Twin Peaks
2wink begin to clash while the two of them are bouncing ideas off one another. Then, Ibara suddenly comes to them, asking that they appear on a music program often considered to be a gateway to great success. However, there’s only one time slot available—for one person...
Season: Summer & Autumn
Author: Akira
Characters: Hinata, Yuuta, Kaoru, Hiiro
Translated by verdantgrove and Mika_Enstars
Proofread by 310mc and meteorgreen
Chapters
Location: ES Live Stage
<End of September, two weeks after the live at Beehive>
Hinata: “♪~♪~♪~”
Yuuta: “~...♪”
Hinata: (Al~right, we're on a roll! Today too, we're the brightest in the entire world, Yuuta-kun!)
Yuuta: (Ugh, this is all wrong! Our progress is much too slow— or maybe it’s more like we’ve hit a wall, huh Aniki?)
Hinata: (Ehh~, now isn't that a stunning divide of opinions? Okay, then in accordance with the “2wink dispute rule” I came up with the other day, let's decide which one is correct with a coin toss!)
Yuuta: (I thought you were just joking when you said that. Also, didn’t you say we’d decide based on rock-paper-scissors?)
(Plus, there’s no way you brought coins up on stage, right?)
Hinata: (Okie-dokie! Rock paper scissors it is! Starting with—)
Yuuta: (Wawa?! Rock!)
Hinata: (Paper disguised as rock! Making you panic and depriving you of your ability to think was all a trick so your Onii-chan would win! Fuhahaha☆)
Yuuta: (But that’s where you’re wrong! I saw that coming all along, and so I changed mine to paper— doesn’t that make it a tie?)
Hinata: (If you were anticipating that, wouldn't the typical thing to do be to choose scissors so you can win?)
Yuuta: (I couldn’t be sure if you were thinking that far ahead… If you hadn’t been, and I just went with scissors, I’d have lost, wouldn’t I?)
Hinata: (Onii-chan thinks every once in a while, too~. Jeez, Yuuta-kun's such a scaredy-cat. ♪)
Yuuta: (I’m just cautious. There’s a certain someone here who likes to run into things headfirst without so much as a look over his shoulder, so I guess I’m getting into the habit of taking a step back and helping from behind.)
Hinata: (Right, right. As always, anything and everything is all my fault. ♪)
Yuuta: (That’s not what I meant at all, but if you really think so, “Hinata-kun”, then that might just be it.)
Hinata: (Yup yup. ...That's enough of that; let's keep moving forward before all we do is have disagreements.)
Yuuta: (The way you’re saying it is pissing me off, you know?!)
Hinata: “♪ ~ ♪ ~ ♪”
"Everyone~! Thank you all for coming to our live show today! It's 2wink~, the cute pop twin idols everyone loves!"
"I believe everyone here today came here to see us, so we probably didn't need to introduce ourselves!
"But I just can’t settle down until I do it! I'm the lively big brother of 2wink, Hinata~!"
Yuuta: “...I’m more quiet when compared to my brother, but that doesn’t mean I don’t have spirit! I’m the younger brother, Yuuta~♪”
Hinata & Yuuta: “When the two of us are together, we’re the two-in-one twin idol 2wink!”
Hinata: "We're so grateful to be able to have ordinary public performances for just us lately, not as a sideshow for some veteran unit!"
"Though of course, those were great experiences as well!"
Yuuta: “And it was all thanks to everyone’s support! We! Are! So! Grateful!”
Hinata: "To say thank you, we'll give you guys a great time today too! Look forward to it!"
Yuuta: “Come on, let’s all join hands and party until morning comes! Before we’re dragged away by fussy and overprotective parents!”
Hinata: “Welcome—to our playground...!”
Yuuta: (Hmm~... Just as I thought; I just don’t feel completely satisfied with this for some reason.)
(The audience gave us a good reaction, not to mention our fans are increasing steadily, and this stage was made just for us, not for us to be some opening act for someone else.)
(MCing, singing, dancing, and performing too— We’ve spent so long living at the bottom of the barrel to the point where we can do them all flawlessly every time without so much as a second thought.)
