Arc-2 Ep-06
26
In the end, Nozomi-chan’s father came on Saturday. As one might expect from the parent of such a stunning beauty, he was a strikingly handsome middle-aged man.
It was rare to see the president and upper management giving someone such special attention. We all greeted him together as a group, but nothing particularly noteworthy happened.
He was entertained by the executives inside the agency building, then finally arrived at the packed live house right before the sixth-gen’s turn. He watched only his daughter’s performance, then left immediately after.
As expected of a major corporation’s top executive—he must be an extremely busy man.
And then came Sunday. The stage went smoothly—well, it was our fourth performance, after all.
We were gradually improving, but getting too comfortable could lead to mistakes, so complacency was strictly forbidden.
That was what both the overall manager, Taneyama-san, and our leader, Shion-san, kept emphasizing. The post-mini-live handshake event, however, seemed more likely to have issues.
The biggest problem was the visible disparity in line lengths. Like last week, the handshake venue was set up inside the packed live house—so the difference between members was immediately obvious.
My line was still the longest, with Nozomi-chan coming in second. While members with shorter lines finished up after about ten handshakes, my stream of fans just kept going.
“Mikuri-chan, do your best!!”
“Yes!! Thank you! Please keep supporting me♪”
“I’m cheering for you. I’ll vote in the popularity poll too.”
“Thank you! But don’t overdo it, okay?♪”
Some fans were cool-looking guys or women, but the core fanbase consisted mostly of men who, to be honest, reminded me a little of my pre-reincarnation self. I showered them with charm as I shook their hands.
“Yes, time’s up.”
Around my hundredth handshake or so, a certain girl appeared in line.
“Mikuri-chan♪”
“Yes!!♪”
Standing before me was a beautiful girl who looked about middle-school age—similar to Chie-chan from our sixth generation.
“I’m rooting for you. Keep it up♪”
“Thank you♪ I’ll be looking forward to seeing you again.”
Since she was such a cute beauty, I gently enclosed her small right hand with both of mine. We smiled at each other, and for a moment, a warm, fluffy atmosphere spread between us.
“…Y-Yes!! Time’s up!!”
Sadly, even with a girl like that, the contact time in a handshake event was short. It lasted a little longer than usual, but in the end, I reluctantly gave her tiny hand a soft squeeze before letting go.
“Next person, please.”
“…Mikuri-chan!! I became a fan at the Reiteisai!”
“Thank you! You came last week too, right?”
“Y-Yes!! I’m so happy you remembered me!”
Thanks to the memory cheat I’d received from God, I could remember faces easily. I’d asked for it mainly for remembering lyrics, choreography, and scripts—but it came in handy for things like this too.
“I’ll vote a ton in the popularity poll!!”
“Yes♪ Please do♪”
“Yes, time’s up.”
“Th-That was so fast~ …I’ll come again!!”
“Yes, I’ll be waiting♪”
The fan I’d just won over walked away from the booth with a dazed, blissful expression. I’d need to create an army of fans like that if I wanted to rank high in the popularity poll.
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“Matsuzono-san, a really cute girl came to my booth.”
Back in the waiting room after the handshake event, I spoke to the sub-manager, who happened to be there.
“Ah, I thought so too and mentioned it to the scout—turns out they already knew her.”
“Knew her?”
“Yeah. Apparently—”
According to Matsuzono-san, she had been scouted before, at a much larger handshake event—not this one. Of course, since I didn’t know her, that scouting must’ve failed.
“Seems she’s an Uchikawa-san oshi.”
“I see. That explains her showing up at the big events. Age-wise, she probably didn’t come when Tomomi-san was still performing mini-lives.”
“The girl’s lower name is Yuzuha, I think—she’s a first-year middle schooler. We’ve scouted her several times already for the little-sister role.”
“She’d definitely fit that little-sister slot perfectly.”
“Right? If we’d gotten her, we could’ve done a double little-sister appeal with Sekiguchi-san in the sixth-gen.”
Thinking about it, that was a real missed opportunity. A major beauty—on the level of Nozomi-chan—would’ve been a big boost to Sistema Solare’s popularity.
Well, I only thought that because I was a super-beauty myself; someone like Chie-chan might’ve seen her as a dangerous rival.
“There really are a lot of cute girls out there who have no interest in becoming idols.”
“…Even when the girl’s willing, the parents often shut it down.”
“I see.”
“That one—the parents, especially her father—were against it and refused.”
“That’s such a shame…”
Like Noriko-san, there were probably plenty of beauties out there who could rival me or Rina-san. I was actually hoping some of them would enter the entertainment world and eventually cross paths with me. That’s when Nozomi-chan suddenly spoke up.
“Mikuri-chan, was she that cute?”
“Cute enough to rival Chie-chan.”
“Rival Chie…?”
Chie-chan, who had quietly approached without us noticing, muttered under her breath. Nozomi-chan too—both of them seemed a little dissatisfied. Jealous because I was talking so much about some unknown beauty?
…Kind of adorable, honestly.
“Well, she’s a Tomomi-san oshi, so this was probably a special occasion for her.”
“If Uchikawa-san were doing handshakes, she’d probably go there instead.”
“By the way, shouldn’t we start changing soon, Mikuri-san?”
Oh, right—I was still in my idol outfit.
“Right. Thanks, Chie-chan.”
Nozomi-chan had already changed, so I hurried to swap from idol mode back into my middle-school clothes. After that, once Taneyama-san arrived, we’d have a short talk—and then we’d disband.