blueteamnovel Chapter 5 Airi Fukushi
Chapter 5 Airi Fukushi
Faced with the girl's sudden request, Rito glanced at her but did not answer immediately. He simply gestured with his eyes to a nearby bubble tea shop. Airi nodded knowingly, and the two went into the shop, each ordered a cup, and sat down in a corner.
After tasting the sweet and cloying flavor of the Taiwanese black pearl milk tea that has become popular again in Japan in the past two years, Rito rested his chin on his hand and looked at Suzuki Airi, who kept secretly glancing at him out of the corner of her eye. He began to have a dilemma: at the age of seventeen, no family would want her for adoption, and none of her relatives were reliable. She was unwilling to return to her birth family. Could he really just send her out into society?
"Kubo-san, don't let my appearance fool you, I'm very smart. If my parents hadn't objected, my teachers would have wanted me to aim for a top university. Whatever you need me to do, I'll do my best, just help me get rid of those two guys."
Seeing that Rito's brows were furrowed and he seemed to be in a difficult position, Airi, who had finally found a ray of light in her gloomy life, could no longer sit still and quickly began to promote herself to him.
"Really? I really didn't realize that." Rito himself didn't have the stereotype that pretty girls couldn't study, so he just gave a casual reply. Perhaps his attitude was too perfunctory, because when it reached Airi's ears, she thought he didn't believe her. She couldn't help but pout and raise her voice to add seriously, "Kubo-san, do you think I'm lying to you? If you don't believe me, I can take you to see my teacher."
Seeing the girl's round cheeks puffed out, revealing a rare, innocent charm befitting her age, Rito finally couldn't help but chuckle softly. Suddenly, he felt that she was sweeter than the milk tea with a lethal dose in her cup, and his thoughts finally became firm.
"Alright, alright, I believe you, okay?" He waved his hand to stop laughing, and when he looked up at Airi, the playful look in his eyes gradually faded, replaced by a calm and serious demeanor befitting his status. "I can help you completely resolve your family troubles. I'll settle all the gambling debts your father owes, and the lawyer will help you and your parents sign a formal disassociation agreement, guaranteeing that they can never harass you again for the rest of your life."
Hearing his solemn promise, Airi's breath hitched, and tears welled up in her eyes easily. Without a doubt, this was the help she needed most right now, especially after the harrowing experience of being used by her biological father to pay off gambling debts. This impulse had been lingering in her mind for a long time.
"But there's no such thing as a free lunch." Looking at Airi, whose eyes were brimming with tears and gratitude, Rito smiled, holding up two long, slender fingers. His tone was calm and unwavering. "I have two conditions. First, for the next year, you don't need to worry about anything; just focus on preparing for your entrance exams and get into a top 5 university in Japan. Second, after you enter university, you'll need to balance your studies with working as my assistant at my company until you graduate. So, can you do that?"
Airi stared at him blankly, her mouth slightly agape, unable to react for a long time. After several seconds, she suddenly came to her senses, wiped the tears from the corners of her eyes with the back of her hand, and then burst into laughter through her tears.
"I'd love to have such a good deal! I'd be happy to do it, not just until graduation, but for a lifetime!"
"Don't talk about 'a lifetime' at such a young age. You're not old enough to understand the weight of that word."
After giving JK a lecture for her offhand remark, Rito smiled contentedly and pulled her cool iPhone 4 from her pocket. She swiped her finger across the smooth glass screen a few times and dialed a number she'd just saved to her contacts that morning. The phone was answered after only one ring, and a calm, efficient, and respectful male voice came from the other end: "President Kubo."
"Konno-san, I need you to do something." Rito leaned back in the soft chair of the bubble tea shop, his gaze fixed on the bustling crowd outside the window. He briefly explained Suzuki Airi's family situation and then made his request: "As a Japanese citizen, it pains me to see such an excellent high school girl unable to complete her studies properly because of family reasons. Konno-san, don't you think we should help her?"
"Understood." Yoshio Konno answered without hesitation. As a professional manager who had just officially joined the company yesterday and was poached by the young president from the neighboring Universal Music Group with a hefty sum, he understood the weight of this first task better than anyone. This was not just a job, but also his boss's first test of his abilities. After hanging up, he immediately mobilized his network and resources, throwing himself into the task of rescuing JK Airi with 120% passion.
As it turned out, Konno, the old fox who could manage the Sakamichi Trio in the original timeline, was indeed quite capable, and his efficiency far exceeded Rito's expectations. In less than forty-eight hours, he appeared at Airi's parents' dilapidated apartment in Chiba Prefecture with two top lawyers in the industry. Faced with the written debt settlement certificate and the legally binding severance agreement, as well as the lawyers' cold warning, "If you dare to harass Ms. Suzuki again, we will file a criminal lawsuit for extortion," the couple, who had long been worn down by life, didn't dare to utter a single word of rebuttal and signed the documents with trembling hands.
Upon receiving the live video and scanned documents from Konno, Rito was overjoyed and gained a clearer understanding of Konno's abilities. Just as he stood up from his sofa, intending to share this good news with Airi, who was temporarily staying next door, a familiar electronic voice suddenly rang in his mind again:
Congratulations! You have triggered the hidden side quest: Redemption of Fate. You have received a special reward: one chance to draw from the Sakamichi Hall of Fame.
"Huh?" Rito was slightly taken aback, then a meaningful smile appeared on her lips. "I knew it, Suzuki Airi, you're truly my lucky star."
Without hesitation, he immediately focused his mind and pressed the draw button. It was the same old-fashioned gashapon machine with its clanging cutscene. A few seconds later, a gashapon capsule flashing green and white light, clearly more exquisitely modeled than the previous Yuri-chan and Hao-jie, appeared.
"Green and white, Hall of Fame, that eliminates Meimei, Money Team, so it's either Pigeon or Sasha."
Looking at the shimmering sphere, Rito immediately thought of the members represented by the support colors on it, and his heart couldn't help but pound faster. Both of them were certainly excellent, but compared to the top popular vote Nishino Nanase, the older idol Ikeda Eisa, who had made a comeback, was a bit too old to join the group. If she were to be used for pioneering, Rito wasn't sure if she could last until the group rose to prominence. From a stability-seeking perspective, he would naturally prefer to draw Nishino Nanase, a first-generation member of Nogizaka46 who had already proven herself.
"Well, well, although... I actually like Sasa a lot too. Oh well, let's open it!"
After hesitating for a moment, Rito let out a long sigh, placed his hand on the gashapon capsule, and twisted it forcefully.