Why wasn't I the one who got the male lead's script?

Maybe I was unconsciously affected by puberty syndrome, and I no longer paid attention to Kasumi Shiko's works.

"...It's too bad. I know nothing about this and can't help you at all."

Futaba paused, then turned her head slightly. Besides the obvious remorse and regret on her face, there seemed to be a subtle hint of—

disturbed.

"........."

Xingmi, who keenly noticed this, opened his mouth slightly, but finally decided not to say anything.

Come to think of it, Futaba rarely goes out, so she must have gone through a bit of a mental struggle before coming to meet him this time.

Moreover, all those micro-expressions and movements that she thought were not noticed by others were actually seen by Xingjian.

The black-haired boy glanced at Futaba's hand, which was holding her right arm across her body, with a hidden look, and then just leaned towards her silently.

"...?"

It was obvious that her steps forward were slowed down by half a beat.

"Okay - Futaba, you've entered the range of my lightbulb aura."

Just before Futaba expressed her doubts, the black-haired boy stared straight ahead and whispered with a smile.

"As long as you're within a one-meter radius of Mr. Hoshimi, you'll be automatically classified as a passerby who won't attract any attention—so there's no need to worry about others looking over."

He spoke in a very relaxed and natural tone about what Futaba was worried about.

“…………Who is troubled by this matter? Xingjian, are you an idiot?”

But unfortunately, the stubborn Miss Futaba would rather turn her head away than admit that she was worried about this matter.

"Well, I don't know who's bothered by this. Anyway, it's not me, so I'm not the idiot either."

Although Miss Futaba stubbornly retorted to the boy, she still stiffly put down her left hand that had been across her body, and finally turned her head away in a very unnatural posture and put it in her pocket.

"...Don't be so proud of being a bystander, idiot."

Why was he still called an idiot?

"But if that's what it takes to keep your friends out of trouble, then I think it's a fantastic identity."

Although he was somewhat puzzled by Futaba's attitude, Hoshimi still expressed his true thoughts with a smile.

Don’t underestimate the characters of passersby. They also have the ability to protect their friends.

"...Don't you think what I'm wearing is weird?"

"Ok?"

"It's this dress... it's out of season and not feminine. Normal girls shouldn't wear it like this—Xingjian, don't you think so?"

"Well... I'm not a girl, and I'm not the one who should wear women's clothes. Why should I think about this?"

"But... don't you think this is wrong?"

"When to wear clothes, you have to consider whether it is correct or not."

Xingjian shook his head, feeling both amused and helpless.

"Well, since you're with me, you don't have to worry about others making such assumptions. Mr. Hoshimi's aura among passersby is very strong."

He shrugged indifferently, then looked around where no one was looking at him, and finally smiled at Futaba who was standing beside him, wanting to say something but stopping herself.

"And there's no need to overthink it. Of course, the most correct thing to do is to follow your own preferences, Futaba. No one else has the right to criticize."

I kind of understand why Futaba cares so much about dressing up. After all, sometimes having a great figure will attract a lot of unfriendly looks and comments.

"........."

He obviously didn't say anything overly sentimental, but the gray-haired girl still turned her face away awkwardly - she didn't want her micro-expressions to be noticed by this guy again.

"...I like it, huh..."

"Well, of course. It's your freedom to dress however you want, Futaba."

"...What an idiot, Hoshimi."

"Hey, why am I being scolded again?"

When the gray-haired girl saw the puzzled expression on the black-haired boy's face, a slight smile appeared on the corner of her mouth, but it was quickly concealed by her turning her head away.

"A fool is a fool, don't even think about clearing your name."

She gently placed her left palm over her right arm again—but this time it wasn't to hide her size.

"...But even idiots can be cunning sometimes."

As for this sentence, she could only keep it quietly in her heart.

----

Continue to collect manuscripts.jpg

Kasumigaoka Utaha Can't Be Out of Ideas: Chapter 5: The Four-Person Club Exists in Name Only (Part 4)

Rio Futaba has something on her mind that she cannot tell anyone around her—not even to her closest friends.

As she grew older, she felt more and more ashamed and humiliated about her body.

Because her body shape is quite different from that of the opposite sex of the same age, she will inevitably be looked at differently by others, and both men and women will look her up and down.

Body shaming, all the things she encountered can actually be described by this word which is common in American TV series.

It is inevitable that they will be criticized by others, inevitably feel offended by others' strange looks, and inevitably be excluded from their social circles.

Futaba hated being treated like this—and also felt a bit disgusted with her own troublesome body.

Therefore, after entering high school, Futaba Rio never took good care of herself, letting her long, fluffy gray hair fall behind her shoulders. She also chose to wear a loose white coat at school to hide her figure - even if it made people around her look at her as an alien.

She didn't really want to do this, but in order to avoid attracting other people's attention, she chose to swallow her anger and not provoke others. At the same time, Futaba avoided the social circles of other classmates and didn't want to have too much contact with others.

However, this lone wolf life did not last long and was broken just when he entered the first year of high school.

First, he met a random boy at the entrance of a canteen who made him watch him eat lunch, and later he got to know the pig-headed boy who was notorious in the whole school.

After a while, she gradually became familiar with these guys who suddenly broke into her life and had her own social circle.

Perhaps this is the relationship that everyone describes as "friends".

So one day long ago, Futaba actually asked her friend Hoshimiya Haru indirectly about his opinion on girls' figures.

It was after school as usual. The black-haired boy ran to his laboratory to drink coffee and lay on the table bored, playing with his mobile phone, while the gray-haired girl wrote the calculation formula on the blackboard with her back to him.

"...I said, see you."

She still remembers that she hesitated for a long time before deciding to express her doubts.

"Hmm? What's the matter?"

