Chapter 48: The Crack and Miyazaki’s Toy

The driver, Nakano, was indeed still alive.

Although Ishiwatari Takashi was on the militant side of the yakuza spectrum, he wasn’t so deranged as to kill someone just because he was displeased.
After all, for the yakuza, the difficulty of cleaning up after a homicide versus a non-homicide was worlds apart.
Aside from taking a couple of punches during the assault, Nakano had suffered almost no direct harm.

However, Ishiwatari Takashi forgot to tell Seiko about this.

And Okada Yukiko and Hosokawa Kazuko never mentioned they had a driver.

Seiko had no idea there was still a person locked in the trunk, so there was naturally no talk of releasing him.

After being released, Okada Yukiko and Hosokawa Kazuko drove all the way back to the Sun Music company office in Shinjuku, Tokyo, before they tremblingly had someone open the trunk.

By this time, Nakano, with his hands and feet bound and his mouth taped shut, had been in the small, enclosed trunk in a state of shock and terror for more than eight or nine hours.

When he was dragged out, Nakano’s eyes were completely lifeless.
He collapsed on the ground like a piece of rotten meat, reeking of urine, not speaking or moving.
If not for the fact that he was still breathing, everyone would have thought he was already dead.

“Nakano-san… What a group of ruthless yakuza!”

Sun Music’s president, Aizawa Hideyoshi, said with deep sorrow as he looked at the tragic state of his long-time employee.

“Yes, they’re truly a ruthless bunch. They even hacked people to death not long ago!”

Hosokawa Kazuko nodded her head heavily in agreement.

“Faced with such ruthless yakuza, we…” Aizawa Hideyoshi gritted his teeth, his face filled with rage.
“We! We! We… we have no choice but to cooperate with them, right?”

Okada Yukiko nearly choked at Aizawa Hideyoshi’s abrupt turn.

However, Hosokawa Kazuko was clearly not that surprised.
She immediately nodded and said, “That’s right. We can only cooperate with them.”

“Huh?” Okada Yukiko’s mouth fell slightly agape.

Aizawa Hideyoshi thought Okada Yukiko hadn’t understood him, so he explained, “You’ve only just debuted and are in a crucial rising phase of your career.
This period is extremely precious.
Even being harassed by this kind of yakuza every now and then would be a tremendous loss for you.
Since you’ve already read the drama script yourself and there are no major issues, cooperating with them is the best choice.”

“Sigh…” Aizawa Hideyoshi even sighed as he spoke.
“The trouble with these yakuza is that once you give them a taste of success, they’ll latch onto you and never let go…”

As Okada Yukiko listened, she felt something she had never felt before.
She sensed that Aizawa Hideyoshi was afraid.

Aizawa Hideyoshi was a traditional, paternalistic type of idol manager.
He considered himself a father to the artists in his company.
In the year-long gap between finishing “Star, Tanjō!” and officially releasing her debut single, Okada Yukiko had lived in Aizawa Hideyoshi’s home, with his wife taking care of her daily needs.
The thing Aizawa Hideyoshi had said to her most often was “I am raising you like a father,” and he had indeed established a tall, “strict father” image in Okada Yukiko’s mind.

Now, however, Okada Yukiko discovered that when faced with the Yamagami-gumi, who were “so vicious they thought nothing of taking a life,” Aizawa Hideyoshi was so flustered he seemed at a loss.

‘The president isn’t much better than I am in this situation…’

Okada Yukiko thought to herself for some reason, and a crack appeared in the towering father figure in her heart.

Meanwhile, at the Yamagami-gumi.

Seiko received a reply to her offer to Sun Music that very night.
They agreed to have her play a role, and not just a cameo, but a proper supporting character: the second female lead Suzuhara Nao’s younger sister, Suzuhara Kahoko.
Because the main characters in this drama were either too young or too old, the only major supporting role that the eighteen-year-old Okada Yukiko could play was likely this one, with the character being set in her early twenties.
It was clear they had chosen carefully.

Moreover, Sun Music made no mention of payment in their reply fax, the implication being obvious: pay whatever you want, or don’t pay at all.

“Sigh…”

In the bedroom, Seiko, wrapped only in a bath towel, looked at the fax, sighed suddenly, and lay back in the arms of Saori, who was helping her dry her wet hair.

