Chapter 67: Kumagai Live Concert
"Kyaaaa! We love you, Tatsui!"
"Namie! Namie! Namie!"
"Mikaze Ai, you're the best!"
"This concert is awesome!"
"I love you, Kaori!"
"You're all amazing! We want more!"
There are so many people in the stadium; the crowd is really full of energy! You can practically hear them clearly here from the backstage.
I looked towards the special guests' area and I could see some famous actors and idols; I can see Saotome-sensei enjoying himself. He really did come, huh? Oh lord, butterfly population in my stomach has probably reached a million now.
"Kaori." Ai puts his hand on my shoulder.
"Ah! Yes!" I got surprised and turned around.
"It's time to go to the rising platform underneath the stage; we're going to perform next."
The rising platform is a platform underneath the main stage; it's where you can surprise everyone but coming out of nowhere.
"O-okay. Let's go."
Ai grabs my hand and we went towards under the stage. I was shaking a bit because I was filled with excitement and worry; I'm full of mixed emotions like winning a grand prize from a mini game that you don't really need but need to keep anyway.
"Kaori, you need to relax."
We stepped onto the rising platform.
"Don't worry, I'm with you." He smiles as the platform started going upwards towards the stage on top.
When Ai says things are going to be alright, I feel more relax and safer.
When the rising platform reached the top of the stage, we jumped and landed onto the center stage.
I took a deep breath and shouted, "How's everyone doing so far tonight?!"
Ai and I position ourselves on the stage to prepare for the dancing part of our first duet song.
"Can't stop it!"
"The beating heart!"
We were going to perform just one song but Naoto-san made one extra song the other day and insisted that we should perform it. The song was called "Heartbeat, Lovebeat"; it's an energetic pop song that you could really dance to; I can't believe that he made us learn and memorize this song and the dance routine within a week. The bright side though is that I get to perform two songs with Ai and I think that it's great.
The song was fast paced so the dancing and singing was quite complicated but manageable. The audience loved the song and I swear I think I saw Saotome-sensei dancing to the song.
The song finishes and the audience was cheering really loud; I feel so happy that they liked it a lot.
Ai gets closer to the audience then waves to them. "Did you all enjoy that number?"
The audience were responding and their response was really positive.
"You guys are definitely energetic and happy, right?"
The audience shouts "Yes!"
"So happy that your heart would beat so strong as if it would jump out of your chest?"
The audience shouts "Yes!" once again.
Ai chuckles. "The feeling is great, isn't it? Being filled by a rushing energy of happiness, getting warmed up all inside, and seeing things in a bright shining light—it's wonderful, isn't it?"
The audience shouts "Yes!" even louder.
"It can be hard and stressful to tell one's feelings but you just can't beat the drive to tell the person, to understand their actions, and learn more about the person you love. After all the trouble to tell them what you feel, your efforts are rewarded by something you can't measure; no words could explain it. This feeling is similar. It's similar to having your feelings returned by the person you love most."
The audience starts shouting in excitement since they knew what song was going to be next.
Ai then looks back to me and holds out his hand.
"It's feels great to love someone and be loved by that person. Isn't that right, Kaori?"
The audience screams happily. I approach Ai and I take his hand which he held gently. The intro of the song "Returned Feelings" starts to play.
I started saying my lines as dictated by Naoto-san. "In this life we have, there is only one you; no one can take the place you've caught in my heart."
"From the beginning."
"Until the end."
Ai and I put our foreheads against each other and together we said, "I will love you whole heartedly."
The audience gets noisy as the intro of the song ends and Ai and I start to sing this humble love song.
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"Magniiiiiiiiiiificent! I can feel the stream of love pouring into my soul and waltzing in my veins! The angel, Mr. Mikaze and the little spark, Ms. Yamashita, make a good pairrr! The way they convey the feeling of love feels so real that you could mistake them as lovers!"
A thought then entered Saotome's mind. He stops dancing and starts to carefully observe Ai and Kaori's performance.
"This feeling...this pulse...could I be mistaking this as the real thing or could this be the real thing?"
He observes Ai's eyes each time he looks at Kaori.
