Chapter 399: "Akizuki Youka" |
Hoshino Gen indifferently withdrew his gaze and pressed the elevator button. The doors slid open in response.
He stepped inside, accompanied by Sasaki Ayane and Monica, who was trailing behind him with a tight grip on the hem of his shirt.
"President Hoshino...?!" The woman, who was most likely an agent or a similar figure, widened her eyes in sudden panic. She instinctively tried to step inside to stop the doors from closing, but the moment she lifted her leg, an invisible repulsive force shoved her two steps back.
The elevator doors closed without any obstruction. In the brief moment it took for the agent to recover from her daze, the digital display beside the doors already showed the elevator ascending to the second floor.
"..."
About half a minute later, the beautiful woman in the distance finally strolled over at a leisurely pace.
"Hey, stop spacing out!"
The agent was snapped out of her daze by the beautiful woman's voice. Even now, she still wasn't sure if something invisible had actually pushed her back in that instant, or if it was merely an illusion born from her extreme nervousness.
If it were any other day, the agent might have been willing to spend more time agonizing over the incident. But right now, that clearly wasn't the important issue. What mattered was...
"I know." Facing her agent's rage and questioning, Akizuki Youka didn't seem to care in the slightest. She simply smiled brightly and said, "It's nothing more than being blacklisted and frozen out of the industry."
After saying that, she added, "Though, based on his reputation..."
Pausing for a brief moment, she playfully winked her left eye at her agent. "I might even end up getting killed."
At this moment, the agent felt the situation was utterly absurd. It was as if she were meeting this ridiculously beautiful woman for the very first time. "If you know that, then why did you still..."
Akizuki Youka shrugged nonchalantly. "You asked about the consequences of offending him, but I don't think I offended him at all."
"You see, he said he wanted to see me by the time he arrived at the company. And I am quite certain that before he even walked through the front doors, right as he stepped out of his car, he had already seen me."
"..."
As she spoke, she walked toward the other elevator with light, graceful steps. Pressing the button to open the doors, Akizuki Youka stepped inside and didn't forget to call out to her agent. "If you don't come over right now, I'm going up by myself."
"..."
The agent took a deep breath. Although she couldn't understand why Akizuki Youka had recently been acting like a completely different person, and was extremely annoyed by everything she had done today, she truly couldn't abandon her at this critical juncture. After all, she couldn't just let go of a fully-grown cash cow like her—
However, just as she reached the elevator and was about to step inside, that same repulsive force shoved her two steps backward. Inside the elevator, Akizuki Youka waved her hand and smiled brightly. "Ah, on second thought, it really is better if I go up alone."
With those words, the elevator doors closed.
...
By the time Akizuki Youka arrived at the president's office of Fanxing Entertainment, Hoshino Gen was sitting behind the desk, his back turned to the door as he spoke on the telephone.
Sasaki Ayane was sitting on the sofa, quietly listening to Monica's hushed but incessant chatter.
Naturally, Akizuki Youka's arrival caught the attention of both Sasaki Ayane and Monica.
Beautiful—that was the most direct and immediate impression this superstar gave Sasaki Ayane. But that was to be expected. If she wasn't beautiful, how could she have amassed her current popularity? How else could she have become the dream goddess of countless teenagers across Japan?
Although it was common in Japan to compliment a pretty girl by calling her cute—saying she was "kawaii"—this term clearly did not suit the woman standing before them.
Compared to cute, the word beautiful was undoubtedly a much more fitting description for Akizuki Youka.
She looked to be in her early twenties. The ends of her long black hair were styled into slight curls that draped over her back, and her complexion was a bit pale. Wearing a short-sleeved shirt and a pair of jeans, her outfit was entirely ordinary. Yet, somehow, this incredibly common attire still managed to exude a strong, mature, and imposing aura.
"May I sit here?"
Despite this being her first time at Fanxing Entertainment, and despite having been essentially forced to come here in such a demanding manner, Akizuki Youka showed absolutely no signs of restraint or nervousness.
After entering the room, she took a single sweeping glance, met Sasaki Ayane's eyes with a faint smile, and walked right over. Pointing at the sofa opposite Sasaki Ayane, she asked with a cheerful grin, "I'm assuming it's fine for me to take a seat?"
Even with this kind of attitude, and even though her question seemingly placed her in a subordinate position, Sasaki Ayane still sensed a heavy, overbearing aura of a superior radiating from her.
Furthermore, this was their very first time meeting, so why was the other party acting as if they were already well-acquainted?
This... was far too bizarre.
This... was far too bizarre.
There was something completely off about this woman.
"Be my guest," she replied.
Akizuki Youka sat down and immediately began looking around the room, her expression filled with a sense of novelty.
Sasaki Ayane subtly leaned a bit closer to Monica, maintaining her vigilance as she cast her gaze toward Hoshino Gen.
Hoshino Gen was still turned away, focused on his telephone call. Sasaki Ayane only caught fragments of the conversation, picking out terms like the Countermeasures Department and Kirakai, which she barely understood. Even though she had already become a transcendent, she still didn't pay much attention to information or news concerning the Hidden World.
But that wasn't what was important right now...
"Miss Sasaki."
Sasaki Ayane paused in surprise, withdrawing her gaze from Hoshino Gen's back and shifting it to the person sitting across from her.
Akizuki Youka was currently staring at her with a half-smile playing on her lips. Clearly, she was the one who had just called her name.
But how could she possibly know her name?
"Do you still remember me?"
Sasaki Ayane's brow furrowed slightly. She was just about to give a negative response when her eyes involuntarily widened in shock.
Beside her, Monica was even more astonished, her little mouth gaping so wide that she could almost fit her tiny fist inside—
It was because the Akizuki Youka sitting across from them... No, she absolutely couldn't be Akizuki Youka, or at least not just Akizuki Youka. Sasaki Ayane watched as the woman's face shifted, twisting and morphing until it settled into a visage that she was incredibly familiar with.
Yamada Eijin?
Wasn't he... sent away to Europe, forbidden from ever returning, all because he was foolish enough to make an utterly idiotic telephone call to the leader of the Fanxing Group?
"You..." Sasaki Ayane uttered, filled with alarm and doubt.
Right at that moment, Hoshino Gen finally hung up the telephone behind his desk. He turned around and looked at "Akizuki Youka," who was currently wearing Yamada Eijin's face. He frowned. "What, have the conditions in Europe been that harsh lately? Why are all of you flocking to smuggle yourselves into Tokyo one after another?"