Tokyo Psychic

Page 155

It is clear that although the boy's clothes look "untidy" and sloppy, they do not make people feel disgusted. On the contrary, they have the "melancholy" and "unconventional" qualities that a genius literary creator should have in the public's stereotype.

Akira Kurusu approached and politely inquired of Chihaya Aine, who was standing at the front and appeared to have "positive features," adopting a tone similar to that of a "sage" in an isekai story conveying the mission to a "hero" to defeat the demon king: "Lost girl, are you here to find your bandmates who have lost their way?"

The group looked at each other, unsure how to respond.

I never imagined that the name of the band "Lost Sons" would be used as a nickname by someone else in such a way...it makes me feel ashamed and embarrassed.

Chihaya Aine, who prides herself on being the best at interpersonal communication, had no choice but to answer the question with a forced "Yes, yes."

"Lost girl, you can call me 'Kurasu Akira'. I am a signed artist with ATLUS agency and currently play guitar in several bands... Anyway, please follow '@Kurasu AkiraOfficial' on social media."

Akira Kurusu calmly stated her "stage name" and then introduced herself.

I forgot the beginning, I forgot the middle, but anyway, I should just follow his account, right? ... Chihaya Aine, who has almost integrated surfing the internet into her social instincts, subconsciously took out her phone, searched for the newly established social media account, and became its 24th follower.

Then, she noticed something strange: in that long list of followers, apart from the first one being "Pleia" and the second one being "井芹仁菜", the next twenty or so IDs all started with "丰川" and looked like newly registered accounts.

If you randomly click on one of the posts by "Fengchuan", you'll find that the posts he's liked recently are mostly news about current affairs or finance, and his comments are as old-fashioned as an old man who can't keep up with the times.

How could an elderly person who has worked hard for most of their life register an account to follow a young artist and light novel author? If you're going to hire an online troll, at least be a little more professional... It's 2022 already.

Chihaya Aine silently complained to herself.

"Excuse me, could you also help me share the posts on the account?" Lai Qixiao watched her complete all the steps, then coaxed her, "I can treat you to any dessert you like at that dessert shop over there."

Akira Kurusu's account only has a celebratory message provided by her agency for "No Game No Life" reaching one million copies sold.

He was actually saying this to the girls behind Chihaya Aine.

If a light novel has already achieved good sales in physical bookstores, the simplest and most readily available way to significantly increase revenue is probably "online promotion".

Compared to advertising expenditures that can easily reach millions, having established female band members help with promotion requires negligible costs—they're all colleagues playing drums and strings on the same stage in front of the same audience.

Perhaps out of guilt for doing something wrong, Nagasaki Motoyo complied with Akira Kurusu's request without hesitation.

She was clearly not the type of person who cared whether or not dessert was offered to her.

Seeing Nagasaki Motoyo take out her phone and open a social media app, Takamatsu Akira quickly took out her phone to follow Kurusu Akira's account, then looked at the text that Chihaya Aine had just shared, copied it word by word, and finally clicked share.

Originally, Shiina Tatsuki was not very willing to be ordered around by someone she had just met.

But seeing that Gao Songdeng had also finished, she reluctantly took out her phone from her small bag.

After confirming that all the girls in the band had shared the post, Akira Kurusu watched her personal account's follower count grow at a visible speed and then put her phone away with satisfaction. "Thank you so much to everyone at 'MyGO' for your help."

At this moment, in the comment section of the accounts of the "MyGO" band members, the fans who came after hearing the news were all surprised that their favorite band had actually reposted a promotional post for a light novel.

[Kakaroland: I never expected the young lady of the Moon Forest to read this kind of book...]

[Star Journey: Uh... is this considered sharing the joy with the people?]

[Manzhi: I've never read this type of book before. Is it good?]

[Sheng Shi Fan Hua: In short, just buy whatever you see.]

【...】

As they were heading to the dessert shop together, Chihaya Aine suddenly exclaimed from behind Akira Kurusu.

"Why did Lena repost it too?!"

"Hmm? When was it?" Nagasaki Motoyo asked her, somewhat surprised.

"That stray cat..." Shiina Ritsuki, whose Line messages to date remain unread, gritted her teeth and clenched her fists.

......

When I pushed open the door and entered.

You can see a girl with white hair and heterochromatic eyes rolling around in the arms of the lead singer of another band.

The lead singer, perhaps unable to withstand the girl's enthusiasm, quickly gave in, saying, "Lena! I'm busy!"

Jingqin Rencai held up her phone, trying to retweet the post from Laixi Xiao on the official account of "End Band".

On the table next to her was Yoro Nai's cell phone.

