Chapter 4: Anxiety

“Huh…?”

Hikari’s eyes wavered for a moment as she paused.

“Is there a problem?”

“Oh, no!”

As if she had suddenly come to her senses at my question, Hikari hurriedly returned to her seat.

After her song ended, the broadcast resumed.

‘Something feels off.’

Of course, I had no good feelings for Hikari.

She was a newcomer who had suddenly joined, and my trust had already hit rock bottom since she had stolen.

‘But, it’s different from the feeling I get from those people.’

I’ve seen many people like that in my life.

However, the feeling I got from her was different.

Whatever the reason for this feeling, it felt extremely dangerous.

After filming ended, we left the waiting room and headed to the car.

“…So, what were you thinking when you did that?”

“Huh? What?”

On the way to the parking lot, I immediately started questioning her.

“What were you thinking when you sang there without saying anything?”

Aside from the fact that she did a great job under the MC’s guidance, I was concerned that her skills had changed drastically in just a few hours.

A sudden leap in singing skills is not possible with just talent.

‘If she was hiding her skills, it must not have been good intentions.’

I was also concerned about her smile that always seemed to hide something.

As the leader of the group, I had a duty to know the personalities of the members.

Especially when it came to members I had only recently gotten to know.

“Are you jealous?”

Hikari slyly glanced at me and laughed.

I laughed in vain at her behavior.

“Are you jealous of someone in the world who would be jealous of a thief?”

“…..I didn’t steal it.”

Hikari’s expression hardened at those words.

I felt unpleasant when I saw her face, which was the complete opposite of the smiling face on the screen.

Taking someone’s things without permission.

If that’s not stealing, then what is it?

“…You know, if you keep going like that, you won’t last long?”

In this industry, skills alone aren’t everything.

No matter how talented an idol is, if a controversy breaks out, they can fall to the bottom.

‘….It doesn’t matter if it’s true or false.’

We also had a member who was kicked out like that.

Suddenly, I remembered something that happened when we first debuted and felt depressed.

“You’d better be careful with your actions. If you don’t want to get bitten.”

Since I didn’t particularly dislike the character Hikari,

it was advice I had gained from my experiences over the past few years.

However, Hikari lightly ignored my words.

“Senior, shouldn’t you worry about yourself first?”

“….What did you say?”

….What was she talking about?

No matter how bad my personality was, I wasn’t in a position to listen to her advice.

“You…!!”

Just as I was about to corner her,

“What are you all doing here?”

I heard a familiar male voice from far away.

I turned my head and saw Sion running towards me from the end of the hallway.

“….Let’s be careful of each other from now on, Senpai!”

Hikari’s expression changed in an instant when she heard Sion’s voice.

‘…This is ridiculous.’

Leaving her behind, I quickly walked towards the parking lot.

At least for now, I didn’t want to associate with her.

“Hey, wait a minute!”

Then, Sion, who had been flustered for a moment, took care of the members and hurriedly followed me.

“…What happened?”

He sensed an unusual atmosphere and asked me.

“Well, it’s nothing. I just had something to tell the president in person.”

“The fact that I had something to tell you in person means that it’s already something serious…?”

Perhaps he had a premonition of what was to come.

Sion sighed.

“Can’t you tell us? You don’t have to handle it alone anymore.”

“……”

Would telling Sion make any difference?

‘That’s impossible.’

As idols, we are products, and Sion was an employee who made and sold them.

In a problem involving the president’s nephew, there was nothing Sion, who was just an employee, could do.

Looking at it this way, it may seem like we were worse off than the company, but we also had our own advantages.

The company could fire employees, but it couldn’t arbitrarily destroy products that were being sold to customers.

Especially if those products brought in hundreds of millions of dollars in profits.

“Sorry, I hate causing trouble for no reason.”

I alone would be enough to take the lead.

On the way back to the dorms, I got out of the car and headed to the agency building.

When I looked across the street, I saw a huge building that looked like a broadcasting station like KDS or SCS.

“Ren, don’t say anything weird and be careful.”

“….I’ve never said anything weird to you before, have I?”

Sion said to me as I got out of the car.

