Hiko and Ai left the company.
They began searching for a suitable venue in Tokyo for their performance.
The two walked side by side on the right side of the road.
After walking for a while, Hiko realized that Ai hadn't mentioned anything about stage outfits recently, so he asked her, "Are your performance outfits ready?"
"Stage outfits?" Ai replied, puzzled by the term. "The President hasn't said anything about stage outfits."
They had been practicing for a month, and Ichigo still hadn't prepared their stage outfits?
Hiko didn't know what Ichigo's plans were, but he intended for Ai to perform before school started, so she should communicate with the custom outfit maker now.
"Since a performance is scheduled for the near future, you need to communicate with the custom maker in advance; otherwise, you'll have to wait."
Hiko told Ai, "The production of stage outfits takes at least a week, and there's back-and-forth communication during that time. If they have many orders, it could be delayed, so it's best to plan for the costumes early."
"Should we go now?"
Ai became worried upon hearing Hiko's words.
"There's no need to rush today; it'll be a while before you perform on stage. Just communicate tomorrow."
Hiko scheduled it for tomorrow. "You won't be able to perform anytime soon."
"Is that so… But hearing you say we can't perform makes me feel a bit strange." Ai heard Hiko's dismissal of them, and although she knew he was stating a fact, it still made her feel a little down.
'Feeling strange? Does that mean she's unhappy?' Hiko pondered the information contained in Ai's words. 'If I had practiced for a month and was told that, I'd be annoyed to some extent.'
How should he respond?
"For a performance, you need at least two or three songs." Hiko thought for a moment. He didn't know how to cheer Ai up, so he tried saying, "The reason you can't perform is because you know too few songs, so don't overthink it. You're… you've already done very well."
Hiko instinctively wanted to "say you're not bad", but suddenly remembered that Ai had been unhappy with his previous indirectness, so he changed his wording.
"Oh, you're learning. Good, good." Ai clearly noticed Hiko changing his words, and her mood instantly brightened, a smile appearing on her face.
Hiko felt a strange feeling upon seeing Ai's smiling face.
'Indeed, hearing 'not bad' from others isn't that pleasing, but the goal was achieved, so it's fine.'
Hiko smiled and said, "I'll definitely remember what you said."
"Is that so?" Ai quickened her pace, walked in front of Hiko, turned to face him, placed her hands behind her back with her wrists crossed, and said cheerfully, "Hiko-kun is very good at charming girls ~"
"I'm not good at charming girls, and I wouldn't try to make other girls happy either." Hiko saw Ai's movements become more lively, guessing that her mood had significantly improved.
"What you said is true." Ai recalled and affirmed Hiko's words. After a month of interaction, she indeed hadn't seen him talk to others, and he had even made a girl in their class cry. So she decided to tell Hiko how she felt now: "Everything you just said made me happy."
'It seems my guess was correct. Should I try holding her hand now? But her distance makes it difficult.' Hiko was a bit conflicted.
'No, this is a good opportunity.' Hiko thought of another very important matter.
He took out the button camera given by the system, put it in his clothes pocket, then felt his pocket, pinned the button to the front of his shirt, aimed it at Ai, and started filming.
Ai occasionally looked back at the road behind her, then continued walking backward, facing Hiko.
After waiting a while and not hearing him speak, she thought he was too shy to talk and asked him with a smile, "Hiko-kun, are you shy?"
"Do you want me to be shy right now, Ai?" Hiko didn't answer but asked her in return.
"Why did you take a button out of your pocket and pin it to your clothes?"
Ai only received a question in return and felt he didn't seem shy, so she didn't dwell on that question.
Since she had been looking at Hiko the whole time, she naturally noticed him pinning the button to his clothes.
Ai was very curious why Hiko did this, so she asked, "Why are you pinning an extra button to your clothes?"
Hiko felt a little guilty upon hearing the question, but then, realizing the button was indistinguishable from an ordinary one, he relaxed. "It's nothing, I just had a sudden whim."
