Chapter 768

Walking onto the stage, Akina Nakamori seemed to have lost the nervousness she had while waiting.

Her dark gold performance gown glittered under the stage lights, her body swayed involuntarily with the music, and her low, husky voice sang the incredibly familiar lyrics; everything seemed to fall into place naturally~

Akina Nakamori performed the latest 'Tears Are Not Decorations' with a calm and steady stage presence, as if the dashing young woman on stage and the girl backstage who was so nervous her hands were shaking were two different people.

"No wonder some people say I might be a bit schizophrenic~"

Even though she was still performing with full concentration, such a thought could actually pop into Akina's mind, which made her even more certain that something might be wrong with her,

"Well~ it doesn't matter... anyway, Naoki-san's brain is also a bit different, it's a perfect match!"

The live audience was a sea of people; amidst the cool lights and explosive music, they were very excited, clapping and shouting slogans to the rhythm. The black mass below made it impossible to distinguish individual faces.

However, Naoki Nagayama was sitting in the front row, and Akina Nakamori spotted her boyfriend at a glance, who was clapping his hands to the beat just as tackily as the other audience members, and even raised his hands to cheer happily when she looked over...

Sure enough, he really was here to watch the performance~

Actually, the real performance time was only about four minutes, but the atmosphere at the scene was clearly ignited, and the entire venue heated up.

Such powerful expressiveness was undoubtedly at the level of a top idol singer, far surpassing Seiko Matsuda's previous level. No wonder there were already reviews saying Seiko Matsuda was falling behind, and that the eternal idol could only be unchangingly sweet~

After Akina Nakamori left the stage, guided by the host, all the popular singers of the year came out one after another to perform...

Teresa Teng's 'Repayment', Hideki Saijo's 'Dakishimete Jilba', and even Yutaka Ozaki went on stage, with his classic song 'I Love You'...

The familiar hit songs were basically sung by the audience, and those who didn't know them could hum along to the rhythm. The entire venue was like a grand chorus, and even outside the venue, one could feel the liveliness inside.

When Akina Nakamori appeared again, she had changed into a plain-colored, retro, gorgeous gown. As the lights changed, snowflakes drifted on the stage, which finally made people realize that it was still a cold winter~

'Snow Flower'... this winter love song, which was being sung again, had its warm lyrics beginning to permeate the ears of the audience.

"

The dancing snowflakes (Snowflakes dancing down)

Outside the window (Outside the window)

Without knowing when they will stop (Without a sign of stopping)

"

The audience swayed their heads gently with the singer, as if immersed in Akina Nakamori's gentle singing... but Naoki Nagayama was a bit helpless.

"Filming me again..."

The camera closest to him had already swept past him for the third time; it was clear the director was up to something...

"This is a nationwide broadcast... the guys in the control room should at least be a bit careful!!!"

Naoki Nagayama wore a smile on his face, pretending to ignore the camera, but in his heart, he had already decided that after the program ended, he would definitely dock the pay of that guy holding the camera!

Listen to the field director? He was, after all, the general manager of 'Music Station'! Could they still distinguish who was in charge? Was he bigger, or was I bigger?

As a subordinate, to actually cause trouble for me, can they read the room?! Do they still want to work properly?!

The four-hour continuous live broadcast was a large-scale program comparable to the Red and White Song Battle.

TV Asahi chose to broadcast this program before Christmas, partly to avoid everyone's Christmas plans, and partly to stay away from the Red and White Song Battle, so at least it wouldn't conflict with the Red and White Song Battle's promotion.

Under the careful preparation of the TV station, this year-end music extravaganza indeed attracted the attention of many viewers...

According to real-time data estimates, the peak viewership rating was over 30%, and the average viewership rating could reach around 20-25%, which was already a very excellent result!

At this time, in Tokyo, countless viewers were watching their television screens, such as an apartment in Waseda.

"Tsuruko, Tsuruko, look quickly, look quickly, your sister-in-law is on stage again!" Junshui Ishii pointed at the TV and called out to Tsuruko Nagayama beside her.

"Hi hi hi~ I know!"

Tsuruko was a bit helpless and perfunctory. Ever since she shared the fact that her brother brought Akina Nakamori home with her best friend, Junshui now called Akina Nakamori Tsuruko's sister-in-law...

"The performance outfit is so beautiful!! And she sings well too... if only I could watch it live~" Junshui Ishii envied.

