RPAGF Chapter 59 Horse Racing Wine
Chapter 59 Horse Racing Wine
Kubo Rihito took Rika and Miu Miu around for a while, and finally found three apartments in the same building not far from their current villa to rent. The four of them then returned to the mansion in Akasaka. After a period of adjustment, Rika had returned to her usual cheerful and talkative self. No one could tell what she had just gone through, and Miu and the third young lady naturally wouldn't say anything. As a result, everyone in the mansion was completely unaware.
After returning, Rito called over Nomi, who was sprawled out on the living room sofa with one leg dangling over the armrest, and led her to her room.
"So, if you never get married, I'll never see Hitomi and Yuu-chan again?" Mikoto said expressionlessly, throwing the leftover apple core into the trash can and wiping her hands. "That's easy, just find someone to have a whirlwind marriage and divorce, or has President Kubo fallen so low that he doesn't even have anyone willing to wear a wedding dress for you?"
"Listen to this, is this even human language?" Rito rolled her eyes. "But you're right. Someone like me, a nouveau riche with a little money, how can I compare to a young geek, a gigolo, or a fitness instructor? It's not surprising that no one wants to marry me."
Meiqing was a seasoned surfer, so of course she knew what he was being sarcastic about. But since Brother Zai had said that colleagues were all benefactors, she couldn't comment on the matter. She could only lean forward and whisper, "That's enough."
"Tsk, who told you to tease me first?" Rito grabbed a nearby cushion and threw it at her. Mio was prepared and dodged to the side. Having just finished eating her apple, she was empty-handed, so she simply grabbed another cushion to retaliate. The two of them exchanged blows for several rounds at opposite ends of the bed, until Mio finally revealed an opening, which Rito seized upon, and she was smashed over the head with the pillow.
"Aigoo, Kubo Rito, you little bastard!"
Still unwilling to admit defeat, Meiqing felt that Japanese couldn't express her current emotions, so she switched to the swear words from the neighboring country that she had learned from TV dramas and frantically waved a pillow in retaliation. However, the effect was the same as those fancy but ineffective female self-defense techniques, which only excited the man opposite her and had no other purpose.
"Oh, I hadn't even noticed. There's a foreign spy next to me. Tell me, was you sent by North Korea or South Korea?"
Rito threw the cushion aside and tried to get up, but her foot slipped and she fell forward.
By the time he realized what was happening, his nose was less than a hand's width away from Meiqing's face. One hand was on the sofa armrest near her ear, while the other was somehow on her waist. Meiqing's laughter stopped abruptly. Her eyes widened for half a second, but she didn't push him away or say anything; she simply turned her head to one side.
Rito gazed at her profile; her strong features, as always, gave her a rare androgynous beauty, yet as she lay beneath him, a distinct softness of girlishness lingered in her eyes. He suddenly recalled the first time he met her in a dream, their first kiss in an abandoned factory—a memory so vivid he still couldn't believe it was a dream.
"Have you ever dreamed about me?" he suddenly asked.
Meiqing opened her mouth slightly, hesitated for a few seconds, and blushed. Rito reacted quickly and immediately realized what was going on, looking at her in shock.
"No...no way?" he stammered. Meiqing picked up a cushion and gave him a hard slap, her face turning bright red. She twisted her body shyly and said, "Baka! You only just realized it now? I can enter your consciousness space, so what's so strange about me entering your dreams? You're just too slow to react, aren't you?"
Li Ren stared wide-eyed in shock for a long time before finally coming to his senses. His gaze towards her now held a newfound intensity. Seeing this, Mei Qing quickly pushed him away, turned over, and sat on the other side of the bed, curling up in a ball with her knees drawn up to her chest, looking at him warily.
"Don't overthink it. A dream is just a dream. No matter how realistic it is, it's not real. I'm not as easy to bully as Rika."
"Is that so?" Rito licked his lips, as if he could still taste the sensation of their tongues intertwining that night, and revealed a somewhat wicked smile.
"Get lost!" Seeing that Kubo Rito was about to turn into a lecherous monster, Miko's face turned even redder. She threw out the last pillow that she could use as a weapon, which also marked that she was completely in a helpless situation and could only be slaughtered by others.
"Hehe." Fortunately, Rito usually had Nanamin's help to guide him, so he wasn't sexually repressed. After chuckling twice, he didn't take any further action and quickly returned to normal. He lay flat on Meiqing's big bed, looked at the ceiling, and let out a long sigh.
"What's wrong? Still worrying about getting married?"
While pleased with his restraint, Meiqing also felt a strange sense of disappointment. Shaking her head to shake off this feeling, she casually lay down next to him and asked the air.
