Type: Novel Translation
Title: Back Stage!!, Vol. 02
Series: Love Stage!!
Author/Circle: Eiki Eiki, Amano Kazuki
Rating: PG
Language: English
This time: The CRUSHERZ are finally officially on-board, but Rei’s work is only just getting started.
Feel free to check out the book in-progress on Pressbooks!
Chapter 4 (cont.)
Several days later, on the day when it was formally announced that the CRUSHERZ would be contracting with SenaPro, Shougo dropped by the Sena family home for the first time in ages.
“I’m hoooome!” he called out a light greeting, as if merely returning from a morning outing, and the three members of the Sena family, enjoying post-prandial tea time in the living room, stared at him wide-eyed.
“…Shougo!!” his mother shrieked after a moment of shocked blinking—but before she could get another word in, Izumi let out an excited greeting of his own.
“Oniichaaaaan!!” The moment he realized it was his brother who’d just sauntered in, he leapt down from his chair and practically tripped over himself rushing to meet Shougo. He was likely the one most excited to see Shougo home once more; given that they’d been separated for three long years, though, it was hardly surprising.
“Hey there, Izumi! You’re getting big! But cute as ever~”
Rei released a soft sigh, taking in the now familiar sight of the brothers embracing each other tightly, so fierce in their hugs that it came off annoying even to onlookers. And then…
“…Welcome back, Shougo.” It was Seiya, of course, who delivered this greeting, a smile on his face. Here, Shougo glanced up, taking in his father.
Their eyes met—and Shougo and Seiya turned smiles on each other. To most, the sight likely seemed like an emotional reunion between the family head who’d longed for his son to continue the family business and a son who’d finally returned home after having become a great entertainer himself…
“Well, now that I’m back, Dad—feel free to take off and retire, living a life of relaxation.”
His expression was that same smile as always—and while it sounded like a suggestion delivered out of consideration for his father, still recovering from illness…there was still an air of unrest between the two.
“Oh no no, I’m afraid I can’t let you young whippersnappers take over just yet,” Seiya returned, his own smile the same as ever, but his attitude was also slightly off from usual.
’Wait, huh…? What’s…going on?’
“Ahahaha!”
“Hahahaha!”
The two were sharing a good laugh, but on closer inspection, one could almost see little sparks flickering between their gazes. While Rei could understand the sense of competition on Shougo’s part, this was a decidedly unexpected attitude for Seiya to take.
But when he spared a glance to Nagisa, her expression reflected a sense of disbelief and resignation—apparently those flying sparks hadn’t been a mere figment of Rei’s imagination.
With a mental sigh, Rei began to accept that the road ahead would be a long one indeed.
And with that, SenaPro entered its golden age.
Later…
Rei was the last one left in the office, finishing up the last of his work, when the scent of fresh-brewed coffee wafted his way, and he glanced up—to find Shougo standing at the doorway connecting the offices to the Sena family home, having apparently arrived without Rei noticing and poured a cup of coffee for him.
It was a bit of a shock—he’d honestly never expected Shougo to do something like that for him. Those three years must have changed Shougo in ways far beyond what Rei had expected.
“You still got some work left?” Shougo asked, settling the mug on Rei’s desk.
“Oh…yeah, I’m just finishing up now.” He took a sip of the coffee Shougo had prepared for him, then directed his gaze squarely at Shougo.
“What’s wrong?”
“…I really am sorry. For getting you involved in my selfish request…” He ducked a bow at Shougo here. Starting today, Shougo—and the CRUSHERZ—were fully-fledged artists on SenaPro’s roster, so he felt the urge to properly apologize and put the whole affair to rest.
However—“Ah—no, no, it’s fine, I keep telling you!” The response was far more light-hearted than Rei had been expecting. It was as if a weight had finally been lifted from his shoulders—and Rei wondered for a moment if Shougo was speaking like this…out of consideration for Rei’s feelings. That was, until he continued: “I mean, the way I look at it, my dad’s gonna kick the bucket long before I do!”
“…What?” Rei’s eyes goggled at the out-of-left-field comment. True, when one thought about it logically, that was likely how things would go, but…you didn’t just say things like that.
Shougo, however, didn’t seem to notice Rei’s reaction, continuing merrily, “Which means eventually, one way or another, I’m gonna move on up the ladder of ‘Rei’s Love’ and take the top spot!”
“………”
“So at worst, all I’ve gotta do is wait him out!” His grin was wide, and Rei gaped at him for only a moment longer.
’This guy…hasn’t changed a bit deep down where it counts…’ He’d thought that, despite Shougo’s light-hearted, optimistic air, underneath it all there was more to him—but perhaps he’d just been fooling himself. Now he couldn’t fathom what on earth had brought him to tears over this man, though there was no helping it now.
“…Shougo.”
“Hm?” Shougo’s grin remained fixed, and he cocked his head curiously.
“…I’ve changed my mind—the one I love second-best…is Izumi.” With this, Rei pasted on a placid smile of his own.
“—Eh?” The smile froze on Shougo’s face, and then— “EEEH?? NO WAY!”
It was that protest, though, which gave Rei a tiny little thrill inside.
Chapter 5
“…Rei. Reeeei! Hey, we’re done now—Rei?”
