My daily life with the original diva

This song caused a great sensation as soon as it first appeared on a TV program. In particular, the visual impact of Nakamori Akina wearing a pure black lace dress during the performance was very strong, leaving a deep and unforgettable impression on everyone who saw it.

Akina Nakamori perfectly embodied the song's strong and rebellious female spirit on stage. Whether it was her all-conquering gaze after removing her black lace gloves or her slightly backward-leaning and trembling dance moves, she exuded a rebellious strength. She was not a submissive woman, but a queen on high.

With her strong and upbeat musical style and Akina Nakamori's stage performance, she can be said to have brought her previous strong and rebellious song style to its extreme.

This not only attracted the attention of male viewers, but also deeply attracted many female viewers. At this time, it was an era of awakening women's rights in Japan. They were no longer satisfied with the rules and regulations set for them by traditional Japanese society and wanted to break through social traditions. This song obviously provided them with a breakthrough.

In the first week of sales, because the 25th was a Wednesday, the sales volume was less than 60,000 copies, but this sales volume still made her enter the second place of the weekly record sales chart.

The second week was a fierce battle among female idols. On Wednesday, August 1st, another top female idol, Seiko Matsuda, released her new single, "Pink Mozart." It was another sweet love song, and as the queen of sweet songs, the song immediately aimed to compete with Akina Nakamori's "Ten Rings" in sales. It sold over 50,000 copies in its first week, just over a thousand fewer than Nakamori's "Ten Rings," which was also released on the same Wednesday.

The media immediately sensed the potential for increased viewership. Two top female idols with completely different musical styles had similar sales figures, and they had previously been hyped as competing for the title of number one female idol. This kind of competition was sure to grab attention.

But that's not all. On the last day of July, Momoko Kikuchi, arguably the hottest new female idol this year, also released her new single. The song, titled Say Yes, was written and composed by Hiroshi Kimura. It's an energetic and youthful inspirational song that's very popular with young students and young people who have just graduated and entered the workforce.

It can be said that this song directly resonated with the fan base that Momoko Kikuchi had previously cultivated, which resulted in the album's first-week sales also being quite good, exceeding 50,000 copies, just 5,000 fewer than Seiko Matsuda's.

Yukiko Okada, who partnered with her for debut promotions, was equally determined. On the second day of August, the day after her labelmate Seiko Matsuda, she released a new single, "Summer Time," a summer song with lyrics and music by Hiroshi Kimura.

This is a light and cheerful summer song with a touch of girlish playfulness. When Yukiko Okada was promoting the song, she had short hair, wore a short-sleeved shirt and shorts, and looked like a tomboy. She sang the meaningful opening line of the song with her clear, girlish voice: "If I become your captive, this summer will definitely be more fulfilling."

The opening lyrics are full of strange implications, but when sung by Yukiko Okada with her innocent face and clear eyes, they immediately give people a wonderful feeling, melting the hearts of countless young men and women.

Although released a little later, her sales were still quite good, reaching more than 47,000 copies. This was 4,000 fewer copies than Kikuchi Momoko's sales, but this result was two or three times higher than her debut song, which rapidly boosted her popularity and brought her closer and closer to Kikuchi Momoko.

So in the first week of August, the record sales charts were absolutely a super battleground for female idols. Two top female idols were followed by two new female idols who entered the scene this year. At the same time, it also showed the power of Hiroshi Kimura's songwriting and composition. The two new female idols achieved such sales thanks to the songs composed by Hiroshi Kimura.

In the first week of August, the top spot in sales naturally belonged to Akina Nakamori, who released her first single, with 84,000 copies sold. Seiko Matsuda came in second with 56,000 copies sold, Momoko Kikuchi came in third with 51,000 copies sold, and Yukiko Okada came in fourth with 47,000 copies sold. The top four on the sales chart were all female idols, and the difference in sales volume didn't seem too significant, considering that their release dates were different.

"A fierce battle for female idol record sales." This headline became the headline of many entertainment media outlets, attracting the attention of many onlookers.

The first week of August saw the release dates of these four artists' albums differ, so it wasn't a true competition yet. The second week, however, would be the real battleground for popularity and song appeal, with everyone eagerly anticipating the fierce sales battle in the second week of August.

But no one could have imagined that a black swan event would soon occur in this chaotic battle. The release of a movie would make this already chaotic war even more chaotic, and would also make the record market unusually prosperous and lively this summer.

On August 4th, one day before the release of the first movie starring Hiroshi Kimura and Akina Nakamori, Yuya Fukada, the vice president of Toho's film business, invited Hiroshi Kimura out to dinner. Having already declined several invitations before, this time, after confirming that the guy wouldn't bring any female celebrities along, Hiroshi Kimura and his manager Yukio Tomioka arrived on time.

