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

If it were money, they definitely wouldn't accept it, but food is a different story... If they didn't want it, they could only throw it away, but wasting food is shameful, and neither of them could do such a thing.

As for Nagasaki Motoyo, the way she looks at Wakaba Mutsuki now is like a mother looking at her child who has gone astray.

There's that feeling of "disappointment that they're not living up to their potential."

Once this emotion takes hold, or once the "mother" role is successfully adopted, the fear of the "child's" power disappears.

After all, you don't see many mothers who are afraid of their sons who are stronger or more robust than themselves. They just discipline them when necessary and talk to them when necessary.

"Xiao Mu, come with me to RinG tomorrow."

Igomachi Music Awards: 083 This kid just likes to act.

Xiao Mu's situation was reported to Qingshan Xiang the next morning.

After seeing the report submitted by Nakamoto Itsuki, Aoyama felt that several question marks must have appeared on the top of his head.

Just three days ago, Ruoye Mu was a dull and timid girl. Last night, she suddenly transformed into a street fighter who could take on nine opponents without getting hurt. Moreover, she was full of gangster rules and code of honor, just like the leader of the fighting gang in the East City Gang who had been fighting for more than ten years.

This looks like someone has possessed him! Which deceased member of the former East City Gang could it be?

He's principled, ethical, and a good fighter... Could he be Kiryu's older brother from back then, Shintaro Kazama? If these two meet in the future, how should they address each other? Should a sixty-year-old man call a sixteen-year-old beauty "older brother"?

Aoyama himself was also a time traveler, and it was because of this personal experience that he naturally came to this conclusion.

However, because the imagined scene was too fantastical, and thinking about it further might negatively impact his work performance that day, he quickly stopped his thoughts and decided to first understand the situation from the two parties involved.

He first had Nakamoto Itsuki contact the agency where Mori Minami worked, in the name of his highly respected psychologist, to arrange an emergency psychological consultation for her.

Then she sent an email to Yui Yashio, the student council president of Tsukimori Academy, asking her to pay close attention to Mutsumi Wakaba's situation at school and, if anything seemed amiss, not to interfere, but to write it down and send it to her.

Then, in the evening, after finishing his daily work, Aoyama received two records.

The first document was Yui Yashio's "Observation Record of Mutsumi Wakaba on [Month] [Day]". It was a summary of Mutsumi Wakaba's words and actions, which she collected by using spies she had planted in Mutsumi Wakaba's class. In the afternoon, she also had a one-on-one conversation with Mutsumi Wakaba under the pretext of "inviting Mutsumi Wakaba to participate in the stage play performance of the Moon Forest Music Festival". After school, she even borrowed a telescope from the Astronomy Club to remotely observe Mutsumi Wakaba's actions on her way out of school from the student council office - which was almost mistaken by the vice president, Tsukushi Futaba, who suddenly barged in as her planning to implement "surveillance rule" in the school.

Fortunately, Yashio Rui is meticulous and good at observing other people's reactions. Before Futaba Tsukushi could send the short essay she had written to the Monica group, she discovered her sneaky behavior and stopped her. Otherwise, Yashio Rui would probably have been tutored by her four teammates who rushed over after hearing the news...

Regardless, Rui Yashio did take the task assigned to her by Mukoro Aoyama with utmost seriousness.

Unfortunately, Ruoye Mutsu's behavior at school that day was basically unremarkable.

If I had to nitpick, I could only say that she was a little more cheerful and outgoing than before she took leave, but the change wasn't significant. It was just the normal performance of someone who was full of energy after a few days of rest.

The other document is a collection of questions and answers compiled by Aoyama's new disciple, who was a personal psychologist, after conducting a one-hour psychological consultation with Minami Mori.

According to this young but highly qualified and professional psychologist, Sammi Nami seems to be under considerable pressure—a common situation for famous actors. What's different is that the psychologist found that Sammi Nami's pressure stemmed more from her daughter.

