Mana gently let out a breath but did not intend to hide anything.
"Sumimi is not disbanding. It's just we've hit a small setback."
As one of the hottest idol groups right now, Sumimi's composition was very simple, only two people: lead singer Mana and guitarist/composer/lyricist Misumi Uika.
Among them, Mana had slightly more popularity. This girl not only had a sweet and lovable appearance but was also a five-time champion of the national singing contest, a legend. Her professional level was so high that even if she and Anon teamed up for a contest, they could "gagaga massacre", Mana responsible for the massacre, Anon responsible for the "gagaga."
Uika's popularity was slightly lower, but not by much. One was pure and the other cool; both were steadily rising in fame. As long as they kept going steadily, the future was bright.
But life is like a box of chocolates, you never know what flavor you'll get next.
Not long ago, when everything was proceeding normally, Sumimi suddenly suffered a devastating blow.
First, a signed endorsement deal was canceled. Then, the number of gigs they got grew fewer and fewer. And then even their manager gently reminded her that the agency had come under some sort of suppression. Sumimi... might not last long.
("Mana, you're a gem already shining with light. The agency has invested a lot into you, so you won't be abandoned, as long as you can make up your mind,") the manager privately found Mana and told her.
That day, after the manager left, Mana spaced out for a long time and finally understood what she meant.
She said the agency wouldn't give up on her, which implied... the one they wanted to give up on was actually Uika.
The supposed "suppression" from the beginning wasn't targeting her, but targeting Uika. She was just unlucky collateral damage because she was in the same group as Uika. So if she was willing to abandon Uika, she could still peacefully continue being an idol, just no longer in a group, but solo.
There were two paths before her, one led to a future, the other to a friend. The answer seemed obvious?
Mana chose the latter.
She was someone who was the same inside and out, with a sweet, silly face and a personality to match. Sometimes when calling her mother, the gentle woman on the other end would always worry about her getting taken advantage of in Tokyo. And Mana would laugh and say, ("No way, no way. I have Uika protecting me. Uika is super amazing, okay? She can easily beat up all the bad guys.")
And Uika really had protected her very well. So now it was her turn to protect Uika.
But Mana was still afraid. She was an outstanding idol, able to smile sweetly even in front of ocean-like crowds and give perfect performances.
But she was also just an ordinary girl who had just come of age. Faced with overwhelming malice from the outside world, she didn't know how to protect her friend.
She invited Kaito out for tea today not to ask for help, just because the pressure was too much and she wanted to find a tree hole to talk to. She and Kaito had only met once, yet she especially trusted this not-so-familiar boy. Maybe because he had saved her, or maybe because she had... a faint crush on him.
"So don't worry, Sumimi is not disbanding," Bathed in sunset, she revealed a sweet smile. The soft confession had ended, and she returned once again to that dazzling idol on stage.
"I will bring Uika back safely."
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Chapter 194: The Power of Choice
Sumita Mana left.
When she came, she was like a wisp of wind, and when she left, she was also light and drifting, as if she really only came to find someone to confide her stress to. After finishing the talk, she was supposed to don her armor and return to the battlefield.
Before leaving, she didn't forget to buy the bill on the way. If a certain lady Yamada Ryou had been present, she definitely wouldn't have hesitated to give her thumbs up and praise the heroine's chivalry.
But Anon sat by the window for a long time, staring at the gradually receding figure of the heroine, feeling only sadness in her heart.
Mana was a good girl, and Uika was also a good girl, but these good people always did not have good endings.
Sumimi's songs once brought her positive spiritual strength during the most frustrated days after returning from England, giving her the courage to re-open a brand new life. But now, the sumimi that once gave her strength was about to disband, reminding her of a saying she didn't remember where she saw: There is no feast in the world that doesn't end.
There are always some things you thought would last forever, that actually have a time limit. Like close friends during student days, saying things like "our friendship will last forever and ever," but after graduation, they all went their separate ways. Long after, when you try to send her a message to check in, only to realize you had been blocked at some unknown point in time.
