Utsukushii Kare/ My Beautiful Man [ENGLISH TRANSLATION]

Chapter-1; PART-8: He is Beautiful

     

                                   Translator: White Lotus

                           
                                               

                                                     ◈ ◈ ◈ ◈

On the first weekend of December, the finals of the contest were held in a large hall in Tokyo. There were a lot of TV cameras in the venue, and it made even Hira, who just came to cheer for Kiyoi, feel nervous. In addition to Shirota and the others, even the students from other schools came to watch it.

To make a long story short, Kiyoi didn’t win. 

The winner was a university student from Yokohama, while the runners-up were a middle school student from Sendai and a high school student from Nara, respectively. However, in Hira's eyes, Kiyoi was the rightful first place winner. His dance in the free performance segment was amazing too. The judges were the ones who lacked good eyes.

After the contest was over, Shirota and the usual group met up with Kiyoi in the lobby of the hall. There were several girls present too, and they all huddled around Kiyoi to comfort him, saying things like, "It's a pity," and "Kiyoi-kun is the coolest, though," to which Kiyoi responded calmly.

Everyone was going to have an afterparty in a restaurant nearby, but when they were ready to go there together, Kiyoi said he had to greet some people, so he would have to go back to the lounge and asked them to go ahead. Just as Shirota and the others were leaving, Hira felt the need to use the washroom and got separated from the group.

All the washrooms in the hall were crowded, so while Hira was wandering around looking for another one, he ended up coming to a floor that said "staff only". Just as he was about to turn around, he saw that there was a washroom not far away. The people around him seemed to be very busy, so he sneaked in to use the staff washroom.

As soon as Hira came out of the washroom, he spotted Kiyoi at the end of the hallway greeting some staff, so he rushed back into the washroom to hide. Although he only came to use the toilet, it would be bad if Kiyoi misunderstood that he was stalking him again.

After hiding for a while, Hira peeked into the hallway again and saw Kiyoi by himself, leaning against the wall. Hira was about to sneak back, but his eyes were drawn to Kiyoi, who seemed to be shrouded in a strangely vague atmosphere that made him stop doing so.

His lips were slightly pursed, and his head was oriented towards his feet like a sullen child. After exhaling a loud, heavy sigh, he walked into what appeared to be a waiting room.

It was the first time he'd ever seen Kiyoi in such a depressed state.

He wasn't supposed to see that.

Kiyoi definitely wouldn't have wanted to be seen like that.

So it would be better to pretend Hira hadn't seen anything.

He was aware of everything, yet he was unable to control the soft sensation that began to well up inside of his chest.

While Hira was waiting outside the hall in the cold, Kiyoi finally came out. With his hands in the pockets of his coat, Kiyoi walked towards the station with long strides.

Hira didn't say anything and kept his distance as he followed behind Kiyoi, like a loyal dog guarding its master.