“Huh? A press conference?”
Informed by Nanahara Nadeshiko of what was coming up next, Yurika’s face took on an obvious “this is such a pain” expression, her whole face sagging in a way that made her reluctance perfectly obvious.
For someone whose personality was lazy to the absolute extreme, a press conference was a thing that, apart from draining her body’s energy, offered no benefit whatsoever.
“Why do I have to go to that kind of messy nonsense?”
“Yurika-sama, you’re breaking character!”
Holding the explanatory documents about the debut press conference, Nanahara Nadeshiko wore an expression caught between laughing and crying.
Being fixed with one of Yurika’s terrible looks did carry a strangely irresistible appeal, but as an idol, beyond attracting girls, Yurika also had to take the sensibilities of male viewers into account as much as possible.
Fortunately, Yurika’s looks were already quite good.
Even if she couldn’t arouse a man’s sexual interest, at the very least she could get them to watch her performances with appreciative eyes.
“If you keep this up, some people might find something to use against you, and you’ll attract a lot of haters. Please, by all means, face the audience with the image I described to you earlier…”
“Being an idol is such a pain.”
Yurika took the documents about the idol debut briefing that Nanahara Nadeshiko handed over.
Aleister hadn’t been wrong about being Yurika’s biggest backer.
The moment Academy City’s greatest behind-the-scenes mastermind and Board Chairman made his move, he immediately got in touch with one of the more prominent talent agencies currently in Academy City, and also made contact with ITEM, that former dark-side organization that had inexplicably turned into an idol band these days.
“So I’m being launched by performing together at ITEM’s concert?”
“Yes. An idol’s debut is very important. Yurika-sama, you can get by on your face alone, but if you don’t borrow a bit of someone else’s momentum, you’ll inevitably be dismissed as just a pretty face.”
Nanahara Nadeshiko explained crisply as she organized the documents.
“Yurika-sama, you have a deep connection with the ITEM Band, and their popularity is already very high. Announcing your debut at their concert can quickly build you a solid fanbase. And we’ve had some talks with the ITEM team. They seem completely unopposed to having you join their concert, so this is a rare, golden opportunity.”
“With Frenda and Mugino and the rest, huh…”
Yurika fished a photo of the ITEM Band at their concert out of the documents.
The members of ITEM had ditched their usual ordinary clothes and all donned gorgeous performance outfits.
Mugino Shizuri wore a sexy black performance dress, microphone in hand as the lead vocalist.
Behind her clustered the rest of ITEM.
Frenda holding a bass, Kinuhata Saiai gripping an electric guitar, and Takitsubo Rikou on drums.
Each of them had a clear role, looking every bit the part of hot, in-demand idols.
“These gals are really having a blast, huh.”
“So, Yurika-sama, is this plan okay?”
Nanahara Nadeshiko looked at Yurika a touch uneasily.
Though she was Yurika’s manager, Nanahara Nadeshiko didn’t have a single forceful bone in her body about it.
After all, Yurika was also her idol, and she had absolutely no intention of pressuring Yurika into doing things she didn’t want to do.
Yurika glanced over the documents, and finally, under Nanahara Nadeshiko’s relieved gaze, nodded.
She handed the documents back to Nanahara Nadeshiko and said:
“It’s alright, I guess. So all I have to do is sing one song, do a bit of performing, and then go along with ITEM’s introduction, right?”
It had to be said that, although Nanahara Nadeshiko was a bit of a chijo, and apparently sometimes even peeped at Yurika while she was changing, as a manager her caliber really was top-tier.
Yurika hardly had to do anything; Nanahara Nadeshiko had everything that needed doing arranged in advance.
But because the scheduling was a little tight, Yurika never did get to do a rehearsal with ITEM right up to the end, meaning, in the end, Yurika would just have to read the situation and perform alongside ITEM’s members on the fly.
Yurika didn’t really mind.
She was lazy by nature, so skipping the rehearsal probably made no difference to her.
But perhaps the heavens weren’t cooperating.
When the day of the performance actually arrived, Yurika discovered the problem might be a touch more serious.
The performance Nanahara Nadeshiko had arranged with the ITEM team was an outdoor concert.
Yet when Nanahara Nadeshiko brought Yurika to the backstage area, they found the sky a little overcast, thick with dark clouds, looking like it might rain.
“Is it going to be okay like this?”
Yurika, who under Nanahara Nadeshiko’s supervision had long since memorized the specific steps of this performance and the lyrics of the songs, raised her head backstage to look at the gloomy sky, a little worried.
