"Hiko-kun?" Ai suddenly called Hiko by his name.
Hiko was confused by the sudden address from the young girl. "Didn't you say you didn't want to call me by my name just now?"
"This is the first time someone has cared about my safety. It's not bad to feel cared for~" Ai replied evasively, toying with a strand of her long hair. "I'll definitely keep the peace talisman with me."
"I don't have anything to give you in return right now." Ai pondered, twirling a strand of hair around her index finger.
"Just accept it."
Hiko waved his hand, rejecting the girl's idea of giving him a return gift. He hadn't intended for the peace talisman to be a gift in the first place.
"How did you two get so close all of a sudden?"
Ichigo returned from his call, seeing the two transition from a tense atmosphere to a gentle one, and felt relieved. "Miyako has been informed. Ai, let's go to the orphanage where you grew up to complete the handover procedures."
"I want to see it too!" Hiko raised his hand, wanting Ichigo to take him along.
"What's there to see at an orphanage?" Ai asked, puzzled.
"It's not that there's anything special to see at an orphanage, but because it's the place where Ai grew up, I want to see it." Hiko said earnestly.
"What on earth did you two talk about?"
Ichigo scratched his head, looking at Ai for her opinion.
Ai nodded, giving her permission.
Seeing that she didn't refuse, Ichigo gathered the necessary information and materials and drove the two of them to the orphanage.
Ichigo sat in the driver's seat, Hiko sat in the front passenger seat to avoid awkwardness, and Ai sat in the back.
After telling Ichigo the name of the orphanage, Ai fell silent, looking out the window.
The car drove along the road.
"My judgment wasn't wrong, was it?" Ichigo glanced ahead and joked casually, "Ai has the potential to be an absolute C-position. She hasn't even debuted yet, and it seems she's already captured your heart, kid."
"Mhm." Hiko humored him with a perfunctory voice. "I've already been captivated by Ai."
"You can't take advantage of being close to her. If it gets out that an Idol is in a relationship, everything will be over." Ichigo warned Hiko, who seemed perfunctory but also serious.
"Wouldn't it be fine as long as we keep it a secret?"
Hiko retorted, "To you, Idols are commodities. As long as they can weave beautiful lies to make fans spend, even if they act against the image of an Idol, don't you still try your best to help them hide it?"
"Don't say it so coldly. It's not that I like money; it's because my dream is to manage Idols who can perform at the Dome."
"The President's dream is for the Idols he manages to perform at the Dome?" Ai asked with a puzzled voice.
"Yes, he's been thinking about it for a long time. Unfortunately, after all these years, it's still just a small company, with no possibility at all," Hiko replied.
[How can the bound target be handed over to others for training?]
[Secure Hoshino Ai's management rights.]
No sooner had he finished speaking than a mission popped up from the System.
"Isn't it that I've seen potential in Ai?" Ichigo muttered softly.
"If you ask me, you might as well hand Ai over to me for management. The chances of success would be greater than with you," Hiko said in a joking tone.
He was trying to obtain Ai's management rights and training.
"But what do you know about Idols? And you're only twelve. Professional matters should be left to professionals. Although I say I'll manage them, I hand the children over to professionals for training." Ichigo refused without even thinking.
"It's precisely because of people like you that it's always been a small company. If they could manage truly popular Idols, they wouldn't be working for such low wages and condescending to stay in a small company."
Hiko mercilessly shattered Ichigo's fantasy and pressed on, saying, "For all these years, they haven't even managed to debut a single top-tier Idol."
"You brat! Your aggressiveness is too strong today!" Ichigo wanted to refute his words but had no concrete evidence to do so, so he could only grudgingly say, "It's not because there aren't good foundations…"
"Are you talking about SSRs who can become super popular Idols with just basic training?"
Hiko once again exposed his thoughts.
"What do you know, you little kid! You talk big even though you know nothing."
Ichigo was instantly enraged and tried to suppress Hiko by bringing up his age.
Hiko calmly continued, "Do you know why I get a perfect score of 100 on every test?"
Ichigo said disdainfully, "It's just a perfect score in elementary school, what's there to show off about?"
"How can you say that with such disdain when you've never gotten a perfect score yourself?"
Hiko continued to expose him: "Even the simplest addition and subtraction, I never saw you get a perfect score in elementary school."
"How do you know that!" Ichigo felt embarrassed.
"I just did a little investigation. If I didn't know your grades, I might actually have been fooled by you."
"This is an invasion of privacy!" Ichigo felt his authority slipping away. "Do you really want to fight for Ai's management rights that much?"
"But I won't agree! I absolutely cannot let her be ruined by you!"
Even though Ichigo's secrets were exposed, he still firmly refused.
"I originally just wanted to be an ordinary person, but I've decided to lay my cards on the table. No more pretending."
Hiko said helplessly in a tone of full disclosure, "I didn't want to do this originally."
"Ai, do you know how much Idols get paid?"
"I don't know. The President suddenly said today that I have the potential to be an Idol…" Ai admitted she was unclear.
"Generally, Idols have the lowest salaries in the entire industry. Debuting Idols might not even earn 200,000 yen." Hiko did not deliberately downplay this number.
"200,000 yen is quite a lot!" Ichigo whispered, but he dared not speak loudly, fearing his nephew would cause a huge scene for him.
"Sounds like a lot, right?"
Hiko ignored Ichigo. Over the years, he had learned from Ichigo about the actual salary situation of Idols. "This is only the salary an Idol can get if their merchandise sells well."
"If the merchandise doesn't sell, Idols might even struggle with basic living expenses."
"But I didn't decide to become an Idol to earn money," Ai replied, unconcerned about the salary issue. She hadn't decided to become an Idol for money.
"Mhm, I know."
Hiko nodded, perfectly clear on this point.
If Ai had decided to become an Idol for that reason, she wouldn't have been so upset after watching the anime.
"That's right, how can people only think about money?" Ichigo said with a sarcastic remark, pressing his advantage.
"But there's one thing you two have to admit: in this realistic, garbage world, spending more money gets you a better education, and Idol training is no different."