They all pushed me!

“I don’t think so…”

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

"Senior Ai, thank you for coming here today."

Ai and Kitagawa Rumi had just walked into the suburban villa that Kitagawa Ryo rented specifically for ACE as a daily training base, and MEM, who had been waiting there, immediately came over enthusiastically.

"There's no need to use honorifics. Besides, I've been an idol for many years, so it's totally fine to omit the term senpai."

Because she was not arrogant and was quite familiar with MEM啾, and remembering that she had secretly investigated him for a period of time, Ai smiled and waved her hand casually.

"Just call me by my name."

Ai looked at the clock on the wall while speaking, smiled and shook her head:

"It's almost five o'clock. I came here today to watch you and Ruby's performance. I don't have time to worry about what to call you."

"Yes, Ai, wait a moment. Ruby and I will go change into dance clothes for practice."

MEM nodded in approval and reached out to pull Kitagawa Rumi over.

"Hmm - how about I change into something else? This should be more convenient if I want to demonstrate the moves to you guys."

At this point, Ai made a playful joke:

"Of course, it would be nice if MEM-chu and Ruby didn't look down on me as a retired idol who hasn't danced in a long time."

"No, as for clothes, you can wear mine if you like."

MEM啾 quickly shook her head when she heard that. After comparing their heights, she found that her body shape and size were closer to Ai's.

"Then I'll trouble you, MEM."

So, after asking MEM啾 to take another set of dance clothes from the closet, the three of them went into the dressing room together and started changing clothes.

Frankly speaking, in the early days of ACE, MEM was still somewhat confident about her figure. After all, Kitagawa Rumi at that time was still a child with only a cute face and a completely flat figure. Although Samejima Abiko was two years older, she was also visibly thin, comparable to the current Kana Arima.

But starting last year, the entire pattern was quickly broken.

Especially with the withdrawal of Samejima Abiko, MEM啾, who slipped from the first place to the last place overnight, had just accepted the fact that he, an adult, was overtaken by a minor, and today he saw Kitagawa Ai joining the battlefield.

Regardless of shape or size, why are you all breaking the rules like this?

A certain girl wearing a devil's headdress, crossed out, an adult woman let out a silent wail in her heart.

Kitagawa Rumi didn't pay any attention to her good teammate. She took off her coat and shirt calmly, raised her arms, slowly reached behind her head to untie her hair and then simply tied it up. Although in anime works, long hair fluttering in the wind with the dance movements looks beautiful, but in reality, if you don't tie it up properly, you can only expect your face and mouth to be smeared with your own hair.

Correspondingly, with this movement of hers, the indescribable part below the collarbone was slightly lifted up, and the fair and snow-white skin was revealed a little from the armpit. Combined with the two beautiful mermaid lines shown on the side of her abdomen, it can be said to be quite eye-catching, showing the health and vitality of the seventeen-year-old girl to the fullest.

Chapter 49: Sniper at the Middle Gate (Part 2)

Kitagawa Rumi has watched Ai's stage performances many times in the past. Although she occasionally accidentally clicked on them while searching for popular idol performance videos on the Internet in order to learn and make plans for the future, more often than not, she watched them with her brother who closely followed Ai's every performance at that time.

What impressed Kitagawa Rumi the most was B Komachi's performance at Tokyo Dome about ten years ago. At that time, Ai was still Hoshino Ai, and she was just a child who had just entered elementary school.

Although the two were unable to go to the scene on the same day due to various unexpected factors, in a sense, the intentional noise reduction of the live broadcast actually helped her block out the huge noise and fanatical atmosphere of the scene as much as possible. Coupled with the unique all-round perspective, it allowed Kitagawa Rumi to truly and attentively appreciate every detail of Hoshino Ai's graduation performance as an idol.