"Those eyes...the way they shine with joy each time he looks at her...It seems that there is a possibility that this could be the real thing after all."
Saotome then enjoys the song until the end. After Ai and Kaori thanks the audience and heads back to the backstage, he gets up from his seat and goes towards the backstage area.
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Naoto-san approaches me and Ai as we entered the backstage.
"You two were brilliant! Your performance was amazing! I'm so proud of the both of you!"
"Thank you, Naoto-san! We did our best!"
"It was very enjoyable to perform with Kaori."
"Haha, I could say the same to you Ai. You had me a little surprised though! You said and did some things that weren't on the script! You had me worried; I wasn't sure what to do!"
"I couldn't help it; sorry about that."
"Liar, you're smiling! You're not sorry at all!"
"Maybe just a little."
I started hitting Ai's back a little.
"Aww! You two just make me want to write more duet songs! You're both just too cute to handle! But seriously, you two were amazing! You guys totally brought the audience into a dream!"
We then heard someone clapping and coming towards us.
"Brrrravo! Brrravoo!"
It was Saotome-sensei. Naoto-san, Ai, and I looked at each other with a little worry.
"Congratulations, Mr. Mikazeeee and Ms. Yaaamashita! You both are such talented iiiidols!"
"Um...t-thank you for the praise, Saotome-sensei. I'm glad you enjoyed the performance."
"I loved it! The two of you did such a great job in conveying the feelings of the songs that I thought of the two of you as real lovers; it was very convincing."
Ai takes a quick look at me.
"I'm guessing that it was all pretend but could I be wrong, Ms. Yamashita?"
Saotome-sensei is pressuring me. I can definitely feel that he's trying to see if we were really just pretending to be lovers.
"W-what are you talking a-about, Saotome-sensei?"
"You two were quite comfortable with each other. Tell me, how did the two of you become so close?"
I looked at Ai in worry.
"I'm glad to know that you were convinced by our performance; it's the fruit of all our hard work."
"Hm? Hard work? What do you mean, Mr. Mikazeee?"
Ai looks at Naoto-san.
"A-ah yes, that's because of the rigorous training that I conducted myself! I wanted to make sure that the audience would be pulled into the song by making them look and feel like lovers! That's right! Naoto Kumagai strikes again!"
"Hmmm...is that so? Then you did a good job in training them, my boyyy!"
"Thank you, sir! Oh! You should get back to your seat since the next song will start soon; Namie-chan will be performing next!"
"Ms. Nami? I haven't seen her in a longgg time! I should get back to my seat then! See you all! Ciaooo!"
"Enjoy the concert, sir!"
Naoto-san waves to Saotome-sensei.
"Mikaze-san that was a nice save!"
"We're lucky that Saotome believed you though; I was a little worried as well."
My hand won't stop shaking; that scared me quite a bit.
"Are you alright, Kaori?"
"I-I'm fine. I just got scared a bit."
Ai seems quite sad; he holds my hand tightly.
"Hey, why don't the two of you go on to your dressing rooms or something and relax for now? Both of you have finished your respective songs already so your next appearance is at the end of the concert during the finale where everyone sings. If you guys are hungry, we can order some food or big bro might have already bought some."
"I'm going to just rest in the dressing room. How about you, Ai?"
"I was planning to rest as well."
"Are you alright, Ai? You look a bit pale."
"I'm just tired."
"You go on ahead to the dressing room. I'll go get some drinks and snacks from Manager-san."
Ai went ahead to the dressing room while I went to look for Manager-san.
Where is Manager-san? My phone is back at the dressing room...I looked around the hallways of the area hoping that he would be wandering around. Maybe he's at—ah! There he is!
"Mana—"
I was going to call out to him but as I got nearer to the corner of the hallway where he stood, I noticed that he was talking to someone—it's a really beautiful woman. Is she an actress? Manager-san seems to be angry with her though; I think he doesn't like her. I decided to wait for them to finish talking; it really seems like Manager-san dislikes her a lot. After some time, the woman notices me staring at them; she smiles at me and leaves. Her smile was really beautiful but somehow, I felt uncomfortable; her smile sent chills down my spine. Manager-san then sees me and calls out to me.
