When the dusk sky had finally arrived, the school bell chimed, and the afternoon birds had been chirping as it reminded every student to leave the campus and come back on the next day. However, to Aoki, it was different. He would never go back to this school since he already resigned himself from the school, so he traipsed past the main gate. After he bypassed it, a swarm of students followed by him, wandering away from the campus and heading towards their preferable place. He slung his case bag—only filled with a sketchbook and decent pencil in it—behind his shoulder. He meandered around for a bit, gazing at the cherry blossoms of farewell behind the concrete barrier of school. His ideal favorite snacks such as potato chips and chocolate bars came to his mind. He took his wallet and peeked into it to count his money.

“2000 yen,” he mumbled, groaning over his disappointment.

His stomach growled, placing his hand onto his abdomen. He turned his head to bid farewell. The campus where he belonged had obliterated his existence. His nugatory life awaited him, and his misfortune overwhelmed him. Garbage bins urged him to dispose of his uniform, leaving himself a helpless being. His thin, fatigued body made him blow out the gust of guilt. He shook his head to forget all about the misjudgments.

“Aoki-kun!”

However, someone came to him—it was a beautiful girl named Akari Takizawa. She was a famous actress known throughout Japan. With her right arm, she wrapped around his shoulder to cheer him up.

“Akari. How have you been?”

“Don’t ask me like I’m your stranger who rarely talks to you… now tell me, why did you want to quit school?”

“Do I have to say it again?”

Aoki with his fretful voice reverted to her question. Although he concealed his supposed expression, Akari could read her thoughts. She smoothed his forehead to relieve him from his desperate thoughts.

Akari said, “I know that you’re struggling enough. I used to struggle a lot when I started to act sincerely. Being an actress was so smart of me to feel what you were supposed to act.”

Aoki shuddered from her touch, “Don’t make me try to hurt you. You clearly riled me to judge my disappointment.”

“Do you think I have the urge to mistreat you?”

Akari empathized with his feelings. As an actress, the script he had was nothing but carefree. She could sense anything from knee to shoulder. Her worried eyes bothered him to turn his head away while he intended not to join with her noxious, compulsive coterie, although she minded nothing about her circle of friends. She secretly opposed their wrongful impression about him. She regretted over her influence that fame meant nothing at all.

She planned to beg his pardon—but only in rightful time.

“Come. I’ll cook dinner once we reach our apartment. It will be a roast beef steak dish with barbecue sauce on it.”

Aoki dimpled by her statement. They ambled together to enjoy their anomalous awe. The gradual tapping sound came from their ambling shoes. The moon slowly rose to shine for a spectacular night. The stars helped the glitter of the moon to let them wander with their dazzling eyes. Their quiet lips unwound them. Despite Akari being a well-known actress, she preferred to share her common peace with him.

Walking longer in a common street, they passed through the city lights with walking people, bypassing them without close notice. Some enormous commercial screens displayed a certain drama show with Akari’s appearance on it. Looking at it, the entertainment advertisement focused more on her since she delivered the primary role of her play.

They also noticed someone who posed with unique sets of clothes in a slideshow—a certain raven-haired lady with a dominant-looking, sexy charm on her face. The screen had her name displayed in the bottom corner—"Mirai Shizuku". They heard of her successes from a certain prosperous fashion company. Akari also endorsed one of her products. She appreciated her creative style, which drew her with a confident smile.

They went first to the supermarket without letting Akari be exposed in front of their familiar eyes. She put her scarf around her neck and jaw to cover her mouth. She preferred fresh, bought ingredients for refined savor.

 Aoki grasped the cart from the stacks while Akari rolled her eyes to compose from the watchful eyes of a probable stalker. They sauntered around to seek some ingredients for a beefsteak dish.

The ingredients were: Kosher salt, freshly ground pepper, New York strip steak, vinegar, tomato paste, mayonnaise, spices, onion powder, liquid smoke, black pepper, and molasses.

Aoki mumbled while looking at the listed paper, “So this is the ingredients, right?”

“Yes. For that, I can cook my exclusive handmade dinner with raw ingredients to savor ourselves by my crafty hands.”

The list of ingredients guided them to buy with sole Akari’s budget. She likely treated Aoki as his big sister with a vast reputation which she couldn’t bear. She secured him as if he had his fanciful taste to appreciate her first step. Their eyes were rolling around, searching for their ideal ingredients.