(No accidents, no troubles either— we’re becoming model students that CosPro can take pride in.)
(But is that really good enough? Was it really our goal to become some second-rate, middle-class idols?)
Hinata: (? What's wrong, Yuuta-kun? Haven't you been rather unenergetic these days? You really do need to eat sweets every once in a while— sugar is the energy of life after all!)
Yuuta: (You’re eating way too many sweets just for the sake of keeping your image, Aniki— aren’t you going to get fat?)
Hinata: (I won't! If our figures differ and it becomes easier to tell who is who, won't we lose our selling point as twin idols?)
Yuuta: (At this point it’s not just a selling point, but what we’re all about. After all…)
(We are twins. But I hate that there doesn’t seem to be anything apart from that. I’m confident that I can hold my own against other idols with my singing, my dancing, anything.)
Hinata: (Just "holding your own" isn't enough, don'tcha think? Now is the age of individuality, yanno!)
Yuuta: (I really don’t think that trying to forcibly squeeze some individuality into the end of your sentence like that really does any good, you know?)
(If you start doing a weird voice, I’m going to have to match it too, and that’s a pain. So can you cut it out?)
Hinata: (Okay. Let's avoid these hassles as much as possible, and work on what we have the best we can. Things are great now that we're successful, so what on earth are you dissatisfied with... Yuuta-kun?)
Yuuta: (I’m not exactly dissatisfied, but…)
Hinata: “~...♪”
Yuuta: (That thing that Rinne-senpai told me that day is still stuck in my head. Even though I should just ignore whatever a piece of trash like that says to me, huh...)
(But that person has poisoned me, and even now, I can still feel it piling up in the back of my stomach. It’s a poison known as anxiety, as doubt, as regret… My head is... spinning.)
(Hey, if ten or a hundred years from now, the era we live in becomes a story that only lives on in books…)
(How many pages do you think will be about me— about us?)
Hinata & Yuuta: “♪ ~ ♪ ~ ♪”
Translated by verdantgrove and Mika_Enstars
Location: 2wink Dressing Room
<A few hours later. Immediately following the end of the live, in the 2wink dressing room>
Hinata: Pheeew, today’s live was a hit! I’ve got zero complaints!
Yuuta: Great work today, Aniki. ...That's right~, since we've been completely consistent these days, we've had no need for any post-live performance reviews.
That isn't a bad thing at all, okay?
Hinata: No, it so is! We always get something to eat together after a live, even if we call it a performance review— we’ve been doing that forever!
But nowadays we always say the whole thing was smooth sailing and nothing else, and giving your body some time to recharge is more important, so we just end up going home first thing after the live!
Yuuta: What’s wrong with that? We can meet up whenever we want, and I don’t see why we have to celebrate each time we finish work.
Nowadays, having a meal with you feels like working overtime for me.
Hinata: I don’t really know what you mean by that, but that’s so mean!? Eating with you after lives was my sole source of joy after we got split into separate dorm rooms!
I don’t get the chance to get my healthy dose of Yuuta-kun very often!
Yuuta: What does that even mean...
Hinata: Well, if I put it seriously… I’ll be direct: we’re not able to hang out face-to-face nearly as much as we used to, so I get the feeling that there’s a subtle misalignment starting to show— in our behavior, and stuff like that.
Before, if it was just you who showed up on TV and stuff, it felt like I was looking in a mirror, but nowadays it pretty much only takes one glance for me to think “Ah, that’s Yuuta-kun”.
Yuuta: That's an improvement, right? You used to think that you and I were too alike, while I usually could tell us apart at any time?
Hinata: Huh? How cruel! So you think your big bro is some stranger!?
Yuuta: Strangers are a whole different thing, y’know.
...Oh? The ES accounting department works fast as ever, huh, we've already gotten paid for this live. Look, look—so much L$. ♪
Hinata: Mmm… Since L$ are nothing but data, it doesn’t really hit me that we’ve earned a lot, if that makes sense?
I really want more physical compensation to show for it~ Like, I wanna use a stack of bills to bless some poor kids with good fortune, or something~
Yuuta: Well, due to the image we give off, even if we did something like that, it’d look like a prank, wouldn't it.
