His eyes lingered on the swaying needle. “Starting next week, I’m gonna have a lot of people spending a lot of time around here.”
“How come?”
“Well, uh… They told me they want to film a documentary.”
I could tell from his tone that he wasn’t thrilled about it. He never seemed to enjoy the spotlight; as long as his creative output could pay the bills, he wasn’t interested in anything more. To be frank, he distanced himself from fame and glory more than anyone else I knew in this industry.
“What’s it for?” I asked.
“A Touyou TV show called Persons.”
Unlike the little interviews I used to do for the evening news, Persons was a long-running documentary series with a full hour-long timeslot. They covered everyone from athletes to CEOs to the ultra-niche jobs, all with the tagline “human beings at full zoom.” And last I checked, the show had survived for nearly a decade on the air.
“Ugh.” I grimaced.
“What?”
“The presenter on that show talks like they’re reading a condo commercial, unironically. Plus, they dub in the most pretentious narration filled with needlessly dramatic pauses. ‘But Tsuzuki Ushio…knows all too well…’”
“Yeah, I mean, they’re clearly trying to go for a certain angle lately.”
“If there was a competition for being elitist, they’d take home the gold medal for Japan. We’re talking three-time back-to-back heavyweight champions of sucking their own dick. And you want to be on their show?”
“Look, I don’t have a choice here. Sometimes these things are out of my control, like when Shitara-san asked me to do it last year. Not something I generally do for fun.”
“So how long is this going to last?”
“Like a month or so…or maybe until the start of April? At first they wanted six months, but obviously I talked them out of that. In exchange, they’re gonna be all up in my business. They even told me flat-out to speak up if I have anxiety about it. All this over some boring animation work.”
“Well, I’m not coming anywhere near this place while that’s going on,” I declared. “And even when you’re alone, don’t even think about calling me or coming to my house. Not even once!”
“Is this reverse psychology?”
“Do I look like a psychologist? I’m serious!”
“So you only care about your precious image, is that it?”
“Damn right!”
“Wow. And here I was excited thinking you’d miss me.”
Excited? “Well, sorry to say, I’m gonna be pretty busy myself. Interviews, voiceover work, all kinds of stuff.” It’s hard work being a poster boy.
“Hm. In that case, maybe it’s perfect timing. Oh, yeah, and…”
“There’s more?”
“The reporter for Persons…or ‘navigator,’ or whatever his title is… It’s Kizaki Ryou.”
“Huh?”
Ushio shifted uncomfortably. “They’ve got a few different reporters they switch out on rotation, and it just happened to be him this time. So he’s gonna be talking to me and coming to my house. When they asked me who I wanted to interview me, I said I didn’t have a preference… I didn’t know he was gonna be on your rival news show too.”
He actually thought I’d be upset? How cute. Watching a pleb try to think is like watching a hamster running in its wheel.
“I sincerely don’t give a shit,” I shrugged. I knew Ushio was only doing it as part of his work, and besides, I barely had a vague idea of what this Kizaki Ryou even looked like. To me, he was just a pretty face. I mean, why would I care about some model? He worked in an entirely different field from me.
Even if we compared our shows, there was no overlap since they weren’t going to be presenting the latest news. If I had to guess, they probably just wanted to toss in a good-looking guy to pull in the young female demographic that rarely tuned in for primetime news. Like a gender-flipped version of adding a woman to a group of old men. Have fun with that! Enjoy your MySpace angle shots!
When I failed to react the way he expected, Ushio let out a sigh of frustration. “Clearly I wasted my time trying to be considerate.”
“Excuse me? You’re upset that I’m not mad?”
“I was worried you’d flip out.”
“Then maybe you should appreciate that I’m not massively insecure!”
“Oh, yes, thank you so much. I guess let’s both just do our best at work for a while.”
“You better not let the director or whoever pressure you into saying some egotistical shit on camera.”
“And if I do?”
“I’ll play it at your funeral, bitch.”
“’Til death do us part? Oh, no, I’m blushing. I can’t believe you’re proposing to me already.”
“I’m not!” And you’re not blushing, you liar!
“Actually, are we sure I’m going to die first? Not that I mind, but still.” Grinning, he rose from his chair and sat down next to me on the bed. “Bury me with your intonation dictionary, all right?”
“Not funny, dickhead!” I shoved him away from me and flopped down on my side, right up against the wall, my back turned to him.
“What? Oh, c’mon…”
I ignored him.
“Kei.”
He reached out and shook my shoulder, but I smacked his hand away.
“Hey, don’t cry…”
“I’m not crying, you stupid asshole!” We were just joking around, but then he had to go and throw real-life stuff into it, and my brain conjured up this hyper-realistic scenario. My throat started to feel all tight. Stupid imagination. “It’s your fault for thinking you can lay claim to my work tools.”
“I’m not gonna die tomorrow, all right? Or are you saying you’re going to keep working until you’re 90? Talk about a workaholic.”
“Whatever.”
“Kei…” His voice softened. “I’m sorry, okay? Now let me get a good look at you while I still can.”
“Usually apologies don’t involve bossing me around…” Regardless, I rolled over. He hugged me in return. “Wait… Weren’t you going to look at me?”
“That can wait.” He buried his face into my shoulder, but while it wasn’t especially comfortable, I didn’t mind it in the least. Then, as he played with my hair, he murmured, “Right, I guess it’s been a whole year now, huh?”
Indeed, we would soon be sharing a second spring season together. “What about it?”
“Honestly, it feels like it’s been a decade.”
“…What’s that supposed to mean?”
“Exactly what it sounds like.”
“I can’t tell if it’s a good thing or a bad thing.” I stiffened slightly. Was he saying he’d already had his fill?
He patted me on the back. “It’s a good thing, duh. By the time we have our ten-year anniversary, we’ll have been dating for a century.”
I nuzzled my face right back into him, suffocating myself in my own warm breaths. My arms tightened around him.
“Are you trying to take a screenshot in real life?” he quipped, ruining any romance the moment might otherwise have had.
I pulled my lips away slightly. “You can email me if you want…I guess.”
“Yes, dear.”
“And another thing!”
“Hmm?”
“Don’t…ch-cheat on me…”
“Speak up, silly!” As he laughed, the faint vibrations made my head spin. “Normally I’d say, ‘I’m not like you,’ but…”
“You just said it!”
“Trust me, Kei, you have nothing to worry about.”
“Also, I never cheated on you!”
“For the record, this rule still applies after I’m dead and gone, got it?”
Now, that sounds like a marriage proposal. I didn’t dare look him in the face.