A week slowly passed by and the day before the audition finally arrived.
That evening, Asakura went to the location in order to make sure everything was set for tomorrow. After talking to the director and the producer, he went back into one of the rooms reserved for the tryout, hoping to find what he was looking for there. He had been checking that information every day for the past week and each time he had been disappointed.
What he wasn’t expecting, though, was to bump into Kota Subaru there. The man was waiting for him inside, sitting cross-legged in one of the chairs.
“Yo! So you’re still here.” Kota greeted Asakura with a grin.
“What are you doing here?” Asakura asked in surprise.
“Ah, I called your office and the assistant told me I might find you around here. Took me a while before I found this room, though.”
“Hmm, so you’re stalking me now?” Asakura teased, raising an eyebrow.
“I called first, therefore it doesn’t count as stalking. So please stop trying to lump me in together with your bad habits.” Kota waved a hand in displeasure. “Are you finished here? Want to go grab a drink?”
Before Asakura was able to reply, he was interrupted by the door suddenly opening. A young woman entered, while carrying a stack of papers. She greeted them politely, then placed the documents on a table, before turning around to leave.
“Excuse me.” Asakura stopped her. “Are those all the actors that have applied for the tryout tomorrow?” he asked, pointing at the stack of documents she had just brought inside.
“Yes. These are all the ones that have sent us their application until now.”
“I see. Thank you.”
After the assistant left, Asakura glanced at the papers, appearing to be rather undecided. Then, without saying a word, he went over and looked through them once. When he finished perusing all of the documents, his expression didn’t look so good. His brows were scrunched up in a frown and his eyes betrayed disappointment.
“Hm? What’s wrong with you?” Kota asked, raising an eyebrow.
We’re sorry for MTLers or people who like using reading mode, but our translations keep getting stolen by aggregators so we’re going to bring back the copy protection. If you need to MTL please retype the gibberish parts.
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“Eh? Why do I feel like you are hiding something?” Kota probed further. He trusted his instincts above all else. This person in front of him was acting very strangely.
“The only thing I am hiding is a strong dislike for you, my friend.” Asakura scowled.
The room had a small balcony where one could get some fresh air. Without waiting for Kota to reply, Asakura got up and went outside. He lit up a cigarette, taking a few deep puffs and blowing them out slowly.
Not wanting to leave his friend alone for too long, Kota quickly followed him outside. He crossed his arms and leaned against the handrail with his head turned towards Asakura. As he stared at the man, Kota carefully took in his appearance.
The cool night air brushed through Asakura’s hair, tussling it in every direction and giving him a rather wild look. His face looked pale in the evening light and his eyes were clear and sharp. That appearance made a handsome image, Kota thought to himself.
“Seriously now, what’s bothering you, Ryuu?” he finally asked, breaking the silent atmosphere.
“At the moment, you are.” Asakura exhaled another large cloud of smoke.
“I have a feeling that you are in a strange mood, even more so than usual. And that question earlier about the actors… Ah!” Kota cried out in shock, gaping at the other man in amazement. “Could it be that… you are looking for someone?”
Asakura remained silent, rolling the cigarette between his fingers. His eyes were gazing straight ahead, unfocused as if he was seeing something that wasn’t really there.
“Subaru, do you remember the room exchange we did back at the onsen?” His deep voice reverberated in the air, sounding neither loud nor low.
“Eh?!” Kota blinked quite a few times. He was confused as to what that had to do with anything. “Yes, I remember there was a group of several young men who arrived the same day we did. One of them exchanged his room with yours.”
“Right. The thing is, I eventually met that person and we talked.”
“Eh?! Really?” Kota’s eyebrows got so high up on his forehead that they almost got lost behind his hair. “You didn’t mention anything about that to me before.”
“That’s because I didn’t think it was important.” Asakura puffed one last time from the cigarette before snuffing it. “Besides, if I remember correctly, at that time you were too preoccupied to chase after women.”
“Even so, I would have listened to my friend’s tale.” Kota scrunched up his nose. “So? What is it about this person that’s having you in such a daze?”
“He…” Asakura hesitated for a second. “He’s like me… in a way at least. He also likes men, but his experience was far worse than mine.”
