They all pushed me!

"Water, want some?"

"Thank you."

Someone just passed a bottle of mineral water to him, and Beichuan Liang took it subconsciously. After taking two sips, he turned around in surprise:

“When did love come?”

"Just been here fifteen minutes?"

Hoshino Ai tilted her head:

"Because someone was too focused on practicing, and the lights in the room weren't turned on, it was normal that he didn't see me come in."

Seeing Beichuan Liang finished drinking the water, Xingye Ai took out a tissue from her bag and handed it to him:

"Wipe the sweat."

"...I still prefer to know how love found me here."

Beichuan Liang took the tissue and wiped the sweat from his neck and forehead while asking curiously.

"Telepathy...well, I asked Uncle Min."

Hoshino Ai glanced at the yellow cheering stick in Beichuan Liang's hand and deliberately lengthened her voice:

"Ah - that's great. I'm a little touched by the fact that a brother secretly practiced to give his idol sister, who is about to debut live, a surprise of live support."

"Because I promised Ruby that I would push her alone."

"I didn't say there was anything wrong with that."

Hoshino Ai muttered something in a low voice, she raised her head and folded her arms and snorted:

"You are siblings anyway. Even if you go to the scene to support, the headlines of the day will only say what I just said."

In her eight-year idol career, including her first debut live, Kitagawa Ryo has never been able to show up at her concerts openly. Even if she sometimes came in disguise, she was worried about being recognized by other fans and causing unnecessary commotion and suspicion. She could only stay for a short while each time, let alone waving a cheering stick and promoting otaku art in a big way.

Hoshino Ai had originally intended to make up for this regret at her last dome concert. She was ready to make a separate response called "confession" in front of everyone to Kitagawa Ryo who was supposed to be in the audience. However, it happened that Kitagawa Ryo was caught up in the whirlpool of the sasaeng fan incident at that time, and the plan ended in vain.

But because of the brother-sister relationship between Kitagawa Ryo and Kitagawa Rumyi, Kitagawa Ryo can openly support Rumyi who has just debuted as a brother. At most, he will just be criticized for obviously trying to divert traffic to his sister and for ACE being a hype-monger.

"Come to think of it, Ai's support color back then was red, right?"

Just when Hoshino Ai pursed her lips and looked a little depressed, she suddenly heard Kitagawa Ryo ask this.

"Right."

Hoshino Ai nodded, and the moment she confirmed it, a fiery red color appeared in front of her eyes, and the cheering stick in Kitagawa Ryo's hand had turned into a bright red.

"Maybe it's been too long, I'm a little rusty now."

She heard Kitagawa Ryo's apologetic voice, and the familiar accompaniment of the speakers suddenly changed from "The Sun and Sunflowers" to another song.

It was one of their hit songs that year, "The Code is B".

When the first note of the familiar prelude sounded, Hoshino Ai couldn't help but hum the first character softly, and Kitagawa Ryo in front of her also made the first starting move.

He is now her only audience, and she is now his exclusive idol.

"But if you push me, I am willing to stare at you for a long time, because I am your idol——"

Hoshino Ai came forward and whispered the last line in Kitagawa Ryo's ear:

"The code is B!"

"Chirp~"

It is not the onomatopoeia used for the ending of the original song.

She kissed him for real.

Chapter 33: My Hug and His

"Ten more rounds of the hill sprint!"

"Unlike when filming music videos, the most important and crucial requirement for professional idols in live performances is physical strength, as well as the willpower to maintain posture, movements, and smiles even after physical strength is exhausted!"

“So the more exhausted you feel, the more you can’t let your guard down, or else the whole thing might collapse.”

Another full day of practice, with dusk approaching, Kitagawa Ryo, who was carefully observing the status of the three ACE members, called a halt. Although the early autumn in mid-October had faded the scorching heat of summer, everyone, including MEM, the oldest and strongest of the three, was sweating. They panted and held their knees, with beads of sweat dripping down their cheeks to the ground.

"Today's training is over. Go back and take a shower and eat. Take a day off tomorrow to save up your energy and adjust your form for the official debut live the day after tomorrow."

Kitagawa Ryo clapped his hands casually, put on a smile again, drove the car from the nearby parking lot, and took the trio, who were lying in a mess and leaning on each other in the back seat, back to the LALALAI theater building.