"A little bit. Of course, there are many ways to fool the system, but you can't fool yourself. In the end, you always have to make a choice; it's just a matter of sooner or later."
"Where's Hashimoto-san?"
"Her? I haven't told her yet."
Meiqing turned her head and glanced at him, suddenly having a hunch: perhaps the person he would eventually marry had not yet been born.
"There will always be a way," she said.
"Hmm." Rito gave a perfunctory reply, then suddenly asked with a smile, "Will you come again? I mean, in my dreams."
Mei Qing snorted twice: "Let's talk about it after you've decided who you want to choose."
Then no one spoke again. Afternoon light filtered through the gaps in the curtains, casting a thin, golden line on the ceiling.
Outside the door, Riko Endo, who had just finished yoga, was walking down the corridor when she saw two people lying on the bed in the half-open room, and she paused.
Downstairs in the living room, the third young lady was leaning on the coffee table, watching a comedian on her laptop. Seeing Riko come downstairs, she casually asked without looking up, "Where are Riko and Mikoto?" Riko thought for a moment and honestly replied, "They're both in bed."
"Oh, what are you doing?" the third young lady asked instinctively.
"What else can you do in bed?" Riko looked at her strangely and asked in return.
"Eh, eh? Eh!" The third young lady blinked, and her clever mind immediately conjured up indescribable images. She wondered if she had misheard, but looking at the self-righteous Riko, she felt that she probably hadn't.
"Wow, Riko, you've really...grown up." After hesitating for a long time, she finally blurted out these words, leaving Riko completely confused. Just as she was about to ask her what she meant, the third young lady no longer wanted to discuss the topic. She waved her hand, signaling Riko to leave quickly and not interfere with her watching the program.
"Odakura Reina, you bastard—" Riko pouted angrily, but could only rage helplessly. After all, the third young lady was the most troublesome demon among them, and honest people like her could only be bullied. After hesitating for a long time, she stomped her little foot and left angrily.
"Wow~" As soon as she saw her leave, the third young lady quickly shifted her attention from the screen, glanced upstairs with a mischievous smile, and muttered to herself, "I knew you two weren't just friends, but I didn't expect you to be so open about it. Aiji is next door, aren't you afraid she'll hear you?"
That evening, the atmosphere in the mansion was strange. Apart from Rito, Mio, and Riko, the others would inadvertently burst into laughter when they looked at each other, but they wouldn't say anything when asked. Rito was speechless and just assumed that they were all going through a rebellious phase. After finishing her meal hastily, she left.
When I returned to Songtao's house, it was already late at night. Only the floor lamp next to the sofa was lit in the living room. The orange light cast a soft halo on the wall not far away. There was no sign of cooking in the kitchen, and the takeout boxes were washed and piled up by the door. It seemed to be another lazy day.
Nana Min was curled up on the sofa reading a book when Rito hugged her from behind, crawled onto the sofa, and told her about the system's new mission.
Nana Min paused for a moment while turning the pages, just for a second, and then turned the page again as if nothing had happened.
"understood."
The Snow Woman of the North remained as aloof as ever, something Rito had anticipated. He kissed her on the cheek and asked in a somewhat casual tone:
"So, shall we get married, Ms. Hashimoto?"
Nana Min closed the book and placed it aside, looking down at him. Her eyes appeared exceptionally clear in the dim light, like amber warmed by the sun.
"Is this your proposal, Rito Kubo? Don't you think it's a bit too perfunctory?"
Li Ren chuckled softly, pulling her into his arms. Her icy, jade-like skin was quickly tinged with a new hue by his fiery passion. The first button of his shirt was undone, and soon, the second, the third...
"Nanamin, what are you really thinking?" he asked again, his lips close to her earlobe, his voice as low as a sigh.
Nana Min didn't answer. She simply raised her hand, took off her glasses from the bridge of her nose, and placed them on the coffee table. Then she turned around, cupped his face in her hands, and kissed him. The kiss was deeper and more forceful than usual, as if she were using another language to express words she couldn't say aloud.
"Don't leave any marks on your neck," Nana Min said breathlessly. "I have to go to work tomorrow."
"Okay," Rito said, her fingers already unhooking her bra.
They lingered on the sofa for a long time. Nanamin lay on top of Rito, her shirt half-pulled down to her elbows, her long hair falling down to cover half her face, with strands of hair damp with sweat sticking to her forehead. Her movements were initially somewhat reserved, but she quickly succumbed to Rito's rhythm and had to hold onto the back of the sofa for balance.
"Let me... be your Hashimoto Nanami alone." She squeezed out these words between breaths, though it was an imperative sentence, her tone sounding more like a command.
