My daily life is getting weird because I am caught between being in a band and being an idol.

"Huh? Is the tuition at Chuxing Academy that expensive!?"

The other three clicked their tongues in amazement.

Ai Yin spoke up somewhat shyly.

"Well, the basic tuition isn't expensive... the main things to pay are the school facilities usage fees... sponsorship fees, and so on."

Chapter 56 This is our new home!

"Clang! Clang! This is our new office!"

Chaoyang proudly pushed open the door to his shop upstairs.

“Hmm…”

"It's worse than I expected..."

Japanese food was the first to speak, breaking the silence.

"Wow... the ceiling is so low..."

Ai Yin looked up, clearly feeling helpless about this new environment.

"It's alright, doesn't it still feel warm and cozy?"

Yamato Maya tried to smooth things over.

"Well, you guys don't really use the office much anyway."

Chaoyang, who had come here on behalf of the family, couldn't very well insist on praising the place, so he tried to save face by offering other excuses.

"However, the dance studio we rented for you is newly built! The environment is quite nice."

Although... it's because it's newly built and no one is renting it, so there's a 30% discount.

Chaoyang silently complained to himself.

Just then...

"Is this my agency? So-so... Well, idols really shine on stage, so it doesn't matter."

"I can't believe it's actually upstairs! The manager really knows how to do things! Buying a monthly pass like this saves on transportation costs!"

The Pastel* group saw an unfamiliar pair of people, one in red and one in yellow, walk in.

"Wow, I didn't expect there to be so many people already!"

"Wow, it's all girls. I thought we were the first group."

When Chaoyang saw D season, Qin Yin arrived and introduced herself to everyone.

"They are from the same idol department as Aine at Hatsuhoshi Academy, and they were signed by me personally before I took over the company. However, they are developing as solo idols, so we may not have many opportunities to meet. Today, let's just say hello and get along well. D season, Kotone, and this is Pastel*, the company's idol group. There is one other person besides them. There were originally some other idols, but they all voluntarily transferred to other companies."

"My name is Fujita Kotone. It's rare that we've become colleagues. Let's get along well~~."

"I'm Flower Sea D Season! My goal is T0PIDOL!"

I'm still the top student at Chuxing Academy! My domineering journey begins in this run-down company. Thinking about it, not bad, not bad at all! Isn't this a pretty exciting scenario?!

"Tone it down a bit... The other idols are scared."

Qin Yin tugged at D Ji's arm. Unfortunately, D Ji didn't care about other people's opinions.

"..."

Pastel* was speechless and completely confused.

"Aya-chan, is this kind of thing common among idols?"

The Japanese girl asked in a low voice.

"No, I don't know. Actually, I haven't had much contact with idols who have already debuted, so I don't know what they're like in private."

After hearing what Maruyama Aya said, Hina stepped forward and spoke to D-ki.

"You're such an interesting person!"

"Oh my, you're already trying to flatter me? Hmph~ I'll take you along for any future events."

Hina burst into laughter.

"Haha, that's really interesting~ But I'm not trying to compliment you."

Qian Sheng's heart skipped a beat.

This producer... clearly treats us differently than he treats these two girls... He probably plans to give all the resources to these two girls.

"Ano-chan, are you close to the producer?"

"Very familiar...? Hmph, are you mistaken? He bought this company specifically for me!"

Chisato didn't believe a word of it, but Ai-on, seeing the meaning in Chisato's eyes, immediately chuckled and continued.

"...Although I really want to say this, I've only known him for a few days. We can only be considered friends at the moment. That girl, D-Ji from the Flower Sea, is indeed famous in our school. She's definitely the number one ranked girl. She has a bright future ahead of her. I don't know how Chaoyang managed to sign her. As for the other one, I'm sorry, I don't know much about her...but she is indeed a lovely girl."

Hmm, I have to admit, this child is definitely the cutest I've ever seen. Was what he said last time just to comfort me? Damn it, he's still bothered by Pastel's embarrassing past.

At this moment, Chaoyang coughed softly after the girls had finished introducing themselves and greeting each other.

After the room became quiet again.

Chaoyang began to speak.

"By the way, starting now, your agency will prepare dedicated artist accounts for each of you on social media. As for the PasPal group account, I will manage and post it. We don't have enough staff right now, so you'll need to actively manage the accounts in addition to your daily practice. But you're all young girls, so you should know more about these things than I do."

However, just saying that probably won't motivate you much... So, whoever gets their account to 5 followers first will have their concert funded by the company. If any member of the PasPal group reaches that milestone first, they can choose to have a solo concert or a group concert. Of course, we're prohibited from taking any suggestive or borderline actions, such as giving away fan-selected clothing or used items to reach certain follower counts.

"Um!?"

"what?"

"What are you thinking? Who would do that?!"

"Instead of saying that idol management companies can accept this kind of behavior, I really want to see what they are like."

Qian Sheng rubbed his forehead and muttered a weak complaint.

. .

"Ah, ah, I'm hungry. Is there anything to eat nearby?"

After showing everyone where they would be working, Chaoyang immediately disappeared, along with the sound of the piano, and D season also vanished.

Because of her health condition, S Zeguang's feet would hurt even when she walked, so Chaoyang asked her to stay in the school dormitory to recuperate until she could walk without pain before coming back.

The people then looked around the office, where no employees had yet joined.

