Chapter 171: Kono yaro! This guy, haunting!

On the way to take Akina Nakamori to eat, Naoki Nagayama clarified their itinerary.

Naoki Nagayama was going to New York at the end of February to participate in a writer's seminar and exchange, and Akina would go to Warner's recording studio in Los Angeles in mid-March to record.

"So, we are not on the same route~" Naoki Nagayama said while driving. "Hahaha, one east and one west~"

"The time is also different~" Akina was a bit disappointed. "Thought I would meet Naoki-san at the airport. New York, I really want to go and see~"

"Hahaha, there's no way~" Naoki Nagayama said. "How about this, Akina-san bring me special products from Los Angeles, and I'll bring Akina some special gifts from New York. This can be considered as having been there, how about it?"

"Okay, Naoki-san, take more photos and send them to me later. When showing others, just say you've been to New York, making them envious~ Hahaha~" Little Akina laughed black-bellied...

Since they were talking about foreign countries, Naoki Nagayama and Akina found a foreign restaurant located in Shibuya at noon.

"Why eat Thai food?"

Naoki Nagayama was a bit puzzled. Didn't they just say that because they were going to the United States, they wanted to taste foreign flavors?

"Because authentic American food can be eaten next week, no need to eat it now, but Thai food is not necessarily." Akina said with reason.

It seemed to make sense. Since he was treating, he naturally listened to the other party's opinion.

Speaking of Thai food, the most famous should be Tom Yum Goong, curry, seafood, coconut water... the sour and spicy taste is indeed very appetizing. Eating a meal of sour and spicy Thai food on such a spring day is indeed good.

"Akina-san wants to eat a bit spicier, right~"

"Hai~" Little Akina, sitting in her seat, had already opened the seasonings on the table to look at them, like a child who couldn't sit still.

"Then first order a Thai curry crab, grilled meat sausage platter, Tom Yum Goong soup, and seafood fried rice~" Naoki Nagayama asked Akina opposite. "What does Akina-san want to order?"

"Thai coconut chicken, then green papaya salad, coconut water~"

Sure enough, it was the mustard shochu dish of the future. Two famous spicy dishes were not afraid at all.

However, for the sake of insurance, Naoki Nagayama added a mango ice cream. If he couldn't hold on, he could change the taste.

Two people, eight dishes, it felt a bit extravagant~

However, the girl's dish in front of him, eating spicy clearly wasn't as powerful as the mustard shochu dish of the future.

However, after eating a coconut chicken, her face began to turn red, her forehead began to sweat, and her mouth began to make the iconic sucking sound of eating spicy~

"Akina-san, do you want to eat some ice cream to buffer?"

"Daijobu! Ice cream must be eaten at the end to be the most delicious!" Little Akina said as if it were a well-known truth, and then took a sip of coconut juice, and began to attack the green papaya salad again. "Eating this cold one is fine!"

Was there really no problem with those obvious red chili shreds?

Naoki Nagayama had already finished the curry crab. Although it was also very spicy, the portion was small. Now he was eating his own grilled meat, which was still okay, spicy just right. The Tom Yum Goong soup was very sour and refreshing.

By the time he was eating seafood rice, Akina was already holding the ice cream and stuffing it into her mouth spoon by spoon. It seemed that the ice cream was ordered well, but he didn't know if she would have diarrhea at night...

She still had to go to training in the afternoon, so the two didn't stay long in the restaurant and sent her directly to the agency.

The spring sun was very bright. Naoki Nagayama opened the convertible and drove slowly on the driveway. The slight cool breeze blew on the cheeks that became hot because of eating spicy, which was very comfortable.

"Akina-san, about to debut, how do you feel?"

"Debut, there's no feeling, just that I've been very busy recently, and haven't seen my mother for half a month."

Akina Nakamori was a bit lost. Since living in the employee apartment provided by the agency, the frequency of seeing her family had plummeted, and she couldn't even see the acquaintances of the past.

Although there was a phone, the phone could never replace the communication between real people.

"Akina-san... although it's a bit cruel, after truly debuting, you will be even busier, and even holidays will be very extravagant."

Naoki Nagayama thought of his own new artist Junko Ito, who was basically on the road from 6 am to 9 pm for these two weeks. This was just an idol artist of a startup small agency without any resources. Like an agency like Ken-On and the resources of the financial group behind it, Akina's schedule would only be busier.

"I know~" Akina Nakamori's little face flashed with determination, looking at Naoki Nagayama. "Naoki-san, but to be a good idol, these are all things that must be experienced, right?"

"Hai, before achieving success, people will experience this period. This is unavoidable."

"Then you can only work hard!"

Little Akina seemed to have made up her mind long ago, and a firm smile appeared on her face, making Naoki Nagayama next to her sigh in admiration.

"Then work hard~ As a fan, I will definitely support you to the end!"