Rito held her waist and thrust hard into her delicate body. The floor lamp in the living room was still on, and the warm yellow light fell on their intertwined figures, making their shadows on the wall flicker.
It was late at night when everything calmed down. Rito carried Nanamin through the bath and then carried her back to bed, where she was so sleepy she could barely keep her eyes open. Just as he was about to turn off the light and go to sleep, Nanamin suddenly reached out and tugged at his clothes.
"Reasoning with people".
"Um?"
"This is our home." Her voice was soft, sounding somewhat ethereal in the darkness.
Rito turned to look at her in the moonlight streaming in from the window. Her eyes were half-closed, her eyelashes casting fine shadows on her cheeks, and her expression held a rare hint of sadness, reminiscent of many female characters from the North. He didn't speak again, but simply lowered his head and gently kissed her forehead before turning off the light.
In the darkness, Nana buried her face in the crook of his neck, her breathing gradually becoming even. Occasionally, a car would drive by outside the window, its headlights sweeping across the ceiling in a fleeting white light before everything returned to silence.
One week later, at the Nogizaka Building in Chiyoda Ward.
Rito hadn't been in this office early in the morning for a long time. The sky outside the window was overcast, foreshadowing an impending downpour. Several selection forms were spread out on the desk. He casually drew a few circles on the fifth selection form when suddenly hurried footsteps sounded outside the door. Konno Yoshio didn't even knock, pushing the door open as he entered, carrying a laptop and his face as dark as the sky outside. He quickly walked to the desk and placed the laptop in front of Rito.
"Kubo-san, something's happened."
The screen displayed a fan forum page. Below the bolded title, the number of comments had already scrolled dozens of pages. The incident originated from the behind-the-scenes footage of the construction project that aired last week. The production team had included footage from backstage at the Osaka concert, and everyone saw it—Inoue Sayuri chasing Rito from one end of the corridor to the other, the two of them so close they were almost intimate.
"Are those people at the TV station idiots?" Rito stared at the screen, his brows furrowed. "They even aired that?"
"They've already called to apologize, saying it was an intern who did it." Konno's voice was filled with suppressed anger. "I've already sent people to investigate. The biggest problem now is online; the fans have started a massive backlash."
Li Ren didn't speak. His fingers tapped lightly on the table, once, twice, three times.
"My suggestion is," Konno waited a moment before offering his opinion, "that we temporarily put Inoue in the back of the list for this fifth single, or perhaps not let her enter the selection process at all, give her a break for a while, and then consider bringing her up again once the hype has died down, how about that?"
"No need," Rito interrupted him.
"But what about the fans—"
"I said no need." Rito took out the fifth single selection form that she had already made from the drawer. Inoue Sayuri's name appeared prominently in the first row. After all, she is a mature adult. When she works hard, she has both direction and strength, and she has won unanimous praise from the members and staff. Rito herself felt wronged that such a member was not in the first row. "It will remain the same. If the fans want to support someone, let them support me."
Konno opened his mouth, but in the end he only bowed slightly, turned around and walked out.
The slight whim of power quickly brought about its deserved consequences. The incident exploded online faster than Rito had anticipated. Less than an hour after the selection list was announced, hundreds of posts appeared on 2CH. As a dumping ground for Japanese emotions, the language used perfectly demonstrated the extreme sarcasm and irony that Japanese can achieve. "Pillow operation" was considered the mildest of all; slut-shaming was also present, and it even escalated to suspicion of the entire Nogizaka46.
Soon after, Bunshun also joined in, but this time they didn't have any evidence, so they could only publish a report in a sneaky way, dragging out Akihiro, who had been dead for many years, and whipping him up again. They talked at length about how Onyanko Club fell apart, and the veiled criticism was obvious to any normal person. But because it was a winning situation, there was no shortage of people who fawned over him.
"More than thirty years ago, there was a producer who thought he could control everything, but in the end, he couldn't escape the judgment of public opinion," the report concluded. "History doesn't repeat itself, but it always seems to come full circle."
When Rito saw the report, he was so angry that his blood pressure almost burst. He picked up his phone, ready to post an article and have a three-hundred-round battle with Bunshun. In the end, Nanamin stopped him. Getting angry and starting a war is a major taboo in military strategy. Many famous generals have died because of this. She didn't want to see Rito repeat the same mistake.
After being persuaded to leave, Rito didn't stay at home for long. She hid alone in the small building of the Seed Flower and listened to "The Silent Majority," a song prepared for Kasaka, over and over again.
I don't know how long I sat there, but suddenly I heard dragging footsteps outside the door. The door was pushed open a crack, and a head peeked in.