As a senior fan since her previous life, even though she was quite resistant to Ai and Ryo at that time because of their increasingly intimate behavior, Kitagawa Rumi had to admit that Hoshino Ai was indeed at the top of the idol industry at that time. After all, before and after her, there has not been a second idol group that has climbed all the way from underground idols to the Tokyo Dome, not to mention that the other members of B Komachi were not very outstanding at the time. Now they are just regular guests on the show "B Komachi × B Komachi" with Ai, who never forgets to help her bestie. It is almost the same as B Komachi's model at the time. They can only be active in this circle by being tied up with Ai.

However, it was precisely because B Komachi, or Aidan, was so popular back then that the online variety show "B Komachi×B Komachi" organized by her has been able to maintain its popularity to this day. It has even reached the point where it is called the female version of "SMAP×SMAP" and has considerable influence in the entire idol circle.

But this does not mean that Kitagawa Rumi thinks that the other person is definitely better than herself as an idol. Although she is willing to admit that she once inadvertently said in love that "Ruby is much luckier than her as an idol", Kitagawa Rumi also hates to attribute all her current achievements to the simple modifier "luck".

Rather, it is better to say that since she said the words "it will definitely surpass love in the future" more than ten years ago, Kitagawa Rumi has never given up her efforts. She has been studying dance lessons seriously since kindergarten and has hardly stopped until now. Her singing level, which was a mess when she first formed the group, has improved now. As an idol, body management and diet control have almost become a habit. She even rarely touches the desserts made by her brother who learned dessert baking just for her (?).

Just like the topic about Tokyo Dome that she and Ai had just discussed today, for both of them, the performance there is a significant watershed in their lives. Even if it is just to say goodbye and thank you for all the efforts in their past idol careers, they will do their best to hone all their skills and techniques as idols to the extreme before stepping onto that stage, and then show them to their heart's content on the day.

Ai did this without a doubt nearly a decade ago, but Kitagawa Rumi also has absolute confidence in herself.

Thinking of this, Kitagawa Rumi took a deep breath, subconsciously straightened her back in front of the standing mirror in front of her, put on her dance costume without looking away, and carefully smoothed out the wrinkles.

Thanks to the phone call from Beichuan Liang, she did not intend to "temporarily" engage in a meaningless battle with love on the woman's level just for her own vanity.

But if we just compete with each other at the idol level——

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

Probably due to her rough childhood experiences, Ai was a little troubled by her height for a long time. One of the reasons why B Komachi started to replace members shortly after the group was formed was to maintain coordination in the stage performance. To put it simply, she had to achieve a delicate harmony between herself, who was not very tall but could not serve as the C, and the other members.

Although all her conditions improved significantly after she turned twelve, and she grew several centimeters taller, because girls' growth period is only during that period, Ai's height finally remained at a little over 1.60 meters.

As Kitagawa Ryo has grown bigger and the two of them have been dating and married, she now almost has to wear a pair of high heels when she goes out, so that the height difference between them is not too big. When they want to be intimate, it is easy for one of them to stand on tiptoe while the other lowers their head slightly. After all, this is the average height of women in Japan. If you really want to calculate, she is now at least above the average.

Perhaps it was because she still had some regrets about the height issue that she liked Magana's child very much.

But then again, compared to the barren plain that the other person saw in the future, Kitagawa Ai was quite satisfied with her body development. To some extent, this was also the reason why she and Liang decided to breastfeed early in the six months of pregnancy preparation. After all, no matter from which angle you look at it, the unborn baby should not starve.

At least the baby's father hasn't been hungry in the past few years.

Thinking of this, Beichuan Ai, who was halfway through getting dressed in front of the floor-standing mirror, sighed helplessly. The MEM, who was nervously watching the two of them, quickly asked:

"What's wrong? Is the dress not fitting?"

"It's okay. The clothes fit well."

Kitagawa Ai responded with a smile, and turned her head to look at Rumi:

"I just feel a little sad that Ruby seems to have grown up so quickly."

It was not clear at the moment what kind of love was referring to, and MEM啾 just laughed awkwardly and nodded to brush off the topic.