"Hahaha~"

After the

Suddenly, little Akina thought of something and said:

"Naoki-san doesn't seem to have that phase."

"Ah, eh?"

"Naoki-san, before your current success and fame, you don't seem to have had those extremely busy times!"

???

Who says so!

Although I haven't had them in this life, my 007 experiences in my past life were not few at all, okay!

"Akina-san, actually, I have had such experiences!"

"Eh~~~" Akina's eyes seemed to reveal disbelief...

"Really!"

Until they arrived at the agency of Geon,

Naoki Nagayama still couldn't make little Akina believe that he had experienced such desperate efforts,

Promoting a movie for days and nights without sleep? That's too weak~

After Akina got out of the car, she waved at Naoki Nagayama,

"Don't forget the gift~"

"Hai~"

In Sanyingyuan,

Eitaro trotted over to welcome his master's return,

Naoki Nagayama would have been even happier if he weren't carrying a food bowl in his mouth.

The cherry blossoms in the courtyard were even more beautiful; the pink and white little flowers clustered on the branches, already covering the brown twigs, looking like a pink cloud floating beside Sanyingyuan.

"It's really beautiful~" Naoki Nagayama stroked Eitaro, who was busy eating, "Eitaro, the cherry blossoms in our house must be early-blooming cherries; cherry blossoms in other parts of Tokyo rarely bloom this well~"

This afternoon, with all matters concluded, what remained for Naoki Nagayama was an afternoon undisturbed.

In a way, little Akina was right; he had shot a movie, released a song, and bought a house so leisurely. Compared to other corporate slaves working hard, it did seem a bit unfair.

Well, that's nothing; life is inherently unfair~

Some people are born as heirs to conglomerates, naturally standing at a finish line that many struggle their whole lives to reach; while others are born into poor families, exhausting all their strength just for three meals a day.

Some people are born with a pretty face, some have a clever brain...

Letting these thoughts roll in his mind, a gust of wind blew, and the cherry trees in the courtyard rustled. Petals flew with the wind, falling all over the white fine sand in the courtyard.

Some people can enjoy such a beautiful scene alone at this moment~

A beautiful emotional rhythm began to ring in Naoki Nagayama's mind, and a gentle female voice softly sang of the time when the cherry blossoms were flying,

"Sakurairo Mau Koro (When Cherry Blossoms Fly)"

"Watashi wa hitori (I am alone)"

"Osaekirenu mune ni (With feelings I cannot suppress)"

"Tachitsukuseteta (I stood still)"

Sure enough, it came again. Naoki Nagayama came back to his senses; it was Mika Nakashima's "Sakurairo Mau Koro".

It had been a long time since he recalled songs from his past life. He originally thought his "golden finger" would slowly fade away like this, but he didn't expect it to suddenly appear at this time.

Every emotional trigger and keyword connection could mobilize information from his past life of over 30 years from his subconscious. As Naoki Nagayama stays here longer, this ability to mobilize the subconscious should slowly decrease~

Regarding the sudden appearance of things in his mind, Naoki Nagayama already had a mature way of dealing with it. He immediately ran to the piano room on the second floor and recorded the song while the memory was fresh.

There was nothing to do in the afternoon, so he might as well practice this piece. Outside the window of the piano room was the blooming cherry tree. Naoki Nagayama opened the window:

"Cherry Blossom-kun, please be my audience~"

From the window on the second floor of Sanyingyuan, beautiful piano melodies drifted out; in the soothing rhythm, there was a faint sense of sorrow~

Earlier, Akira Terabayashi of Warner-Pioneer was discussing the arrangements for Akina's debut song with Nobuo Tomioka.

"We picked these four out of ten, but it's hard to choose after this," Nobuo Tomioka said to Akira Terabayashi.

"Tomioka-kun, is there anything interesting among the new songs this month?" Akira Terabayashi asked. From the current charts, one could see the musical styles listeners liked.

Akira Terabayashi had been busy lately and hadn't been following the charts very closely.

"Seiko Matsuda's 'Akai Sweet Pea' is still maintaining its upward momentum; there should be no problem reaching number one on the Oricon chart," Nobuo Tomioka thought for a moment, "The others are all quite conventional tracks."

"Oh, the latest debut song, Junko Ito's 'Puzzle', has been rising quite fast recently and might break into the top ten."

"Besides that, an old song from last year has become popular again and might rank in the top twenty."

Hearing this result, Akira Terabayashi also felt it was very interesting, "Tomioka-kun, please help me find these singles; I want to listen to them."

"Hai, I understand."

Akira Terabayashi continued: "If we really can't choose a debut song, why not let Akina-chan choose it herself?"

Akira Terabayashi and Nobuo Tomioka both felt deeply about their artist's stubborn personality; if she could choose it herself, perhaps it would be better.

