My daily life with the original diva

Chapter 169 Stunned

"Top male idol's first concert at Jingu Stadium?"

"35,000 people are expected for the first concert?"

Upon learning that Hiroshi Kimura's first concert would be held at Jingu Stadium, the media was naturally eager to capitalize on the opportunity. After major media outlets with close ties to Kimura reaped the initial media attention, many other media outlets immediately flocked to the event, making the concert their headline story.

However, this time they dared not directly mock Hiroshi Kimura, mainly because they had been slapped in the face too many times before. Although the media is the least likely to forget a mistake, after so many times, they had learned their lesson and dared not directly confront Hiroshi Kimura.

More importantly, Ken-On conducted a survey before holding the concert, and the fact that they dared to hold such a large-scale concert after receiving feedback shows they must have some confidence. However, it's impossible to expect them to say anything nice; sarcastic remarks are inevitable.

This event not only caused a sensation in the media, but also caused a great stir in the entertainment industry. No idol has ever held a concert for 35,000 people before. Being able to hold a concert at the Tokyo Budokan is a great honor, as it can accommodate 15,000 audience members.

Soon, the concert date was confirmed for July 12th, and ticket sales would begin next week. In order to achieve the best promotional effect, Hiroshi Kimura had to increase his television program promotion.

However, he doesn't need to go on TV shows separately because his new single "Eat You Up" is still selling well, with sales exceeding 50,000 copies this week. It remains in third place on the sales charts, which means he can appear on the top ten and best ten TV chart shows with extremely high viewership based on his record sales. Mentioning his concert on the show is nothing special.

He first went to The Top Ten, where the hosts, Masaaki Kai and Ikue Kanbara, happily promoted him, exaggeratingly saying that he was the first idol singer to hold a concert for so many people, which was truly amazing.

Two days later, he went to The Best Ten again. This time, when he arrived backstage, he unexpectedly ran into several acquaintances. He saw Kyoko Koizumi chatting and laughing with a few young men, as well as Masahiko Kondo and a woman on the other side. Kimura recognized her; she was Hiroko Yakushimaru, who had acted in a movie with Masahiko Kondo.

Although Masahiko Kondo's career has been in a slump since the beginning of the year, he is still struggling. He filmed the famous movie "Love Travel" with Hiroko Yakushimaru. In order to maintain the popularity, the movie theme song sung by Hiroko Yakushimaru was released ahead of schedule.

Thanks to her popularity, the album sold well and made it into the top ten of the best ten charts. This gave Masahiko Kondo the opportunity to sing the theme song with Hiroko Yakushimaru, since the two of them were the male and female leads!

After exchanging a glance, Kondo Masahiko turned his head away. This guy had always been a bully who preyed on the weak. He used to dare to say harsh words to Kimura Hiroshi, but now that their statuses were too different, he no longer had the guts.

Kimura Hiroshi is too lazy to deal with this guy now. He'll wait until everyone's movies are released in August, then crush him at the box office, making it impossible for him to succeed in the film industry. Then he'll give him a final blow, first giving him a glimmer of hope, then plunging him into despair, making it impossible for him to succeed in either singing or acting, and letting him experience the feeling of despair.

"Kyoko-san, I didn't expect to see you again?" Kimura Hiroshi greeted Koizumi Kyoko with a smile, while observing the people around her. He recognized them; they were the Checkers band. The person sitting closest to Koizumi Kyoko was the short, handsome guy with a strange tuft of hair on his forehead, Fujii Ikuya.

Judging from how close these two are sitting, and how far they are from everyone else, you can tell that their relationship is quite special. Even if they are not lovers yet, they are probably at the stage where they have feelings for each other.

Seeing Hiroshi Kimura, Kyoko Koizumi was also very happy and greeted him with a smile, "Kimura-san, it's nice to see you again. Another album that has sold over a million copies, you are really amazing."

"Haha, Kyoko is not bad either. Several of her albums have sold over 300,000 copies in a row. She's definitely a top female idol." Kimura Hiroshi praised her generously.

The top female idols are undoubtedly Akina Nakamori and Seiko Matsuda, followed by Kyoko Koizumi, who was very popular this year. Many others have good sales, but they can hardly be considered top-tier.

