lcionline Chapter 65 The Horse Stumbles
Chapter 65 The Horse Stumbles
The summer of 2013 was hot, but even hotter was Keyakizaka46.
This wasn't a soft advertisement that Rito Kubo paid the media to write; it was a fact universally acknowledged by the entire nation. In early June, the double debut singles "Silent Majority" and "Only Love in the World" swept through the streets and alleys of Japan like a virus. Even musicians who had been criticizing the idol industry for relying on unethical business practices to sell CDs and for threatening to destroy the entire music industry couldn't afford to go against the countless people who were chasing the new singles. They could only turn their attention to Keyakizaka and smear Nogizaka46, saying things like Rito Kubo wasn't incapable of writing good songs, but Nogizaka46 couldn't handle the nonsense in order to save face.
But by this time, nobody listened to their nonsense anymore. Record stores hung up CDs symbolizing Keyakizaka green high and made a fortune. TV producers called Seed Flower in groups, inviting them to appear on their shows. Even the maid cafe staff in Akihabara changed into Keyakizaka's iconic military coats, which looked out of place and somewhat funny, but surprisingly, quite a few people bought them. Compared to Nogizaka46, popular Keyakizaka members, such as Hirate and Kosaka, had significantly fewer fan meetings. This was Rihito's intention; not all members had to rely on this to make money. Being able to bring people into the community on stage was already a great achievement.
Standing right in the eye of the typhoon was a fourteen-year-old girl named Hirate Yurina. Within a month, her name went from being unknown to a trending search term, and her short hairstyle was being imitated by high school girls across the country. Magazines used "The Fourteen-Year-Old Revolutionary" as their cover headline, and critics compared her to Momoe Yamaguchi of the Showa era, reborn in this lost time, pointing direction again for confused young people. Hirate herself took these accolades lightly, always attributing the credit to Rito and her teammates, displaying a maturity beyond her years.
"Kodaira is too all-powerful. What exactly did Yoshio Konno do to push her to that point?"
In the consciousness space, Rito sat on the newly refreshed sofa with his legs crossed, and asked Meiqing across from him.
"How would I know how long she had been gone by the time I went in?"
Mio lazily twisted her neck. She knew Keyakizaka was amazing, but Sakurazaka was just as good.
Rito looked over with a smile. Perhaps she had suddenly become interested, because she had changed into her Nightmare stage outfit, which she hadn't worn in a long time. Her Doc Martens were on the floor, and the hem of her red shirt was peeking out from the edge of her black leather shorts. Under her heavy eye makeup, her long false eyelashes stood upright.
"It's beautiful, although this isn't the first time I've said that."
Rito walked up to her and gently touched the ends of her hair with his fingers. Meiqing glanced at him, remained motionless, and blushed slightly.
Looking at the girl exuding a shy charm that was completely at odds with her tough-guy outfit, Rito chuckled. In fact, the two of them had long known that they were destined to be together for life, but neither of them wanted to be the one to break the ice first. So they kept pulling each other along, having a great time.
Clap your hands, Li Ren has completed her daily task of watching a play and is ready to get down to business.
"OK, Keyakizaka is born! Next up is Hiragana Keyakizaka. After holding back for so long, we can finally have a big draw! How about it, are you in?"
Rito took out three large stacks of tokens he had accumulated over this period from the box, his anticipation almost overflowing. Meiqing, however, just smirked and couldn't resist teasing him:
"When it comes to hiragana, they only give it to regular characters. The president really knows how to discriminate."
Hearing her say that, Rito's face immediately fell, and he plopped down next to her, saying helplessly:
"What can we do then? I asked you to come up with a solution, but you won't say anything. If you're so capable, why don't you marry me?"
"Hmph, even if I dared to marry him, would the Civil Affairs Bureau dare to accept me?"
Meiqing glared at him, stopped arguing with him, snatched a stack of tokens, walked to the gashapon machine, muttered Yuzu's name, and started inserting coins.
As the tokens rolled down, the gashapon machine officially started. The sound of the gears turning was crisp and rhythmic. Gashapon capsules rolled out from the dispenser and landed on the pure white floor. The machine was designed to be plentiful and satisfying. Rito sat cross-legged on the ground and opened them one by one.
"Oh no, fake foreigner."
"Ando Miyun, where did this old-fashioned person come from?"
"Nanami Nishikawa, who are you?"
