Chapter 90: Sumire is worried about Fumika. (Reincarnated as a Beautiful Girl and Aim to Become a Top Actress!)

 Chapter 90: Sumire is worried about Fumika.

 I walk down the hallway, trying not to make a sound, being careful not to fall because of my rain-soaked socks. In my arms, a slightly wet cat was being held with a somewhat languid expression on its face.

“Hey, Yayoi!”

 The sudden reprimand made my body tremble. I fearfully looked in the direction of the voice and saw “my” brother looking at me with a discouraged expression with his arms crossed.

“What happened to the cat? No, more importantly, you're soaking wet. I’ll talk to you about it later, so go take a bath first..”

I said, "Un...... sorry, Onii-chan. She's wet too, so I need you to wipe her off."

 The cat that Yayoi held was a little grown up to be called a kitten. When he accepted it, his brother's eyebrows furrowed at the soft, damp feeling.

  "You should also give him a blow-dryer so he doesn't catch a cold. Oh, and don't do it too close, it might scare them, so you have to keep a little distance.”

 I spun around, and without hearing his reply, I walked quickly down the hallway. 

  Behind me, my brother, played by Mr. Tatsuya, lifted a cat in front of his face and said, “Sis, this cat is a bit rough around the edges," as if complaining, and then he called out to me.

  “Cut! Let’s check it out”

  “Director! Sumire-chan, may I help you get changed?”

  “Well, I can probably give you an okay. It's air-conditioned here, and if I catch a cold, it's going to put us even further behind schedule.”

 The costume designer asked the director about it, and when he got the okay, he quickly took me to the costume room. He wipes the water off with a bath towel and dries my hair with a hair dryer. 

  For the next scene, she appears in pajamas, so she wears a white shirt with a silhouette of a bear in the center and pants with striking white and pink stripes.

 After having my makeup lightly fixed, I went to the huddle created outside the studio and found Tatsuya-san sitting there, who had prepared himself and was drinking coffee earlier. He noticed me approaching before I could speak to him and was waving his hands in the air.

   “Yo, Sumire. Your pajamas are cute, they look good on you."

   “Good work, Mr. Tatsuya. Thank you, by the way, where is the cat?”

 As I scurried around and shook my head to look for the cat, Tatsuya pointed and told me. The person from the office that handles pet talent who brought the cat was feeding it water and food in a corner out of the way of the staff who were walking around flapping their wings.

 I feel the harshness of the world when I see a talented cat who earns his own food even though he is still small. It is amazing that they are well trained, very quiet, and can purr at the right time when instructed to do so.

 “Even though I gave you a compliment, you don't seem to be into that...I don't get that image of you at all, but do you think that any clothes or accessories look good on you?”

  “Do I look like such a confident person? I have never thought of myself that way. If these clothes suit me, it's because the gown makers have good taste.

  Since an expert has prepared the outfits for me, I can be sure that they have chosen things that will look good on me.

  As someone who even has my regular clothes sent to me by my stylist, I have complete trust in the stylist's ability to choose what she thinks will look good on me.”

 When I answered and looked at the cat again, it was grooming itself eagerly, as if satisfied after drinking food and water. The sight of the cat reminded me strongly of a beloved cat I had in a previous life.

  “I like ..... I want a cat."

 Oops, the voice of my heart spilled out unintentionally. I hurriedly held my mouth with the palm of my hand, but there was no way I could pretend the words had not come out once they were out. Perhaps recognizing it as a topic for conversation, Tatsuya joined in the conversation.

  He said, "That's great, let me know when you get a cat. I'll come visit you."

I live in a girls' dormitory, so boys aren't allowed. It would be difficult to keep a cat in a dormitory in the first place, since I go to school during the day and sometimes come home late at night from work. And there might be people who don't like cats.

 In our dormitory, the only people living there are me, Haruka, and Ai, so I think I could keep her if I asked. 

However, Toyo-san's health has not been good, and he has been absent for a while now, which worries me.

 I also put a lot of effort into housework after school on non-work days and on my days off, but there are still many things I haven't gotten around to. Even if I clean the house, after a while, the dust piles up quickly, just like a weasel. If I kept an animal in such a state, it would be a big problem with shedding hair.

 The owner of the house, Ms. Azusa, has told me that I can leave the main residence unattended except for the areas where guests enter, and I have been following her advice. She seems to be very busy these days and is rarely at home, so she is unable to do this. I understand that Ms. Azusa and Mr. Toyo have known each other for a long time, so I understand their hesitation, but I would like to see a way out of this situation, such as bringing in a substitute until Mr. Toyo returns to work, or even better, brings in a new person.

 I have known Toyo-san for years since we moved to Tokyo, and I will miss him. But my health is more important, and I can't even count on it if I become bedridden if I put too much pressure on myself. I hope that Azusa will settle down soon and make a decision.

 As we were talking about this, Yoko came out of the studio and approached us. In her hand she was holding my water bottle and my backpack. I had asked her to bring them to me if the check was going to take a long time or if for some reason there was going to be a wait.

  “Is the break going to last long?"

  “The shot you just took was good, but there was a problem with the equipment. It's going to take some time.”

 In answer to my question, Yoko-san handed me the package in her hand. The water bottle contained the hojicha tea I had brewed in the kettle this morning. Since it was summer and vending machine drinks are usually cold, I had filled a water bottle with warm water in a thermos.

 I sigh with relief as I take a sip of my drink, holding the cup with both hands as if it were a lid. In my previous life, I used to prefer cold drinks, but in this life as a girl, I seem to prefer hot drinks regardless of the season.