In a quiet private room on the second floor of an upscale Japanese restaurant, Yuya Fukada and Hiroshi Kimura sat facing each other, while their staff members were in another private room.

Yuya Fukada picked up the sake bottle on the table and poured himself a glass of sake. He then tried to pour one for Hiroshi Kimura, but Kimura stopped him. Although he and Yuya Fukada were now business partners, he couldn't drink with him yet because their trust level wasn't that high. Yuya Fukada didn't insist and put down the sake bottle.

However, Kimura Hiroshi still poured himself a drink, then raised it to Fukada Yuya. After drinking, Kimura Hiroshi asked, "Mr. Fukada seems a little anxious. Is it because of the movie's release tomorrow?"

There was no attempt to hide anything. Fukada Yuya sighed and said, "Kimura-san probably knows that people from families like ours are always told that we rely on family connections no matter what we do. When I became the vice president of Toho Films' sales department, no one thought I relied on my abilities, but rather that we relied on family connections."

"No, I didn't, don't talk nonsense." Although he didn't say anything, Kimura Hiroshi was trying his best to deny it in his heart. He didn't rely on his family connections to do anything. He was even bullied at school in his hometown of Kasukabe. He made his way in the world on his own. As for you, Fukada Vice Captain, only you know whether you relied on your family connections or not.

Seemingly wanting to confide in someone, Fukada Yu continued while drinking, "My decision to import Hong Kong action films proved to be extremely correct. Each film brought Toho at least several hundred million yen in profit, and there wasn't much resistance."

But this time, I had to push through Kimura's film against all odds. You know those old fogies think that domestic films should be made by Toho itself, and shouldn't be directly imported like foreign films.

But all these years they've made garbage, hardly any watchable stuff. This has offended those old guys. If I fail this time, the film department head position will probably be permanently gone, and I might not even be able to stay at Toho anymore.”

This guy had always seemed very confident, but now it seems he's under a lot of pressure. Kimura Hiroshi knows that in Japan, a place that values ​​honor and status so much, if Fukada Yuya's stubborn approach fails, not only will he be punished, but it will also probably shatter his pride, making him unable to stay at Toho any longer. So the closer the time gets, the more nervous he becomes.

"It won't fail, Fukada-san. I believe in the quality of this film, and I think you should be ready to release it in overseas markets. Toho should have distribution channels in Hong Kong and Southeast Asia, right? Of course, it would be even better if it could be released in Europe and America." Kimura Hiroshi said calmly while eating the Wagyu beef sushi in front of him.

As Fukada Yuya drank in silence, he never expected that Kimura Hiroshi would not only fail to comfort him but would also utter such arrogant words. It should be noted that since the 1970s, Japanese films have rarely appeared in foreign theaters. Although this film is of excellent quality, sending it abroad for release is far too idealistic.

He was about to tell Kimura Hiroshi that he was probably overthinking things, but Kimura Hiroshi spoke up first, saying, "Since there is no way back now, what is Fukada-san still worried about? If you want to pursue excitement, then go all the way. Since there is no way back, then make things as big as possible. Either succeed and go all the way up, or fail and withdraw completely."

Taken aback, Fukada Yu didn't expect this teenage boy to be so resolute. Compared to him, who was already over thirty and known for his arrogance and boldness, this boy was still trying to leave himself a way out at the last minute, which was worse than a teenager.

"Haha, yes, Kimura-san is right. I said before that we were the same kind of people. At that time, I felt that you had the potential to become someone like me. Now it seems that you are much stronger than me in making decisions. Okay, since there is no way back, what is there to worry about? I will start working on it immediately after I get back and send Kimura-san's movie to Hong Kong, Southeast Asia, and Europe and America for screening. I hope we can cooperate happily."

Yuya Fukada raised his glass, and Hiroya Kimura raised his glass as well, smiling and saying, "It's a pleasure to work with you."

While it may seem that he was leveraging Yuya Fukada's influence to amplify the impact of his films, in reality, it was a matter of shared glory and disgrace. If they succeeded, they could both rise to great heights; if they failed, given the massive investment by Toho, it would be unlikely that anyone would accept films directed by Hiroshi Kimura anytime soon, and his dream of entering the film industry in the next few years would be nothing but a pipe dream.

The reason for going to such lengths is that even if he fails only in Japan, he might lose his chance to enter the film industry. Nobody wants to become the next Yuya Fukada. So, he might as well go all out and take a gamble. Hiroshi Kimura is very confident in his film and believes the box office will be good. As for how far it will go, that's up to fate.

