After being elected as the governor of Tokyo, he will debut as a band!

The members of the band exchanged bewildered glances. It was Yamada Ryo who reacted first. She asked what had happened in the lounge while Toyokawa Shoko and the others were away. After understanding the cause and effect, she solemnly asked Nijika to invite the store manager over.

"I read in an old book that in this situation, unless someone Hiroi-nee is afraid of comes over and scolds her, she won't recover!"

Liang said with absolute certainty.

"Okay! I'll go call my sister right now! You all need to keep a close eye on Hiroi-nee."

Hongxia ran off to find Yiji Zhixingka, and soon the two of them came into the house one after the other.

Seeing Hiroi Kikuri's strange behavior, Ijichi Seika grabbed her collar, pulled her up from the ground, and shouted in her ear:

"Of the 500 million in copyright fees, 200 million must be paid in taxes before we even receive it!"

"..."

Hiroi Kikuri shuddered, her eyes clearing somewhat.

"Next, I need to join the Japanese Music Copyright Society (JASRAC), the Japanese Music Business Association (JAME), and the Recording Industry Association of Japan (RIAJ). Only then will they seriously protect my rights as a performer rather than a creator. But the annual membership fees for these associations add up to hundreds of thousands!"

"……what!"

"You need a lawyer to sign a contract? Have you even prepared the legal fees and consultation fees?!"

"………………Wait a minute, senior, please be gentle with me."

"Gentle my foot! Listen to me carefully! After deducting these expenses, the remaining 240 million yen should be divided equally among the three of you. Even if he doesn't care about the money, Iwashita and Shimizu will insist on this division. Only about 60 million yen can be split equally among the three of you. After deducting the team expenses and the compensation for the damage you cause, you will probably only receive less than 100 yen!"

"what!!!!"

Hiroi Kikuri clenched her fists, glared angrily, and shouted, "Adashi no money!" before falling backward. The back of her head hit the hard ground, causing a sharp pain and tears to stream down her face. Only then did she regain consciousness.

“400 million… just like that, it became 20… Waaah,” she wiped her tear-filled eyes, then picked up her phone, which had also fallen to the ground with a shattered screen, and dialed a number with trembling fingers—

"Brother Yizhen, for the sake of my better life, please, please reduce my taxes!"

"...? You're already drunk this early today!"

A male voice came from the other end of the phone.

……

"that……"

Because Xiao Gudu had been unable to speak because the beautiful and fragrant Xiangzi had grabbed his wrist and pressed him down, he finally managed to regain his composure and was able to speak.

"Toyokawa-kun, my wrist is numb! Could you please let go of my hand? It's starting to go numb..."

"?" Toyokawa Shoko obviously didn't understand what Little Lonely was saying, but she could clearly feel that the pink-haired girl in front of her was about to burst like a balloon, so she quickly let go of her hand.

"Um, it's nothing... I just wanted to say, Goto-kun, you play the guitar really well."

Thanks to the verbal bombshell that Ijichi Seika had just thrown at Hiroi Kikuri, Toyokawa Shoko calmed down.

Yes, the Japanese government considers the entertainment industry a key sector for tax revenue. Although it provides considerable policy support, the main beneficiaries are the entertainment conglomerates. By supporting them, the government aims to build a complete industrial chain encompassing selection, training, promotion, and peripheral product development, thereby enhancing the overall competitiveness of the entertainment industry. However, the creators and performers on the front lines don't receive a large share of the profits. In addition to substantial tax revenue, various associations also want a cut, and the entertainment conglomerates take the lion's share of the profits at each stage.

Actually, this isn't just the case in Japan; the situation is even more pronounced in the southern part of the peninsula. This is why top idols in Japan and South Korea sometimes earn less than second-tier artists in South Korea.

Making money by creating a popular band is fine, but earning tens of billions of yen in a few years... let alone normal music performances, it's impossible even if you desperately take the wrong path.

Of course, if your surname is Xuanjuan, that's a different story.

In conclusion, after calming down, Toyokawa Shoko realized that making money still needed to be planned in the long term.

Hiroi Kikuri was still raving on the phone, spouting things like "tax cuts," "subsidies for independent artists in poor areas," "free legal aid related to copyright," and "if this continues, Japanese rock music will be corrupted by you bunch of filthy ...

Shoko Toyokawa noticed certain words in these words with great sensitivity. As the granddaughter of the current head of the Toyokawa Group, she naturally understood the meaning of those words and knew the possible identities of the people who could be associated with these matters.

After all, some of the Toyokawa family's relatives have served as members of parliament.

After considering all factors, she concluded that the person on the other end of the phone with Hiroi Kikuri was likely a ward councilor or even a city councilor.

Of course, the latter is much less likely.

But even the heiresses of wealthy families are forming girl bands, so it's not entirely unimaginable that a senator would have one or two friends who are independent musicians.

This speculation piqued her curiosity.

How did a poor musician whose life was a mess become friends with a member of parliament who represented the elite of the elite in this society? And judging from what Hiroi Kikuri said, she and the person on the other end of the phone had a pretty good relationship.

