When Tomoe arrived, she had a white t-shirt with a dark jacket on top, jeans, and sneakers. A big pair of yellow-lens glasses and a hat that she used to hide her hair underneath. Like that, she could pass for one of them instead of the famous singer and model.
Hangaku looked at her and made an appreciative nod. “That’s more like it. So, does anyone have any idea where to go?”
Yoshinobu Tokuga raised his hand with a big smile. “I know a nice coffee-house!”
Hangaku immediately grunted, “Not one more of your plans, Yoshinobu-kun! Anyone else?”
Takechi Hito timidly raised his right hand. “I know a place. I went there a couple of nights with my parents. It’s not far from here if we take a train. I believe we can fit in there, because on Fridays it’s an amateur night for comedians, and normally there are a lot of people, but maybe some of them came to the concert, and that place is almost empty by now.”
A lot of smiles and nods agreed with Takechi’s idea, and Hangaku asked, “Everyone agrees? Cool, lead the way, Takechi-sama!”
Everyone followed Takechi Hito, with Tomiko Hari right at his side. Shubuyaky Tomoe elbowed Hangaku Mae and whispered, “Those two are a couple? I don’t want to sound rude, but they look kind of odd together.”
Hangaku whispered back as they walked, “Yeah, Takechi-sama is not like the boys Tomiko-chan is normally attracted to. She tends to go after the cute tall boys like her, and I also thought it was weird to see her so interested in a short and chubby boy. At least, until I saw her glowing with happiness every time he was near her. Her eyes shine when he speaks, and she looks at him in such a way…”
“Like you do when you are looking at Ryu-kun, right? Yeah, you also look at him that way. You are completely in love, aren’t you? No wonder. My big brother is very cool, but you have to be careful. There are always a lot of girls after him. Some girls on my staff are crazy about him, and I know some models that are always inviting him to go to a party or to have a drink with them. You will face some fierce competition, let me tell you! I will root for you, Hangaku-chan, because I think Ryu-kun also likes you.”
“You… think he likes me? How can you know that? He didn’t say a word to me, and I kept on pushing him. He is hard to read. I don’t even know what he thinks of me.”
Tomoe glanced at the distracted Sakamo Ryu, who was talking with Yoshinobu Tokuga, who kept on mocking him, and she whispered, “He always refuses the invitation of my friends, but it’s with you he came. Believe me, he likes you. Try not to spook him too much and remember that he grew up in a very special environment. He is not innocent about girls and matters of the heart, but he is more fragile than he looks. Try not to hurt him, so that I don’t need to go after you and kill you, okay?”
Hangaku gulped when she noticed the threatening glow staring at her and slowly nodded. “I… will do my best.”
“Good, because I like you, and I would hate to have your blood on my hands. Now smile, or he will get suspicious and nag me forever to know what we were talking about.”
Hangaku forced a smile and noticed the squeeze on her neck by Tomoe’s strong arm that was leaned on her shoulders.
When they exited through the service door, a vast crowd was waiting, and Hangaku heard her name being called from everywhere. The bouncers attempted to keep the crowd controlled, and Tomoe nuzzled Hangaku towards a group of girls that were calling her, trying to get her autograph.
While pushing her, Tomoe whispered, “Go greet your fans! It seems a lot of people were waiting for you.”
Hangaku approached the security fence with an awkward smile, and a smiling girl handed her a notebook, with her friends doing the same. “Hangaku-chan, may I be the first to get your autograph? I loved the way you sang those songs. Your voice is amazing!”
“Really? Thanks, that’s so kind of you! I am not used to doing this. I have never given my autograph to anyone!”
The girl gave an even bigger smile. That’s great! I will be the first! I will treasure your autograph forever, and when you become a famous singer, I can brag that I have your first autograph! Can I take a picture with you? Or else no one is going to believe me!”
“Sure, let’s do that!”
Hangaku went to the front of the group with the fence separating them by their waists, and she smiled at the camera on the girl’s mobile phone. Another girl asked for another photo, and Hangaku took some more with every mobile that someone put in front of her and signed a bunch of notebooks.
A girl with short hair and round glasses asked with a shy smile, “Can I… How do you meet Tomoe-chan? Is she really your friend? And you knew she could fight like that?”
“She is a childhood friend of one of my classmates, and she invited my entire class to come here. I didn’t know she could fight. It was a shock to me as well, to see her fighting like that! I was eating my fingernails! I thought she was going to die a couple of times! That’s Tomoe-chan for you. She doesn’t stop surprising us, right?”
Another girl asked, with a puzzled look, “Is she really going to help you with that volunteer work tomorrow morning? Because I am also a member of her fan club, and I am going to help in a Hospital. I read that she also does volunteer work with her fans once in a while, but no one knows where she will be volunteering next.”
“Yeah, I told her moments ago that if she overslept tomorrow morning because she didn’t go to bed early, I would go to her hotel and drag her out of bed by her hair. She won’t fail me tomorrow, you can bet on that!”
“Can… can you tell us where you are going tomorrow morning? We would all love to see her arrive!”
Hangaku slowly shook her head. “I am sorry, but for obvious reasons, I can’t. It would be a mess in front of the elderly home, and no one there would be able to rest. Tomoe-chan’s visit tomorrow is not a publicity stunt, so I can’t spread around where she is going, right? Please understand.”
The girl nodded with a big smile. “That’s okay, don’t worry. Where are you and your friends going? And Tomoe-chan is with them?”
“We are going home. It’s kind of late already, and tomorrow I need to wake up early, remember? I have to go now. My friends are waiting. Thanks for this, it was fun to talk with you all.”
