Chapter 48: Akina, Miho, I'll hold onto this payment for you for now

That evening, the Nakamori family gathered in the living room.

"Nani?! 3 million?" Nakamori Akio suspected he had misheard. "Akina, Miho, you two didn't get tricked into doing something illegal, did you?!"

At this time, the Nakamori family had not yet fallen into the trap of greed over Akina's future meteoric rise; the family had their occasional bumps, but overall, they remained a united household.

Hearing about this reward, Nakamori Akio's first thought was whether Akina and Miho had been dragged into some dark affair.

"What do you mean, something illegal! Our Akina and Miho wouldn't do such things." Chieko shot Nakamori Akio a glare. "It seems to be something about design drawings."

Nakamori Akina had been a bit dazed herself, but upon hearing "design drawings," she asked, "Is it those hair accessory designs?"

Her older brother and eldest sister were also curious, as they had heard nothing of this before: "What hair accessories?"

Miho immediately ran to their room and brought out two cat-ear hair accessories. "It's these."

Nakamori Akio looked at the two black and white cat-ear accessories. "Design drawings for these? Are they that profitable?"

The older brother, Akihiro, clearly recognized them: "These hair accessories—could they be the Wild Cat Group's cat ears!!!"

He picked them up to examine them, and upon seeing the inner ring, he exclaimed, "These are 001 and 002!"

"The Wild Cat Group's first batch of cat ears! Limited edition among limited editions, the first hundred are out of print among out-of-print items!"

This brother was clearly a fan of CATS: "Akina-chan! Miho-chan!!! Could it be that you two designed the Wild Cat Group's cat ears?!!"

"Eh? Wild Cat Group, are they very famous?"

CATS had only appeared on *The Best Ten* once, and their few other television appearances were mostly in late-night slots; their promotional channels had focused on livehouses or discos, and most of their fans were adults.

Nakamori Akihiro looked at the cat-ear accessories in his hands, wanting to grip them tightly but not daring to; his breathing was heavy, and his face was slightly flushed.

"Akina-chan, Miho-chan... these... these cat ears..."

Akina and Miho immediately understood their brother's intentions and snatched the cat ears back: "Baka-niichan, don't even think about it!"

Nakamori Akihiro let out a loser's wail: "Ah... these are 001 and 002, even Mikina Ohno only has 003!!!"

The whole family laughed at this comical scene.

Eldest sister Akie said, "It looks like these hair accessories are indeed very popular; the reward seems to be real."

Chieko was still a bit worried: "They also said something about signing a contract to avoid disputes or something."

Nakamori Akio also felt there shouldn't be any problem: "Anyway, he's the one paying Akina and Miho; if the money is sent, it shouldn't be wrong. As for the contract, it might really be to avoid future disputes."

"Naoki-san seems like a sincere person," Akina said. "Besides, the idea was his; Miho and I just drew the pictures according to his description."

Chieko felt slightly more at ease: "After all, it's 3 million; would anyone give away such a large sum of money for nothing? Especially when no one else knows that Akina and Miho designed them."

"Perhaps for a rich person, 3 million is just pocket change."

"Naoki-san looks like a very wealthy person," Miho chimed in. "Both times we met him before, he was very free with his money."

Eldest sister Nakamori Akie also remembered: "That's true, he didn't even ask for the money for developing the photos."

For the entertainment industry, it is the agencies that make the money; grassroots artists have it very tough.

Some grassroots artists even rely on padding their travel expense reimbursements from their agencies to get by.

If Naoki Nagayama had debuted as a regular commercial artist, he would only be earning about 100,000 yen a month right now.

Fortunately, both commercials were split directly as a partner; he had the two famous songs from the future to thank, otherwise, how could he have borrowed a massive sum of nearly 200 million?

On Saturday morning, Naoki Nagayama drove early to the town of Kiyose.

The Nakamori family lived in this town on the very edge of Tokyo, not far past Kiyose Station.

The entire drive took less than an hour.

A convertible sports car was very eye-catching in Tokyo, let alone in a small town; many children watched it pass.

Parking the car in the empty lot next to the house, Naoki Nagayama stepped out carrying a fruit basket.

One cannot arrive empty-handed on a first visit.

After ringing the doorbell, the person who opened the door was an older woman.

"Nice to meet you, Mrs. Nakamori, I am Naoki Nagayama, who arranged to visit today."

Although it was their first time meeting, he had already met the four Nakamori sisters; this was, of course, Chieko Nakamori.

"Nice to meet you, though I've heard Naoki-kun's name more than once." Chieko took the fruit basket from Naoki Nagayama. "You've gone to too much trouble."

"Not at all, it's just a small token; please, just call me Naoki." They exchanged pleasantries as he entered the entryway.

As soon as he entered the Japanese-style room, the six Nakamori children plus their father, Nakamori Akio, had a total of 14 eyes scanning him, which really gave Naoki Nagayama a start.

"Ah, everyone is here..." Naoki Nagayama smiled awkwardly. "Good morning, everyone, I am Naoki Nagayama."

Akie, being the eldest, quickly helped ease the tension: "Haha, Naoki-san was startled, wasn't he? Please, sit down."

The other three sisters also greeted Naoki Nagayama.

Chieko quickly brought out a cup of hot tea.

The Japanese-style room was not large, and there was only one table; now that there was an outsider like Naoki Nagayama, only the adults sat at the table.