Anon didn't doubt Mana's determination to maintain sumimi, but life isn't shoujo manga. Pretty warrior girls shouting words like friendship and bonds can't just defeat the villains.
Although the manager of the agency didn't reveal much of the inside story, she tactfully brought up a name. This suppression seemed to have something to do with the Togawa Group.
Even someone like Anon, just an ordinary female college student, had heard of this name. A giant spanning across many major industries, known as a top-tier zaibatsu in Japan, with a long history and strong influence, famous in both legal and underground circles.
She really wanted to help Mana, but she was just an unremarkable female college student, without any power, not even comparable to a small shrimp in front of such a behemoth.
The disbandment of sumimi seemed like fate, making her subconsciously think of herself.
One day, would she and the person she liked... also part ways as if destined to do so?
"No, you won't," A calm voice rang by her ear.
Kaito picked up the teacup in front of him and took a sip. His face wore the familiar laziness, making one think of a dignified and noble lion cat, curled up on the windowsill dozing off.
Anon stared at him in a daze.
"Though I don't know what you're thinking, your whole face just now was basically screaming: If sumimi really disbands, will my life also end like this? those exact words."
Kaito took another sip of black tea. The snacks from Ring really tasted good. No wonder someone always recommended them on the anonymous forum, "So I'll just go ahead and answer you: no, it won't."
Anon still stared at him dazedly.
Kaito didn't mind. He had long gotten used to the occasional crashes and freezes of the pink-haired girl. He didn't realize how dramatically off-topic his previous words were, but by coincidence, they hit the bullseye.
Putting down the teacup, he looked up at the warmly golden sunset outside the window. Dusk hadn't arrived yet, and the drifting clouds had already turned into molten gold like flames, resembling endless brocade ribbons, spilling over the buildings and across the sky.
"If you still can't let go of what's happening with sumimi, then pray. Maybe, just maybe, some passing god might hear your wish?"
"After all, in this world... miracles never cease to occur."
By the time they returned to their home in Ikebukuro via the train, it wasn't even six o'clock.
The sky was still bright. Kaito changed his shoes at the entrance and walked into the living room, where he saw a familiar blue-haired figure.
Secretary Sakiko sat on the sofa, both hands subconsciously gripping the hem of her skirt. Her cherry-colored lips were bitten so hard they turned pale, almost bleeding.
Next to her, a long-haired girl with light green hair lowered her eyes and silently held Sakiko's hand, seemingly trying to comfort her.
'What happened?'
It was the second time Kaito had seen the little secretary looking so aggrieved. The last time was when she had lost all hope and tried to perform a "Jumping Sakiko" off the bridge.
He had thought it was some foolish yokai or ghost seeking death again, but then decided that was unlikely. After all, both Mutsumi and Sakiko wore jade pendants made by his own hands, no monster in this world should be able to hurt them.
Butthe answer he got next was beyond expectations.
"Sakiko received a call from home."
The one who spoke was Mutsumi beside her. She unlocked the phone, opened the recent contacts list, and handed it to her brother. At the top was an unfamiliar number without a name.
"It was from grandfather."
Maybe it was because the person she trusted the most was right beside her, but Secretary Sakiko finally calmed her emotions after a few sniffles.
"What did he say?"
Kaito frowned. He had never tried to investigate Sakiko's background. He could see that the girl was secretive about her family and had never proactively asked about such things. Becoming his secretary meant she was his person, that was enough for him.
He had thought the only remaining family member was that useless and irredeemable father. He didn't expect there to be other living relatives, and now an extra "grandfather" suddenly appeared.
Moreover
The force behind suppressing sumimi came from the "Togawa Group." And Sakiko's surname was also "Togawa."
Kaito didn't believe this was a simple coincidence.
The blue-haired girl was silent for a moment before she spoke in a low voice.
"Grandfather wants me to return home."
