Loneliness and Rock and Roll with Band Observer

Why didn’t I choose a piece of clothing carefully before coming here?

My mother obviously bought me a lot of clothes... Although the styles don't quite match me, my style is totally inappropriate for this kind of occasion...

This time, even Qiu Hui dressed up like this...

Ichiri was a little upset by Akie's style, which was very different from her usual style.

"...Pochi? What's wrong? Don't stand in the sun any longer. Let's go to the lobby and wait for everyone. There's air conditioning after all."

"Oh, yes! I'll be right there!"

Yili hurriedly caught up with Qiu Hui, and walked into the main entrance while worrying about the gazes of the security guards and waiters.

Chapter 85: Excellent Business

Walking into the lobby with Ichiri, Qiu Hui took out her cell phone again and checked the time.

It was actually quite early for the scheduled meeting, but she decided to arrive early out of habit.

After entering the lobby, Yili raised his head and looked up at the majestic vaulted ceiling with awe.

But Qiu Hui didn't care about the furnishings in the lobby at all. She had seen too many commercial designs that deliberately emphasized artistic sense but were actually very tacky.

She was just concentrating on finding a suitable seat and looking for people who had arrived early like her.

As it happened, she noticed someone and walked towards him slowly.

"Hello, is this Mr. Mita from the legal department of Kanade Pro?"

Qiu Hui had seen Mr. Mita's photo in the files that were sent over before, and they had also communicated with him via email before.

This Mita is a young man who looks to be in his early thirties at most, but his hairline has receded to a dangerous level.

He also noticed Qiu Hui approaching this side, was stunned at first, and then stood up as if he suddenly realized something.

"Yes. Are you Togawa-san who intends to sign a contract with our company? Nice to meet you."

Qiu Hui gave him a cheerful professional smile and nodded slightly in greeting.

It seemed that he did not have much experience in dealing with high school girls, so Mita behaved quite reservedly, and even felt like he was being led by the other party.

"I didn't expect to meet you here so early. Thank you very much for your attention to this meeting." Qiu Hui said with a smile.

“No, no, Togawa-san, you are the one…”

Realizing that he was using honorifics to address a high school girl, Mita felt a little uncomfortable and coughed twice, then looked behind Akie.

"…Hello, classmate. I'm Mita from the Legal Department of Kanade Pro. May I ask who you are?"

Trying to change the subject, Mita showed a kind expression and looked at Goto Ichiri behind Akie.

"babble?"

However, although Mita has been as kind as possible, for Xiao Boqi, dealing with professionals in suits and ties whom he has never met before is really...

...a challenge that is too severe.

Before Pochi transformed into a strange form due to the instability of her soft body, Akie took the lead and took her hand, patting her shoulder to calm her down.

"Let me introduce you. This is Goto Ichiri, the lead guitarist of the band Ending. He's an excellent guitar player, but a little... shy."

After that, she whispered to Pochi, "…If you feel scared, it's okay if you don't say anything. I will take care of it."

After hearing Akie's introduction, Mita from the Legal Department's eyes lit up: "So she is the guitarist! Goto, you are already quite famous in our company. Everyone praises you for being an exceptionally strong high school student!"

"Really? Really?" Ichiri asked timidly.

"Thank you very much for your kindness." Akie replied on behalf of Ichiri with a smile, "We are all honored to be recognized by your company."

After the polite words, Qiu Hui pretended to mention something casually: "Oh, by the way, I suddenly thought of a question about the draft contract to be discussed this time. I happened to meet Mr. Mita from the Legal Department this time. I wonder if I can ask you for advice?"

"No problem!" Mr. Mita, who seemed to be in a good mood, agreed immediately. "What's the problem?"

"Shall we sit down over there and talk in detail?" Qiu Hui operated her mobile phone to pull up the electronic draft of the contract, while pointing to the cafe booth next to her.

After realizing that Mr. Mita was from the legal department of Souse, she suddenly came up with the idea of ​​using the extra time gained from arriving early to find out a little more about him.

Things were going smoothly for the time being, and after the two sat down, they began to discuss the terms of the contract in detail.