I’ve been cold to him many times, but I’ve never said anything weird to him.

Most of the time, the other person is the one who starts a fight with me first.

‘It seems like you’ve been talking to the president a lot lately.’

After the Mayuri incident, I didn’t want to associate with that person, so I mostly ignored it.

“…But, this is crossing the line.”

It’s nothing more than theft. It’s a crime.

I slowly walked toward the president’s office.

-Knock knock

“Boss, I have something to tell you.”

“….Come in.”

I knocked and went into the president’s office.

“I was just about to call you, so this is good.”

“Huh?”

As I entered the president’s office, the president, who looked angry for some reason, was sitting there.

“Sakamiya, I heard you bullied Hikari on the broadcast today. Do you have anything to say?”

The president’s actions, which immediately began interrogating me, left me speechless.

No, more than that, what? Who is bullying whom?

“….Who is bullying whom?”

“I heard from you. You stopped Hikari from singing?”

That’s the story. It seemed like the president had already heard the news.

“Why is that?”

“Well, from what I saw, you weren’t good enough to sing.”

No. Until the day before, a guy who couldn’t sing properly wanted to sing, so of course you should stop him.

Are you going to watch him do that with your eyes wide open?

“Because of that, your image among people in the industry has declined.”

‘When did that person care so much about my image…’

If that person cared so much about my image, he wouldn’t have let the article come out like that in the beginning.

I’m just blaming him for blocking Hikari’s opportunity to be active in the name of image.

“There’s a bigger problem than that.”

What I did was something that could be seen as such by others.

But there’s a bigger problem than that now.

If it’s a problem that ends at the level of a mere controversy over personality, then it’s a real crime.

“What’s a bigger problem than this?”

“It’s about your nephew.”

The president’s movements froze for a moment at my words.

“…What’s going on?”

“Hikari stole Hina’s earrings.”

I told the president about Hikari’s theft.

At least anyone with a sense of humor would take it seriously.

“What did I say… What’s wrong with that?”

“…….What did you say?”

I was speechless at the ridiculous answer that couldn’t come out of a normal person’s mouth.

I didn’t expect that kind of reaction.

A child would understand somehow.

Stealing someone else’s things at this age means that you haven’t become a basic human being.

And yet, you, the uncle, are condoning your nephew’s theft instead of correcting him?

“What the…”

“As you said, for the sake of the team, wouldn’t it be better for the one who suits you better to wear it?”

I laughed in vain at the logic that didn’t make sense.

So, since those earrings don’t suit Hina, you should be thankful that Hikari is wearing them.

“Yes, for the sake of the team, we shouldn’t have someone like that as a member in the first place.”

“…Be careful with your words, Sakamiya.”

The president warned me while glaring at me.

However, there was absolutely nothing wrong with what I said.

If there was a member in their own team who steals, what kind of member would trust them and continue their activities?

In this situation, the way they tried to cover up for their nephew was so ugly.

“Hikari herself said she borrowed it for a little while?”

“If she took something without the owner’s permission, then that’s not borrowing, it’s stealing.”

Why didn’t she know what even an elementary school student passing by would know?

‘No, she probably doesn’t want to admit it.’

The moment Hikari admits that she was wrong, she would also be admitting that she doesn’t have the ability to see things.

Given her personality, she couldn’t tolerate me taking the lead.

“Well, I’ll talk about that separately. Don’t worry about it.”

“…….Understood.”

You can’t believe what I just said, but what can we do?

A company can’t make a profit if it doesn’t sell products, but at the same time, products can’t exist without a company.

This means that there’s nothing we can do about it.

“….Let’s get out of here.”

“……Okay.”

Finally, I left the president’s office at the president’s gesture.

“….Damn.”

I cursed softly in the empty hallway.

I left the president’s office, thinking I’d believe her for now, but I knew that Hikari was fine.

‘If I had done something like that, I would have been kicked out in an instant.’

The only reason she was fine was because she was the president’s niece.

She must have done it because she knew that.

No matter how much I knew that in this industry, if you just had talent, capital, and connections, everything would be resolved, I couldn’t help but feel annoyed.