Girl idols are meant to be exploited!

"Mr. Hoshikawa..."

She spoke softly, with a hint of joy and relief in her tone, "You come to see me again. Actually, you don't have to come so often. I'll be satisfied if you can come to see me once a week..."

"Of course you have to come. After all, you are our firm's 'secret weapon'."

Hoshikawa Taku winked at her and teased, "If I don't come to see you every few days, what if you get kidnapped by another firm?"

When Mizuno Ai heard this, her eyes flickered and a blush quietly appeared on her cheeks.

She lowered her head and gently grasped the corner of the quilt with her fingertips, as if to hide her shyness at that moment.

“How could that be…”

Her voice grew softer, yet her tone carried undisguised seriousness. "I've already said it before... I've entrusted the rest of my life to Mr. Xingchuan."

Even Taku Hoshikawa felt that the words "carrying the burden of life" were a bit too "heavy".

"You're going to be my artist soon, so of course I have to be responsible for you."

He coughed lightly and pretended to be relaxed, changing the subject. "Okay, let me give you a massage and acupuncture."

During this period of time, he came to the hospital not just to visit, but every time he visited, he would use his superb "Hokuto Shinken Massage Method" to heal Mizuno Ai.

His hands could sense the tension and scars deep within Mizuno Ai's body, and he used precise and gentle force to relieve them inch by inch, allowing her body to recover faster.

With Mizuno Ai's injuries, it would have taken at least three months for her to get out of bed, but with Hoshikawa Taku's "special technique", she recovered almost completely in just one month.

Now, I can walk slowly in the ward.

According to the doctor's diagnosis, I can be discharged from the hospital in less than ten days.

Of course, only the injuries on her body recovered. As for the scars on her face and skin surface, it is difficult to remove them perfectly even with the current medical beauty methods.

If she wants to stand on the stage and in front of the public in the future, she will have to rely on Taku Hoshikawa's makeup skills to cover it up.

So what Mizuno Ai said, "Entrust your life to Taku Hoshikawa," was not wrong.

Under the gaze of Taku Hoshikawa, Mizuno Ai's cheeks flushed, and she carefully unbuttoned her hospital gown, revealing her back and shoulder blades where the scars had not yet completely faded.

She turned around, lay down on the bed, held the pillow with both hands, and closed her eyes nervously.

Even though she was used to it, the feeling of having her wounds touched by fingers of the opposite sex still made her moan in embarrassment.

Seeing this, Hasegawa sensibly put down the fruit knife in his hand, pulled the curtain in the middle of the room, and then quietly left the room.

At first, she always cautiously pulled the curtain and watched by the side, fearing that Hoshikawa Taku would do something terrible.

But as the times increased, Hoshikawa Taku's sense of proportion and methods made her gradually let down her guard. In order to avoid embarrassment for Mizuno Ai and let her completely relax, Hasegawa tactfully left during this period and did not disturb them.

What's more... now Taku Hoshikawa is her immediate superior and the boss who pays her salary.

If he really wanted to do something, could she stop him?

The ward was well soundproofed, and the corridor outside the door was so quiet that it seemed to isolate it from the entire world. Hasegawa sat on the bench in front of the ward, opened his laptop, and handled official business.

She looked up at the closed ward door from time to time, but she didn't hear much movement.

Time passed slowly, and an hour later, the door of the ward was finally gently opened from the inside.

Hoshikawa Taku stood at the door, his expression normal. He adjusted his shirt and nodded at her: "You can come in."

Hasegawa closed his computer and walked into the ward with the documents in his arms.

As soon as she stepped in, she saw Mizuno Ai with her back to the door, her face red, hurriedly putting on her hospital gown, her fingertips looking a little clumsy because of panic.

She pulled up her slipped shoulder strap, lowered her head, and covered her blushing cheeks with her hands from time to time, revealing a kind of unnatural shyness in her movements.

The room was filled with a very ambiguous smell of incense, and the sheets on the bed were soaked with Mizuno Ai's sweat and massage oil, leaving a large light-colored mark.

Taku Hoshikawa folded the used bed sheet and placed it on the shelf next to the bed, then turned around and changed the bed sheet.

Hasegawa took this opportunity to move closer and pinched it quietly. He immediately felt that his fingers were very oily and stained with a little transparent mucus.

