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“Thank you so much for giving us an interview!” the announcer said, giving us a shallow bow.

Incidentally, it had mostly been Kanata, who was currently famous, answering the question, with only a few words from someone else mixed in here and there. From how the cameraman and other staff-members looked, they’d likely use the whole thing, so I hoped we hadn’t said anything weird.

“Hey there, it’s been a while.”

After the interview was over and most of the TV crew had left, one of them who seemed to be a higher-up came to us.

“Oh… it really has been.”

Mika and I knew this man well. Shuu also, since he had been caught up with him once. And he was also among those who had gathered material about Kanata and Sakura. He usually directed the coverage of incidents.

“By the way…”
“We refuse.”
“Yes, what he said.”

Although he wasn’t a talent scout, he always tried to recruit us. Still, once we refused, he backed down right away, so he wasn’t an unpleasant guy.

“Honestly, we could make tons of money if the six of you were to join the TV industry. Well, not me, just the higher-ups.”
“More importantly, I’m curious about this ‘bane of the industry’ several people of your crew called us earlier…” Mika interjected, voicing what was also bothering me.
“Oh, that. To be frank, you guys are better looking that most idols and actors. On the internet, there are discussions about the ‘most beautiful sisters of the generation’ and threads like ‘after finding the most beautiful girl in the world, another one appeared in the same neighborhood’.”

“Huh, that’s what they saw about me?” Mika asked.
“And me!?” I added.
“What, you didn’t know?”

Seeing we never even once appeared on TV, this came as a surprise… was what I’d like to say, but what would be a lie. Still, we were just regular people who happened to be with Kanata and the others when they were interviewed. I didn’t know if people made photos of us in secret, but it wasn’t a possibility I could exclude. Not when we were involved.

“Moreover, if we managed to get you to join the industry, we’d undoubtedly make billions… or even trillions. But you keep refusing, so you’re now called the ‘bane of the industry’… Oh, would you look at the time. I should go back to my work. Just think about it, will you? I’m sure you don’t need my business card at this point. See you.”

The director made his way back to the TV crew from earlier. Mika and I breathed a sigh, while Kanata, Sakura, and Shuu looked as if this had been the most normal thing in the world.

Rir, however…

“W-Woof… he tried to recruit you!”

She showed quite a strong reaction¹, given this had been the first time for her.

“Rir, you were included in that offer right now, y’know?”
“W-W-W-Woof!!? Are you serious!?”
“Ah-ha-ha… I am, least ’bout that.”

The man had definitely talked about all six of us. I mean, Shuu had the looks of an action movie actor and Rir was currently closing in on second place of our school’s “most beautiful girls ranking” (though for some reason, this was under the assumption of “excluding Ayumu”).

“I’m not that beautiful or cute…!”
“You gotta face reality.”
“W-Woof~.” With her cheeks bright red, she threw herself at Shuu. She was trembling like a frightened puppy.

Well, it gave us ample things to talk about while we were waiting, so the interview had its upsides.

“Ha-ha-ha… With how things are going, we’ll be the ones who get picked for the performances with audience participation.”
“Don’t say that… it might actually happen.”

Kanata’s joke sounded like something that could really happen to us.

“…There’s still two hours left.”
“Still this long, huh?”

All of us, other than Rir, had calmed down from the interview, so we put down a mat, spread out our snacks, and started to eat them. There were several families doing the same.

“Oh! It’s Long-Heart!” a little girl behind us yelled.

Long-Heart was a clown who acted as the circus’ mascot. He wore super-thick make-up, so it was hard to guess his original facial features. He was quite active and showed up occasionally on TV shows and during prime time, when the circus performed around Tokyo. He never spoke and only communicated via captions.

That wasn’t all, he also posted videos titled “Long-Heart’s² Daily Life” on movie platforms and the circus’ official website. The total views apparently exceeded a million. For that reason, there were many people who’d never attended the circus’ performance but knew about him.

“Oh, you’re right! It’s Long-Heart!”
“Long Heart~!”

They probably wanted to entertain the guests who were waiting for the second performance. That’s why they brought him out.

He took position a bit removed from the long line and demonstrated backflips. People obviously clapped and cheered at everything he did. Even the six of us, who hadn’t been fans of him so far, were mesmerized and applauded like the others.

It was as if his skill drew us in. It was incredible.

Long-Heart started to simply juggle cueballs. Then he looked up and threw them dangerously high, though it was likely on purpose.

…Huh? Now that I get a closer look at him, haven’t I seen this face before somewhere?

1. The original is 反能, which isn’t a proper word. This is likely a mistyped 反応 (“reaction”).
2. “Love-Long” in the original. There are tons of typos/errors with this character (calling him Heart-Long” instead of “Long-Heart” for example) so I won’t make a footnote for every instance.

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