radicalducati Chapter 82: The Beginning
Chapter 82: The Beginning
Meiqing then found several other suitable candidates, but Liren rejected them all for various reasons. Meiqing got a little annoyed and asked him what kind of person he wanted to choose.
"Hmm—let me think about it." Rito rested her chin on her hand and said thoughtfully, "If we were to add the current Hiragana, she couldn't be too strong, suppressing Kosaka to the point of having no desire to rise, nor could she be too weak. The Hiragana is currently lacking good prospects. She needs to have a lively personality that fits the team's tone, not be too old, and preferably be able to stay in the group for a while..."
He was still rambling on and on when Meiqing suddenly lit up, grabbed his sleeve, and had someone in mind:
"I understand. How about Erika Ikuta-senpai?"
"Erika?" Rihito quickly recalled the idol career of this all-around girl who only had one center position but had always been at the top of the rankings. He also felt that she was quite suitable. Hana's talents were not bad in any aspect, but she was not so good that she would overshadow others. What's better is that she is also one of the few outstanding representatives of Sakamichi who mainly focuses on outside the village and does not care so much about the resources inside the village. She is the perfect candidate for the second leader.
"Oh yeah, how could I forget about her? Quick, find out what achievements she has that can be unlocked."
After careful consideration, Li Ren clapped his hands and laughed, then quickly had Mei Qing select the options on the screen.
"Let me see, there really is one, but it's a bit difficult. You need to hold hands with her and Fei Niao within a day. That should be possible, right?"
After a while, Meiqing pointed to one of the achievements and said to him.
"Huh? That won't do. I'm not a pedophile." Rito tried to feign coyness, but Mikoto sneered and said impatiently, "If this won't work and that won't work, then you can just wait for the punishment to take effect and get a beating from Bunshun!"
Seeing the girl's sullen expression, Rito laughed and stopped teasing her. He nodded, indicating that they should decide on Huahua as the first one, and then decide what to do with the remaining two.
"Let's draw first. If we have a lot of tokens left, we can decide who to draw. If our luck is as bad as before, there's no point in thinking about it now."
Pessimistic Nomi Aoi shook her head. She now felt from the bottom of her heart that there must be something wrong with this gacha mechanism. It didn't make sense that he was unlucky and that she and Yoko would also be unlucky. She was very unsure how many members this mountain of tokens could bring in, and she was unwilling to make any more promises.
"Okay, then I'll begin."
Rito gave a wry smile, deeply agreeing, and without further ado, set the target for this gacha pull as the final third-generation member, Murai Yu, and then began tonight's gacha journey.
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The next morning, Aiji, the Third Miss, and the others living in the villa noticed something—Meiqing seemed to be in a bad mood today. No matter who greeted her, she was unresponsive, a stark contrast to her usual polite and friendly demeanor. The group discussed it together, with some guessing it was her period, but the Third Miss, who knew the timing, quickly dismissed the idea. Riko then wondered if the new video wasn't getting enough views, but Aiji checked her phone and that didn't seem to be the case either. Everyone was puzzled.
"How about we call Brother Li and ask him if he knows?"
After tilting her head and staring blankly for a while, the impatient Chunye had already lost her patience and raised her hand to propose the final solution.
"It's not a big deal, is it okay to bother Riko-san?" Riko, being kind-hearted, said hesitantly. The third young lady smiled mischievously and took out her phone: "I've already dialed."
"Reina, you should talk to us first." Aiji's mother looked at Odakura, who was laughing wildly, and sighed, feeling a bit helpless with the naughtiest kid in the family. The worst part was that after she made the call, Odakura didn't solve the problem herself, but instead handed the phone to her. Resisting the urge to give her a good talking-to, Aiji took the phone, pressed the speakerphone button, and gently called out, "Rin-chan."
"Oh, it's Aiki. But I thought it was Reina's number calling?"