“Why are you sighing?” Saori asked, puzzled.
“Isn’t it a good thing that they agreed to have her play a supporting role?”

“Of course, it’s a good thing that she agreed to play a supporting role.”

Seiko shook her head.
A supporting role and a cameo were two different things.
With Okada Yukiko playing a supporting role, they could blatantly use “An Okada Yukiko Production” in future promotions for the drama.
Although there was still an element of deception to it, it was better than a cameo where she just showed her face.

“But the problem is that Sun Music doesn’t want any money.”

“Isn’t it a good thing that they don’t want money?”

“If it were a normal company, it might be a good thing, but unfortunately, I’m a yakuza.”
Seiko rubbed her temples.
“As a yakuza, if they asked for money, I could still talk business and try to negotiate with them.
But since they’re not asking for money, I have no choice but to pay them, and I have to pay them in full.
Otherwise, they’ll definitely say afterward that we’re just acting like typical yakuza.”

This was truly being burdened by one’s reputation…

Saori nodded thoughtfully.
Thinking of Seiko’s determination to transform Bubble Witch into a legitimate film and television company, she could somewhat understand what Seiko meant.

However, Miyazaki, who was lying on the bed drawing, expressed her confusion.
She grumbled without looking up, “You won’t pay when they ask for money, but you insist on paying when they don’t.
Yakuza are so troublesome.”

Smack!

Seiko deliberately lifted Miyazaki’s nightgown and slapped her bare bottom.

“Ah…”

Miyazaki pulled her skirt back down, puffed up her cheeks, and turned to glare at Seiko.

“You’ve been dawdling for two or three hours.
How’s the drawing coming along?”
Seiko took the draft from Miyazaki’s hand and began to flip through it.
The more she looked, the more she frowned.
“What is all this you’ve drawn? Is this a wine bottle or a stick?”

“I was never good at drawing that kind of thing in the first place!” Miyazaki complained.
“And you want me to make the design cuter.
How can that kind of thing be associated with ‘cute’?”

What Seiko had asked Miyazaki to design was, of course, the “girls’ little toy” she had envisioned earlier.
Miyazaki’s drawing skills hadn’t deteriorated—in fact, they had improved—but unfortunately, the little toy she designed was no different from the styles available on the Japanese market, completely lacking in novelty.

“It’s too old-fashioned. It’ll never sell.”
Seiko commented on Miyazaki’s drawing.
“You need to think innovatively.
First, you could change the color to pink…”

“If it doesn’t sell, it doesn’t sell!” Miyazaki said, both embarrassed and annoyed.
“I can’t even bear to imagine what it would be like to see these things I’ve drawn being sold on store shelves!”

Miyazaki’s embarrassed and angry words, however, gave Seiko an idea.

“Does it have to be sold in a store?” Seiko tilted her head and thought for a moment.

“If not in a store, then where?” Miyazaki rubbed her bottom, puzzled.

“Vending machines,” Seiko said, remembering the condom vending machines or adult novelty vending shops commonly seen on the streets in her past life.

“Can you do that?” Miyazaki asked, stunned.

Saori’s eyes, however, lit up.
“I think that’s a great idea.
You can place them in inconspicuous corners, so people don’t have to be so embarrassed when buying them.”

Seiko thought about it, but then frowned herself.
“But the common vending machines on the market now definitely can’t sell Miyazaki’s toy.
We’d have to get them custom-made.
In that case, it would be another upfront investment.”

“What do you mean, my toy…” Miyazaki said, dissatisfied.

“Get another loan from the bank?” Saori suggested.

Seiko nodded and added, “We might also need to find a way to make some quick cash…”

“Hey, hey, are you two even listening to me!” Miyazaki sat up, grabbed her feet with both hands, and interjected.

“We heard you, we heard you,” Saori laughed.
“But Seiko isn’t wrong.
We’ve already registered the trademark for the toy.
The brand name is ‘Miyazaki’s Toy’.”

Miyazaki’s mouth fell slightly agape.
Then, from her neck to her cheeks and then to her ears, a blush began to spread, visibly rising in temperature.

“I’ll get you two for this!”

Miyazaki finally erupted and pounced on Saori.