The Top Idol Next Door Can't Help But Crave My Guilty Pleasure Meals-Chapter 8Volume 1 .3 - If I Werent an Idol

ROUND 8 – If I Weren’t an Idol 3 

The time was 6:50 p.m.

I sat on my bed in my room while intently staring at my smartphone.

The live performance of 【Spotlights】 was about to start soon.

As I logged into the streaming site, I saw that hundreds of fans were already waiting, interacting with each other in the chat section.

On the screen, the fixed camera at the venue showed a variety of glowing light sticks. Green, blue, red, orange… Among the various colors, yellow was the most prominent.

The member associated with the yellow image color was Arisu Yuzuki.

After getting home, I scoured the net for videos of 【Spotlights】.

This included music videos, clips from official accounts of singing programs, and dance videos that went viral on social media.

I also watched a certain footage from their early days.

The location was a plaza inside a department store, apparently for a debut song showcase event.

Five girls were singing in a simple space bordered only by partition boards.

It must have been summer because the audience was all in short sleeves, and there was a special sale on electric fans at the edge of the screen.

Such trivial information caught my attention because their performance was, well, pretty awful.

It felt like they were amateurs, to the point where you could believe they just gathered random people on the spot and tried to pass them off as idols.

Except for one girl. That girl was on the right end.

She sang with a lively bounce, never missing a pitch, and her choreography was flawless.

She alone had a sharpness that was on a different level, naturally drawing the eyes to follow her.

Despite the beads of sweat on her forehead, her smile never faltered.

Above all, her attitude of wanting to entertain the audience was clear. Every gesture and movement seemed to be filled with passion and soul.

The girl’s name was Arisu Yuzuki, who would later become the absolute idol at the center of the group.

Back on my smartphone, the lights in the venue dimmed.

It seemed the performance was about to begin.

After a grand introduction, spotlights shone on the stage, illuminating five idols.

They stood with their hands on their chests, eyes closed in silence.

The live performance began. The song was the hit that had brought 【Spotlights】 into the limelight. Of course, the center is Arisu Yuzuki.

“Everyone, let’s go!”

With Yuzuki’s shout, the performance started. Even the chant of ‘Oi! Oi!’ as she waved her arms towards the audience was mesmerizing.

The voice that came through the microphone was so powerful that it seemed to break through the dimensional barrier. Even through the screen, it sent a tingling sensation to my heart.

Not just the singing and dancing——What also amazed me was the richness of her expressions.

Smiling, posing, winking. Seeing her face constantly changing as if possessed by the lyrics captivated me.

The first song ended, and thunderous applause erupted.

I found myself clapping unconsciously, too.

It was a strange feeling.

Despite frequently visiting her house, sharing meals together, and being just a few meters apart in private——at this moment, Yuzuki felt incredibly far away from me.

An ordinary high school girl doesn’t fill halls with people. She doesn’t sing or dance in front of thousands. She doesn’t blow kisses to the crowd.

The turmoil in my chest won’t settle down.

It’s as if Yuzuki has gone far away.

No, I actually understand.

From the beginning, Yuzuki always belonged to a different world than mine.

It just so happened that, by various coincidences, our paths accidentally crossed.

──If I weren’t an idol…

No, that’s not it, Yuzuki.

You wouldn’t strive for such perfection if you weren’t an idol.

You wouldn’t have struggled to manage your appetite if you weren’t a perfectionist.

You wouldn’t have collapsed at home and been found by me.

I wouldn’t have fallen for you, and we probably wouldn’t have developed such a close neighborhood relationship.

It’s precisely because Yuzuki is an idol who pursues perfection that I made a pork bowl, and you desperately resisted, creating a connection between us.

The second song quickly began.

Yuzuki moved to the right end of the stage as the intro played.

I recognize this melody. It’s their debut song. The one they must have performed hundreds of times, the one they’ve practiced the most.

Even the girl to Yuzuki’s left, who seemed less adept at dancing, moved with confidence.

The camera occasionally switches, showing close-ups of each member in turn.

The leader girl, the tall girl who sweated a lot, the one who seems to struggle with dancing, the girl who sings well, and then Yuzuki——

“…Hm?”

It was just a brief moment, a split second. Or perhaps it was just my imagination.

I thought I saw Yuzuki’s expression falter slightly.

The camera captures all five members.

Their unison dance was perfectly synchronized. Pitch, lyrics, smiles——everything was spot on.

However, I felt a strange discomfort in my heart, as if something was off.

It was probably my imagination.

If there was any trouble, the other members or the audience would have reacted.

The live performance is proceeding without a hitch.

By the time the third song ended, I was once again engrossed in the live performance.

The girl who seemed to struggle with dancing turned out to be great at talking, stealing the show every time she spoke during the MC segments.

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The girl with a good singing voice seemed quick-witted, adeptly playing along with both the jokes and the responses depending on the audience’s mood.

The leader, always a step back, smiling and watching over the scene while subtly adjusting the members’ positions with gentle body touches.

The tall girl who sweated a lot was constantly wiping her sweat, eliciting calls of ‘Are you okay?’ from the audience.

To which she replied with the puzzling comeback, ‘It’s not sweat, it’s citrus orange!’

It seemed to be a standard exchange, apparently a play on her image color of orange.

Each of the four members showcased their charm, not just through their songs but also in other aspects.

But still, I was completely captivated by Yuzuki.

That talk segment, I remember her practicing over and over in the living room while I was cooking.

That gesture of tracing her lips with her finger reminds me of homemade jiro ramen.

Even when she changed into a slightly more provocative outfit for the finale, it was nothing compared to seeing her in a swimsuit right in front of me.

—The more Yuzuki shone as an idol, the more the real Yuzuki came to my mind.

The nearly two-hour-long live concert came to a finale in the blink of an eye.

Even after all the performances, including the encore, were over, there was no sign of the venue’s energy dropping; the stream ended still wrapped in cheers and excitement.

“Yuzuki is amazing…”

I placed my smartphone beside the bed and sat there in a daze for a while.

I want Yuzuki to come back soon.

I was eager to share my thoughts with her as quickly as possible.

But there’s probably a wrap-up party after this, so she would return home late.

It’d be a nuisance to drop in at midnight, so maybe I should message her when she gets home.

No, it’s going to turn into an absurdly long text. Things like this are best said in person. I’ll wait until first thing in the morning.

Let’s do it first thing tomorrow morning.

That night, I fell asleep enveloped in a sense of happiness.

——From this day, Yuzuki did not come back home.