If it were just such a request, Sakiko would have flatly refused. During her most difficult times, she never sought help from the Togawa family, and now she definitely wouldn't cling on eagerly.
Even though she still missed her blood relatives, at the very least, returning home should be her own decision, not forced by others.
But the old man named "Togawa Sadaharu" was unexpectedly tough this time, not even giving her a chance to argue before hanging up the phone.
Hearing the busy tone of "beep, beep, beep" on the phone, Sakiko felt both angry and anxious.
Angry that after so long, in her grandfather's eyes she was still the little girl who hadn't grown up and could be shaped at will. Anxious that if her grandfather insisted on forcibly taking her back to the Togawa house, she really had no way to resist.
Mutsumi really wanted to comfort her, but her clumsy mouth didn't know what to say. She could only hold her childhood friend's hand, silently giving her strength.
Suppressing her fear and uneasiness, Sakiko immediately thought of the president.
The president was the only one who could save her now. But saving her meant he would have to go against the Togawa Group, which would only bring him endless trouble.
She didn't want the president to be in danger. That meant the only option left was to obediently return home.
"A-actually, it's okay," She lifted her face, trying her best to squeeze out a self-deprecating smile, "Speaking of which, I haven't seen my mom in a long time. I could use this opportunity to go visit"
Suddenly, a warm sensation came from the top of her head, "If you don't feel like smiling, then don't force yourself to smile."
Kaito gently patted her little head, "Just like if you don't want to go home, then don't force yourself to go home."
As for the Togawa Group, or Togawa Sadaharu, those don't matter.
He just looked seriously into those amber-colored eyes, "As the president, what I can always give you is, the POWER OF CHOICE."
[[1] Zaibutsu: Zaibatsu refers to large, vertically integrated Japanese industrial and financial business conglomerates that exerted significant control over the Japanese economy from the Meiji period through World War II.]
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Chapter 195: Blooming Twice
To the vast majority of people in the world, the power to choose is a very extravagant thing.
Most people can only go with the flow, muddling through this lifetime.
But the president told her, ("I give you the power to choose.")
He said it so lightly, so effortlessly, as if asking, "How was dinner tonight?" But within his words was clearly hidden a kind of power, like a king whose mouth holds heaven's decree, every word and action was law.
There truly weren't many things in this world that Kaito couldn't handle, and this clearly didn't exclude "protecting his own little secretary."
"I want to stay by the president's side forever."
Twilight crept over the window sill, then over the girl's faintly trembling lashes, lighting up two teardrops that had yet to fall.
When she raised her hand to wipe away her tears, the curve of her lips lifted like the silver edge of a newly-bloomed crescent moon, undoubtedly a suddenly bright smile.
"So, I won't shrink back again."
Togawa Sakiko had finally made up her mind. She would return to the Togawa family.
But it wasn't because she was intimidated by her grandfather's authority and had no choice but to go back, it was purely out of her own will.
Even this return was not because she wanted to become once again that carefree young lady, but to completely settle things with her grandfather.
The once-soft and tender young lady of the Togawa family was already dead. The her of today was only the little secretary by the president's side, and she only wanted to be a small, unambitious secretary, handling his business, managing the trivial matters. Perhaps in the future, she would even bear and raise children for him.
A writer in Japan once proposed a concept called "small but certain happiness", happiness that is tiny, yet real.
After leaving that grand but rigid manor, the current Sakiko had already found a dreamlike, beautiful "small but certain happiness" that she was unwilling to let go of.
Night deepened.
Having resolved one matter of the heart, little secretary Sakiko originally intended to take her leave, rest and recharge, and prepare to face her grandfather.
But before she could speak, the childhood friend who had been silent till now suddenly grabbed her arm and said, with a voice that carried no emotion, "I want to stay with Sakiko a little longer."
Sakiko was stunned for a moment, but as she just opened her mouth, she met Mutsumi's golden eyes, which subtly blinked at her, as if giving a secret signal.
