Do I really have a thing for female voice actors?

"Thank you."

Tazaki Toru was slightly taken aback, then smiled and replied, "You're welcome."

As Tazaki Toru was about to leave after handing the suitcase back to her, he noticed that the girl was walking with a limp.

By the light of the streetlamp, Tazaki Toru could see that her heel was completely broken, her left and right feet were of different heights, and she walked unsteadily as if she might fall at any moment, making it extremely difficult for her to move.

Tazaki Toru looked around, his gaze settling on a bench not far away.

"Miss Sonoda, please sit down over there."

The girl remained silent and nodded without saying a word.

Tazaki Toru had considered giving her his shoes, but they didn't fit.

It seems that Miss Sonoda wouldn't want to wear his shoes.

Tazaki Toru wanted to help her up, but Ms. Sakata subconsciously took a few steps back, so Tazaki Toru gave up the idea and let the girl limp and skip to the bench.

After sitting down on the bench, Tazaki Toru squatted down to examine the high heels on Ms. Soda's feet; the heels were completely broken.

Seemingly unable to bear Tazaki Toru's gaze, the girl's slender toes, painted with bright nail polish, curled up one by one, twisting back and forth, as if throwing pieces of exquisite jade into a polishing pool, overlapping each other.

Tazaki Toru raised his eyes and looked at her, saying, "I'll go to the nearby convenience store to see if I can buy some adhesive. Ms. Soda, wait for me here."

Ms. Sonoda instinctively wanted to refuse, feeling that she couldn't have a deep conversation with this man, but given the current situation, she seemed to have no other choice.

"Then... I'll have to trouble you."

That was all she could say.

Afterwards, Toru Tazaki went to a nearby convenience store and returned shortly afterward with the adhesive he had just bought.

"Take off your shoes first."

While feeling awkward, Yozuki Sora had no choice but to obey and obediently took off her high heels. The moment her feet left the shoes, she hid them behind her other foot, not wanting Toru Tazaki to stare at her closely.

Unlike Ms. Sonoda's little scheme, Toru Tazaki showed no interest in her feet and quietly applied adhesive to her high heels.

The streetlights flickered slightly, and the silent moonlight overlapped and reflected on the white wall, creating a hazy, indistinct effect.

A gentle night breeze ruffled the few strands of hair that fell across his forehead. Throughout the entire process, Handa Yozuki kept his head down and remained silent.

Tazaki Toru seemed to have seen through her thoughts, and did not deliberately seek out topics to talk about, like two statues standing in the wind.

Once the adhesive was bonded, Tazaki Toru carefully tightened the cap of the adhesive bottle and looked up at Sora Yozuki.

"The clerk said it would take at least 20 minutes."

"........."

Tazaki Toru straightened up and then sat down at the other end of the bench, deliberately keeping a safe distance from Sonoda Yozuki.

Miss Sonoda looked surprised, as if she wanted to say something but hesitated.

That expression was clearly saying to Tazaki Toru: Why are you still here?

The long silence remained unbroken, and time flowed by steadily, second by second.

"Um...aren't you going back?"

In the end, it was Ms. Sonoda who broke the deadlock.

"I can't just leave you here alone, a girl like you. Would you feel more at ease if I went to wait for you somewhere further away?"

"........."

The way he said it left me no room to refute it.

There was another moment of silence.

While scrolling through her phone, Yozuki Hanada occasionally glanced at the man beside her out of the corner of her eye. He took out a pen and paper from his bag and started writing furiously.

Out of a tiny bit of curiosity, Yozuki Handa leaned slightly to look at his notebook, which was filled with densely packed words and musical notes.

He started writing songs as if no one else was around.

This discovery surprised Ms. Handa.

Could he have done this on purpose just to get her attention?

Sure enough, what a scheming man.

Silently scrolling through videos of beauty bloggers and small animals, she felt that no 20 minutes in her life had ever felt so long.

Suddenly, the beauty video that was playing halfway through went out; my phone had run out of battery and shut down automatically.

While feeling agitated, he wanted to ask the time, but Toru Tazaki kept his head down, seemingly oblivious to everything else.