Her eyes flickered but she said nothing.

During this period of time, Taku Hoshikawa always came to "visit" Mizuno Ai every few days, and Mizuno Ai's recovery speed was almost unbelievable, and the hospital called it a miracle.

Hasegawa didn't dare to ask, nor did he want to think about what had happened between them.

Even if something really happened between the two of them, and Mizuno Ai herself was happy about it, why would she have the right to object?

She turned her eyes away from the bed sheet, forced herself to suppress the wandering fantasies in her mind, and spoke in a businesslike tone:

"Manager, regarding Xiao Ai's [comeback concert]... her original agency sent a message saying they're willing to help with the promotion for free."

Upon hearing this, Hoshikawa Taku raised his eyebrows and looked at her, motioning her to continue.

Hasegawa flipped open the folder and pulled out a copy. "But they also put forward a condition. They hope that Mizuno Ai can sing a few songs on the same stage with her former teammates. It can be regarded as a handover, giving the outside world the impression that it's an 'amicable breakup.'"

Hoshikawa Taku nodded, his face calm, without much surprise.

After all, it was he who had instructed Hasegawa to reveal this matter to the other party.

If it was not disclosed to the original agency, and the concert was suddenly held without any statement from the other side, it would be easy for people to suspect that there was some "unpleasantness" between Mizuno Ai and the agency, which led her to choose to "go solo".

The last thing Hoshikawa Taku wanted was for these rumors to interfere with her return.

The original firm's idea was also very simple.

Although they can no longer make money from Mizuno Ai's "trademark", they are unwilling to completely lose the popularity associated with her. They want to use Mizuno Ai's fan traffic to pour that remaining popularity into other people in the team.

"What's Xiao Ai's opinion?"

"I've already asked Xiao Ai for her opinion."

Hasegawa glanced at Mizuno Ai and said, "She's willing to reunite with her teammates one more time, as a farewell and also as an explanation to the fans."

Mizuno Ai also nodded, and said with some reluctance: "Well, I have been on the same team with them for so long, and I also want to say a formal farewell..."

"Then let's do as Xiao Ai says."

Taku Hoshikawa didn't mind them absorbing this little bit of residual heat. After all, the majority of the traffic was still on Mizuno Ai, and no matter how hard they tried, they couldn't take it away.

He paused, the corners of his mouth curled up slightly as he said, "But since they've shared in the popularity, forget about the appearance fee. They'll have to act as supporting actors at this concert for free, and they'll also be responsible for promoting it vigorously."

"It's a big loss to do this, but they lose even more if they don't do this."

Hasegawa nodded with some admiration.

"I understand. I'll just inform the original agency. Judging from their attitude, they shouldn't refuse."

The original agency suffered such a huge loss at the hands of Hoshikawa Taku, but they actually held their noses and endured it, and even shamelessly came to ask for cooperation...

To be honest, this was something Hasegawa had never expected at first.

Just how much power does Hoshikawa Taku have? Is it worth it for them to do this just to maintain their relationship with him?

"Mr. Xingchuan, the original agency also asked when the promotion will begin. They also want to know the time and location of the concert so that they can coordinate with the promotional arrangements."

Hoshikawa Taku glanced down at the schedule on his phone and said calmly, "Tell them not to worry yet. Xiao Ai will be discharged from the hospital in five days at the end of this month. She will need at least another two weeks to recover. In other words, the concert will be scheduled for twenty days from now."

"It's not too late to start promoting her after she's discharged from the hospital. I believe that with her popularity, the tickets will definitely sell out."

"As for the venue... I'm discussing it now."

If you want to book a concert venue, you need to do so at least three months in advance.

If you want to make a reservation for popular places like Tokyo Dome or Budokan, you may not be able to get one even half a year or even a year in advance.

So Taku Hoshikawa had to settle for the second best and chose some less popular and smaller venues.

Half a month ago, he asked a director with relevant connections to help him find out.

There are currently two suitable places.

One is the "Tokyo International Forum Hall A", which can accommodate 5000 spectators.

Sumimi's last concert was held here, so it's a familiar venue. The director's connections can help Hoshikawa Taku reserve this place, and the daily rental is 300 million yen.

