High up in a building in Tokyo, there was a recording studio.
"Thank you for your hard work."
"Thank you as well for staying with us so late."
The door of the recording studio opened, and two young girls walked out.
The staff quickly greeted them, and the two girls did not dare to be negligent, returning the greetings.
Several staff members were tidying up the equipment and chatting.
"As expected of Ms. Misumi. Even though she is now the most popular top idol in Japan, she is still so polite and never puts on airs with us staff."
"That group that came here last time was not even as famous as Ms. Misumi, but they always had sour faces, acting like everyone owed them millions."
"Some people fail to become popular for a reason. They do not have much fame yet, but they already act like celebrities. I even went to Ms. Chris's roadshow last time, and even a Hollywood superstar did not put on airs."
"Damn, you went to Ms. Chris's roadshow and did not tell me. But seriously, Ms. Misumi is so beautiful. She is the most beautiful girl I have ever seen in my life."
"Hey, haven't you seen what people online call Ms. Misumi? They say she has a great face."
"Haha, I think that description is quite accurate. That face really is great. Especially since Ms. Misumi is amazing at singing, guitar, and songwriting. She is a complete all-rounder."
"Being an idol is actually a bit of a waste for Ms. Misumi. She should be a singer or a music producer."
The staff chatted casually, everyone praising Uika Misumi.
Or rather, everyone who had worked with Misumi had a good impression of her.
"Ah, I'm so tired. Misumi, I just saw that the late-night buffet has donuts. I'm going to eat donuts. Do you want to come with me?"
The other member of the Sumimi group, a cheerful girl named Sumita Mana, shouted brightly.
"Mana-chan, I'm a little too tired. I don't want to eat anything. And you should eat fewer donuts, you will get fat."
"Hehe, I always control my calorie intake. I burned so many calories today, so it's fine to eat two donuts. I'll go eat first."
"Okay, go ahead."
In the lounge, Misumi slumped onto the sofa, leaning against the backrest while watching her friend leave with a gentle smile.
As soon as Mana left, Misumi covered her forehead with exhaustion and closed her eyes.
She was truly too tired.
Misumi was born on an island in Japan.
That island was very small, with only one village. It could be described as extremely rural.
The entire island belonged to the Togawa Group, which had transformed it into a resort.
Almost all of the original residents who had not left the island to work elsewhere were working for the Togawa Group.
Just like her parents, who worked as cleaners and security guards at the hotel on the island.
Growing up in such a remote place, and with such a poor family background, under normal circumstances Misumi would have attended a regular school and obtained an ordinary diploma.
After graduating, she would either go to the Tokyo area or the Osaka area to work, or like her parents, stay locally and work for the Togawa Group.
But Misumi did not walk that predetermined path.
Meeting Sakiko when she was young made her feel as if she had seen the white moonlight of her life.
From that moment on, Misumi set a goal for herself.
She wanted to go to the big city of Tokyo. She wanted to find her friend. She wanted to chase her white moonlight.
From a very young age, Misumi worked hard toward this goal.
If she wanted to settle down in the big city of Tokyo, she needed a skill.
While other children were playing games and enjoying carefree childhoods, she had already begun teaching herself music theory.
Throughout elementary school and middle school, besides completing her homework, she spent all her spare time pursuing music.
Her family had no money and could not afford a vocal teacher, so she taught herself online.
Pianos and similar instruments were too expensive, so she chose to learn guitar and bass instead.
While learning music, she also tried to compose original songs.
Misumi was very talented in music, and her hard work brought results. It gave her abilities far beyond those of her peers.
After only half a year of middle school, Misumi resolutely left for Tokyo with the 100,000 yen her parents had managed to give her.
100,000 yen was not even enough for a month's rent in Tokyo. Renting in Japan also required deposits, and 100,000 yen was simply insufficient.
This time, Misumi went all in.
She did not want to ask her family for another yen. Her family was already poor and had sacrificed too much for her dream of music.
And a girl who had just graduated from middle school now had to rely on herself to survive.
Finding a company to earn money, renting a place to live, finding a school to attend, paying tuition, and countless other pressures weighed heavily on a girl who had just finished middle school.