“Oh… I see.” Kota whispered, sighing deeply. “So, because of that you sympathized with him, right?”
“At first that’s what I thought as well. That I only got close to him because I felt a sense of empathy and solidarity. But ever since I have given him my business card and told him to call me, I began to anxiously wait for it.”
“That group… they were actors, weren’t they? I believe I heard a few of them talking about getting a part in a drama or something of that sort.”
“En. He’s an actor, but due to a particular circumstance, he hasn’t been doing his job for a while. I gave him my business card and told him about the movie tryout in hopes that he will give himself another chance. But until now he hasn’t called and neither did he apply for the audition.”
“Why don’t you contact him instead? It’s not like you to act so passive. Generally speaking, if you were so interested in him, you would begin stalking him already.”
“I won’t ever be able to clean my record of that, will I?” Asakura sighed in distress.
“Nope.” Kota retorted, grinning widely like a Cheshire cat. “You will forever be a stalker in my eyes.”
“Thanks.” Asakura frowned, taking out another cigarette and lighting it. “Unfortunately, I can’t contact him because I never got his number.”
“Haaaa.” Kota exhaled deeply. “I never knew you could be this stupid.”
“Shut up.” Asakura said and directed a puff of smoke towards him.
“Then, do you know anything else about this person?” Kota evaded the smoke by shifting to the other side.
“I only know his name.”
“That’s good then! You can find out what entertainment company he works for and have him come to the audition. It’s as simple as that really.”
“No.”
“No?”
“Even if I find him, there is no way I will do that. The reason I told him about the movie is because I wanted to help him. He has to come because he chooses that for himself, not because I force the matter. Otherwise, it will be meaningless.”
“Honestly, you have a strange, almost masochistic passion for tormenting yourself.” Kota huffed in exasperation, rubbing the place between his eyebrows. “First Keita, now this mysterious person. Aren’t you tired of this, Ryuu?”
Hearing those words, Asakura couldn’t help but chuckle. Indeed, it was exactly as Kota had said. He had a knack at finding people that caused him to swim in muddy waters. However, there was something peculiar about comparing Sato with Keita.
Were they really that similar and if they were, what exactly made them so? As far as personality goes, they couldn’t be more different. Keita was an introvert, who didn’t have any qualms in stating his mind briskly, causing people to feel stunned by this opposition. Meanwhile, Sato seemed to be a tender person, who enjoyed smiling and laughing, but had somehow forgotten how to do it. Indeed, one appeared to be a sharp-clawed cat, while the other was a meek, fluffy bunny.
With this image in mind, Asakura felt the knot in his heart tightening even further. It wasn’t that Sato was similar to Keita, but that Sato had also made a powerful impact in his life.
Nevertheless, the feeling was different from the one he had fifteen years ago. This time he didn’t want to run away and hide. If anything, he wanted to search for Sato and find him as soon as possible. But he didn’t want to force the other party into making a decision either. That was the most baffling thing among all this.
Try as he might, he couldn’t understand why exactly he was acting in this unusual manner. Perhaps he was really beginning to change?
A/N: This is the last chapter for today. Asakura is indeed starting to change, slowly but surely, and it seems it’s baffling him to no end 
He is really doing a wonderful job at keeping his stalkerish tendencies at bay. However, he does have the potential to become an extremely doting lover I hope everyone approves of this
Asakura really is getting matured. I don’t think kaito would ever m
make him forget that he was once a stalker 😂.
I hope saito auditions. His greatest revange on his ex is for him to be successful and smile once more.
That ex really damanged him psychologically.
Mhm, exactly. The best thing Sato can do right now is move on from his past and try to get better by changing his circumstances a bit. And for that he needs just a little bit of a push from outside. And who can do that better than Asakura? 😏
Asakura did the right thing 😌 he’s learning how it’s done ☺️
Thank you for the chapter 😘
Yes, I guess he is really growing up 😆🤭
😘
I like the change in Asakura!
Thank you for the chapter 💜
I’m happy you approve of his new style 🤭 I guess he always had it in him. He just needed the motivation to show it perhaps? 😏
💜
thanks for the chapter <3
<333