The phone screen lit up, displaying a retweet page of Twitter updates.

"Hey! Stray cat!" Shiina Ritsuki lowered his voice and said to Kaname Rakuna, who suddenly sat up on the sofa, in a very stern tone, "Do you know how dangerous it is for someone to run off to such a far place alone!"

After she finished speaking, she quickly bowed deeply to the bewildered Izana, "I'm sorry! Rakuna has caused you trouble!"

Rakuna blinked, seemingly unconcerned about Shiina Ritsuki's reprimand, and said in her usual light voice, "There's Nina here, Rakuna likes Nina..."

"Okay, get up quickly..." Shiina Riki blushed a little when she was suddenly surrounded by stares. She grabbed Kaname Rakuna's arm and tried to separate her guitarist from Izanagi Jinna, but Kaname Rakuna clung to Izanagi Jinna and refused to go with her.

Shiina Tatsuki was at a loss and could only look sadly at this ungrateful stray cat. "When are you planning to come back for training?"

Matcha Parfait.

"Okay, as soon as we get back to training, I'll treat you to a matcha parfait..."

"Your deluxe matcha parfait, please enjoy." As soon as the words were spoken, the waiter placed a large cup of matcha parfait in front of Kaoruna, whose eyes were shining.

Shiina Riki then noticed that there were several empty cups on the small table behind Kaname, with traces of melted matcha ice cream remaining in the glassware.

It turns out that when Yoro Nai said "matcha parfait" earlier, she didn't mean "give me the matcha parfait and I'll go back to training," but rather "I'll go back to training after I finish eating the matcha parfait."

......

While swiping her card to pay at the counter, Akira Kurusu, who was also concerned about Mutsuka Wakaba, turned her head to look at Rakuna Kaname's sudden and intense emotional reaction with some curiosity... So, do girls who are particularly cat-like really like foods that are similar to "catnip"?

Jingqin Rencai is completely captivated by milk coffee.

This fourteen-year-old guitarist seems to share the same level of passion for matcha.

However, Akira Kurusu obviously had no intention of luring another cat to STARRY, since she had to take care of a somewhat troublesome house cat and a pet cat that kept shouting that it was an "Apostle" or "messenger of God" and other strange things.

If we add another stray cat that likes to run around... Actually, stray cats can be tamed, but Ichika Hoshika probably wouldn't be willing to take care of another troublesome child.

"Mumu, you seem to care a lot about that girl over there... It's called 'Nagasaki Motoyo'."

Akira Kurusu keenly noticed the occasional darts of Mutsu Wakaba's gaze.

Ruoye Mu took Kurusu Akira's hand and gently tugged at it until Kurusu Akira half-squatted down. Then she leaned close to Kurusu Akira's ear and whispered, "...We used to be friends."

If Ye Mu said "in the past" and didn't mention "now," Lai Qixiao looked at her somewhat sad eyes and knew how much this girl cherished the hard-won friendship. "If you're worried about saying the wrong thing and that's why you don't dare to take the initiative to explain to her, I can try to help you make up with her."

"I'm entrusting this to you." The girl looked at Kurusu Akira with an incredibly trusting gaze, as if she were about to entrust everything to him.

Akira Kurusu picked up the bank card that Mr. Toyokawa had just given her and swiped it smoothly on the machine.

The waiter, who had returned to the front desk, handed the printed receipt to Lai Qixiao with both hands.

Akira looked down at the long string of numbers below, her pupils trembling slightly.

Just a few cups of matcha ice cream, a few cups of milk coffee, and a plate of matcha-flavored desserts, and it actually wiped out a month's worth of his living expenses in Tokyo in his previous life...

Is this really the price level expected of a high-end dessert shop in Ginza?

The thought of having to keep his promise and treat the girls from "MyGO" to dessert made even a mental thief feel a pang of heartache.

In that instant, he instinctively clutched the bank card he had just slipped into his pocket. There was a note attached to the card with a string of numbers written on it, and a message below the PIN.

You need to be rich to go on a date with a girl.

Toyokawa Shoko's grandfather's instructions... No, that's too formal. I should just call him "grandfather".

I can never repay my grandfather's kindness...

Akira Kurusu put the receipt in his pocket and looked up to find that Motoyo Nagasaki had moved a step toward him somewhat nervously.

"Miss Nagasaki, is there anything I can help you with? If you have any dessert you'd like, you can just pick it out from the menu over there. I'll pay the bill last."

Nagasaki Motoyo quickly shook her head, "No...no!"

She took a deep breath, mustered her courage, and walked up to Akira Kurusu. "Could you listen to me for a moment? It's an apology."

