Chapter 81: Siren
The hero show was over.
The stage was wrapped in applause and cheers.
By the time the show got going, the audience’s hair had already returned to normal. So it had only been an empty threat.
The reason the audience, relieved of their worries about their hair, still didn’t leave was because Onii-chan had captured their hearts. Because the actors gave their all. Because they were entertained.
As proof of that, right now, they were standing beneath a shower of praise.
"I thought I’d gotten a little closer this time too…"
Even though I’d been told it was possible to move both my own and someone else’s hair at the same time, it never even occurred to me.
Even though I noticed the actors’ predicament in that very moment, all I could do was look up at Onii-chan.
Just like back then.
I—and my wishes—are always carefully protected by Onii-chan.
Standing close by that shower of praise, sheltered under the gentle umbrella he held up.
"What is this receipt!"
Inside the room marked with a plaque reading 『理事長室』 (Principal’s Office). The fat old man in a suit creaked the leather of his luxurious chair as he roared in fury.
"Don’t know what to tell you, boss, but I don’t know a thing."
Deflecting the old man’s rage with a carefree grin was a man in an aloha shirt with streaks of white in his hair.
"Don’t know a thing, my ass! Look at this ridiculous bill! It’s nearly a million yen!"
"Well, let me take a peek then. Lemme see… hmm, what’s this…?"
The receipt listed high-end laptops, expensive cameras, and pin mics, all purchased as "teaching materials."
"Hahaha! The kid’s a smart one!"
"Is this a laughing matter! That brat, wasting money like this… is this supposed to be some kind of payback?"
"Well, if you wanna call it payback, I’d say it’s a pretty gentle one."
"Hmph! I wagered a fortune on the boy, I’ve no reason to be criticized for it!"
Seeing no way forward, the man in the aloha shirt shrugged.
"Make the others pay for these expenses too!"
"Unlike you folks, I ain’t got my hands in the kid’s pie, y’know?"
"Hmph! Degenerate panderer!"
"Now that’s a real old-fashioned word."
‘Zegen’ (女衒) were brokers in the Edo period who trafficked women into the sex industry. As an insult, the old man had called the aloha-shirted man such.
"These days, I’m actually the head of an entertainment production company. If your school’s got some promising girls, give me a call."
"Who in their right mind would ruin their hard-earned reputation by doing something like that!"
The business card the man in the aloha shirt offered wasn’t even accepted.
"I’m doing honest work these days, you know?"
"I heard you were the first to target the boy’s little sister."
"That’s true. Got a problem with it?"
"What kind of fool of an educator wouldn’t be wary of a degenerate panderer who targets elementary school girls!"
"Oh, so you really meant that ‘zegen’ thing? Nah, my agency doesn’t arrange that kind of business. Besides…"
"…What is it?"
"Ah, nah, forget I said anything."
The man in the aloha shirt swallowed down the words, "《《You might actually be the only real educator here》》."
"Well then, I’ll take my leave."
"The boy’s little sister—was she clever as well?"
Without even saying "wait," the old man posed the question.
"Hmm… hard to say. She was clever, sure, but not on the boy’s level."
"Then what was it you saw value in, in the boy’s sister?"
"Her singing."
"…Singing?"
"Of course, it’s just a ‘what if,’ since the clever kid took her place in the end… But if, back then, we’d managed to bring Anka-chan into the agency, by now we’d have been the ones making waves all across Japan."
The old man glared at him suspiciously.
"Hmph! The world is not so soft! And if her name is no longer heard now, then that talent must have rotted away, must it not?"
"Well, you’re right—it’s not a soft world. But if a few million yen could have given Anka-chan the chance to take her shot, I’d say that wouldn’t have been a bad investment."
With the receipt pinched between his fingers, the man in the aloha shirt finally left the principal’s office.
Even the hallway was steeped in the heat of midsummer.
He wiped the sweat from his brow with his arm, and a grin spread across his face.
"And besides… it seems it wasn’t the kind of talent that would rot so easily."
Reflected in the smartphone he held was the screen of a streamer boasting hundreds of thousands of subscribers.
"When it comes to singing—Anka-chan doesn’t lose to anyone."
The channel’s name was 『セイレーン』 (Siren).
――But I’m no longer just a child who needs protecting.
"Onii-chan, I want you to face me."
"Sure. What kind of match?"
"There’s only one thing I’ve ever been able to do—past or present. Please, let’s compete in singing."
Right now, in this very moment, I have to stand and face forward.
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