I mean, we can't become little angels, nor can we completely become bad guys—we're stuck in the middle.
Hinata: So basically what you’re saying is that we can’t be like Ra*bits, and we can’t be like Crazy:B either. But well, that’s alright—- Because we’re 2wink. ♪
Yuuta: Just how many times have you said "Well, it's alright" today... I feel like I just have to suck it up while going with the flow... All the time, not just today.
Hinata: Mmm, but we’ve still got lots and lots of fans who are sticking with us to this day, so realistically speaking, we can’t really pull off a total image change at this point.
Yuuta: That's true, but... it's not that I want to have a complete fresh start in every possible way, I just want to add a little something else in there, you know?
I want something like a new expansion, or an essential unexplored context—
Hinata: Context, huh? Yuuta-kun, aren'tcha a little too hung up over what Rinne-senpai told you?
That guy’s the type who will spout lies without any meaning behind them, just like me, so if you really take every little thing he said to heart, I think you’re just gonna tire yourself out, yeah?
Yuuta: If you're this aware of it, Aniki, then better yourself and live more honestly and properly.
Hinata: Eh? But being an impish little devil who doesn’t make it clear how serious he is is the essence of my charm—
Huh?
Yuuta: ? What is it, Aniki? Looks like you’re looking at HoldHands too; is the pay not enough for you or something?
Hinata: Nah, our agency— or well, more like our Vice Prez— is pretty thorough with us.
He always deposits our payments to our separate bank accounts, just like he said he would.
Yuuta: Yeah. Having our payments go to the 2wink joint account was just too much pointless extra work, so we disabled it.
Not being the leader meant going through the hassle of getting your permission every time I needed to make a withdrawal.
Hinata: It was no hassle for me~ I was always happy to put in the effort for anything you need!
Yuuta: Don't you pat yourself on the back for making sooo many sacrifices for your little brother so selfishly. I'm not some doll who exists for the sake of soothing your heart, ‘kay?
Hinata: Mm, I get it, I get it. Just like you said, Yuuta-kun, everything’s all my fault.
Yuuta: (Ngh... I feel like lately, no matter what I say, Aniki keeps shutting down our conversation by immediately apologizing like this, and it's been getting worse. Though, he may not even be aware of it.)
(We end up not being able to have any significant discussions. We continue to walk on eggshells around each other while trying to keep things the way things are.)
(On the outside, we appear like we're getting along, and even at work we're rolling out consistent results, but—)
(It's like crossing a tightrope in pitch black darkness, I don't like it... I feel uneasy.)
Hinata: ...Yuuta-kun, everything okay? We did just finish a live, so are you tired? Aww jeez, you should follow your big bro’s example and do a little more training, yeah?
Yuuta: Aniki, we have the same physical condition.
(So maybe, this is a psychological issue.)
Nevermind that—if you were fine with the pay, then what was that "huh" for? If there's an issue, consult me too instead of shouldering it all by yourself, okay?
Hinata: Yeah yeah, I get that too ♪
Ya see, the thing is, I got a call from Vice Prez Saegusa for some reason. It’s like, speak of the devil and stuff!
Yuuta: From the Vice Prez? Wonder why, maybe we messed something up in today’s live?
Hinata: Being called out doesn’t always equal a scolding, yeah? Although, it did mean that back when Yumenosaki was the center of everything.
Yuuta: Yeah, whenever you were up to no good, they’d mix it up with me for some reason, and I’d end up being the one to write the reflection essays.
Though nowadays, we're seen as everyone's favorite honor students, so those sorts of things happen considerably less now.
Hinata: Mhm. And that’s why, since our way of life now is how it’s meant to be, that means that it’s the “correct answer”, yeah? Though it doesn’t really seem like something you can stomach—
Well, moving on! Vice Prez is always looking out for us; there’s no way I can ignore his call. I’m just gonna go and pop in there really quick and hear what he has to say.
Yuuta: Ah, then I'll go with you too. I'm concerned you'll end up making weird selfish decisions if I'm left out again.
