Girl idols are meant to be exploited!

"Yeah, I drank too much and almost didn't wake up."

It looks like a joke, but it is actually the truth.

Taku Hoshikawa did not ask directly about Shoko Toyokawa, but joked and chatted with him, while intentionally or unintentionally asking about his current situation.

Soon, Taku Hoshikawa found out his current situation.

Hoshikawa Taku was not wrong.

His daughter is the former eldest daughter of the Toyokawa Group that he remembered. She was formerly in Class C of the third grade of Tsuki no Mori Girls' Academy and is currently in Class B of the first grade of high school at Hanaoka Girls' Academy. Her birthday is February 14th, she is 155cm tall, and her original address was the old Furukawa residence in the old Furukawa Gardens in Kita-ku, Tokyo. Her current address is Toyokawa Shoko, who is in a cheap rental house near the west exit of Akabane in Kita-ku, Tokyo.

After he was kicked out of the Toyokawa family, Shoko Toyokawa left the big house and chose to move into his rental house to live with him and take care of him.

As a father, he did not choose to work, but instead drank to drown his sorrows and spent his days playing pachinko - the money he used to buy alcohol now was all pocket money from Toyokawa Shoko's hard work.

Judging from Toyokawa Kiyoshi's current situation, Xiangzi should not have started forming a new band yet and is still working as a customer service representative to supplement the family income.

It seems...she is indeed the best candidate for signing.

The two of them played marbles outside until it was almost dark. Toyokawa Kiyoshi took out his membership card and went to the front desk to store his day's gains so that he could play again next time.

Taku Hoshikawa took a look at the small steel balls he had earned after playing for several hours, and was too lazy to save them, so he simply poured them into his box.

Hoshikawa Taku asked with a smile, "Do you want to go to the izakaya for a drink later? It's my treat today."

After school, Xiangzi had to work, and it was already ten o'clock when he got home from get off work.

Toyokawa Kiyoshi always eats out and never cooks at home.

Although he was already a little drunk, Fengchuan Qinggao suddenly became alert when he heard that someone was going to treat him to a drink.

"Okay, since you want to treat me, I won't be polite!"

The two went to a nearby izakaya that they often frequented, ordered some food, and quickly started drinking and chatting.

During the meal, Taku Hoshikawa deliberately forced him to drink, but Kiyoshi Toyokawa was completely unguarded and accepted all the wine.

By the time the meal was over, he was so drunk that he was staggering and couldn't walk properly.

Hoshikawa Taku kindly said, "Well, judging from your appearance, you probably can't go home alone. How about this... I'll take you home today."

"Well, thank you for your help..." Toyokawa Qingjiao was unconscious and his words were confused.

Hearing the other party's agreement, Hoshikawa Taku's mouth curled up slightly.

Great, now I have a legitimate reason to visit the Toyokawa family residence.

Taku Hoshikawa knew where Toyokawa's house was. He hailed a taxi and helped the staggering Toyokawa Kiyoshi onto the back seat.

Along the way, Toyokawa Kiyoshi had completely lost consciousness and was snoring in his seat, while Hoshikawa Taku was directing the driver to the destination in the passenger seat.

Ten minutes later, the taxi stopped in a dilapidated residential area.

The buildings here are old, the walls are mottled, and there is almost no light in the narrow alleys. It is obvious that this is a "slum".

Taku Hoshikawa helped the unconscious Toyokawa Kiyoshi out of the car, stood in front of a mottled wooden door and knocked, but no one answered from inside.

It seems that Shoko Toyokawa hasn't come back yet.

Taking the key from Toyokawa Kiyoshi's pocket, Hoshikawa Taku opened the door.

After pushing the door open, he was greeted by an extremely simple rental house.

The house is roughly divided into two rooms, the inner side is Toyokawa Kiyoshi's bedroom, which is cluttered with empty beer bottles and messy clothes. The air is filled with a strong smell of alcohol, which is obviously caused by his normal life.

But what happened outside surprised Taku Hoshikawa a little.

The outer Japanese-style room was cleaned very tidy, the tatami was spotlessly clean, and a clean futon was placed in the corner.

