Chapter 54: Let's Trailblaze the Future Together!
At first, the girls had struggled whenever Saku's inner voice wandered into dirty territory. After hearing it often enough, however, they'd gradually built up some resistance.
These days, aside from mentally cursing him for being a pervert, they rarely launched into full-blown outrage anymore.
Futaba was the only one suffering.
She couldn't decide whether she should cover herself or not.
If she didn't, Saku's gaze somehow made her feel strangely self-conscious. But covering herself seemed pointless too.
She was already wrapped up so thoroughly that practically no skin was showing.
If even her clothes couldn't shield her from his attention, growing an extra hand wouldn't help.
Fortunately, Saku wasn't the type to become controlled by dirty thoughts.
He simply had a habit of commenting on whatever crossed his mind.
"Welcome, Futaba-san."
Saku smiled at her.
"You don't need to be so formal. Just treat this place like your own home."
「Come to think of it, Utaha-senpai really isn't formal at all. She genuinely treats this place like her own house. I wish she'd look at Futaba and learn what proper guest behavior is supposed to look like.」
"Hmph!"
Utaha's expression immediately darkened when she heard him criticizing her internally.
She turned on him at once.
"Treat it like her own home?"
Utaha folded her arms.
"My, my. It seems our Jinnai-kun has found another target."
"Apparently the girls already here aren't enough for you."
She smiled sweetly.
"What is this? Dou Dizhu no longer has enough players, so now you're trying to fill a mahjong table?"
(PS: Dou Dizhu is a card game in the genre of shedding and gambling. It is one of the most popular card games played in China.)
"What kind of accusation is that?"
Saku immediately defended himself.
"I'll have you know I stand firmly against gambling and drugs!"
He was absolutely not that kind of person.
"Uh..."
Michiru tilted her head.
"But Saku, didn't you literally make a bet with someone earlier?"
She hadn't intended to undermine him.
Unfortunately, her timing was perfect.
Saku fell silent.
"...You people."
He sighed and gave up.
"Forget it. A good man doesn't argue with women."
"I'm going back to my room. Do whatever you want."
Seeing all four girls in the living room staring at him with distinctly unfriendly expressions, Saku immediately sensed danger and made a tactical retreat upstairs.
"Hmph! I'm going back to my room too."
Utaha shot one more glance at Futaba before following him upstairs.
Michiru copied her, though she at least waved before leaving.
"I'm going to change. See you later."
Once the living room had mostly emptied, Futaba finally couldn't hold back her question.
"They really live here?"
She looked toward Mai.
"But Sakurajima-senpai, aren't you..."
If Futaba hadn't misunderstood what she'd just seen, Saku was clearly Mai's boyfriend.
The affectionate way they'd acted earlier certainly hadn't looked fake.
So why exactly was her boyfriend living with two other girls?
Mai understood what Futaba wanted to ask and immediately raised a finger to her lips.
"Don't make such a big deal out of it."
"They're basically Saku-kun's coworkers. He worked pretty hard to recruit both of them, so I can't exactly force them to leave."
Mai knew perfectly well why Utaha and Michiru had moved in.
Saku hadn't hidden anything from her.
Technically, Mai had more than enough justification to demand that the two move elsewhere.
But what would that accomplish?
If they'd been bold enough to move in despite knowing the situation, forcing them out wouldn't magically change what they wanted.
Worse, doing so could interfere with Saku's plans and the team's development.
Mai intended to become a good wife and mother someday.
She knew when she could afford to throw a tantrum and when she needed to support him instead.
Besides, Saku might constantly think about harems, but in reality, he hadn't crossed any serious lines.
Most of the time, his entire mind was consumed by work.
So what did it really matter if Utaha and Michiru lived here?
"Besides, as far as Saku-kun is concerned, this house is basically another workplace."
Mai trusted him.
That didn't mean she never checked up on him.
For the past week, she'd video-called Saku every day.
Every single time, he'd been working seriously.
The more she saw that, the more reassured she became.
Her only remaining concern was that Saku wasn't very proactive romantically...
But he was extremely vulnerable to other people making the first move.
If a girl became aggressive enough, Mai had very little confidence in Saku's ability to keep resisting forever.