Chapter 187 An Encounter at the Cinema

"Sigh, I never imagined that my first time going to the movies would be with my colleagues. How tragic." Wearing sunglasses, Hiroshi Kimura silently complained as he looked at Michiko and her manager Yukio Tomioka, who were queuing to buy movie tickets.

Unfortunately, premiere ceremonies aren't popular these days, so although today is the movie premiere, it doesn't really concern the two lead actors. The publicity plan has already been set up, and they just need to follow it for the subsequent promotion.

Although there was no premiere, Hiroshi Kimura still wanted to watch their first movie together with Akina Nakamori. Unfortunately, Akina Nakamori, who had just released a hot new single, was too busy to find the time to watch their first movie together.

However, Hiroshi Kimura really wanted to go to the cinema to see his first movie, but he couldn't go alone. I don't think anyone goes to the cinema alone; if someone did, it would be too sad.

So Hiroshi Kimura took his manager Yukio Tomioka and assistant Michiko to see his first movie. To avoid being recognized, they didn't go to the movie theater next to the agency, but drove to a movie theater that was farther away from the agency, and they also disguised themselves.

Even in the hottest month of August, many people still went out to watch movies, mostly young people, especially some who were obviously students, as summer vacation gave them plenty of time to relax.

Standing in a corner of the cinema's ticket hall, Hiroshi Kimura could hear their discussion.

"Watch Love Trip! This is Hiroko-chan's first time acting in a youth romance film, and she's paired with the very handsome Masahiko Kondo. Don't you want to watch it?"

"No way! My friend saw it yesterday and said it was terrible. She didn't even know what happened to the male and female leads by the end, and she couldn't understand it at all. I think I'll watch Léon: The Professional instead. Kimura-san is so much more handsome than Kondo, and he's playing an assassin. He looks so cool and handsome in the trailer."

"But I don't like watching fighting and killing; it's too violent."

"I don't care, I want to watch this. Or we can split up. You go watch that Love Trip thing, and I'll watch Léon: The Professional. After we're done, we'll meet in the lobby."

Since the two girls couldn't agree, they had to resort to this method: each bought the movie tickets they wanted.

Listening to the discussion from the corner, Hiroshi Kimura knew that the film "Love Trip" had actually done quite well at the box office in the first two days after its release. The main reason for its success was the popularity and fame of Hiroko Yakushimaru. She had made several high-quality films in recent years and was very popular, so people would go to see it because of her fame.

However, this popularity seems unsustainable, as almost no one who has seen it says it's good. Many ordinary viewers say the movie is incomprehensible, with the male and female leads only meeting after 67 minutes, while the movie, which is mainly about love, is only about 120 minutes long. Not only viewers, but also many film critics are not optimistic about it, thinking it's just an ordinary idol romance film with a somewhat bad plot.

This is very similar to the later practice of using a few popular idol stars to make a bad movie to make money. However, this movie can only rely on Hiroko Yakushimaru to support it. Masahiko Kondo is almost dead and can't attract many people. It's probably impossible to maintain the box office. After all, the Japanese fans nowadays are not like the overly fan-circle fans in his homeland in the future. If it's too bad, they really won't watch it.

This is why Hiroshi Kimura didn't react at all after the movie's release, even though the box office was doing well. He didn't need to do anything; the movie would probably flop in a couple of days, especially after the movie he starred in with Akina Nakamori was released. It would probably flop even faster because the audience would definitely be drawn away by more popular idols starring in better movies.

Having bought the movie tickets, Ms. Michiko returned with a sly smile. She whispered, "Kimura-san, Tomioka-san, when I was buying the tickets, a lot of people wanted to buy tickets for this movie starring Kimura-san. I reckon the box office will definitely be good."

"Thank you for your kind words, Ms. Michiko. Alright, let's go in. The movie is about to start, and it would be troublesome if we stood outside and someone saw us." Taking the movie tickets, Kimura Hiroshi started walking into the movie theater.

As soon as they entered the movie theater, two young girls rushed in. After entering the ticket hall, the two quickly joined the queue. The girl in the lead said, "Phew, thank goodness, we didn't miss the time, otherwise we would have had to wait for another hour. Sachiko-chan, thank goodness we walked fast. We must be faster when we get cold drinks in the future."

The two are best friends, Maeda Yumi and Kamachi Sachiko. They met up to watch a movie today, but as a gift for keeping each other company, Maeda Yumi first treated Kamachi Sachiko to a cold drink.

Eating cold drinks in an air-conditioned shop on a hot summer day is such a wonderful thing, so they lingered there for a while and almost missed the movie. If they missed it and had to wait another hour, they would miss their lunch break.