This made it even harder for her to ask the question. Sullenly, she gently pressed her slender toes against her high heels.

This is all to make the adhesive on the soles dry faster.

……

……

I don't know how much time passed.

Tazaki Toru slammed the notebook shut.

The noise startled Yozuki Sora, who was bored and about to fall asleep, and the girl's petite shoulders trembled slightly.

"Ms. Soda, how long has it been? I think it should be about time."

"do not know."

Tazaki Toru was taken aback, took out his phone and glanced at it; it was almost eleven o'clock.

My old habit of writing songs has resurfaced, and before I knew it, I had been writing for so long.

Urged on by Yozuki Sakata, the two headed to the station together.

The good news is that the adhesive works very well.

The bad news was that they missed the last tram.

Standing in front of the closed station, Tazaki Toru and Sonoda Yozuki looked at each other, the atmosphere tense.

Yozuki Sakata couldn't help but wonder if the man was doing it on purpose.

If it were any darker, it's possible that the enthusiastic fan who came earlier asking for a photo was also hired by him.

Okay, that's a bit of an exaggeration, no matter how you look at it.

Putting aside these inexplicable thoughts, Yozuki Honata clutched her head, her head throbbing with a headache.

What should we do?

I can't exactly take a taxi back.

As an underground idol, Yozuki Sora is not wealthy enough to take a taxi in Tokyo at midnight.

She was still carrying her suitcase, and her only option was to find an internet cafe nearby and spend the night there.

"Since there are no more trams, let's part ways here. Thank you for today, goodbye."

Tazaki Toru didn't say anything to try and keep her, nor did he show any displeasure at Sonoda Yozuki's attitude. He simply said goodnight to her politely.

So the two parted ways in completely opposite directions.

Walking alone on the streets of Shimokitazawa, the girl struggled to drag her suitcase. After walking for so long in high heels, her feet were starting to ache.

Because my phone was out of battery and I couldn't use navigation, I wandered around for a long time before finally finding a 24-hour chain internet cafe.

I'm thinking of spending the night here.

Once the tram service resumed, I took the earliest tram home.

Although the internet cafe had all the facilities she needed, including showering and sleeping, she didn't bring any change of clothes.

I can't exactly wear the same clothes to the office, or people might think I'm staying overnight at my boyfriend's place.

People often have such stereotypes about underground idols, and Yozuki Sora doesn't want to be seen as a girl with an immoral private life.

Upon arriving at the cashier, the girl silently began to look at the price list.

The income of being an underground idol is not high, so you should follow the principle of saving money wherever possible and just choose the cheapest option.

Instead of spending money here, you might as well save it up and buy a new phone with 2TB of memory; that would be more practical.

The young cashier at the checkout counter was so stunned by the girl's beauty that her eyes almost popped out of their sockets.

It's amazing how all sorts of people come to the internet; even such a beautiful girl is homeless.

Tokyo is really tough.

Just then, the shop door opened again, and a remarkably handsome young man walked in.

When Tazaki Toru saw the girl standing in front of the cashier, looking at the price list and silently calculating the prices in her mind, he was taken aback.

Shimokitazawa was still too small; even though they went in completely different directions, they ended up meeting again.

Sensing the gaze behind her, the girl turned around.

When she saw Tazaki Toru, whom she hadn't seen for long, standing behind her, Sora Yozuki finally couldn't hold back.

Could it be that I've really become his target?

If that's the case, shouldn't he then bribe the front desk staff of this internet cafe to tell them that there's only one cubicle left?

Inside the cashier, the young clerk wore a polite, business-like smile.

"Ms. Soda, you're here too."

"........."

Sora Yozuki really didn't know what kind of expression to make. If she had known this would happen, she would have just signed an autograph and taken a photo with that enthusiastic fan.

It might even be more pleasant, and you wouldn't miss the tram.

She became increasingly suspicious that Toru Tazaki's seemingly oblivious songwriting was a ploy to buy time.

"Please give me a private room," Yozuki Sakata hurriedly said to the clerk.

The shop assistant realized they knew each other and couldn't help but sigh inwardly.

Sure enough, why would such a pretty girl come to an internet cafe alone?