The crowd waved at her and shouted her name, with the girl waving at her with a big smile. “Bye, Hangaku-chan! I hope to be at your first concert when you become a singer!”
Hangaku nodded and ran to meet the others, with tears piling up in her eyes. Tomoe-chan put one arm over her shoulders and asked, while the bouncers were opening a path for them to go to the train station, “You liked that, right? You better keep on practising, because when a manager puts his eyes on you and you make your singing debut, you will have a lot of fans trying to talk to you. I also like to talk with my fans, but I have had some terrible experiences with some crazy ones, so I now talk with my fans from a safe distance. There was once a guy that put a finger on my butt hole when I was talking with a group of his friends! Another time, a group of overly excited girls ripped my blouse, trying to get a souvenir! Most of my fans are nice, but there are crazy people everywhere!”
Hangaku Mae nodded with her eyes still shining, and Sakamo didn’t fail to notice how happy she looked.
When they finally reached the train station, there were a bunch of people waiting for a train. They were probably in the Stadium as well and were returning home. Hangaku signed a few more notebooks and took pictures with some of them. A train came, and Takechi Hito called everyone to follow him.
After two stops, they exited and followed him along the main street until he turned to a perpendicular one.
After a few meters, Takechi pointed to the sign saying ‘Comedy Club’ on top of a door, from where some music could be heard. “It seems like it didn’t finish yet. We arrived on time. Let’s go! We need to find a place for everyone!”
Takechi entered, and Tomiko was right behind him. Inside, he looked around and pointed to a group of empty tables in one corner. “I think we can sit there, but we will need to find enough chairs for everyone.”
Hangaku quickly raised her arm. “Sakamo-kun needs one for him, and I will sit on his lap! If there aren’t enough chairs, the girls can sit on the boys’ laps or the other way around!”
Shintaro Nakaoka hit the floor with her right foot, and she looked annoyed. “No way! I will not have any of these big and scary beasts on my lap!”
Tadasaburo Sasaki spoke in his usual casual tone. “You can sit on my lap, I don’t mind. You are light, it doesn’t bother me at all.”
Shintaro Nakaoka made a big smile. “Cool, I have a comfy chair just for me! Let’s go, let the others search for their chairs!”
While some were going to the empty tables and others were after empty chairs, Tomoe sat next to Sakamo, with Hangaku on his lap. Tomoe smiled while looking around. “This is rather nice. The music isn’t too loud, there aren’t many people, and the atmosphere is pleasant. It even seems cosy!”
Hangaku saw Tomiko alone in a chair and asked, “Where is Takechi-sama? Is he searching for a chair for him instead of offering you his lap?”
“I… am not sure. He said he was going to call a waiter, but I don’t see him anywhere.”
As they were already seated and ordering their drinks, Takechi Hito was still nowhere to be seen. Then, a man entered the small stage at the back of the club, and when he called for the next comedian amateur, Takechi Hito entered the stage, and everyone wondered what he was doing there. He then took one deep breath and grabbed the microphone.
He made his usual proud pose by raising his chin and placing one fist on his waist. “I am Takechi Hito, but I will allow everyone to address me as Takechi-sama, the Great One!”
The crowd wondered what he meant by that, and Takechi raised one eyebrow while looking around and continued, “When I was born in this World, I thought I would be luckier than I actually am, considering my background. Probably I should have checked the genes of my parents before being born because, at my age, I became like this…”
Takechi signalled with his free hand from the top of his head to his belly, rubbing it in the end. The laughter filled the room, and Takechi shrugged. “You think this is funny? It is not. It’s kind of stupid, actually. For instance, when I was very young, like, one metre tall, I was already chubbier than any boy my age. I liked to play all alone, but my parents told me that I should play outside with other kids, so I went to the park, and some boys and girls were playing with a ball. I don’t know why, but when they saw me, they decided to play a game of dodgeball. Yeah, you know what happened, right?”
Takechi rolled his eyes, and there was a lot of muffled laughter and some nodding from the people present in the club. He pointed to one man who was laughing and said, “See? He knows! So, I was watching the ball being thrown against each of the kids, and thinking that if anyone tried to hit me, I just needed to take one step to the side to avoid it. That wouldn’t be difficult for Takechi-sama, the Great One. Unfortunately, when the ball came straight at my face, my young, chubby body didn’t move like I thought it would. The pain made me cry, snort from my nose mixed with blood from my split upper lip went into my mouth. I bet no one tasted that mix, but let me tell you, it’s not as tasty as it sounds.”
The room was filled with laughter, and there were also scattered listeners who choked on their drinks while they were laughing. Takechi let the noise diminish and continued, “I thought that if I played dead, no one would target me. Then, the most surprising thing happened. I got hit again! A little girl, about half my size, threw the ball with all her might against me. I saw the ball coming, but due to my tears, I misjudged its trajectory, and when I tried to get up, I was hit in the groins! I didn’t know such a kind of pain existed! At that moment, I thought that I was back among the stars. I even saw a couple of them surrounding me. I am not sure if I fainted or not. The memories after that hit are a little fuzzy.”
The room almost fell to the ground with the crowd laughing. Takechi pretended to be annoyed by the noise, and when it diminished, he bumped his right foot on the ground a couple of times. “Why is everyone laughing? The women, I understand, because they lack the physical attributes that men have, but why do I see men laughing? No one was ever hit like that? Was it just me? Damn, if it wasn’t enough being born with the tendency to get chubby just by breathing, I am also unlucky?”
The crowd laughed and clapped, and Takechi made a deep bow. As his listeners were laughing and cleaning up their tears, Takechi waved. “Have a good night, everyone. Takechi-sama, the Great One, is out!”