Losing money, mygo, what does it mean that I really lost money?

"Don't worry." Toyokawa Shoko put away the paper sheet music for the two songs.

She still exuded the air of a young lady, making her seem even more unapproachable. "I will deliver it to the agency within the time limit. I have other matters to attend to, please excuse me and take your leave."

Please excuse my rudeness and take your leave.

Jin Zhaozhi recited this awkward honorific aloud in his heart.

"Bon Voyage."

"Goodbye... Mr. President." Toyokawa Shoko nodded politely to him, slung her bag over her shoulder, pushed open the door, and left in a hurry, clearly having another event to attend.

He watched the retreating figure of the eldest daughter of the Toyokawa family.

The young lady doesn't like changing her clothes much anymore. She wore the same outfit she did when she came to the coffee shop to announce the disbandment last time. And she doesn't ride in her Maybach anymore. Could it be that the young lady is really in trouble?

He wondered with a hint of amusement, "Toyokawa Seiji has resigned and lost all his privileges? But I haven't heard any news about the Toyokawa clan's junior branch moving into the main branch. What is Toyokawa Sadaharu up to?"

Forget it, let's not think about the Toyokawa family for now.

With Toyokawa Shoko around, he'll eventually have a bargaining chip to use against the Toyokawa zaibatsu, so there's no rush now.

During this meeting, he reached a preliminary cooperation agreement with Toyokawa Shoko, who agreed to work part-time as an arrangement assistant and support keyboardist at the agency, not as an employee of the agency, but as an outsourced employee.

And one more thing.

Toyokawa Shoko hinted in various ways that she was willing to take a low percentage of the profits, hoping only to become a virtual artist for the agency... It wasn't really about the profit sharing, as Imaizumi didn't care about that.

He already had his heart set on the last spot for the first generation members, a guitarist in Kawasaki with arranging skills, Momoka Kawaharaki.

Therefore, Toyokawa Shoko cannot debut immediately and must wait for the second generation of members.

Momoka Kawahara's musical style suits Imaizumi's taste perfectly, making commercial marketing easy. Currently, the agency's band lacks someone capable of cultivating a "genius musician" persona, making her a perfect fit. They've already contacted her these past few days to discuss the details; it's inconvenient to replace her with Shoko Toyokawa at the last minute.

Moreover, Jin Zhaozhi has other plans for Toyokawa Shoko.

He felt that Toyokawa Shoko's flexible arrangement style was more suitable for a concept she had discussed with Nakamachi Arale: stage design, an original world view, and a storyline to be performed before singing. Toyokawa Shoko was quite interested after hearing this and wanted to discuss it with Imaizumi immediately, but unfortunately her phone rang and she had to leave in a hurry.

"Store manager!"

No sooner had Toyokawa Shoko left than a golden figure pushed open the door and entered. ∪(°叁◇ˉ※∩§≯

Arale Nakamachi interrupted Teruyuki Ima's greeting, "Our teacher said that when you encounter something you can't solve or can't understand, it's best to ask an elder. In Tokyo, the elder I trust most is you..."

"Go ahead."

So, Jin Zhaozhi listened to his golden retriever's low grumbling.

It's a good thing that I didn't keep it to myself.

The blonde girl mumbled something for a long time before she could roughly express what she meant.

Jin Zhaozhi summarized it as follows:

"You mean, at our father's funeral, you were unhappy with your sister's indifferent reaction, said some really hurtful things, and made her leave. Now you've discovered that she's an idol at Wing-Wind, an agency controlled by the Toyokawa Group, and she's using your name?"

"Yes."

"Actually, you've thought it through too."

Jin Zhaozhi thought for a moment, "The perpetrator can only make up for so little. They can only do their best. Whether they can make amends depends entirely on the injured person's own thoughts. We can't force them. There's not much I can do to help you in this regard."

“Hmm…” Nakamachi Arale pursed her lips.

“I’ll see if there’s a chance to contact Smimi. What I’m more curious about is why your sister uses your name?” Imaizumi was more interested in another matter.

The passionate theme of "inheriting the name and inheriting the dream" should never happen to Mitsuko Mitsuko, who was told, "It wasn't your dad who died, so you're not sad."

It's good enough that she doesn't dislike the name, so why would she use it as a stage name?

Arale Nakamachi gave him an unexpected answer:

"Perhaps it has something to do with Toyokawa Shoko."

She hesitated for a moment before stating her repeatedly verified guess: "Because I didn't experience that night with Xiangzi... I think that when I had a fever, my sister pretended to be me at night and contacted Toyokawa Xiangzi. Crychic's song 'Sea Summer Night' was also written for my sister."