"Alright, stop embarrassing yourself in front of the younger generation! And stop disturbing Yoshima's work! Do you think he's someone else? Drunk and wandering around aimlessly in broad daylight, if you keep fighting, you might get arrested by the police for obstructing official business. I'm not going to visit you in the detention center then!"

Ijichi Seika snatched Hiroi Kikuri's shattered phone, said into the phone, "She's drunk, don't worry about her," and then dragged the grumbling Hiroi out of the room.

The remaining five high school girls exchanged glances for a moment. Xiao Gu, who had been genuinely praised by Xiangzi and subconsciously assumed she must be a good person, was the first to notice Xiangzi's confusion, but didn't know how to answer. She couldn't very well just tell her, "The person who answered the phone just now was the Governor of Tokyo. If you have any grievances..."

"Using Hiroi-san's phone to file a complaint is more effective than contacting the Prime Minister in Tokyo," right? But let's not even talk about whether it will scare the kind-hearted blue-haired girl in front of me to death, or whether I'll have to start worrying about my family's safety in the future.

So she could only cast a pleading look at Hongxia, who was deep in thought to herself.

Make way for me: 059 The rock scene is a deep and murky place.

As the recognized leader of the band, Hongxia always responded to the needs of her members. When she noticed Xiao Gudu's expression, she immediately understood and said to Xiangzi with an expression that said, "If you have any problems, come to me. There is no problem in the 'Starry Night' performance hall that I cannot answer for you."

"Xiao Xiang, you still don't know who just called Sister Guangjing, do you? It was Sister Guangjing's band, Sick Hack, their drummer, guitarist, violinist, lyricist, and composer..."

"Excuse me, Ijichi-senpai, are you referring to three people?"

Xiangzi asked in confusion.

Fortunately, she had experience in bands before and wasn't an outsider. She knew that rock bands almost never have dedicated songwriters or composers, otherwise she might have thought Hongxia was talking about five people.

"It's the same person, but this person is just very talented."

"...Being able to handle three positions in a professional rock band means having reached a professional, or at least semi-professional, level of skill on the drums, guitar, and violin. This..."

Toyokawa Shoko hesitated for a moment.

She believes that geniuses exist in this world, and that it is not unimaginable for a musical genius to be proficient in three instruments at the same time.

But a senator who is proficient in three musical instruments sounds rather far-fetched.

Perhaps the person who just spoke with Ms. Hiroi wasn't a member of parliament at all, and that she was just overthinking things... That makes more sense than any other argument.

But what did Ms. Hiroi mean by what she said on the phone?

Although the manager of "Starry Night" said she was drunk, in Toyokawa Shoko's opinion, Hiroi Kikuri had been completely sobered up by the previous two waves of "mental shock" and was not confused when she said those words.

You can't exactly say those lines are lyrics from an unreleased Sickhack song, can you? Ms. Hiroi suddenly had a strong inspiration because she was emotionally traumatized, so she called the lyricist to discuss creative topics?

A new punk rock song with the theme of denouncing taxes, the law, and tycoon vampires?

Wait a minute...it actually seems pretty convincing!

If Ms. Hiroi and her team can really create a new song like this, I'd really like to go to their live performance to listen to it.

Toyokawa Shoko thought.

“Hehe, Xiao Xiang, you also find it a bit unbelievable, right?” Hong Xia’s voice interrupted her thoughts. “There’s something even more unbelievable. Brother Yi Zhen… or rather, Mr. Hack, he’s not a full-time musician. Besides participating in Sickhack’s performances and rehearsals, he also has other jobs to do in his spare time.”

"Huh? What do you mean by 'other jobs'?"

"We're not really sure about that. Not only during performances, but even offstage, he always appears wearing a mask, all mysterious. Speaking of which, Xiao Xiang, that black and white (Cao Cao) mask you saw before was one he wore before."

Are they really that cautious to avoid revealing their identity?

Toyokawa Shoko was a little confused.

...It was truly a series of twists and turns.

“However, from what I’ve observed,” Yamada Ryo interjected, pinching his chin like Detective Conan, “besides Hiroi-nee, Mr. Hack’s relationship with the shop manager is also unusual. The shop manager must know his identity. Nijika, next time the three of us go to the music store, you can secretly go and ask the shop manager about it. Since you’re her younger sister, she might tell you Mr. Hack’s identity.”

"You, you, you! Why did you three leave me behind to shop in the music store? Are you isolating the drummer?!"

After playing around with Ryo for a while, Hongxia suddenly seemed to remember something.

"By the way, Xiao Xiang hasn't seen Mr. Hack's performance yet, right? Perfect timing. Shima sent me some videos of their performance in Yokohama. They were clips shot by the organizers with professional equipment. We're going to pick a few for promotional purposes. The quality is quite high."

After saying that, Hongxia went to borrow a laptop from the PA (presumably a female healthcare professional) and showed the video to Xiangzi.

"This...tsk, it seems..."

Soon, Xiangzi's eyes widened, and he even bit his tongue.

The tall Mr. Hack in the video naturally attracted attention, and his performance was also very impactful and moving. But what truly shocked Xiangzi was not these scenes, but...