They put every found thing—gathering altogether. Going through check-out, he gripped the paper bag filled with purchased ingredients and left without noticeable disruption. He gave his light case bag to her for handling help. She struggled to avoid any public eye contact since her effect on fame would spread more bias for possible dating issues. She feared over some showbiz articles to interfere with their personal life without permitting them to post on public websites. People in the age of teen and young adult could be her dreadful hazard.

If her neck scarf would help her, then nothing hazarded her about the involvement with him, maybe.

She inhaled and blew out of breath to regain her composure. Personality-wise, she avoided any physical contact on Aoki while he carried the paper bag with his entwined hands.

They proceeded together to their same apartment—with careful pace.

* * *

They finally arrived at their room. Their rooms sat next door. Aoki handed the purchased ingredients back to Akari while she did the same with his case bag. They waved together, “See you later!”. Then they entered their respective room for their sanitizing period.

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To Aoki, he removed his shoes, which he considered useless for now. His room was a cozy, chaotic mess with scattered stuff like cup noodles, used clothes, rumpled comics and bedsheets, and rectangular-sized tablets beside the bed. He threw his case bag to the bed, bothering blankly to compare with others’ proper lifestyle. His body drained from his drowsy eyes and spine. He undid his entire attire and threw it anywhere he liked, going for the shower with convenient shampoo and soap. Then, he wore his cozy hoodie jacket and laid down on the bed to relax from his distress.

Meanwhile, Akari did the same thing as Aoki had done. Except her room was neat and breathtaking. Decent furniture, decorations, and a kitchen with an organized setting appreciated the design of her clean settlement. Her household chores came from herself by independent care. She put her bags of school and fresh ingredients on the table and went for a shower to relieve her body.  Her naked body had a perfect, bold figure with decent D-cup breast and curvaceous hips. Afterward, she wore her bare, tight bathrobe—without single underwear—for her comfortable feel.

“I wonder if his desired taste would work on his cheering smile.”

Akari tapped her arms to compose her thoughtful care. She undressed her bathrobe and grabbed the apron to wear around her naked body. She was conscious of her sole living style to lessen the laundry stock gradually. If there were usually guests in her room, she would try to cover her sensitive part to avoid any sexual contact. However, if it was Aoki, she would do nothing to oppose him since his apathy minded over nothing.

She cooked the rice first for the basic meal—it would take around 15-20 minutes for heating.

She turned the stove on at a minimal level for conducting the heat. For the first step, she placed out some ingredients for barbecue sauce such as vinegar, tomato paste, mayonnaise, spices, onion powder, liquid smoke, black pepper, and molasses—and mixed them into a medium saucepan. She whisked together all the ingredients, allowing the sauce to boil, then reducing the heat for a ten-minute simmering.

While waiting for it, she grabbed the bottle of virgin olive oil, Kosher salt, freshly ground pepper, and New York strip steak. She heated the grill highly and placed the steak on it while pouring the olive oil for brushing the steak on its sides. She waited for one side to be charred until going for another.

Once it finished, she placed the roasted beef on the cutting board for slicing. The meat had reddish bloom between the slices, which was the sign of perfect quality. Before going for the sauce, she tasted the sauce first for the test—the taste became a balanced mix of salt and sweet. Then, she grabbed the sauce-contained pan and poured it on the roasted beef to support the flavor.

With that, she concluded her cooking procedure while waiting for the rice cooker to alarm her.

Meanwhile, Aoki grabbed his illustrating paper, mechanical pencil, and eraser to start his drawing practice. His visual style was prosperous by his innumerable developments. His hidden talent irritated his former classmates, discriminating against him for being an otaku.

Past background about otaku dreaded over the society with the incoming danger of libido, but to Aoki, he had no time to tolerate their influence. He preferred to draw a fictional object—rather than dealing with harsh reality. He sighed over his frustration from his recalling ears by the words they delivered since before.

He muttered, “How could I have been treated for such a thing?”

He also recalled his time when his parents were caretaking his infant self. They were his lovely family until their divorce demotivated from his study, but he focused on drawing his escapist illustration.

He pressed his forehead to lower his stress, but it would become inevitable if he continued thinking about it—which was the reason for his sole interest in being mangaka. Considerably, he rather dealt by himself than others. His puzzling mind bothered him to quit for a while as his thoughts remained in touch with his desperate feeling. He went back to his bed to decompress his clouded thoughts.

