Chapter 53 “The Genius Child Star of the Past”
Today, only Nagine’s older sister, Sayaka Hoshimiya, is at home.
Nagine’s parents specifically went out today because they wanted the young people to relax a bit and won’t be back until the evening.
Her brother, Renji Hoshimiya, is attending a cram school every day during the summer to prepare for entering a prestigious university, so he won’t be back until later at night.
This made Chika, who has always been afraid of the student council president, breathe a little easier.
However, she soon became tense again because of another person present.
Sayaka Hoshimiya.
Chika had heard Nagine and Kanade speak about her. She is the eldest daughter of the Hoshimiya family, six years older than Nagine, and now a university student.
Since she is the older sister of the “Black-Haired Angel” Nagine, everyone had mentally prepared for her outstanding appearance.
But when everyone walked into the Hoshimiya home and saw the beauty coming out of the living room to greet them, they were still taken aback.
Whether it was her perfectly structured, somewhat frighteningly beautiful face or her tall, voluptuous body akin to a top model’s, everyone except for Kanade thought they were standing in front of the suddenly grown-up Nagine.
Especially those long, straight legs and the towering, full peaks that swayed with her every step.
Even Chika felt overshadowed in her presence.
Nineteen years old.
Is this woman really the same age as me!?
Alice looked at Sayaka, who was wearing a light-colored dress, her gaze falling on her deep neckline as she slightly bent to greet them…
She then couldn’t help but touch her own flat chest, tears of unwillingness falling in her heart.
Could it be that Nagine will also grow up to be that kind of curvy beauty in the future!? Both Chika and Alice couldn’t help but steal glances at Nagine beside them.
Soon, they inadvertently turned their questions into certainty.
At the same time, they couldn’t help but wonder: What kind of genes are flowing in the Hoshimiya family?!
Compared to the innocent and adorable Nagine, her elder sister Sayaka’s beauty was even more enchanting.
Sayaka inherited her father’s eyes, sharper and more commanding like Renji.
While Nagine resembled her gentle and delicate mother, invoking a powerful urge to protect her in others.
Sayaka’s black, shoulder-length hair, unlike Nagine’s straight long hair, was styled into a fashionable, voluminous curl.
Her face was adorned with just the right amount of delicate makeup, radiating a trendy aura as if she just returned from a big city.
Even Ryo, who had seen countless beautiful models, was shocked.
At the same time, he also felt a sense of fear towards such a beauty.
Because when he was younger, he was often surrounded by beautiful models, which made him avoid girls approaching him.
After everyone introduced themselves.
Sayaka warmly invited everyone to the living room.
Then she asked Nagine to stay with them.
“Kanade~ can you come over and help me bring some iced tea and juice~?”
She then found an excuse to pull Kanade into the kitchen for a private chat.
This naturally raised a sense of unease in Nagine.
Watching the plan progress smoothly, Sayaka secretly chuckled in her heart.
“This, this is enough for me and Kanade to handle!”
Nagine pouted, running to Kanade’s side with slight displeasure, grabbing his arm without discussion.
This made Kanade, who had just been relieved at not being alone with Sayaka, his heart race again.
As he watched the pair of childhood friends hold hands and head to the kitchen, Sayaka showed a victorious smile.
She had always felt that her younger sister was not an ordinary person.
Little Nagine was completely different from her brother Renji; not only did she never cry at night to wake her up, but she also never fought over toys, being an unusually well-behaved and cute child.
One day, through her secret observations, Sayaka discovered her sister’s true identity; she was not an ordinary little girl.
But rather—
A Disney Princess on the run (confirmed).
Because her sister would sometimes talk to the pigeons on the balcony.
Watching this scene, Sayaka felt as if she had discovered a new world.
She realized that there were indeed innocent and pure little princesses like her sister in this world.
She never expected that after starting elementary school, her naive and carefree little sister would also come to understand love one day.
Though Nagine seemed to think she was hiding it well.
Her pure personality that never lied had already exposed her.
What she thought was just the innocent feelings between children had become something more after experiencing that incident.
That boy seemed to have become the only psychological support in her sister’s heart.
He helped Nagine step out of the shadows and smile brightly again.
Moreover, their relationship grew closer and more intimate.
But recently, she heard her brother Renji say that after they entered junior high, they were clearly in a mutual crush phase. However, for some reason, neither side had broken through this thin membrane between them.
No, strictly speaking, it seemed that they both had wooden heads, completely unaware of each other’s feelings and affection.
This made Sayaka a bit anxious.
Although her little sister was the cutest in the world, love wasn’t something you could secure just by being adorable.
It was entirely possible that a girl who made Kanade fall in love at first sight would appear in the future.
