107: Partnership

"I feel no guilt when I bully them."

"..."

Mai- chan replied with a single word, accompanied by a kind smile.

"Roll."

We couldn't really talk that day.

Several days have passed.

Shuya discovered that Li Shuhong had disappeared when he went to practice martial arts in the morning, and a few days later he finally confirmed that he had completely vanished.

That old man left so gracefully.

Shuya's nothing we can do about it; we can only hope to meet again someday.

Aside from that, there was the reaction after Shuya's interview was released.

Inoue Hikoo's plan was being implemented step by step. After Shuya's interview, he himself jumped out and praised Ayako Ishikawa and his Little Senior Sister.

They successfully drew public attention to them.

It was then that everyone realized that Shuya and Ayako Ishikawa were actually master and apprentice.

Afterwards, the Little Senior Sister and Ayako Ishikawa gave an interview together.

After the Little Senior Sister's photos were published in major media outlets, the topic became incredibly popular.

I've already mentioned this before.

It seems like everyone in Japan Administrative District is a lolicon (a person who is obsessed with young girls).

Shuya couldn't help but recall that the Queen of the Azure Line doujinshi in his previous life wasn't a series of older sisters, but rather a lone beast.

Grass (Japanese).

My Little Senior Sister's looks, age, and talent all hit the bullseye perfectly.

Following the Japan people's long-standing tradition of being a bit chuunibyou (a Japanese term for someone with delusions of grandeur), the Little Senior Sister quickly acquired several nicknames.

Let's pick a few representative examples:

"A once-in-a-millennium beauty"

"The Fairy of Music"

"Angel of the Piano"

Etc...

It was incredibly awkward.

But this is a tradition, so we can only put up with it.

In short, the Little Senior Sister really went all out, and her popularity surpassed that of Shuya in a short period of time.

Just as Shuya had said, the first group of reporters that the Little Senior Sister met did not make things difficult for her, because Inoue Hikoo had given her enough money.

The reporters who came after that, eager to capitalize on the buzz, were a different story; the Little Senior Sister was completely bewildered by all sorts of strange questions.

But with Ayako Ishikawa's help, nothing went wrong.

The Little Senior Sister's fame had another effect: many talent scouts approached Little Senior Sister, hoping to sign her and debut her as an idol.

Ayako Ishikawa refused them all on her behalf, using the excuse that she needed to prepare for a music competition.

The popularity of the Little Senior Sister directly reignited the popularity of Small Love Song.

Inoue Hikoo's plan is complete.

Then he took the opportunity to announce that Small Love Song will release a single.

His publicity campaign is in full swing.

Hanazawa Sakura became a frequent guest on some television programs.

It's relatively rare for voice actors to appear on television programs these days.

This has certainly attracted the attention of many people in the ACG industry.

Besides Hanazawa Sakura appearing on television for promotions, Shuya also participated in many promotional activities, mainly accompanying Hanazawa Sakura on radio broadcasts.

Furthermore, when Ayako Ishikawa and her Little Senior Sister are interviewed, they also promote their work.

Although the promotion hadn't lasted long, Inoue Hikoo put in a full-fledged effort, making it seem as if every Japan Administrative District was promoting the single.

Under much attention, the single of Small Love Song will be released soon.

Inoue Hikoo was well-prepared this time, with ample supply.

Shop owners all knew it would sell well, so they all placed it in the most prominent spot in their stores.

Finally, on Wednesday, August 21st, the single "Small Love Song" was released simultaneously across Asia.

A week later, the Oricon charts were released.

Without a doubt, he jumped straight to first place.

Two million copies sold in the first week in Japan!

This single broke various records.

For example:

The single with the highest first-day sales and that topped the charts.

The single with the highest initial sales and a number one ranking.

The highest weekly sales for a female voice actress.

Etc.

After that week, Hanazawa Sakura's position was completely secured.

She delivered an undeniable performance!

This achievement propelled her to become one of the top female voice actresses in the industry.

Furthermore, industry sources have reported that the single has already sold nearly seven million copies across all administrative regions in Asia in its first week, and with some additional sales from Europe and America, it's close to reaching eight million copies.

We're not far from reaching 10 million in sales.

This single broke records and debuted in various regions.

In Great Hua alone, it has already broken the records for the highest first-day and first-week sales of a foreign single.

When the results reached Japan, they were reported by major media outlets.

Hanazawa Sakura's popularity exploded.

Shuya's popularity exploded.

Ayako Ishikawa is incredibly popular.

My Little Senior Sister is incredibly popular.

Inoue Hikoo emerged as the biggest winner.

Everyone who is involved with the single of Small Love Song is always in the limelight.

The voice acting industry has therefore received tremendous attention.

Furthermore, before Hanazawa Sakura, there was already the record sales success of the famous voice Yusho Sakura.

The major Main Family undoubtedly have a very keen sense of smell.

They are very optimistic about the future of voice actors, or rather, the animation industry.

Therefore, voice actor training began to incorporate intensive training in singing and dancing.

In the future, voice actors will not only work behind the scenes, but will step into the spotlight.

The industry is changing.

Hanazawa Sakura's success has also inspired countless young people to enter this industry.

A wave of idolizing voice actors began to take shape.

The trend is unstoppable.

... But what kind of talent will emerge in the future, and what changes will occur in the industry, that's a matter for the future.

It's still time for Hanazawa Sakura and the others to steal the spotlight.

Major Japan television stations are all vying for attention, producing numerous interview programs featuring Hanazawa Sakura, Shuya, Ayako Ishikawa, and their Little Senior Sister.

Shuya busy with work to deal with the biker gang anymore, and he couldn't take care of Rena and the Quintuplets either.

Even cultivation time has been reduced, since there are various events to attend very early in the morning.

He rarely appears at the gym anymore.

However, Mai- chan has been very busy lately.

Her mother started helping her get some minor roles so she could get used to acting.

Her training regimen became more demanding, and her gym visits became sporadic.

The two saw each other much less often.

But that's quite normal.

Shuya is already famous, so being extremely busy is a common occurrence for him.

Mai- chan has such great potential, she's bound to become a hit sooner or later.

It's rare for them to take the time to work out and meet up, just like they did a while ago.

It's easy to imagine that in the future, everyone will be so busy that we'll have even less time to see each other.

However, Shuya and Mai- chan wanted to maintain their friendship, so they would call each other every now and then to keep in touch.

Most of the phone calls were at night, and she would often fall asleep while talking.

Although Shuya and the others are busy, the rewards are so generous that few people would refuse such hard work.

But the hype always fades eventually.

Ayako Ishikawa and her Little Senior Sister gradually shifted their focus back to music competitions.

Hanazawa Sakura's promotional activities have gradually come to an end, and she has returned to her main job as a voice actress.

As for Shuya, he also had many things to do.

The story begins last week, and other things happened during the time the single was a huge success.

Rewind the timeline to the Thursday following the single's release.

Inoue Hikoo himself announced the approximate number of units sold, Shuya and the others began to gain immense popularity.

Shuya suddenly received a call from Hirai Ryuji.

He Shuya to come out and have a chat.

Shuya did not refuse.

Section 120, Page 107: Partnership

After a detailed discussion, it turned out that Hirai Ryuji had come to recruit Shuya.

Having been a photographer for a long time, he wanted to further develop his career.

He wanted to start a fashion magazine.

Hirai Ryuji thought this had potential.

First, he has connections; he's familiar with various fashion companies, modeling agencies, and even professional artists.