"I remember Akina-chan went to a movie preview this morning, right? Is she back?" Akira Terabayashi asked, thinking of the intense course schedule over the past two months, "Akina-chan has really been working hard lately; it's good to relax~"

Nobuo Tomioka responded: "She should be back soon; there's a training course in the afternoon."

"Hmm, communicate with Akina-chan before she goes."

"Hai~"

At noon, before the Geon manager sent Akina Nakamori to class, Nobuo Tomioka stopped them,

"Akina-chan, was the movie this morning good? What was the name?"

"Hahaha, Tomioka-san, the movie is called 'The Gas Station Robbery Incident'; it's very good, it's a comedy~" Akina Nakamori said with a bright smile on her little face, then added mysteriously, "Tomioka-san, if you go see it, remember to watch until the end; there's an easter egg at the end!"

"Hahaha, is that so? If Akina-chan recommends it so highly, I must go see it," Nobuo Tomioka said with a smile, "Did the movie say when it will be released?"

"I really don't know about that; today was just a preview~ It shouldn't be long, right?" Little Akina recalled and confirmed that no release date had been mentioned, "Daijoubu, I'll ask Naoki-san for you tonight."

"Naoki-san?" Nobuo Tomioka was stunned, "Naoki Nagayama?"

"Hai, Naoki-san is the lead actor in this movie!" Akina Nakamori smiled brightly, feeling a sense of pride.

Yabai! I didn't expect this!

Nobuo Tomioka looked as if he had been struck by lightning. That's right, Naoki Nagayama is also a movie actor! Why didn't I remember that at the time!

In that case, the one who invited Akina-chan to the preview today was Naoki Nagayama!

I guarded against everything but didn't guard against this!

A small hand waved in front of his eyes, bringing him back to his senses: "Tomioka-san? What's wrong? Why did you suddenly stop talking?"

Nobuo Tomioka smiled reluctantly, thinking of changing the subject: "It's nothing. Oh, by the way, if you have training this afternoon, have you eaten lunch?"

"Hai, I ate before coming; I had Thai food with Naoki-san." Little Akina didn't notice that Nobuo Tomioka's face had darkened a bit more and enthusiastically introduced the characteristics of Thai food.

Listening to little Akina chattering away, Nobuo Tomioka felt as if his own little cabbage was about to be dug up.

"This can't go on; Akina-chan can't have this kind of free time anymore!" He made a resolution, "Even during free holidays, I must arrange for her to work while on vacation."

Otherwise, she'll be dug away by someone else~

In the end, Akina Nakamori went to her training class, and Nobuo Tomioka even forgot to tell her to choose her debut song.

Forget it, I'll find another chance later. Nobuo Tomioka suppressed his emotions and decided to find the songs Akira Terabayashi wanted first.

Record companies like Warner-Pioneer always store new songs on the market in the office. Seiko Matsuda's single was right at the front.

He also easily found the cassette for "Puzzle", but after flipping it over, the back of the cassette clearly stated: Vocals: Junko Ito; Lyrics/Composition: Naoki Nagayama.

Nobuo Tomioka wanted to smash the cassette on the floor right then, but he held back thanks to decades of mental cultivation!

"Junko Ito is indeed his artist, so that's normal~"

Next was that song that became popular again, "Sakura ~Anata ni Deaete Yokatta~". It took some effort, but he found it. The front of the cassette had a photo of Yoshie Kashiwabara.

Hmm, Yoshie Kashiwabara's song, not bad~ Nobuo Tomioka flipped it over casually: Vocals: Yoshie Kashiwabara; Lyrics/Composition: Naoki Nagayama.

Other Warner employees suddenly heard a "slap" sound from the office,

And an angry shout in a lowered voice:

"Kono yaro! This guy, he's like a ghost that won't go away!!!"

Back at the office of "Shukan Bunshun", Shinnosuke Matsuzawa sat dejectedly in his chair,

"Failed again!"

In the interview for "The Gas Station Robbery Incident", he still didn't get the dirt he wanted.

Although headlines like "Famous actor's idol hasn't even debuted yet" or "Star's teenage idol" seemed capable of attracting quite a bit of attention, the explosive point wasn't enough~

Wait, I remember Naoki Nagayama said he was a fan of Seiko Matsuda at the very beginning, right?

To avoid remembering wrong, Shinnosuke Matsuzawa quickly stood by the clue wall to confirm.

The first song "Cherry Blossom" was indeed given to Seiko Matsuda!

Shinnosuke Matsuzawa began searching for relevant reports based on the song's timeline and the keywords "Seiko Matsuda" and "Naoki Nagayama", and then he found a press release titled "Seiko Matsuda deeply moved, fan's song becomes Oricon top 1!".

"Ha, found it! Let me see, as a die-hard fan of Seiko Matsuda, he wrote such a song because he was moved..."

Shinnosuke Matsuzawa was excited, Naoki Nagayama, I've found your flaw!