"Hmm." Sachiko Kamachi answered absentmindedly. She only came to see that talented but lewd guy's movie because of her best friend. Recently, the media has been reporting that he has close relationships with many female idols and even writes songs for them. There are just too many scandalous stories about him, making it hard for her to like him.

After buying two tickets, Maeda Yumi also bought two Cokes, giving one to Kamachi Sachiko and saying, "This is an iced Coke, it'll be very refreshing to drink while watching the movie."

But Sachiko Kamachi sighed and said, "Drink less, Yumi-chan. You'll go to the bathroom a lot when you drink cola, and you won't be able to finish the movie. It's such a waste."

"Okay, okay, I won't drink too much. Ah, the movie is about to start, let's hurry inside."

Holding their tickets, the two entered the screening room. There were still a few minutes before the movie started, and the room was dimly lit. About half of the people were already seated. Maeda Yumi looked at her tickets and started looking for her seat.

“Fifth row, twelfth and thirteenth seats, ah, over here, sir, please make way, oh…” Maeda Yumi quickly found her seat, but when they were about to go over, there were three people sitting there. Maeda Yumi glanced at them and felt that the man sitting in the middle looked familiar, but the lighting was a bit dim and he was wearing sunglasses, so she couldn’t be sure for a moment.

"Why did you stop? Yumi-chan, hurry up, someone's coming from behind." Sachiko Kamachi, who was following behind, urged her to hurry up because someone else was coming from behind. She didn't like talking to strangers and urged Yumi Maeda to go over quickly.

"Oh, oh, sorry, I'll be going now." Knowing her best friend's personality, Maeda Yumi didn't want to keep staring at that person, so she quickly walked forward and soon reached her seat.

Even after sitting down, Maeda Yumi couldn't help but straighten up and look over there. Seeing her best friend's expression, Kamachi Sachiko also looked over curiously and saw a tall young man sitting there, wearing sunglasses in the movie theater, which was very strange, and he looked somewhat familiar.

"Sachiko-chan, do you think he looks like Kimura-chan?" Maeda Yumi sought her best friend's opinion.

Nodding, Sachiko Kamachi said, "It looks a bit like him, but it probably isn't him. He's a top male idol, very busy, he probably wouldn't come here to watch a movie. Yumi-chan, I think you watch that guy every day, you're a little obsessed. Watch less of him in the future, hehe."

"No way! Sachiko-chan, how dare you make fun of me? That's too much! Order one less serving of tempura for lunch later!" Maeda Yumi said angrily.

Just as the two little girls were whispering and bickering, the movie screen began to brighten and the lights dimmed. The movie was about to start, and the previously noisy movie theater suddenly became quiet.

Chapter 188 Clues to Love

In a corner of the movie theater, Takahashi Akio, wearing gold-rimmed glasses, looked at the audience members who had taken their seats. He noticed that more than half of them were teenagers, and the others were not very old either. A mocking smile appeared on his lips.

"Heh, just as I thought, this movie is nothing more than a box office draw that relies on two popular idols to attract fans. I never imagined that a veteran film company like Toho would stoop so low. Just you wait, after I finish watching the movie, I'll go back and see how I humiliate you." Takahashi Akifuku thought to himself.

As the editor-in-chief of the entertainment news section of the weekly Bunshun, he suffered a major setback last year in the Kimura Hiroshi ghostwriting incident, as the article about metabolism was ultimately approved and published by him.

They thought they had uncovered a shocking secret, but unexpectedly, Kimura Hiroshi, a teenager, launched a fierce counterattack and turned the tables. In the end, the shocking secret turned out to be a fabricated news story by Weekly Bunshun for the sake of traffic.

The consequences of this incident were extremely serious. The professionalism and authenticity of Weekly Bunshun were severely questioned. Many readers came for the authenticity and sensationalism of their reports, but they didn't expect that they were no different from other media. At that time, about one-third of the readers requested to cancel their subscriptions, and sales plummeted. Their original reputation seemed to be about to be completely destroyed.

With such a big incident, someone naturally had to take responsibility. His two capable subordinates, Suzuki Saburo and Higashi Masaru Eri, were forced to resign voluntarily, and he himself was almost forced to resign as well. Fortunately, his usual connections with the company's senior management played a role, and in the end, he was only suspended without pay for three months. He was still the editor-in-chief, and the blame was entirely borne by his two subordinates.

But this also became his shame. Many people in the industry were laughing at him for being so humiliated by a seventeen-year-old idol singer. Although none of those guys got anything out of this teenager and were instead played with time and time again, they wanted to save face and always found the worst way to humiliate him. As the person directly involved, he became the object of everyone's humiliation.