"Yamato Rina, she's so amazing! Does the system have a recycling function? Can't I just not have her?"
I don't know if it was just bad luck or the random numbers were working their magic, but after dozens of draws, apart from half of the songs, MV storyboards, and variety show scripts, the remaining dozen or so members were all fringe members of Sakamatsu. It's not that they were all as stupid and bad as Poison Apple, but what's certain is that they didn't have much talent for the idol path. Although the original Hiragana first generation was indeed of low quality, it wasn't this bad. If these are the only people, Rito feels that he should reconsider whether he really wants to form Hiragana. Kosaka is strong, but not strong enough to carry the whole group by himself.
"No way." He casually tossed aside the remains of the last gashapon capsule, lay sprawled on the ground, and looked up at the simulated starry sky above. "In this way, Hiragana might not even live to see a phoenix rise from the ashes; they'll be crushed on the beach."
Meiqing glanced at the selected members and silently expressed her agreement. Keyakizaka was already more powerful than in the previous life. If they were given so many scraps in Hiragana, she doubted whether they could even survive until their official debut. Although she was very reluctant to admit it, it seemed that a comment from a hater in the documentary was about to come true: Your existence is a defilement of Keyakizaka.
"Sigh, I'm just really unlucky. You can draw the rest." She shook her head somewhat embarrassedly, handing the few remaining tokens back to Rito. Rito picked them up, weighed them in her hand, and smiled helplessly: "Do you think anyone in the regular pool can save this situation?"
"Well, perhaps Risa-senpai could do it?" Miko smiled awkwardly, racking her brains to find a candidate for him, but Rito rolled his eyes at her, indicating that he couldn't bear to let Risa-sama be the firefighter. Besides, Risa's role is the strongest sub-DPS, turning the tide of battle, which is not her forte.
Meiqing understood his meaning and consciously shut her mouth, her eyes darting around as if trying to find a way to change the subject.
She scanned the space and, to her surprise, found something she hadn't noticed before. She rubbed her eyes, walked towards a glowing screen hidden in a corner, and called out.
"Kubo Rihito, what is this?"
Rito, still reeling from Puchi's crushing defeat, heard her shout and impatiently got up from the ground, walking over. When he saw the light screen, he suddenly stopped, a strange, complex expression appearing on his face.
"Huh? This thing is still here." He squatted down next to Meiqing, his shoulder almost touching hers, and tapped the screen a few times. "I almost forgot, this system is a hardcore fan of GaGa Games."
Meiqing tilted her head, examining the content on the screen. The text was arranged in a beautiful font, each line representing a task, followed by the conditions for completion and a description of the reward. She read a few, her expression growing increasingly subtle. She turned to Rito and raised an eyebrow, as if to say: "You've been hiding this well, haven't you? You had this trick up your sleeve."
"Get a satellite kiss in one day?" She read one of the lines aloud, a hint of murderous intent in her voice. After reading it, she turned her head and looked at Rito with her dark eyes. "Eto Misa and Hoshino Minami, one is an older, mature woman, and the other is a younger, cute girl. President Kubo is so lucky."
Rito glanced at it, then crossed it out without changing his expression: "I've never done anything like that on purpose for a reward, otherwise Hitomi and Yu-chan might have come out already."
Meiqing was silent for two seconds, then squeezed out a sentence through gritted teeth: "Whether you have it or not, you know it yourself." She changed from a squatting position to a cross-legged one, crossed her arms over her chest, and looked at Liren with a complicated expression. The slightly flushed look on her face, coupled with the swaying dark red skull earring, gave her an inexplicable and indescribable air, though she herself was clearly unaware of it.
"Don't look at me like that, I have a clear conscience." Rito wasn't like Rokuko; of course, she wouldn't do something as foolish as cutting open her stomach to prove how many bowls of noodles she ate. She continued swiping on the screen, and saw an even more unrestrained mission involving a double-flying little fat sheep (Konan + Houli). She clicked her tongue lightly, "Why is it Eighteen Sister again? Is the system battery low?"
After his rant, he tapped the refresh button in the bottom right corner of the screen. The button beeped, and the screen scrolled through the content like turning a page in a book. A new entry slowly appeared. This time, there was only one entry, but it was longer than the previous ones: "Spending twelve hours alone with both Kubo Shiori and Kosaka Nao."