Only Goto Ichiri, who was wearing sportswear and followed Aki to the booth, was left, not knowing what to do. He silently watched Aki who was discussing obscure legal concepts with the adults in the office in a serious manner.

"First, let's talk about the following clauses of Article 3. Regarding the issue of copyright transfer, I would like to hear Mr. Mita's opinion." Akie smiled and said, "It seems that the content here is mainly about the authorization-related matters of your company's production team, and it doesn't seem to talk much about the situation of us being responsible for the creation."

"I understand what Togawa-san means. Are you talking about members' independent creation?" Mita seemed quite enthusiastic. "Well, although there are few high school girl groups who are capable of writing their own lyrics and composing music, this is indeed the essence of high school girl groups!"

"Mr. Togawa can rest assured about this. We will definitely discuss related issues in the subsequent negotiations. This is our company's template contract and does not take into account some special situations. However, it will definitely be discussed in the formal talks." He replied confidently.

"That's really helpful." Akie nodded, and continued as if relieved, "Mr. Mita, as a front-line staff, I believe you have a lot of insights into the details in this regard. So I would like to trouble you to talk to me a little about your company's policy in this regard..."

Goto Ichiri didn't understand what the two were talking about.

Although I knew that this was probably related to the end of the band, I had no idea about the specific details.

Where did Qiu Hui learn all these weird terms? They weren't taught in class.

Unable to understand the conversation, she could only focus on Akie herself.

She quietly watched Qiu Hui's expression, which was a proper smile that emphasized etiquette.

Unlike the smiles of Kita and Nijiga, which came naturally from their cheerful hearts, Ichiri felt that the smile on Akie's face at the moment had nothing to do with her emotions and was only made to meet the needs of the moment.

This conversation continued for a short while.

After roughly understanding the situation she wanted to know, Qiu Hui politely waved goodbye to the gentleman from the office.

She then walked over to Ichiri, who noticed the change in her expression.

Qiu Hui put aside her business smile and replaced it with an indifferent and tired expression.

"…Are you okay, Akie?" Ichiri asked quietly, "You look so bad all of a sudden."

"No one can see us now." Qiu Hui also responded in a low voice, "If you don't relax a little now, you might not be able to hold it in later."

"You are really tired, aren't you?" Ichiri gently touched the corner of Akie's clothes, "Chatting with strangers like you did just now."

"Of course." Qiu Hui sighed, "After all, it's work..."

At this moment, she seemed to notice something out of the corner of her eye and immediately put on a polite smile.

"Pochi, the person walking over the door seems to be our agent." She whispered.

"Eh? Agent?" Pochi's reaction mechanism was subconsciously triggered once again.

Qiu Hui looked towards the door. Her agent, Ms. Yazawa, was approaching with two other people.

"Leave it to me." She smiled at Yili and led her over there.

Chapter 86: Great Face

"Togawa-san!"

Hitoko Yazawa walked quickly forward and exchanged greetings with Akie.

"Ms. Yazawa."

Qiu Hui nodded slightly, then quickly noticed the two people following behind her.

They all looked to be high school students, and one of them stood out in particular.

The neat golden short hair and bright lavender eyes give people a radiant impression; the slightly upturned eyes and the confident and generous smile add a touch of maturity and intellectuality to her temperament.

She was dressed simply, wearing a black wide-brimmed soft hat, a plain white short-sleeved top, and sunglasses hanging at her collar, perhaps to cover her face when outdoors.

Unlike the relatively less noticeable person next to her, Qiu Hui was quite impressed by this blonde girl.

Before Ms. Yazawa could introduce herself, Akie stepped forward and asked, "You must be Ms. Sankaku Hatsuka from Sumimi, right? I'm Akie Togawa, and I'm the keyboardist for the band. I've heard a lot about you, and it's a pleasure to meet you!"

The eager attitude displayed by Qiu Hui at this time was not entirely out of etiquette.

She did know Mikado Hatsuka. After all, Aine's strong recommendations on various occasions were enough to leave a strong impression on Akie.

Hatsuka smiled friendly and said, "Togawa-san knows Sumimi? That's great. If everything goes well, we will work together as colleagues in the future. Please give us your guidance."

