Cool And Relax

I’m still surprised by what happened to me. Why is she in this apartment?
“Hello?”
She’s trying to get my attention as I’m still in freeze mode.
“Are you a ghost?” I can’t believe what happened just now.
“I am a real person! Sorry I intruded like this, but I don’t want other people to see me.”
“So, is it me not a person then?” I asked her back.
“That’s true. Anyway, please let me stay here for a while.”
My mind went blank. I want to call the police, but this will cause unnecessary confusion.
“Are you still there?” she asked.

“Yes? No! Okay, let’s sit first,” I’m trying to calm the situation.
It looks unreal to me that I’m sitting in front of her right now. Back to the topic…
“Now, can you tell me what you were doing out there earlier?”
“Actually, I forgot to take the house key from the owner, and he’s still on holiday right now. He said he will ask his niece to give me the key tomorrow. I thought maybe I should stay at a hotel, but you suddenly appeared. Before that, I’m sorry!” she said as she made a dogeza pose.
“No! You don’t need to do that! It’s fine already! But why did you choose to stay here?” I’m curious about her choice of place.
“As you know, after that scandal half a year ago, I stepped away from the industry. I’m trying to get new motivation while refreshing myself so that I can get back on my feet in the future.”
That scandal. Yes. The drama Mayu and I watched last night is the last drama she starred in before she halted all her activities.

Grrrrr…
“Is that your stomach, Masamura-san?”
She seems so hungry and not energetic anymore.
“S-sorry. I haven’t eaten anything since this morning,” she said while wearing a weary face.
“Do you want to have dinner here?” I thought that was better than eating alone tonight.
“Really! Thank you! I will repay your kindness one day,” she said while putting both hands together to show her gratitude.

Tonight’s main menu is curry rice. Its aroma has already kicked in, and I’m also hungry. Her eyes look like a puppy’s when she looks at the curry rice.
“This is so delicious!” she said after putting one spoonful of curry rice in her mouth.
“Thank you.” It feels different to have someone else complimenting my dish.
“By the way, what is your name? I forgot to ask you earlier,” she asked me.
“My name is Takada Souma. You can call me Takada-san.”
“Nice to meet you, Souma,” she said my first name suddenly.
“It’s too sudden, Masamura-san.”
“Look! You call me Masamura-san. It’s too long to call me that. Just call me Yua,” she said after finishing her dinner.
“I’ll call you Yua-san, then.” I want to keep the right distance between me and her.
“I think it’s okay. Let me help you clean all of this,” she referred to doing the dishes.

After that, we sat on the sofa while having a bit of a snack.
“Souma-san, how old are you?” she asked me.
“25 years old,” I replied shortly.
“Really? Both of us are the same age then. By the way, how do you feel sitting next to a once top celebrity?” she asked me, not jokingly but sincerely.
Maybe I can say I am so happy that I can fly tonight, but I refrain myself from saying that.
“The truth is I don’t really feel anything because I just think of you as a normal human too. I don’t need to treat you as a special person, as long as I follow good etiquette.”
That was a nice answer from me.
“Wow. That was a philosophical answer. Are you a lecturer or something?” she was surprised by my answer.
“I’m a teacher.”
“You have so many surprises that you keep from me. Back to my topic earlier, what is your opinion on my controversy?”
I need to be careful because this can be a bit sensitive.
“I can only say maybe that was just not your luck. You couldn’t control what happened back then, especially since too many big names were involved in that incident.”
“Do you feel disgusted with me?” asked Yua-san.
“Did you really do that? I thought you denied it?”
“But all the news reported that I did it, and that I did it of my own will. It’s j-just unfair to do that to m-me.”
Her voice started shaking. Her tears were slowly streaming down. Her eyes slowly turned red.
That incident was quite big at that time. I remember seeing the news headlines back then that Yua-san stayed at a hotel with another male artist who also had a fiancée. Yua-san claimed nothing happened between them that night, but that fiancée couldn’t believe it.
“I still can’t move on. I’m trying to tell the truth, but nobody can believe me. What made it worse, Maika tried to put dirt on me. Maybe she still hates me,” she said while wiping her tears.
“I don’t think that is the right action to justify our hate. She should learn to be a proper adult,” I voiced my opinion.
Nakamura Maika. She was one of Yua-san’s former bandmates and the daughter of a famous Diet member. So crazy to be involved in this kind of situation, especially with someone she knew.
Because Maika had so much influence in the media industry, she could twist the story however she wanted. I can’t imagine how Yua felt back then. Betrayed by her own fans and her friend. I don’t know how she could endure it.
To avoid it from escalating further, Yua-san decided to disappear for a while. I think that was the right choice to calm down the fire.

“Here’s a tissue.”
I handed her a tissue box.
“Thank you. I can’t hold back my tears whenever I remember that. My manager also left me, saying that I don’t generate income for him anymore. I really have bad luck,” she said in a quiet voice.
“You can try to take that from a positive side. Who knows, maybe something big will happen to you after this,” I tried to motivate her.
“How I envy your positivity.”
“Not really. This is based on my experience as a teacher. Right, what have you been doing since then until now?” I’m curious about her activities right now.
“Now, I’m working as a florist at my sister’s flower shop. Like my sister said, sometimes it’s nice to change the pace to get back our rhythm.”
She seemed a bit happy talking about her current life. Thankful that her sister is caring about her.

Ding dong.
Mayu’s already back. Did I forget something? I feel something crossed my mind just now, but I can’t remember it.
“Souma-niisan, I’m back—”
“Welcome home—why do you look so tense, Mayu?” Mayu’s face looked so tense, as if she was looking at a ghost.
“S-sssouma-niisan? Iii-is that M-masamura-sama?”

I forgot there is a big fan of Yua-sama living with me.
Damn.