Feeling a little embarrassed by the praise, Kyoko Koizumi quickly replied, "No, no, Akina-san is the real top star."

Without continuing the mutual flattery, Kimura Hiroshi looked at the people around her and said, "These must be the members of the Checkers band. It's nice to meet you all."

Unexpectedly, Hiroshi Kimura took the initiative to greet them. The young people, who had just become popular this year, were all a little surprised and stood up to greet him.

They debuted in the same year, but Hiroshi Kimura became famous immediately after his debut, unlike them who spent more than half a year gaining acceptance from the audience before becoming popular.

"Please don't be so polite, everyone. I really admire you all. It's truly inspiring to see friends forming a band and making it in the music industry together. Unfortunately, I don't have that many friends," Kimura Hiroshi said sincerely.

These people are almost the epitome of grassroots musicians. They started from scratch to form a band, then ventured into the entertainment industry, became famous, and eventually worked together for almost ten years. Even when their popularity declined, they continued to fight together until finally, when they had no choice but to disband due to the complete loss of popularity. By then, it was already the 1990s.

"Ah, Kimura-san is amazing on his own. He wrote so many great songs. He's someone we admire. I heard you're going to hold a concert for over 30,000 people soon. That's incredible. We don't know when we'll have that kind of opportunity." As the band's leader, Fujii Fumiya replied with great emotional intelligence.

It's back to the pattern of mutual praise. These people are all from the hottest idol singers or bands this year. It's just that Nakamori Akina and Matsuda Seiko are missing. Otherwise, they could form a popular idol praise group and have everyone give each other compliments. It would probably be very interesting.

Sitting on the other side, Masahiko Kondo watched them chatting and laughing, his eyes filled with jealousy and resentment. At this time last year, he was still a top male idol, with people everywhere fawning over him and everyone chatting and laughing with him. But now, he was sitting here, and no one was willing to say more than a few words to him, except for that stupid woman, Iyo Matsumoto.

"That must be Kimura Hiroshi, right?" Hiroko Yakushimaru, who was sitting next to him, suddenly asked.

"Yes, it's that guy, but he's not a good person. Hiroko-san, you'd better stay away from him." Kondo Masahiko said almost through gritted teeth.

However, Hiroko Yakushimaru didn't seem to listen at all. She suddenly stood up and said, "A very talented singer. I'd like to go and meet him. Mr. Kondo, please wait here for me."

Kondo Masahiko, sitting in the chair, was stunned. He never expected Yakushimaru Hiroko to do this. Did this woman not listen to what he said, or did she just ignore him?

Sitting there all alone, Kondo Masahiko watched as Yakushimaru Hiroko walked over to Kimura Hiroshi's side. That was his partner; she had actually gone to find his enemy.

Chapter 170 Movie Promotion and Ticket Sales

Unexpectedly, today at The Best Ten, I not only met the members of the Checkers band, but also Hiroko Yakushimaru, a rising star who excels in both film and music. Since we are all young people, it was naturally fun and harmonious to chat about songs and movies. Hiroki Kimura even extended an invitation to Hiroko Yakushimaru to make a movie together sometime, which she gladly accepted.

Compared to the relaxed and happy atmosphere of their group, Masahiko Kondo sat there all alone, looking lonely and awkward, as if he wasn't a young person and was being ostracized. Not only them, but everyone else also ignored him.

He can only blame himself. Not only did he offend Hiroshi Kimura, but he also offended Kyoko Koizumi backstage at The Best Ten last time. And since Checkers is close to Kyoko Koizumi, it would be strange if he came over to talk to her. He is the unpopular one among this group.

Of course, more importantly, he's no longer popular, his popularity has plummeted. In the entertainment industry, a huge arena of fame and fortune, being no longer popular is the biggest sin. After all, everyone in the entertainment industry is pursuing fame and fortune, who would want to pay attention to a washed-up male idol unless you can climb out of the trough again? But obviously, Kimura Hiroshi wouldn't sit idly by and watch that happen.

