"Alright, you'll find out eventually."
Sato smiled as he gently patted Utaha on the head and said nothing more.
For now, it was better to let Utaha simply enjoy her university days.
A gentle smile appeared in Utaha's wine-red eyes. She reached out and rested her hand against Sato's chest.
"You... are you hiding something from me?"
"No."
Sato denied it immediately before raising an eyebrow.
Looking at Utaha, he added,
"I'm just letting you find out a little later."
Hmph!
A sharp glint flashed through Utaha's eyes. Tilting her head up slightly, she gazed at the face of the person she loved most, her eyes carrying a faintly dreamy look.
But at the same time, her hand slid down to the soft flesh at his waist. Through the thin layer of his shirt, her two slender, fair fingers gently pinched him.
Feeling the sensation at his waist...
Sato thought about it for approximately one-thousandth of a millisecond before putting on an expression of agony.
"Utaha, that really hurts!"
He lowered his head pitifully and looked at the breathtakingly beautiful face before him. Her delicate nose and cherry-colored lips curved like crescent moons, every feature carrying a beauty that could steal one's breath away.
Utaha looked at him expressionlessly.
"Has anyone ever told you your acting is terrible?"
Sato blinked.
"Have they?"
...
After walking down Detective Hill, they entered a residential neighborhood.
The streets were quiet, with lights glowing from the windows of the houses on either side.
The two held hands and walked in silence for quite some time.
Only after leaving the neighborhood and reaching the shopping district did the voices around them gradually become lively again.
Neon lights flickered everywhere, illuminating the bustling streets.
Many glowing red signs lined the roadside.
Sato glanced at Utaha.
Utaha happened to be looking back at him as well.
"We've been walking for so long. Why don't we go in there and take a break?"
He suddenly pointed toward the side of the street.
Utaha's face flushed a captivating shade of red. She shot him a glare but said nothing.
...
Sato woke up late the next day.
Please don't ask why. If you do, the Almighty River Crab will make an appearance.
He called in sick and skipped school for the entire day. After getting up later than usual that morning, he spent some time shopping with Utaha.
After they had lunch together, he escorted her to the Shinkansen back to Tokyo.
He didn't return to school that afternoon either, instead heading straight back to his apartment.
With nothing else to do, he watched a few of the newly released anime from the current season, checked on the state of the website, and, while sitting in front of his computer, helped Kosaka Honoka draft some plans.
"Being an idol really is hard work."
After casually looking up some news related to idols, Sato leaned back in his chair with his hands behind his head and muttered to himself.
To put it simply, the idol business was really just fan-driven economics.
In that respect, it wasn't much different from the internet celebrities across the sea. Both relied on monetizing fan support.
But if you compared how hard they worked, the difference was like heaven and earth.
According to various surveys, there were now over two hundred thousand people engaged in idol activities in Japan.
That number genuinely surprised Sato.
Then again, thinking about all the underground idols you could run into on the streets, it suddenly didn't seem so unbelievable.
"Come to think of it, those internet celebrities are basically following the idol model too. The difference is that one side pours enormous resources into creating a single superstar, while the other spreads things out, mostly through idol groups."
Sato fell into thought as he absentmindedly twirled a ballpoint pen between his fingers.
Suddenly, the pen stopped spinning.
He caught it and began writing in the notebook before him.
"So, whether it's an idol or a top celebrity, they aren't primarily presenting their works. They're primarily selling a carefully crafted persona, supported by promotion, publicity, and management to market that image. Their works are secondary. Their persona is the real product."
Thinking it through carefully, people tended to remember idols and top celebrities more for who they were than for what they had created.
Did they have works?
Of course they did.
But the reason they were called idols or internet celebrities was that, whether in acting or singing, they generally couldn't compare with genuine actors or professional singers.
There were certainly exceptions with real talent.
They were just very rare.
"So the most important thing is building a character. As long as the persona is well established, it can be successfully managed."
Looking over his plan one last time, Sato nodded in satisfaction.
This was unexpectedly fun.
It almost felt like...
playing a raising sim?
Raising idols actually sounded pretty exciting.
...
Otonokizaka Academy.
School had just ended, and the campus was filled with cheerful girls chatting and laughing.
They walked through the springtime campus in groups.
Spring at Otonokizaka wasn't filled with only beautiful cherry blossoms.
It was also filled with youthful, beautiful girls.
Ah...
Paradise.
Bzz... Bzz...
Feeling his phone vibrate in her pocket, Kosaka Honoka curiously took it out for a look. A delighted expression quickly appeared on her face.
"Eh! Kotori! Umi! Nohara-kun wants us to go to his place after school!"
"Hm?"
Hearing that, the two girls walking beside her immediately gathered around to look at the message.
[Nohara-kun: I've already come up with a few ideas. If you have time today, come over to my place. I live in Apartment 3-2 of Aoyama Apartments, not far from your house.]
"Honoka, hurry and reply to Nohara-kun!"
Minami Kotori urged from beside her.
"Okay!"
Honoka quickly nodded and replied to the message before looking at her two best friends.
"Then let's head over right away."
...
Aoyama Apartments.
Honoka and the other two stood at the entrance, looking up at the apartment building before them.
"So it's here."
Sonoda Umi murmured to herself.
"Umi, you've been here before?"
Honoka looked at her curiously, and Kotori also turned toward her friend.
"No."
Umi shook her head and looked at the cherry trees growing near the corner of the building.
"I meant those cherry trees. Whenever I came this way to visit Honoka before, I'd always see them from a distance. I've been wondering for a long time where they were planted."
It was already mid-April.
The cherry blossoms had begun to fall.