"Hi hi~ it's very beautiful~ very beautiful~"

Tsuruko looked up at the screen, but her mood wasn't very high. Her gaze turned to the textbooks on the table... After reaching her sophomore year, her studies were much busier than in her freshman year, and there were many more holiday practical things...

Tsuruko used to like Akina very much, and she was also very supportive when she knew she was dating her brother. But after Naoki Nagayama brought her home to meet their parents this time, for some reason, Tsuruko felt a bit awkward looking at Akina~

It was like a child who could share toys to play with, suddenly discovering that their parents were about to give their toys to the other person...

"Tsuruko, your brother!" Junshui was excited again!

"Eh?" Tsuruko happened to see the fleeting image, and then she laughed, "Haha, Nii-chan is just putting on an act..."

"What do you mean?"

"He was caught on camera, so he had to make that wide-eyed look... it's exactly the same as when he was caught by Mom reading manga when he was little!" Tsuruko shared a funny story from their childhood.

Joyful laughter rang out in the small apartment~

It was a long time before the sound of chatting continued:

"Tsuruko, how are you going to spend Christmas?"

"Christmas... of course, it's going out to watch a movie~" Tsuruko said very casually.

"Oh? A romance movie?"

"What romance movie? If you have a partner, of course, you have to go watch a horror movie!" Tsuruko said with full disdain. "I say, Junshui-chan, don't you know that watching horror movies is a little trick for couples to enhance their feelings?"

"Eh..."

"Hmm? Don't tell me you and Iwai-senpai haven't broken through that layer of window paper yet?!" Tsuruko opened her eyes wide.

"........ Iwai-san is a gentleman!" Junshui Ishii said in a low voice.

"......." Tsuruko looked at her best friend in disbelief. They had been dating for almost half a year, and they hadn't even done XX?

Are they playing pure love?!

"Junshui-chan! Listen to me!" Tsuruko patted her best friend's shoulder. "Go find a horror movie to watch! And then on Christmas Eve, be prepared to lose your innocence!"

"...... Tsuruko, you're dead!"

At the same time, in Tree Village's studio, suspicious laughter came from a small editing room.

"Hehehehahahahaha hohoho~" Shuichi Ido opened the door and walked out, holding a copy tape he had just received from the film studio, "Not bad! Very not bad!"

"Shuichi-san!"

Two people with pale faces walked out of the editing room; they were the newly promoted film assistant Katsuyoshi Ishikawa and Eiichiro Watanabe from the distribution department,

"'Ring 2' is truly powerful! Even though I participated in the filming, I still feel a chill in my heart seeing the finished film!"

After the production of 'Crows Zero 2' was completed, Katsuyoshi Ishikawa was seconded over and participated in the filming of many horror movies.

And Eiichiro Watanabe, who saw it for the first time on the other side, felt his legs go a bit weak, but he still braced himself:

"Shuichi-san, the copy is also fine, so for the premiere on Christmas Eve... do we really not need a media meeting?"

"There's no need for that. The main attraction of horror movies is still the ghosts... can you invite Sadako out?"

For some reason, Shuichi Ido's expression looked a bit strange, as if the day and night horror movie filming during this period had made his spirit too deeply in contact with Sadako!

Katsuyoshi Ishikawa and Eiichiro Watanabe subconsciously looked at the copy disc in Shuichi Ido's hand, very terrified that Sadako was stored inside...

"Ahem, Shuichi-san." Eiichiro Watanabe swallowed his saliva, "I think you should go to Kiyomizu-dera in the next two days!"

"Hmm?" Shuichi Ido frowned, "Why?"

"I heard that if you are always in contact with such unclean things, it might affect your spirit..." Eiichiro Watanabe relied on being a bit more familiar with Shuichi Ido and advised, "Horror and supernatural movie directors in the industry are more or less... strange..."

"......" Shuichi Ido paused, his anger flaring up, "Are you two saying I have a mental illness?!"

"Naoki Nagayama is the creator of Sadako, you two look at him, does he look like someone who has a problem?!"

Katsuyoshi Ishikawa and Eiichiro Watanabe looked at each other:

"Shuichi-san, I heard that Naoki-san keeps a famous sword of Toyotomi Hideyoshi in his study, the Red Snow Left Character, which is used to ward off evil spirits!"

"..... Shuichi-san, it's just doing an exorcism ritual to give your heart peace~" Katsuyoshi Ishikawa advised, "What you think about during the day, you dream about at night. Shuichi-san, you've been watching Sadako every day recently, if you dream at night, you might really dream of Sadako..."

"......"

This sentence made Shuichi Ido silent.

