A bubbly hyper-energized Kawashima Umika was hopping into her bedroom where she was hosting a New Year sleepover with best friend--actress, Shida Mirai. One would wonder why the young singer-actress was so excited about a sleepover with her best friend, but Kawashima Umika had been waiting patiently for an occasion to give her best friend the third-degree about a certain Christmas Eve date with a particular Hey! Say! JUMP Idol.

Just as she was about to skip onto the warm bed which she was sharing with her best friend, the mentioned best friend offered her a stern look and patted the edge of the bed, instructing her to sit beside her instead of stepping into the bed.

“You should clean your feet before stepping into the bed,” a serious looking Shida Mirai lectured her best friend, earning her a giggle for the former idol group 9nine member.

“I think Mirai will make a good wife someday because you are always taking care of people. Whoever catches your eyes is a very lucky man!” the Meiji University graduate teased with a laugh, making the young actress blushed as she took out the wet tissue to clean the feet of her best friend.

“I think Umika will be a great wife too, but you prefer to be an independent woman instead,” the widely-acclaimed genius actress, Shida Mirai remarked with a knowing smile.

“No, I prefer Mirai instead,” Umika laughed as she tried to pounce onto her best friend, “you are my most precious best friend who will talk to me about everything under the sun and still with me whenever I have a hard time with school.”

“Ah… sometimes I wish I have chosen to enrol into Meiji University with you,” the sentence was made with glazed eyes and a yearning smile from the child actress, “but the thought of balancing work and school together again scares me. You know how I am afraid of messing things up?”

Patting the head of her best friend lightly, Kawashima Umika knew exactly what her friend was referring to. On the outside, Shida Mirai appeared to be this confident composed and brilliant actress, but deep down, she was only a lost child who was still trying hard to find her way around this crazy world.

It did not require her psychology degree to see through the layers of pretendence the young actress had put up against the world. During many of their girl talks, she was surprised or rather shocked that how shy, easily embarrassed and insecure her friend was, despite the fact that Shida Mirai was probably one of the most accomplished actress of their generation.

As a fellow actress and a Japanese child of her generation, Kawashima Umika grew up watching and knowing who Shida Mirai was before she even got to meet the girl. It was common to overheard adults around her discussing about how exceptionally talented and accomplished the young actress was. So, she had imagined the young actress to be a highly intelligent sharp tongue and confident young lady who was completely out of her league before she met the actress in school.

But the real Shida Mirai was nothing she imagined to be, nor was she anything like her on-screen persona.

Shida Mirai had everything to become the most popular girl in their class, the fame, talent and limelight all shone upon her without her asking for it. And she was acknowledged as the most talked about female among their legendary class of full of idols, actresses and models.

Yet this best friend of hers would always insisted that she was merely a commoner and there was nothing interesting about her. If there was anyone looking at them whenever they went out together, Shida Mirai would thought of it as due to her idol friend instead.

But it was this cluelessness about her fame which made her approachable to everyone and made everyone adore her deeply enough to want to protect her from everything. Despite being the younger of the two, Kawashima Umika had felt the same responsibility to protect her best friend from harm. Simply because her best friend was almost like a clean sheet of paper when it was about being exposed to the other world. 

So, when the rumour about Kamiki Ryunosuke and Shida Mirai came up last December and another again earlier this year in June, she was most upset with their former classmate Kamiki Ryunosuke for dragging their friend through all the unnecessary scrutinisation by the netizens.

Poor Kamiki Ryunosuke found out then exactly how loved he was among their Horikoshi Gakuen classmates when he was horribly teased by the Hey! Say! JUMP boys and Irie Jingi even daring to woo the said last innocent actress of Japan in their chatgroup.

Everyone had something to say about the KamiShi pairing, except the female lead and surprisingly, Hey! Say! JUMP’s Yamada Ryosuke.

While the young idol had lent his support to his best friend, Kamiki Ryunosuke, citing that there was nothing going on between the two childhood friends, Kawashima Umika had noted how defensive his tone of words was as he stated his point.

It was as though… the young idol was jealous over the attention the rumour had gathered over the Internet. She noted again that the Hey! Say! Idol did not hesitate to stress his point again when the story about Kamiki and Sano Hinako broke through last June. The second time was even more noticeable when the same idol did not speak up for his best friend to help to deny the news report.

Putting two and two together, Kawashima Umika smirked to herself when she realised that his feelings for her best friend still remain unchanged till this day.

While she was deeply concerned about the young idol’s identity as the most popular Johnny Talent of their generation, Kawashima Umika had liked how the Hey! Say! JUMP idol would rather contain his feelings and stood