I was plotting against Hoshino Ai but was pushed back

As Saito Hiko was talking, he suddenly felt an unbearable itch in his nose and couldn't help sneezing.

"Don't be so stubborn. You're not feeling well, but you're pretending to be hot..."

As Hoshino Ai spoke, her voice became lower and lower as if she had thought of something.

Later on, Saito Hiko couldn't hear what she was saying at all.

"I sneezed, not coughed."

Saitohiko defended himself by saying, “Maybe someone was talking about me, so I sneezed.”

"That's a weird statement." Hoshino Ai walked forward, "But you still have to keep warm~ Don't take off your clothes to hide something."

Saito Hiko quickly followed and walked side by side with her.

There's really no way to hide it from her.

Is she such a thoughtful person?

I kind of want to drink some water.

Saito Hiko felt uncomfortable after sneezing and wanted to find something to drink.

After looking around, I saw an automatic beverage vending machine in front of me.

"What do you want to drink?" Saito Hiko asked Hoshino Ai.

"I'll buy it myself." Hoshino Ai didn't answer.

"It's my treat. If you feel bad about it, you can treat me next time."

Saito Hiko trotted to the vending machine and looked at the prices inside.

The prices are around 110-200 yen.

Ordinary purified water is 110 yen, Coke is 160 yen, and big brand coffee is 200 yen.

Saitohiko took out his wallet and prepared to put in coins to buy something, "Ai, what drink do you want?"

"Hmm...sweet drinks like strawberry milk will be fine." Hoshino Ai thought for a moment. She didn't know what was in the vending machine yet.

“Strawberry milk…”

Saitohiko looked at the beverage information in the vending machine. He didn't find strawberry milk, but saw the words "sweet flavored beverages" and asked, "Would you like sweet red bean soup?"

"Um... no... then red bean soup."

Hoshino Ai chose the drink proposed by Saito Hiko.

Saito Hiko originally wanted to choose Coke, but after thinking about it, he decided to just stick with the same thing.

He also wanted to try the flavor of sweet red bean soup.

So Saito Hiko took out 300 yen from his wallet and bought two bottles of sweet red bean soup from the vending machine.

"Dong" "Dong"

Two bottles of drinks rolled down and Saitohiko picked them up.

Only then did I realize that they were all hot drinks, and they felt warm in my hands.

He handed the sweet red bean soup in his right hand to Hoshino Ai.

Then he pulled the pull ring himself and tried to feel the temperature of the drink with his lips.

Although it feels slightly hot in your hand, the liquid in the can is only warm and not hot enough to burn your mouth.

Saito Hiko tilted his head back, took the can and poured it out to drink.

There was not only liquid in the can, but also some cooked red beans poured out of the can.

After Hoshino Ai took the can of red bean soup, she did not open it immediately. Instead, she held the warm can with both hands and rolled it back and forth in her palms, as if to keep warm.

Seeing Saito Yan first taste it, he asked, "Is it delicious?"

Chapter 27 The Cruel Idol Industry

"Won't you know if you taste it yourself?"

Saito Hiko did not tell Hoshino Ai the answer.

He felt that sweet red bean soup was not suitable as a beverage and tasted like liquid food.

Although a large part of it is water, you won’t feel thirsty after drinking it.

“I rarely bought drinks before.”

Hoshino Ai still held the can tightly in both hands, and suddenly said, "Maybe in a few months, when I perform on stage and get paid, I will be able to drink all the drinks in the vending machine without any scruples."

"... "

When Saito Hiko heard this, he couldn't help but think of a joke he had seen before.

When I have money, I will buy two bowls of soy milk, drink one bowl and pour one bowl.

When I have money, I will buy two fried dough sticks, eat one and throw away the other.

When I have money...

Before I could open my mouth, I heard Hoshino Ai say:

"But I think that when it comes time to get paid, I won't do that."

Saito Hiko felt that she wanted to continue speaking and seemed to be preparing to tell her story, so he did not interrupt her and waited for her to continue.

But Hoshino Ai only said that few words and didn't say anything else.

She just held the can of red bean soup against her cheek, letting the heat from the can warm her cold face.

"Is that the correct way to use warm drinks?"

Saito Hiko held the half-empty can of red bean soup in one hand and watched Hoshino Ai holding the red bottle against her skin to keep warm.

"I don't know. This is my first time buying a warm drink from a vending machine." Hoshino Ai shook her head.