After all, boys are always seeking girls with a fresh feel.
As an older sister who doted on her younger sister, Sayaka had provided Kanade with many opportunities, urging him to confess to Nagine, but all had failed.
Since she couldn’t make an impact from the herbivorous Kanade,
Then she should stimulate her sister’s sense of crisis, making her jealous and unable to resist confessing, right?
That’s why Sayaka frequently launched such attacks on Kanade.
However, while Nagine would show signs of jealousy according to her plan,
For some reason, Kanade, that wooden head, completely failed to notice, and Nagine also seemed unfazed or eager to confess to monopolize Kanade.
…..
…..
Nagine and Kanade returned to the living room with iced tea and juice.
They found Alice and the others gathered around Sayaka, who was sitting on the sofa, seemingly watching something.
“Wow~ Little Hoshimiya is really so cute~”
And they could vaguely hear Chika frequently expressing her admiration.
“W-Wait a second—” Nagine noticed what they were doing, her cheeks rapidly turning red.
“Wait! Sister!”
As she approached, she found that Sayaka had indeed habitually pulled out an album, as usual, showing pictures of her cute younger sister from when she was little to every friend who came to visit.
“Sayaka-nee is still the same as before…”
Kanade placed the cups from the tray on the table.
Sayaka was very enthusiastic about showing off her cute younger sister.
Such things often happened in the past, making Kanade a bit nostalgic.
“Eh? This is…”
At that moment, Alice suddenly raised her voice in confusion.
What she saw was a photo from the album, depicting Nagine on her first day of kindergarten during the entrance ceremony.
Dressed in a kindergarten uniform, holding her mother’s hand, the little girl with black hair gave off a completely different vibe than the current Nagine.
Although the little girl in the photo was smiling, Alice sensed that the smile was quite stiff.
But what caught her attention the most was Nagine’s gaze—
Those were dull, lifeless eyes, clouded with depression, disdain for the world, and despair.
Alice vaguely felt she could read those strange emotions from them.
It was hard to imagine that the currently bright and cheerful Nagine ever had such an expression.
At the same time, Alice felt a strange sense of familiarity with this gaze, but couldn’t recall where she had seen it.
“Could it be… Nagine has a twin sister or something?” Alice cautiously asked.
“Ah haha~ No, no~” Sayaka didn’t seem bothered at all by Alice’s reaction.
“Many people say the same thing when they see this photo~”
“After all, little Nagine was quite a strange child back then~ When playing house, she always preferred to play as a little dog or something~”
“E-Older sister!?” Nagine was embarrassed as her black history was exposed, her face turning bright red.
“Well~ although she grew up to be a cute beauty now~ It’s hard to imagine how children change after growing up~”
Sayaka wore a teasing smile, her gaze subtly shifting to Kanade, who was tidying up the table nearby.
—The once unlikable child has now grown into a gentle and kind young man~
Alice agreed with Sayaka’s perspective.
It’s not uncommon for children’s personalities to undergo significant changes as they grow.
She decided to take this as her own oversensitivity.
Soon, under Nagine’s strong objections, the album viewing session ended.
Everyone took their drinks and snacks and followed Nagine to the home’s screening room.
Once a genius child star, Nagine’s family transformed an empty room into a screening room to enjoy the works that their precious daughter starred in.
But it was used less frequently later because Nagine starred only in horror films, and only Renji could watch horror films at home.
The first time her parents saw their adorable daughter playing a ghost in the screening room, they were so frightened that they couldn’t sleep that night.
“So, what are we watching today?”
As everyone arrived at the spacious and well-equipped screening room.
Chika and Alice were exclaiming about the fact that Nagine was the daughter of a wealthy family.
Meanwhile, Ryo pulled out a videotape he had rented today based on the clerk’s recommendation—
“It’s this one we’re watching today~! The clerk recommended it as the scariest horror movie in the store~”
“‘The Flower of the Other Shore’~”
At this, Kanade and Sayaka turned their heads suddenly to look at Ryo in shock, their hearts involuntarily tensing.
“The Flower of the Other Shore.”
It was the last movie Nagine starred in before she left the entertainment industry due to the incident.
And Chika, who understood something about Nagine’s past, now wore an uneasy expression.
This caught Ryo’s attention.
“President Amamiya? What’s wrong?”
“Ah, no, it’s just… that…” Chika stammered, struggling to explain.
But the one who came forward to assist was—
“Ah, this is a movie I starred in~” Nagine explained with a nonchalant smile.
“Eh!? Nagine starred in a movie?” Ryo looked clearly surprised.
“So Nagine is also an actress!?” Alice felt very surprised as well.
