Source
https://kakuyomu.jp/works/2912051600327232539
1:00 a.m. A room in a high-rise apartment building, protected by multiple layers of automatic locks.
A cheap-looking paisley-patterned rug, the sort you’d find at a home improvement store, lay on the marble floor of the spacious living room, and next to it sat a plastic trash can in a primary color.
“…Shizuku. Why on earth did you do something that would so drastically lower the class ranking of this room?”
I asked from the sofa, which was fast becoming my designated seat. Shizuku, who was hugging a giant stuffed giant squid on the paisley rug, looked up at me with a sulky expression.
“I went out of my way to buy it at Don Quijote. Doesn’t this make the place feel a little more welcoming, like the floor of Minato’s apartment?”
“The floor in my apartment is laminate—it doesn’t have a pattern that’s like this assault on the eyes. Infusing a top-tier high-rise with the spirit of Don Quijote is a level of sacrilege that would make any architect weep in protest.”
“Oh, you’re always complaining! I lugged this heavy rug all the way home just so Minato could relax.”
“Ah, thanks…”
“Yeah, yeah, you’re welcome.”
Shizuku gave the giant squid’s head a disgruntled thump and buried her face in its long tentacles.
Her voice was much weaker and hoarser than usual.
No wonder. It seemed she’d been running back and forth between a music show recording and a magazine photoshoot since this morning, and had just been driven back to this fortress by her manager.
Under her eyes were faint dark circles that even professional makeup couldn’t fully conceal.
“…No cocoa in a mug today. Right now, you need sleep more than you need a lump of sugar.”
“No way. I’m not sleeping.”
“Trying to suppress a human’s need for sleep with sheer willpower is an extremely foolish act from a biological standpoint. You have an early start tomorrow, don’t you?”
“I don’t want to sleep.”
Shizuku buried her face in the giant squid and protested in a muffled voice.
“I was smiling in front of the camera all day today, so my facial muscles hurt. It feels like I can only be ‘me’ when someone’s watching me, and I’m really exhausted.”
“That’s a perfectly normal kind of wear and tear for an idol’s working environment.”
“That’s why my battery won’t recharge unless Minato’s watching me. …If I fall asleep, Minato, you’ll go home, won’t you?”
Her eyes, gazing up at him, were a mixture of heavy obsession and exhaustion.
“I’m just a part-timer making a thousand yen an hour. I haven’t signed a contract to stay here permanently as your personal charger.”
“You cheapskate… Just for a little while, please. I’ll stay awake.”
Though she insisted, her body, which had reached its limit, was honest.
In less than five minutes, the strength drained from her arms as she hugged the giant squid, and quiet, steady breathing began to echo through the spacious living room.
I let out a small sigh and stood up from the sofa.
I picked up the cashmere blanket—her personal belongings—that had been folded in the corner of the room. It was surprisingly light and felt unbelievably smooth to the touch.
At the very least, it was a fabric made according to the standards of her own world—the polar opposite of that paisley-patterned rug.
I gently draped the cashmere blanket over her as she curled up on the floor.
Her sleeping face was that of a clumsy, vulnerable girl—just like when she’d lost her balance and fallen in the park late at night.
“…Well then. Time to go home.”
I muttered quietly and turned my back to put the plain mug away in the sink. It was at that very moment.
“…Don’t… leave.”
A terribly hoarse, almost inaudible voice came from behind me.
When I turned around, Shizuku still had her eyes closed. Was it a sleep-talking? Or had she sensed my presence fading away in her drowsiness?
Her hand, reaching out from under the blanket, was trembling slightly, as if grasping at thin air.
“When I wake up in the morning… I hope it’s all just a dream…”
It was a torrent of fear—huge and muddy—that she kept buried deep within her heart.
No matter how much she tried to maintain the facade of “everyday life,” wasn’t there a chance I would one day vanish from this fortress? Weren’t this cheap rug, this mug, and this giant squid just a hollow game of make-believe?
“…Make sure… you keep my collar…”
For a sleep-talking remark, it was far too heavy—a ugly lump of possessiveness.
Why must a top idol, who should be loved by so many in the spotlight, cling to the ankle of a nameless extra living in the shadows, trembling with such fear?
I decided to leave only objective facts behind in this space.
“My plain mug is still sitting next to the sink. Unless I retrieve it, the system is set up so I can’t sever my connection to this room.”
Of course, I don’t know if that logic reached her as she was sinking into the depths of sleep.
But after confirming that her hand, which had been wandering through the air, slowly grasped the cashmere blanket and curled up as if slightly relieved…
I opened the heavy soundproof door, trying not to make a sound.
The cold, mechanical click of the lock echoed.
Leaving behind her overwhelming dependence and the layers of an unnatural, distorted sense of daily life within this fortress, I stepped out into the cold, late-night streets.
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