After the three of them changed into soft, close-fitting solid-color dance costumes, they walked out of the dressing room together. MEM啾 originally wanted to make a few jokes to liven up the atmosphere, but looking at Kitagawa Rumi who looked inexplicably serious and Ai who seemed to be thinking about something, he didn't know what to say for a moment. He took two quick steps, opened the door of the practice room, and introduced Ai:

"We ACE usually practice here. It's a soundproof room, so it's very quiet when not in use. Let me tell you a little secret. Sometimes Abiko is pressed by the editorial department to submit manuscripts, and when the deadline is approaching, she will come here to finish her manuscripts."

“It’s really spacious.”

Since she had already changed into dance shoes, there was no need to take them off again. Ai Wenyan, wearing white socks and white shoes, walked into the practice room with a smile. She looked around curiously for a long time before she spoke with emotion.

"We have to have dinner with Kyoko and Abiko tonight, so why not hurry up?"

On the other side, Kitagawa Rumi walked straight to the corner where the speaker was placed as soon as she entered the door. She began to operate it with skillful movements while casually urging someone.

"Yeah, it's already five o'clock."

MEM stretched his body slightly to warm up, then immediately turned his head and said to his love:

"Then please help us see where the problems are and where we need to improve."

"it is good."

Kitagawa Ai slowly sat down against the wall in the direction of the two of them, turned her head and agreed with a smile, with her ponytail tied on the side of her head swaying back and forth, and with a solid-color dance costume of the same style as theirs, the whole person had a more youthful and dynamic feeling, which even made MEM啾 a little dazed, feeling that she could now join them directly without any sense of incongruity.

However, as Kitagawa Rumi finished debugging the equipment, the accompaniment of the song began to sound in the room. MEM啾 quickly threw this idea out of his head and turned to stand next to Rumi.

Although after Samejima Abiko graduated and ACE became a duo from a trio, they no longer have any center position on stage, but since the beginning of this year, every time she stands next to Kitagawa Rumi, MEM啾 can still feel some differences between herself and her.

Just like what producer Kaburagi Katsuya had said, the three people in the Kitagawa family, though not related by blood, all miraculously possessed the unique quality of being a star that attracted the attention of all the audience. If they appeared in pairs, people would even have the illusion that they couldn't take their eyes off them. This is part of the reason why the TV series "It's Not Easy to Run Away" that Kitagawa Ryo and Ai have partnered in in recent years, such as "It's Not Easy to Run Away", and the live broadcast program "Today's Meal at the Kitagawa Family" that Rumi has been doing recently, have become popular.

It's just that this trait was not very obvious in Kitagawa Rumi before, or it seemed a bit inconsistent, otherwise Kaburagi Katsuya would not have given her a somewhat strange evaluation two or three years ago.

If MEM were to explain it, it's like Rumi has turned this probabilistic skill into a fixed passive skill, and the timing of this change is exactly after the incident between Kitagawa Rumi and Ryo.

Judging from the results alone, MEM啾 is starting to wonder if their president really has the physique of a succubus, able to add positive buffs to others.

"MEM, please pay attention."

Just when MEM啾 was thinking about something, Ai's gentle voice immediately reached her ears.

"Ok!"

Upon hearing this, MEM啾 quickly threw away all these messy thoughts and quickly got into the state. After exchanging a tacit look with Kitagawa Rumi, he began to rehearse in front of his love.

"Ruby, that was a bit strange."

The song had only been played for about half a minute when Kitagawa Ai took the initiative to speak again. Her voice was still soft, and she added leisurely while holding her chin:

"The last time we danced this song at the Budokan, Ruby raised her hands a little higher than she does now."

"Sister, have you seen our last tour?"

Surprised by Ai's remarks, Kitagawa Rumi's tense face also showed a look of surprise.

"Yeah, I watched it at home with Ryo that time. Didn't he say before that he wanted to promote you, Luke? So even if I couldn't go to some of the games, I would almost always watch the paid live broadcast online."

Kitagawa Ai played with the ends of her hair beside her ears while speaking, and raised her chin slightly in the direction of Rumi, saying in a leisurely tone:

"Thanks to my husband who is an idol promoter, I have watched about 50% of Ruby's performances since her debut. Besides, Ruby and I are a family."