When Rito answered the phone, he was taking Nounen around NHK apologizing. Although the Ama had switched allegiances and was now under his protection, the past wouldn't be so easily forgotten. Even if the crew didn't pursue the matter further out of consideration for him, they would inevitably hold grudges later. Therefore, a formal apology was essential. However, Rito would only drop her off at the door; of course, he wouldn't apologize on her behalf. After all, she wasn't even his woman when the mistake was made, so there was no reason for him to do so.
Aiji was unaware of these things, but she heard a lot of voices around him, making it seem a bit noisy, so she asked first if it was convenient.
"Wait, let me find a quiet place."
That's what they said on the phone, followed by a series of hurried footsteps. A few seconds later, most of the previous noise disappeared.
"Alright, go ahead and tell me." Rito's voice came again, and Aiki told him about Mio's strange behavior that morning.
As soon as the girl opened her mouth, Rito knew what it was about. She had spent over 600 yuan trying to draw Yu-chan last night, only to end up drawing herself again. She was so angry that she wanted to apply for a refund because she was underage. However, she couldn't tell Ai-ki and the others about this. She could only vaguely say that the two of them had played games together last night and lost more than they had, and that was how she got away with it.
Aiji and Rito exchanged glances, somewhat disbelieving that Meiqing would be the kind of person who gets carried away by games. However, since Rito had said so, it must be true. Aiji said "I understand" and then tried to hang up.
"Wait a minute." Just then, Rito remembered something and called out to her. "There's something I need to tell you in advance. Keyakizaka will be holding its second-generation auditions around the second half of next year. The core members will be you, and we might recruit two or three more from outside. If you have some free time, you can start preparing. Also, please inform Rika and Nagisa, Aiki."
Hearing this, the girls were a little surprised, but not too surprised. After all, he had said many times that he wanted them to be idols, and everyone had accepted the arrangement. However, the specific time had been vague and uncertain until now. They didn't expect that this time it would be confirmed without any warning.
"It really is Keyakizaka. I thought it was a third-generation member of Nogizaka46. What a pity, all that training in uniform dolls was for nothing."
The clueless Miu interrupted the conversation at an unexpected moment, making everyone laugh. Actually, it was quite obvious to Rito and Mio whether they wanted to join the purple or green team, but only the quirky Miu was still confused and got teased by the others.
"How could you have practiced for nothing? Miu, why don't you wait until the Nogizaka3 auditions start before you participate? We'll just go to Keyakizaka." Reina fired the first shot.
"Yeah, Miu, don't you like Shiori-chan? Why don't you become her junior?" Junba chimed in, adding insult to injury.
"Miyu-nee, didn't Mio already send you the ripped version of the Silent Majority dance? How could it be going to Nogizaka?" Even the most obedient Riko couldn't stand it anymore and complained to her while holding her forehead.
On the other end of the phone, Rito couldn't help but grin as he listened to the commotion of the group attacking Miu. Just then, Nonen finished apologizing and came out of his office, so Rito gave Aiki a few instructions and then hung up the phone.
Why are you laughing so happily? Who's on the other side?
The female diver glanced at him curiously, but quickly realized that this was not her concern. She walked up to him in small steps and told him that everything was going well and that the director had informed her that filming would resume next week.
"That's good, let's go." Rito glanced at her, offered no explanation, and strode towards the elevator.
Back at the company, Ama was quickly called away by Airi to complete the complicated onboarding procedures and sign the contract. Perhaps because the previous indenture was signed too easily, she was extra cautious this time, and even hired a lawyer at her own expense. However, Rito immediately recognized that the lawyer was an assistant from the law firm that cooperated with the Kubo family. He had seen him when he went to draft the acquisition agreement last time.
Not bad, you've become a little more shrewd, but not much.
Li Ren silently gave his assessment in his heart. Fortunately, he didn't really intend to tamper with the contract. Otherwise, with the girl's shallow social experience, she would have been taken advantage of by him long ago.
