Girl idols are meant to be exploited!

They shuttled back and forth in the stage area, groping for the location of the lighting control console, testing the in-ear monitoring equipment and microphone audio. Under the dim stage lights, their shadows were projected between the drum stand and the microphone stand, and they appeared to be particularly focused.

After a while, as the school was about to end, the four little ones who had finished their band came to gather at [Stars].

When they saw Taku Hoshikawa, they all ran over in surprise.

"Mr. Xingchuan, we haven't seen each other for a long time. It's great to see you today!"

Kita looked at him with sparkling eyes, a smile as bright as the spring sunshine on his face, and the joy in his voice could not be concealed.

When Hoshikawa Taku faced Kita's blinking eyes, a trace of guilt emerged in his heart.

In fact, Taku Hoshikawa just hadn't seen Kita for a long time.

After the cultural festival, Pochi reported to the office almost every day.

Although Yamada Ryo says it coldly, he often comes to the office to watch Pochi rehearse.

As for Hongxia... I had just visited her house two days ago and even invited Hongxia's sister, Ichichi Hoshika, to go on a date...

In comparison, only Kita, the little angel in the corner of the sky, has been completely "forgotten" by herself in her daily life.

Perhaps realizing this, Pochi, Hongxia and the others all showed more or less awkward expressions on their faces, with subtle looks.

As for Yamada Ryo, she didn't care about that. She had already started to reach out for the snacks that Hoshikawa Taku had placed on the table. She picked up a bag of Cheetos and started eating.

"Um...long time no see."

Taku Hoshikawa pretended to greet these girls whom he had met many times before. After exchanging a few pleasantries, he began to introduce the new faces around him.

"Momoka, Nina, An and Subaru are members of my newly signed band, Thorns and Thorns. Xingge and I have agreed to let them perform in the store to gain stage experience."

"Hello, I'm Momoka Kawahara, the guitarist."

"I'm Jing Qin Rencai, the lead singer."

"I'm An He Subaru, the drummer."

After the three of them introduced themselves, the four members who ended the band also introduced themselves one by one.

Kita, Nijika, and Ryo were not the ones who were afraid of the stage, but when it was Pochi's turn, her voice suddenly began to stutter.

Her hands hung stiffly at her sides, her eyes were wandering, like a student who had been called upon to answer a question at short notice, and her whole body exuded a sense of guilt.

On the day of the music festival, she briefly interacted with these people as a "guitar hero".

During that time, Pochi never spoke, and they never saw Pochi's true face.

But now, when they stood in front of her, so close, Pochi always felt that they would recognize her true identity in the next second.

Fortunately, none of the three of them thought in that direction until Nina noticed the guitar behind Pochi.

"Wait a minute, that guitar on your back..."

Jinna suddenly took a step closer and stared at the black guitar behind Pochi. Her eyes suddenly became sharp and she said in surprise, "This is a black guitar. I've seen Guitar Hero, and she uses the same guitar!"

Nina's words were like a stone thrown into the water, instantly making Pochi's nerves explode.

She trembled all over, her face turned pale, and she waved her hands in panic, stammering: "That, that... is not... me, I just..."

She spoke incoherently, like a small animal whose tail was poked. She was so anxious that her face turned red and her ears turned red, and she even lost the ability to speak for a while.

Fortunately, Kita stepped forward with a smile and said, "Pochi's idol is Guitar Hero. She even asked for Guitar Hero's autograph herself, so she used the same guitar!"

"Huh? Is that so? I thought she was the guitar hero..."

When Rencai heard this, her doubts were dispelled.

"No, you misunderstood. Pochi and Guitar Hero appeared at the same time!"

With Kita's rescue, Pochi finally breathed a sigh of relief. His whole body slowly relaxed like a deflated balloon, and he quietly shrank behind Kita.

She almost thought she was going to be exposed.

Fortunately, at the cultural festival, he and Taku Hoshikawa used a trick of "substituting a cat for a prince", and let Aine wear Guitar Hero's equipment and appear on the stage in his place.

Taking advantage of the "time difference", she successfully made herself and the guitar hero appear at the same time, clearing herself of suspicion.

Otherwise, with her performance full of loopholes, this hidden identity would have been exposed long ago.

Chapter 201: Death is a legend, life is just a tragedy.