“But that was all in the past~”
“Oh, I see… But a cute kid like Nagine really fits the role of an innocent child in horror films~”
“No, I played a ghost, okay?”
“‘Huh?’” Ryo and Alice simultaneously raised big question marks.
Such a cute child playing a ghost?
“Ah, I can’t believe I actually got tricked by the clerk~”
Ryo sighed, then laughed:
“Knowing that Nagine plays a ghost in a horror movie, it won’t be scary at all~”
“……” Kanade watched Ryo displaying the same reaction he had back in the day.
He silently mourned for him for three seconds.
Seeing Nagine completely unbothered by this reaction.
Kanade and the others started to calm down a bit.
Even Sayaka, who was usually scared of horror films, took a seat out of concern for her sister.
Then, amidst the laughter and chatter from everyone except for Kanade and Sayaka,
Ryo placed the tape into the projector—
The movie started.
Next to Sayaka.
Nagine and Kanade sat side by side on the sofa, making her feel as if she had returned to the past.
It was a scene that Sayaka had watched countless times before.
However, after that nightmare, such days were gone.
So when Sayaka saw this scene, a note she had picked up years ago began to flash through her mind.
Although that table had been sold and replaced and they no longer used that kind of colored notepad at home.
Every time she remembered the content of that note,
Sayaka felt her chest ache as if it were going to crack open—
If it weren’t for Kanade at that time, she might have lost this adorable little sister…
—Absolutely, absolutely can’t let Nagine step back onto that stage that might again hurt her.
Sayaka silently swore in her heart.
…..
…..
The movie ended.
The list of production staff began to roll.
With a soft click.
Nagine quietly walked over to the switch and turned on the lights in the room.
This small movement shocked two people present, causing their bodies to tremble.
“It’s… it’s just like this…”
Ryo’s usual cheerful expression was gone, replaced by a forced smile to cover his discomfort.
And Chika, lacking any strength to hold on to her bravado, was curled up beside Alice, hugging her arm tightly.
Though Alice wasn’t scared by the film’s content, the two soft sensations transmitted from her arms made her eyes betray her as tears fell.
Having focused her attention mostly on Nagine, Kanade didn’t react much.
The only one who fainted from fear was—
“Sister!?”
Sayaka, who had absolutely no resistance to horror.
Through that short hour and a half.
Ryo, Chika, and the others understood why this was the “scariest movie” the clerk recommended.
Nagine’s excessively cute appearance formed a bizarre contrast that went without saying.
Moreover, her performance and actions in the film were also outstanding, creating an eerily bizarre atmosphere distinct from humanity.
Even when many watched together, they were shivering in cold sweat.
If someone were to watch it alone at night…
“Um, Alice, could you… accompany me to the bathroom?” Chika had tears in her eyes, her legs trembling as she gripped Alice’s hand tightly.
Seeing her in such a pitiful state, Alice could only nod.
Seeing this, Ryo imitated her grip on Kanade’s arm.
“Kanade, you must be scared after watching that! I can begrudgingly accompany you to the bathroom, okay?”
“Hey, Ryo, those hands that can’t stop shaking are no persuasion at all, you know?”
Just then, Renji, who came home from his cram school, sensed that there were people in the screening room.
As he pushed the door in, Ryo and Chika sprang up in shock, witnessing a scene that looked like hell.
Understanding instantly what had just happened, Renji sighed and helped wake Sayaka.
After sharing dinner together with everyone.
Time reached deep into the night.
Nagine’s room was given to Alice and Chika, leaving her to sleep with Sayaka.
The boys, Kanade and Ryo, rejected Renji’s invitation, choosing to sleep in the living room.
And on this particular night.
Kanade once again dreamt that long-forgotten dream.
Was it because he was spending the night at Nagine’s house again?
Or was it because he had watched “The Flower of the Other Shore” again today?
The scene was the same as the last time.
Dim lighting, standing in front of Nagine’s room door.
The door was unlocked, only a slight gap remaining.
Just as Kanade was about to push the door open,
The dream seemed to stop and become blurry, then dissipated like smoke.
This jolted him awake.
Once again, Kanade couldn’t recall what he was doing in that moment.
(What’s going on?) DD-chan seemed to sense something, her voice echoing in Kanade’s mind.
(Did you forget to go to the bathroom before bed? Do you need me to accompany you because you’re scared of ghosts?)
“It’s not that!? And having a ghost accompany me when I fear ghosts, what kind of logic is that!?”
Kanade murmured under his breath, worried about waking Ryo.
Soon, he quickly fell asleep again due to today’s fatigue.
Leaving only DD-chan floating in the air, silently watching Kanade’s sleeping face…