Hinata: Seems like that’s all you ever say these days, Yuuta-kun… You’re like some nagging girlfriend…
You don’t have to fret so much~ You’re always gonna be my everything, you know. ♪
Yuuta: Well, I’d also like to be able to step up. I don't want to just rely on being piggybacked around by you and other people for the rest of my life.
Although to everyone else I may just be a little brother character, I'm still Hinata-kun's older brother.
Well, it won't be easy returning the debt of over a decade's worth of comfort as a "little brother"...
But still, I want to steadily repay that debt back, and truly become even with you.
Hinata: I wanted to give you all this love free of charge, but now it’s like you’re throwing it right back in my face with an “I don’t need it,” which is giving me mixed feelings… But well, just suit yourself.
If that’s what your “correct answer” is, then it doesn’t really matter whether or not it’s mine too.
Yuuta: …?
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Translated by verdantgrove and Mika_Enstars
Location: ES Dorm Room (Hinata, Hiiro, Niki)
<A couple days later. Starmony Dorms, Hinata Aoi’s Dorm Room>
Hiiro: I've returned! What a pleasant morning it is!
Hinata: GyaAAH! Come on! What do you mean "this will be a great opportunity for you two," isn't this literally just bullying!?
Hiiro: ? What opportunity?
Hinata: Whoa! Hiiro-kun, could you please not appear behind me out of nowhere?!
Hiiro: Mhm, hiding my presence only to creep up behind a fellow housemate would be quite discourteous, wouldn’t it? Since it would mean I don’t trust the other party.
Hinata: Uh, y-yeah.
Hiiro: I end up doing it anyway out of habit, though, but you would always sense it and notice me anyway.
However, this time, you did not. In other words, you're facing something that's causing you to lose your composure, right? It's unusual for you to speak so loudly to yourself...
If there's anything causing you trouble, I will gladly lend you an ear. I know you'd do the same for me.
Hinata: R-right... Thanks. Then, can you hear me out real quick, Hiiro-kun?
Hiiro: Yes, I shall!
But before that, may I change my clothes first? I just got back from running my routine morning patrol around the building, so I'm sweaty.
Hinata: Why do you do patrols, actually? I'm pretty sure the Starmony Dorms have security.
Hiiro: Mhm, well, think of it like a cat sharpening its claws. If it can't keep its claws sharp, then it won't be able to relax, right?
Hinata: How noble! I also feel I gotta maintain my quality as an idol, so I try to keep a skincare routine and stuff.
Hiiro: You do? But aren't you always staying up all night with Shiina-senpai, eating sweets and playing games...?
Hinata: Huh? Ohh~, did that happen...? You sure remember things well, huh, Hiiro-kun!
Hiiro: Of course—I do have a good memory, after all.
Hinata: Even though one wouldn’t guess it from looking at you, Hiiro-kun...
Anyways, can you listen while you're changing? I want to elaborate on things a bit, too.
Hiiro: Okay. ...Just don't look over here too much, I don't really like showing my skin around others.
Hinata: Hmm? Perfect, perfect, that’s one of the basics of being an idol! ♪ You can't be selling it at a bargain, am I right~?
Hiiro: Yep! Somehow, the customs back at my hometown have been surprisingly beneficial to my idol experience.
I wonder if that is also why idols appealed so much to my brother back then.
Perhaps that's why he felt that becoming an idol wasn't just some daydream, but instead a "cherished aspiration" within his reach.
Hinata: Umm... I get that you really love your older brother, but could you listen to me now?
Hiiro: Okay!
Hinata: So, y’see, a few days ago, I was called over by our Vice Prez. And he told me about our next job.
Hiiro: Mhm. You're getting one job after another, huh. 2wink seems to be in great shape, it's enviable.
Hinata: You think so? But Alkaloid seems to be chuggin' along too—other than Crazy:B, aren't you guys the hottest rookies of the year?
Hiiro: Chuggin' along...?
Hinata: I feel like we were in the same position as yours 'til this summer, though... The "promising rookie group" stage.