Hong Xia looked at the bands in front of her, who were the same age as her but had already signed professional contracts and taken a step forward, and said with envy:

"I'm so envious of your band. Judging from your age, you must be high school students like us. You can actually sign a contract with Mr. Hoshikawa and balance your studies and music at the same time. That's incredible! My sister wouldn't let us sign a contract..."

Hong Xia originally wanted to bring them closer together, but she didn't expect that her words would make the atmosphere more tense.

"Well... actually we are no longer in school. We all dropped out..."

Renai's voice was noticeably lower, and her expression was a little stiff. She tried to remain calm, but she couldn't hide the embarrassment that flashed across her eyes.

When Renai said this with all her might, Momoka was still a little embarrassed.

Only An and Subaru are fine, after all, she is still attending an arts school.

Vocational high school is also a high school, so she is not "not attending school" in the strict sense.

Kita's reaction was also very quick. Almost at the moment when the atmosphere became a little tense, he hurriedly smiled and tried to smooth things over.

"It's okay. Being a high school student isn't that important. We've actually thought about dropping out to pursue our musical dreams. You guys are really amazing for having the courage to take this step!"

Her tone was soft and sincere, and her eyes contained no trace of judgment, but rather genuine admiration.

The understanding revealed in his tone made Renai and the others' tense shoulders gradually relax, and their expressions returned to normal.

Kita's high emotional intelligence made the atmosphere, which had been gradually solidifying, flow again. Several girls sat together and began to chat with each other about topics related to the band and school.

The most heated discussion was naturally about the music festival that shocked the entire circle and even the world two days ago.

Although Ai Mizuno has not appeared in public yet, she is still the focus of media discussion and everyone is very concerned about her current situation.

When the four little ones heard from An and Subaru that Mizuno Ai was struck by lightning, they were at the scene. They were all very surprised and listened attentively to their personal descriptions.

When they heard that Taku Hoshikawa was not only at the scene, but also played a very crucial role in helping Mizuno Ai save her life, they all looked at Taku Hoshikawa in surprise.

Ijichi Xingge was also concerned about Mizuno Ai. She asked with concern: "Hoshikawa, it's been several days, and Mizuno Ai hasn't shown up yet. Do you know what her current situation is?"

Xingchuan Taku said calmly: "She's still alive, and I've already met her once. She thanked me in person for saving her life."

The words were spoken calmly, but they seemed to explode in the air.

"Eh?!"

"real or fake!"

"Mizuno Ai thanks you personally!?"

The girls were immediately excited, their eyes sparkling with excitement, and they all looked at him with almost worshipful eyes.

Even Yamada Ryo, who had been eating secretly, silently stopped what he was doing and raised his eyes. There was a rare scrutiny and strange look in his eyes.

Hoshikawa Taku knew that the girls were very curious about Mizuno Ai's current situation, but he had promised Mizuno Ai's agent to keep it confidential, so he just said: "Mizuno Ai is still alive and her body is recovering. That's all I can say."

"Even if Ms. Mizuno Ai's body can recover, she has been struck by lightning so many times and suffered serious injuries. I'm afraid her face is disfigured. It will be difficult for her to perform on stage again..."

Kita sighed a little sadly.

Upon hearing this, Taku Hoshikawa was slightly stunned, raised his eyebrows subconsciously, and turned to look at her.

"Xiduo, why do you think so?"

His tone was not critical, just surprised and inquiring.

"Everyone thinks so..."

Kita sighed softly, and when he looked up, his eyes were filled with worry. "After all, Miss Mizuno Ai was struck by lightning 28 times in full view of the public... People on the internet are speculating that she might really be disfigured. Otherwise, they wouldn't have released any recent photos."

Upon hearing this, Hoshikawa Taku frowned, a serious look appearing between his brows.

Have the rumors on the Internet spread to this extent?

If Mizuno Ai continues to stay away from public appearances, the speculation of her "disfigurement" will probably be gradually accepted by the public as a fact.

This is not good...

The reason why Mizuno Ai is so popular on the Internet now is because of her legendary deeds in which she endured 28 lightning strikes with her flesh and blood on the day of the music festival to protect all the audience in the audience.

In everyone's mind, this is already a "miracle", which is why it caused such a big response on the Internet. So many people called her a "saint", and even her peripheral products were sold out.

There is no shortage of tragic heroes in Night City, but the ones who are truly remembered are often the dead legends.

