“A fan club?”
Listening to Nanahara Nadeshiko explain the situation, Yurika’s expression grew steadily stranger.
It seemed like every single time Nadeshiko came to find her, she’d bring along some piece of startling news.
Last time, for instance, she’d gotten a script offer barely a day into her debut.
And now, today, Nadeshiko was suddenly telling her about a fan club.
“I’ve only been an idol for a few days. I don’t even have a single released work yet, right? So how do I already have a fan club?”
“Well, doesn’t that just go to show your aim is—cough cough—show how popular you are?”
Nadeshiko cleared her throat a couple of times.
Honestly, for a debuting idol, having no released work meant there was no reason to be pulling in a huge fanbase, and a fan club, the kind of organization that only forms once a lot of fans gather together, naturally shouldn’t have appeared either.
But that common sense seemed to malfunction completely when it came to Yurika.
She’d only just debuted a few days ago, had nothing to show for it yet, had only just landed a script with the TV drama not even in production, and somehow she already had a fan club.
“With your natural gifts, Yurika-sama, you could stand there without moving a muscle and still attract a whole crowd of lovesick fans.”
“Somehow that doesn’t sound like a compliment…”
Yurika scratched her head, a bit helpless, then took the tablet Nadeshiko was holding out.
On the screen was a forum interface, its logo beautifully made.
The forum’s name was, of all things, Yuri Garden—it sounded like the kind of organization that would only show up in a manga.
And the post count inside this forum made Yurika jump.
“Wait! Five hundred thousand new posts today?! It’s barely noon!”
“It’s a new forum, after all. Everyone who joins is new, so naturally they’re all super active.”
Nadeshiko seemed completely unfazed, which left Yurika with the vague sense that she’d fallen behind the times.
Still, even if Nadeshiko had a point, Yurika found it a little hard to believe.
Five hundred thousand new posts—how many new users would it take to be saying that much?
Then, when Yurika spotted the number of new users for the day along the edge of the forum, she got another jolt. Read this novel at g.com for the best experience.
“Over fifty thousand new users today?! Nadeshiko, did you buy paid posters?!”
“As if. Why would I ever use something like astroturfers?”
An unhappy look crossed Nadeshiko’s face, as though being accused of hiring paid posters was an insult.
If it had been anyone other than Yurika who’d said it, Nadeshiko probably would have blown up already.
“With your kind of appeal, Yurika-sama, I couldn’t buy paid posters fast enough to keep up with the fans joining on their own. I can’t be bothered with a money-losing deal like that. So rest assured, Yurika-sama—all the numbers on this forum are real.”
“How do you know they’re real? What if the forum’s founder is the one padding them?”
Poking around the forum, Yurika found all sorts of posts inside.
Plenty of people were asking when Yurika would put out a work, but many fans were already gradually turning into rabid devotees, studying footage of her.
Her debut performance at ITEM’s concert was being analyzed over and over again—they’d even dug out what color underwear Yurika had been wearing from a single frame of the video.
It gave her chills.
Still, even though it didn’t look like the work of paid posters, Yurika found the speed a little hard to trust.
“It doesn’t seem likely they’re paid posters, but this kind of number still smells like cheating.”
“Ah, that’s impossible.”
Nadeshiko waved a hand.
“Because I’m the one who built this forum.”
“You built it?!”
No wonder Nadeshiko was so certain the forum’s headcount was real.
If she’d built the forum herself, then it all made sense.
With her position, having someone verify the headcount would be easy, and however many sockpuppet accounts there were, they’d definitely get rooted out. New chapters come out on novelping(.)com first.
“But isn’t this number a little too ridiculous? I still don’t think it’s real. I don’t even have a proper project out yet.”
“Don’t worry about that. Yurika-sama, you just have no confidence in yourself. That’s your weak point.”
Seeing Yurika looking a touch unsure of herself, Nadeshiko thought this version of her was rather cute too—but she still felt she ought to boost Yurika’s confidence a bit.
“I went out of my way to show you this forum because I wanted you to understand your own appeal more clearly, Yurika-sama. I prepared an officially verified account for you. Now, Yurika-sama, you can chat with these fans yourself on the forum—maybe then you’ll see just how powerful your pull on people’s hearts really is.”
“Is that so?”
Only then did Yurika notice that an account was already logged in on the forum on her tablet, and the name was none other than Tenshouin Yurika, with a real-name verification badge after it.
After a moment’s thought, Yurika opened one of the threads—a fan asking about Yurika’s latest work.
Yurika replied a few posts down:
“There’ll probably be a press conference in a few days. The new drama is A Bite of Yuri.” Then she quietly waited for everyone’s reactions.
Almost the instant she finished posting, Yurika watched new notifications start popping up nonstop at the top of her forum, leaving her stunned.
When she opened them, she found they were all alerts that her forum posts had gotten replies.
After a moment’s hesitation, Yurika opened the thread she’d just posted in—and sure enough, right behind her reply came a huge wall of replies from rabid fans.
Some were asking whether this account was really Yurika herself; others were expressing excitement and saying they’d be following her closely.
“This… that’s way too many people…”
In just a few minutes, Yurika broke out in a cold sweat as she discovered her private messages and reply notifications had both been stuffed to bursting.
With that, Yurika finally believed the active headcount on this forum was real.
If they were paid posters, surely they couldn’t send her thousands of completely different private messages and replies within a few minutes?
“How about it, Yurika-sama? Do you believe in your own appeal now?”
Nadeshiko watched Yurika’s startled expression with a beaming smile.
Truth be told, back when she’d first finished building the forum, she’d been shocked by the growth rate too—and it had made her realize just how strong Yurika’s appeal was.
“It’s a little embarrassing. I don’t have any released work at all—I just sang a song at ITEM’s concert…”
Yurika wiped away the cold sweat, feeling a bit uneasy at heart.