Rainbow - Roundabout 2

[rubestie]

Season: Spring of the ES! timeline

Location: Yumenosaki Staff Room

Characters: Hokuto, Anzu, Jin

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Hokuto: Excuse us.

 

We’ve come to answer your call, Sagami-sensei.

 

Jin: Why are you talking like that. Not that I mind, but… For now, could you have a seat in this sofa?

 

I’ll prepare something for you to drink. Would you prefer tea or coffee?

 

Hokuto: Tea then. You should have some tea as well, teach. Don’t go drinking alcohol.

 

Jin: Even I wouldn’t drink alcohol in the staff room~, my boss would get mad.

 

Hokuto: Fufun. Even the super idol Sagami Jin is getting old. Back when you were active, you were constantly fighting with your superiors in order to challenge the corrupted entertainment industry, weren’t you?

 

Jin: That’s why I couldn’t keep being an idol, you know… Well, in my case it was at least half self-destruction as well, though.

 

You’re all celebrating this revolutionary business right now, but generally speaking, it’s better to exploit the system than challenge it.

 

If you incur the wrath of the big shots in the industry, you’ll get crushed in no time after all.

 

Well, you guys aren’t the types to listen even if I warn you about this stuff so. I guess this is what we call youth…

 

Do try not to cause too many problems though. It’s pretty tough to clean up afterward.

 

Hokuto: Hm. We’re always causing you trouble, Sagami-sensei.

 

Jin: It’s okay~... That’s my job as a teacher, or rather, as an adult.

 

Moving on. Sorry to call you all the way over here, but I have a favor I’d like to ask of you.

 

Hokuto: Yes, that’s what we came for. I said this earlier, but I have some free time. I’d like to lend you my powers if possible. 

 

Jin: You really do come off as snobbish sometimes, Hocchan… I guess it can’t be helped, given you’re the crown prince to His Majesty the King who rules over the entertainment world.

 

Hidaka-san sure is doing well for himself, huh. Even now he’s still working hard in the industry, isn’t he?

 

Hokuto: Even my father has started doing fewer appearances now though. Recently he’s started complaining about how “my body can’t keep up~”.

 

My mother, on the other hand, seems to be getting even more energetic as she ages. It’s annoying.

 

Jin: Don’t call your parents annoying. Are you going through a rebellious stage or something?

 

…Oops, we’ve steered away from the topic at hand. Like I said, I would appreciate if you two could lend me a hand.

 

Honestly speaking, I wouldn’t even know what to do on my own.

 

Hokuto: Are you sure you’re okay like that? Isn’t it a teacher’s job to guide his students, and not the other way around?

 

Jin: Nah~. You kids often misunderstand this, but even teachers… or rather, even adults aren’t some kind of all-knowing Gods, you know?

 

Well, anyways… I’ll move on to the real topic now, or else we’ll just keep chatting forever.

 

Transfer student. If you don’t mind, I’d like you to produce me.

 

Hokuto: ….

 

….So you’ve fallen this low, Sagami Jin. 

 

Jin: Ehh, why are you looking at me like I’m some caterpillar? I really don’t understand what it is that makes you youngsters tick…!

 

Hokuto: I’ve lost respect for you. Asking her to please produce you, how insolent.

 

In other words, you’re trying to rope her into looking after you for the rest of your life, aren’t you? You’re asking her to marry you?

 

Jin: You sometimes get the weirdest misunderstandings, don’t you, Hocchan… You’ve got it all wrong. I’m an old-school type of idol, so I would never marry.

 

I’m just asking her to produce me as an idol, the same way she would do for anyone else.

 

Right now there are no other producers in Yumenosaki, after all. I can only ask the transfer student.

 

Hokuto: …As an idol? Are you making a comeback, Sagami-sensei?

 

That’s great news. When I was younger, I was a huge fan of yours.

 

Jin: No, no, it’s only a temporary thing… I’ve been given a kind of troublesome task, you see.

 

I wasn’t planning on ever continuing my activities as an idol, and I wouldn’t have thought anyone even wanted me to.

 

But the person who helped me get back on my feet after I retired asked this of me. 

 

The reason why I can live as I do today, playing the role of a properly contributing citizen, is thanks to that person.

 

I was in his care a lot even during my years in the entertainment industry, so I’d like to pay back what I can.

 

He’s a big shot who always had a strong influence within magazine companies and the like. Back when I got into a scandal once, he was the only person to help me out.

 

I think of him as a second father. Nowadays he’s gotten old and is half bedridden, but he lowered his head to me and asked me to “grant his final wish~”.

 

There’s no way I could refuse. The way I see it, I’m a useless person who’s more rotten than even scum, and I’m not planning on starting to pretend like I’m some good kid at this point. 

 

But if I was to trample all over the final wish of such a good person, then there truly will have been no point to my life whatsoever. I’d rather hang myself and die right now.

 

Hokuto: …

 

Jin: In other words, I’m taking this job pretty seriously, as rare as that is. This might end up being the last big peak of my life filled with fragments of regret. 

 

Well, you guys shouldn’t think of it as something so depressing, though.

 

It’s enough if you just half-heartedly lend me your skills as you’re able to, just like I usually do for you.

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