If Mizuno Ai died on the spot, she would be forever engraved in people's hearts and become an immortal legend.

But if she were alive and reappeared as a "disfigured survivor", everyone would immediately realize that this was not a miracle. Mizuno Ai was just a poor person who had an accident and was unfortunately hit by lightning.

All the deification, praise, and enthusiasm... may all collapse in an instant.

Although her supporters will continue to support her, those passers-by who are paying attention to this matter may turn away and look for a new focus.

She has worked so hard to accumulate so much popularity and has been praised as a legendary idol on the Internet. If the popularity is lost one day, wouldn't all the criticisms she has suffered be in vain?

This hard-earned attention really cannot be wasted easily.

At this moment, Taku Hoshikawa had another plan in mind - he had long thought of "poaching" people, so how could he just watch the heat of this gold mine cool down?

After chatting with the girls for a while, he found a gap, walked to a corner of the Livehouse, took out his cell phone, and quickly dialed Hasegawa, Mizuno Ai's agent.

The phone rang a few times before the other end picked up. Hasegawa's voice sounded a little surprised: "Hello, is this Mr. Hoshikawa? What's the matter with you calling so suddenly?"

Hoshikawa Taku glanced at the girls behind him, and after confirming that no one was paying attention, he exchanged a few pleasantries in a calm tone and then got straight to the point.

"Ms. Hasegawa, have you noticed that public opinion online has started to go astray? Many people are speculating that Mizuno Ai has been disfigured, and that she's not showing up because she can't face the public."

"Isn't your PR team going to do something? If this trend continues to spread, it will be very detrimental to her."

Although this is not a "rumor" but a fact, as a public relations planner, even if it is true, it has to be treated as a rumor, and even if the character has been shattered, it has to be patched up.

Just like celebrity scandals, even if a man has been dating and married with his girlfriend for a long time, he still has to maintain his single image.

There was silence for a few seconds on the other end from Hasegawa, and then a wry laugh was heard.

"Mr. Xingchuan... the agency has already made arrangements regarding this matter. We plan to have Xiao Ai do a live broadcast in the next few days to publicly announce her safety and quell online speculation."

When Xingchuan Taku heard this, his voice immediately dropped. "Are you going to let her appear without makeup? Show her disfigured face to the public?"

There was a moment of silence on the other end of the line, and then Hasegawa answered hesitantly: "...Yes."

Hoshikawa Taku's eyes darkened and the smile on his face completely disappeared.

He lowered his voice and said coldly, "Ms. Hasegawa, you are her agent. Don't you know that idols must always appear in front of the public with a glamorous image?"

"If she were to publicly appear in her current state, her commercial value and image as an idol would be drastically impacted. Is your agency truly willing to bear this consequence?"

He spoke bluntly, and every word was like a needle, piercing Hasegawa's psychological defenses.

There was another long silence on Hasegawa's end, and finally a sigh was heard.

"I know that... but this is the firm's decision. Even if I'm reluctant, I have no choice but to follow it."

Hoshikawa Taku frowned, walked to the window, and tapped the glass with his knuckles. After thinking for a moment, he suddenly said, "Does your agency require her to appear in the same way she is now?"

Hasegawa thought for a moment and replied, "...Not really. I just asked her to be shown to the public as she is now, without any restrictions on her makeup or camera angles."

A glimmer flashed across Xingchuan Taku's eyes, the corners of his lips slightly raised, and he said in a low and firm voice:

"In that case, let me help her with her makeup. Didn't I tell you I'm a special effects makeup artist?"

Chapter 102: Mizuno Ai's "Abnormal Operation"

When Taku Hoshikawa said he was a makeup artist, Hasegawa didn't take it too seriously, thinking it was just a polite remark meant well.

But at this moment, when Hoshikawa Taku mentioned it seriously again, she on the other end of the phone was obviously stunned.

Is Hoshikawa Taku serious?

The air was silent for two seconds.

"Mr. Xingchuan, are you kidding? Do you really want to help Xiao Ai with her makeup?"

"But, to be honest, Xiao Ai's skin is very sensitive right now, so makeup isn't suitable for her... Besides, with Xiao Ai's face like this, it doesn't really matter whether she wears makeup or not..."

Hasegawa tried to be as gentle as possible in his tone, and although he spoke carefully, his words still revealed an unconcealable pessimism.

She knows a lot of makeup artists and has some knowledge of makeup herself.