My daily life is getting weird because I am caught between being in a band and being an idol.

Upon hearing these words, Xiangzi's father seemed deeply moved, bursting into tears and muttering to himself.

"Have I completed my mission?"

Listening to Chaoyang's gentle words and her father's self-reproachful and vulnerable whispers, Xiangzi felt a slight dissipation of the long-suppressed resentment in her heart. She gently bit her lower lip, seemingly struggling, and finally stepped forward, nodding slightly.

"Yes, Father, you have completed your mission."

Her voice trembled slightly, and her eyes held a hint of restraint.

"Even though... even though you've done many wrong things, leave the rest to me. I will take back everything that belongs to us."

He slowly raised his head, looked at his daughter, and his eyes glistened with tears.

My daughter has grown so tall! She's far taller than me.

"...Xiangzi...has he grown up yet?"

He choked up, his voice carrying a hint of relief and reluctance.

"I see... Can I rest now?"

No, she's still a high school freshman. I was just trying to comfort you to keep the mood going. Don't act like you're some kind of great person!

Chaoyang was internally ranting and raving.

. .

Half a day passed quickly. Chaoyang and Xiangzi worked together tacitly to pack her father's luggage.

Of course, he didn't really have much luggage left, just a few changes of clothes and not much money left.

Chaoyang even provided a sum of money to arrange for Xiangzi's father to return to his hometown in Aomori, with the plan to let him settle down there and no longer dwell on the lost past and the complicated entanglements with the wealthy families in the metropolis.

Finally, Xiangzi stood with his arms crossed, watching the bus carrying his father drive away into the distance.

"...What a hopeless father! I'll only accept my fate if I play along with him in this lousy act."

"Well, he's let you enjoy the life of a pampered young lady for over 10 years."

Chaoyang tried to smooth things over.

"I don't want to talk about this anymore."

"Okay then, I don't really want to say it anyway."

While they were still talking, Xiangzi had already turned and left.

But what is my relationship with this guy now?

"Speaking of Xiangzi, what's our relationship now?"

Chaoyang wasn't sure what to do, so he chased after them and asked directly.

"A raccoon dog of the same kind."

"What do you mean...? At least use a nicer word."

Xiangzi ignored Chaoyang's words and continued to speak on his own.

"Be prepared, since we're already in this together. I won't be gentle with you anymore. The first step is that the concert must succeed, not fail. I'm going to personally supervise those idols from the First Star Academy and have them practice under my watchful eye from now on."

Chaoyang had no choice but to take precautions. He had already decided to invite a few people to practice together, but due to Xiangzi's father's matter, he had to cancel it at the last minute. There was less than a week left.

"Well, okay, but there are two people over there who probably don't have very good tempers."

Season D shouldn't be a big problem, it's all about the handheld screen!!! 9. Lanpu and Xiangzi are arguing, but since the handheld screen is part of the Shibuya concert, I won't call her over.

. .

As night fell, after parting ways with Xiangzi, Chaoyang was finally able to return home and soak comfortably in a hot bath. The warm water soothed his tired body, washing away the day's fatigue. He relaxed completely and couldn't help but murmur to himself.

Today was also a day off, so the izakaya was closed and Asahi could leisurely take a bath. The only downside was that the bathtub in this studio apartment was very small, making it uncomfortable to soak.

"Ugh, I'm so tired, so tired... I definitely need to get a bigger house in the future, with a bathtub big enough for three people to lie down in. And then hehehehehe..."

Just as he was enjoying a warm bath, the doorbell suddenly rang. Chaoyang paused for a moment, then listened carefully and confirmed that it was indeed the doorbell of his own apartment building, not the call button from downstairs.

Logically speaking, if someone can come up and ring his doorbell directly, they're probably the neighbor, Rencai.

Speaking of which, Renna hasn't contacted me much lately, and I wonder how her band is doing.

Chaoyang opened the bathroom door; luckily, the small bathroom was only a few steps away from the entrance.

"Wait a minute, I'm taking a shower! Let me dry off and change my clothes."

"Ah!? Yes, I'm sorry, Mr. Hiraishi, my band has a performance tonight, and I have one ticket. Thank you for your patronage. If you can, I hope you can come and see us. I'll be going now! I'll put the ticket in the mailbox. Goodbye!"

As expected, it was Nina outside the door. She must have heard that Asahi was taking a shower, because she immediately became flustered.

As some noises came from the door, Chaoyang figured it was the mailbox moving after the ticket was slipped in. Chaoyang could only sigh and, thinking that her pleasant bath time was about to end, grabbed a dry towel and dried herself off.

Then I went to the entrance hall, opened the mailbox hanging behind the door, and there was indeed a ticket inside.

"Oh well, I'm just killing time anyway, so I might as well relax."

Back in his room, he casually picked out a set of casual clothes to change into.

After quickly tidying up, Chaoyang went out and walked to a nearby restaurant for dinner.

I glanced at the time and realized there was still some time before the performance, so I leisurely took a walk to digest my food.

. .

9 pm.

"Want to buy a T-shirt?"

Towels are also available! Please take care of them!

The performance was basically over by then.

The rest of the time is basically spent on things like fan interfaces or selling merchandise.

Like other bands, Nina and her band also started selling merchandise.

Unfortunately, no one came after I shouted for so long.

