They all pushed me!

So, she also wanted to see Liang.

The inorganic pupils of the [Milk Lamb] in the gift box are sparkling——

Pinhole camera.

Chapter 45: Birthday Gift

After finishing a whole day's classes, eight-year-old Kitagawa Rumi walked happily towards the activity room. The elementary school's school ends very early, at three o'clock in the afternoon.

If the children live far away and need to be picked up by their parents but their parents have not yet finished get off work, these children will be taken to the activity room by the teacher to do some activities of their interest such as handicrafts, board games, etc. to pass the time.

But more children will actually be sent to extracurricular tutoring classes. As one of the three volumes in East Asia, although Japan's school time is early, if parents or students themselves intend to continue their studies, extracurricular tutoring classes are still essential.

Naturally, Kitagawa Ryo would not enroll his sister in any extracurricular tutoring classes. To put it bluntly, with his current financial situation, there would be no problem even if Kitagawa Rumi stayed at home and did nothing for the rest of her life.

However, Kitagawa Rumi does not go home as soon as school is over. Most of the time, she stays to participate in extracurricular activities, either going to her dance teacher to learn moves and practice dancing, or painting with Samejima Abiko. However, compared with the other's level, she is basically just graffiti.

But Kitagawa Rumi doesn't care about this at all. She has now realized the advantages of being a child. Even if the most terrible work is handed to Kitagawa Ryo, he will touch her head and praise her, saying "It's a good painting, very childlike and interesting."

Thinking of this, Kitagawa Rumi couldn't help but laugh out loud, and she even paused to put her schoolbag down, which attracted the attention of Samejima Abiko who was sitting next to her.

"You're suddenly smiling so happily, Ruby, have you thought of a gift for brother...your brother?"

Kitagawa Rumi's brother Kitagawa Ryo is about to turn sixteen years old, and Rumi doesn't even need to tell her herself. At this point in time, it seems that as long as you have a mobile phone that can access the Internet, you will be informed by the overwhelming and spontaneous promotions from fans.

After all, those birthday celebrations involving asteroids, endangered animal protection, and chartering airplane performances over Hollywood would seem quite shocking even to passers-by.

However, what these fans did not expect was that their gifts actually added a lot of pressure to Kitagawa Rumi.

In fact, even Kitagawa Rumi herself was a little confused at the beginning. She did not expect that Kitagawa Ryo’s birthday celebration this year would cause heated discussions all over the Internet. She clearly remembered that her brother’s birthday celebrations were not so exaggerated before.

Although there are fans who spontaneously organize birthday celebrations, generally speaking, both the scale and number are far less than this time.

However, after surfing the Internet with her small account for a whole night, Kitagawa Rumi finally recovered.

To use Mr. Izaki's words, this should be called "the fan audience group presents a diversified and expanded ecosystem."

But what Kitagawa Rumi summed up simply and clearly was, "Those people didn't come for her acting skills at all, they just wanted her brother's body."

Kitagawa Rumi, who has been in the online fan circle for more than ten years in her two lifetimes, is very clear about the logic of star-chasers.

To put it bluntly, the battle between fans and haters on the Internet is more like a kind of "proud of oneself". Many people like to become fans of the top person in the industry, and then use his achievements to gain a high point and an invincible position in online debates.

In fact, in essence, Kitagawa Ryo is not an idol, but for the expanded fan circle, he is really the most suitable person to be promoted.

First of all, in terms of appearance, although Kitagawa Ryo has always been an actor, after his facial features gradually developed and he grew from a child to a teenager, many serious idols who debuted are much inferior to him. For the majority of people who are obsessed with looks, this is a basic condition.

Then there is popularity. The most important thing on the Internet is interaction. The joy gained from joining a popular circle is often greater than that from a niche circle. The fans' daily secondary creations alone are a feast for the eyes. The same is true in reverse. By adding the other party's relevant tags, the things you post can also get a higher level of discussion.

Coincidentally, Kitagawa Ryo's popularity has always been top-notch among actors, and the related popularity has remained high.

Finally, and most importantly, "feel proud of it".

In fact, maybe many fans like neither Kitagawa Ryo himself nor his acting skills, but a sense of superiority that allows them to trample on others under his name. The better Kitagawa Ryo performs, the more recognition he gets from professionals in the circle and the more praise he gets from the audience, the more reason they have to use this banner to run wild on the Internet.

Combining these three factors, it is not difficult to explain why my brother experienced another surge in popularity between the ages of fifteen and sixteen.

But Kitagawa Rumi also had to admit that the action and financial ability of this group of fans are indeed much more outstanding than those of the aunts back then.

That's why Kitagawa Rumi feels troubled.

Perhaps because the momentum of this event was too huge and the fans' publicity was too shocking, Kitagawa Rumi was rarely faced with the dilemma of choosing a gift.

"……not at all."

Kitagawa Rumi answered her friend's question with a pursed mouth.

"How about folding a thousand paper cranes?"

Samejima Abiko began to give Kitagawa Rumi some advice:

"After all, Ruby can't afford an asteroid."

