"Mr. Kiyoki has arrived too. Should we maybe cover for the teammate who hasn't shown up yet?" Kumano Nobuyuki asked the group.
"What a troublesome guy... Fine, let's help him just this once. After all, if we're missing one male participant, then one of us girls won't be able to go on either."
After thinking for a moment, Washimi Sayuki nodded in agreement.
Though she and the others didn't particularly like that teammate who clearly didn't understand "professional etiquette," they decided to do it for their own sake.
After all, being able to participate in Now in Love was a rare opportunity for them.
To Washimi Sayuki and the others, the missing teammate was either a pompous idiot who thought too highly of himself—or a clueless newbie.
None of them ever imagined the person could be someone famous.
Among the seven people present, while they all came from various entertainment backgrounds and were good-looking, only Arima Kana had any real popularity.
Now in Love was a romance reality show that relied entirely on the good looks and youth of its cast.
It was meant to promote up-and-coming rookies—there was no way the production would bring in a big-name celebrity just to boost hype.
Not to mention, the show didn't have the budget for that, and frankly, none of them were worth such an expense.
"I don't think you'll need to bother," Kana suddenly said. "Because he's already here. He might not have arrived early like us, but technically speaking, he's not late either."
"Following 'workplace etiquette' is fine," Kana added, "but that kind of rule doesn't apply to everyone."
Sayuki and the others, who had been about to walk over to Kiyoki Katsuya to cover for the latecomer Seiya, froze when Kana raised her hand to stop them.
Because she had just seen someone over there greet Kiyoki—and was now walking toward them.
As that figure drew closer, Sayuki and the others finally saw who it was. Their eyes widened in disbelief.
"I'm terribly sorry. I really did plan to arrive earlier, but Yuko stayed up late rushing a manuscript last night. She insisted on taking a cab herself, but there weren't any available nearby."
He gave a polite smile. "My name is Wenren Seiya. First-year in high school, occupation: actor. I'll be joining this season of Now in Love. Please take care of me."
When they heard Seiya introduce himself, everyone—including Sayuki—finally snapped out of their stunned state.
Even so, the idea that the Wenren Seiya was going to appear on the same romance reality show as them felt utterly unbelievable.
It wasn't hard to see why—the gap between them was astronomical.
To put it bluntly, they might each have a handful of fans, but Seiya was on a different level entirely.
This was Wenren Seiya! The breakout star of Martial Rhapsody, the young generation's leading action actor! His popularity and fanbase were enormous—to the point that even Sayuki and the others were his fans!
"Wenren Seiya?! Someone like him is appearing on the same romance show as us? Am I dreaming?!"
"Wenren-kun! Wenren-kun! Could we take a selfie together?"
Leaving aside Arima Kana and Kurokawa Akane, Sayuki and MEMChu were practically glowing with excitement. They instantly turned into fangirls, fighting over who got to take a photo first.
Meanwhile, the other two male participants—Kumano Nobuyuki and Morimoto Kengo—felt both happy and pressured at the same time.
After all, Now in Love was a romance reality show centered around "love." Male and female participants could freely pursue the one they liked, while the production team recorded the entire process.
Among the younger crowd, that kind of culture was known as "shipping."
Though it was technically unscripted, at the end of the day it was still a TV show designed to make money. The couples who generated more buzz naturally got more screen time.
With Seiya on board, the show's popularity was guaranteed to explode—
but that only made the other male contestants feel crushed. Competing for attention against a top-tier celebrity? They didn't stand a chance.
As for Aqua, he didn't care much—he hadn't joined for fame anyway.
Because it was an unscripted show and everyone was about the same age, the awkwardness quickly faded. Before long, Sayuki and the others were chatting with Seiya as if they'd known him for years.
Since Seiya was the most popular among the eight, and everyone was curious about him, the first and second episodes naturally revolved almost entirely around him.
Sayuki and MEMChu weren't stupid—Seiya's star power was undeniable. If either of them managed to form an on-screen "couple" with him, their own popularity would skyrocket.
Even if that didn't happen, just having more interactions with him would guarantee more camera time.
Kurokawa Akane, on the other hand, was clearly inexperienced in reality shows and found it hard to relax in front of the camera.
As for Arima Kana—she looked mortified every time she saw Seiya's face.
After all, last night's phone call had left her imagination running wild.
For nearly half an hour after Seiya hung up, she lay in bed fantasizing—
She had even gone as far as deciding what their future child's name would be.
But then Seiya called back—only to clarify that there'd been a misunderstanding. When he said "girlfriend," he'd been referring to his "on-show girlfriend" in Now in Love.
Mortified beyond words, Kana had nearly hung up on him.
But when she remembered how much he'd done for her—how he'd risked his own image to help her regain public favor by stirring up dating rumors—she felt she had no right to be angry.
It was her misunderstanding, after all.
Still, understanding it logically didn't make it less awkward emotionally.
Now, seeing Seiya in person again, Kana couldn't help but recall all those fantasies from the night before—and found herself unable to even look him in the eye.
Because of that, most of today's footage revolved around Seiya's interactions with Sayuki and MEMChu instead.
"Seiya-kun, by the way—what made you decide to join Now in Love?"
"Yeah, yeah! Don't tell me you're finally at that age where you want to fall in love? I remember an interview where you said you'd never been in a relationship before! You were such a pure-hearted guy!"
Hearing them bring up such personal questions, even the cameraman instinctively turned to look at Kiyoki Katsuya behind him—as if silently asking whether he should cut this part out.
After all, most actors preferred to keep their private lives off-camera.
(End of Chapter)