Chapter 9: England's loss for not having me, Chihaya Anon!
After registering the recruitment information, all that was left was to slowly wait for interested people to contact him. Ren returned home and created a new account on Japan's Niconico video platform using his phone.
He could just upload videos there when the time came. Of course, he couldn't neglect Twitter either, though he already had an account for that platform.
As for whether he was worried that new account videos might not attract viewers, meaning even the best songs wouldn't spread, Ren had absolutely no concerns about this problem. He was currently printing money every day. Though it was only one million yen daily, by the time he finished recruiting members and registering copyrights, the spare cash he'd accumulated would be enough to splash ten million yen on promotions.
Hmph, don't want to listen? I'll just have the video platform push it to your homepage for a full week. Combined with "Lemon's" inherent quality, even without the support of a corresponding TV drama that helped its predecessor, and though the results might not match its previous incarnation, the view count definitely wouldn't be low.
Just as Ren finished handling the account matters, his doorbell rang.
Who could it be?
The timing of this visit puzzled Ren, as he didn't know many people.
Puzzled, he opened the door and found his little neighbor from next door, Hoshino Hinata.
"Ren onii-chan~ Mom asked me to bring you these desserts! They're made by Nyaa (Hinata's nickname for Hoshino Miyako)!"
Hinata waved at Ren while holding three desserts.
Their neighbor Hoshino Miyako wasn't just skilled at sewing, she could also make desserts, and delicious ones at that.
"Please thank your mother and sister for me."
Ren accepted the gift. Having lost his parents early, he had essentially grown up eating meals from various households, and this kind of gentle concern had always been part of his life.
"Mhm~ By the way, Ren onii-chan, do you know who's moving in over there?"
Hinata nodded, then pulled Ren by one hand out into the yard, pointing curiously at the moving staff working next to her house.
New neighbors meant she might make new friends. There still weren't any children her age in the neighborhood.
"I don't know about that, but after they move in, I can go with you to greet them."
Ren glanced over with some curiosity of his own. He remembered that family had moved out after getting married, and the house had been listed for sale for a long time until someone finally bought it.
"Mhm mhm, I'll head back now~ Let's walk to school together tomorrow morning~"
After making their arrangement, Hinata skipped happily back home, while Ren went straight back to his room with the desserts.
His lazy tendencies were acting up again, with these desserts, he could skip dinner tonight. It wasn't like he'd damage his health by going hungry occasionally anyway.
Returning to his room, Ren placed the desserts on his desk and opened the window to air out the room. That's when he spotted their neighbor Miyako, she hadn't closed her curtains properly, allowing Ren to catch a glimpse of one corner of her room.
This coincidentally allowed Ren to see her wearing some kind of magical girl cosplay outfit, reciting transformation lines to a full-length mirror while striking specific poses—completely different from her usual socially anxious and introverted demeanor.
To be honest, seeing a woman in her twenties, a college student no less, dressed in magical girl cosplay and shouting cringey lines didn't make Ren feel awkward at all. Instead, he found it quite amusing. However, Miyako clearly didn't share the same sentiment.
She seemed to notice Ren's half-smiling gaze and stiffly turned her neck to look out the window. When her eyes met Ren's amused expression, her entire body froze.
"Ughhhhhhh..."
After letting out a mournful cry, her vision went black and she collapsed straight backward.
"Mya-nee!? Don't die!!!"
Hinata, who had rushed over upon hearing the noise, was horrified by the scene and threw herself onto Miyako, delivering another critical hit.
Witnessing this, Ren chuckled helplessly and closed half the curtains. He never expected Miyako to have such hobbies in private, though it was quite understandable. The clothes she made were all exquisite—it would be impressive if she could resist wearing them herself. Developing a cosplay hobby wasn't hard to comprehend.
Though according to certain underworld rules, people like her seemed easiest to threaten? Probably just using what he saw earlier to pressure her would be enough to make her turn into a cream puff.
Would Hitori be about the same?
Ren shook off these stray thoughts after some consideration—he couldn't engage in illegal activities.
Then Ren started browsing videos to kill time, occasionally eating sweets. After about an hour or two, Anon video called again.
"Ren! I'm about to board the plane~ Can you pick me up tomorrow at noon?"
In the video, Anon was shown against the backdrop of a departure lounge, holding up her plane ticket.
"So soon?"
They just discussed this yesterday and she's already boarding today?
"Yeah, burn the boats and leave tonight—I can't stand another second in this place."
Anon said indignantly. Their loss was England's academic loss—without her Pink Milk Dragon, how could Britain compete against America's Yellow Milk Dragon?
"Impressive. For tomorrow noon, I'll just take the whole day off."
Ren gave a thumbs up and decided to request leave to pick up his childhood friend. Though she occasionally let out those awkward "eh he he" laughs, she was still quite adorable.
"Mmhm, you have to come~ Otherwise I'll be super, super angry."
Anon laughed happily upon hearing this. After chatting for a few more sentences, she hung up to avoid disturbing Ren's rest.
Meanwhile elsewhere, the super mercenary Yahata Umiri came to the bulletin board as usual to check for suitable part-time jobs. After seeing Ren's recruitment notice, she promptly noted down his contact information. Then she entered RiNG, placed an order with Shina Ritsuki, found a seat, and immediately sent Ren a friend request.
On the other side, Ren saw that the friend request was from bassist Umiri and accepted it. Before he could type to inquire, Umiri sent several videos of herself playing bass for Ren to review.
Good—Ren preferred people who kept things concise during work. He clicked on the videos and listened, finding that Umiri indeed met his standards, so he hired her and asked her to wait for further updates.
As for the pianist, there was also progress. Wakaba Mutsumi, who occasionally came to RiNG to watch band performances, took a photo of Ren's recruitment notice and sent it to her childhood friend Togawa Sakiko. The 200,000 yen was crucial for her current situation.
It all depended on whether she dared to come to RiNG. The area was haunted by the terrifying Yuri Su—if caught by her, Sakiko would have a hard time escaping.
But fortune favors the bold. Sakiko, who was experiencing life's challenges, saw Mutsumi's message and added Ren as a friend. However, she didn't have many videos of herself playing the piano and could only verbally assure Ren that she wouldn't disappoint once she arrived.
Ren agreed. With this, he now had two people for the recording—just the drummer, electronic synthesizer player, and violinists (large, medium, and small) remained. All he had to do was wait; the area around RiNG was never short of musical talent.