"I heard that geniuses have eccentricities." Ai pondered for a moment after getting his answer. She hadn't seen Hiko do anything unusual in the past month, then suddenly had an idea and asked, "This isn't your eccentricity, is it?"
'Eccentricity? What exactly is she thinking?'
Hiko found her way of thinking hard to understand. He decided to go along with this line of thought to get by. "You found me out…"
"You don't need to hide an eccentricity like that." Ai nodded in approval and pressed, "How long have you had this condition?"
'This is taking a strange turn…'
"For quite a while. Don't ask; I know it's not good, but I just can't control it. Sigh, usually I can hide it, but I've been at the company all day today." Hiko said in a sad tone, "And it still got exposed… Sigh…"
"Don't worry, if it's just to this extent, I won't dislike you." Ai said to Hiko in a comforting tone.
"Should I be happy? Or disappointed? Just to this extent…" Hiko spoke in a sorrowful tone.
But then he remembered something he had read in a book.
If two people share a secret, their relationship becomes easier to deepen.
"Although you said you wouldn't dislike it, I don't want more people to know." So Hiko seized the opportunity and said, "Then can you keep this secret for me?"
"Eh? Does something like this need to be kept secret?" Ai felt that such a thing didn't need to be hidden at all, but considering the person involved requested it, she agreed. "I can, yes… But, you have to treat me ~"
"No problem!" Hiko agreed without hesitation; he had just been worrying about how to invite Ai recently.
"Not a moment's hesitation, you're really afraid of this eccentricity being exposed." Ai made a shush gesture by putting her right index finger to her lips. "Don't worry, I definitely won't tell anyone else."
She hadn't expected to find his leverage today.
Ai had thought about finding Hiko's weakness to get revenge when she was annoyed before, but she couldn't find any flaws in him.
Just treating her to a meal didn't really count as revenge.
Ai thought of Hiko's "big and rough" (wealthy and generous) nature; for him, this might be more like a reward.
'Well, I'll let him off this time.I still feel quite happy today.'
Ai thought for a moment, then gave up thinking.
"I am deeply grateful for your magnanimity in sparing this humble one; this humble one has no way to repay you but to…" Hiko said in a deliberately pompous tone.
"Don't use such a clumsy performance, can't you be more sincere?" Ai retorted.
"I'm not an actor, how would I know how to act?" Hiko saw someone walking against the flow of traffic around the corner ahead, and Ai's gaze was fixed on him, so she didn't notice the person.
Hiko initially wanted to warn Ai about it, but hesitated and didn't. "Speaking of which, we need to choose a venue today. How many people do you think would be suitable for the venue?"
"The size of the venue, huh…" Ai fell into thought and turned to go back.
Just then, Hiko took a quick step, grabbed Ai's shoulders with both hands, and stopped her from turning.
At that exact moment, the person walking against the flow was right beside Ai; if she had turned just then, she would have collided with that person.
Fortunately, she was held back, otherwise, they would have crashed head-on.
Ai saw the man passing by her and felt a little relieved. "Thank you."
"No need to thank me, just don't tell anyone my secret." Hiko released Ai's shoulders, emphasizing the importance of the "secret" again.
"Even if you don't say anything, I won't reveal it."
Ai turned her head to look back, confirmed no one was obstructing them, then turned forward again.
"You're so careless, I'm really afraid something will happen to you one day." Hiko began to make an issue of it.
"Hmph ~ Nothing will happen to me!" Ai said in a tsundere-like tone, crossing her arms in front of her chest.
Hiko had originally wanted to make an issue of it to make her realize the importance of safety, but then he remembered she had a peace talisman and that saying something like that might ruin the good atmosphere they had, so he decided not to.
"Here, this is for you." Hiko took out a peace talisman from his pocket and handed it to Ai.
