...

"Akina-chan, wait a moment, I wonder if we can meet you today~"

"Eh?"

"Treat you to a midnight snack!"

On impulse, Nagayama Naoki agreed to treat Akina to a supper on the phone, and he immediately drove to the taro-roasting stall in Chiyoda.

Fortunately, I was as lucky as usual today. I found the stall with the red lantern hanging on the street corner not far from last time:

"Uncle, give me two roasted sweet potatoes!"

When the taro-burning uncle saw the generous patrons yesterday, he thought he was going to reserve the place again. Unexpectedly, he only bought two today:

"Only two this time?"

"Haha, uncle, everyone in the company is off work~ This is my late night snack~"

"I see~" Although the restaurant was not reserved, the uncle who cooked the taro was not disappointed. He carefully selected two sweet potatoes wrapped in tinfoil, "Eat them while they are hot~"

"Hi! I'll try my best!"

After finishing speaking, he walked back to the car with two roasted sweet potatoes and wrapped them twice in cotton towels to keep them warm.

In the whooshing cold wind, a black car was speeding on the road in Tokyo at night. If it weren't for the fact that there were no traces of paint or modification on the body, this situation could easily be regarded as some kind of drag racing.

Thanks to Naoki Nagayama's efforts, it took less than twenty minutes to reach the apartment in Nakano Ward, and it took less than half an hour including the time to buy baked sweet potatoes.

I still made a call at a nearby phone booth.

"Akari-chan, I brought the midnight snack!"

"Hangdou? You're not joking, right~"

After a while, Akina Nakamori, wearing regular clothes, walked out of the apartment door. After seeing the Toyota Century parked on the roadside, she opened the door and got in.

"Naoki-san, we're really here!" Akina Nakamori looked at Naoki Nagayama in the driver's seat, surprised and happy.

Looking at Akina sitting in the passenger seat, Nagayama Naoki opened the cotton towel and took out the roasted sweet potato.

"Of course, I said I wanted to treat Akina to a late-night snack. This roasted sweet potato is very delicious!"

Because it was wrapped in cotton towel and tinfoil, the roasted sweet potato was still a little hot at this time. After Ming Cai took it, he carefully peeled off the tinfoil, and the rich aroma came out. Then he peeled off the slightly raised sweet potato skin, and the inside was like

A ball of solidified beeswax exudes sweet white heat.

When you take a bite, it's really as sweet as honey.

Akina's eyes curved up like crescent moons: "So sweet~"

"Really~ This is the most delicious roasted sweet potato I've eaten this year!" Nagayama Naoki also took a bite of the portion in his hand and sighed with satisfaction, "Ah... I've eaten it several times.

You won’t get tired of it~”

The two of them have obviously grown up and become independent from home, but now they are like two children stealing snacks, sharing delicious food where the supervising adults cannot see.

"Where was Naoki-san found?"

"On a certain street in Chiyoda..." Nagayama Naoki noticed Akina's thoughts, "Does Akina want to buy it by herself? But the uncle who cooks taro does not have a fixed location every day, and he was lucky enough to find it today.

Woolen cloth."

Akina wrinkled her nose: "Hey... why does Naoki-san sound like some urban ghost story~ Hahaha, the taro man who sells happy sweet potatoes~"

Saying that, he took another bite of the sweet potato... Hmm... The sweetness indeed tastes like happiness...

While eating roasted sweet potatoes, the two chatted:

"Akina-chan, has the turmoil in the team been resolved?"

"No... Tomioka Nobuo-san has decided to resign..." Akina's tone was a bit low. This person has single-handedly produced his own debut song.

"Nobuo-san?" This guy who always seems to be very hostile to me is about to leave, "It must have been carefully considered."

"I thought I made Nobuo-san unhappy when I was making the record~"

Akina is a little sad. She had different opinions from Tomioka Nobuo several times before when making records...

With Akina Nakamori's obvious upward trend, choosing to leave is not a decision that ordinary producers can make casually, at least not because of an incident that is not even a conflict at work.

"Nobuo-san must be doing it for reasons such as career development, or there may be differences with Warner Pioneer's upper-level decision-making." Nagayama Naoki comforted Akina, "In short, it can't be Akina's fault!"

"..." Looking at the lost girl who silently bit her sweet potato without speaking, Naoki Nagayama regretted raising this topic.