The girl was wearing the black training uniform that all trainees wore. The pants were a bit long, so she rolled them up twice to reveal white socks and a pair of faded sneakers.
"Nao Kosaka? What are you doing here?"
Rito looked up at her and felt something was off.
"I want to practice some more. Everyone is ahead of the pack, and I want to catch up with them as soon as possible."
Nao Kosaka looked at him and honestly confessed.
"Really?" Rito forced a smile. "No need to rush, there's still some time before your debut."
"I know, but it really feels bad to fall behind." Kosaka nodded. Konno Yoshio had already told her that it wasn't him who had faith in her, but the company president who was about the same age as her. So she wasn't intimidated and even brought up the recent big news: "President, are you in a bad mood because of those people online? Just ignore them. They're just a bunch of bastards who enjoy spreading rumors all day long. They'll calm down once the hype dies down."
Rito smiled, and whether he was truly comforted or not, he got up from the floor and walked over to her.
"What if I say what they're saying is true?" He lowered his voice, which sounded somewhat sinister in the silent night. Kosaka's eyes widened, she took a step back, her lip marked with a white bite mark, and after a moment of hesitation, she said firmly, "Then I can understand. After all, Inoue-san is so beautiful. It's all the TV station's fault for airing this."
"Pfft—" Unexpectedly, Kosaka Uo was able to find an angle to defend herself, and Rito couldn't help but laugh out loud. He stopped teasing her and said with a smile, "I was just kidding. Sayuri and I are not in that kind of relationship. But I appreciate your kindness. I'll buy you candy later."
Hearing him say that, Kosaka Yu breathed a sigh of relief, then immediately puffed out her cheeks and emphasized that she was already a high school student.
"Okay, JK, then I'll treat you to bubble tea, alright?"
"Ugh—how outdated! Bubble tea isn't popular anymore."
"Take it or leave it. Fashion is cyclical; it might be popular again in ten years."
"Then let's wait ten years before drinking it."
"You might graduate in ten years and still be saying these things."
"Then you can just come find me, president."
"Go away, I'll have changed careers long ago in ten years. There are so many pretty girls in this room that I can only look but not touch. I don't think there's any future in this line of work."
"Ah! Perverted company president, no wonder he's so hated, he's the worst!"
"Yeah, the perverted president is about to make his move on you, why don't you run?" Rito leaned against the door frame, arms crossed, watching her with a smile.
Kosaka opened her mouth, but couldn't think of a rebuttal. So she let out a loud snort from her nose and turned her head away, ignoring him.
Just then, footsteps came from the direction of the stairs. The two of them turned around at the same time and saw Oozono Rei coming down from the second floor. She was still wearing her training uniform, but with a light jacket over it, and she was carrying a paper bag, as if she had come to retrieve something she had left behind.
"Ah, President, and Kosaka too." Ozono Rei paused upon seeing the two, tilting her head slightly. "Still here so late?"
"Oh, it's Zono. I wanted to practice a bit more on my own, and I just happened to run into the club president spacing out in the practice room," Kosaka answered first. She didn't have any particularly close members in Keyakizaki yet, but Zono got along well with everyone, and she was no exception. Seeing the paper bag in Oozono's hand, she curiously leaned over and asked, "Zono, are you back to get something?"
"Hmm, I forgot my jacket here. I sweated today, so I'll take it home to wash." Ozono Rei pulled a neatly folded sports jacket out of the paper bag, showed it to Kosaka, and then turned her gaze to Rito, as if asking with her eyes—what about you? Why are you still here?
Rito shrugged, offering no explanation, but simply gestured with his chin towards Kosaka: "Senbei, the newbie's working so hard, aren't you going to lend a hand?"
Zono's eyes flashed, but he didn't refuse. Under Kosaka's flattered gaze, he walked up to her and asked about her current weaknesses.
Watching the Kagoshima fox explain verbally while immediately starting to teach, Rito smiled leisurely, walked to the corner of the practice room and sat down. Midori Shinichi was teaching Aoi Shinichi. Although they were both second generation, their actual seniority was far apart. Only on this timeline could such a spectacle be seen. Thinking this, the anger that Kuroko and Bunshun had stirred up earlier slowly dissipated. He squinted and played the greatest debut song of the 21st century on his phone.
"Just do what you want to do, don't become one of them."
Hirate's youthful voice sang along, while the moon outside the window rose high in the sky, casting a soft white glow on the practice room floor. He closed his eyes and silently tapped his feet to the beat of the song. Kosaka danced gracefully to the music, while Zono stood by watching, occasionally offering reminders. Everyone was doing their part, and the world was still as beautiful as ever.