Chapter 186: Haha, Noah doesn’t get a single one.

Hikari was trying to fix the impression she had made on Stella.

"I’m not saying it was strange."

"Hikari."

"Just that the contrast was..."

"Hikari."

"...pretty big."

Stella replied.

"I understand."

Noah brought a hand to his face.

’Make her stop.’

But Hikari continued.

"And even though you play a lot of male characters, personally I think that..."

She stopped and Stella raised one eyebrow slightly.

"Yes?"

Hikari hesitated and Noah whispered.

"Say that you like her work."

Hikari nodded almost imperceptibly.

"I think your work is excellent."

"Thank you."

"And that you’re one of the best male actors..."

Noah felt something break inside him.

Stella stayed silent, Hikari did too, and Noah closed his eyes.

’Woman, she’s a woman.’

Stella’s expression changed for good.

It wasn’t anything dramatic, she didn’t get angry, she didn’t raise her voice, but the professional kindness clearly grew colder.

"You meant woman, right?"

She corrected, and Hikari’s eyes widened.

"Of course."

There was a short silence.

"I’m a woman, you know?"

"I know."

Hikari answered immediately.

"Of course I know."

Stella looked at her and Hikari started to get nervous.

"I only used male actor because you play a lot of male roles."

Noah clenched his teeth.

’Don’t explain.’

"It doesn’t mean I think you’re a man."

’Hikari.’

"In fact, you’re clearly a woman."

’Hikari, no more.’

"It’s just that you play men in a very convincing way."

Stella looked at her in silence and Noah spoke quickly.

"Stop."

Hikari closed her mouth, but it was too late.

One of the assistants glanced discreetly toward them, since they had spent quite a bit more time than expected.

Stella recovered a professional smile.

"I’m glad you liked the movie."

Her voice was polite, but nothing more, and Hikari finally noticed it.

"Yes."

"Thank you for coming."

"...thank you."

Stella gave a small nod of her head while Hikari held her signed edition and for a moment seemed to want to say something else, but Noah intervened.

"Withdraw."

Hikari didn’t answer.

"Get out of there."

She obeyed and moved away from the area while the next fan took her place.

Noah lowered the binoculars and remained completely still.

’What the hell just happened?’

It had started perfectly.

Stella had smiled, talked with Hikari, even seemed interested that she had a limited edition, and then everything had collapsed.

Hikari reached him several minutes later.

Noah looked at her, but she avoided his gaze.

"Hi."

"Hi."

Noah looked at the signed edition.

"You got the autograph."

"Yes."

"And the photo."

"That too."

"That’s something."

Hikari looked at him slowly.

"It didn’t go well."

"No."

"I made it worse."

"Yes."

Hikari lowered her head and Noah immediately regretted it.

"I didn’t mean it like that."

"But it’s true."

"Well..."

Hikari pressed the edition against her chest.

"At the beginning it was working."

"That’s right."

"She seemed kind."

"She was."

"Then I mentioned Haruto."

Noah nodded.

"That’s when it changed a little."

Hikari frowned.

"Why?"

Noah stayed silent, because that was exactly what he didn’t understand.

"Maybe she doesn’t like talking too much about that role."

"But it’s one of her most popular movies."

"I know."

"And during interviews she said she enjoyed playing him."

"I know that too."

Hikari thought.

"Then maybe it was the way I talked."

"Could be."

"I was too specific."

"A little."

"And then I called her a man."

"That definitely didn’t help."

Hikari closed her eyes.

"It was a mistake."

"Yes."

"I meant the acting work."

"I know."

"But I used the wrong term."

"Yes."

Hikari opened her eyes.

"Can you stop saying yes."

"Sorry."

Both stayed silent, so Hikari looked again toward the event area and from there she could still see Stella attending to other fans.

She was smiling again, seemed more relaxed, and Noah noticed it just like Hikari.

"It was with me."

Noah looked at her.

"We don’t know that."

"Her attitude changed back."

Noah couldn’t deny it and Hikari lowered her gaze.

"I failed."

"No."

"The goal was to make a good first impression."

"Well..."

"I didn’t make one."

"We don’t know what she thinks."

"She turned cold."

"A little."

"A lot."

"A little quite a bit."

Hikari looked at him and Noah sighed.

"All right, it wasn’t the result we expected."

"Then I failed."

"It was only the first try."

"Noah."

"What?"

"You told me you trusted me."

Noah stayed quiet and Hikari continued.

"And I ruined it."

"You didn’t ruin anything."

"How do you know?"

"Well... I don’t."

Noah answered honestly.

"But we also don’t know that it’s irreparable."

Hikari seemed to think about that and Noah put away the binoculars.

"Besides, we still have time."

"For what?"

"To figure out what went wrong."

Hikari frowned.

"Isn’t it obvious?"

"What?"

"I treated her too much like her character."

Noah stopped and Hikari continued.

"I talked about her masculine posture, her way of speaking, her gestures, and then I made the mistake of calling her a man."

Noah processed her words.

"Yes..."

"She probably thought I didn’t differentiate between Stella and Haruto."

Noah looked toward the event area where Stella was talking with another fan and smiling calmly.

’Was that all?’

It was possible, but something still bothered him, because the reaction had started before Hikari called her a man.

It had happened when she started insisting on how convincing Stella seemed as a man.

Noah frowned.

’Why would that bother her so much?’

He remembered the anime.

Stella played a lot of male roles, so it was something fairly well known and even a good part of her popularity came from that.

Her characters were usually elegant, confident, protective, and romantic.

In the original series, precisely those characteristics had been part of her relationship with Hikari.

’Then she should be used to it.’

Noah looked at Hikari, who was still staring at her autograph with a disappointed expression.

The plan he had considered almost perfect had failed during the first conversation, but not in a catastrophic way.

Hikari hadn’t been thrown out and Stella hadn’t gotten openly angry, but they also hadn’t gotten the start they expected.

Noah looked back toward Stella.

’What did we do wrong?’

For the first time since that plan began, Noah felt that maybe he had ignored something important.

Something he knew related to Stella, but he couldn’t manage to remember what it was.

Hikari spoke.

"What do we do now?"

Noah kept looking at Stella.

"I don’t know."

Hikari watched him.

That seemed to worry her more than any other answer because Noah always had some idea, good or bad, but some idea, and this time he didn’t.

Noah put his hands in his pockets, since the first step had already gone wrong.

Noah frowned.

’What was it that went wrong?’