Another place is "Zepp Tokyo", the flagship venue of a Japanese chain of LiveHouse venues.

Although the venue is small and can only accommodate 2500 spectators, the sound system and equipment here are all top-notch.

No matter where the audience sits in the venue, they can get a good viewing experience, which is especially suitable for immersive band performances.

The daily rental here is 200 million yen.

Of course, this is just the basic venue rental. If you really want to hold a complete concert, you will need to rent a lot of people and equipment, and there will also be various publicity and promotion expenses. The cost will be at least 8 million yen.

This does not include the appearance fee of each artist.

If you just want to make money, of course the Tokyo International Forum is more cost-effective. The hall can accommodate 5,000 people, and as long as the tickets sell well, the net profit after one show can crush other venues.

But the reason why Taku Hoshikawa hesitated in this venue with twice the number of spectators was because "ZeppTokyo" had mature live broadcast support.

The venue is equipped with a gigabit fiber optic network, multiple fixed camera positions and jib cameras with adjustable trajectories, and a separate compartment serving as a live broadcast console. The equipment is updated stably, the live broadcast quality is smooth, and even barrage interaction is possible.

It is a stage specially tailored for online live broadcasts.

Given Mizuno Ai's current popularity, if she were to offer paid online live streaming, perhaps thousands or even tens of thousands of people would come to watch the live streaming.

These revenues cannot be underestimated.

In contrast, the Tokyo International Forum, although a larger venue, has a weak network infrastructure and almost no suitable multi-camera cabling system.

Want to live stream? It's possible, but you'll need to build a whole new system, which is not only expensive but also potentially unstable and problematic.

One is to make stable money offline, and the other is to monetize online traffic. Taku Hoshikawa is hesitant between these two methods.

"Xiao Ai, what do you think? Which venue is better?"

Taku Hoshikawa simply threw the question to Ai Mizuno.

Mizuno Ai was stunned and thought about it seriously.

"I've actually been to both of these places before, but I was always a guest at the concerts. I've never held a concert there."

"If I were to talk about my own thoughts, I think 'Zepp' would be more suitable. It would allow me to be closer to the audience, and more people would see me..."

"Okay then, we've decided on 'Zepp Tokyo'."

Hoshikawa Taku snapped his fingers and made a decisive decision.

Now that we have a time and a place, it’s time to consider the “performance lineup”.

A concert, even with a standard setup, will last at least two hours.

Asking Mizuno Ai to sing for two hours alone would put a huge strain on her body, so "guests" are needed to fill the show.

On Taku Hoshikawa's side, it has been confirmed that the bands "Thornless" and "Extension Line" will participate, but this is not enough.

He also wanted to pull [Diamond Stardust] in and have a "fateful showdown" with [Thornless].

The next morning.

Momoka and Nina, who had been busy all night, yawned and were about to enter the office when they were startled by the sudden sound of a horn.

They looked over and saw Taku Hoshikawa sitting in the passenger seat of the business car and hooking his finger at them.

"You two, come with me. Let's go challenge Diamond Stardust."

Chapter 262 This is not an invitation, it is a challenge.

"A challenge?"

Renai and Momoka squeezed into the back seat one after the other. As soon as they got in the car, before they could even sit down, they were attracted by this word.

"Why? What happened that requires us to go look for Diamond Dust?"

Nina leaned forward and looked at Hoshikawa Taku in the front row with curiosity.

Hoshikawa Taku reclined the passenger seat slightly and explained to the two of them:

"Didn't I tell you this long ago? If you perform well and can produce a work that meets my standards, I'll arrange for you to compete against Diamond Stardust."

As he spoke, he raised his hand and pointed at Lupa who was sitting in the driver's seat.

"I heard from Lupa that even the extremely critical Xiaozhi couldn't find fault with your new song. I think it's time to contact them."

"So Mr. Xingchuan, what you mean is..."

Taoxiang frowned, and her voice suddenly rose a few degrees, as if she had finally realized something, "You haven't contacted the people at Diamond Stardust yet!?"

The concert time that Hoshikawa Taku mentioned is approaching, and Momoka thought that Hoshikawa Taku had arranged everything, but she didn't expect that he hadn't contacted him yet.

Isn’t it too late to contact me now?