Rebuilding Sakamichi in a chaotic worldline

Chapter 77, 13:8 Why haven't they given out the awards yet?

After dropping Arimura off at her dorm, Rito went to Keyakizaka. By the time he finally remembered his to-do list from before leaving home, it was already completely dark. Fortunately, it wasn't too late. He turned his car around and arrived at the Nogizaka building. The newly renovated glass facade reflected the streetlights, and the lights in several practice rooms inside were still on, a testament to the diligence of Japan's top girl group.

As he stepped out of the elevator and into the corridor, he saw the figure he longed for. Misa Eto leaned against the window, flipping through an open notebook. Her long hair was unusually tied into a low ponytail at the back of her head, and a few stray strands of hair hanging down by her ears were pulled by the swaying of her diamond earrings, gently swaying in the breeze blowing in from outside the window.

As Rito walked past her, he casually took the notebook from her hand. Misa looked up, smiled gently, and with light, graceful steps, followed in his footsteps like a shadow.

As the "last incident" was about to erupt, Rito, panting heavily, wanted to take this opportunity to hear Misa's true thoughts, but Misa directly covered his mouth with her finger.

"Shut up, I don't want to hear it."

"No need to change, just wear this for now. I'll take you home." He patted Misa's shoulder and said in a low voice. Although Misa always joked that she wasn't a good woman, she hadn't accepted many of the gifts that Rito had picked out for her. La Perla had recently given him a very sexy new outfit, but the president was rather conservative and not very interested, so he decided to give it to the sexy older sister.

Misa blinked, naturally having no reason to refuse such a small prop that could enhance their relationship. She lightly touched his lips, put on her coat, and urged him to leave.

The two took the elevator down to the parking lot. Rito picked up the car keys and unlocked the car from a distance. Just as he was about to lift his leg, he heard a familiar voice from his side and behind him.

"President!" Shui Shui, who had just finished get off work, took small steps and came to the two of them. The parking lot was dimly lit, and she did not notice Misa suddenly withdrawing her hand. But as she got closer, a strange smell caught her attention.

"What's that smell?" She sniffed her cute little nose and frowned as she asked, "Can you smell it?"

"Of course I'm hitching a ride with the president! Misa, you're probably doing the same, right?" After searching for a while but not finding the source of the smell, Shui Shui stopped insisting and said with a smile, "Perfect, president, you can take Misa home first. I have something I want to talk to you about."

Rito raised an eyebrow and, much to her surprise, refused, saying, "I'll take you home first. Misa isn't staying in the dorm tonight."

"Huh?" Shui Shui paused for a moment, her gaze suddenly becoming unfocused. Only then did she notice that under the dim yellow light of the parking lot, Misa's lips looked a little swollen, and through the gaps in her clothes, she could vaguely see some red marks.

"Get in the car, we can talk about it tomorrow." Rito didn't care what she had figured out, or rather, this was one of his goals. He casually opened the back door and gestured for her to get in, but Misa suddenly took a step back, a forced smile on her face, and said to him, "I suddenly remembered that I still have some work to finish. President, you take Misa with you first, I can go back by myself."

Li Ren glanced at her and nodded: "Okay, don't stay too late. Send me a message when you get home."

"Mmm." Shui Shui nodded, her gaze lingering for a moment on Misa's pretty face, which had recently been praised for its increased beauty. She hadn't had much contact with this second-generation member, and didn't have any particular feelings for her. Besides, Rito had already married the eldest daughter of the Guan family, so arguing about who was the strongest mistress wasn't something a girl who had just come of age should be thinking about. The anger that welled up in her heart wasn't directed at Misa, but at herself. Because she had been too busy with work lately, she hadn't even noticed something so obvious.

I always feel that the more successful I am in my career, the further I get from the life I want. In this respect, I am far behind Nana.

She sighed inwardly, waved to the two of them, and walked into the corridor connecting the main building. One by one, the lights behind her went out, disappearing into the boundless darkness along with her figure.

-----------------

That night, Rito and Senbei relived their old romance at their usual spot, where Rito explained why she had been placed in the Under category during the selection process and expressed his apologies. Misa, on the other hand, took it all in stride, even thoughtfully advising him not to let it cause any trouble with the president. This made Rito feel a little embarrassed, and he could only try even harder to repay her. In the end, Misa naturally ended up in bed and, unusually, took a day off.

Correspondingly, Rito also worked hard to win over Senbei, this charming little devil. Unlike Nanamin and the president, who were a bit reserved, Misa, with her great figure and cheerful personality, was a completely different experience. Although her endurance might not be much higher than the two women, she understood men's psychology and knew how to cooperate. Under her flattery, Rito was able to enjoy himself to the fullest for once, but the price was that he almost lost himself as well.

"Hey, are you okay? Did you stay up late last night?"

In the villa of the third generation, Mikoto was startled by the slightly purple lips of Kubo Rito, whom she had shaken over, and quickly asked him with concern.

"What are you talking about? You think you can't outrun me?"

Rito stubbornly said something, but his body betrayed him as he rolled towards the sofa and lay down, showing no intention of getting up.

After exchanging a two-second glance with the little genius beside her, Meiqing, prompted by her, roughly understood what was going on. Her face flushed, she muttered a curse under her breath, but quickly recovered, kicking Kubo Rito, who was currently fussing on the sofa, and said irritably:

"Are you still alive? I need to tell you something. Rika is planning to start her own YouTube channel to build up her popularity before joining the group. She wants to know your opinion. What do you say?"