Ebi V Satoshi saw passersby walk past him without even glancing at him, and immediately turned to Nina next to him, looking unhappy.

"That's why I said, don't do this kind of merchandise! The band's budget is already tight, and now it's making things even worse!"

"...Well, how about adding...a buy-one-get-one-free deal that includes cute photos of Tomo and Subaru if we buy now?"

Renna fidgeted with her fingers and timidly revealed her proposed sales plan.

"Sell your own photos!"

Ebi V Tomo and Subaru shouted "Nina!" in unison.

"Haha, that's so Nina-esque, doing it without thinking it through... By the way, your performance was great, you're getting more and more professional."

At that moment, Chaoyang walked over.

"Ah, Mr. Hiraishi, you're here!? Please! At least buy us one item so we can make up for lost money!"

Nina stepped forward and unfolded a shirt with the words "New Kawasaki" printed on it, looking pitiful as she spoke.

Asahi looked at Renna's expectant eyes, then glanced at the T-shirt in her hand, shook his head with a smile, and sighed.

"I just can't do anything with you, Nina. Fine, I'll buy a few items as a way of supporting you guys."

Ebi V-Chi said, rubbing his forehead in distress.

"...What's the point of this kind of internal money transfer between friends? You might as well just ask him for the money directly...By the way, what's with this team name? People might think it's a football team."

Chaoyang smiled and echoed.

"That's true, the band name isn't good. It's too corny for rock fans. When I was watching from the audience, there were quite a lot of supporters. The reason no one's coming is probably because of the band name, Nina!"

You've put too many clothes in your hands!!! Even if I bought them all, I wouldn't have room to put them all! And I can't carry them all back!

As Chaoyang was speaking, he suddenly realized that his hands were getting heavier and heavier. He looked down and found that Rencai had filled his clothes without him noticing.

"Hey hey hey~"

Rencai stuck out her tongue and laughed sheepishly.

"Yeah, how can you put so many clothes in there! ...Why don't you put some towels on top too?"

At this point, Subaru went even further, saying something as he tried to put a folded towel in Asahi's hand, the two of them working together to make Asahi pay the whole bill.

"I've already said, you might as well just ask your boyfriend for money! ... Don't mess around with this."

Ebi V-Chi angrily yelled at the two JKs who were joking around, then stuffed the merchandise in Asahi's hand back into the cardboard box.

Surprisingly, Ebi V, the youngest of the three, seemed to be the most normal.

"Ah... I already told you, Mr. Hiraishi, he's not my boyfriend... Hmm..."

An and Subaru shook their heads, no longer following Nina's nonsense, and asked a question.

"Forget about that for now. What are we going to do with all this merchandise? We can't just let it sit in our hands forever."

"..."

Renna and Ebi V-Chi were naturally helpless.

Seeing this, Chaoyang had no choice but to help them solve the problem as usual.

"Just put them all on my company's website to sell. I'll waive the handling fee for Rencai's sake and just deduct the shipping fee from the sales amount."

"Huh? Really!? Thank you so much, Mr. Hiraishi!!!"

Renna was so happy that she wanted to go up and hug him, but she hesitated because of the difference between men and women.

"...Is it okay to just deduct the shipping fee?"

Ebi V looked at the rising sun and asked in a slightly displeased tone.

It's not that I'm targeting Chaoyang, it's just that I clearly want to study music to support myself, but I have to rely on my teammate's boyfriend (as Ebi V-Chi subjectively believes) for help. This can't be considered a professional band at all, it's just an amateur activity with parental support.

"Don't worry about your feelings for this guy and how you're taking care of us. Just smoke as much as you want."

Ebi V, not wanting to owe anyone a favor, said this to Chaoyang.

If I didn't have to calculate it, I wouldn't even list this kind of thing.

Chaoyang certainly wouldn't say it outright. If he did, it seemed the other party would rather suffer the consequences themselves.

She's still just a child after all.

"I know, I'll make a good profit off you guys. Be prepared."

Chapter 125 This band is going to break up!

Asahi originally intended to leave, but then she considered that she had been invited, and that she and Renna were quite close, and that she liked her. Although her first impression of her was that she was a well-behaved and naive young lady, she turned out to be a hot-tempered and straightforward girl.

Overall, he's a good kid, and he and Momoka have helped me a lot.

"Do you have any plans for a victory celebration later?"

"...Although I really want to..."

Subaru spoke first, followed by Nina.

"But we have no money left."

Upon hearing this, Chaoyang rolled up his sleeves and said.

"Alright~ Since that's the case, and I've been invited here today, I'll treat you."

Rencai immediately said excitedly.

"Is it really alright? You've already helped us so much, and you're still going to treat us to a meal. It's so wonderful to have met Mr. Hiraishi!!!"

After saying that, she looked like she was about to cry from being moved.

"..."

Ebi V-Chi didn't seem very happy; he just turned his head away.

"...Looks like Rupa-san is quite popular in your team. If you ever need money, why not have her dress up as a man and become a gigolo to swindle women out of their money?"

Chaoyang stood beside them, waiting for the RUPA fan meeting to end.

Seeing the girls lining up to take photos with RUPA, all of them blushing, Chaoyang was a little envious, so he started teasing them.

"No way! How can you deceive someone's feelings!"