There was an electronic piano placed against the wall on one side of the room. Although it was cheap in style, it was well maintained and there was not a trace of dust on the keys and the piano body.

It's obvious that the owner of this piano takes great care of it.

The outer room was obviously not Toyokawa Kiyoshi's resting place, which meant that this was where Xiangzi slept at night.

After Hoshikawa Taku put Toyokawa Kiyoshi down, he looked around and found a stack of sheet music piled in the corner.

The sheet music was neatly organized, with densely packed notes at the foot of the pages filled with annotations and reflections.

Taku Hoshikawa casually flipped open a sheet of music, glanced at the new date on it, and immediately had some guesses in his mind.

Just like the original work, after leaving the "CRYCHIC" band, Shoko Toyokawa still did not give up her love for the piano, and she often played and composed even in this "humble room".

What surprised him was that among the pile of music scores, there was even the score of "Spring Shadow".

Hoshikawa Taku suddenly became interested.

As the owners of an entertainment agency, Taku Hoshikawa's parents naturally wanted their son to become an artist, so they let him learn various musical instruments since he was a child.

However, Hoshikawa Taku's predecessor had no such ambitions and only wanted to be a "second-generation rich kid" for fun, so they gave up on this idea.

Although he hadn't touched the piano for a long time and his piano skills were not very good, but with the music score, Taku Hoshikawa felt that he could still give it a try.

He sat at the piano and slowly played "Spring Shadow" according to the score.

"Thump, thump, thump, thump..."

Although his playing was very clumsy, the pitch was still on point.

"悴んだ心ふるえるeyestalgia" (My heart is full of haggard and my eyes are trembling)

The world is full of people (I am alone in this world)

三ることしか知らない春は (in the ever-fading spring)

It's cold every year (I only feel the cold every year)..."

Hoshikawa Taku continued playing while humming.

The soundproofing of the rental house was very poor, and the melodious piano sound echoed throughout the room. However, Fengchuan Qingjiao was sleeping very soundly and was still snoring, not caring at all about being disturbed.

Taku Hoshikawa played smoothly, and just when he was about to play half of the song, hurried footsteps suddenly came from outside the door.

Then, the door was suddenly opened, and a voice mixed with angry questions came from outside the door:

"Who are you? Why are you playing 'Haruhi Shadow'?!"

Chapter 4 Toyokawa Shoko

Hoshikawa Taku's hand paused and the melody came to an abrupt end.

He turned to look at the door and saw a blue-haired girl with side ponytails standing there.

She was wearing a simple shirt and a short skirt. Her face was pretty but full of anger at the moment. She looked like an angry kitten, her watery eyes fixed on Taku Hoshikawa.

Although this was only the first time they met, the moment he saw her, Taku Hoshikawa confirmed her identity.

She was indeed the former Miss Tsukinomori that he remembered - Toyokawa Shoko!

"You are... Toyokawa Shoko, right?"

Hoshikawa Taku asked tentatively, trying to make his tone sound gentler.

"Don't change the subject!"

Xiangzi walked quickly to the electronic piano and stood in front of him, his eyes full of hostility.

"I'm asking you, why are you playing my piano, and specifically this piece? Who are you?!"

Hoshikawa Taku lowered his hands, sat up a little straighter, and put on a harmless smile.

"Don't be nervous. I'm Uncle Qinggao's drinking buddy. We had dinner together tonight and he got drunk, so I dropped him off. I saw this piano just now and just tried it out... I really don't have any other intentions."

"My dad's drinking buddy?"

After hearing this, Xiangzi's expression did not relax at all, but instead became even uglier.

"So it's you!" She stared at Xingchuan Taku and said almost gritting her teeth, "It's you, this bad friend, who made my once very motivated father become so depraved..."

Seeing that Xiangzi was facing a great enemy and regarded himself as the culprit who made his father a drunkard, Hoshikawa Taku cried out that it was injustice.

"Hey, don't wrongly accuse a good person!" Xingchuan Taku spread his hands, his tone full of helplessness, "It was obviously your father who led me astray, okay? Before that, I was a positive and motivated young man."

"Stop lying!" Xiangzi snorted coldly, crossing his arms across his chest, obviously not buying it.

