(Transted/Edited/Full Proofread: Snow)

  “2,000 Yen Boy!.”

  Yahiro ran towards Taeil, wrapping him in a tight, warm hug. The moment Taeil stepped into the waiting room, his face clouded in confusion, and before he could process what was happening, strong arms encircled him, squeezing him with strange enthusiasm.

  It wasn’t until the stranger stopped rubbing his chin against him that Taeil finally understood what was happening.

  “Y-Yahiro-san?.”

  “It’s been five whole years since we st met!” Yahiro released his hold just enough to scrutinize Taeil’s face, his eyes brimming with warmth, before pulling him into an even tighter embrace. “You’ve grown up so well,” he said fondly.

  The young boy who once barely reached Yahiro’s waist now stood tall, his head nearly brushing Yahiro’s shoulders. Even though their reunion had been brief thus far, Yahiro marveled at the extent of Taeil’s growth.

  Taeil, meanwhile, felt utterly flustered. He never thought their retionship warranted such intimacy, but clearly, Yahiro held a different perspective.

  With a joyful ugh, Yahiro ignored Taeil’s stiffness and hugged him even tighter.

  Watching Taeil struggle, Ayane leaned in softly and whispered, “Shin-chan, just go with it.” Her pyful words reverberated in Taeil’s mind as she teasingly hugged herself, mimicking the awkward scene before her.

  “H-Hey, it’s great to see y-you,” Taeil stammered nervously, forcing himself into a casual demeanor as he awkwardly returned Yahiro’s hug.

  Hugging another man—outside family—was something completely alien to him, even considering his past life. While he was a musician with a retively carefree nature, he hadn’t fully adopted the outgoing demeanor that typical Japanese people have in manga.

  “I really missed you, boy.”

  Yahiro patted his back, showing no intention of letting go.

  ‘Please... just let me go.’

  Taeil wanted nothing more than to escape his suffocating embrace. If the person hugging him had been Paul McCartney instead of Yahiro from Show Band, he would have fainted on the spot.

  There would be no greater honor than being embraced by a rock legend.

  But Yahiro’s hug…

  Instead of feeling honored, Taeil found himself overly preoccupied with the scratchy discomfort of Yahiro’s beard scraping against his skin.

  Unable to voice his discomfort, he carefully selected the safest words possible.

  “I, as a fellow bassist, have always wanted to meet Yahiro-san.”

  “What's with the ‘Yahiro-san’? Just call me Yahiro-nii!”

  “Uh… Yahiro-kun?”

  “You cheeky brat!” Yahiro chuckled, roughly rubbing Taeil’s cheeks and pyfully spping his back—not maliciously, but with the boisterous affection of an older brother.

  ‘Evil!.’

  Taeil screamed inwardly.

  Yahiro’s over-the-top friendliness was both overwhelming and embarrassing. It was somehow even more disconcerting than the time he had first encountered Ayane lying beside him in bed right after his possession.

  “Well, I suppose that’s enough,” Yahiro finally relented, stepping aside as if satisfied he had fully unsettled Taeil. “Now, here’s the meeting our leader has eagerly anticipated.”

  “Long time no see.” Izumi, who’d silently waited behind Yahiro, suddenly stepped forward.

  Before Taeil could respond or even step back, she was already in his arms. Unlike Yahiro’s overpowering embrace, Izumi fit snugly against his chest, her petite figure seeming to belong there perfectly.

  “H-Hey, Izumi-san!?”

  “You really have grown up well,” Izumi murmured softly, gently stroking Taeil’s head.

  The tender gesture froze Taeil in pce. Such affectionate contact was foreign to him—even his parents had never caressed him like this. Warmth flooded his cheeks involuntarily.

  “Name!” Izumi abruptly tilted her head upward, her chin lightly pressing into Taeil’s forehead as if demanding immediate attention.

  “Huh?”

  “Five years ago, you ran off without saying anything,” she said ftly. “So first, tell me your name.”

  Taeil’s pupils dited at her words.

  At a dark park.

  A band that wanted to shine brilliantly.

  A fleeting appuse, a compliment, and a crisp 2,000 yen note.

  A memory from five years ago fshed vividly through his mind, more vividly than he’d cared to admit.

  “Uh, that’s…”

  Before he could fully gather his thoughts, Yahiro intervened with crossed arms. “You need to take responsibility. I’ve been curious about it for five years now. If you don’t tell us, I won’t let you leave today. In fact, if you’d prefer to spend the night with Izumi, I won’t stop you.”

  “Wha—!?” Taeil nearly choked. “T-That’s impossible!”

  “Oh? Your girlfriend wouldn’t approve?” Yahiro teased.

  “G-Girlfriend!?” Taeil stammered.

  “What, isn’t she?.”

  “It’s… complicated, to say the least!” While Ayane floundered, Taeil barely managed to speak.

  “…I-I’m Shin Tae-il…”

  “Taeiru…?”

  “What, you’re Korean? Now that’s a surprise.”

  Yahiro let out a hearty ugh.

  “Hey, hey, what part of Korea are you from?”

  “If it’s hard to pronounce, you can just call me Taichi. That’s what everyone else does.”

  “Muuuuu…”

  Izumi pursed her lips, clearly displeased.

  “I’ll try my best!.”

  “Your effort is truly admirable,” Yahiro teased. “Don’t you think so, Taichi?”

  “You really don’t have to force yourself,” Taeil assured Izumi.