Appearing on the stage of The Best Ten was another way to advertise the concert. It's the best thing to advertise on a show with high viewership ratings, as it allows the most people to know the news.

In the days before the internet was widespread, appearing on television was clearly the best form of publicity, especially appearing on high-rated TV programs, which could maximize the reach of the message.

Of course, it wasn't just Hiroshi Kimura who was pushing for promotion; Ken-On also acted quickly, advertising this mega-concert in many entertainment media newspapers and even on television.

The fact that a top male idol is going to hold a concert for more than 35,000 people at Jingu Stadium is a huge gimmick in itself. Coupled with the massive advertising campaign, it immediately sparked a lot of discussion.

The fact that such a large-scale concert was being held attracted not only Kimura Hiroshi's fans and general audiences, but also people who don't usually pay much attention to him. After all, a concert of this scale is extremely rare, and many people wanted to see it and join in the fun.

The Japanese, who are generally indifferent, surprisingly love concerts. There are probably two reasons for this. First, cheering for the singers at a concert is like a group activity, where everyone acts in unison. You know, the Japanese value this kind of group activity.

Another reason is venting. At concerts in Japan, you can see many people who are extremely crazy, shouting desperately with sharp and hoarse voices, and swaying their bodies to the music. Obviously, compared to the concert itself, it is more about venting their energy and relieving the resentment they have suffered in life.

While the concert promotions were in full swing, the movie promotions were not lagging behind either. Toho's promotions also knew how to capitalize on trending topics. During this period when Hiroshi Kimura was incredibly popular in the media and among the public, they released the first promotional video for "Léon: The Professional".

To maximize the promotional effect, Toho aired this one-minute-plus movie trailer on major television stations during prime time, demonstrating Toho's capabilities and the importance they placed on the film.

Toho knows how to grab people's attention with its promotional video that's just over a minute long. After all, the main element of this film is about assassins, and it also stars two top idols, Hiroshi Kimura and Akina Nakamori. So, they included all three elements in the promotional video.

Aside from some flashback scenes in the movie, the most important plot point is the scene where the male and female protagonists work together to assassinate their target. The female protagonist disguises herself as a hotel staff member and goes to the target's room, which she knows in advance, to knock on the door. The male protagonist waits behind her with a pistol.

"Excuse me, is this Mr. Yamamoto Ichiro? This is hotel service. Please open the door; I need to come in and clean your room." Akina Nakamori, who plays the female lead, first plugged the peephole with something, then spoke in a soft voice.

"Yes, coming right away," came the reply from inside. As the target's footsteps approached the door, and it was confirmed that the target had arrived, the male protagonist, played by Hiroshi Kimura, took out a silenced pistol and fired a series of shots at the door. The whole process was quick and concise.

After running out of bullets, they peeked into the room through the gaps created by the bullets. What they saw was a large pool of blood and a corpse lying on the ground. Confirming that their target was dead, the two of them wasted no time and quickly withdrew. The whole process was smooth and efficient, a model of assassins.

After the trailer was released, everyone who saw it was stunned. Although the film was confirmed to be distributed by Toho, many people were not optimistic about it. Although many entertainment media outlets were afraid of Toho, they dared not say anything bad about the film.

However, from the director and script to the actors, this movie doesn't seem like something a filmmaker would make. The public knows in their hearts that even if it's not a bad movie, its quality is probably not good. They think that Toho just took advantage of the popularity of the two male and female idols and wanted to harvest a wave of fans' box office revenue.

Judging from the movie clips we've seen so far, it seems they were all wrong. At least this scene of hunting down a target is definitely of excellent quality. It's concise, fast-paced, and makes your heart race. In the past, when watching assassins, they would either talk a lot of nonsense or do a lot of things that had nothing to do with the target before hunting them down.

Unlike these two, who identified the target, lured them over, opened fire, confirmed the target's death, and then withdrew—simple and direct, vividly portraying the speed and simplicity of violence.

"This is terrifying. Shouldn't an assassin first track and observe the target's lifestyle, then carefully confirm the identity of the target in a secluded place before making a move? That's how it's always portrayed on TV. How can someone shoot someone right through a door after only confirming their name?"

