Ai heard him and felt confused. She looked at Hiko, waiting for him to continue.
But after a few seconds of silence, with no follow-up from him, she repeated, "We eat?"
"Nothing, you misheard." Hiko, embarrassed that Ai had caught his slip, replied perfunctorily, "I didn't say anything just now. If you heard me talking, it must have been a delusion."
'I didn't say I heard it from Hiko-kun just now, so why does he think I misheard? Why doesn't he think I want to eat something?'
Ai noticed the loophole in his words and decided to tease him. "Eh? Why does Hiko-kun think I misheard? Why don't you think I want to buy something to eat? There's still half an hour before the show starts, plenty of time to grab some snacks."
"Oh, so you want to eat something. Since it's still early, let's go buy food," Hiko said, deliberately ignoring himself and going along with Ai's words to divert her attention as he led her out.
"Eh? I didn't say we should go out now."
Pulled along by his pace, Ai hesitated, then asked, "You can't bring food into the concert hall, right?"
"Generally, you can't," Hiko said after a moment's thought.
"If we can't bring it in, then let's not buy anything. Otherwise, by the time we get back, the performance might already have started." Ai tugged Hiko firmly, not letting him lead her further.
"Since you said so, then forget it. We'll buy snacks afterward as a late-night meal." Hiko was pleased that her focus had shifted.
'It's too easy to fob her off… No, I shouldn't think that way, that's just asking for trouble.'
Hiko shook his head, clearing his stray thoughts.
By now, only a few people were still leaving the hall. Presumably, the audience had almost all dispersed.
"Since we're not going out, let's go in…" Hiko began, then suddenly remembered he hadn't bought drinks.
He walked to the vending machine, scanned the options, and decided on boxed black tea and orange juice.
He chose boxed drinks because he had heard that bottled and canned ones weren't allowed inside.
"Do you want black tea or orange juice?" Hiko asked carefully.
"Then I'll take orange juice," Ai replied without hesitation.
Hiko nodded, took out coins, and inserted them.
Thump! Thump!
Two boxed drinks dropped down.
"Here you go." Hiko handed the orange juice to Ai. "Let's go."
"Okay," Ai replied obediently.
The two passed through ticket and security checks and entered the hall.
As soon as they stepped inside, Hiko saw the three-story structure rising on both sides of the venue, with upper floors jutting out like the shape of shoes.
Rows of chairs were arranged step by step, one row for seats and one step for passage.
The wall behind the stage had grid-like protrusions, and there were even seats upstairs, giving the audience different viewing angles.
The entire layout resembled a shoebox.
Holding the tickets, Hiko quickly found their seats and led Ai over.
"What do you think of this performance venue?" he asked.
"It's so big…" Ai said softly, her thoughts drifting.
The idea of performing here, facing so many spectators, made her feel a little intimidated.
"I don't think it's very big." Though Hiko also felt the concert hall was spacious, he couldn't agree with Ai, otherwise, the venue would have to be considered too small.
Anyway, he wasn't the one performing, so a bigger stage was better.
"And the bigger the stage, the better for your future idol development," Hiko reassured her.
Ai kept scanning the hall. The more she looked, the more she felt that if her debut performance were here, the pressure would be overwhelming.
Watching from the same floor was fine, but those seats upstairs, looming and looking down at the stage, gave her an unpleasant feeling.
"This absolutely won't do!" Ai refused firmly.
"Since you're unwilling to perform here, then just enjoy the show. You still have plenty of time to practice your songs and dances anyway." Hiko leaned back in his chair, relaxed.
After all, his original plan was never to find the perfect venue in one go.
He needed to scout several more places at least.
Even if Ai had liked it, he would have found an excuse, compare and choose, to make her come along for more scouting trips.
"Enjoy…" Ai murmured. After a short silence, she added, "Then next time, let's find a smaller venue."
"Hm, I'll try my best." Hiko turned to her. "Relax, don't be so tense. Watching a performance is for relaxation."
He saw her looking around as if committing the layout to memory and advised her gently.
"Hm, but if you're scouting, you'll have to buy tickets every time. Wouldn't the scouting fees add up to like 200,000 yen or more?" Ai frowned, calculating. Her monthly salary from the president was only 50,000 yen. Even adding the leftover 10,000 from last month, she barely had 60,000 yen, not nearly enough to afford such outings.
She hesitated at the thought of scouting with Hiko again.
"Actually, you don't need to spend money, we can get reimbursed," Hiko said, aware of her worries. He came up with an excuse: "Here, I'll give you the money back. Just give me your ticket, and I'll ask the president to reimburse it later."
Of course, Ichigo would never reimburse venue scouting fees.
Since this event was privately organized, not only would Ichigo not pay him back, Hiko himself would have to cover staff salaries and preparations.
"Will the president really reimburse it?" Ai asked skeptically.
"Of course the president has to reimburse it. Otherwise, how would I have any spare money?" Hiko adjusted his answer with a straight face.
Ai recalled something and said, "But when I first met you, didn't you say you earned 10,000,000?"
"But that 10,000,000 is specifically reserved for your use. Even inspections like this can't touch that money," Hiko replied, then added, "This time, because there was a performance, we couldn't sneak in to observe."
"So for future scouting, most of the time we won't need tickets. If we do, then we'll just skip it and move on to the next location."
"If that's the case, then I'm relieved." Ai's tense heart finally settled.
Train fare was manageable.
The two chatted casually as the hall gradually filled with people.
Soon, the performers took the stage.