  “That’s right!” Ayane chimed in. “Shin-chan’s name is tough to pronounce, so just stick with Taichi!”

  “…”

  Suddenly, Izumi went silent, her bnk stare fixed on Ayane.

  Sensing an ominous shift, Ayane stiffened, but before the tension could escate, Taeil quickly changed the subject.

  “By the way, how did you know I was here?”

  “I recognized you the moment I saw you,” Izumi replied casually. “You were in the audience.”

  “Really?”

  Taeil’s expression grew complicated at her confession.

  The exhiration of being noticed by an artist he deeply admired cshed with the lingering guilt of trying to steer the original story back on track after distorting it so many times.

  Two conflicting emotions tangled within him, leaving him momentarily speechless.

  Yahiro, completely misinterpreting Taeil’s expression, groaned aloud. “So you’re just another typical guy, huh? Your reaction’s totally different from when you hugged me.”

  “Well, it’s not like that, but…”

  “You do realize how unconvincing you sound, boy?”

  Left speechless, Taeil could only blush furiously, feeling utterly defeated as he gazed upwards. His arms, at some point, had naturally encircled Izumi’s slender form.

  “…Shin-chan.”

  Ayane’s eyes darkened, her focus blurring.

  A fierce spark of jealousy ignited in her heart.

  *************************

  Twenty minutes ter.

  “I’m sorry there’s no tea—the seats are all full,” Hatsukawa sighed apologetically, handing over a lukewarm can of orange juice.

  Though the idea of his own singer arranging a private meeting with a fan didn’t sit well with him at first, after hearing the full story, he couldn’t help but be moved.

  After all, he was a fan of BARD himself.

  Besides, wasn’t it touching?

  An ambitious first busking event.

  A young boy stepping up courageously to save a struggling band teetering on the edge of colpse, determined not to let their dreams fade against the harshness of reality.

  Five years ter, that same boy and the band—now at the pinnacle of their popurity—reunited.

  Hatsukawa felt as if he had witnessed history in the making.

  ‘I was surprised by Izumi-san’s hug too…’

  Strictly speaking, what had just happened was completely out of line for the company.

  Still, watching their reunion unfold in front of him, he felt oddly relieved that he had allowed it to happen.

  ‘The rest is up to you now.’

  Then, as if suddenly remembering something, Hatsukawa fumbled for his phone and put on a flustered expression.

  “Oh, hold on a sec! I just got a business call… You guys go ahead and talk first. Yes, yes, artist-san! Now? Of course! Let’s discuss the next schedule…”

  Mumbling hurriedly, he made a swift exit, promising to return within 30 minutes at the earliest.

  Ayane poked Taeil’s side.

  “Shin-chan, isn’t it usually ‘at least 30 minutes ’?”

  “Yeah. No matter how you look at it, this is that kind of situation, right?”

  “It’s such obvious acting.”

  Yahiro shook his head in amusement, marveling at how effortlessly the two had seen through Hatsukawa’s clumsy ploy. “Honestly, that guy has absolutely zero subtlety,” he sighed, a slight smirk tugging at the corners of his lips.

  As the saying goes, artists and managers are one, and it was clear that BARD and Hatsukawa had built a solid retionship of trust over the years.

  “Is it because of fairness issues?” Taeil asked.

  “That’s part of it. But more than that, since we’re a band, it’s not as strict… The real issue is that Izumi’s a girl. The company is careful about her interactions with male fans.”

  “Everyone else can date but I can’t…” Izumi muttered gloomily.

  BARD was known for having all its members take turns writing lyrics.

  Many of their songs were innocent love balds, filled with raw emotions that seemed nearly impossible to write without firsthand experience.

  Because of that, Taeil had assumed their personal lives were retively unrestricted. Yet clearly, not everyone in the band experienced the same freedom.

  ‘Is it that she doesn’t date… or that she can’t?.’

  Ayane, in particur, grew unusually wary of Izumi’s words. Not being able to date implied wanting to, yet never having the opportunity. She recalled Izumi’s mysterious gaze during the live filming, the unsettling intuition that had warned her then, and now—this sudden eagerness to privately meet a single fan.

  Ayane cast a worried gnce at Izumi.

  “?”

  Izumi, noticing the gaze, simply tilted her head in confusion.

  “Seeing the manager act like that… I don’t know. They’re busy, right? I wonder if we’re bothering them for no reason. Are you sure this is okay?”

  “It’s fine. We were the ones who called you here.”

  Still, Izumi lowered her head slightly and apologized, saying she was the one who felt sorry.

  Taeil panicked at the sight of a star apologizing to him.

  “Oh, please—don’t bow your head! You don’t have to apologize like that! If anything, it’s an honor!”

  “Huh.”

  Izumi fidgeted before breaking into a hearty ugh at Taeil’s flustered reaction.

  “You don’t have to feel too bad, either,” she added. “This was our st schedule for the day anyway.”

  “Oh? No more recordings?”

  “We were supposed to head back to the studio and film another interview, but as you can see, not everyone is here right now. We had to adjust the schedules for the other two members, so it got pushed back a few days.”

  “That must be tough.”

  “Well, we’re professionals.”

  Yahiro smirked and shrugged at Izumi’s remark.

  “But… why exactly did you come looking for me?”

  “This.”

  Izumi reached into her coat and pulled something out.

  Taeil’s eyes widened.