Tokyo's bubble economy: From literary giants to great entertainers

It was past midnight.

In front of the Senya Yokocho Music Restaurant.

Honami Suzuki leaned against Shuichi Kanbara, feeling dizzy, and watched as Keiko Matsuzaka was carried into the car by Takako Tokiwa, who had rushed over.

Feeling the night breeze and almost tipsy, she looked up and gazed blankly at the dim streetlights. Because her job required her to be on call 24 hours a day, she hadn't attended many of these gatherings since graduating from university. Even today, when she came for an interview, she only drank water.

To be honest, she felt that she had gotten used to her old way of life.

But this time...

"This kind of life, full of laughter and jokes, is quite interesting."

Thinking of this, she slightly turned her head and looked up at Kanbaru Shuichi, who was waving goodbye to Matsuzaka Keiko and Tokiwa Takako beside her. A smile that she herself did not notice flowed in her hazy eyes.

Just then, two girls dressed in JK uniforms walked out of the restaurant door behind them.

"Huh? Really? Shingo-kun found a girlfriend in her thirties?!"

"Why would I lie to you? I was startled too."

"Huh?! Shingo's a year younger than us, only seventeen. So when he's thirty, that woman'll be over fifty?!"

"Yes, that woman was married before!"

"That's terrifying..."

The sound faded into the distance, though the speaker meant no harm, the listener took it to heart.

Honami Suzuki, who had been in a good mood, stiffened slightly, her already tipsy eyes freezing instantly. At that moment, Shuichi Kanbara, oblivious to everything, nudged her arm and chuckled.

"What's wrong? Are you drunk? Let's go, we'll go home after we drop Rie off."

"Um..."

Honami Suzuki took a deep breath of the still chilly early spring night air and followed behind, but her usually elegant eyes were filled with complex emotions.

Come to think of it, Shuichi is only eighteen years old...

Wait, why did I think of Shuichi first?

.

Even late at night, Shimokitazawa was still brightly lit and bustling with people.

The izakaya on the street corner had just closed, and the drunken laughter drifted away on the wind, while neon lights cast dappled shadows on the wet asphalt.

"She accidentally drank a little alcohol, so please take good care of her tonight, Mother-in-law."

In front of a room on the third floor of an apartment building, Shuichi Kanbara handed the dizzy Rie Miyazawa to Grandma Miyazawa.

"This child is very quiet at home, Shuichi, you can rest assured. By the way, I'll pay the rent for this room in a while..."

Grandma Miyazawa spoke gently, but still stood somewhat reservedly at the door with her hands tucked in. She was penniless, and this upscale apartment was rented by Shuichi Kambara, at a considerable price.

Shuichi Kanbara smiled and waved his hand, "This amount of money is nothing to me right now, so please stay here without worry, Grandma. Alright, someone is waiting for me, so I'll be going now. Remember to wake her up at eight o'clock tomorrow morning, and I'll come pick her up to go to the film set."

Be careful on the road.

After watching Kanbaru Shuichi disappear at the end of the corridor, Grandma Miyazawa helped Miyazawa Rie into the house.

But as soon as she stepped into the entrance hall, Rie Miyazawa, who had been leaning softly on her shoulder, suddenly stood up unsteadily.

She kicked off her shoes with a quick tap of her feet, and her little feet, clad in white socks, tumbled lightly to the window. She bent down, like a little kitten peeking at the world, and quietly peeked out half her head to look downstairs.

The night breeze brushed past the window, ruffling the slightly disheveled strands of hair on her forehead.

Downstairs, Shuichi Kanbara was crossing the street, his shadow stretched long by the streetlights. She blinked, her slightly tipsy eyes gleaming with a sweet, hazy light, concealing an indescribable emotion.

However... when he saw Shuichi Kanbara cross the road and meet Honami Suzuki, who was sitting on a flower bed drinking water, that hazy feeling instantly turned into a hint of dissatisfaction.

"Shuichi-san..."

She muttered to herself, her lips unconsciously pursing.

"What a fickle woman! Humph!"

She complained, but didn't move. She remained leaning on the windowsill, her chin resting on her crossed arms, her lower lip slightly turned up, her gaze following the two figures walking side by side.

Only after the two disappeared into the shadows of the trees at the street corner did she slowly withdraw her gaze, stretch, and squint her eyes with a hint of dissatisfaction, yet also a sense of satisfaction she had never felt before.

"Emm—" she said, stretching and yawning, "Grandma, is there hot water? I need to take a bath. I have to get up early tomorrow."

"It's all set, go wash it."

Grandma Miyazawa's voice came from the kitchen, with a knowing smile, but she didn't ask any further questions.