But Misumi did not care about these things. Her strong will allowed her to endure all of it.
If rent was not enough, she stayed in capsule hotels.
If she could not afford proper meals, she bought half-price bento boxes that were about to expire.
In this way, she barely managed to support her monthly expenses.
Taking advantage of the school holidays before the new semester began, she sent the songs she had created to various music companies online, seeking opportunities.
To make sure the music companies noticed her emails, she also traveled around Tokyo during the day, promoting her original songs.
At the same time, she had to find a high school willing to accept her.
Misumi was hardworking and talented.
After learning her age and hearing the songs she had created, the major music companies recognized her talent.
Moreover, Misumi had a great face. With this face alone, she could already survive in the entertainment industry.
Many music companies extended olive branches to her, including some top companies.
After careful consideration, Misumi chose the company she currently worked with.
This music company was not top-tier. Its resources were definitely not comparable to those of truly large companies.
But Misumi was a precocious girl, and she had carefully planned her career.
Her current goal was not to become extremely popular. Her goal was simply to survive in Tokyo.
The plans offered by those large companies required her to become a trainee first. After one or two years of training, they would then allow her to debut.
From a long-term perspective, choosing a large company was not wrong. Large companies had abundant resources and professional systems for training artists.
But the monthly income of a trainee was too low, so low that Misumi believed she would not be able to survive in Tokyo.
Misumi believed that with her abilities, she could succeed quickly.
This music company suited her better. They were willing to give her resources to try immediately, and the contract term was relatively short.
The only requirement was that if Misumi succeeded, while the company would provide compensation matching her status, she would give priority to renewing her contract with them.
Misumi agreed to this condition.
With the company's packaging, she and another member, Sumita Mana, formed an idol group and debuted directly.
At the same time, Misumi also found a good girls' school in Tokyo, passed the entrance examination, and was successfully admitted.
A girl who had just graduated from middle school had managed, through her own efforts, to take root in the great city of Tokyo.
All the songs of the idol group Sumimi were composed by Misumi. She herself was the guitarist, while the singer was Sumita Mana.
The music company simply tried promoting them.
Unexpectedly, within half a year, Sumimi became extremely popular and turned into a well-known idol group.
Besides Misumi's musical talent, her great face also attracted countless fans.
Days passed one after another like this.
Every morning she went to school, practiced after school, and participated in various music activities on weekends.
Misumi was like a tightly wound clockwork that could not stop even for a moment.
Many people said she was practically a superhero.
But only Misumi herself knew that she was not a superhero. She also felt tired, and sometimes she secretly thought about giving up.
Even so, she persisted.
Although she was exhausted, Misumi's life was gradually getting on track. Recently, however, a few new worries had appeared.
One was that the music company seemed to want to disband the Sumimi group and let Misumi debut as a solo artist.
Everyone knew that the core of the group was Misumi.
With her lyrics and compositions, her guitar playing, and her beautiful face, almost anyone paired with her could make the group successful.
The company believed strongly in her future potential. Making her an idol was almost overkill.
Rationally speaking, Misumi knew this was good for her future. Going solo could bring her even greater success.
But she was also a sentimental person.
If she left and the Sumimi group disbanded, what would happen to Sumita Mana?
Would she be sidelined by the company?
Would Mana resent her and think she had abandoned her?
Besides this matter, another thing troubled Misumi even more.
Her white moonlight, Sakiko.
The reason she had come to Tokyo was to find Sakiko.
But she had been in Tokyo for almost a year and had only met Sakiko twice.
She heard that Sakiko had experienced a major change, but she did not know the details.
Misumi worried about her.
But she understood Sakiko's personality. If Sakiko did not want to talk about something, asking directly would only make their relationship colder.
All these worries left Misumi extremely exhausted.
Until this phone call arrived.
"Misumi, let me forget everything."
If a man said this to a woman, it would almost sound like an invitation for intimacy.
But when Sakiko said it, Misumi agreed without hesitation.
She did not even ask what Sakiko wanted to do.
(To be continued.)
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◇ One bonus chapter will be released for every 200 Power Stones.
◇ You can read the ahead chapter on Pat if you're interested: p-atreon.c-om/Blownleaves (Just remove the hyphen to access normally.)