In an effort to save face, he worked diligently afterward, revealing many bombshell revelations, which significantly boosted the subscription and sales of Weekly Bunshun's entertainment magazine and newspaper.

However, Takahashi Akio was not satisfied with what had happened before. He began to focus on Kimura Hiroshi, wanting to bring this kid down completely. But after carefully investigating his school days, he found that this guy was indeed a victim of school violence and had not bullied any other classmates when he hung out with those delinquents.

Moreover, he had excellent academic performance. If there was anything about him that didn't seem like a good person, it was that he dressed like a "shamate" (a subculture characterized by flamboyant and often outlandish fashion). After entering the entertainment industry, he was very well-behaved, and there was no evidence of him going out and messing around.

Regarding the ghostwriting incident, the information obtained from his music teacher is that this child has a very strong learning ability and can grasp things almost instantly. Although he has not studied composition with him, he should be able to learn very quickly if someone teaches him. So, in fact, their investigation was incomplete, and they were tricked by those students who were jealous of that kid.

The truth is harsh, but as a Japanese person, Akio Takahashi simply doesn't want to admit that he was wrong.

We can't find any dirt on him, but we can find some other things. Recently, we've made some progress. According to some sources, it seems that this guy organized the fireworks festival at Senso-ji Temple in April. People who were selected to enter Senso-ji Temple at the time saw him with a girl, seemingly to confess his feelings. We can't be sure who the girl is.

However, no concrete evidence has been found for this news yet. The monks of Senso-ji Temple, who received money for the religious ceremony, are unwilling to talk about this matter, and their special status makes them difficult for paparazzi to deal with.

In addition, the address of this kid has not been found yet, otherwise we should be able to get conclusive evidence soon. However, his car has been seen before, and he often goes to that real estate company in Ginza, which is very unusual. He has arranged for people to investigate both of these clues.

While this approach won't bring him down, it will at least uncover solid evidence of his relationship, making things easier to handle. First, release some ambiguous information; given that his fan base consists mainly of young women, he and his agency will definitely deny it. Then, release solid evidence, accusing him of deceiving his fans, which will at least cause him to lose a large portion of his followers.

Of course, all of this will take some time. Right now, he should first watch his movie. If it's a bad movie or even just average, he should go back and give this kid and Dongbao a good scolding to vent his anger. He's been holding this grudge for too long, and it's making him very uncomfortable. He can't accept the fact that he was defeated by a teenager.

As the screen lit up, Akifuku Takahashi began to stare intently. He wanted to find all the flaws in the film so that he could properly criticize it instead of using it as a gimmick.

The film's opening music begins, and the first thing that appears is naturally the logo of the distribution company, Toho. Then there's a long shot of a Tokyo street scene with the production company and producer's name on it. Whether it's Akio Takahashi or anyone else, they all see that the producer and screenwriter is Hiroshi Kimura, that teenage guy.

"Ha, this kid is the producer and screenwriter of a movie? That's too frivolous. Either it's fake, or it's a terrible movie." Thinking of this, Takahashi Akifuku became even more agitated. The first point of criticism had been raised, so how far behind could the next one be?

At another movie theater, however, the scene was quite different. Maeda Yumi, upon seeing the opening credits, excitedly grabbed Kamachi Sachiko's hand and exclaimed, "Look! Kimura-chan really wrote the script for this movie, and she's also the producer! Ah, that's amazing!"

"Okay, okay, don't talk during the movie. Talk after the movie, otherwise you'll disturb others." Sachiko Kamachi was a little helpless with her best friend and could only appease her to stop talking. After all, even though talking in the movie theater was very quiet, it was still not a good idea.

After she finished speaking, Maeda Yumi felt too embarrassed to say anything and focused intently on the screen.

The camera then moves through a dimly lit staircase leading to a small shop, where two men are sitting: one obese drinking alcohol, and the other lean, wearing sunglasses, with a glass of milk in front of him.

The two spoke casually, but what they said was extremely terrifying. The Yakuza leader in charge of a certain area had recently had his drug den invaded by someone trying to steal his business. He wanted to talk to the boss of the other party, but the other party refused. So he sent someone to talk to him, and that person was none other than Fujino, the assassin played by Hiroshi Kimura.

Without any preamble, what follows is a bloody and swift assassination scene showcasing various killing methods. The entire process is just like the hotel assassination scene in the trailer: fast, concise, and without much dialogue. It utilizes a variety of methods to seek a fatal blow, without any communication or preparation, and the victim is killed on the spot.