What if you wake up in the middle of the night and find Sadako bending over at the head of the bed looking at you...

"Ahem!" Shuichi Ido handed the copy to Eiichiro Watanabe, "Watanabe-san, you take this copy and send it to Bungeiza... get ready, we will premiere on Christmas Eve!"

"Hai!" Eiichiro Watanabe nodded, took the copy disc, and left.

Katsuyoshi Ishikawa heard this and was about to leave too, but was pulled back by Shuichi Ido:

"Ishikawa, do you know anyone at the Kiyomizu-dera you mentioned? The kind of monk with real ability?! Don't let your imagination run wild. If we really need to do an exorcism, we have a shaman we've been working with!

I'm just asking, so I can find him when I take my family to pray for blessings in the future."

Katsuyoshi Ishikawa kept a straight face, maintaining his composure: "Shuichi-san, the head monk of Kiyomizu-dera is a very famous monk!"

"I see..."

"I heard that the day after tomorrow, Kiyomizu-dera happens to have a big event... Shuichi-san can take your family to see it!"

Shuichi Ido nodded upon hearing this:

"Hmm, not bad, not bad~ You go back first, get a good rest, there's still film promotion work later!"

"Hai!"

By the early morning, the four-hour TV Asahi 'Music Station' Super Live had truly ended.

It stands to reason that there would be a celebration party after such a large-scale event, but not many people went to attend. After all, with Christmas approaching, famous artists were very busy, and some even had to go to the next appointment after sleeping for two or three hours.

After meeting with the senior management, Naoki Nagayama declined the subsequent drinking celebration and returned to Chiyoda with Akina Nakamori.

"Was Akina just saying goodbye to Yukiko Okada?" Naoki Nagayama asked curiously.

"Hmm, Yukiko-chan is rushing to Yokohama immediately to participate in filming there."

Akina Nakamori's face was still heavily made up, but her performance outfit had been changed into loose daily clothes. At this moment, she was eating small snacks, her mouth looking like a squirrel's~

Performing is physical work, and her dinner had already been consumed.

"It's really hard work~ it's already early morning!" Naoki Nagayama glanced at his watch, "Are you not going to sleep tonight?"

"I'll catch up on sleep in the car!" Akina Nakamori said very easily, "When I first debuted, I also often caught up on sleep in the car!

Because I had no popularity, I had to go to different places for appointments and performances every day... sometimes I was so busy I couldn't even eat breakfast on time, and my first meal was pork cutlet rice!"

Naoki Nagayama was stunned for a moment, then realized, "Is that why you suddenly got fat at that time?"

"!!" Akina Nakamori cast a dangerous look, "What did you say, Naoki-san?"

"........ Hahaha~ nothing, it's just that Akina had a hard time back then!" Naoki Nagayama decisively conceded.

"Hmph... of course it was hard when I first debuted!" Akina Nakamori sighed at the scenery flashing by outside the car window, "Thinking about it now, it still feels very hard..."

Seeing his girlfriend starting to feel sentimental, Naoki Nagayama reached out and patted Akina's hair:

"It's all in the past... isn't it better now?"

Yes, ever since she gained popularity, Akina Nakamori didn't have to attend those small appointments that had no exposure but took up a lot of time, and her time was much more abundant.

The times in a year when she really had to work continuously were mainly the national tour in July and the various programs at the end of the year!

And next year, perhaps this kind of continuous work will also decrease, because Akina wants to transform into a singer of substance, and idol work should be less.

"Hmm~" Akina Nakamori took a deep breath and returned to her lively state of mind, "Naoki-san doesn't have anything to do in the next two days, right?"

"Me?" Naoki Nagayama thought for a moment, "Doesn't seem like it... I have to go to the annual Kanji ceremony the day after tomorrow. Ah, and the company has a new movie to be released, on Christmas Eve... I have to go see it~"

"A new movie?" Akina Nakamori was curious.

"Hmm, it's that 'Ring 2'!" Naoki Nagayama laughed, "Does Akina want to watch it?"

"A horror movie?" Akina Nakamori was a bit conflicted. When she watched 'Ring 1' before, she was so scared she didn't dare to sleep alone for several days, "Forget it~"

"Oh? Scared?"

"...... Not at all, I just don't have time, I have a program to attend on Christmas Eve!" Akina said stubbornly.

"I can get the copy disc in advance, we can watch it at home!" Naoki Nagayama laughed.

"......."

Akina Nakamori turned her head away, not wanting to pay attention to this hateful guy!