"Please zoom in on this image, Ijichi-senpai."

The video shows the three members of Sickhack and the entire group of the popular girl band Morfonica taking their bows after the performance. Hiroi Kikuri, who was drunk, smashed the speakers and destroyed the microphone, and even fell asleep on stage, has now been left backstage to fend for herself.

Meanwhile, Monica's violinist, Rui Yashio, is respectfully inviting Hack to stand in the center of the stage.

Of course, Haku declined, and in the end, Kurata Mashiro stood in the center position.

To outsiders, Rui Hachishio's actions were a sign of respect for the industry veterans and Hak himself, conforming to etiquette and the Japanese value of seniority, and there was nothing particularly noteworthy about them.

But Toyokawa Shoko saw something else.

As a die-hard Monica fan, Toyokawa Shoko knows the details of each member of the Butterfly Group like the back of her hand.

As for Yashio Ryuu, she is not only Monica's violinist, but also the student council president of Tsukimori Academy. To gain the trust of the faculty and students of this prestigious girls' school, her own abilities and extraordinary family background are indispensable. In addition, her personality is not easygoing, and can even be described as quite cold. There is no reason for her to be so respectful to a man she has just met.

Some might interpret this respect as Rui Hachishio's reverence for Haruk's masterful technique, but Shoko Toyokawa knew that they were two completely different things.

Respect is an emotional expression, while deference is a matter of etiquette, a self-assured lower status.

No matter how skilled Mr. Hack was in musical instruments, it was impossible for him to make the discerning Hachishio Ruyu willingly submit to his position based solely on that.

...Who exactly is that mysterious man who calls himself Hack?

When did the indie rock scene become so murky?!

Shoko Toyokawa felt that he should be more cautious about his plan to reform his band and debut as a money-maker.

……

Having given up his lunch break and all tea breaks, Takuya Utsunomiya finally finished up all the tasks he needed to complete that day. He then took a car to the eSoccer Arena in Chiba City, the last stop on his itinerary for the Boso Peninsula Development Strategy Meeting.

After the visit to this stop, the daytime work came to an end, and in the evening there were some internal meetings and social activities that only senior executives would participate in.

The Boso Peninsula and Miura Peninsula are located on opposite sides of Tokyo Bay, and their coastal development value is extremely high. Once a new development plan is launched, it will inevitably create enormous wealth.

These are things that are generally not suitable to be discussed in detail in public meetings.

Make way for me: 060

Authority is life

Generally speaking, Utsunomiya Takuya accompanies him to such meetings and social events, so even if Aoyama Muku didn't ask him to come today, his "usual" initiative to come doesn't count as committing a mistake of being undisciplined or acting on his own.

Conversely, if he felt justified in leaving get off work on time and going home early to be with his wife and children simply because Aoyama hadn't invited him, then he would be the one who truly "made a mistake."

As his personal car entered the parking lot of the eSoccer Center, he immediately spotted Aoyama's Lexus—a car that, because it was a hybrid, could demonstrate the governor's attitude toward environmental protection to some extent, so it was often used when attending formal official occasions.

This car had previously served as the official car for the former prime minister. It was specially provided to him by Ogikubo, a senior figure in the Shigure Party, so it was quite respectable.

Utsunomiya instructed his driver to wait for him at the hotel where the conference members were staying. He then straightened his clothes and headed towards the Lexus.

Then they were stopped by the bodyguards.

"How rude of you... Don't you recognize me?"

The bodyguards, besides being responsible for the governor's life safety, were mostly acquaintances who had been with Aoyama since the campaign. Utsunomiya Takuya naturally knew them as well.

"I'm very sorry, Your Excellency, but we haven't received any orders to allow you to get in the car, so please wait here for a moment."

The head bodyguard bowed 60 degrees to Utsunomiya, but showed no intention of backing down.

Takuya Utsunomiya stood frozen in place. He wanted to call out to Mukashi Aoyama directly, but he knew that doing so would be very inappropriate and would expose his inner anxiety and helplessness, so he could only open his mouth without making a sound.

Fortunately, the person in the car noticed what was happening on his side, and the car window slowly rolled down, revealing the person that Aoyama Mukai and Utsunomiya Takuya least wanted to see at that moment.

Arima Yo is a bit older than Utsunomiya Takuya, with a resolute face and old-fashioned manner. Although he also graduated from the University of Tokyo like Utsunomiya Takuya, the relationship between the two is quite delicate. In addition to workplace competition, the fact that successive governors of Tokyo do not want their two chief administrative officers to have too good a relationship is also one of the reasons for this situation.

After all, the groups to which the election opponents belonged were merely opposition groups in power, while the civil servants were the opposition groups in power.

In short, the appearance of Arima Yo brought Utsunomiya Takuya's unease to its peak.

"Governor! I'm over here! Please let me through."

He didn't care about etiquette anymore and hurriedly waved his arms to make his presence known.

So elegance and all that is fake; what's real is not being in a hurry.

Arima Yo glanced at Utsunomiya, then whispered something to Aoyama Muto. Aoyama Muto nodded, and then signaled the security guards to let Utsunomiya come closer.