Standing at the West Shinjuku Station exit, Takeshita Masato spotted Sakai Izumi at a glance. She was wearing a white dress, her simple ponytail shining brightly among the crowd.
He was stunned for a full 5 seconds before coming back to his senses. Then, feigning composure, he smiled, waved, and called out, "Kabachi-san, Tanaka-san, over here, I'm over here."
"Hehe, Sachiko, your admirer is calling you over there."
"Don't talk nonsense, he just invited the two of us for a meal."
"Heh, do you think it could be that simple?"
Tanaka Eri curled her lips in disdain, scoffing at her best friend's explanation.
If a strange man is suddenly nice to you and pulls you aside to talk about everyday things, there's over a 99% chance he's interested in you.
"Hmm, I guess that's possible too."
Izumi-san's voice got softer and softer as she spoke,
clearly, she didn't quite believe her own judgment.
"Good afternoon, Kabachi-san, Tanaka-san!"
Takeshita Masato didn't hear the two girls' whispers, but even if he had, he wouldn't have cared at all. His intentions were quite obvious, and he wasn't trying to hide them.
He would even be happier if things were more straightforward and direct.
After all, pursuing girls was still a bit too difficult for him, a former older man who used to go on arranged dates.
"Good afternoon, Takeshita-san!"
"Good afternoon, Takeshita-san!"
After two clear greetings, Izumi-san bowed slightly apologetically and said, "We're really sorry to have you come pick us up in the middle of the day."
"Yeah, sorry about that, please forgive us!"
"It's fine, I'm the host, so naturally I should be a bit early."
The sushi restaurant Takeshita Masato had booked was near Shinjuku, less than 500 meters from his rented apartment. It was a popular sushi place with fresh ingredients and reasonable prices.
Of course, it wasn't that he couldn't afford the expensive kind.
But Takeshita Masato, who knew Izumi-san's personality well, was taking a gradual approach. The two weren't very familiar yet, and if they suddenly went to a high-end sushi restaurant, Sakai Izumi might not say anything, but she would mentally 'Pass' on him.
It would be too abrupt and tactless.
Takeshita Masato didn't want to dwell on this, so he decisively smiled and changed the subject: "You two look very beautiful today, are you perhaps thinking of debuting as idols?"
While Shinjuku wasn't as cutting-edge as Shibuya in terms of entertainment culture, thanks to its massive foot traffic, it also became a cultural and entertainment hub in Tokyo.
Many famous Japanese artists became famous after being spotted by talent scouts while walking on the streets of Shinjuku before their debut, subsequently being introduced to entertainment agencies and ultimately rising to fame.
"Hmph, you have good taste." Tanaka Eri was quite pleased with Takeshita Masato's comment. After smiling and nodding, she energetically waved her hand and said, "Becoming an idol is impossible. Idols only look glamorous on the surface. If you're not a famous big star, you can't make any money at all."
"And even for big stars, many don't make much money."
"As far as I know, many popular idols are busy for nearly 20 hours a day, and yet they earn less than a random store clerk."
Japan is a society with a strict feudal hierarchy, and the entertainment industry is the most stringent one.
Perhaps due to their previously low status, the Japanese entertainment industry places great importance on so-called seniority.
Those who sing Kabuki songs disdain those who sing Enka, those who sing Enka disdain those who sing rock, those who sing rock disdain those who sing pop, and then everyone collectively looks down on idol casters.
The situation is similar for TV dramas and movies; movie actors are considered superior, while TV drama idols are in the sewers.
That's right, the situation is similar in China, Japan, and Korea; idol stars are always at the bottom of the pecking order.
Idol stars are at the low end of the pecking order and heavily rely on company resources for development. This also leads to idol stars having no say and being arbitrarily exploited by entertainment agencies.
Take the Johnny's idols, who have been plagued by scandals recently, as an example. Many popular Johnny's idols still earn a monthly salary, and it's only a few hundred thousand yen.
They can only get commissions if the head of Johnny's allows it.
That's still considered good; many other idol stars are sold off and still count the money for their bosses.
For example, in his previous life, there was an idol star named Yoko Minamino.
The agency head directly took out various loans in her name, but in the end, Yoko Minamino had to repay the loans.
"Huh, how do you know all this so clearly?"
Information didn't circulate well in the 1980s, and many girls had no idea about the entertainment industry. They only saw the glamorous side of idols and were basically clueless about what went on behind the scenes.
"Well, my older brother works at Dentsu, he told me all this."
"Oh, no wonder!"
Dentsu is Japan's largest advertising company, controlling the right to broadcast advertisements, making them essentially the sugar daddies of TV stations. And TV stations, in turn, are the 'daddies' of idols.
Naturally, Dentsu employees are very clear about so-called idols.
"Idol actors are like that, very dependent on their agencies, but you can also become a caster."
TV dramas and movies require large investments, so actors are very dependent on the investors. casters are different; if worst comes to worst, they can go the indie route.
Anyway, releasing a low-cost album is affordable for ordinary people.
"You still need to have creative ability for that. casters who can only sing aren't much different from actors."
Tanaka Eri was very familiar with these things because she had also once dreamed of becoming an idol. Unfortunately, both songwriting and composing were a bit too profound for her.
"That's true, but I think Kabachi-san should be able to do it."
Takeshita Masato smiled and nodded, then changed the subject, bringing it to Izumi-san, who was quietly watching the two of them from the side.
"I, I can't."
Sakai Izumi was very moved internally, but she kept shaking her head, her mouth full of refusal.
"Sachiko-chan, you can do it. Your Japanese language scores are so good, and the articles you write are very beautiful, you'd be very suitable to become a lyricist."
Tanaka Eri knew her best friend's dream was to become a caster, so even though she didn't know how talented her friend was, she kept encouraging her to try. Anyway, even if she didn't go to Daiichi Real Estate, given the current situation in Japan, it would be easy to find a similar 'flower vase' job.
Japanese companies are severely short-staffed right now. Every year, hundreds of companies choose to go bankrupt because they cannot recruit enough employees.
Let alone junior college graduates, even high school and junior high students can find decent jobs.
Izumi-san became even more embarrassed and explained awkwardly, "I just write those for fun in my spare time, it's nothing at all."
Takeshita Masato noticed that Izumi-san was starting to feel uncomfortable, so he lightly smiled and changed the subject: "Hey, that's the place up ahead, we've arrived."
"Oh, is it the one with the blue sign? It looks quite nice."
"That's right, it's there."
Hearing the two of them change the subject, Sakai Izumi couldn't help but let out a long sigh of relief. This kind of persuasion from her friend was really a bit much to handle.