Hiiro: ? But doesn't 2wink have a pretty lengthy history in performing arts? I heard you guys have been street performers since you were kids. If that’s the case, then you would have been newcomers back then, right?
Street performers weren’t a thing in my hometown, so it's difficult to imagine what that way of living must be like, but—
If you were performing for money—Doesn’t that mean you’ve been idols since you were kids?
Hinata: It was nothing special, really. Either way, that's why right now you guys are shining enviably to us.
Hiiro: Thank you. As underachievers who started from the bottom up, just being able to stand besides all of you brilliant idols at last brings us hope.
But we can't let our guards down yet. We must stay diligent!
Hinata: Yes, good boy, good boy. It's honestly somewhat appalling just how good you Alkaloid boys are, y'know... You’re sorta like Ra*bits, in a way?
Hiiro: Mhm, they're one of our inspirations, actually. We're not quite aiming for the "cute" image—rather, what we admire is how they achieved their goals.
Hinata: Huuh? You don't admire us 2wink, Hiiro-kun?
Hiiro: Haha, we certainly look up to you guys too, but, needless to say, we can't become "twins" no matter how hard we try.
Perhaps I just feel this way because I'm new to this, but aren't you guys a pretty unique existence? You have a rare individuality that nobody else can replicate.
Hinata: Nn~... But that's also our burden—we have no one else to look up to. Referring to the textbook doesn't do us any good.
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Translated by Mika_Enstars
Location: ES Dorm Room (Hinata, Hiiro, Niki)
Hinata: And that's exactly what makes this so troubling, y'see. We're at a loss.
Hiiro: What's been troubling you?
Hinata: Basically, when we were settling down after our live a few days ago, we were called over by Vice Prez Saegusa.
Hiiro: Ah, the "Iba-nyan" guy!
Hinata: Right, yeah, Iba-nyan! ♪ Looks like his time in Bogie Time left a deep impression on you, Hiiro-kun~. But that guy is definitely someone to keep in mind when you're part of CosPro.
Hiiro: I haven’t met him in person yet, that’s why. And my brother has also ordered me to not get too close to this "Iba-nyan" person.
Hinata: Oof, so he's overprotective too?
But anyways, he approached me about an upcoming job.
Well, it was more like we had the project representative with us. And then we were ordered "here's your next job to do," as you’d usually be told with a new job.
Hiiro: Hmm, that must’ve made it hard to turn down, didn’t it? Nobody could ever say no/decline when pressed by superiors and companies; that “Iba-nyan” person really knows how to negotiate, doesn’t he?
Hinata: Yup, on the plus side, that’s one of the things I trust about him.
But what's really troubling is the job he gave us... Some Volcano thingie? It's a long-running music program, do you know of it, Hiiro-kun?
Hiiro: No, I don't think I've heard of it. I do all sorts of research myself, and Aira also informs me of many things even if I don’t ask about it, but...
The history of the idol industry alone is vast beyond measure, so it's impossible for a single person to catch up with all of it.
Hinata: Agreed, it was the first time I've heard of it too.
Apparently it's been around for a long time, like about as old as Marble Cast[1] that got rebooted recently, give or take. It seems to be infamous for not letting idols appear on it.
So 'cuz of that it wasn't too well known 'til around two years ago when the idol industry was in decline— then, it started gaining power and bridging the gap.
We ourselves were too busy trying to stay afloat, so we didn't really pay attention to that kind of major trend, though.
Hiiro: Shouldn't they be teaching these sorts of things in Yumenosaki? This seems like extremely vital knowledge for us.
Hinata: Yeaaah, our school’s more like a "school full of idols" rather than an idol training school, unlike the schools affiliated with CosPro..
Oh, but ever since they started restructuring the school last year, the curriculum and stuff got a huge overhaul.
Anyways, that Volcano-something is a program that music artists aspire to be on.
Seems like there's lots of people who became huge stars after appearing on it. A gateway to stardom, you could say?
It's a pretty huge deal just for an idol to perform on it, so we should be super grateful to have been given this opportunity.
In essence, it's kinda like an LN author winning the Nobel Prize in Literature, if ya feel me?