Rie Miyazawa walked along, taking off her clothes as she went into the bathroom. After making a hangover soup, she bent down and picked up her blue and white striped cotton underwear, the kind a young girl would wear, from the floor. Drinking alcohol makes you sweat easily, and her panties and bra were all crumpled and bunched up.

"This girl..."

Grandma Miyazawa smiled indulgently, recalling the look in Rie Miyazawa's eyes as she peered at Shuichi Kanbara from the windowsill.

"Looks like Shuichi-kun is in for a headache from now on."

.

The Miyazawa family and the Suzuki Honami family live in the same community, separated only by a small community park.

It was late at night, and the children's noise was gone from the sand piles and slides in the park.

Amidst the chirping and whispering of insects, only a few couples sat on the dimly lit benches, whispering sweet nothings to each other.

The atmosphere was tranquil and gentle. When Shuichi Kanbara got tired of writing, he often liked to come here for a walk to let his thoughts settle.

But this time...

"Hey you, why are you drinking so much?"

The night wind tousled the black hair on his forehead as Shuichi Kanbara helped Honami Suzuki up, saying something that was both speechless and amusing.

Honami Suzuki's steps were unsteady, her eyes unfocused, but she still stubbornly insisted, "No...no way! I can't...hiccup~ I can't lose to that Matsuzaka guy!"

"It's just a get-together, there's no winning or losing involved."

Shuichi Kambara smiled and rolled his eyes.

Tonight, I was just thinking of having a few drinks to get to know the crew. Everyone else, including Keiko Matsuzaka, thought the same thing. But when she arrived, things completely went off track.

"Hey, hey~ What kind of look is that! Never mind, a kid like you wouldn't understand what a war between women is."

"Yes, yes, you're absolutely right~"

"Hmph! Just going through the motions~"

Honami Suzuki, unusually displaying a childlike demeanor, pouted in annoyance. But then, as if remembering something, she suddenly stood up straight and strode over to Shuichi Kanbara. "Oh, right! You...you were talking up for that Matsuzaka guy while you were drinking, weren't you!"

"?"

"I told you so! See! You can't even come up with a reason!"

She raised her delicate chin, her large, watery eyes, wet with alcohol, were hazy and dreamy under the dim streetlights.

Shuichi Kanbara was taken aback, then laughed and cried at the same time, "Please, I was just advising you two to drink less, what do you mean by speaking up for her?"

"No, that's not true!"

Honami Suzuki muttered angrily as she backed away, "In that situation, if you didn't just speak up for me, you were speaking up for the other person! Humph! You...you made me feel bad..."

"What did I do to you?"

"N-nothing!"

The words were on the tip of her tongue, but she swallowed them back. Her slender fingers unconsciously squeezed the purse tucked under her arm, and she thought to herself with a wronged expression: Really, I even took the day off to buy you a coming-of-age gift.

Yes, it's a coming-of-age ceremony.

Although today is not Shuichi Kambara's eighteenth birthday—his birthday was actually two weeks ago, which he spent alone in that unfinished building.

But she happened to see the information he filled out when he filled out the school application, and she silently memorized it.

Therefore, considering that today is the first day of university for Shuichi Kanbara, and that he is also a legitimate contracted writer, he might attend various formal occasions in the future.

So this afternoon, to the astonishment of her colleagues at the TV station, she took an unprecedented day off, went out and carefully selected a gift set, and even prepared a meal at home based on a food magazine.

As it turned out, Shuichi Kanbara inexplicably became a screenwriter and director, and couldn't return from the pre-festival event that night. Coincidentally, the TV station executives suddenly called, arranging for her to do an emergency interview, which led to the current situation.

Of course, for a workaholic like her, this kind of thing wouldn't really matter.

But...

I recalled the subtle look that Matsuzaka Keiko gave Kanbara Shuichi at the dinner table just now;

Recalling the words she had overheard in front of the Qianye Hengding Gate, and looking at the handsome young man's face before her, a bittersweet feeling, mixed with grievance, welled up in her heart without warning.

As if possessed, she blurted out, "Hey! Now that you've made money, when are you planning to move out?"

"kindness?"

Shuichi Kambara was startled. He had also drunk quite a bit of alcohol that day and was enjoying the slightly tipsy evening breeze. He never expected to hear such words.

Honami Suzuki also instantly regained her senses!

Sensing Shuichi Kambara's sudden, frozen gaze, her heart tightened, and panic surged within her! But just as her mind raced, trying to think of something to say to salvage the situation, suddenly—

"ah!"

"Hey! Hey! Hey! You...!"

Her heel hit the edge of the lawn, and Suzuki Honami, who had been being carried on her back, instantly tumbled into the water.

But just as she was falling backward, she instinctively grabbed the tie on Kanbaru Shuichi's chest, and to Kanbaru Shuichi's bewildered gaze, the two of them fell onto the lawn with a thud.