Chapter 1: Parachute Idol

“Okay, everyone worked hard!”

The party began with the producer’s words.

Since this dome performance was a success, everyone was in a festive mood.

“Unnie(older sister)! Today was the best!”

“…Yes, thank you.”

Nano, holding a glass of cola, approached me and smiled brightly.

Considering how scared she was of me when she first joined the group, this was a huge improvement.

Starting with Nano, the other members also approached me and smiled.

Nano, Natsume, Airi, Yui, Hina, and finally me, Ren.

We were members of the idol group ‘Cornelia’.

“Unnie, isn’t this really like a dream?

When we first performed, my heart raced, but now I don’t feel as nervous as I did when we performed at the dome.”

“…That’s right, we’re used to it now.”

I personally recruited all of our members, and unlike the original, we even call each other ‘big sister’ and ‘younger sister’.

So now we really felt like younger sisters.

I turned my head absentmindedly, and I felt like Sion was smiling and looking at us.

“Guys, wait a minute.”

I got up from my seat and headed next to Sion.

Since I was the type that couldn’t stand seeing someone fall alone, he looked lonely drinking alone.

“Sion, you worked hard today.”

“Huh? Oh… It was harder for you, Ren, than me.”

I spoke to him as I sat next to Sion and looked at his phone.

I felt the other members move away from our conversation.

Some of the girls were looking at us and saying, “What is this?”

“We’re not really in that kind of relationship.”

Since my content was a man, I never thought of seeing the producer as a romantic interest.

“Anyway, I’ll be 21 next year.”

Thinking about it, my life as a woman would soon surpass my life as a man.

“Huh? Oh, boss.”

At that moment, a call came to Sion’s phone.

“… Oh, already?”

“What’s going on?”

Sion’s expression on the phone was unusual.

“Boss, take you with me for a while.”

“Boss?”

What is this all of a sudden?

The president was not the kind of person who would call us just because we finished a dome concert.

If that were the case, he would have summoned us dozens of times already.

For some reason, I felt anxious and walked towards the president’s office.

“…What did you say?”

I couldn’t help but question the president’s words.

“Say it again?”

“Yes, say it again.”

No.

At first glance, he seemed calm, but it was unspoken pressure.

Pressure to stop spitting.

If it were me, I would have quietly backed down at this point.

However, this was too big of an issue to back down from.

“You’re suddenly adding members?

And ordinary people who haven’t even trained properly?”

“You can start training now.”

Starting with those words, the president passionately laid out his argument.

“The fans will like the image of a youngest idol growing together.”

“Yes, maybe in other groups.”

Japanese idols tend to debut groups that are relatively less skilled first.

The intention was to let them grow through experience in real life.

However, the group I’m in, Cornelia, was already a complete idol group since its debut.

The producer and I thoroughly looked at skills, potential, and personality to bring in members.

That’s why it took a whole year to gather the current members.

That’s why, even if it’s not about other groups, at least the people who watch us don’t want idols who are growing.

They want idols who can perfectly handle both dancing and singing.

“You weren’t good at first either, were you?”

“Yes, that’s why we couldn’t even debut until we got good at it.”

I somehow shot back at the president who was defending his own choice.

We all went through a lot of effort to become idols.

From interviews to training, it shouldn’t have taken more than a year.

But who is she and why is she joining right away?

“So, why do you favor her so much?”

I asked the president, although I could guess the reason.

In this game, there was only one member who was parachuted in.

“…Because she shows enough talent.”

“It’s not just because she’s my niece, is it?”

“Sakamiya!!!”

His passionate response made me realize that my guess was right.

If she showed talent in the first place, he could have just sent her to another group he was currently working on.

Unlike us, she hadn’t debuted yet.

There was plenty of time to get along with them.

Even so, if he insisted on putting her in our group, it was likely that she had a special relationship with the president.

The new member who was joining was Sakamoto Hikari, the president’s niece.

‘And she’s also the main female protagonist of this game.’

The story of the game in the beginning started with Hikari joining the group.