"I've never heard my father mention a friend like you! Besides, you dared to touch my piano so casually, which is even more suspicious!"

Hoshikawa Taku sighed and raised his hands helplessly: "Okay, okay... I admit that I was wrong to play your piano casually. But have you really never heard your father mention my name? My name is Hoshikawa Taku."

"Xingchuan..."

As Xiangzi silently recited the surname, his expression suddenly changed, and he murmured, "Are you the Xingchuan family... who did business with my father and ended up suffering huge losses?"

Xiangzi was deeply impressed by the surname "Xingchuan".

Many scenes from the past flashed through her mind, and the anger on her face gradually faded, replaced by a complex emotion.

Toyokawa Kiyoshige was not always in the muddle-headed state he is now.

When he was first expelled from the Toyokawa family, he was still full of hope and wanted to rely on his own efforts to let Xiangzi live the same wealthy life as in the past.

At that time, he was positive and worked hard, and even had the desire to make a comeback in his heart.

At that time, although the quality of life of the father and daughter suddenly dropped to the bottom, they were still happy and full of hope for the future.

But suddenly one day, Xiangzi discovered that his father's temperament had changed drastically.

He suddenly became silent and taciturn, as if he had become a different person. He began to be unwilling to talk about work and unwilling to face life. He just spent every day drunk and hiding behind the bottle to escape reality.

Xiangzi tried to persuade his father many times, but to no avail.

When asked why he became like this, he remained silent.

Until one night, Toyokawa Kiyoshi, who was drunk and unconscious, told the truth in his sleep.

It turned out that when Toyokawa Kiyoshige was cooperating with the Hoshikawa family, the project suffered losses due to wrong decisions. In order to make up for the losses, the Hoshikawa couple kept running around looking for cooperation opportunities.

But fate was cruel. They were involved in a car accident on a business trip late at night and both died.

All this hit Toyokawa Kiyosuke's heart like a heavy hammer.

He couldn't let it go, thinking that he had killed the Hoshikawa couple. Self-blame and regret continued to erode him, causing him to completely lose the motivation to live, and eventually he became a useless man who drank to drown his sorrows.

It turns out that the boy in front of him is the only remaining son of the Xingchuan family...

Xiangzi's momentum suddenly weakened.

The hostility in her eyes had mostly faded. She pursed her lips tightly, lowered her eyes, and whispered, "I'm sorry, I was too impulsive just now. I know what happened in your family. On behalf of my father, I apologize to you..."

Hoshikawa Taku didn't miss the change in Shoko's attitude.

Although he didn't know how much Xiangzi knew, her softening attitude was undoubtedly a good sign.

He wanted to wave his hands and laugh it off, but when he saw Xiangzi lowering his head and looking guilty, his tone softened a little.

"It's okay, don't take it to heart. This matter has nothing to do with you, and I won't implicate others with my anger." Taku Hoshikawa said lightly, acting very magnanimous.

Don't take it to heart? How is that possible?

These words of comfort had no effect on Xiangzi. She was carefully guessing the purpose of Taku Hoshikawa's visit.

From a certain perspective, his father is his enemy. Why would he be willing to hang out with his father?

Could it be that he deliberately hung out with his father just to see him fall into this state of degradation?

Or has he now given up hope on reality and just wants to muddle through the rest of his life?

While Xiangzi was carefully guessing, Hoshikawa Taku suddenly said, "Xiangzi, did you form a band called 'CRYCHIC' before?"

Xiangzi was stunned for a moment, obviously not expecting the other party to mention this name.

"You... have heard of me?"

"Well, I've heard your songs, especially this one called 'Spring Shadow'."

Hoshikawa Taku shook the music sheet in his hand and asked casually, "Has your band been inactive recently? I haven't heard from you in a long time."

Hearing this, Xiangzi's eyes dimmed. She pursed her lips, lowered her head and was silent for a moment before she whispered, "...our band is disbanded."

"Disband?" Hoshikawa Taku raised his eyebrows and asked pretending to be ignorant.

"Why did you disband? Your music clearly has a lot of potential, especially the short-haired girl who's your lead singer. She sings with the innocence of a lamb. If you keep going, you're bound to be a big hit."