My new Neighbor's an Idol!?

Idol Act

There she was, singing on stage in front of her classmates. The crowd was enjoying every single second of it as she engaged in her typical act. This was something that Rinse had done dozens, no hundreds of times in her life as an idol. Even with the thought of Ishi stuck on her mind, not an ounce of her worry showed to the audience. To them, this was a perfect performance.

After all, she was a veteran to the idol scene. There were plenty of times when she had doubt inside. When something might not had gone the way she wanted it to. Yet she was able to put on that face people loved. Her smile, which melted the hearts of millions. This was all normal to her, and it didn't look to change any time soon during her career.

"Thank you." She did a bow to the audience when she finished her song. They erupted into applause, every single one of them. And it wasn't just her fellow classmates either, but also numerous strangers that got the opportunity at this impromptu concert with the famous Rinse Hattori. "I hope you all enjoyed, and thanks so much for your time." She gave a big smile and wink, topping off her performance. Even without a rehearsal she appeared graceful on stage. A true beauty. "This was a really powerful performance, so I'd like to ask to please allow me to return to my hotel room."

Now that she was done, the girl stepped down from the stage to allow anyone else to perform, which didn't take long before a group replaced her with not so good singing. Rinse returned to the bar to finish up her drink first. This had been a long day, and heading back to the hotel was on her mind. However, seeing Otoya still sitting at the spot where everything went down, she couldn't resist asking one question.

"Aren't you going to look for Hirose?" She asked him, surprised at his lack of concern about his friend. "He seemed really upset."

"If there's one thing I love about Ishi." He replied while taking a sip. "Is that I never have to worry about him." She was bewildered about his statement. This seemed like it should be a fact that everyone knew, but she was still new around here. "He's fine, and we'll be seeing him in a couple of seconds."

"Seconds?" As she asked him, the girl got her answer when Ishi appeared from behind them with only one word to say.

"Hey." He spoke, which spooked her enough to take a couple steps back from him.

"Wha-what are you doing back here?" She asked as Otoya greeted his friend as if nothing happened. In response, Ishi leaned over the bar and picked up some cash.

"Forgot my money." He answered her. "Well, looks like it's time for me to go back to the hotel." The boy was about to make his exit once more, but she stopped him.

"I'm sorry." The words blurted out from her mouth. "It's my fault about what happened earlier. I was just joking, it wasn't supposed to be like that."

"Eh, don't worry about that. I don't hold grudges anyway." It may not have sounded like it from his tone or his words, but he did accept the apology. "And don't worry about me and everyone else. The one good thing about teens is their short memory." Or rather, their desire to avoid conflict. "So by tomorrow, we'll all forget about it and act like nothing happened." It seemed to be the case in his high school career, and this time didn't appear to be different. She wondered if something like that was truly healthy for him. Things would just repeat, wouldn't they? Still, she was going to take the small victory for now.

"If you're heading back to the hotel, then perhaps you could walk me back to my room?" Her tone brightened up.

"I'm pretty sure you can walk back on your own." He responded.

"But, it gets pretty dangerous for us girls at night."

"We're 50 meters from the hotel, I doubt anything bad's going to happen."