Chapter 248: The Terrestrial Broadcast of a Female Idol

The girl speaking is named Yamaguchi Maho, 19 years old this year. Last year, she came to Tokyo from Aomori Prefecture to participate in an Idol Audition and joined the Group family. She began her idol career as a Trainee, but her appearance is decent with regular features; the problem is she has absolutely no talent—singing, dancing, acting, and variety skills are all a total mess.

Since she has no talent whatsoever, she could only come to be an Idol.

Because she is afraid of others calling the Tohoku region, like Aomori Prefecture, "countryside," Yamaguchi Maho has always said she is from Niigata Prefecture, and she also likes to say her favorite historical figure is Uesugi Kenshin.

In fact, the age of 19 can already be considered elderly for a female Idol.

As mentioned previously, in the environment of Japan, the blooming period of a female star is truly very short. An Actress who performs in a proper lead role generally has to wait until she is eighteen or nineteen to start playing a lead in a television drama. If she hasn't become famous by twenty-four or twenty-five, she can prepare to transition and get married. Even if she does become famous and, without any accidents, has a hit with every performance, she still has to prepare to transition after thirty-two.

But the lifespan of a female Idol is even shorter; for a female Idol, twenty-three or twenty-four is already considered old.

This is related to a key benchmark set by a predecessor—the famous Japanese diva Yamaguchi Momoe was born in 1959 and debuted in 1972 to act in "The Dancing Girl of Izu" at the age of 13. In 1980, after leaving behind countless popular works and songs, she announced her retirement from the industry to marry Miura Tomokazu at the age of 21.

To be fair, Yamaguchi Momoe was indeed the undisputed number one female Idol at the time, a top-tier diva, but in reality, people like Matsuda Seiko behind her were only half a step away from her. Moreover, Yamaguchi Momoe had a voice-changing period in the middle where her state was not good, and her songs and film works could only be described as second-rate.

However, by relying on retiring at the peak of 21 and disappearing from people's view at the most beautiful moment, giving people infinite reverie, Yamaguchi Momoe established the supreme status of the "GOAT" of the female Idol world in one fell swoop. It is equivalent to Jordan retiring after winning eight consecutive championships upon his debut and going directly to play baseball at 29, never returning to the NBA; people would start to wonder if Jordan would have swept all the NBA championships of the entire 90s if he had played until 37.

Influenced by Yamaguchi Momoe, the lifespan of female Idols is very short, and it is truly rare to see someone like Yamaguchi Maho who only participated in an audition at 18.

Sakura herself came to Tokyo at 13 and became a TOP at 15. At 16 this year, she has already started to feel a sense of urgency, feeling that she is no longer a newbie.

Although no one else thinks so, Sakura has already discovered that the Group is declining. After the first batch of people like ACE Maeda Atsuko, Oshima Yuko, and Kojima Haruna retired, the attention of the entire Group has actually only been maintained by the Long Tail Effect; in reality, its influence is far from what it used to be.

But Sakura did not come to Tokyo just to be a small Idol TOP.

The girl has already set goals for her 20th birthday: a two-day, one-night stay in a Hakone hot spring administrative-level kaiseki suite, a full set of Harry Winston jewelry, a candlelit dinner at a three-star Michelin restaurant in Ginza or Roppongi, a gold-screen press conference at the Tokyo Imperial Hotel, and Club 33 at Tokyo Disneyland—I want it all!

Because I am an invincible beautiful girl! Because I am Sakura from Kagoshima, Kyushu!

For a person like Yamaguchi Maho who only came to audition at 18 and only joined the group as a Trainee at 19, what on earth did she come here for?

As it turned out, Yamaguchi Maho's words shocked her.

This woman, she actually had relations with Uesugi Muneyuki?

This, this isn't right, is it?

Sure enough, once these words were spoken, it was like a deep-sea bomb, blasting the entire scene into silence.

Yamaguchi Maho also realized at this moment that she had made a slip of the tongue. The girl immediately covered her mouth and shook her head desperately: "No, no, no! I mistook the person!"

The Group is a famous "Love Ban" group; as long as they are in the group, female Idols are forbidden from dating. Although this point was later attacked by Western feminism and changed to "unrequited love allowed, romantic relationship forbidden," as long as the idol fans know that the idol they support has a boyfriend, their popularity will definitely plummet.

But at this moment, no one believed it anymore.

The Group already has many people; when recording a show, dozens of people come, with twenty or so performing on stage and a bunch more below.

"Maho-chan! Tell the truth, what is your relationship with Forensic Examiner Uesugi?"

"Maho-chan, could it be that you really..."

"Speak, speak quickly, I order you as your senior, confess honestly!"

"Sob sob sob, so Maho-chan is really no longer a virgin. The nerds will be very sad. When performing on stage for the fat nerds below, you must have been thinking of Forensic Examiner Uesugi, right? Sob sob sob, I also want to do it with Forensic Examiner Uesugi!"

"Yamaguchi, don't be so stingy, share Uesugi-san's phone number with us!"