"Another peace talisman? How little do you trust me?" Ai complained when she saw Hiko holding a yellow talisman identical to the one in her clothes.
"You recognized it as a peace talisman at first glance, that's good, very good," Hiko said encouragingly.
"I still have two more here, do you want them?" Hiko pulled out two more peace talismans from his other pocket.
Ai was speechless that Hiko carried so many peace talismans. "How scared are you?"
"If these were just ordinary, useless talismans, I wouldn't carry them." Hiko subtly revealed important information to Ai.
"Everyone who sells these things says that." Ai replied indifferently. "Besides, isn't one enough?"
Hiko saw that Ai didn't understand his meaning and didn't press the issue, only saying, "Even if the peace talisman has no effect, it puts my mind at ease, so just take it, consider it for my peace of mind."
"You're impossible, I'll take it then." Ai agreed cheerfully, hearing Hiko's words as a request.
She took the peace talisman from Hiko's hand and put it into her other pocket, where there wasn't already one. "Are you at ease now?"
"Yes, that's fine."
Hiko nodded and put the peace talismans in his hand back into his pocket.
"You said you wanted to find a suitable venue, do you have any ideas in mind? Where?" Ai felt they had been walking for a long time and Hiko hadn't mentioned where they were going.
"A venue for tens of thousands of people is out of the question. I want to find a venue for a few thousand people," Hiko replied.
"A Hall, huh." Ai deliberately used the new term she had recently learned. "I think it could be a bit smaller."
"Any smaller, and it would be a Live House[1]. I think that's too small."
Hiko knew from his research that there were about three hundred live house venues in Tokyo, but they only held 100–500 people, which wasn't much.
Although these venues were the normal stages for underground idol activities.
"For the first performance, let's not make it so grand." Ai felt a bit flustered hearing Hiko talk about her performing in a venue that could hold thousands of people, and shook her head in refusal.
"A hall isn't that big."
Hiko felt that Ai had a misunderstanding about the price of such venues, so he explained:
"A hall is an indoor places like auditoriums, cultural centers, and so on. It's usually part of a larger complex that includes other facilities besides the hall. Its function is versatile; besides concerts, it can also host various conferences and events. The layout is generally similar to a movie theater, with rows of audience seats facing the stage. Such venues can seat a few hundred people at the smallest, and only a few thousand at the largest."
"It's not necessarily thousands of people, as you imagine," Hiko reassured her.
However, Ai became even more worried when she heard Hiko say that.
'Such a large place, the venue fee must be very expensive, right?'
"We don't have any fame yet. Performing in such a large venue right away would definitely be a huge loss." Ai didn't want Hiko to lose a lot of money because of the performance; she wasn't confident that one performance would make the audience pay for her.
"Are you worried I'll lose money?" Hiko heard Ai's concern and reassured her again. "Don't worry about me losing money, my wallet is very thick."
"But I don't want to owe you a favor." Ai still firmly refused.
"Out with the old, in with the new; money always has to be spent, and I'm happy to spend it on you." Hiko felt her firm resolve from her repeated rejections. "If you're really worried about my wallet, then we'll just find a venue for a few hundred people later, won't that work? I really don't want your live debut to be in a Live House."
"Underground idols are also idols…" Ai said weakly; she felt she couldn't persuade Hiko to settle for less.
"But I don't want to see you go down the path of an underground idol." Hiko expressed his true feelings and continued, "Just consider it me indulging myself. Anyway, this venue absolutely cannot be a Live House!"
"Being an underground idol… isn't so bad…" Ai recalled that when she was at the company, other colleagues and members had said that even as an underground idol, if you work hard, you can eventually break free from that limitation. "And you shouldn't discriminate against Live House venues. You're funding this time, but next time, won't we still have to perform there?"
[1] A live house is a Japanese live music club – a music venue featuring live music. It most frequently refers to smaller venues, which may double as bars, especially featuring rock, jazz, blues, and folk music.