Hiiro: Ell-en? No bell..?
Hrmm... I don't know what those words mean, but it sounds to me there isn’t any reason to refuse the order.
It's your opportunity to make a leap forward—if anything, I think it's quite an honor.
There's still a lot I have yet to learn about idols, but...
If you're able to appear on a program that has always excluded idols, you'll be able to draw in people that, much like me, may not know much about idols.
Hinata: Or it might become a public execution. That's what tends to happen when an outsider gets crammed into somewhere they don’t belong.
Hiiro: I see.
Hinata: ...Well, either way, I feel you— I did wanna agree to it without any hesitation.
I assume the Vice Prez prepared this special stage for us as a reward for always working as his henchmen.
And ever since around sometime when the JNLC1 happened, it's been CosPro's policy to take every single opportunity to maximize a job’s profit...
So it didn't have to be us performing on that Volcano thingie.
Yet even though it could’ve been anyone from CosPro, the Vice Prez specifically nominated us.
It could be because we boo-hooed over not being able to perform in Bogie Time, so maybe he’s just trying to make amends with us.
But either way, he entrusted this job to us because he believed in us. It’s a real honor to have that trust, and we've always been waiting for a job like this.
We’ve always wanted to be given an extraordinary stage, where we could shine as the main characters.
Hiiro: Hmm... I don't really get it. The more I hear about it, the more it sounds like a great opportunity, rather than a problem.
As long as it's you two, you'll be able to pull off any job perfectly, right?
Hinata: Ooh, you think so highly of us, Hiiro-kun!
Hiiro: Haha, to us underachievers, you all look so bright from above.
Hinata: I don't think that things like “above” and “below” really exist, when it comes to idols, though... but I’m not gonna say that “everyone is perfect in their own way” like Ryuseitai would or anything.
I just don't think it's worth it to decide who's above and below others, y'know?
But now... That might be exactly what we have to do.
Hiiro: ? Come again?
Hinata: Well, y’see, that Volcano-something has a limitation of sorts, and the condition given to us is that only a single representative for ES can appear on the program.
In other words... 2wink won't be able to perform—only one of them, Aoi Yuuta or Aoi Hinata, will be given the honor.
One of the twins will lose the chance to perform on the program everyone aspires to be on.
The public's perception of us will change too—and it'll create a big difference between "us". I'm terrified of that.
But... This must be something "Yuuta-kun" has always been hoping for.
Hiiro: ...
TL Notes
1: JNLC stands for Japanese Neverland Cup, from the event story Neverland.
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Translated by Mika_Enstars
Content Warning: Mention of sexual harassment in the form of a joke.
Location: ES Dorm Room (Yuuta, Kaoru, Nagisa)
<Same time. Aoi Yuuta’s dormitory in Starmony Hall>
Kaoru: Hmm. Looks like you’ve got a complicated situation going on again, Yuuta-kun.
Yuuta: …….
Kaoru: Huh? Hey, can you hear me? It’s kind of rude to just ignore someone and not even reply when you’re the one who started the conversation, especially if it’s your senior, you know?
Juuust kidding—
Yuuta: Aah, I’m so sorry, Hakaze-senpai! I was a little immersed in my thoughts, so I didn’t hear you! I apologize for my rudeness, hehe~! (kneeling in apology)
Kaoru: No no no, it was just a joke. You don’t have to go that far to say sorry~ We’re roommates, so in a way, we’re kinda like family, yeah?
Yuuta: Family—
I wonder, what is family, anyway...
Kaoru: Whoa, we’re getting deep now... Well, we’ve known for a long time that the whole traditional view of “family” has caved in on itself, so does anyone really know the correct answer to that question these days?
Juuust kidding—
Yuuta: Wow! I didn’t really understand what you just said, but I’m impressed! Only you’d be able to give me such great advice, Hakaze-senpai! You adults have so much life experience...☆
Kaoru: Um, hold on… This conversation’s moving strangely fast, don’t you think?
Maybe I’m going about this all wrong, I dunno~... I haven’t felt all that great about my communication skills lately, you know~?
