The Forks in Their Respective Fates

In a movie that Kitagawa Ryo had seen before, there was a superstitious belief that the first thing you see and hear when you open the door each morning determines your luck for the day.

If this is true, then today will be a pretty good day.

"... Didn't sleep well?"

Because she was thinking of other topics, Ichinose Honami put down the fruit she was carrying in her right hand and waved it in front of Kitagawa Ryo.

"It's alright, good morning, Honami."

Kitagawa Ryo stepped aside to make way for them to enter, took the breakfast from Ichinose Honami, and watched as she deftly took off her leather shoes and put on slippers, then took the fruit and went inside before closing the door.

Ichinose Honami brought ramen for breakfast today.

The lunchbox was filled with pre-cooked ingredients. All Kitagawa Ryo had to do now was pour the separately packaged broth and ramen together. However, Ichinose Honami stubbornly followed Kitagawa Ryo into the kitchen and skillfully took out bowls and chopsticks from the cupboard.

Kitagawa Ryo worked quickly, and in no time, he had poured two bowls of steaming hot ramen into the bowls.

In fact, ramen is not a standard breakfast in the true sense, and it is even a bit greasy for this time of morning, but neither Kitagawa Ryo nor Ichinose Honami seemed to mind.

Ichinose Honami was about to gently pinch the sides of the ramen bowl with a dry cloth and slowly place it on the table, but when she turned around, she found that Kitagawa Ryo had already easily placed both bowls of ramen on the table with one hand each.

"Aren't your cold hands afraid of getting burned?"

"It's alright, I'm used to it."

Kitagawa Ryo pulled out a chair, Ichinose Honami sat down opposite him.

"Actually, Honami hasn't needed to bring food over much lately, as there's plenty of food at home."

As if to confirm his statement, Kitagawa Ryo stood up and took out two beautifully packaged small boxes from the cabinet next to him.

"Promise."

Ichinose Honami opened the box with some curiosity, and what came into view were several small and cute macarons, their colorful colors crowding together quite tempting.

The other box also contained pastries that looked quite exquisite.

"Was it a gift from a fan?"

"Yes, starting this month, I've suddenly been receiving gifts from the same address."

Kitagawa Ryo answered while eating ramen.

Although many enthusiastic fans had sent him letters or gifts in the past, they were mostly sent to the Theater Troupe, which then forwarded them to Theater Troupe Kitagawa Ryo.

"Does the other party know Liang's address?"

Ichinose Honami was somewhat surprised. She frowned and said:

"This is already quite outrageous, isn't it? Is it possible that these things...?"

"The items are fine; I've checked them all."

Kitagawa Ryo nodded and replied:

"Moreover, each box was labeled '[handmade],' so judging from the craftsmanship, it should indeed have been made by the other party themselves."

"Besides, she made no attempt to hide her identity; the addresses she used to send things were all genuine."

At this point, Kitagawa Ryo also took out his phone from his pocket, tapped a picture with a slight movement of his finger.

A girl dressed in a pink and white idol uniform makes a heart shape with her hands on stage. Pure white over-the-knee socks accentuate the beautiful curves of her calves, and there's a gold-stamped signature in the lower right corner.

Shizuku.

Looking at the sweet and lovely teenage idol on the poster, Kitagawa Hiroshi sighed almost imperceptibly.

"Hmm? I think this is an idol who suddenly became popular in the last few months. I think she worked as a print model for a while before that."

"I remember now, Maki seems to like her lately too. She even said a couple of days ago that she wanted the same hair clip as her."

Ichinose Honami curiously leaned over for a look and said:

"Many people at school are also discussing whether she's the one who sent Liang the things. Did Liang know her before?"

I guess so.

Kitagawa Ryo sipped his noodle soup slowly.

"Could this be a fan gift from the lottery? I've heard that some idols offer this kind of fan service, something like getting a handshake ticket with album purchases?"

Ichinose Honami was still racking her brains trying to figure it out. She had been following Ryo's actions for the past two years, but she couldn't remember when Ryo had gotten involved with this girl.

Yes and no.

Kitagawa Ryo finally finished his noodles, wiped his mouth with a tissue, and patiently explained:

"Actually, Hotaru liked this idol a lot before she went abroad. She and Maki were probably following her together. So before she left, I wanted to fulfill her wish and bought three concert tickets for Hotaru and Maki. I wanted to see them both."

"Less than two weeks after that day, I started receiving these gifts like crazy."

"So I found her by following the address, and I also looked up her information at the same time."

Kitagawa Ryo picked up a small macaron and lowered his eyes slightly:

"Shizuku is her stage name; her real name is Sakura Airi."

"Airi-chan, it's been so long!"

Karuizawa Kei pulled out the chair in front of her and gave a bright smile to the rather unremarkable-looking girl who was already waiting opposite her.

"Hui too, it's probably been almost a year since she came back."

Wearing red-rimmed glasses and with her hair down to cover half her face, Sakura Airi spoke with a similarly joyful expression.

"Yes, after all, the Theater Troupe has to travel all the time."

"Fortunately, things should settle down in the next two years."

Karuizawa Kei took the menu from her friend, casually checked a few items, and joked:

"It's been so long since I've seen you, Airi has become a big star."

"It's just that my followers have been growing really fast lately."

After being teased, Sakura Airi's cheeks flushed red.

"That's amazing! I bet even Airi's fans wouldn't recognize Airi like this."

Karuizawa Kei chuckled, brushed her friend's bangs aside, looked into the other's eyes, and said:

"Even though she's dressed the same as she did two years ago, Airi has really grown a lot."