She held the warm can against her body for a while, and when she felt the heat was no longer so high, she opened the zipper.

'Snapped'

The buckle of the can pulls up the triangular aluminum skin, making a crisp sound.

Red liquid immediately overflowed from the jar.

Hoshino Ai held the can in her right hand and took a sip of the soup in the can with her tongue.

Sweet, with a hint of red bean residue.

Hoshino Ai felt that this couldn’t be said to be delicious, but it wasn’t unpalatable either, it could only be said to be average.

I have absolutely no intention of buying again.

"Speaking of which, you've been practicing at Mei Pro for two days. How do you feel about it?" Seeing that the atmosphere was silent, Saito Hiko took the initiative to find a topic.

"It's been a short time so I don't know much about it, but as members of the group, Watanabe, Ninomiya and Takamine are all nice people." Hoshino Ai answered after holding the can with both hands and tilting her head back to take a sip of red bean soup.

"Don't they know yet that you will be the center of the group?" Saito Hiko thought of the conversation he had just had with the president, in which the president said that Hoshino Ai would become the center of the group.

"Eh? Will I really become the center of the group right away?"

Hoshino Ai thought about what the president had said when he discovered her as a scout, but she hadn't seen him talk about it in the past two days, so she thought the president had just lied to lure her in.

Maybe he promised that she would become the center in the future. After all, her understanding of idols was still very one-sided, and her foundation was not good, or even that she had no foundation at all.

"I've already asked the president about this. He has been planning to train you as the absolute center from the beginning."

Saito Hiko paused, "The reason why I didn't tell them now is probably because I'm afraid they won't accept it. After all, they all joined the group before you, and you still need to strengthen your foundation."

"But if the president really announced that, wouldn't they be very sad?"

Hoshino Ai put herself in her shoes. If she knew that the C position of the group would always belong to one person and not her, she would definitely have negative emotions such as jealousy and resentment.

Saitohiko thought about what he said, "Isn't it because you have the aura of being the absolute center that the president discovered you to be an idol?"

"But this is stepping on others to get to the top, I don't know..."

Hoshino Ai felt a little confused.

In the past two days, the members of the group have been very happy about the arrival of her as a new member, and Watanabe just asked her about her with concern.

But she came directly from the sky and blocked their promotion space...

Hoshino Ai didn't know that the original members had already performed and their results were not ideal, and she felt guilty for snatching someone else's promotion.

"You don't need to blame yourself."

Saitohiko saw the dim look in Hoshino Ai's eyes and counseled her, "The three of them have actually performed a few times, but they haven't gained many fans, which means they don't have any outstanding talents, so the president wants to add you to the group."

"But they are junior high school students like me and will continue to grow in the future." Hoshino Ai played with the red bean soup can and looked at Saito Hiko.

Seeing that he failed to convince Hoshino Ai, Saitohiko said, "If you still feel guilty about them, you should work hard to become a qualified center and lead them to a bigger stage."

"But..."

"Don't say but, instead of feeling guilty, you should practice harder and build good relationships with them so that they don't become distant, jealous, or uncooperative because you've become the center."

Saitohiko continued, "In fact, even if you don't join their group, the president will continue to add people to the group, and the center position will naturally change with the addition of new people."

Hoshino Ai listened to Saito Hiko's words and felt that there was some truth in them, but vaguely felt that something was wrong, but for a moment she didn't know what was wrong.

"Besides, not all idols can be successfully cultivated."

Seeing that this still failed to convince Hoshino Ai, Saito Hiko had to tell her the cruel reality: "Because as they grow older, their appearance will change. Some people even have beautiful facial features that become uncoordinated due to physical development when they grow up, which is commonly known as growing ugly."

"So if a young idol group member becomes disabled, it can be considered a training failure. In the industry, there are many examples of training failures."

"If they are the center, they will definitely be replaced, but if they are not the center, they can continue to be idols in the group, allowing them to continue their idol dreams."

"So the idol industry is so cruel?" Hoshino Ai was surprised by what Saito Hiko said.

She doesn't know the real inside story of the idol industry. She has only seen the glamorous idols, the idols shining on the stage.

"So it's actually a good thing for them that you are the center. This way, they won't have to graduate from the idol industry due to training failures." Saito Hiko continued to counsel Hoshino Ai.

After finishing this sentence, I drank the red bean soup in my hand in one breath to solve the problem of dry mouth and tongue after long speeches.

"I always feel like there's something wrong with what you said, but I also think what you said makes sense."