"I just didn't expect my sister to remember it so clearly..."

Kitagawa Rumi shook her head. She clearly just wanted to compete with the other party on the idol level, but as soon as Ai said these words, she couldn't help but recall more memories of the past.

After all, she hadn't made her debut when Hoshino Ai graduated. Compared to idols who are completely cross-era and have almost no competitive relationship, almost all of their interactions in the past were actually more like sisters with a big age gap.

Just this small detail completely made Kitagawa Rumi lose some of her competitive thoughts in subsequent practice, and she listened to all of Ai's suggestions and comments very sincerely.

Looking at Ai who was demonstrating the movements in front of her, with a posture that was almost the same as before, Kitagawa Rumi was a little distracted, until Ai stopped the movements, gently touched her head, and spoke quietly and gently as if he knew her thoughts completely:

"I've said before that as an idol, Ruby is a much luckier kid than me."

"But this doesn't mean to look down on Ruby's efforts. On the contrary, I actually hope that Ruby can be luckier, just like she was able to perform on the Tokyo Dome stage this time, if only there hadn't been all those twists and turns with Johnny's Office in the middle."

"I actually never objected to Liang's support for Ruby's idol career over the past few years. He had to be extremely careful in every performance and live broadcast. Otherwise, would Ruby have to debut as an underground idol like me? She might even run into some disgusting audiences during her first live performance. Does this have to be considered a success?"

"Just like what Liang wrote in his own script, 'Tomorrow, Dad and Mom Are Not Here', last year, we want to prepare the most perfect and appropriate things for our closest family members and children, so that we can put our minds at ease and let them come into this world. Ruby is the same."

Kitagawa Rumi just lowered her head quietly. After a long while, she finally spoke. She said this for no apparent reason:

"Yeah, I like my sister too."

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

Tokyo, Kitagawa family.

After finishing a whole day of filming a new drama, Beichuan Liang was lying on the sofa on the first floor with his left hand stretched out towards the chandelier. The wedding ring on his ring finger was shining in the light.

Ying jumped lightly onto his chest, walked gracefully along his chest to his chin with cat steps, placed something in her mouth next to his face, and rubbed his cheek affectionately, as if to remind him.

"Ruby's pendant...how did you, a little kid, pick it up?"

Beichuan Liang picked up the little gadget and asked a question with some confusion. After rubbing the words "Everything should be done in moderation" on it, he placed it on the coffee table.

...He has more important things to do tonight.

Chapter 5: Three of us together! (5k)

Frankly speaking, from November last year to May this year, during this six months, Kitagawa Ryo himself has thought about and confirmed his ideas countless times.

Although Rumi had made it very clear that their relationship could have been kept secret and they could have continued to indulge in pleasure under the cover of sibling status, this was really an overly childish way of thinking. It was just that Rumi, who had been suppressed for more than a decade, had deceived herself with a rather naive idea during this period when she was overly immersed in the situation of dual physical and psychological sensory stimulation.

Generally speaking, a secret of this magnitude should have been told on the first day. Because with every day you delay, the more you think that if you tell it now, the other party might question you, saying things like "Why didn't you tell me such an important thing earlier?" And because of this thought, you continue to bury it deep in your heart, and it becomes a vicious cycle. Kurokawa Akane repeated this thought process at the beginning, and finally she was pushed by Arima Kana, who had understood her psychological activities, and she began to voluntarily keep the secret with peace of mind.

But Kitagawa Ryo had completely different ideas. This was also the reason why Arima Kana and Kurokawa Akane, who had known him for ten years, placed their hopes on Rumi. If it had not been Kitagawa Rumi who attacked him that day, Kitagawa Ryo would definitely confess everything to Ai as soon as the incident happened, and then take the initiative to cut off all ties with that person.

