukawa gave an awkward smile at Yahiro's eagerness to stomp a young sprout.
Catching on, Yahiro grinned wider.
"What? Artists grow through rivals. Better me—a known name—critiquing him than faceless randos online, right?"
"True enough. Makes sense."
"Right? Deep down, he'll be grateful. I can already see him yelling, 'Thanks, Yahiro-hyung! That critique was a huge help!'"
Hatsukawa's gaze shifted to Izumi.
"And you, Izumi-san?"
"…."
Her crimson eyes, lost in the window, turned forward.
She buried her face between her knees.
"Watch the railings…."
"Pardon?"
"He told me to watch the railings."
Hatsukawa blinked in confusion at the cryptic reply.
Izumi, oblivious, recalled Tae-il's earnest warning as they'd parted, when he'd grabbed her hand.
'Please be careful around railings. Never lean on them or sit on top. And when you're out walking, always go with someone else.'
Why?
'Because I absolutely can't accept you dying.'
I… die?
Of course, everyone dies someday.
But Tae-il's reaction felt… more than that.
"I don't know."
Izumi let the thought go.
The moon was rising.
She closed her eyes.
Before the lingering warmth in her arms faded completely, she wanted to savor it just a little longer.