Chapter 394: Prank |
"Rin-chan!"
"Rin-chan..."
"Rin-chan—!"
"Ah... huh?" Hoshino Rin suddenly snapped back to reality, looking at her teammate Hayakawa Yukina in the seat next to her.
They were currently on the JR limited express train heading to Morioka City in Iwate Prefecture.
It wasn't that Morioka City lacked an airport, nor was it because the Fanxing Group didn't have any spare private jets available. Rather, Iwate Prefecture was less than five hundred kilometers away from Tokyo. Instead of arriving in a flash by plane, the members preferred taking the train so they could enjoy the scenery along the way.
"What are you thinking about? You're completely zoning out." Hayakawa Yukina's sweet, syrupy voice was full of curiosity. She pointed at the pitch-black ring worn on Hoshino Rin's right index finger. "I saw you staring at this the whole time..."
Her expression suddenly turned teasing. "Don't tell me a boy gave that to you?"
Hoshino Rin blinked and proudly puffed out her modest chest. Without the slightest hint of girlish shyness, she beamed with a triumphant smile and replied, "Yep!"
Now it was Hayakawa Yukina's turn to be shocked. Her eyes widened. Even though she was the one who guessed the correct answer, she still found it unbelievable. "Really... And not only are you wearing it, but you're also staring at it in a daze..."
Hayakawa Yukina was feeling a little frantic. Setting aside the idol group's dating ban, if this young lady really wanted to date, let alone internal company rules, even the national constitution would struggle to restrain her.
But the real question was—who on earth had stumbled into such heaven-sent good fortune?
If it was the young master of some other financial group, that would be fine. It could barely be considered a powerful alliance. But if it was a classic development straight out of a light novel story, where the other party was a poor boy from an ordinary family, then—
Hiss... She didn't even dare to imagine it.
"It's from my older brother," Hoshino Rin chuckled, revealing the answer directly when she saw her teammate's brain was about to short-circuit, deciding not to tease her any longer.
"Huh?" Hearing this, Hayakawa Yukina couldn't help but roll her eyes in a cute manner, suddenly losing interest. "Is that all? Honestly, you scared me for a second there..."
"Ehehe."
As they chatted, the mobile phone inside Hoshino Rin's shell-shaped bag suddenly rang. She took it out and saw that the caller was Monica. They hadn't seen each other for a few days. The little girl had probably been busy with matters related to the beginning of the school year. Moving from a noble manor in London, UK, to Tokyo required some time to adapt, after all.
The moment she answered the phone, Monica's crisp, childish voice rang out, "Rei, this is bad!"
Hoshino Rin blinked, asking in confusion, "What happened?"
"The teacher wants to see my parents! What should I do?"
Hoshino Rin raised an eyebrow, her tone odd. "See your parents? Did you get into trouble at school? It's only been a week since the semester started."
"Ugh, you can't blame me completely! Those people were seriously way too annoying! Anyway, my mom had to go back to the UK for something, and my dad is probably too busy with the company to have time. I don't want the nanny auntie or the driver bodyguard to go either... Rei, can you come and meet my teacher for me, please?"
"Eh... Me?" Hoshino Rin hesitated. "But I'm not in Tokyo either. I'm currently on the Shinkansen heading to Morioka."
"Ah?" Monica's tone was filled with disappointment. "No way..."
"Sorry about that." Hoshino Rin felt helpless.
But after thinking for a moment, she suddenly suggested, "However, you can ask your older cousin. He's in Tokyo right now. You can see if he has time."
"Older cousin... Jane?" Monica also began to hesitate. "Would he agree to it? I feel like he doesn't really like me."
"That's not true at all. Before he gets familiar with someone, he always acts a bit aloof toward everyone. It'll be fine once you spend some time with him. That's exactly how it was when Lis first arrived, and they get along great now. Don't worry!"
"Alright, I hope you're right," Monica muttered. Hoshino Rin could perfectly picture the little girl pouting her lips on the other end of the line.
Hoshino Rin couldn't help but chuckle. "Okay, I'll hang up now if there's nothing else."
"Oh... wait a second! On second thought, maybe you should be the one to talk to cousin Jane for me, Rei. I feel like there's a higher chance of success that way..."
"...I really can't do anything about you. Fine. But if my brother actually has other things to do, even if I ask him, he might not necessarily agree."
"Hehe, I know!"
......
"So that's what happened. Brother, can you go to Monica's school and meet her teacher for her?"
At Fanxing Entertainment, when Hoshino Gen received his sister's call, he was in a conference room listening to a report. The discussion was about the pros and cons of various talent agencies, analyzing which ones were suitable for acquisition and which famous artists under their banners were worth poaching.
Since Hoshino Gen, as the interim president, was answering a phone call, the report at the front of the room naturally had to be paused.
Hoshino Gen pondered for a moment and asked, "What time?"
"That depends on when you are free, Brother. Anytime before school ends today works."
After thinking it over, Hoshino Gen didn't refuse. "Understood."
He was originally planning to go out today to deliver the ring to Sasaki Ayane anyway. Stopping by the primary school along the way wouldn't be a problem...
Hanging up the phone, Hoshino Gen raised his eyes and signaled for the report to continue.
......
Around three in the afternoon, Hoshino Gen first sent a message to confirm that Sasaki Ayane was currently attending classes at her school. After arranging to meet her after school, he drove ahead to George International Primary School, where his cousin Monica was enrolled.
......
Around three in the afternoon, Hoshino Gen first sent a message to confirm that Sasaki Ayane was currently attending classes at her school. After arranging to meet her after school, he drove ahead to George International Primary School, where his cousin Monica was enrolled.
After registering at the gatehouse and calling Monica to come out and receive him, Hoshino Gen smoothly stepped into the prestigious campus, whose scale and facilities were virtually on par with a university.
"Brother!"
Upon meeting, Monica immediately forced a bright smile and called out to Hoshino Gen. Although her Japanese language proficiency had improved significantly after studying for more than a month, she could at most barely handle daily conversations. However, uttering the single word "Nii" didn't require much linguistic skill.
Seeing how fluently she called him brother, Hoshino Gen gave her a nod and spoke in the English language, "Let's go meet your teacher. On the way, tell me exactly what kind of trouble you caused."
Hearing this, Monica stuck out her little tongue and led the way with her hands behind her back. At the same time, she naturally switched to English as well. "Even though I might have gone a bit too far, up until now, I don't have any intention of admitting I was wrong."
"He provoked me first. He put a love letter inside my school desk. I didn't like him and told him that doing that was really lame, so he got angry. First, he grouped up with a few other annoying guys and secretly hid my chair and school desk. Then, when it was time to hand in our homework, he deliberately withheld my homework notebook and hid it."
At this point, she paused, revealing a look of helplessness on her cute, childish face. "Not only was his method of wooing lame, but his level of pulling a prank was lame too."
"So, I gave them a little demonstration of what a real prank looks like. I had someone help me buy a few snakes from a reptile pet store and put them inside their school desks. They were all non-venomous pet snakes."
"But those guys were seriously pathetic. It was one thing for them to get scared and cry loudly, but one of the guys who got bitten by a snake actually fainted from fright. Sigh... and then things turned out like this."
Monica spread her hands and let out a long sigh.