But the reality before him is Kitagawa Rumi's active love confession, and this is exactly the other person in this world that Kitagawa Ryo can never easily give up. After all, when the Kitagawa family incident happened, and the Kitagawa couple got into trouble together, in a sense, he became alone again, and his subjective connection and identity with this world was actually quite weak, because he and Hoshino Ai had just known each other for a short time at that time, and in terms of true feelings, they might not be as warm as Kindaichi Toshiro.

Just like the obsession that Tendoji Sarina left to Kitagawa Rumi was to become an idol and be healthy and happy on the stage, Kitagawa Ryo's previous life left him with only one obsession, and that is a yearning for "family relationships". Broadly speaking, it is the pursuit of so-called family members. To be more specific, it is the so-called obsession with the role of mother that he has been showing since he traveled to this world.

The appearance of Rumi first built a small family for him, which was enough for only two people. For a long time, this was what Kitagawa Ryo thought was an anchor he had thrown into this world, and as for the part about his mother, he finally found completion in love. So no matter from which angle, the status of these two people in Kitagawa Ryo's heart is always equal, and he has no way of doing anything to hurt either of them.

It was with this mindset in mind that Kitagawa Ryo was also thinking about the most appropriate solution during the past six months.

The reason why he decided to confess at this point in time, in addition to having thought about some of the ideas mentioned in the phone call with Rumi, was that another more critical factor that pushed him to make the decision was the issue of children.

Kitagawa Ryo had consulted Goro Amamiya, who was now a chief physician and an obstetrician, and learned that the couple's pregnancy preparation period was about three to six months, and that neither of them had any health problems. In other words, after the two had been seriously preparing for pregnancy for half a year, it was entirely possible that he would learn from Xin Xi Ai that he was going to be a father one day, today, tomorrow, or the day after tomorrow.

And if love is confirmed, all plans will inevitably be interrupted and forced to stop, because even if it is only considered an extramarital affair at the moment, Kitagawa Ryo is under considerable psychological pressure every time with Rumi. Otherwise, Rumi would not have to carefully prepare the whole set from clothes to makeup to lines every time, and she has to make the scale almost like a small stage play.

Kitagawa Ryo himself could imagine the situation at that time. First of all, he would definitely have to give up all connections with Rumi beyond the brother-sister relationship. Then, at least within the ten months of pregnancy, he would not be able to find another opportunity to explain everything. The longer he delayed, the bigger the changes would actually be.

Compared to only "forcing" his love verbally, Kitagawa Ryo actually prefers to believe that Rumi is capable of doing something like secretly piercing a condom. After all, the opponent's tactics of playing hard to get and luring the enemy into a trap and ambushing on all sides last November were quite skillful, highlighting a "unrestrained" state in which no means are important after going all out.

In fact, in a sense, his worry is quite correct. After all, Rumi is now seriously thinking about what to name their future child. She even commemorated the kitten who is still alive and kicking in advance, preparing to pass on the name Hotaru.

Just as Beichuan Liang was lying on the sofa with a lot of thoughts in his mind, slowly stroking the white cat, there was finally movement from the door at the entrance. He remembered the message Ai sent him five minutes ago, "I'll be home soon. I bought too many things today. Liang will come out to help me get them later." He stood up and walked towards the door. Ying seemed a little worried and followed him closely.

As soon as Beichuan Liang opened the door, a pile of shopping bags were stuffed into his empty hands. Then Ai's face poked out from the pile of bags, and the knuckles of all ten fingers were also full of various shopping bags of varying sizes:

"Hey, I bought all the summer clothes for both of us at once. Let's try them on after a while to see if they fit us. I really bought a lot today - a lot of things."

"It looks like you're having a lot of fun hanging out with Ruby."

Beichuan Liang smiled and put the ones in his hand back on the table in the living room. Then he turned around and took the ones in Ai's hand again. He watched her move her numb and sore fingers, bent down slightly, took her slippers out of the shoe cabinet and put them neatly away.

Just as Ai took off her shoes lightly, changed into indoor shoes in one go and was about to go into the house and close the door, she suddenly heard footsteps of someone else behind her. She turned her head in some confusion, only to see Kitagawa Rumi.