Chapter 10: A Glittering Star

"Ah, thank you for helping me. I'm very unfamiliar with this city" Kira explained while bowing his body to the woman that was standing in front of the door of the Training Center building.

Meanwhile, the woman named Nagisa Kanade replied by nodding her head slightly before they parted. However, their farewell was interrupted by Suta who suddenly greeted Kira happily.

"Manager, where have you been? I have already started the training first and now I am on my break," Suta put her hands on her hips with her face was frowning toward Kira.

Of course he couldn't tell Suta what had happened, because it was very humiliating. Waiting an hour to meet up with her thinking that they would be heading off together to the place she wanted to go, which turned out to be the building in front of Kira's very eyes.

The wait was in vain.

Suta only tilted her head when Kira didn't respond. Meanwhile, Kira himself was silent, scratching his cheek with his forefinger and turning his face away from Suta. Kira wanted to lie but there was a witness beside him who might tell the truth about what had happened.

Even though it appeared to be...

The woman fell silent. Her eyes were fixed on someone sharply, not sure what kind of feeling enveloped her gaze. Nervous? Or just plain confused?

"S-Senior Hoshi?" Kanade stuttered.

"Kanadecchi? What are you doing with the manager?"

Kanade threw a slow glance away from Suta, her face now dripping with cold sweat and her body trembling slightly.

A feeling of guilt then enveloped Kanade, making her close her eyes right after. She was fighting with herself, blaming why she hadn't behaved properly to him from the start.

"M-manager?" Her body trembled even more.

"No, no. You're overdoing it Hoshi-san. Um, hear me out... I'm just accompanying her, I'm Suta's classmate who happened to ask me as a manager-"

"M-manager?" Kanade was still lost in thought, her gaze was very blank with her pale face. She laughed, but not because she thought this was a joke, she just thought that she was a fool who was no better than a potato.

It looked like he would be like that for a while. Kira then looked at Suta with narrowed eyes, signaling that she was serious by saying, "You should explain this situation to her later..."

"Eh? Okay. But why?"

"Not but why, you can't just call me manager all you want like that. You'll make people around you misunderstand."

"Alright, alright. Whatever the manager says..." She then pouted while turning her face away from Kira. She didn't even want to look at Kira's face for a while as she continued to walk away "...even though it's the truth... Huh" she then mumbled a little.

Kira heard her mumbling, but he pretended not to hear her. It was the best choice for now, rather than him prolonging this matter and spending a lot more time, Kira chose to give in.

Letting out a long sigh, Kira followed Suta shortly afterwards. But before going to follow him, he looked back to see Kanade's state and Kanade was still in a "broken" state.

So, willy-nilly, Kira had to leave her.

While walking through the luxurious building, Kira was quite mesmerized. She didn't know that Suta was training at a prominent center and just thought she was just a communicative little girl with big dreams. Was this the reason behind how confident Suta was and how she could read Mina like a book? But if you look at it, her confidence was just something that wasn't normal. It was excessive. As if it was made out of nothing.

"Teacher Irene! She's the manager I told you about, Kousei Kira!"

Kira already couldn't fight it. He then went inside the room hopelessly. Perhaps it was time for him to give in and resign himself if Suta called him or introduced Kira to others as her Manager. Furthermore, Kira didn't even have an alibi to back up Suta's statement.

So for now, Kira's only thought was how to make a good impression on Suta's teacher. He then bowed his head and introduced himself.

"My name is Kousei Kira. Greetings... Um... Miss..."

Irene just smiled and then chuckled at the cute behavior of the Suta Manager. "You don't have to bow your head to me, young man~ Think of me as your friend"

Of course Kira couldn't refuse that. But still, thinking of an older person of the same age as him would make KIra seem insolent, so it was better for Kira to still be respectful of the Irene Teacher.

"Alright, I'll be more casual, but I won't be impolite to you."

Teacher Irene was wide-eyed in disbelief at that. The 28-year-old woman pulled out her lollipop that was in her mouth to burst out laughing. She almost choked on her own saliva from laughing so much because it had been awhile since someone made her laugh like that.

Teacher Irene was an easy going teacher. Even though she was almost 30 and her short black hair made her look like an adult, she didn't like being treated like an old person who had to be respected.

"You don't need to respect me that much, young man. The only people who deserve respect are those who have contributed to this world." Irene then stood up and approached both Kira and Suta, "...things that have never had value in this world will never be bought, am I right?"

Goods and also a person's presence are similar things. People who have value, prestige, such as treasure, throne and also women must be respected by the community. Just like the goods sold out there, only goods that have value will be looked at by the public.

"But-" Suddenly, Kira replied to teacher Irene's words. Kira was not someone who just nodded when someone rambled on about life, or her personal problems. Because it might be possible that her conceptions were different from others, and when Kira expressed her opinion, she hoped to help others.

"Aren't things considered valuable not because of how expensive they are, but how useful they are to someone? Take for example, there won't be many people who need a hammer, but there are some people out there who still need one. Just like perhaps Teacher Irene. You deserve respect, because you have given everything you can to teach your knowledge to Suta."

Teacher Irene was silent, she had lost this time with someone she met for the first time. They had never talked or even met once but Kira's words already pierced her heart, and she could only smile and pat Kira's back which the pats on Kira's back were getting harder and rougher, causing him pain.

"Suta, I like him!" She embraced Kira and showed Kira to Suta as if asking Suta for permission.

"Eh? B-But, the manager already has a girlfriend. She's Mina from our school-"

He then covered Suta's mouth with bulging eyes as he said, "Don't continue with words that could create a misunderstanding. T-Teacher Irene, It is not like t..."

"Well~ I can't help it, there's no way anyone would want to be with this old lady~ Let's continue the course~"

"T-Teacher Irene... Listen to me..."

And in the end, this misunderstanding became even worse.

But moving along, Kira's mind was going even more elsewhere, not knowing what to do. He didn't even understand why he had come to the training center. He couldn't train her, he didn't know what input or advice he could give to Suta. So he just sat on the floor while watching Suta getting ready.

Suta's usual glowing and warm eyes suddenly turned cold and piercing. Her expression changed quickly, not more than 1 second. And when the music came on, she started dancing powerfully. Cheerful, yet she can become cool in an instant. Looking at her like that, it looked like she'd grown up... Like...

Teacher Irene.

"Good. Curve your body more and wave it sexily." Teacher Irene said.

Kira's eyes remained on Suta. She moved her body and also showed her facial expressions perfectly in front of Kira. Even though it was the first time Kira saw Suta's dance, he immediately understood that Suta had not done anything wrong because some of her facial expressions were still serious.

Kira now understood and understood why Suta was so confident, why she thought that she was carefree when talking about her dream of becoming an idol. Suta always said it as if he was able to become an idol easily without any obstacles.

At first, Kira thought that Suta was confident only because of her beautiful features, slender body, and sweet voice. However, Kira didn't know how seriously Suta took her stature. Learning to use skincare and makeup, not eating fatty foods and going on a diet, not even drinking fizzy or cold drinks so that her throat does not trigger inflammation or other throat diseases.

In other words, she did her best even though she didn't know anything about it to begin with.

Until the end, Kira's eyes were only on Suta, her entire body as well as her facial expressions. He had never seen such a beautiful woman in his life. This was the first time, Kira's heart was racing, the first time he had ever widened his eyes at a woman. It was just like when he saw something beautiful and shining in front of him. He wanted to keep looking at her, her eyes, her smile, her body and everything.

And without meaning to, Kira uttered... "She's like a star. A Glittering Star."

<TO BE CONTINUED>