Meiqing leaned over and read it out before he could. After she finished reading, she paused and wondered if the system had overheard their conversation. This task seemed a bit more reliable.
Rito thought so too. He stroked his chin and turned to look at her: "Is this one alright?"
"Don't ask me, I don't want to get involved with such nonsense."
Meiqing shook her head. If she agreed today, what if he received some strange mission someday? Would she have to help him deal with it? She wouldn't get involved in such a thing.
Li Ren nodded, not insisting, stood up from the ground, stretched, said "I'm leaving," and his figure flickered and disappeared into the space.
-----------------
In the practice room at 2:30 pm, the brightest sunlight of the day poured in through the floor-to-ceiling windows, bathing the wooden floor in a warm golden glow. Shiori Kubo was standing in the corner doing stretches, one leg resting on the barre, her upper body leaning forward, her long hair slipping down her shoulders, obscuring half her face.
Today wasn't a training day, and the other members were all doing their own things. She came to practice alone. I don't know what the other members think, but Keyakizaka's success has really motivated her. Whether it's outsiders, the staff at the company, or the members themselves, everyone can see that Rito really likes Keyakizaka. Since their debut, the frequency of her visits to Nogizaka46 has obviously decreased significantly. Not to mention the second generation members, even the first generation members have to rely on fate to see her now. It's normal for them to not see each other once a week. Several of them are holding their breath, wanting to get revenge when the next order is released.
Knock, knock, knock. Just then, someone knocked on the door of the practice room.
Kubo Rito stood in the doorway, his shirt sleeves rolled up to his elbows, his tie hanging loosely at his collar, whistling as he waved to her.
"Shiri, stop practicing and come with me."
"Where to?" Shiori didn't move immediately, still maintaining her leg-pressing posture, but slightly turned her head to look at him. Her ethereal appearance captivated Rito.
"Don't ask so many questions. Would your brother Rito possibly harm you?" Rito said, then turned and left without even bothering to explain. His voice could be heard making a phone call in the hallway, barely audible from afar; only the words "Kosaka," "at the TV station," and "I'll come pick you up" were faintly discernible. Shiori smiled wryly, retracted her leg from the barre, wiped the sweat from her forehead with a towel, turned off the air conditioner, and followed him out.
Twenty minutes later, Rito drove from Nogizaka46's office, first picking up Kosaka Nao at the TV station, and then turning onto the Metropolitan Expressway. Kosaka Nao was wearing a long white dress today, and what caught everyone's attention was the long strap at the neckline, secured with a metal buckle. Rito's first thought upon seeing it was, "What kind of design is this? Is she trying to make someone hold her hand?" As a result, Kosaka Nao beat him up with a Keyakizaka46 promotional poster. Shiori watched from the side, feeling a pang of bitterness—truly, new faces surpass the old; everyone's name has the character "O" in it. She wished she had gone to Keyakizaka46 herself.
The car drove for about forty minutes before finally stopping in front of a detached building in the port area. The building's exterior was made of dark gray exposed concrete, with a simple and clean design. A logo that looked expensive hung at the entrance—"BODY&SOUL." Shiori opened the car door, looked up at the sign, and her expression changed from confusion to an urge to punch someone.
"After going around in circles, you just wanted to drag us to the gym?" She turned to look at Rito, who was locking his car, and fiddled with the zipper of her jacket, pulling it up and down, making a slight metallic scraping sound.
"I'll search you to death." Rito stuffed the car keys into his pocket and strode inside, explaining as he went, "There's a variety show project in the second half of the year that requires a lot of physical strength. To find out where your limits are, I'm bringing you here today to test them."
"Huh? Why me? Shouldn't this kind of project be done by Wakatsuki or Misa?" Xu Xian kept muttering to herself, then Rito slapped her on the back and reluctantly pushed her inside. Kosaka Yu didn't suspect anything and obediently followed behind the two of them, not forgetting to close the door behind her.
"Did you get a picture?"
Not far from where the three were looking, a dark camera slowly rose from the bushes. Two rather sleazy-looking middle-aged men stood up, and one of them excitedly asked his companion.
"Of course, we've finally gotten the big scoop."
The man chuckled. The two men were paparazzi from Bunshun. This gym was one of the top ones in Tokyo. One of the employees had a long-term working relationship with Bunshun. After hearing that Kubo Rihito had booked the entire gym for the day and was bringing two girls there, Bunshun executives immediately notified the two men to stake out the place and see if they could catch anything fishy. Sure enough, one was a second-generation member of Nogizaka46, and the other was a first-generation member of Keyakizaka46. Kubo Rihito bringing these two here must mean he was up to something shady.