And no matter how closely she watched him, she couldn't possibly prevent every girl from throwing herself at him.
In that case, forcing things would only exhaust her.
It was better to let events develop naturally.
As long as Mai made sure her own position remained secure and that she stayed Saku's first choice, that was enough.
Futaba stared at her for several seconds.
She genuinely couldn't understand this bizarre line of thinking.
Eventually, she could only shake her head.
"I don't understand it at all."
She paused.
"But I am deeply impressed."
...
After returning to his room, Saku changed into comfortable clothes and headed next door to Michiru's room.
Only the final touches remained on Icy Tail's music video.
He went over to help, and by the time dinner approached, they finally finished it.
Professional cinematography, carefully arranged locations, and choreography designed specifically around the song had brought Idol to an extremely high level of polish.
Saku and Michiru watched the finished music video several times from beginning to end.
Only after repeatedly confirming that nothing looked wrong did they finally declare it finished.
Yet just before uploading it to Twitter, Michiru hesitated.
She had enormous confidence in the song.
She also believed the band's performance was the best they'd ever done.
And yet she couldn't stop worrying that all their hard work might still end in failure.
The feeling was almost identical to the first time she'd ever stepped onto a stage.
That restless uncertainty.
That fear that everything she'd practiced might collapse the moment people finally saw it.
Back then, her bandmates had been beside her, encouraging one another.
This time, only Saku was here.
"Saku..."
Michiru stared at the upload button.
"Do you think we'll win?"
"We will."
Saku answered without hesitation.
If even this failed, then Saku could only conclude that Icy Tail simply wasn't destined to become famous.
In that case, having them work for him permanently might honestly be the better career plan.
"Saku."
Michiru's voice softened.
"Can you hug me?"
She gave an awkward little smile.
"Just lend me a little courage."
Saku looked at her.
Michiru was standing only a short distance away, her body slightly warm from tension. A thin trace of sweat clung near her nose, and her hands were trembling despite her attempt to hide it.
She was scared.
And Saku understood where that fear came from.
Repeated failures had left behind an insecurity that Michiru normally concealed beneath her energetic personality.
She hid it well.
But it had never truly disappeared.
Saku didn't refuse.
He stepped forward and pulled her into a firm hug.
They'd thrown their arms around each other's shoulders plenty of times.
Michiru had even given him a lap pillow before.
But this was the first time they'd ever genuinely embraced.
Strangely, Saku didn't feel distracted at all.
His thoughts were completely calm.
Right now, he only wanted to give her a little courage.
Maybe it wouldn't amount to much.
But perhaps it would be enough to help Michiru take that first step toward a future that belonged to her.
"Michiru."
Saku smiled.
"Let's Trailblaze the future together."
Michiru blinked.
'Wouldn't that line fit better inside the game?'
The thought only lasted a second.
Then she wrapped her arms around Saku in return, drawing courage from the warmth of his embrace.
She took a deep breath and answered with another line from the game.
"Yeah."
"May this journey lead us starward!"
The moment the words left her mouth, Michiru pressed the upload button.
And just like that, she, her band, and their manager took the first step onto an unknown journey together.
All that remained was to give it time.
"You did well."
Saku smiled.
"This is what 「Trailblaze」 means."
"And that's part of why I'm making that game."
"...Yeah."
Michiru finally understood.
She felt Saku beginning to loosen his arms and instinctively tightened her own grip around him.
"From now on, I'll do everything I can to help you finish that game."
Her voice was unusually serious.
"I'll stay beside you and help pass this courage on to other people too."
"Thank you."
Just then, someone knocked on the door.
Neither of them had noticed when Kasumigaoka Utaha arrived.
She was leaning against the open doorway, one shoulder resting against the frame as she looked at the embracing pair with an amused expression.
Utaha raised a hand and lightly knocked against the doorframe again.
"I certainly hope I'm not interrupting anything."
The door had been open the entire time, so there was obviously nothing shameful going on.
That didn't mean Utaha had to enjoy seeing them this close.
Her smile remained perfectly pleasant.
"I'm just here to tell you two that dinner's ready."
…