‘When I think about it, it’s unfair. Why did you have to parachute into a group that’s doing well?’

When I saw it like that, I understood Ren’s feelings in the game.

I thought about all the hardships I’ve gone through as an idol.

There was a time when I collapsed after starving myself to manage my weight.

And there was a time when I was exhausted from the forced march at the beginning of my debut and had to get nutritional supplements in my arms to hold on.

All the members went through hard times and joined the group.

They succeeded and now they’re starting to receive the rewards for their efforts.

But, you’re going to skip all that and just suck it up with your uncle’s money?

‘This really sucks.’

It felt like everything I’d built up in my life had been denied.

I could’ve just met a good family, so why did I go through all this hardship?

“Nano joined midway, right?”

“But Nano was a career member.”

Nano was an idol trainee to begin with.

It was just that the company went bankrupt and she failed to debut.

But her skills were such that if she worked on them a little, she could have become an active member right away.

However, it took three months for Nano to join as a member.

So how can she, a total beginner, become a member who can debut in three months?

It would be impossible unless she was extremely talented.

“Whew… Anyway, that’s already been decided.

She’ll probably move into the dorms after this performance ends.”

“……………”

“Even people outside the company already know this.”

The fact that she told people outside the company meant that it was already decided that she would join our group.

Realizing that saying anything more wouldn’t change anything, I slammed the door and left the president’s office.

“That, ill-mannered…!”

The president’s voice suddenly came from behind me, drowning out the sound of my teeth gritting.

“Ah, Ren…”

“…You knew?”

As I walked nervously down the hallway, the producer spoke to me with Sion’s face.

“…Sorry, the president told me to keep it a secret.”

“….Okay, you work for a salary. You have to listen to the boss.”

Of course, it was inevitable from his point of view.

However, I couldn’t help but feel a strange sense of betrayal at the fact that he hid it from me even though he knew I would get angry.

I returned to the party venue with the producer.

The members asked me, who was very angry.

“Unnie… Did you fight with the boss by any chance?”

“….No, it’s nothing. Everyone is resting.”

However, despite my words, no one was enjoying themselves comfortably.

The party atmosphere had already been ruined.

A month had passed in an instant.

“Ren, we don’t have any plans for a while, right…?”

“Oh, let’s rest for a while.”

After all the extremely busy performance schedules were over, we were resting our tired bodies in the dorm.

The president called out to us who were resting in the dorm.

As we went out in front of the dorm, I saw the president of our agency.

Next to him was a girl who looked to be around our age.

Even from afar, she boasted an appearance that was particularly striking.

“Sister, what could this be?”

“……There’s no need to worry.”

After reassuring Hina, who was still unsure of the situation next to me, I walked forward without saying a word.

“Now, She is Sakamoto Hikari, who will be joining Cornelia from today.”

“Hello! My name is Hikari!”

At the president’s introduction, Hikari greeted us in a way that we couldn’t tell if she was being formal or informal.

“Boss…? What do you mean…”

“It’s exactly as you heard. Hikari will be working with you starting from the next project.”

“That’s ridiculous! We’ve already planned out the routes for the six of us…!”

Even when Natsume objected to her route, the president was stubborn.

If he had been thinking of quitting to that extent, he would have given up when I told him.

“For now, use the room at the end of the hallway, Hikari.”

Without any particular interview, Hikari was assigned a room.

The only problem was that it was my room.

“Boss, that’s my room.”

“…..Oh, that’s right. You can use the room next to it.”

“Yes~!”

At those words, Hikari smiled brightly and walked into the building.

“Sister, what’s going on?”

“….Don’t worry, it’ll be okay.”

After returning to the boss’s house, we also went inside the dorm.

In contrast to us who were dumbfounded by the sudden situation, a lively-looking girl caught my eye.

“Oh, you’re the team leader, right? Please take care of me!”

I took the hand she offered without saying a word.

Yes, she’s the main character, so how could anything happen?

I don’t know about anything else, but at least she’s got a good personality.

And it didn’t take long for me to realize that that thought was completely wrong.