Sakura watched coldly from the side.

The situation within a female Idol group is very complex. Only by truly staying in an Idol group do you know how many twists and turns there are inside; the kind where 4 people in a dormitory can create 5 chat groups.

Among those Wash-foot Maids present who were questioning Yamaguchi Maho, one could hardly see any sincerity. What they had was only crazy envy, jealousy, and hatred, just with different inclinations.

Heh, also, for this kind of female Idol who is forbidden from dating, from the moment they join the group, if they haven't entered the selection or even the TOP group after about 3 years, most girls will start to have other thoughts. The fact that "private connections" are repeatedly banned but never stopped is for this reason.

Yamaguchi Maho was unwilling to say anything no matter what, and the Agent on the side also hurriedly came up to smooth things over. Only then did the crowd reluctantly disperse; some continued with other programs, while some could only return to the dark theater to continue their lives as Wash-foot Maids.

Naturally, Yamaguchi Maho, who is still a Trainee, also belongs to that category of Wash-foot Maids and has to return to the theater.

But for some reason, when the Agent and the staff were preparing to arrange the next wave to head to Fuji TV for a program, Yamaguchi Maho's name was surprisingly on the list!

"??????"

Without thinking much, when they were taken to Fuji TV by the nanny van, the entire selection group saw from afar that Abiru, the Department Director of the FNS Production Bureau under Fuji TV, was already waiting with people.

For a small Idol, this person is an out-and-out big shot!

After the last Fuji TV Case, by relying on the proposal of a live broadcast on the scene, which turned the Fuji TV anchor Hironaka Mariko's "corpse in the wall" case from a scandal into a national-level ratings program surpassing the Kohaku Uta Gassen, Department Director Abiru and President Kameyama together established their unshakeable status within the Fuji TV Board of Directors in one fell swoop. It is said that after finishing this term as Department Director, he will be promoted to a member of the Fuji TV Board of Directors.

And as for small Idols, let alone a Department Director, they have to nod, bow, and apologize to even a staff member with a little status on a variety show, and sometimes even accompany the program team for drinks and singing after the recording.

"You are Yamaguchi Maho, right?" Department Director Abiru said quite arrogantly.

"Yes, I am Yamaguchi Maho, please treat me well." The girl from Aomori Prefecture bowed very, very humbly.

"Hmm, come with me." Department Director Abiru exchanged glances with the Agent behind Yamaguchi Maho.

The Agent signaled that I have brought the person to you.

This was truly an unexpected joy.

Just like that, Yamaguchi Maho was taken away by Abiru and his party under the watchful eyes of everyone.

The 19-year-old girl was quickly brought to a secret facility in the Odaiba Building.

"Let's keep this simple, Miss Yamaguchi." Department Director Abiru sat opposite her personally, dismissed the others, and asked: "May I ask, is it true that you said you had relations with Uesugi Muneyuki?"

"I..." The girl still subconsciously wanted to deny it, but the status of the person opposite her was truly too high for a small Idol. She mumbled a few times weakly, truly not knowing whether denying it would bring devastating consequences upon herself.

Every girl who comes to Tokyo to be an Idol, doesn't she harbor a dream of getting ahead in her heart?

"Oh~" Abiru Kazuhiko, as a core backbone of Fuji TV, understood immediately.

Heh, this makes things easy.

"Miss Yamaguchi, we don't intentionally want to pry into your privacy, please forgive us. We mainly want to produce a variety talk show centered around Uesugi Muneyuki. It's just that we don't understand what style Forensic Examiner Uesugi likes. I mean, if we need a role to hold the cards and be responsible for interacting with Uesugi-kun, do you think you can handle it?"

Yamaguchi Maho was stunned by the pie that fell from the sky.

Terrestrial Broadcast!

It was actually the Terrestrial Broadcast that all Idols dream of!

And it's Golden Time, where she can show her face and read lines, a super position where she can interact with Uesugi Muneyuki!

This... this is something even a TOP can't get.

"I... I... I will work hard..." The girl agreed without hesitation.

"Very good, Miss Yamaguchi. We are very pleased that you could accept our Fuji TV invitation, but before that, we need to confirm one thing: is your previous statement true? Did you really have a sexual relationship with Uesugi Muneyuki?" Department Director Abiru followed up, "This concerns whether you can enter the program team's discussions."

Yamaguchi Maho felt her vision blur; one thought was heaven, the next was hell.

No, she had to get this role; she had to get this role at any cost!

Her dream, her future, everything she had craved since coming to the capital...

And so, Yamaguchi Maho spoke, she said it all, revealing everything from when she first met Uesugi Muneyuki by chance at the capital auditions to how they cut off contact after she succeeded in the auditions, leaving nothing out.

She knew this was not good, and she knew that once said, it would be a huge burden for her.

But she could no longer care about that much.

Everything was for the Terrestrial Broadcast!

The Terrestrial Broadcast for a female Idol!

(End of this chapter)