"If they come out in an hour, we'll write that he's incompetent; if they come out in two hours, we'll write that both idols are highly skilled." The man holding the camera examined the photos, squinting and speaking in a greasy and lewd tone.
"What if it takes six hours to get out?" his companion suddenly asked.
"Are you stupid? Six hours? Are you trying to apply for a Guinness World Record?" The man slapped him on the head and said irritably. That Kubo Rito was obviously all show and no substance. Six hours? I'd be lucky if he came out in half an hour.
To the two paparazzi's utter surprise, the three of them stayed inside for not 1, not 2, not 3 hours, but a full 12 hours, making them start to doubt themselves.
"Holy crap, did they escape through the back door? Twelve hours? Are they crazy?"
"That's impossible. The informant clearly said the back door was locked. Don't worry, they're probably just resting inside because they're tired."
"Who rests at the gym? Do barbells really help you sleep?"
"Who knows? Hey, it's out!"
Outside the gym, night had long since fallen. Unlike Shibuya, Minato Ward's nights weren't bustling; only a few streetlights illuminated the streets, their dim yellow glow dappled by the tree branches. Kosaka and Shiori supported each other as they walked out of the gym. Even from a distance, the two paparazzi could see their exhaustion, especially Kosaka, who stumbled slightly. Luckily, Shiori quickly grabbed her arm, and the two weary girls, almost clinging to each other, slowly made their way to the van parked by the roadside.
"Tsk tsk, this pretty boy is really inhuman, torturing these two like this. But his stamina is really good. Could it be that some new drug has come out recently, with such good effects?"
"Who says otherwise? Let's go, that's a wrap. Now it's up to the editorial department."
The two paparazzi successfully captured the footage they wanted. They exchanged a knowing smile. Undoubtedly, this would be a bombshell capable of devastating the entire Sakamichi Group. They didn't believe that Kubo Rito would actually bring two girls to the gym. If he couldn't produce sufficient evidence to prove his innocence, the seeds of doubt would surely take root and sprout among the fans, eventually growing into a towering tree that would completely destroy the trust between idols and fans. At that point, all the fans would be in a state of panic, and their boss's wish to destroy the idol's career would likely be fulfilled.
The next morning, the digital version of Weekly Bunshun was pushed out on time.
The headline, bolded in red, was enough to resonate with netizens: "Popular members of Nogizaka46 and their sister group Keyakizaka46 secretly meet with the president late at night and spend twelve hours alone in a gym?!" Three photos accompanied the headline. The first photo, taken in the evening, shows Kosaka and Shiori following Rito into a gym. Rito pushes open the door, and the two follow behind, appearing intimate. The second photo, taken late at night, shows the three standing at the gym entrance. The two girls look exhausted and disheveled (in reality, they were just sweating after exercising, but the photo selection and cropping by Bunshun make it look suspicious). The third photo shows the two supporting each other as they leave. Kosaka is practically clinging to Shiori, who also looks weak. Their manager stands nearby, framed precisely by the paparazzi's lens, giving the impression of a lookout.
The main body of the report was even more brilliantly written. The editor-in-chief personally penned a "reasonable speculation" that was both emotionally resonant and logically sound—from the "late-night rendezvous" to the "leaving one after the other," from "looking tired and seemingly overworked" to "the agent being present and seemingly keeping watch," the details were so rich that it was as if he had installed a camera in the gym, almost going so far as to specify what positions the three of them used and which brand of contraceptives they used, making one reasonably suspect that he might have his own alternate accounts on certain websites.
"Kubo-san, we're doomed!"
On the phone, the old scoundrel's grating voice rang out with a hint of regret and despair. The thing he had been worrying about day and night had finally happened. He didn't dare to blame Kubo Rito, after all, it was Kubo's own doing. But now that things had come to this, he had nothing to say. He could only hope that Kubo would give him a generous severance package, considering that he had at least put in some effort, even if he hadn't made any significant contributions, to make up for all the hard work he had put in over the past few days.
"Wrong, it's Bunshun that's going to be finished."
Kubo Rito laughed heartily, and his next words made the half-dead old thief's eyes light up with joy.