"I'm looking forward to it, and I'd appreciate your guidance, Sankaku-senpai." Akie bowed slightly.

"You don't have to be so formal..." Chuhua was a little surprised by the other party's etiquette, smiled and shook her head, "Just call me Chuhua, Qiuhui-san."

"I'm Junda Mana!" The other person next to Hatsuka introduced herself enthusiastically, "Good morning, Akiie-san!"

After greeting Akie, Mana then turned her attention to Goto Ichiri who was cowering behind her.

"Who is this classmate in sportswear?" Mana asked with great interest. "So cute!"

“But, cute? Ehehe, no, that’s not the case…”

Yili, who was praised by a strange girl, was suddenly confused and disoriented.

Akie smiled bitterly and shook her head, explaining to the two people of Sumimi, "She is the guitarist of the band. She is quite introverted and not used to dealing with strangers, so please bear with her. If you have anything to ask, I will convey it to you."

At this time, Ms. Yazawa looked around and asked, "Where are the other members... Oh, it's not the agreed time yet."

Since everyone present arrived earlier than the scheduled time, it is normal that some people have not arrived yet.

Qiu Hui took out her phone, confirmed in the group chat, and said, "They are already on the train, they should be here soon."

After listening to what Akie said, Ms. Yazawa nodded with satisfaction.

"That's good. I asked the two of Sumimi to come along this time because I hope that you, as members of the Sousha family, can get to know each other first, which will facilitate future cooperation."

There is hope. Akihime found something interesting in what Ms. Yazawa said.

Sumimi is a rising star in the industry who has already gained fame among high school girls and has a bright future in business. This can be seen from Aine who keeps talking about them.

The agency hopes that such new stars in the industry can get to know the band in advance and build a good relationship with them. Is it planning to establish a relationship where the old can mentor the new?

If this is indeed the case, it means that the agency, at least, has high hopes of ending the band.

This inference made her involuntarily think that the burden on her shoulders seemed to have become heavier.

After that, the two sides chatted for a while, and Akie, as the representative of the ending band, also exchanged greetings with the two members of Sumimi.

Representatives from the Shinmei Bunko, including Kasumi Shiko, arrived later, and communicating with them was also part of Akie's plan.

In addition, there were more people sent by the agency. Qiu Hui greeted all those she had met before.

Although no one really asked her to do so, Qiu Hui subconsciously took on all these tasks.

This was to leave a good impression on everyone, Akie believed so.

However, the fatigue and unhappiness she revealed in between work while working hard for this purpose were increasingly noticed by Goto Ichiri who was following behind her.

"..."

"Pochi-chan? What's wrong? You've been standing there in a daze. Are you not used to the environment here?"

"...No, it's okay!" Noticing Hongxia approaching from behind, Ichiri shook his head vigorously.

I'm just worried about Akie, Ichiri thought.

Although I thought so, I didn't want to tell everyone the truth about this thought.

Both Niji and Kita arrived at the hotel a little earlier than scheduled. As for Ryo, she was about three minutes late.

Fortunately, the scheduled time Qiu Hui posted in the group was ten minutes earlier than the actual scheduled time. So from the results, no one was late for the end of the band.

"I was actually tricked by Akie." Ryo said half-jokingly, "I thought I was really going to be late, so I sped up a little bit on purpose."

"It's better not to leave at the right time for such an important occasion..." Qiu Hui sighed, "It will be very troublesome if you are really late."

"I know, I know." Liang's perfunctory expression made it look like he didn't really want to know at all, "When did you become so old-fashioned..."

After saying that, she looked at Qiu Hui, who had rarely put some thought into her appearance today.

"...The clothes are nice." She smiled indifferently.

"I'll take that as a compliment." Qiu Hui stood up helplessly and arranged for everyone to set off together. "Although there is still some time before the meeting actually starts, I suggest that everyone go to the reserved conference room to prepare a little. Of course, most of the work can be left to me, so everyone doesn't need to be too nervous..."

Like a teacher leading a school trip, Qiu Hui led everyone through the lobby, took the elevator, and went to the floor where the meeting room was located.