"Wait, give me a second to process this."
Sato rubbed his brow and thought for a moment. The "Honoka" Minami Kotori had mentioned should be Kosaka Honoka.
Using school idols to build popularity, then attracting more students to enroll.
Hiss...
That idea...
Could that woman actually be a genius?
"Please give me a little time to think about it, Minami-san."
Sato said this to Minami Kotori before resting his chin on his hand and falling into thought.
Why would Kosaka Akane leave this matter to me?
There's no way she expects me to become an idol manager, so she must want me to help them in some other way.
Hmm?
A flash of inspiration crossed Sato's mind, and his eyes suddenly lit up.
Popularity?
Is the main goal to increase their popularity?
In today's world, what's the fastest way to spread something and gain popularity?
There was only one answer.
The internet!
Using the internet's rapid reach to quickly boost their popularity.
Gensokyo had only recently opened its video section, and it was currently in a stage of rapid growth. Could Kosaka Akane's intention be for him to help Kosaka Honoka and the others do something on Gensokyo?
With that thought, Sato took out his phone under Minami Kotori's curious gaze.
After entering the Gensokyo website, he quickly searched for the keyword "idol." A large number of videos immediately appeared. There were videos from professional idol groups that had already debuted, as well as videos from various school idol groups.
Most of the professional idol videos were recordings from their past promotional street performances, while the school idol videos were largely self-recorded. Whether in filming techniques or production quality, they were all rather rough.
Yet without exception, every one of those videos had impressive view counts.
Tsk.
What a bunch of horny bastards.
Putting away his phone, Sato looked back at Minami Kotori. He already understood what Kosaka Akane wanted him to do.
"I know what needs to be done now. I'll need some time to put together a plan, and once it's ready, I'll contact you all. If you don't mind, let's exchange phone numbers and LINE IDs."
"Ah? Th... thank you!"
Minami Kotori immediately stood up in delight and bowed repeatedly to Sato.
"It's fine. This has also given me a few ideas."
"Huh?"
Minami Kotori looked at him in confusion.
Realizing what he'd just said, Sato smiled.
"If there's no problem, let's add each other on LINE first."
"O-okay!"
Sato handed his phone to Minami Kotori, who entered her LINE ID.
Looking at the sweet-looking girl standing before him, Sato found himself thinking.
If idols were introduced into the video section, it would probably completely revitalize that part of the site.
After all, who didn't like watching cute girls?
As long as the video section became popular, other categories of videos would naturally benefit as well.
"Done!"
Smiling brightly, Minami Kotori returned the phone to Sato.
"Mm."
Sato nodded with a smile.
"I'll probably contact you sometime next week. Kosaka-san's house isn't far from where I live, so if anything comes up, I'll discuss it with her."
"Thank you!"
"Then I'll head back now."
After Sato left, Minami Kotori happily clutched her phone before quickly opening LINE and entering a small three-person group chat.
[Minami Kotori: Honoka-chan, Umi-chan, I met Nohara-kun!]
[Kosaka Honoka: Huh? Where did you run into him? We went to Aoyama Apartments this morning and didn't see him at all.]
Eh?
Minami Kotori glanced outside, suddenly feeling inexplicably guilty, and hurriedly replied.
[Minami Kotori: We just happened to meet outside by chance.]
[Kosaka Honoka: I see. Then did he agree?]
[Minami Kotori: Mm, he already agreed.]
[Kosaka Honoka: Really? That's wonderful!]
[Sonoda Umi: Actually...]
Sonoda Umi suddenly joined the conversation.
[Sonoda Umi: It's not that I don't trust Nohara-kun, but... can he really help us?]
Sitting on the sofa at home, Sonoda Umi hesitated before sending the message. She knew this wasn't the best time to dampen Honoka's enthusiasm, but she still felt it was better to temper everyone's expectations in advance.
Although she had a favorable impression of Nohara Sato, he was just an ordinary high school student like they were. Even if he could help them, she doubted it would amount to much. Seeing how excited Minami Kotori and Kosaka Honoka were, she couldn't help reminding them.
[Kosaka Honoka: He probably... can. Akane-oneechan is amazing, but she said Nohara-kun is even more amazing than she is. If we're asking him for help, it'll definitely be okay.]
Hmm?
Seeing Honoka's message, Sonoda Umi immediately became curious.
She had met Honoka's cousin, Kosaka Akane. She was a strong, capable career woman with an overwhelming presence, and she'd heard Akane had achieved considerable success in business.
Even someone like her said Nohara-kun was far more capable?
Meanwhile, Minami Kotori glanced in Sato's direction.
Not far away, Sato was saying something to the girls gathered around him. They were all listening attentively, clearly trusting everything Nohara-kun had to say.
After hesitating for a moment, she began typing.
[Minami Kotori: I also think Nohara-kun can help us. He feels really dependable.]
Sonoda Umi stared blankly at her phone screen.
...What on earth had Nohara-kun done to Kotori?
Why was even Kotori saying things like this now?
...
Not far away.
The members of the Light Music Club were all listening intently to what Sato was saying.
As for what he was saying...
"So that's how we'll divide the payment this time. Everyone will receive about ¥40,000 each, and Mio will get an extra ¥30,000 because she handled the vocals."
Sato spoke slowly while thinking things through.
Come on.
Who wouldn't listen carefully when it came to splitting money?
"Dekai... ¥40,000?!"
"Th... that's so much money! I can finally pay off my debt!"
"Awesome!"
"¥70,000?!"
After hearing Sato's announcement, the members of the Light Music Club were all shocked to varying degrees.
Seeing the girls' reactions, Sato couldn't help laughing.
Still, noticing that Kotobuki Tsumugi looked just as excited as everyone else, he couldn't help asking,
"Tsumugi, why are you so excited?"
The light in the young lady's eyes had never been brighter.
"Because this is the first time I've ever earned money!"
Oh, right.
He'd almost forgotten.
The young lady got excited over every first experience.