The boy, who was fiddling with his smartphone on the table, seemed a little absent-minded in his response. He should have been thinking about leaving school for his part-time job in twenty minutes.

"...From the perspective of a normal male high school student like you, do you think a girl with a plump figure is something that attracts attention?"

"what?"

"Because you see, most people have all sorts of ideas about curvy women, don't they? And generally speaking, they tend to be negative."

"Her breasts are so big she's definitely trying to seduce men" and "She's deliberately showing her legs for men to see"—such comments are common. Even more frustrating is that these are sometimes not just the whims of the excited male students around her, but also the malicious speculation of some "indignant" female students.

"Hey, this premise is problematic. I never said I was a normal male high school student."

However, before the heavy mood had time to surge into Futaba's heart, the serious atmosphere was suddenly destroyed by the boy's light words.

"…………Clam?"

"Just kidding."

The black-haired boy who had been resting his chin on the table raised his head and gave Futaba a childish smile. This kind of talkativeness like that of an elementary school boy made Miss Futaba frown and shake her head.

"I originally thought that Xingjian might be more mature than I thought, but it seems I was wrong."

"Haha, men are boys until they die, Futaba."

He just smiled and continued to fiddle with his phone, casually scrolling through the weekly news while answering Futaba's question.

"The development of a single aesthetic and set of values ​​is also somewhat collective. Ultimately, what's considered 'most people's opinion' is simply the product of their aesthetic outlook. On a larger scale, this sometimes gradually becomes a social consensus, influencing everyone's evaluation of themselves and others."

The boy's eyes followed the movements of the paper man character on the phone screen, and he raised his eyebrows as if he was not interested in this topic.

"But just because something exists is reasonable, it's not necessarily correct. A healthy society must be able to have different voices, and naturally, there should be a diversity of aesthetics. If some people brazenly use their own aesthetic standards to measure others, thinking they can represent the silent majority in society..."

When the command card was clicked and the Noble Phantasm animation began to play, Xingjian put down the phone in his hand, raised his head and smiled lazily at Futaba.

"Then screw society."

"—"

The young boy's tender face and the gentle smile on his lips were dyed red by the orange-red sunset. Also engraved in the deepest part of his memory were the girl's astonishment and surprise when she first heard these words.

The tough words that came out of his mouth were in stark contrast to that gentle smile, but Futaba still remembers it vividly.

Sure enough - this guy hasn't changed at all from then to now.

Slowly pulling her emotions out of the waves of memories, the gray-haired girl leaning against the bookshelf holding a thick copy of "A Brief History of Time" raised her chin slightly and cast a subtle gaze towards the profile of the black-haired boy squatting beside the bookshelf, concentrating on looking for a book.

"...How long have you been looking for Xingjian? Aren't you tired?"

"It's okay, Futaba. If you're tired, go take a seat and rest. Just remember to save a seat for me too."

The boy, staring at the densely packed yet neatly arranged books, casually responded by scanning the catalog. To this, Futaba simply said, "Well, I'm not that squeamish," and then stood beside him, quietly reading a book while waiting for him to find it.

As Xingjian just said, during the journey when he and she were inseparable, few passers-by cast glances at Futaba along the way.

Obviously, he is usually just a helpless guy who can only seek help from himself, but he always becomes particularly reliable at certain specific times.

"........."

Futaba didn't say anything, but just gently placed the open book in front of her face, and her exposed eyes unconsciously glanced in the opposite direction of the boy.

She relaxed her shoulders, which had been tense since she left the house, a little - perhaps just a little bit, but enough to leave a hint of tranquility and peace in her eyes.

How could I possibly say that I felt extra safe whenever I was with this person?

And it shouldn't be said out loud.

As she was content with this moment, which might be commonplace in daily life for others, but was as precious as a treasure to her—

“…Ah, good morning.”

A girl with short black hair appeared on the other side of the bookshelf at some point. She was obviously there to look up some books as well. She spoke softly, stopped and greeted the two of them.

"Hoshimi-kun and Futaba-san, are you both here to buy reference books as well?"

Suddenly, the person who appeared in front of the two of them, causing Xingjian, who was originally concentrating on looking for a book, to look up, was Kato Megumi with a gentle and elegant smile.

----

Today is my birthday and I went out to sing karaoke!

Have a happy day everyone~

Kasumigaoka Utaha Can't Be Out of Ideas: Chapter 5: The Four-Person Club Exists in Name Only (V)

In Xingjian's opinion, today was just a normal holiday.

Originally, he planned to go to the library alone to conduct the investigation, but Futaba insisted on following him, so this solo operation was forced to temporarily become a two-person operation.

But what really surprised and made Xingjian feel difficult to deal with was the black-haired girl Kato Megumi who suddenly appeared in the library without any warning and had a calm and natural smile.

"Even on vacation, you guys still go out to the library to study together? You two really have a great relationship."

The girl chuckled and nodded to Hoshimi who was squatting on the ground reading a book and Futaba who was standing aside with a calm expression, then she gently lifted the loose hair in front of her cheek with a very natural movement.

Hoshimi then realized that Kato's hair seemed to have grown longer without him noticing.

So, a few days ago at the comic convention, her hair had already grown long enough to tie into a short ponytail, but Xingjian didn't notice it at all at the time.

It seems that Kato Megumi came to the library alone during the summer vacation, intending to find a quiet place to study, and she met Hoshimi and Futaba by chance.

At least that's what can be inferred from the exercise books and textbooks in her hands.

"Good relationship? Not really. I just followed him because I was worried about this idiot investigating alone."

Futaba shook her head calmly in denial, while Hoshimi showed a calm expression as if to say "I expected her to say that" and stood up with a smile.

"Um...investigation?"