"Back then, Airi was always silent, shy like a little animal. If the rest of the Theater Troupe saw her like that, they would never believe that Airi is now an idol who can hold concerts on stage."

"So what Ryo said back then was right. Not everyone has to realize their value in the same way. He even said back then that Airi was more suited to be a shining idol than a theatrical Actor."

"You were quite accurate."

"... Um."

Upon hearing the familiar name, Sakura Airi's face flushed even more, and it even seemed to be getting hot.

Karuizawa Kei was genuinely happy for her friend. After all, in her memory, even though the other person later became a print model, she still didn't dare to go public and remained timid and hesitant until high school. The current Sakura Airi was much more confident than she was back then.

Although she initially approached Sakura Airi under Kitagawa Ryo's orders with the intention of using her, Karuizawa Megumi truly understood Karuizawa Kei's kind nature after getting to know her. Therefore, she was very gratified to see Sakura Airi grow into who she is today.

"But Liang hasn't had much time these past few days. I'll invite him to have a meal together when he's free."

"It's alright. Kitagawa always works so hard; he needs to rest more."

"Sigh, it's good that Liang can rest now that she's retired from the theater industry, but I still have to juggle my studies and theater work."

Karuizawa Kei casually complained:

"I have to go to Azabu Middle School in a few days to be a judge for the final round of the Drama Club. If Ryo wasn't there, I wouldn't bother going."

"Whoa whoa."

Listening patiently to her friend's words, Sakura Airi nodded in agreement.

Her gaze flickered slightly.

For reasons unknown, she did not reveal that she had already been in contact with Kitagawa Ryo.

Chapter Thirteen: The Crossroads of Their Fate

"In fact, Honami also knew that after many parents noticed me, it was as if they had found a shortcut. At that time, many adults came to the Theater Troupe leader every day, wanting their children to become drama Actor as well."

A mocking look flashed across Kitagawa Ryo's face:

"Actually, most of them don't understand this at all; they just think it's a way to make money."

"Moreover, in order to cope with the impact, other Theater Troupe also took advantage of the situation and used all kinds of child stars as a selling point. The success of a few led to the frenzy of the majority."

"The entertainment industry for drama and the entertainment industry for idols are essentially the same thing. Regardless of whether the acting is good or bad, packaging and scheming are what matter. Even a once-in-a-lifetime genius will only be a flash in the pan if they are not good at management and promotion. Of course, if the packaging is perfect, even if the acting is average, at least they will become a topic of conversation, which will probably last for about three months?"

Kitagawa Ryo looked at the photo of Sakura Airi on his phone:

"Sakura was sent to our Theater Troupe by her parents around that time. Her parents had some connections with the Theater Troupe leader, so we couldn't refuse them. We just agreed to let her stay in the Theater Troupe first to see if she had any talent in this area and whether she could make a living from it in the future."

Ichinose Honami propped her head up and recalled for a moment:

"But I've never seen the other person act in it."

Although she didn't watch every single one of Kitagawa Ryo's plays, she did pay attention to his daily schedule and performance arrangements, and indeed had no impression of the name Sakura Airi.

"Because Sakura simply couldn't play."

Kitagawa Ryo shook his head and explained:

"She was forced to come by her parents. When she first arrived, she didn't dare to say a word. Even though she was a little girl, she liked to walk with her back hunched over, and she didn't dare to look up when others talked to her."

Ichinose Honami looked at the teenage idol in the photo, who was performing with ease on stage, and found it hard to believe that the person Kitagawa Ryo was describing was the same person.

"Promise."

So Kitagawa Ryo flipped through his phone's photo album and finally found an old picture:

The girl in the photo has beautiful long red hair and very delicate features, but she always gives people a timid feeling, and her eyes are very unfocused.

"This is a photo of Sakura when she first joined our Theater Troupe."

Kitagawa Ryo let out a deep sigh:

"Actually, at first the Theater Troupe leader was quite considerate of her and tried to help her overcome her fear of interacting with others, but the results were not good. There were even a few times when he talked to Sakura and made her cry."

"Then what?"

Ichinose Honami asked with some curiosity.

"So they had no choice but to let me go on stage. The old man who was in charge of the Theater Troupe said something about how we were the same age and should have common ground."

Kitagawa Ryo banged on the table, looking indignant, but Ichinose Honami knew that he had a good relationship with the Theater Troupe leader and was just joking.

"Actually, to be honest, it's something adults wouldn't notice, it's just..."

"Cough cough."

Suddenly realizing that what he was about to say might be a bit inappropriate, Kitagawa Ryo quickly stopped.

"Hmm? What is it? Could it be that there's something wrong at Sakura's family? Like domestic violence or something?"

Ichinose Honami was also a little confused as to why Kitagawa Ryo had suddenly stopped talking.

"It's not that serious, it's just something that's unique to girls, um, those kinds of worries."

Kitagawa Ryo hesitated a bit, embarrassed as he couldn't describe it precisely. Ichinose Honami was quick-witted and nodded thoughtfully after glancing at the photo again.

"So once we realized the problem, it was easier to solve. Plus, Hui was in the Theater Troupe at the time, so she had girls her age to talk and chat with. At least she wasn't as withdrawn as before."

Kitagawa Ryo quickly changed the subject.

"Although Sakura eventually left the Theater Troupe, I heard she still keeps in touch with Megumi, and the two are quite close."

"Hmm, I'll have Hui tell her next time, since I can't possibly eat all this by myself."

"It's getting late, let's go to school."

Without asking any further questions, Ichinose Honami obediently agreed and stood up to help tidy the table.

"Liang, go change your shoes first. I'll put the bowls and chopsticks back."

"Good."