In order to deepen the tacit understanding and intimacy among the three members of the group, and to facilitate the training during this period, about two weeks ago, Kitagawa Ryo used his connections to find Toshiro Kindaichi and borrow two practice rooms and dormitories in the theater building, so that the three of them could eat, live and practice together, and be fully prepared for the upcoming Tokyo Idol Festival.

Although he had said before that he would no longer care about Ruby after her debut, Kitagawa Ryo had unknowingly taken the initiative to take on the responsibility of sparring and logistical care for the three of them. He was even worried that his sister would not be used to eating during the training period, so whenever he had time, he would take the initiative to prepare three portions of meals at home and pack them up and bring them over.

"The only comfort during this period is that I can eat the food cooked by my senior every day after I am exhausted... Although there are rumors in the industry that my senior's cooking is very delicious, I didn't expect it to be of this level--"

The three members of ACE, who had already taken a shower, sat around the dining table. After MEM啾 finished the last bit of her meal with relish, she also sighed with happiness from the bottom of her heart.

"Of course. Brother's cooking skills are good enough for him to be a professional chef."

Kitagawa Rumi immediately revealed an expression of pride and agreed quite proudly.

"I really want to...eat dessert made by Liang."

The former otaku Samejima Abiko, who had the weakest physical strength among the three, seemed to have not yet recovered and complained weakly.

"That won't work. The sweetness and calories you consume will exceed the limit. How about this? After this performance is over, I'll make some new flavors for you to try."

After packing up the lunch boxes of the three people expertly, Beichuan Liang smiled and said goodbye:

"I'm going back first, you guys should get some rest early too."

"Brother, be careful on your journey. Bye."

"Ruby, Abiko, and Mem-chu, bye, see you tomorrow."

Kitagawa Rumi waved her hand obediently and watched Kitagawa Ryo leave the room. After a while, she heard the sound of a car engine downstairs, and then it gradually faded away.

"I can finally have a day off tomorrow."

After Beichuan Liang left, the girls gave up their reserve and each chose the most comfortable position to lie down. MEM啾 also stretched her body and sighed with relief.

"You can stay in bed now."

Samejima Abiko distilled the meaning of this sentence simply and clearly.

"Yeah, then you can sleep a little later today."

MEM啾 also turned over in bed upon hearing this, and suddenly felt refreshed. He took out his phone from his pocket with great interest and glanced at the date and time:

"Today is Tuesday, and the latest episode of 'It's My Fault in Our Stars' will be airing at 10pm. I watched the first two episodes the next day, so I can finish watching it tonight before going to bed."

"I don't believe that you can go to sleep after reading this. You will definitely go to various social media platforms to read other people's comments, and then post a few comments and wait for others to reply..."

Abiko Samejima ruthlessly exposed MEM啾's lies, and after several months of getting along with each other, she also had a general understanding of the other's personality.

"Hehe, after all, this is the most popular TV series nowadays. Especially in the evenings after each episode is broadcast, a lot of people leave comments on the Internet. It's hard not to watch it for a while to see how others are enjoying it."

MEM啾 said this and looked at Kitagawa Rumi who was lying on the bed on the other side with some confusion. He was a little puzzled as to why the other party hadn't said a word and made any movement until now. After all, this current darling of traffic, the TBS TV station's exclusive top ten drama with an average viewership rating of over 30% in the first two episodes, starred Ryo Kitagawa.

"What about Ruby? Is Ruby following this drama recently?"

"No, and I plan to go to bed early tonight."

Kitagawa Rumi, who had her back to them, replied indifferently. Although the two were discussing the new drama starring Kitagawa Ryo, they did not seem to be interested in participating in it at all. There was no enthusiasm and pride in their tone when they mentioned Kitagawa Ryo's cooking skills before.

"But university research has shown that staying up late and pulling all-nighters can cause irreversible damage to the body, and your charm will also be reduced by about 30%."

"Ok."

Seeing that Kitagawa Rumi really didn't seem interested in this, MEM also touched the back of his head and turned to invite Samejima Abiko:

"Abizi, Abizi, do you want to go to the living room to watch tonight? I remember there is a TV there."

Because Kitagawa Rumi just said that she would go to bed early tonight, in order to disturb her friend's sleep as little as possible or even not at all, MEM啾 gave up hiding in the bed and watching the show on her phone with headphones in, and took the initiative to take Samejima Abiko out to the living room to watch it on TV.