Minami believes her daughter, Mutsumi Wakaba, possesses exceptional acting talent, which extends beyond acting to her handling of various unexpected situations in life. Mutsumi can perfectly portray any character she desires: a well-behaved child, a rebellious teenager, a little devil, a mature social butterfly, and a righteous champion—she can embody them all with ease. What truly terrifies Minami is her belief that Mutsumi's interactions with the former Tojo Clan members will lead her to assume the role of a "gangster."

It's fine if she likes to play other roles. Even if Wakaba Mutsu loses her ability to support herself, the money that Mori Minami and Wakaba Takafumi have earned is enough for her to enjoy for the rest of her life... But playing a "gangster" is not allowed, as that involves breaking the law and committing crimes.

Many parents can tolerate their children being mediocre and incompetent, but they cannot tolerate them engaging in murder and robbery.

Although psychologists don't believe that a normal person would exhibit all the behaviors of a character simply because they are playing that role, Minami Mori insists on her own view.

“Once that child gets into character, he really does become that person.”

Based on the diagnosis of Wakaba Mutsumi by the previous psychologist, this psychologist believes that Mori Minami's views are more out of a mother's excessive worry about her daughter's future, and also show signs of overestimating her daughter's performing talent, so they are not very credible.

He also believes that Ruoye Mutsu's psychological problems are not serious, while Sen Mina's psychological condition may require more intervention.

……

After reviewing these two records, Aoyama felt that his thoughts had not only not been clarified, but he was even more confused.

He closed his Pad and decided to talk to Wakaba Mutsumi in person... If she really got caught up in the role-playing game of "yakuza members" because of her contact with Dojima and Kashiwagi, then as the mastermind behind the "grand show" that was meant to remind Wakaba Takafumi and his wife to pay more attention to their daughter, he had a responsibility to help her get her life back on track.

So he had his official driver go home first, then took the special passage in the underground parking lot, got into the car of Detectives Mori and Megure, and headed straight for the RinG showroom.

The staff at the front door of RinG Cafe are still part-time worker Shiina Tatsuki and store manager Rinrinko.

"Good evening, Hacksan... Are you planning to book a show for Sickhack? There are three prime-time shows next week, you can choose whichever you like."

After greeting him, Rinrinko immediately took on her duties as store manager, wanting to bring in Sickhack, the hottest band right now, to boost the popularity of her showroom.

"No, thank you. A competent store manager... Ms. Iwashita usually takes care of the performance arrangements."

“That’s a real shame,” Rinrinko said, glancing at the two bodyguards following Aoyama. After suffering a loss at “Starry Sky”, they had changed their non-mainstream look—with their afro, smoky makeup, and big earrings—into the idol otaku style most commonly seen among female band fans.

Idol-themed shirts, jeans, baseball caps, and then stickers supporting the idol on these clothes and hats...

There's nothing wrong with their outfits, the problem is with Inspector Megure and Mori. One is a muscular, strong man, and the other is a stunningly beautiful woman with a great figure...

They just don't match this outfit at all.

Igomachi Music Awards: 084 Suze: I'm leaving, I can't connect with you guys.

It's clear that after their previous setback, Mori and Inspector Megure put a lot of effort into improving their undercover disguises.

It's likely that she knew Aoyama often associated with girl bands, so she specifically looked into what people who like girl bands usually dress like.

But the progress made is barely worth mentioning...

Among the fans of the girl band, there are still more normal people and more casual fans.

These people wouldn't openly wear idol-themed shirts and plaster their support stickers everywhere...

Please, you're official members of the Metropolitan Police Department's Special Division! You're elite detectives who passed the National Security Officer Examination! When you're doing undercover work, could you please not imitate that small group of "core members" who best fit the stereotypes of your target group?!

Thankfully, this is just bodyguard work. If you were really allowed to secretly investigate something, it would probably delay everything.