"…What's the point of buying asteroids? My brother can't even see which of the many stars were bought for him by those people."

"I'm the only one he can see every night."

"If you can think that way, then why did you spend so much time thinking about this gift? Isn't it enough to just say happy birthday and make some small handicrafts and give it to the recipient like before?"

Samejima Abiko curled her lips, seeming like she couldn't quite understand Kitagawa Rumi's train of thought.

"Because Sister Ai didn't really prepare any gifts before."

Kitagawa Rumi leaned over and whispered to her friend, whispering:

"But I can see that she wants to give a big gift this year as well."

"We started promoting my brother's birthday a long time ago, but my sister Ai insisted on booking a time slot at Tokyo Dome during this period. From a business perspective, it's totally uneconomical."

Just like sometimes the official announcement of an event carefully prepared by celebrities has its attention stolen by some inexplicable hot topic, the public’s energy is limited.

"so what?"

Samejima Abiko didn't know much about these things.

"This is definitely a conspiracy."

Kitagawa Rumi said with great certainty.

"so what?"

Samejima Abiko repeated it emotionlessly.

"Maybe it's like in the comics, she treats herself as a gift."

"This should be considered a plot in the book."

"perhaps."

Chapter 46: Private Fans

After another fruitless brainstorming session between the two, Kitagawa Rumi still couldn't think of a birthday present that satisfied her, and was sent home by Samejima Abiko's father, feeling a little depressed.

After she climbed up the stairs, opened the door of her home with the key, and listlessly said "I'm back", Kitagawa Rumi discovered that there seemed to be guests at home today. There were three cups of leftover tea on the table in the living room.

"Clean up and get ready for dinner, Ruby."

Hearing the sound of the door opening, Beichuan Ryoya poked his head out of the kitchen and spoke casually.

"Brother, was there anyone here just now?"

Kitagawa Rumi nodded. She changed into slippers at the entrance and walked into the kitchen with clatters, asking curiously.

"The partners from Morinaga came to visit. Oh, and they seem to have sent some new dolls. Isn't Ruby's favorite? They're on the sofa. Let's go take a look first?"

"Oh."

Kitagawa Rumi didn't expect that before she had even decided on a birthday gift for her brother, he had already given her another gift.

She walked back to the living room and found an exquisitely wrapped gift box on the sofa. After cutting the ribbon with scissors, Kitagawa Rumi saw a handwritten postcard and a big lamb doll inside.

After casually glancing at the contents of the postcard, Kitagawa Rumi put it aside and ran back to the kitchen holding the lamb doll:

"Brother, is this a new product to be launched? It's so cute."

"Well, the tentative name is [Milk Lamb]. If Ruby likes it, she can try this new flavor when it is officially released. After all, although the three flavors launched before are all good, they have been several years after all."

“You’ll never get tired of eating [Orange Bear]!”

After saying this, Kitagawa Rumi ran back to the living room.

Of the three dolls that Morinaga Company gave to Kitagawa Ryo, the [Orange Bear] is still quietly staying at the head of Kitagawa Rumi's bed, serving as a pillow when she goes to sleep every night.

The [Strawberry Bunny] is Hoshino Ai's special cushion and backrest. She likes this pink rabbit very much. Every time she comes to Kitagawa's house, she will take it in her hands, so it is placed in a corner of the sofa.

As for the "Watermelon Kitten" that no one cares about, it is still thrown into the corner of the closet by Kitagawa Rumi. Except for being taken out by Kitagawa Ryo to be washed and dried together with the other two dolls from time to time, it has basically never been taken out.

Perhaps because of the improvement in technical capabilities and the importance attached to Kitagawa Ryo, the [Milk Lamb] sent this year is a size larger than the previous three dolls. Although Kitagawa Rumi likes this pure white lamb a little, if she puts it at the head of the bed, she always feels that she has no place to sleep.

So after a little thought, Kitagawa Rumi simply placed it in the middle of the sofa as a pillow for backrest, and then, under the urging of Kitagawa Ryo, she obediently went to wash her hands and prepare for dinner.

While helping to clean up the three cups of tea left on the table in the living room, Kitagawa Rumi noticed something a little strange.

There was a cup of tea that was drunk so cleanly that there was hardly a drop left.

Are you too thirsty?

Kitagawa Rumi poured all the remaining tea leaves in the cup into the trash can in confusion. Suddenly, she felt that even the amount of tea leaves in the cup that had been drunk clean was too little.

-------------------------------------

Rina Isuzu installed a wireless pinhole camera inside the doll. In order to facilitate the reception of signals for real-time observation, she rented another house near Kitagawa Ryo's apartment.

The vast majority of sasaeng fans (fans who try to get into the private lives of celebrities) actually come from quite wealthy families. After all, one cannot be a sasaeng fan without money and time. In order to secretly take pictures of their favorite celebrities, some people will even do something crazy like booking all the rooms in the hotel where the celebrity is staying in advance.

After secretly filming the Kitagawa household in real time for a whole day, Rina Isugami was still a little disappointed because the doll was placed in the living room and the view she could see most of the time was quite limited.

