White Melody, Azure Promise ~ Our Secret After-School Lessons ~
Shirahama Mashiro, a rookie actress who just landed the heroine role in the popular hero show 'Hero Chronicle,' has a major problem. She's perfect at action and dancing, but her acting keeps getting called 'robotic and wooden.'
Her agency assigns her a personal acting coach: Aoyagi Ren, a senior actor known for his cold demeanor and exceptional skill. His training is relentless. Every day after school, Mashiro is forced to repeat emotional scenes over and over. When she admits she can't act 'in
White Melody, Azure Promise ~ Our Secret After-School Lessons ~ - I'll confess with all my might, without running or hiding.
The rain had let up just a little compared to before.
A children's park in Nerima. A rusted swing creaked with a *gii*.
Aoyagi Ren stood frozen at the park entrance. His soaked suit clung to his skin, and cold water trickled ceaselessly down the nape of his neck. His gaze was fixed on the small back of Shirahama Mashiro, sitting on a swing, equally drenched.
She hadn't noticed him approaching. Her shoulders were slumped, her head hung low, as if she had lost everything in the world.
Ren's foot pressed into the wet sand. At the *crunch* of the sound, Mashiro's shoulders flinched. She jerked her head up. Her large eyes were bloodshot red, a mess of rain and tears.
"……Don't. Don't come near me."
Mashiro's voice was hoarse. A tiny voice, wrung out of her.
"If you're going to say you're stepping down from the role…… say it now. Please."
She hugged her knees and buried her face. As if shutting herself away in a shell. Her figure was small and painfully fragile, like a puppy left all alone in a storm.
Ren didn't answer.
Instead, he slowly took off his jacket. Already heavy with absorbed water, he silently draped it over Mashiro's shoulders. Hardly any of his body heat remained, but even just blocking the cold rain made a difference.
Mashiro slowly raised her head.
"……Why?"
"I have no intention of stepping down from the role."
Ren's voice was quiet. But that quietness wasn't the cold rejection it had been before. There was a resonance to it, a resolve — as if he had steeled himself for something.
"……The one stepping down is me."
Mashiro's eyes widened.
"……Huh?"
"I'm under what's called an 'Exclusive Lover Role Contract.'"
Standing beside Mashiro, Ren began to speak, bit by bit. The sound of the rain enveloped their world.
"My agency forbids me from romantic relationships. If I break it, the penalty is thirty million yen. My career as an actor would be over. So I was in a position where I wasn't allowed to fall for anyone."
His left hand unconsciously gripped his right wrist tightly.
"But I…… I approached you. Under the name of 'practice,' I made excuses to touch you. When I heard you were going out to eat with Sakurai, I was so jealous it drove me insane. I wanted to make you mine."
Ren took a deep breath.
"That's why I hurt you and pushed you away! To protect you from my own weakness! I was terrified that I would ruin your life!!"
His voice shook the air beyond the rain. A cry of passion, shown for the first time.
Trembling, Mashiro stood up. The jacket draped over her shoulders slipped off.
"Then…… then all that kindness, all of it."
Her face was crumpled with tears and rain.
"At the café, on our practice date, when you held my hand. At Yoyogi Park…… when you whispered 'I love you' in my ear. Was it all…… was it all just acting?"
The moment he heard those words, something inside Ren snapped.
He closed in on Mashiro and grabbed her firmly by both shoulders. His face was twisted with anguish.
"As if it could be acting!!!"
The rain bounced violently between them.
"That first time you knocked over your cup at the café! When we practiced whispering 'I love you' in your ear and you turned bright red and crouched down! My heart was pounding just as hard as yours was!! I was terrified the whole time that you'd find out!"
He looked straight at Mashiro. Those single-lidded eyes that were supposed to be cool and composed now blazed hotly, like a storm.
"……Me too."
Mashiro shouted back, forcing her voice out.
"I was scared too! Just like my mother said, I've always walked on rails…… I don't know any other way to live…… I didn't know if someone like me was even allowed to fall in love with anyone……!!"
Her small hands clutched tightly at Ren's chest.
"I just didn't want to cause you trouble, senpai…… I was scared that someone like me would just drag you down, so I ran away…… I'm sorry…… I'm sorry, Ren-senpai……!"