"Apologize? Are you referring to the time you followed me that day?" Akira Kurusu said something that made Motoyo Nagasaki turn pale instantly.

Nagasaki Motoyo's eyes showed a helpless and painful look, but she still nodded firmly, "Yes, I hope you can forgive me for what happened that day."

“I don’t care.” Akira Kurusu glanced discreetly at Mutsuka Wakaba, who was curled up and hiding in the shadows of the sofa behind her. “It’s just that Shoko was quite angry for a while after that day.”

The way the thin, slender girl curled up looked just like the wilted leaves of a cucumber.

"But you didn't read the messages I sent you on Line..."

"There were probably too many messages, so your comment got buried." That's the truth.

Nagasaki Motoyo still looked uneasy, but she didn't dare to ask any further questions. She simply bowed her head, apologized, and quickly ran back to the band members.

"We still have plenty of time this afternoon, Mu, is there anywhere you'd like to go?"

Akira Kurusu returned to sit down next to Mutsuka Wakaba, and the girl seemed to feel relieved immediately. Her tense, curled-up body slowly relaxed. "I...I don't know."

The phantom thief encouraged the girl, who was afraid of saying the wrong thing, saying, "I'll go with you wherever you want to go."

Wakaba Mutsu looked at Kurusu Akira with a questioning gaze, "I...I want to go and see Ren's school."

Is there anything else?

"And...and the place where Lian used to live."

Wakaba Mutsu said in a very soft voice.

Akira Kurusu quickly stood up. "Let's set off now."

He was starting to feel restless.

The thought that the sofa he was sitting on, along with the entire floor outside, belonged to the Toyokawa family... whether it was feeling guilty or feeling like his bank card was burning his hand, it wouldn't be an exaggeration to say that he simply couldn't bring himself to go on a date with any girl other than Toyokawa Shoko under anyone's nose.

Especially when she thought about the bank card in her pocket that Toyokawa Shoko used to use to save her pocket money, and that many of the girls in the band across the street were Toyokawa Shoko's old friends, and that they even knew the Wakaba family who were sitting next to her...

Even with the thick skin of a mind thief, he couldn't always withstand the bewildered gazes that young girls occasionally cast upon him.

Upon reflection, I realized it wasn't shame that I felt, but rather the overwhelming gratitude I felt for my grandfather's kindness.

Thinking of this, Lai Xixiao quickly pulled Ruoye Mu to her feet, paid the bill at the front desk, and then slunk away from the dessert shop.

As Takamatsu watched Wakaba Mutsu's departing figure, her eyes trembled slightly. "It's been so long since I've seen Mutsu... The guy next to her, that must be Shoko's boyfriend, right?"

Looking at Nagasaki Motoyo's gloomy expression, Shiina Tatsuki, recalling the urban romance dramas she often saw on TV, suddenly had a bad feeling. "Motoyo, could it be that that day..."

Nagasaki Motoyo shook her head repeatedly, unwilling to answer the question. "Don't make wild guesses, things are not as you think."

Although Chihaya Aine couldn't understand what they were talking about, she sensed the strange atmosphere and quickly stood up. "Everyone, it's getting late. Now that we've found Rakuna, let's hurry back to training."

Kaname, who was enjoying her matcha parfait, glanced back at the band girls with their various expressions with a puzzled look, and then turned to look at Iori Jinna, who seemed to be doing nothing beside her.

"Rin-na." Rakuna tugged at Rin-na's sleeve.

"Ok?"

"I'm leaving."

"Bye-Bye?"

Rakuna shook her head vigorously, then looked longingly at Iori Niina, "I want to find Niina."

“Me…me?” Izare Nina paused for a moment. “I usually hang out near Shigen Chaya.”

"Shigen Tea House?"

"Uh... how about STARRY? Have you heard of it? It's a pretty famous livehouse."

"...STARRY? Starry Night?"

Yoro couldn't understand any of those place names.

Shiina Tatsuki, who was still mentally exhausted, finally couldn't remain indifferent and approached them. "Is it that livehouse that only operates at night?"

"Yes." Seeing that Rakuna looked anxious, Izayoi said, "Rakuna doesn't know any of these place names. Does she know how to use navigation?"

You need to shake your head.

Shiina Tatsuki, who was standing next to her, explained, "Rakuna is completely inept at using electronic devices."

“I see…” Just as Izayoi was about to say something, she saw Shiina Ritsuki pulling Kaname Rakuna back. “I’ll take her to STARRY after training tomorrow.”

Hearing Shiina Ritsuki say that, Kaname Rakuna, who was reluctant, stopped struggling and waved to Iori Nina.

"Bye-Bye."

That's what Lena said, and then she was dragged out of the dessert shop.

......