"Haha, that's why I told you to watch less of those TV dramas. My friend in the Metropolitan Police Department said that this is what killers are really like. They don't care where they are. Once they identify a target, they immediately shoot, kill the person, and leave. That's what a real killer is. Do you think that screenwriter actually knows the killer's killing process? Has he ever been a killer?"

The trailer caused a huge sensation as soon as it was released. The smooth teamwork between the male and female assassins in the movie, who killed their target in less than a minute, was so impactful that some people were even afraid to open their hotel room doors because they were worried there was a handgun at the door.

Some media outlets even interviewed Yakuza members, asking if they would do such a thing. One Yakuza member said that they had never actually used such methods before, but now they had learned about them and would definitely use them if given the opportunity in the future.

Furthermore, some hotels complained to the media that such movie clips seriously affected their business. Some guests even had to agree on secret codes for hotel services, such as how to knock on the door to receive genuine hotel service and how not to, leaving the hotels completely confused.

In short, the media is in complete chaos, with all sorts of opinions being expressed, and Dongbao's influence can be seen in many of them. It's clear that many of these are just hype topics they've created.

However, this approach did work. In July, it successfully generated buzz for the film "Léon: The Professional," attracting the attention of many people who were not fans of Hiroshi Kimura and Akina Nakamori. They all expressed their desire to see the film when it was released.

The film's promotion is on track, and tickets for Hiroshi Kimura's concert officially went on sale in early July. A total of 35,000 tickets were available, including 30,000 tickets reserved by the fan club in advance.

Regardless of the previous research or the hype surrounding the concert, the success of this mega-concert ultimately depends on ticket sales, which is being closely watched by both the music industry and the media.

The ticket sales period was supposed to last ten days, but the results exceeded everyone's expectations. It didn't even take ten days; on the seventh day, all 30,000 tickets were completely sold out, and some people even wanted to buy tickets but couldn't.

In other words, Kimura Hiroshi's mega-concert with over 35,000 attendees was really going to take place. However, a strange scene unfolded at this moment. Apart from the major media outlets, other media outlets seemed to have completely lost interest in the news and did not report on it at all. Obviously, they did not want to report on Kimura Hiroshi's victory at this time.

Chapter 171 Starting to fleece Eighth Master

The scorching July weather coincided with the equally popular Hiroshi Kimura's arrival in July. As soon as concert tickets went on sale, Kimura began preparing for the concert with all his might. When he learned that all the tickets had sold out in seven days, he rehearsed even more diligently.

In his previous life, as a singer, Hiroshi Kimura could only hang out in bars. He also had a dream: to one day stand on the stage in the center of a huge stadium and perform amidst the roars of countless fans below.

Now that his dream is within reach, Kimura Hiroshi naturally takes it very seriously. In the days leading up to the ticket sales, he would rehearse for one or two hours at his agency. Two days before the concert, the rehearsal location was moved to Jingu Stadium, and Kimura Hiroshi, unusually, did not slack off. He completed the rehearsals seriously every day, sweating profusely.

From below the stage, watching Kimura Hiroshi so focused and covered in sweat, Tomioka Yukio clicked his tongue in amazement. "It's rare to see Kimura-san so serious. I always thought that all he cared about was money and Akina-san, and that he was indifferent to work. But I've rarely seen him like this. It seems that he takes the concert very seriously!"

"Singers all dream of having a concert, right? Kimura-san probably does too. But Kimura-san looks really cool when he gets serious, especially when he's covered in sweat." Michiko next to her had stars in her eyes.

Seeing her infatuated expression, Yukio Tomioka couldn't help but cough twice and said, "Ms. Michiko, your child is already a teenager. Can you tone it down a bit? Wouldn't it be inappropriate if your husband saw you like this?"

Unexpectedly, Mieko replied, "No problem, Mr. Tomioka. Our whole family are fans of Kimura-san. My husband really likes some of Kimura-san's deep songs. He thinks he understands the hearts of working people. And my son has been practicing the dance that Kimura-san dances in the music video lately."

This answer opened Tomioka's eyes, but he was also completely taken aback. When did Kimura become so charming that he captivated everyone from middle-aged couples to junior high school students?