Ren gazed intensely once more at Mashiro, sobbing and hiccuping.
He had cast off everything — the anger, the jealousy, the cold mask. Now, all that remained in his eyes was affection.
"……You're not a doll anymore."
Ren's voice had become astonishingly gentle.
"You agonized with your own mind, and you ran away on your own. That's your growth."
He held Mashiro's freezing body tightly, tightly.
"……The acting is over now. I'm ending it."
It was the signal that the battle was over. Only the sound of the rain enveloped everything.
Ren gently lifted Mashiro's face. It was a mess of tears, and her nose was red. Even so, to him, it was the most beloved face in the world.
Their gazes intertwined.
Ren slowly brought his face closer. Mashiro shut her eyes tightly.
Their cold, wet lips softly met.
It wasn't acting, and it wasn't practice. It was their first real kiss. A long, long kiss in the rain. The sound of the world vanished. Only the scent of the cold rain and the warmth of his lips filled Mashiro's senses.
How long did they stay like that?
Eventually, their lips parted.
Mashiro slowly opened her eyes. Before her was Ren, with a gentleness in his eyes she had never seen before.
—*DRDRDRDRRR!!*
Suddenly, a jarring ringtone tore through the sound of the rain. Ren's smartphone.
Ren hesitated for a moment, then pulled it from his pocket. The screen read 'Tsukishima Gou.' He pressed the call button.
"Oi, Ren!! Where the hell are you right now!! Did you find Mashiro!? We've got less than an hour until the live broadcast event, goddammit!!"
An ear-splittingly loud yell burst from the receiver. The volume was so intense that Mashiro, still in his arms, could hear it clearly.
Before Ren could open his mouth, another sound came from the park entrance.
*Skreeee—.*
The sharp sound of tires scraping against wet asphalt. A black minivan had stopped right by the park gate.
The driver's side door flew open and a woman leaped out. Her neatly styled black hair was soaked with rain and plastered to her face. It was Kojima Natsuki. She stood frozen at the sight of the two of them still holding each other.
Instinctively, Ren shielded Mashiro behind him.
"……Kojima-san."
Tension shot through Ren's voice again. Hiding behind his back, Mashiro also looked timidly at Kojima.
Kojima Natsuki wasn't carrying her usual schedule book or stopwatch. Her hands were empty. And her eyes, just like Mashiro's, were bright red.
Wiping her tears with a trembling hand, she took one step, then another, closer to them.
"……I am."
Her voice was shaking.
"As your manager, I am supposed to stop you, according to the rules. Because a scandal will destroy your careers…… destroy everything. I…… I know that."
A bitter memory from the past flashed through her mind. The sorrowful face of that child she couldn't protect.
"But…… but!"
Kojima raised her head. Rain and tears streamed down her cheeks.
"More than that, I…… I want to see you two give it your all! Mashiro-san's acting, from the heart! Aoyagi-san's love, for real! If something like this, something straight out of a drama…… can actually happen in reality, then I……"
She forced out the next words.
"Now, go! I'll…… pretend I haven't reported this to the agency yet! So right now, take your heroine to the stage!"
It was the first, the last, and the greatest violation of the rules by the woman who had lived her life using them as a shield.
Kojima's words had barely finished when Director Tsukishima's yell erupted from the phone's speaker once more.
"Oi, whose voice was that just now! Anyway, all of you get your asses over here together!! Fifty-nine minutes left!! You're all fired if you're late!!!"
Ren ended the call.
He turned back to Mashiro behind him.
"Let's go, Mashiro. I'm prepared to lose everything. What about you?"
Ren held out his hand.
Mashiro no longer hesitated. Staking everything she had, she wiped away her tears.
"……Yes! I won't run anymore. I'll go to the live broadcast with you, senpai!"
Mashiro's small but firm hand squeezed Ren's back tightly.
"Alright, that one was OK!"
It felt like they could hear the director's final words from the smartphone.
Still gripping Mashiro's hand tightly, Ren dashed through the rain toward the wagon where Kojima was waiting with the engine running. His shoes kicked up puddles, splashing muddy water.
To end everything.
And to begin everything.
Their real battle had only just begun.
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