"Huh? Why is this guy so meddlesome?" Rito complained instinctively when he heard the name Ishimori Rika. However, after listening to her suggestion carefully, he became somewhat interested. After all, she had run a fairly popular account before joining the group. Although he didn't know how well it attracted traffic later on, she was just killing time anyway, so her spirit of finding something to do was commendable. In any case, she was definitely much better than the silly third young lady next to her.

"If she's willing, let her do it. I don't object in principle."

After thinking for a while, Rito waved his hand, indicating his attitude.

"Who asked you if you objected or not? It's like you're saying what would happen if you objected. Rika meant to ask you for your support. You're so slow to react. Looks like you had a really tough night."

Meiqing almost laughed in exasperation at his self-satisfied swagger. She couldn't help but retort with a sarcastic remark, which Riko, who happened to be walking out, overheard. Riko casually asked, "What do you mean, 'worked hard'? What did Riko-nii do last night?"

The air in the living room froze for a moment. Realizing she had misspoke, Meiqing blurted out, "Riko, don't ask about adults' matters."

"What? You're clearly the youngest among us, Meiqing." Riko retorted somewhat unconvinced. Fortunately, she was indeed a good girl, and after saying that, she didn't pursue the matter further. She went to Rito's side and was startled to see his haggard appearance.

"Riri-nii, are you alright? How did you get yourself into this state?" she said in a panic, reaching out to help Rihito. However, Rihito wasn't really that weak. Not wanting Riko to worry, he quickly got up, clenched his fist, and pounded his chest to show that he was fine. But he pounded too hard and started coughing violently.

"He said he was fine, could he be sick? Meiqing, odkr, should we take Riko to the hospital?" Riko was even more worried and quickly took some water from the table and handed it to him while anxiously looking at her roommates.

Faced with this awkward situation, Meiqing didn't know what to do. She could only suppress her laughter and look at Odakura, who had the most mischievous ideas. Odkr rolled her eyes in annoyance, thinking, "You think of me now?" But she really couldn't stand watching this mess, so she simply pulled Riko over and whispered a few words in her ear.

Riko's expression froze for a moment. A few seconds later, she sprang up from the sofa, and without saying a word, ran to her room with her head down. The door slammed shut, as if she wanted to shut something dirty out.

The people in the living room looked at each other for a while. Rito sighed and covered his face with his hands. Mio wanted to laugh but dared not, and her facial muscles twitched as she held it in. Odakura was the most unrestrained, and he squatted on the ground laughing while holding his stomach.

After laughing, Meiqing, who had serious business to attend to, finally stepped forward, ending the topic. She pulled Rito along and pointed with her chin towards the corridor.

"Let's go to my room, don't embarrass yourself here."

Rito looked up at her, a hint of shame still lingering in his eyes from being caught red-handed. He wanted to say, "If you had done this earlier, none of this would have happened." He stood up and followed her down the corridor. As they passed Riko's room, the door opened a crack, and the baby's round eyes met his for about half a second, as if she wanted to say something. But just as Rito was about to speak, those eyes quickly shrank back, like something a frightened animal would do.

With a sigh, Rito followed Mio to her room. On the desk sat a laptop, next to several open photography magazines and a half-finished notebook. A poster for the Sakurazaka concert hung on the wall; she said she'd made it from her spatial dimension. Rito wondered if anyone else had seen it, but he'd always found it irritating. After all, he still intended to run Green Band properly; why change the colors for no reason? Was it fun to halve sales like that?

Meiqing sat down on the edge of the bed, crossed her legs, and patted the spot next to her. Rito didn't sit down, but leaned against the desk, picked up the notebook, and casually flipped through it. It was filled with her analysis of the personality traits of several third-generation members, as well as her own program plans. Some of them were based on variety shows she had watched before, but it was clear that she had put a lot of thought into them.

"Let's get down to business." Mikoto snatched the notebook back from his hand, closed it, and set it aside. "Rika is planning to become a YouTuber like me, hoping to ride the coattails of Keyakizaka's popularity. What do you think?"

"You can decide for yourself, or have her go directly to Airi," Rito said with a shrug. "A fan joining their favorite group sounds like a good story."

Meiqing nodded, glanced down at her fingers, and then looked up at him.

"There's one more thing. I've found Yuzu, and she's from Fukuoka this time. Do you think it's necessary to contact her beforehand?"

Rito didn't speak, but simply turned his gaze to the window. The branches of the persimmon tree in the yard swayed gently in the night breeze, with a few dried persimmons hanging on them, shriveled into small clumps, gleaming with a dim orange light under the moonlight.

"What's wrong? I heard you weren't like this when you were in Kyoto?"

Meiqing frowned, feeling somewhat oppressed by the sudden silence, and took the initiative to ask a question.

"Hmm—" Rito hesitated for a long time, his expression a mixture of embarrassment and unusual lack of confidence. For some reason, seeing him like this, Miko felt a surge of anger and pushed him hard.

"What happened? My legs are weak and I feel limp after sleeping with you?"

"ah!"

The two glared at each other, then almost simultaneously burst into laughter. Rito felt he hadn't been himself just now; perhaps it was Misa's selfless devotion last night that had made him question his long-held views on relationships. However, Miho's unwavering attitude quickly brought him back to reality. He gave a self-deprecating laugh, grabbed the girl's hand, and without hesitation, spoke crisply and decisively:

"I'll go to Yuzu's place. I don't want to lie to you. Among all the people on the Sakamichi Road, there are only a few I will never let go of, and Yuzu is definitely one of them. I'm sorry, but this time I can't respect your personal wishes."

Upon hearing this, Mei Qing paused for a moment, then chuckled, patted his shoulder forcefully, and said to him half-jokingly and half-seriously:

"Kubo Rito, I knew you weren't some kind of Ogibako fanboy. You've been hiding it for so long, but you've finally been exposed, haven't you?"