"Mingcai Jiang, has this year's national tour route been determined?"

"Hmm~" Akina's mood changed, "We are going around the Japanese island, so the first city is Shizuoka!"

"That's really incredible~ Akina-chan, the idol artist who started a nationwide tour!" Nagayama Naoki imitated the tone of the famous comedian Ken Shimura in the entertainment industry and said, very exaggerated~

"Hahaha, Naoki-san, don't use this tone!"

A small roasted sweet potato, finished quickly~

.....

I sent sweet potatoes on a whim. Nagayama Naoki didn't plan what to do next. Now that the sweet potatoes are finished, it seems a bit weird to keep chatting in the car at this time~

If you were still chatting with girls so late in your previous life, then you would usually do things that adults understand.

But there was an underage high school student next to me, and besides, they were just good friends...

Usually when you go out with friends, what are you going to do next? Next show? Go have a drink together?

Waiting online, a little anxious...

Nagayama Naoki's thoughts were racing in his head, but he still joked with Akina. He looked at Akina who was cleaning up with paper towels and said with a smile:

"Mingcai-chan, since you've already eaten the tribute, you can't lose the votes of those who are related to you~"

"Huh...there are still conditions?"

"of course!"

On the other side, Nakamori Akina was also worried at this time, what to do... The sweet potatoes were so delicious, I ate them so quickly by accident!

By cleaning up the residue, Akina's little mind was also thinking rapidly:

What’s next?

Say goodbye? You don’t want to do it now... Then continue to eat midnight snacks? Oh, you are so good at eating Mingcai!

What did your adult sister say before? At this time, you want to invite boys to the apartment?

It's so late now....

And it’s a little too fast!

Should I ask him to go upstairs and sit for a while?

All kinds of thoughts began to swirl in his mind, and Akina Nakamori felt a little dull. She looked at Naoki Nagayama in the driver's seat with her peripheral vision, and felt that under the illumination of the lights in the car, this figure's whole body seemed to be illuminated with a soft light.

Just like the male protagonist I saw in the TV series before,

The girl's breathing quickened a little, and the look in Naoki-san's side made her heart beat faster. The heartbeat that she couldn't feel in the past became louder and louder in her ears...

Shy? Afraid? A little excited? Akina's mind was entangled. Amidst the heartbeat in her ears, there were faint calls: "Akina-chan? Akina-chan?"

"Ah! Nani?!"

From the very beginning, Nagayama Naoki noticed that the girl next to him seemed a little absent-minded, and her answers were a little slow. In the end, she even gradually became a little silent.

Naoki Nagayama, who felt a little strange, shouted softly twice, and then the girl reacted. Her delicate cheeks were rosy with health, and her black and white eyes looked at Naoki Nagayama, seeming a little confused...

Is this... sleepy?

That's right, after all, it's almost 11 o'clock... I've been busy all day, and I just ate warm roasted sweet potatoes. It's normal to feel a little sleepy.

After all, she is a girl, so she is too embarrassed to say it when she is sleepy~

Naoki Nagayama talked to himself and helped Akina find the reason, and then said considerately:

"Akina-chan, it's already so late...you have to get up early to work tomorrow, right?"

"Uh...yes...yes..." Akina was confused by Nagayama Naoki's sudden words. She thought she had just missed a topic. Just as she was about to say something, she

I heard Nagayama Naoki say: "Then I can't delay Akina-sama's rest, otherwise what will happen if the relevant people don't give me votes?"

"Huh?" Akina became even more confused.

...

In a daze, Akina Nakamori opened the car door and walked towards the door of the apartment building.

"Huh? What happened? Didn't we have a good chat just now? Why did we break up?"

In doubt, Akina Nakamori looked back at the car parked on the side of the road. The handsome man in the driver's seat was fastening his seat belt. When he saw Akina Nakamori looking over, he quickly waved to say goodbye, and Akina also waved subconsciously.

Naoki Nagayama, who was in the car, saw Akina still standing at the door and looking this way, and didn't pay much attention to it. The culture of separation in Japan is like this. He will only turn back after watching others leave.

So he started the car and slowly drove off the road.

The high school girl downstairs in the apartment lowered her hand as she looked at the disappearing car shadow, but felt empty in her heart...
To be continued...