"Although it's a bit run-down, it's not as small as I imagined. In fact, I know that many small firms in the industry only have a consultation office, while we have rented an entire floor."

Since the firm's staff only just learned about the relocation, and there's still some time before the rent expires this month, they'll have to wait until they've finished dealing with their current tasks before everyone can move in.

"It looks like we can't practice today, so let's call it a day."

"Wait a minute, since we're in a new environment, why don't we grab a bite together? I just saw an izakaya downstairs; I've never eaten at an izakaya before."

"Ano-chan... We don't drink, and we're not office workers who need to complain after get off work. Even if we're going to eat, there's no need to choose a place like that."

Although Qian Sheng said that, the main reason was that she didn't want to go to those kinds of shops with too much of a lively atmosphere, because she might encounter drunk people harassing and trying to pick her up from time to time.

However, Hina then agreed with Aine's opinion.

"To be honest, I'm quite curious too. My dad often comes home reeking of alcohol, and my mom scolds him for going to izakayas every day. I'll go once and see why. Men like to go to places like that."

Qian Sheng glanced around and realized that he was the only one who explicitly objected. Although he thought that everyone would probably agree if he insisted, he didn't want to give his teammates the impression of being too domineering. He raised his wrist, looked at the lady's watch he was wearing, and replied.

"Since you two put it that way... and we haven't even had a meal together as partners yet, let's go eat now before office workers get off work."

Chapter 57 Can you please stop torturing my Cai Cai every day?

A reward of 5 will be given if the number of followers on the personal social media accounts of the idols under its management exceeds 10 (active accounts).

"Although it's only 10 yen, it will be used to cover the venue rental fee."

Chaoyang was examining the system interface in front of the barbecue grill in his shop downstairs. He could currently receive and complete the management tasks, as well as another task to recruit 10 artists.

Hmm... We're still missing one system-designated character... I guess I'll have to invite Momoka after all...

We're still one artist short of having more than 10 under our management. After thinking for a long time, the only one I can think of is Momoka Kawahara, who's currently working outside.

After taking the skewers off the grill, he ran out to ask the person cleaning up Taoxiang.

"Momo, would you like to sign with my company?"

"Forget it, I don't want to help you pay off your debts."

Meanwhile, Ren Cai, who was replenishing the seasonings on the table, spoke up again.

"That's right! Mr. Hiraishi can't use the old Diamond Dust's reputation. Momoka-san doesn't want to have anything to do with the past anymore, so don't try to make money off her old identity!"

"No need, it's just signing a contract. After that, you don't have to do anything!"

"No, sorry, there's no room for negotiation."

Chaoyang admitted that if he had heard this, he would definitely not have signed it; anyone who heard it would think there was a conspiracy.

However, the temptation of receiving 100 million just by signing one more person is too great.

"Ha, so it really doesn't work?"

Chaoyang didn't want to be an annoying guy, so he gave up easily after trying once and failing.

Peach Fragrance spoke with a light laugh.

“You may have overestimated Diamond Dust back then. In fact, we could hardly fill a 500-person venue when we held concerts. Even if you signed me, it wouldn’t have changed much.”

"Well, whether it's good or not is another matter. For commercial bands, it mainly depends on the level of pre-event promotion. Even if they forget the lyrics or sing off-key during the performance, it doesn't really matter."

For example, Tianyin sister and Yang something, I forgot.

"...Well...you really can't argue with that."

Tao Xiang is a former industry insider and has seen her fair share of car crashes. Most of the people who come here are more interested in the atmosphere than in listening to the music.

"How can even Momoka-san say that? If you can't sing well, how shameless would you be to hold a concert? It's disrespectful to the audience!"

These words inadvertently offended Qin Yin, who was wiping the menu at the moment.

Meanwhile, the inner voice keeps repeating itself.

oo

"Rin-chan is the studio god of this world, that's the mainstream... Forget it, why am I arguing with you about this? Let's go back and grill some skewers."

The thought that the other person was Nina Asahi made her lose interest in arguing and she simply turned around and went back to the kitchen.

Just as Nina chased after Asahi to correct his erroneous viewpoint...

Suddenly, a noisy commotion of girls arose outside.

"Is this shop not open yet? The time posted on the doors and windows is 16 PM..."

"However, the signboard and curtains are already up... Let's open the door and ask. If it's not open, we'll try another place."

Then came the sound of the door being pulled open.

"Excuse me, are you open for business now...? Hmm? Ms. Fujita, what are you doing here?"

The person who entered was Aine. As soon as she opened her mouth, she saw Kotone. Kotone wasn't surprised, since the shop was downstairs and it was normal for it to be visited.

"What else can we do but work here? It's not just me, the manager is here too."

At this moment, Chaoyang stepped back a few steps in front of the kitchen grill so that the girls at the door could see his face and greeted him loudly.

"Oh! You're here. I was wondering how long it would take you to find out. Just pick a table and sit down. The skewers are almost ready."

"Producer!? What are you doing here? Oh, speaking of which, Ms. Fujita keeps calling you manager, is it because you're the manager of an izakaya?"

"Yes, I've been running this shop for many years."

Taoxiang and Rencai also got up to greet the guests.

"So you're an idol from the store manager's agency? Please have a seat here. Would you like something to drink? You're all high school students, right? That won't do, okay?"

Upon hearing this, no one intended to go back; instead, they all sat down together.

"Ah, that oolong tea will do."

"I want green tea."