"Kaori, what are you doing here?"
"I was looking for you, Manager-san. Ai and I finished our songs so our next performance would be during the finale with everyone else; we're going to rest in the dressing room until then."
"Ah, so you came looking for me for food." He holds up a plastic bag.
I smiled and nodded.
"Here you go then. It has enough snacks and bento for the two of you inside; there's also two medium bottles of water."
"Thank you, Manager-san. By the way, who was that woman just now? Is she an actress? She was really pretty."
Manager-san's smiling face suddenly turned really bitter and angry.
"That woman is not a good person; you hear me? She's not worth mentioning or talking about. You stay away from her as much as possible! If you see her ever again, don't talk to her; don't even look at her! You absolutely must not associate yourself with that witch!"
I was surprised that Manager-san could be that angry. It must be something serious for him to be like this. I went off with the food and headed towards the dressing room.
"Ai, I got the food from Manager-san."
Ai was sitting on front of one of the vanity mirrors and he had his arms and head on the table. He didn't answer me so does that mean he's sleeping? I went over to him and took a look.
He's sleeping.
I put the food down and took a jacket from the clothes hanging in the closet. I went over to Ai and I placed the jacket over him; I don't want him to get cold. I sat down on a chair beside him and watched him sleep. I think that this is the first time I've seen Ai sleep; he's so peaceful to look at.
I just stayed there by his side as he slept peacefully until it was almost time for the concert finale.
*knock knock*
Naoto-san entered the dressing room.
"Kaori-chan, Mikaze-san, it's almost time for the finale performance."
He notices Ai.
"Is he sleeping?"
I nodded.
"Well, you'll have to wake him up now. I leave it to you, Kaori-chan."
Naoto-san leaves the dressing room and went off to find the other singers.
"Ai, wake up; it's almost time for the finale."
"Wake up, Ai. Wake up."
He's not moving at all; I'm worried now. I started shaking him more.
"Hey Ai, if this is a joke, it's not funny at all! Don't be like that! It's not funny!"
"Ai! Wake up!"
I was shaking him a lot and raised my voice but he still wouldn't wake up; I was panicking. An unpleasant thought crossed my mind and it made me start crying; some of my tears fell on his cheek.
"A-Ai!..."
"Hnn...Kaori?"
He finally woke up! Thank God! I was really worried!
He touches his cheek; it was wet. He then looks up at me and realizes that his cheek was wet because I was crying.
"Kaori, what's wrong?! Why are you crying?"
He gets up immediately.
"It's your fault!"
"What?"
"I was trying to wake you up but you wouldn't wake up no matter what I did; you weren't responding at all! I thought that something might have happened to you!"
"I'm sorry. I'm sorry to have worried you. I'm sorry..." Ai hugs me to try and stop me from crying.
I calmed down after a few minutes.
"I'm sorry..."
"N-no, it's my fault. I jumped into a conclusion and overreacted. I'm sorry..."
Ai kisses my forehead. "You didn't overreact. If I were in your position, I think I would have thought and acted the same."
I hugged Ai.
"We should get going. Naoto-san and the others are probably already gathering at the backstage for the finale."
"We should hurry then. I'm sorry."
"You don't have to apologize anymore, Ai; it's okay."
We hurried to get to the backstage with everyone else. We got into position and when the Naoto-san finished his closing remarks, all of us singers stormed the stage and performed one final song together with Naoto-san. The finale was amazing! All of our voices blend so well and our choreography was perfect. The audience was so loud that I couldn't even hear myself sing anymore. Haha. Everyone's face was smiling brightly and their cheers were full of happiness. I will never forget this concert; I never will. Not only is this concert the biggest performance I've had so far, but this is also the first time that I got to perform with Ai and the first time that we got to be lovers in front of other people's eyes for a moment.
"Thank you for coming, everyone!"
Naoto-san then gave us the signal. We all lined up across the stage and in unison, "Thank you and see you all again!"
The audience cheered and clapped their hands even more. Before we could accept it, the concert ended and it was time to close the stage.