Yuuta: ...Me too. I do feel like I’m the sort of student who can get along with anyone in my class, more or less, but...
As soon as I start fighting with Hinata-kun, all those communication skills go straight to the trash.
Kaoru: Ah, I get it~ My sister just got married, so I end up acting awkward whenever we talk. It puts this uncomfortable tension in the air.
I mean, obviously I don’t want to hurt her feelings—if anything, she’s as important to me as any treasure in the world. But, it’s like, we’ve been out of touch for so long that we still haven’t really got a hold on how the other acts.
Yuuta: Hmm. My situation is the other way around—the two of us have been stuck together for so long that now I feel like I get anxious whenever we drift even the slightest bit apart.
Kaoru: Mhm. Either way, it’s tiring to deal with—all because they’re so important to us.
Anyway, I’ve heard the gist of the situation, but—it really is just awful by anyone’s standards, huh?
Being a “two-in-one” package is 2wink’s whole selling point, and yet only one of you guys is gonna be allowed to perform… or something like that?
Yuuta: Well, it’s a very popular program, so it seems more like they just don’t have time slots for both of us.
Plus, the unit system still hasn’t really spread into the music industry at large.
No, no—the problem is more that the idol industry stubbornly refuses to let idols work solo—it’s so weird.
Kaoru: Hmm. I get the feeling that what they’re saying is common sense to them, and that maybe our idea of what’s “common sense” is different, huh?
I don’t think they meant any harm by it, did they?
Yuuta: Yeah, they didn’t seem to… I heard that Hinata-kun went and discussed the details of the job with the producer of the program directly.
Whether it’s for better or worse, it seemed to me that he didn’t think much of it.
The producer sounded like he’s stuck in the days where you could make a ton of profit just by airing a TV program without making any effort at all. Feels like the bubble economy days.1
Kaoru: Yeaaah, feels like that industry’s not really caught up with the times.
Or maybe it’s just that the higher-ups in the idol industry have been trained in some weird ways, because they like playing war and politics way too much.
I’m pretty sure the higher-ups in the general music industry could make a profit just by stealing market shares from the declining idol industry.
So I guess it does make sense that they don’t even bother to think up stuff anymore.
Things like this happen all the time, and us idols who are associated with RhythLin are no stranger to this either.
Yuuta: Yeah, I think I know what you’re referring to there. I can tell that you seniors in UNDEAD are starting to get your feet on the ground now, but I was pretty worried about how your unit was doing at first...
I was wondering if you guys were alright.
Kaoru: Well, we’re called UNDEAD for a reason. Don’t worry, everything’s alright. Even if we die, we’ll always come right back to life.
You guys have also learned a lot more from Rei-kun than I have. So you’re like half-vampire now; doesn’t that make the two of you undead too?
So that’s why I think everything will turn out totally fine. ♪
Yuuta: What are you talking about… Even if you’re trying to cheer us on here, it’s hard for me to understand. I’m starting to think that whole thing about you being popular with women is a lie, you know?
Kaoru: Huuuh? The girls loved me for my genuine caring side, y’know? I’d always keep asking them how they’re doing and comfort them no matter how vague I sounded~ Really, really. ♪
Yuuta: Alright, yeah. To be fair, talking to you has calmed me down a lot, Hakaze-senpai.
Kaoru: That’s good. I’m not really used to talking to guys, so I’ve got nooo confidence here—if you were a girl, I’d give you a kiss to calm you down right away. ♪
Yuuta: Noooo, Hakaze-senpai, you sex offender~♪
Kaoru: Don’t you think that’s going too far?!
Yuuta: It’s a joke, just a joke! ♪
Kaoru: Yeah, I know. ...Looks like you really have calmed down. That’s a relief. I guess we’ve got no hope of having a productive conversation here if we can’t understand each other’s jokes.
TL Notes:
1: “Bubble economy” refers to the Japanese asset price bubble of the 1980s, a time period in which real estate and stock market prices were greatly inflated due to excessive optimism about and high expectations for the future. The bubble “burst” in early 1992, and Japan’s economy stagnated afterwards.
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Translated by verdantgrove
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