“Nn…?” Rei’s eyes flared open as his name was called.
“Hey—you okay?” Shougo pressed, leaning down to peer into his face, and Rei struggled for a moment to recall just where he was and what he’d been doing, glancing around stupidly.
Between the set, situated on an elevated little stage, and the instruments and equipment surrounding them, Rei quickly recalled that they were currently on the set of a talk show inside a recording studio.
Right. Today he’d tagged along to watch over Shougo during his recording—or at least, that was what he’d been supposed to be doing, as somewhere along the way, he seemed to have taken a nap.
’How could I have done that…?!’
“S—sorry; is the recording over?”
“Yup!”
“Then—shall we head back?”
“……”
Rei scrambled to make himself presentable again, standing from his seat, and while he could feel Shougo’s gaze falling heavy upon him, he forced itself to ignore it and set off for the dressing rooms. He must’ve fallen asleep in an awkward position, and he released a soft sigh as he reached for his neck, in pain, and gave himself a one-handed massage.
’I’ve just been really busy lately…’
This was due in large part to the fact that SenaPro lacked the man-power to deal with the sudden uptick in work concerning the band since taking on Shougo and the CRUSHERZ. Rei himself had not only Shougo’s workload to see to but his duties as manager to Seiya and Nagisa as well to see to, so if he didn’t step up his game, he’d never be able to handle it all.
He’d managed to hang on thus far, doing away with frivolities like lunch and sleep, but if such actions led to embarrassing situations like this, then…
Wracked with guilt, he shuttled Shougo back home and then headed for his desk to check his schedule for the next day—but the moment he hit the seat, a wave of exhaustion washed over him, and he let out an unconscious sigh.
’With the CRUSHERZ making their major debut on our roster, SenaPro has finally entered its golden age…’
The band had made a fantastic splash, and almost as if it had been a given, their debut single had taken top spot on the Oricon ranking, as had their second single and third as well. Then they’d finally released an album just recently, and it too had shot to number one on the charts.
Their television spots were increasing as well, and the music-focused talk shows seemed thrilled with Shougo’s amusing way of speaking, earning the group invitations to variety shows which then led to a windfall of personal invitations to Shougo for guest appearances.
And to top it all off, lately he’d even started getting offers to appear in television dramas. Coupled with requests for a mother-son appearance with Nagisa, his mother’s workload was increasing as well.
Efforts to cope with this workload resulted in the expected physical exhaustion of being run ragged daily, but this was not the only source of stress for Rei…
Shougo had been blessed with good looks that clearly spoke of his blood relation to Seiya, and given that the CRUSHERZ had contracted with SenaPro, it was little surprise that, as soon as the group made their debut, Shougo’s identity as the eldest son of the Sena family had come out.
While some who weren’t well educated on the particulars of who’d made it big first muttered gossip about riding coattails and the like, most seemed well aware that Shougo was a self-made man, so there’d been no ill effects on his work. This was helped by the fact that Shougo himself didn’t seem all that miffed by the situation—a blessing, and far better than him worrying about it and sinking into a slump.
However, whenever Shougo found himself in interviews fielding questions about his father, he would always respond with: “He’s my greatest rival!”
Naturally, everyone assumed he meant this as a singer—that he one day hoped to surpass his father in fame—but the truth was quite a different matter.
Seiya and Shougo…were rivals in love.
For Rei’s love, to be specific.
And of course, Seiya had no idea of this.
Rei was stuck pining unrequitedly for Seiya, just as Shougo longed for Rei’s love, and while it was a rather convoluted love triangle they’d found themselves involved in, there was nothing to be done for it.
Granted, Rei understood well enough that the fact that Shougo had feelings for his same-sex manager wasn’t going to just slip out so lightly, but whenever Shougo took to mass media and started going on about how he and Seiya were rivals, considering Rei’s understanding of Shougo’s feelings for him…it struck Rei with headaches and stomachaches and everything-aches.
Things probably would have been easier all around if he’d never found out about any of this—but he couldn’t just wipe his memories whenever he liked, unfortunately, so it was with these mental sources of stress as well that Rei was running up against the very limits of his stamina.
However, he never would have expected for everything to culminate in the embarrassment if falling asleep on location in the middle of a recording… “This isn’t good… I’ve got to find a manager to take on the CRUSHERZ full time…” he groaned to himself, reaching for the stack of resumes he’d been in the middle of leafing through earlier.
He’d singled out those with the best experience, regardless of age or gender, but he remained dubious as to whether or not he’d find in this stack someone up to the task of managing SenaPro’s cash cow, the CRUSHERZ. After all, it’d been more than a month now since they’d started accepting applications for the position, and still no one was leaping out. Still, even if anyone had presented themselves, the time they’d have to set aside to field interviews would only increase how busy they all were these days.
But it was clear that Rei didn’t have the stamina to remain the Sena family’s sole manager now. He’d have liked to have someone skilled enough to handle sales issues and schedule management, but barring that, a warm body to handle on-location management alone would do…but then they’d still need to hire someone else to handle marketing operations, which would just be a waste of personnel.
Rei knew, deep down, something was going to break soon, if they didn’t resolve this issue…
To be continued…