"No problem. There's no practice tomorrow anyway."

Samejima Abiko also understood and nodded in agreement.

So, at around 9:50 in the evening, MEM啾 and Samejima Abiko got out of bed quietly and walked out of the dormitory quietly, trying their best not to wake up Kitagawa Rumi who seemed to be sound asleep.

But in fact, Kitagawa Rumi, who had not fallen asleep at all, opened her eyes as soon as they closed the door. She lay on the bed alone, looking up at the dark ceiling.

She really did not lie to the two of them. As for the recently popular TV series "It's Not My Fault That I'm Popular", Kitagawa Rumi had indeed not watched it at all.

After all, besides Kitagawa Ryo, the other leading actor is Hoshino Ai.

When she thought about the two of them performing the 'love comedy of two people living together' described in the synopsis, Kitagawa Rumi had already given up all desire to watch the show.

"Can't sleep..."

But today, two of her friends brought up this topic from the deepest part of her heart. Although she said that she should go to bed early and staying up late would harm her health and reduce her charm, it was really late at night and Kitagawa Rumi fell into insomnia, which was a rare occurrence.

She got out of bed and took out the Orange Bear doll, which had recently become a second-rate substitute, from her luggage. She hugged it in her arms again, hoping to fall asleep like before.

However, ever since I experienced the feeling of falling asleep in Liang's arms again not long ago, the threshold in my heart seems to have unconsciously increased a lot. Even the warm touch of the furry fur that has accompanied me for countless nights in the past can no longer fill the gap in my heart.

Kitagawa Rumi hugged the doll a little tighter, almost squeezing it into her arms, almost melting it into her arms, but her chest still felt inexplicably empty.

Fortunately, she had a backup plan.

Taking the mobile phone and headphones from the bedside table, Kitagawa Rumi skillfully found the downloaded video file, put on the headphones, adjusted the volume, and closed her eyes again.

What was playing on her phone was the Vlog of her twelfth birthday.

After watching it countless times, even now when she is listening in the dark, Kitagawa Rumi can automatically recall the scene in her mind based on every word and every sound effect.

By the way, she has edited out the cake eating scene.

So, after the birthday party, the edited video naturally jumped to that night after the guests had left.

From the in-ear headphones, ASMR-like whispers slowly flowed into Kitagawa Rumi's earlobe.

"Happy birthday Ruby."

"Did you have a good day today?"

"Yeah! I wish every day was my birthday."

Listening to the conversation between the two of them, Kitagawa Rumi, who was lying on the bed with her eyes closed and holding her doll, couldn't help but raise the corners of her mouth.

The following is her favorite part.

"Brother, can you give me a hug?"

"Just consider it as fulfilling my birthday wish."

I remember once when I was watching this at home, I was interrupted by some news...

Such thoughts only appeared for a moment, because Kitagawa Rumi was immersed in them again the next second.

"Okay."

The footsteps and voices gradually approached, and it seemed that one could hear breathing and heartbeats. The content playing in the video made Kitagawa Rumi in real life involuntarily hug the doll in her arms a little tighter.

"Hug my little princess."

The first on the list of [most wanted men to hug] hugged her tenderly for three minutes and seven seconds, forty-seven breaths.

The reason she remembered it so clearly was that every time she counted the one hundred and eighty-seven seconds and breathed in forty-seven times, Kitagawa Rumi's mind would calm down again and she would gradually fall asleep.

Tonight is no exception.

-------------------------------------

"I'm sure that after tonight's episode airs, the hot search trend will definitely be "I hugged the man I want to hug the most."

MEM, who was sitting on the sofa in the living room and watching the latest episode of "It's Not My Fault That I'm Popular" with Abiko Samejima, predicted with certainty.

“Ah, there are already live comments saying that.”

While watching TV and browsing the relevant discussion thread, Samejima Abiko quickly confirmed MEM啾's idea.

"It's so good...bliss."

"Please get married on the spot!"

"It's probably something like this."

"Because the plot of this episode is really good. Although it is very cliché, the acting of Liang and Ai is really outstanding. Also, how did you say that sentence——"

"Just watching these two faces fall in love makes me feel that there is still hope for this world, maybe."