Since that's the case, Yukio Tomioka didn't bother to say anything more. He had just given a reminder as a good working partner. Since they were all fans of Hiroshi Kimura, what could he say? He continued to watch Hiroshi Kimura rehearse diligently on stage.

After all the previous rehearsals were finished, Yukio Tomioka thought today's rehearsal was over and was about to go up and talk to Hiroshi Kimura when he heard Kimura yell "Loser!"

He was so scared he almost knelt on the ground. What the hell? Why did he suddenly start swearing, and in English no less?

But then extremely dynamic music started playing on stage. Yukio Tomioka was certain that he had never heard this melody before. It was a new song. Could it be a new song composed by Kimura-san? But why sing it during rehearsal? Wasn't this a premature leak? There was no guarantee that the band members wouldn't release the song beforehand. That wouldn't do.

He was about to go on stage to stop them, but after taking only two steps, he heard Hiroshi Kimura's voice, rapping the lyrics at a speed he had never seen before.

"Day after day, as always, this kind of life is unbearable. There is nowhere to escape. Sleep well in your dreams."

We've always been like this, tired of this drowsy state, yet we still have to keep dancing.

A singing style never seen before, the lyrics were sung out along with the music at an extremely fast speed—no, to be precise, they were sung out—with a strong, fast-paced rock and roll vibe. Yukio Tomioka was certain he had never seen this singing style before; it was very special and even more exciting than rock and roll.

"I'm a loser. I originally had nothing, so it doesn't matter how things change. Instead of rambling on and on, I should just say goodbye to the present."

Listening carefully to this singing style, Yukio Tomioka couldn't be sure whether it was good or bad, but it was definitely a good song. He couldn't help but sincerely admire, "Kimura-san, you are indeed talented. Not only are you good at composing, but now you want to create a new way of singing. Calling you a genius is no exaggeration. But I'm afraid this new way of singing won't be accepted by people in a short time."

It wasn't until Hiroshi Kimura finished singing this song he'd never heard before that Yukio Tomio went on stage. He saw Kimura already tidying up his electric guitar and quickly went up to him to ask, "Kimura-san, was that a new song you just sang?"

After tidying up the electric guitar wires to prevent them from getting tangled, Kimura Hiroshi replied without looking up, "Yes, Mr. Tomioka, it's a new song I recently came up with and want to perform at a concert, so I'm rehearsing it beforehand."

"It really is a new song," Yukio Tomioka said, slightly excited but more worried. "This song is indeed very good, but I've never seen this singing style before. If it's released as a record, I'm afraid it will be difficult for the market to accept it in a short time. As you know, the record market isn't doing too well right now, and it's not very receptive to new things."

After tidying up the route, Kimura Hiroshi turned around and saw Tomioka Yukio's worried look. He found it a bit funny and quickly comforted him, saying, "Mr. Tomioka, this isn't a new singing style. It's rap from Black people in Europe and America. Oh, their singing style isn't very popular yet, and it's not very well-developed. I made some modifications, improvements, and innovations to make it what it is now."

As for the album, I have no plans to release one. This song is a gift to the fans and listeners here today, a present for them to attend the concert.

As one of Kenshi Yonezu's representative works, "Loser" is entirely in the form of rap. This singing style is currently only found among African Americans. Moreover, although the form exists, it is not perfect. For Hiroshi Kimura to sing it in this era is quite unique.

However, it would take until the 1990s for this form of singing to be accepted by the public. After all, at that time, Black people in America were still fighting for their status, and it had only been less than ten years since they were able to ride public transportation and sit on equal footing with white men. Who would care about their way of performing music?

He's essentially taking advantage of the situation to solidify his future status as a pioneer in the Japanese music scene, and also to please his fans.

As a gift to his fans, a new song, Yukio Tomioka felt his head throbbing and his heart clenching. This was a new song! Even if it wasn't accepted by the market, releasing a new album would still allow him to rake in a lot of money from his fans. And he just gave it away like that?

"Kimura-san, why don't you reconsider? I think even if the market doesn't accept it, releasing an album is still an option," Yukio Tomioka advised, as he really didn't want to give up such a large sum of money.