“This is an outdoor concert, you know… I’ve got a feeling this weather’s going to cause trouble.”
“I didn’t expect this to happen either.”
Nanahara Nadeshiko was clearly a bit glum too.
She’d never imagined a perfectly good debut would run into weather like this.
For certain special reasons, Academy City’s weather forecasts had been hit-or-miss lately, and as luck would have it, today they’d run into one of the days it missed.
This morning’s forecast had clearly said today would be an ordinary cloudy, overcast day, but right now it looked exactly like it was about to pour.
“Maybe we should contact the Chairman, have him think of something…”
“There’s no time, is there? I’m supposed to go on during the third song.”
Yurika reached up to straighten the clothes she was wearing.
Per Nanahara Nadeshiko’s choice, what she had on was actually about as simple as it gets: a plain white dress.
According to Nanahara Nadeshiko, this plain white dress better embodied her aura, and Yurika hadn’t refused, because this plain dress was a lot like her everyday outfits, so wearing it felt perfectly natural.
“Listen, Mugino and the others are already on their second song.”
“This really is the worst-case scenario.”
She could faintly feel a few tiny raindrops beginning to fall.
A dejected look came over Nanahara Nadeshiko’s face.
With a sorrowful expression she looked at Yurika, like a child who’d made a mistake begging for punishment.
“I’m sorry, Yurika-sama, it’s my fault for not eliminating every unfavorable factor in advance… I should have picked a day with clear skies.”
“What’s done is done; regret won’t help now.”
Yurika shrugged, reached up to tousle Nanahara Nadeshiko’s hair, and then gave her a bright smile.
Say what you will, Nanahara Nadeshiko really was thinking of her, and a little slip-up like this wasn’t enough to make Yurika feel it was any big deal.
“You’ve worked this hard already. I won’t blame you.”
“Yurika-sama…”
Nanahara Nadeshiko pressed her palms together, eyes shining as she gazed at Yurika.
Though a few raindrops from the gloomy sky had already landed on her, all Nanahara Nadeshiko’s eyes could see was Yurika’s radiant smile.
“That’s right. With Yurika-sama’s charm, rainy weather is no problem at all!”
“Um… Miss Tenshouin.”
A moment later, one of ITEM’s staff members, a guy with light-brown short hair, came jogging backstage.
He seemed to be one of the management handling ITEM’s affairs.
Yurika recalled this person was called Hamazura Shiage.
“You’re about to go on. Please come with me.”
“Alright, I’m off then.”
Yurika flashed Nanahara Nadeshiko a thumbs-up, then turned her head and gave her long, pale-blue hair a stylish toss, following Hamazura Shiage over to the backstage spot that had been arranged for her in advance.
According to the performance plan worked out beforehand, Yurika would, the instant the music for the third song struck up, use her Aero Hand ability to push herself into the air, then slowly descend onto the stage, making her entrance as if descending from the heavens.
“Sorry about this, Miss Tenshouin. We really didn’t expect today to be a rainy day like this.”
Hamazura Shiage seemed to carry a hint of apology toward Yurika too.
After all, today’s outdoor concert had been their choice, and they’d never expected to run into rain, which might even hold up Yurika’s debut performance.
“Don’t worry, there won’t be any problems.”
Yurika smiled lightly and glanced at Hamazura Shiage.
Although her constitution had never been able to arouse sexual interest in men, there was no denying Yurika was an exceptionally beautiful girl.
Even without arousing that interest, it didn’t stop men from regarding her with appreciative eyes, and Hamazura Shiage was struck by this one smile of hers.
Before he could say anything, out on the stage ITEM had already started introducing Yurika.
The members of ITEM had a deep connection with Yurika to begin with, so their introduction was undisguised praise, enough to make Yurika, listening backstage, blush a little.
But soon enough, with one line from Mugino Shizuri, “And now, please welcome Academy City’s rising idol, Tenshouin Yurika!”, the strings of the guitar rang out, and Yurika rose to her feet, her Aero Hand ability abruptly activating.
“Oh right, I might need to change up my entrance a little.”
“…Eh?”
Before Hamazura Shiage could even react, he saw Yurika suddenly leap.
Her Aero Hand ability propelled her body high into the air.
Yet she didn’t immediately descend slowly onto the stage as planned.
Instead, under the astonished gaze of the audience below, she abruptly raised her hand, and a violent whirlwind burst forth from it, stabbing straight up into the sky, ripping the dark clouds apart to reveal the sunlight.
Then, set against the sunlight, Yurika in her white dress finally drifted slowly down, like an angel.