 In my backpack I have my study materials and a book that I was going to read, but I don't know how long I will have for a break, so I am not very enthusiastic about either of them. If I was called to a photo shoot right after I started, I wouldn't be able to concentrate.

 As I rummaged around in my backpack, I remembered that I had brought a letter that had arrived in my mailbox this morning, just as it was. I made sure the letter was addressed properly to me, though, because it would be very difficult if I brought a letter for someone else.

 Looking at the back of the character envelope, I saw Nao's name written on it. Normally, she would send a letter for both Nao and Fumika under their joint names, but today, there was only Nao's name on the envelope, but not Fumika's. 

 I was worried that something might have happened to them. I was worried that something had happened, so I cut the end of the envelope with a pair of scissors and took out the letter inside.

 I unfolded a piece of letterhead with the same character as the envelope, and Yoko, who was standing next to me, asked, “Is it from Nao and Fumika-chan?”

 I answered, “It's a letter from Nao”. I opened the letter from the side of the room, listening to Tatsuya-san asking Yoko-san, “Who's Nao?”

 I unfolded the letterhead and began to read the letter.

 As I recall, the previous letter was written a little after I entered the school, and it said that Nao was in the volleyball club and Fumika had joined the literature club. As a graduate of that school in a previous life, it is a school where everyone is basically quiet and peaceful in their student life. However, there are some students who have a bad temperament, as Nao in her previous life was involved with them and got pregnant and had to leave the school.

 I remember once a group of students from another school rode into school on several mopeds and rode around the school. I remember that I was scared, but more than anything, I was surprised. There was also a fire that burned the gymnasium, probably caused by a cigarette and lighter hidden in the back of the gymnasium. I have several memories of that kind of trouble.

 As I read the contents of the letter, I found that Fumika, not Nao, was in close contact with a delinquent male student and I was worried about her.

“...... Eh, Fumika, not Nao?"

 These words spilled out of my mouth unintentionally. Ever since I became friends with the two of them in this life, I had been haunted by what happened to Nao in the previous life. So I had been careful not to let the sad ending happen again, but I never thought that Fumika would get involved with a delinquent.

 I wonder if it's because she looks so quiet. After being friends with them for a long time, I can tell that they have a strong core and are not just meek, but they are also surprisingly stubborn.

 When you write that you are worried about Fumika, it seems that Nao, unlike in her previous life, has become a sports girl who devotes her youth to ballet, so I guess I can rest easy there. I don't think Fumika is the kind of girl who would carelessly date a delinquent, but I hear that when you fall in love with someone, you lose sight of all the other things that go along with it.

 Even though the first meeting was by chance, if I wasn't interested in that person, I wouldn't have stood around talking to him repeatedly. However, the letter from Nao says that she sometimes sees them talking in the courtyard after school or during lunch break. This means that even if they are stopped by the other person, the fact that they do not walk away and stay to talk with the other person suggests that they accept the fact that it is okay if they are just acquaintances.

 As I raised my eyebrows and wondered what I should do, Yoko and Tatsuya curiously asked me what was wrong. It's too early to assume it's love, but it's certainly not my forte. Since they were asking me, I decided to talk to them about the situation lightly.

“I'm sure you'll be able to find a way to get her to not date him. In adolescence, it's easy to be attracted to boys who are a little bit bad, but she seems serious. Don’t worry about it too much"

“But it's not uncommon to hear that the more serious an honor student is, the more likely he or she is to fall for a delinquent," he said. “Even in our office, junior members form groups with a delinquent theme.”

 Yoko said this while patting my head, to which Tatsuya offered a pet theory, not to say a rebuttal. I had never heard of such a delinquent-like group in the office.

  "What about ...... Sumire-chan?　Is Sumire also attracted to guys who seem a little badass like that?"

 When Tatsuya suddenly asked me such a question, I involuntarily shook my head with a buzz. I have absolutely no plans to do so at the moment, but if I were to get into a romantic relationship with someone, I would not want to choose someone who might cause such trouble.

 “Well, if I were going to be in a relationship with someone, I would focus more on the inside rather than the outside. I would probably like someone who is well groomed enough to not be unsightly, and someone who I can be with for many years, respecting each other and not cheating on me as we get older.......”

“......So it's not so much what's on the outside but what's on the inside...typical Sumire." Tatsuya grinned.

 “It would be ideal, but such a person would be very hard to find. I'll pray at shrines and temples all over the place so that the perfect person will appear in front of Sumire.” Yoko-san said

 I was only speaking off the top of my head because I was asked, but somehow it seemed to have been taken more seriously by both of them than I thought. I mean, are men like I said so rare that they have to ask God for help? As a former male, I cringe a little uncomfortably at the impression that women have of men.

 That aside. In the end, it is Fumika's will that counts, but I will send her a letter of caution as well. I will also ask Nao to pay attention to Fumika's behavior to the extent that it is reasonable, just in case. If she gets too close to Fumika and ends up getting involved with a delinquent, as I initially feared, it will be the end of the story, so I need to remind her to be casual about it.

 I think I am being pulled too much by the events of my previous life, but I want Nao and Fumika to live a peaceful and happy life if possible. If I do nothing and things go in the wrong direction, I am sure I will regret it for the rest of my life.

 I would do what I could, little by little, even if I could only make a small impact, even if it was self-satisfying. With this determination, I took a loose-leaf paper out of my backpack and began to write a draft of a letter.