Without paying much attention to these tedious procedures, Rito returned to his office and prepared to start working. Due to various reasons, the selection of hiragana characters had been delayed again and again, but in any case, it could not be delayed beyond this year, otherwise the fans would start to question it. He took out the documents, the pen tip was only a few centimeters away from the paper, but he hesitated to put it down. Unconsciously, his thoughts began to wander.
Kosaka, Yoko, Hana, and Hiragana have enough top-tier combat power right now, but do we really need to fill the team with members whose names we can't even remember?
He hesitated for a long time, still unable to make up his mind. He muttered something to himself, picked up his phone, and called Airi.
"President, the contract for Nounen has been signed. Would you like to review it again?"
The call was answered quickly. Airi thought he was calling about the contract signing, so she immediately reported the progress to him.
"It's alright, leave the contract to the legal department. Come to my office now."
"Yes, I understand."
Airi hung up the phone, whispered a few words to Nounen, and then immediately turned towards the president's office.
Seeing her flustered assistant burst through the door and sit down, panting, Rito couldn't help but regret her hasty tone. She quickly handed her a bottle of water, pulled her to sit on the sofa, and said apologetically, "No need to rush, it's nothing serious."
Airi just smiled when she heard this. Although the two had an unusual relationship, work was work. She didn't want people talking about her behind her back. Therefore, the more it was related to Rito, the more she cared about it and refused to give anyone any opportunity to make a fuss.
Knowing that Airi was just like that, Rito offered a few words of comfort and then wisely changed the subject.
"I asked you to come here today to ask how far along the selection process for the hiragana characters is?"
"The Kanto region has been basically covered, and the Kansai region will be completed soon. As for Kyushu and Hokkaido, we will continue to focus our promotions on a few major cities, and we will not go to the smaller cities."
"No need to check any information," Airi answered without hesitation. She knew that the idol career was Rito's top priority, so even though she was busy settling in Rena Nounen, who had just joined the company, she was still keeping a close eye on the audition process.
"Oh." Rito nodded, knowing that this was the usual practice for the selection process. After all, pretty girls love to go to big cities, where the publicity effect is the best. Besides, the previous selections were just a smokescreen, and the members who passed had already been decided internally, so there was no need to waste time and money. However, this time, Rito's thoughts had changed.
"Hmm—I've been thinking about it. We've held three selections in the past two years, and each time it's been in roughly the same area. Isn't that a bit like overfishing? Let's try a different approach this time. Let our subordinates go to smaller cities and maybe we can find some hidden gems."
He stroked his chin and said this.
"I understand." Airi blinked, sensing something strange, but didn't ask further. There was a consensus within the company that the president's interest in idols decreased with each generation. For example, the first generation of Nogizaka46 members were the ones he poured the most effort into; he could talk to almost every member, and even raised a little princess like Yeyena who dared to boss the manager around. By the second generation, the treatment was significantly less; only a few, like Shirama and Shiori, could still talk to him, while the rest were noticeably distant. With Keyakizaka46, while he liked the concept of a group, his attention to the members noticeably decreased. He focused almost entirely on Hirate and Zono, the two centers. Therefore, the staff privately discussed whether the president's novelty for idols was wearing off, and whether the next newcomers would even have difficulty seeing him.
Airi was fully aware of the gossip among her subordinates, but she unusually showed a laissez-faire attitude towards the situation. Perhaps in her heart, she felt it was inevitable, and even a result she was happy to see. After all, getting involved with her idol subordinates was not only dangerous, but could also easily affect their work. For example, the time she went to deliver birth control pills to Eto Misae was something she felt deeply ashamed of. Fortunately, Senbei was sensible enough not to think that she could elevate herself to a higher position overnight. Apart from occasionally taking leave, she didn't do anything that Airi found intolerable, which allowed them to barely maintain a peaceful coexistence.
Hopefully, there won't be any disobedient newcomers this time. Small city, huh? Can beautiful flowers bloom in barren land? It's unlikely.
As Airi thought this, she secretly made up her mind that if there were any more dangerous people like Eto Misa among the selectors, she would keep a close watch on them from the beginning and not give them any chance.