Not only is there the matter of Toyokawa Shoko, but also the literature of stand-ins?

Jin Zhaozhi heard a rather rare story.

"You think your sister impersonated you and entered the firm that the Toyokawa family owns? I think that's impossible. Toyokawa Shoko never even asked you about Smimi."

"No, what I mean is, my sister might want to directly take over the connection between Toyokawa Shoko and me, and contact Shoko. My sister has always seemed sullen, and on the island she only talks to me. Toyokawa Shoko said she was so happy that night, maybe the two of them became good friends because of that."

"...Then, because of your friendship with Toyokawa Shoko, your sister can't possibly admit that she impersonated you that day? So, you're in a dilemma about whether or not to see her?" Imaizumi understood and also felt that Nakamachi Arale made sense.

9. If we had to say, there's still a very small possibility: the name "Mitsune Miku" might be some kind of taboo that can't be mentioned, which is something he can't guess.

4. With Arale from Nakamachi arriving in Tokyo and meeting Shoko Toyokawa before her older sister, resolving the conflict between the two seems difficult. Besides their initial conflict, Miku Misaki also has to explain why she used her younger sister's name...

Is this the vibrant, youthful girl band member, Ba?

After thinking it over, he still advised:

"Perhaps this is a signal. Once Smimi's fame spreads to your hometown island, you'll easily know that she has fulfilled your dream."

3. "Mm." The blonde girl nodded, then smiled.

"Manager, I've been listening for so long, shall I make you a cup of black tea?"

Ling hoped her guess was true.

She hoped to get rid of both of them at once.

According to the other members of Crychic, after Toyokawa Shoko wrote "Umi no Ya" (Sea Summer Night) with an island-style vocal style for Nakamachi Arale, Arale wrote "Rebirth Song" (Rebirth Song) with a lyrical and gentle style and gave it to the whole group.

Under these circumstances, the other members of Crychic were quite moved after the performance; however, this emotion had nothing to do with Arale Nakamachi. The person who experienced that night of "Umi Natsuya" was Mitsuki Misaki, not her. "Rebirth Song" was also written for her by Teruyuki Ima, and had nothing to do with Crychic.

If only I could get rid of both of them at once... that would be great.

Main text: Chapter 35 (Chapter 34) President Jin is a man who could become my father.

While Ima Teruyuki and Nakamachi Arale speculated about the Toyokawa family's dark side and the old Toyokawa Sadaharu's ruthless elbowing of Toyokawa Kiyokazu, the rest of the agency began their day's proceedings as usual.

Aine, Nyan, and Takamatsu all had things to do at school. The first two had to deal with graduation and further education, while the latter was starting a new semester and preparing for the Haneoka entrance exam. Therefore, only Ps*Ple came this morning.

ExElio Studio rehearsal room.

Maruyama Aya walked listlessly, looking somewhat absent-minded.

She was holding her phone in her left hand, with an earphone attached to her right ear, clearly listening intently. The phone was showing a recording of a meeting at Teruyuki Ima's office headquarters in Yoyogi.

Arriving at the rehearsal room, she rewound the video recording to the beginning and dialed the phone.

"President, actually... no, can I talk to you about the script for my live concert reflections first? I can't exclude your influence from my reflections, I can't do that..."

Her voice was soft and delicate, completely different from her radiant performance. As she read the last few words, her face began to flush the same color as her hair due to nervousness.

No one would associate this pink-haired girl, who is speaking in such a gentle and aggrieved tone, with Maruyama Aya, the idol who earned 100 million yen for a single song on stage.

The real-life Aya Maruyama—

She was a girl who lacked self-confidence and spoke as if she were born with a hunched back.

From a young age, she dreamed of standing on stage, becoming one of those shining stars, and she worked hard for a long time to emulate her idol. But how to put it? She kept failing. The harder she tried, the more she failed.

Due to the previous bleakness of her career, her lack of self-confidence tended to intensify. She would feel frustrated and doubt herself after each concert, as if she would die alone in a dark corner if no one cared for her.

Then, the dawn that illuminated life appeared.

For her, Jin Zhaozhi, who clearly pointed out the entire path to the future and whose plans unfolded, were executed, and succeeded exactly as he had predicted, was like a deity.

No, rather than a deity, it's more like a being that is closer to her and understands her better.

Maruyama Aya, I dream of becoming someone like President Ima...∞〕∴№8｝『□

"Xiao Cai, you need to know that live streaming is a performance."

