Chapter 62: Michiru Becomes an Overnight Sensation!
After spending an entire night sharing a bed with Mai, Saku was confident he could write an academic paper titled On the Many Differences Between a Real Person and a Body Pillow.
Mai had taken precautions and clearly divided the bed into separate territories.
Unfortunately, every Trailblazer knew one fundamental truth:
"Rules are made to be broken."
Saku had already warned her that he was a terrible sleeper.
So if he accidentally crossed the boundary while unconscious, surely that was understandable.
The following morning, Saku's house quietly awakened to the sound of a scream.
The person screaming wasn't Saku.
It wasn't Mai either.
The sound came from Michiru's room across the hall.
When Mai was startled awake, she was still groggy, until she noticed that the "rabbit" she was raising was being kneaded.
If it had been just that, she could have barely tolerated it. But the most infuriating part was that the other party completely ignored the rabbit's life or death.
"Saku-kun, if you're awake, shouldn't you let go?"
As she spoke, she reached over and gave Saku's thigh a hard pinch.
Not only that, even his "little brother" that happened to pass by got casually smacked by her as well.
"Mai-senpai, go easy! My little brother hasn't even crossed five passes and slain six generals yet."
"Wh-what nonsense are you talking about?"
Mai clicked her tongue, unable to stand Saku's increasingly brazen dirty talk.
"Just get up. Didn't you hear Michiru screaming? Aren't you even a little worried?"
Michiru might also have her eyes on Saku, but compared with Utaha, she was much cuter and considerably more innocent.
Mai could genuinely treat her as a friend.
"What could possibly happen to her inside the house?"
Saku said that, but he obediently stopped fooling around.
After all, there had to be some justification for everything.
Accidentally crossing the line while asleep was one thing.
Continuing after waking up was obviously different.
Before he could even get out of bed, however, someone began pounding on the door.
"It blew up!"
"Saku! Our music video blew up!"
Michiru sounded like an excited primate, practically bouncing up and down the hallway.
Even after all that screaming, she still hadn't forgotten to share the good news with him immediately.
Saku and Mai exchanged a glance.
Then both climbed out of bed and changed into their respective school uniforms.
By the time they opened the door, Michiru was already in the hallway excitedly talking to Utaha, who had also been awakened by the commotion.
The explanation was simple.
The music video for Idol that they'd uploaded last night had exploded on YouTube.
Hundreds of thousands of people were watching it, while the number of saves had already passed ten million.
In other words, Michiru and Icy Tail had become an overnight sensation.
Their creator dashboard was overflowing with comments.
There were also countless collaboration offers.
The feeling of suddenly shooting straight into the sky was so unreal that Michiru seemed almost intoxicated by it.
She couldn't sit still.
Utaha had clearly noticed the problem and was already trying to talk her back down to earth.
As a so-called "genius novelist," Utaha had experienced a similar emotional high before.
"Even though I've never doubted Saku-kun's talent..."
Mai looked genuinely impressed.
"I still didn't expect you to keep creating one hit after another."
The song from their earlier vlog had already become extremely popular.
But even that hadn't reached this level.
Granted, Mai's own fame had probably helped drive attention toward it.
Still, creating one major hit was already impressive.
Doing it again with a song given to Michiru was something else entirely.
Even though Saku's inner voice had essentially predicted it, seeing the actual result still surprised Mai.
For a moment, she found herself looking at him differently.
Saku was starting to resemble a money tree.
Shake him a little, and somehow something valuable fell out.
The more successful he became, the more attractive an investment he looked.
Saku didn't notice how Mai was evaluating him.
He was busy scrolling through the flood of messages in the creator dashboard.
One thing was already obvious.
If Michiru wanted it, Icy Tail could immediately gain access to resources, platforms, and professional backing.
They could officially debut right now.
As their manager, Saku naturally had to think about what was best for them.
"Michiru."
He looked up.
"What do you want to do?"
"Are there any collaboration offers you're interested in?"
"Huh? Me?"
Michiru scratched her head.
Her emotions still hadn't completely settled, and her brain felt like mush.
Ask her how the band should develop from here?
She had no idea.
Or rather, the truth was even simpler.
Michiru and the other members of Icy Tail had only ever wanted to become famous enough for people to hear their songs and share their love of music.
That had been the goal.
Now that they'd achieved it, they'd unexpectedly reached what felt like the finish line.
None of them had seriously considered what came afterward.
That wasn't actually unusual.
A lot of people lived the same way.
Someone might say, "I want to make money," but never break that goal into smaller stages.
Or perhaps those stages simply felt too distant to imagine.
Then one day they finally earned the money they'd dreamed of...
And suddenly had no idea what to do next.
That was perfectly normal.
"I don't know either."
Michiru hesitated.
"How about I talk it over with Ranko and the others first?"
She could've thrown the entire question back at Saku.
But Michiru didn't want him thinking she was stupid.
Even if she had no clue what she was doing, she at least wanted to pretend she did.
Saku suspected nothing and nodded.
He might technically be their manager, but he wasn't a professional one.
At the end of the day, he intended to respect what Michiru and the band wanted.
"Michiru."
Seeing that the timing was right, Mai suddenly spoke.
"If you don't have a plan yet, how about coming over to my side?"
There was an old saying: don't let fertile water flow into someone else's field.
If Saku was about to launch Icy Tail into the sky, Mai certainly wasn't going to watch them get scooped up by someone else.
Why let outsiders make that money?
Mai could earn it instead.
And if Mai earned it, wasn't that practically the same as Saku earning it?
"Mai, you mean...?"
Michiru wasn't opposed to the idea.
She was simply confused.
Mai was an actress.
She wasn't in the music business.
"I'm not sure whether Saku-kun told you, but I'm preparing to establish my own personal studio."
Mai smiled.
"Right now, I don't have any artists signed under me."
"So..."
"Would you like to join?"
If she was going to evolve from talent into management and capital, she couldn't afford to limit herself to acting.
Mai wanted actors.
She wanted singers too.
Established stars were difficult to recruit.
If she had to cultivate newcomers instead, then why not choose someone she already knew?
With Saku supporting Icy Tail, Mai couldn't imagine the band becoming a losing investment.
It might sound calculating.
But Mai's identity now included something else.
She was becoming a business owner.
"Oh, and there's one more thing."
Mai casually added the final weight to the scale.
"Saku-kun will own thirty percent of my studio."
"...Huh?"
This time, even Saku was stunned.
"When did we agree to that?"
"Mai, you never told me anything about this."
"You're my boyfriend."
Mai looked completely unbothered.
"Why are you so surprised?"
She tilted her head.
"Count the screenplay for Your Name as your sweat equity."
Mai had never explicitly mentioned it before.
But that had always been her intention.
In fact, she hadn't even told her mother yet.
"If you're not used to the idea..."
Mai smiled mischievously.
"Just think of it as a rehearsal for marital property."
「Whoa! We're already talking about marital property? Mai, seriously... you're going to make me cry.」
「No wonder Azusagawa Sakuta couldn't live without you in the original story. Who could possibly resist this?」
「At this point, I only have one thing to say: Rich lady, I'm hungry. Feed me!」
[Valid roast detected. Roast Points +40. Current total: 3,520.]
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