“Dinner’s ready,” an abrupt voice said with a knock on the door. “You can come now.”

It was Akari who reminded him to come along. 

He stepped out from under the bed and exited his room with the key in his pocket. He entered her room with a clean, breathtaking environment with the wafting smell of fragrant meat. Akari with her bare, tight bathrobe appeared before the table to ensure the heat for delectable delicacy. He peeked at her chest but ignored his supposed arousal since his nature of apathy handled him.

He squatted in front of the occupied desk of barbecue-styled beef steak dish and a bowl of white rice. He dimpled since he saw the dish was his favorite. With Akari facing in front of each other, she smiled over his dimple.

“Itadakimasu~”

They together grabbed their pair of wooden chopsticks. Before they munched their dish, they pinched one chopstick while holding the other with a firm thumb, forming a scissor position, and gripped the piece of meat—chewing it into his mouth. 

Aoki responded after his gulp, “It’s so sweet and salty. You do really know how you identify my most preferred taste.”

“Why do you act like we haven’t known each other for a long time?”

“What do you mean? I didn’t make you forget all the things I have done ever since.”

“Said by the one who was the naughtiest kid of all.”

Aoki chuckled over her tease. Her gentle voice pleased him, although his emotional reaction didn’t come by. They were talking about their time when they spent playing and fooling around with his friends. Akari used to see him as an energetic kid; his looks reminded her the same despite his mature difference. Memories about fooling each other, biking race, and the swinging seat came to their mind. It was worthwhile for them to raise their joyous bond.

They continued savoring their taste of Akari’s specialty.

After they talked about their childhood experiences, Akari opened the talk of empathy.

“Since when your parents had gone apart, what do you feel when you were isolated till now?”

Aoki’s timid lips answered, “I don’t know… I can’t feel something that holds me dearly. My tears shed nothing to feel my true, desperate scorn. Whenever I keep thinking about them, the truth slapped me with realization… the realization of which it was hypocritical to sense. People changed their minds like my parents… and me. For now, they probably see me as their mistaken bond. That’s why watching anime was worth motivating me for a try, but I see that their world is far better than this. My reckless self closed the gate of others. It was too rare for me to seek new friends, but their blabbering mouths made me underestimated… perhaps they misunderstood me for some reason.”

“So that’s why you resign yourself from the school registration.”

“Not only that… the school there was so boring as hell. Even though the graduation was fast approaching, the feeling of celebration would still gain nothing to me. It is just for the sake of retrieving a high school diploma to pass and move on to the college level. I was about to head for the art degree, but thinking about it, most mangakas don’t need an art degree. It only takes skill and knowledge to reach for something on fire. I may envy others, even you, but I totally despised having it. Was it my apathetic self who forced it or not? I don’t know. It’s so funny that I don’t really understand myself.”

Akari silenced the conversation for a brief time. Her heart throbbed from her pity. She knew how he felt when his high school time concluded with empty hands. She peeked outside for viewing the starry night sky. She inhaled since her memories with him hardly felt the difference.

She said, “Looks like we are on two sides in one coin. I even thought all of us would act the same, but ever since I reached the deeper core, I finally realized that every one of them differed from their ideologies. For such me who was so lucky with uttermost hard work, I would just laugh my way out. The time when the whole media found me… I struggled with myself to find a peaceful space.”

“Woah~”

Akari whispered closer to his face, “And you’re also the part of my peaceful space.”

Aoki tried to avoid his blush, but it was futile.

“I… I… I appreciate it.”

His words slurred around because of his nerve-racking sweat. Aoki insisted from expressing his authentic emotion while Akari knew it already. She smirked with her dazzling eyes to notice closely. She found something that might distract his lips—residual barbecue sauce painted on the edge of her lips.

She wiped it out with her thumb, “Geez. You should know how to tidy yourself. Don’t make me like your old sister to wait for your diaper dump.”

“Shut up. My eyes were only focusing on you and the meal.”

“Despite it, what’s important is your hygiene.”

Akari sighed while Aoki was sitting still. He felt relieved from her tender fingers. He shut his eyes to savor her touch, but she felt concerned about his odd behavior. Her dazzling eyes teased his head to twist.

Akari giggled over his remark while avoiding to expose her tease.

However, her plan resulted in vague, yet it could make sense that she tried to say in another meaning.