The familiar voice of the company president reached my ears:

"Whenever you're in front of a camera, you're not yourself, you're a product. The product only needs to portray the image that customers want to see: 'An idol who thanks their fans.' Also, I have other plans for managing my online image, so please try not to mention me before then."

"Yes! I understand..."

Maruyama Aya quickly responded, her voice somewhat unsteady.

"What I mean is, I'm very grateful to the president because I used to be so clumsy, and I would even bite my tongue during MCing, always messing things up. Yesterday was so much fun... um, goodbye..."

After being hung up on and quickly bowing to the air, her face still had a pinkish tinge from nervousness, as if she had just cried, and she was beginning to show signs of dejection again.

Moreover, it would be somewhat difficult to describe the feeling of a normal celebrity being treated as a commodity.

However, Maruyama Aya, who had been used to failure since childhood and that all her efforts were in vain, was not saddened when she experienced the feeling of succeeding simply by following orders and being controlled by others.

They were even happy about it.

"How can I be happy just because the president said I'm a product? That's so weird!..." The pink-haired girl ruffled her hair, which framing her face like a moat, and patted her cheeks.

However, the feeling of standing beside a confident person and following them from one victory to the next is indeed very pleasant and addictive... It's normal for her to get used to it a little.

Maruyama Aya convinced herself of this.

She's not a strange person; she just admires President Imaizumi's foresight, right?

Her mind was a complete mess, and without realizing it, she pushed open the backstage door.

Chisato Shirahiro's reprimanding voice came clearly from backstage: "Ninja, don't eat such strong-smelling food backstage! Do you think this is your cafeteria?"

"You won't let me go see the club president, and you won't let me eat. Chisato, don't go too far."

"I already told the artists not to call the company president so casually!"

"I don't care, you have to do one of these two things for me!"

"Have you completely lost the ability to communicate with her? No, Eve, you should talk to her too."

"To mentor Yulong and serve our lord is our destiny and honor..."

"..."

Backstage, Ps*Ple and the others were playfully bickering, seemingly staging a scene where Hikawa Hina and Wakamiya Eve were trying to overthrow the treacherous official who was suspected of trying to seize power and prevent them from meeting the current president.

Maruyama Aya raised her hand timidly: "Um, I'm here."

"Ah, Aya, you're here. This is the draft script from last night's haphazard discussion. I recorded it and did a quick reorganization." Yamato Maya pushed a stack of documents toward Maruyama Aya.

Then, she pulled out a lot more photos. "It seems that the president is going to release photos themed around last night's live performance. I selected a lot from the videos recorded from various cameras. Come and choose your own photos."

"Oh! It feels so good~" Scar‖》Sad≠￡6♂∪琉4【、Four.≮児覺≥ˇSlippery skirt：

Hikawa Hina completely abandoned her comrades-in-arms and flipped through her own photos. "What is this? This one, number 947! Is this me? My expression is so strange!"

"This is the retribution for consuming heavily oiled and salty foods."

"puff."

"Sorry, it must be a problem with my screenshot; there was slight distortion due to movement..."

During the discussion, Aya Maruyama received many photos that she had selected, mostly of her winking and cat-like cute moments on Bilibili Limited stages.

Every single photo looked good, but since President Jin hadn't mentioned the direction of the photos to her, Maruyama Aya suddenly felt a sense of helplessness, hesitation, and anxiety.

I guess I should ask President Jin.

......

Inside the coffee shop, Arale Nakamachi had composed herself. "President, we were interrupted by Crychic last time. Shall we go to Shimokitazawa again this time? And the same Strry as last time?"

"Still Shimokitazawa? Alright."

I originally wanted to go to RiNG to discuss work, or maybe search for Smimi.

On weekdays, he wanted to talk about work as much as possible. But then he thought that talking about work wouldn't earn him much more money, not enough to cover the 20 million yen deficit. Besides, he wasn't really interested in the business offered by Tsuzuki Shisen anymore, and he'd rather go to LiveHose with his lovely blonde entertainer for research.

"Then I'll go upstairs to change my clothes."

"Okay, I'll wait for you downstairs."

Arale Nakamachi hummed a song as she went upstairs.

While browsing his phone, Jin Zhaozhi, feeling bored, suddenly discovered that Ms. Maruyama Aya had sent him a lot of photos, along with a sentence and a cute emoticon at the end.

Which picture of me is cuter?

Main text: Chapter 36 (Chapter 35) - Maruyama Aya, the Crybaby

Meanwhile, in a corner backstage of the rehearsal room.

"Hina! You, why did you suddenly..."