CH 5

— Sunday.

Today, I came to see “Idol Fest 2022” in Yokohama with my sister Saika.

This is a big event where idols from various small and medium sized agencies perform on stage for both men and women.

It is often said that this event is the reason why they caught the producer’s eyes and decided to appear on a big music program, so all the idols are giving their best performance here.

“Uehehe~, both that girl and this girl are good looking~! The best~! Go for it~!”

In the morning, it was time for the female idols’ show.

The omnivore and idol lover Saika’s eyes were shining as she waves her cyalume(light sticks) at the stage.

I was next to her, waving a cyalume and cheering for the idols, while regularly giving her drinks so that she wouldn’t dehydrate from over-excitement.

The event had just turned around and it was time for a break, so I spoke to Saika, who was still excited.

“Saika, wouldn’t you have had more fun if you came with your friends instead of me?”

“I can’t let my friends see me like this!”

Saika said so and re-tied the hachimaki on her forehead that read “Suko-suko-Sukko’ and wiped the drool from her mouth.

Indeed, Saika is widely recognized at her junior high school as a beautiful girl that everyone envies for her good behavior and her ability to excel in both academics and sports.

As you can see, she has quite an otaku-like temperament, but apparently it’s something she prefers to keep hidden.

“A.N.D! I wanted you to know the goodness of an Idol, Onii-chan! What do you think, Onii-chan? Did you find an idol you like?”

“Ehh? Umm…”

Saika made me think of all the female idols who have danced on stage until now.

“To be honest, there’s no idol that I particularly care about…”

“Ehhh~ Even though we’ve already seen so many of them!? What’s wrong with your senses, Onii-chan~!?”

“That’s what I’ve been told… Yeah.”

“Come on, don’t be shy and say who’s your favorite! It’s fun to support idols! As you can see this place is full of cute girls!”

Saika’s pestering of me never seemed to end, and I was even more puzzled.

Honestly, I don’t even remember who belongs to which idol group anymore.

“— I think Saika is prettier if that’s the case…”

It seems I had unconsciously spilled my true feelings while worrying.

Saika’s face turned red when she heard that.

“You don’t have to tell me that! Seriously, Onii-chan, you are!”

“Eh? Did you just say something?”

“Nevermind! More importantly—!”

Saying that, Ayaka rushed to change the topic.

“From here on out, it’s male idols time! Maybe Onii-chan is more comfortable with male idols! Well, there are people like that, you know.~”

“Is that so! Then, I’ll try my best!”

“I don’t know if “trying my best” is the right way of putting it, but hang in there! Onii-chan!”

And so the afternoon event began.

The male idols started to perform.

Saika was enjoying cheering for the male idols with the same enthusiasm.

(Hmm…)

But I, on the other hand, honestly can’t see myself in there seeing the male idols who are considered good looking.

Am I jealous because I’m ugly myself?

I thought so, but it seems that it is not like that because I can honestly support them when they are singing and dancing as hard as they can.

After much thought, I came to one conclusion.

Perhaps Saika is right.

Unlike most people, I have a deranged sense of judging beauty and ugliness.

I myself have always been as ugly as ever, and I’ve lived my life judging all men to be uniformly good-looking by comparison, except for me.

I’ve never thought of a person’s face as hot or not.

Perhaps that’s why I can’t distinguish much between what the world calls good-looking people and not-so-good-looking people.

(Certainly, the female idols were cute, but I prefer Fujisaki-san from my part-time job and Ajiro-san from the literature club… Stop. What in the world am I thinking!”

While chuckling inside my mind at such thoughts, I noticed that Saika’s drink was gone.

“Saika, we’re out of drinks, so I’ll go get some. How about apple juice?”

“Ah! Then I’ll go with you—”

Even as she said that, Saika’s eyes were still glued to the stage.

She probably doesn’t want to take her eyes off them.

“Haha, that’s fine. Saika, you can continue watching them, I’ll come back here after buying something.”

“Ah… so? Thanks Onii-chan! I’ll be waiting for you then!”

◇◇◇

As I was buying Saika’s drink from the vending machine, an old man in a funky outfit was standing next to me with his arms crossed, staring at the stage.

“Humu, there’s no one great here. I guess Japan’s idols are just this good? Is there no one with potential anywhere~?”

Muttering something like that in English, he let out a sigh.