Tokyo: Idol Girls have absolutely no bad intentions!

"Working?" Ito looked around suspiciously; this place really hadn't gone out of business.

"Xiao Nai, are you working here?"

"The peach flavor is still the best." Yoshida smacked her lips. "Yes, even though the environment here is relatively... um... a bit 'retro'."

As she spoke, she sat down in a chair with a backrest, "But the salary is still very generous."

"you sure?"

“Of course—!” Yoshida Nai’s affirmative voice hadn’t even faded yet.

"Snap! Crash—!"

Yoshida Nai's originally calm face turned panicked as the backrest collapsed and her body leaned backward.

"Whoa—!"

"Be careful." A voice came from the shadows behind Yoshida Nai.

Yoshida Nai was helped up, her face still showing the shock of surviving a disaster.

"Thank you, store manager."

Store manager?

"It's okay, we'll deduct it from your salary."

The man called the shop manager emerged from the shadows. He had dark circles under his eyes and messy, unkempt hair. When he saw Ito and the other man, he raised his eyebrows.

"Is it you?"

"It's that slovenly shop manager," Asada whispered to Ito.

Ito nodded; he recognized the other person as the manager of the music store from last time.

It seems that the other party has more than one store, and each of them has perfectly inherited the "near bankruptcy" gene.

"What are you doing here?" The disheveled shop manager squinted, his tone anything but friendly.

"And..." He suddenly stood up and stepped forward, exuding a dangerous aura, "You were the one who snitched to that Chizuru guy, weren't you!"

Chizuru? It should refer to Chizuru Saionji, the president of the light music club. This did happen, but it was the other party who brought it up, and he was just telling the truth.

"What are you saying?" Ito looked completely bewildered. "I don't understand what you're saying."

The disheveled shopkeeper kept his eyes fixed on Ito for a while before looking away.

"That would be best."

"You know each other?" Yoshida Nai asked, holding the broken backrest in her hand as she looked at them.

Naturally, given the personalities of everyone present, no one paid her any attention.

"I go first."

After saying that, the disheveled shop manager walked towards the door.

"Wait a minute." Itoh called out to the other person; he still needed to find the cartoonist who had formed the band.

"What is it?" he asked impatiently.

Seeing this, Ito didn't waste any time and directly revealed the purpose of her visit, "Excuse me, is the teacher of 'Want to Become a Magical Girl' here?"

The moment Ito read out that incredibly embarrassing pen name in its entirety, he felt his cheeks burning.

"What do you want from me?" The disheveled shop manager frowned.

"what?"

"what?"

"Manager, what's wrong?"

Three exclamations rang out almost simultaneously!

Upon hearing the other party's admission, everyone exclaimed in surprise, with Yoshida Nai's eyes widening in astonishment.

"What's wrong?" The store manager seemed quite dissatisfied with their reaction, irritably scratching his messy hair. "Is this so hard to understand?"

No... this actually fits Ito's stereotypes about certain male manga artists even more.

Male comic artists are generally slovenly in their personal lives, or at least appear slovenly. The anime "Uncle from Another World" successfully demonstrates this objective rule.

“No, it’s not hard to understand.” Ito nudged Asada, who was still in shock.

To draw a manga about K-On!'s struggles, one must first have relevant knowledge.

From the current perspective, the live house and music store opened by the other party clearly meet this condition perfectly.

Leaving aside operational details for now, let's just say they have it or not.

"So if you need anything from me, if it's an autograph, you'll have to wait for the signing event to make arrangements."

It's rather formal.

"I'm here on behalf of Naoto Shinno to inquire about the condition of those musical instruments."

The reason he hadn't thought of this at first was precisely this: since the other party had opened a musical instrument shop, asking Xinye to borrow an instrument was completely unnecessary.

"That's all," the store manager replied curtly, his voice flat and emotionless.

An eerie silence fell over the performance hall, and Asada, who had just recovered, was once again lost in confusion.

"Manager, what did you say?" Yoshida Nai wondered if she had misheard.

She had heard a little about Shinno, who was in the same grade as her; his family seemed to be in the entertainment industry and quite wealthy.

"That's all, literally." The store manager repeated, his tone completely flat, as if he were saying, "The weather's nice today."

Oh no, my salary is gone.

The first thought that popped into Yoshida Nai's mind was that Ito had been right; her salary was going to be gone.