No wonder Japanese police are outmatched by detectives outside the system... With this kind of disguise mindset, how can they possibly uncover anything during plainclothes investigations!

Whether they are hardcore fans or core members, these people are not only distinctive in their clothing and appearance, but also have distinctive characteristics in their words and actions that can be recognized by people in the industry at a glance. If you pretend, you can only learn their surface and cannot understand their inner self, so you will be easily exposed.

"Haksan, are these two your friends?"

Rinrinko looked at the two people whose clothes and personalities were completely mismatched, and immediately knew that they were complete laymen who neither knew anything about girl bands nor had they ever met any girl band fans.

"No, I don't know them," Aoyama said in a fake serious tone that any normal person would understand. "They're probably fans of some band that's going to perform tonight, right?"

"But there's no PPP performance today."

Rinrinko glanced at the words "Poppin Party" on Megure and Mori's shirts, her face showing a puzzled expression.

Aoyama just wanted to laugh. These two idiots probably thought that as long as they wore these clothes, they could get away with anything among the fans of all the girl bands. Little did they know that wearing another band's outfit during a performance would be as bright as a 300-watt light bulb in the dark.

But there was a stronger implication in his voice: "It's not that wearing a band's anthem means you can't watch other bands perform."

"..." Rinrinko was speechless, thinking to herself, "How could Hakusan be so mean?"

Poppin Party has a good relationship with other bands that frequently perform at RinG, so they wouldn't be upset that the two wore PP-themed shirts at their live shows. However, the fans of these bands are not so forgiving... But judging from the two's appearance, those fans would at most whisper behind their backs and wouldn't actually do anything drastic.

That said, what exactly are these two doing? They're neither real music fans nor do they seem to be here to cause trouble...

"Which show would you two like to buy tickets for? These are the posters of the bands performing tonight. Please feel free to choose."

Rinrinko asked.

"Ah this..."

The two detectives were taken aback. They hadn't considered this at all. According to the plan, if Aoyama wanted to see the performance, they would follow him in.

Fortunately, Ms. Mori reacted quickly, pointing to Aoyama's back and saying, "Just make it like his!"

Rinrinko finally understood that these two were simply Aoyama's lackeys.

"Haksan, which show do you want to see?"

“I’m not watching any of their shows; I just wanted to check on the ‘Misty’ band,” Aoyama said.

"……Fine."

Rinrinko wasn't disappointed. Aoyama and the old manager, Tokiwa, had a good relationship. Even if he didn't watch the live show and just sat at the bar, or even slept on a makeshift bed in the backstage rehearsal room, Rinrinko wouldn't feel comfortable kicking him out.

"Then let Lixi entertain you?"

Rinrin called out to Shiina Tatsuki, who was busy cleaning the dishwasher, and the latter immediately came over and stood in her original spot.

"Haksan, would you like something?"

“A glass of lemonade and…” Aoyama glanced back at the two detectives, who were probably still waiting for his orders and hadn’t had dinner yet. “Give them both two cappuccinos.”

This drink, loaded with oil and sugar, can quickly replenish energy for two people...

As for a proper dinner... I'll be going back to my studio soon, and then they can find their own food.

"Ok."

Shiina Tatsuki quickly prepared the triple drink and brought it over. Aoyama took a sip of lemonade, frowned at the sourness, and then asked.

"Ms. Shiina, how are the band activities going lately?"

"Fortunately."

Shiina Tatsuki's answer was very brief, but Aoyama could see a hint of worry in her eyes.

"What happened?"

"No..." Shiina Tatsuki wanted to deny it outright, but then she thought of Hakusan in front of her, a senior who was very kind to the band Mizuki, especially to Kodama. She knew that Toyokawa Shoko, Chihaya Aine, and Kaname Rakuna would all listen to what he said, so after hesitating for a while, she decided to tell him what had happened two hours ago.