It is not an exaggeration to say that Kitagawa Rumi appears in the camera more times than Kitagawa Ryo.

Rina Isuka took a sip of the tea in front of her. During her visit that day, she secretly took some of the brewed tea leaves from the cup, then mixed them with her own tea leaves and brewed them once, twice, and three times.

While she was drinking the tea, her mind kept replaying the scene of Beichuan Liang taking them out of the tea box with his slender white hands, pouring boiling water into them and handing them to her.

Rina Issan took another sip. She felt that her own breath and Kitagawa Ryo's breath were mixed in it. In this cup, they truly merged into one through the tea leaves.

But she was not without gain in the past two days.

By eavesdropping on the conversation between Kitagawa Ryo and his sister, Ichisan Rina has basically understood the time when the two go out.

In other words, she was given a time slot in which she could still try to break in.

In the next two days, the persistent Rina Ichisan finally climbed into the Kitagawa house through a window that Kitagawa Rumi forgot to lock.

This was a very dangerous move, but Rina Isshiki seemed to feel no fear. Like a devout believer embarking on a pilgrimage, she finally arrived at Kitagawa Ryo's house.

She first replaced the battery in the pinhole camera inside the doll, and then walked directly into Kitagawa Ryo's room.

Just like an adventurer who had entered a place full of treasures, Rina Ichisan didn't know what to do for a moment. With trembling fingers, she opened Kitagawa Ryo's closet and took out a short-sleeved shirt.

When Rina Isamu walked out of Kitagawa Ryo's room again, she was only wearing this thin shirt. The short hem barely covered the base of her thighs and buttocks.

She was holding a wooden stick in her hand, which was a stick left from an empty ice cream cone that Rina Ichisan found in the trash can in Kitagawa Ryo's room.

Then, the wooden stick was put into her mouth. Although it had no taste, her brain was filled with a taste sweeter than oranges, watermelons and strawberries.

The greedy tongue traced its surface, and the body and heart seemed to be hot and burning. A hot and heavy feeling like magma came from the lower abdomen.

As if to suppress this feeling, but also as if to make it boil again, Rina Ishika walked into the bathroom and got into the bathtub.

However, in another corner that she didn't know, another person had been pointing the camera at this side for a long time.

"I thought it was some secret girlfriend, but it turned out to be a stalker fan..."

Reporter Tanaka murmured in disappointment.

However, all information related to Beichuan Liang is valuable.

Well then - just report it like this.

Chapter 47: Ruby's Big Victory!

Professional tabloid reporters only need the simplest investigative methods. Just like when he investigated Kitagawa Tomiko's extramarital affair a few years ago, reporter Tanaka adopted a very practical on-the-spot method.

It was impossible for him to put a pinhole camera into Beichuan Ryo's house, so he could only use the most stupid method, which was to squat in front of Beichuan Ryo's apartment day and night and record the daily comings and goings of visitors to the Beichuan family.

Although no young and beautiful girls were seen entering or leaving Kitagawa Ryo's apartment in the past two days, reporter Tanaka still maintained considerable patience. He even asked another reporter friend to work in shifts with him, monitoring the area around Kitagawa Ryo's apartment day and night.

The Kitagawa siblings had quite regular travel times, and the only visitors during the past few days were representatives from the cooperative manufacturer, Morinaga. The only person who left some impression on Tanaka was a very pretty girl among the Morinaga staff.

However, after asking someone to conduct a special investigation, reporter Tanaka confirmed that the 20-year-old female college student named Rina Issu had no previous connection with Kitagawa Ryo and was just his fan.

But after watching for a few more days, reporter Tanaka noticed something unusual. It seemed that Rina Issu also lived in the same residential area, even on a floor near Kitagawa's house. She kept a reclusive habit and only went out in the middle of the night to buy food and drinking water from the convenience store in the community.

As a veteran tabloid reporter, Tanaka immediately made his own judgment.

If this Rina Isshin is not the secret girlfriend placed here by Ryo Kitagawa, then she is an avid stalker fan.

After gradually shifting his attention to Rina Issu, reporter Tanaka also witnessed with his own eyes that the other party broke into the Kitagawa family's house through the empty door.

This is something that even tabloid reporters like them dare not do. Trespassing into other people's homes without permission is an outright illegal act.

However, reporter Tanaka was quite clever in choosing to use a blurry remote photography to record photos and videos of Rina Isugami breaking into the Kitagawa house.

He still remembered his journalist predecessor Kevin Carter, who had taken the photo of "The Starving Sudan" at the end of the last century, the famous photo of a black child lying on the ground dying, with vultures waiting on the side with their wings folded.

As this photo caused a huge sensation internationally, Kevin Carter fell into endless moral condemnation. Countless people accused him of thinking of taking pictures first instead of rescuing the child. This also led to Kevin Carter's suicide due to depression a year later.

Although the truth was finally revealed, there was a relief center in front of the photo, and the child's mother was receiving food in front of it. After the photo was taken, Kevin Carter also stepped forward to help the child drive away the vultures, but no one cared anymore.