Since the instruments are from Xinye, they must be quite valuable, so the only hope is that there aren't many of them.

"How many...how many, Ito?" Yoshida Nai clung to her last shred of hope.

"Let me see." Ito picked up his phone and looked at the list that Shinno had drawn up. "All in all, there are about 8 guitars, 6 basses, 2 drum kits, and 4 keyboards, making a total of about 20."

Fearing that Yoshida Nai might not know the total value of these instruments, Ito thoughtfully added, "It's about 2000 million yen."

"It's all over..." Yoshida Nai seemed to be turning to ashes, her soul about to leave her mouth, turning into a black and white coating along with the backrest she was holding.

He unconsciously repeated, "2000 million... 2000 million..."

"Cheer up, Yoshida, the world isn't over yet!" The slovenly shopkeeper surprisingly spoke with fervor.

"So, store manager, if you get arrested, will I, as a temporary worker, bear any responsibility?" She was already considering the consequences.

It seems they've already decided that the slovenly shop manager absolutely cannot afford to pay this huge sum of money. After all, no matter how much they try to fool themselves, the fact remains that the shop has no income.

"I can give you my previous wages, please don't arrest me." Yoshida Nai took out her empty wallet.

Upon opening the wallet, I found only a few coins and a solitary 5000 yen bill.

She gritted her teeth, zipped up the zipper, and handed it to Ito along with her wallet, saying, "This is all my possessions."

"This..." Asada was at a loss for what to do. She was about to push the wallet back when Ito was obviously faster.

“I can plead with Shinno on your behalf.” Ito casually put Yoshida’s dark red wallet into his pocket, his expression unreadable.

"Thank you! Thank you so much!" Yoshida Nai clasped her hands together and bowed deeply to Ito in gratitude.

Chapter 121 Launching the Battle to Protect Musical Instruments

Although he didn't manage to retrieve the valuable musical instruments, the trip to Shimokitazawa wasn't entirely fruitless for Ito.

At least we have enough for food and transportation for the next few days.

"Ito!" Asada suddenly appeared in front of Ito and reached into his pocket.

Ito was naturally unwilling to give up the money; why should he give away money he earned through his own abilities?

Ito instinctively leaned back, but his lower back slammed against the corner of the low table with a "thud".

Just then, Asada leaned over him, her hair brushing against his chin, her fingers groping in the side pocket of his coat.

"No!" Ito panicked when he saw Asada about to take the wallet away.

But at that moment, Asada's knees were cleverly positioned between his legs, and the hem of her skirt swept over his ankles, preventing him from getting up.

"Found it!" Asada suddenly exclaimed, taking the dark red wallet out of his pocket.

As Ito reached out to grab it, their wrists collided, and Asada lost her grip on the wallet, which spun backward and was about to hit the ground.

Seeing this, Ito suddenly stood up, trying to grab the wallet, but by sheer coincidence, he had a close encounter with Asada, their noses bumping right into each other's foreheads.

"Well!"

"what!"

Two cries of pain rang out almost simultaneously!

Ito's hand landed on the folds of her skirt at the lower back, while Asada covered her nose, which had turned red from being bumped.

What should have been a thrilling battle to protect the economy turned into an unusually ambiguous situation due to the unexpected performances of the two.

Coupled with the pitch-black environment and the faint yellow light shining on them.

"Pfft... Hahahaha!" Yoshida Nai, who had been lying there like a corpse, could no longer hold back.

She reached out and caught the wallet that flew at her, pointed at the two people doing performance art, and couldn't hide her laughter.

Asada's face flushed instantly, but she suddenly realized that her knee was still pressed between Ito's legs, and that she was in such a position...

"You..." Asada stood up and saw that Yoshida Nai no longer looked worried at all, and immediately realized that she had been tricked.

Asada glared at Yoshida Na with a look of shame and indignation, and then swung a "fist of justice" at Yoshida Na's hateful smiling face!

"Snapped."

The fist, which he thought was unstoppable, was only halfway through its swing when Yoshida Nai lightly pressed it down with her palm.

He then pulled her back, causing Asada to stumble and fall into his arms.

"Asada, you're so cute!" Yoshida Na's voice was filled with undisguised laughter as she teased Asada's chin with her finger and tightened her grip on Asada's waist.