"Here's what happened. This afternoon after school, Su Shi brought Xiao Mu over. She first took Xiao Mu to the rehearsal room and settled her in, and then called us all out, saying that she had something extremely urgent to discuss with us."

"She said Xiaomu had serious psychological problems, and the information Aiyin had helped her find out was not true."

Yin was a bit stunned and argued with Su Shi for a bit, then Su Shi angrily told us to go see for ourselves… So we went back to the rehearsal room and talked to Xiao Mu for a while, but Xiao Mu was still the same Xiao Mu; we couldn't see any psychological problems in her. But for some reason, Su Shi got angry again, grabbed Xiao Mu and left, saying something like, 'She wasn't like this in front of me.'

“But we had no idea what she was talking about… When they went out, they ran into the late stray cat. The stray cat looked at Xiao Mu and said, ‘Ah, there are two people, one of them is very powerful,’ and then he was also pulled away by Su Shi.”

"Afterwards, Xiangzi called Sushi, who said a lot of things on the phone, such as, 'I want to understand what Xiaomu really wants,' 'If she wants Crychic to come back, Xiangzi, you should agree!' 'If we keep excluding Xiaomu and forming the Michonne Band, it will only make Xiaomu's situation worse!' 'Do you think Xiaomu is dispensable to you, Xiangzi?' Then Xiangzi left in a huff without explaining the rehearsal content for the day."

After finishing this long string of words, Shiina Tatsuki let out a long breath, feeling relaxed both because he had someone to confide in and because he felt that after telling Aoyama the whole story, the other party might really have a way to solve it, thus giving him a glimmer of hope.

“I don’t know what happened, but the lamp looks very worried… Haksan, if you can help me, I would be very grateful.”

Isogachi Music Awards: 085 Hiroi Kikuri, caught in the net of justice.

Back in the car, the two plainclothes bodyguards looked at Aoyama with barely concealed glints in their eyes—

So, Your Excellency, you spend your free time playing "house" style band games with these girls.

Tsk tsk tsk. This is probably just the quirk of the powerful and influential.

Qingshan felt their gazes and immediately realized that his "reputation had been damaged".

"Ahem," Qingshan coughed twice, trying to appear more serious. "Musicians are all somewhat emotional... especially these kids who are at an age where they're full of emotions. It's perfectly normal for them to take social problems that arise between them very seriously. As their senior, it's not wrong for me to listen to their troubles and then guide them to understand and solve them correctly, is it?"

"understand."

"Should should."

The two bodyguards worked together to save face for Aoyama.

"So, Your Excellency, where shall we go next?"

Mori checked his watch. They had left after watching a live show at RinG, and it was already around 8 p.m. If they wanted to have dinner, this was their last chance; any later and they would only have a late-night snack.

Aoyama was thinking of going to Shimokitazawa to get something to eat, then going to the Starry Night Auditorium to chat with Iji Tomoka and talk about the Mizushige Band.

As the saying goes, everyone has their own expertise. As the manager of the live house, Ichiji Hoshika has many opportunities to deal with girl bands, so she should be able to offer some useful advice.

As a result, before the car was even started, Aoyama received a call from Hiroi Kikuri.

"Brother Yizhen, something terrible has happened! I've been arrested by the police!"

Lao Guangjing shouted on the other end of the phone.

"So you've finally gone down the path of breaking the law? Did you skip paying for a meal, or did you steal alcohol from a supermarket and get caught on the security camera?"

Aoyama was not surprised at all by this.

Although Lao Guangjing prides herself on being law-abiding, given her drinking habits and unconventional personality, she's bound to get into trouble sooner or later.

However, most of these are cases of negligent or accidental crimes. The specific criminal acts are usually things like damaging public property or affecting public order and good morals. They are easy to handle and don't even require Aoyama to get involved. A good lawyer can take care of it.

"If only it were that simple..."

Hiroi Kikuri's voice was trembling with tears, "They said our crime was 'assaulting a police officer'."

"You two? Are you with someone?"