Nakamori Akie introduced them: "Naoki-san, this is our father, Nakamori Akio, our second brother, Nakamori Akihiro, and over there is our third brother, Nakamori Akimasa; you already know the others."

The Nakamori couple, the eldest sister, the second brother, and Naoki Nagayama sat around the low table on the tatami mats.

As the head of the household, Nakamori Akio spoke first: "Naoki-kun, I heard from my wife yesterday that Akina and Miho helped someone; would it be convenient to explain in detail?"

"Hai, Mr. Nakamori," Naoki Nagayama organized his thoughts. "Actually, it's not complicated. I happened to meet the four daughters of the Nakamori family, and through our correspondence, I learned that Akina-san has a talent for drawing."

(It was just ordinary drawing, what talent could there be... Akina was very embarrassed on the side.)

"It just so happened that my company needed to produce costumes for an idol group, and I had an idea but couldn't draw it myself, so I asked Akina-san and Miho-san to help draw it."

"It was originally just a costume accessory for a performance, but I didn't expect so many people to like it; manufacturers are already looking to produce it."

"I earned a little money, and thinking that I only treated the creators to a meal... it really felt inappropriate, so this time I wanted to offer a reward."

The Nakamori family listened quietly. It wasn't until Naoki Nagayama finished that Nakamori Akio continued: "If I may speak frankly, I heard from Akina and the others before that the idea was actually Naoki-kun's, and Akina and Miho just drew it according to Naoki-kun's description."

"Logically, there was no need to share so much reward with us. Why does Naoki-kun want to share it now? And what is the reason for signing a contract?"

"Ah, regarding that, the cat-ear headpiece has actually already been patented, so legally there should be no problem."

"However, the original design drawings were, after all, drawn by Akina and Miho-san."

"The Wild Cat Group currently has significant development potential, and the cat-ear hair accessory is closely linked to their overall image as a signature feature. The company does not want any disputes to occur over such matters in the future, creating a stain, so we want to sign a formal commissioned creation agreement to make everything official."

In reality, Naoki Nagayama just didn't want to take advantage of the two young girls.

Previously, he had acted on impulse, finding two people to draw the design and then treating them to a meal as a reward.

Now that the cat-ear hair accessory was making money, he felt like he was taking advantage of them.

However, thinking with a businessman's mindset, this was indeed a potential dispute; once Nakamori Akina became famous in the future, there might be people with ulterior motives who would use this point to gain profit or stir up controversy.

"I see, then we understand." Using a straightforward analysis of interests, Nakamori Akio was put at ease.

Chieko then said: "You said before that you wanted to give Akina and Miho 3 million; is that true?"

"Hai, about six manufacturers have paid the current patent usage fees, earning 6 million, so I thought it would be best to split it half and half. If Mrs. Nakamori is not satisfied, we can still discuss it."

Naoki Nagayama continued, "However, there will be no subsequent patent royalties; this is one of the company's bottom lines."

"Ah, I didn't say I wasn't satisfied..." Chieko waved her hand. As for subsequent royalties, they hadn't even thought about that.

After understanding the ins and outs, the rest went very smoothly.

Naoki Nagayama had already prepared the sample contract; both parties confirmed the reward amount, then Akina and Miho signed, and the parents stamped their seals as proof of supervision.

Afterward, Naoki Nagayama handed two kraft paper envelopes to Akina and Miho.

"Mr. Nakamori, Mrs. Nakamori, since the matter is settled, I won't intrude any further."

After the contract was signed, the second brother, Akihiro, pulled Naoki Nagayama aside to ask many questions about the Wild Cat Group. After chatting for a while, he couldn't help but take his leave.

"Won't Naoki-kun stay for lunch?" Chieko offered politely.

"Thank you very much, but there are still some things at the company..." The main reason was that eating under the gaze of 8 eyes was truly a bit stressful.

Akina and Miho said from the side: "Naoki-san, let's go out and play together again when there's a chance~"

"Hmm, of course." Naoki Nagayama looked around. "Akie-san, Akiko-san, Akina-san, Miho-san, everyone in the Nakamori family, hope to see you again."

During the formal conversation, they hadn't had a chance to speak; as for the young Akimasa, he hadn't even said a word.

Once Naoki Nagayama drove away, the Nakamori house began to liven up again.

Watching the receding car, Nakamori Akimasa said: "Naoki-kun is indeed a rich person; an ordinary person couldn't afford such a convertible sports car. Do you know what he does?"

"Isn't he a commercial model? And he wrote a hit song?" Akiko said; her memory was still from the time they went to see the cherry blossoms.

Nakamori Miho and Naoki Tsuruko were already good pen pals: "I heard from Tsuruko-chan that her brother seems to be a producer, making records."

"Eh, isn't he the manager of the Wild Cat Group?" Nakamori Akihiro clearly only remembered that one identity.

Nakamori Akio concluded: "Anyway, he's a rich person, otherwise he wouldn't have split the reward in half directly, without any haggling."

Chieko then said: "Akina, Miho, I'll hold onto this reward for you for now; I'll give it to you when you need it in the future."

"Eh~~~" X2

The two young girls watched as their mother took the kraft paper envelopes as a matter of course, and they couldn't say a word...

"Your allowance will be doubled from now on." ===== CHAPTER 49 =====