High 5 - High Jump Ch.4

[nazunyan427]

 

Chapter 8

High Jump

-Starmony Hall Common Area-

Nazuna:

So, to summarize: some of the veteran artists here at Rhythm Link, one of the longest-standing agencies in the industry, have begun a mutiny of sorts.

Hajime:

Haha. When you call it a mutiny, I can’t help but imagine a Crazy:B-level riot.

Nazuna:

True! Compared to that crowd, the rebellion here at Rhythm Link seems like it’s almost being done out of virtue—or at least, in a much more respectable manner.

But yeah, all of the agencies are in a real bind after everything that happened. We were all kinda equally at risk.

Hajime:

Yes. We ought to have predicted something like this was bound to happen; in a way, it’s our own fault for not preparing better.

Nazuna: 

Well, there’s no use crying over spilt milk. We’ve barely had time to take a breather since all that Crazy B-centric fuss went down this summer.

Running right from one fiasco into another was the last thing any of us wanted to think about.

That said, I do agree that we probably should’ve at least predicted something like this would happen.

Feels like an inevitable conclusion, y’know? Definitely not like it’s coming outta nowhere.

This summer’s when all the restructuring—all those lay-offs—started happening throughout all ES agencies.

Seems like StarPro and CosPro managed to escape with minimal casualties.

But our agency, Rhythm Link, decided to target all of those veterans who aren’t all that active these days, and a bunch of them were let go. “There’s no such thing as a free lunch,”, you could say.

All those high-earners that were resting on their past achievements and stuff suddenly dismissed like BOOM!

In a way, it felt like the right way to go about laying people off. Cut down on financial drains that weren’t doing much for the agency, and move their budget somewhere more productive.

But… Real life isn’t like some mobile game. It’s not like you can just press a button and kick out all those unused characters just sitting there takin’ up space in your inventory.

It’s only natural some of the more esteemed figures would kick up a fuss, especially when they’ve probably got a lot of pride to begin with.

Hajime:

Yeah… It still feels like there’s a distance between a smaller unit like us and the more esteemed members of this agency…

We’ve mingled with a couple of them on a one-to-one basis, but we’re still not overly familiar. I never noticed all of this was happening behind the scenes.

Nazuna:

There’s a lot of us here at Rhythm Link. The office over at ES feels like a department of some huge organization.

It’s not just idols; there are all kinds of artists, and there’s more members in total than all three of the other agencies combined.

Hajime:

It feels a little too big, perhaps. CosPro is pretty big too, but both StarPro and NewDi are more so up-and-coming agencies.

Nazuna:

Mmm, no major names leap to mind right away when I hear either of those agencies.

Anyway, while we were playing our little wargames during MDM, the older veterans here were starting up their mutiny.

Hajime:

Yes… Depending on how they appealed themselves to the staff, some of them managed to avoid getting laid off under certain conditions.

From what I’ve heard, the conditions seem to be along the lines of earning a certain amount of $L in a certain timeframe.

So all of our veterans are throwing themselves head first into whatever work they can get their hands on.

Dealing with all of this has been super stressful on the agency, and they’ve needed to start prioritizing where the budget can go.

Nazuna:

And that’s why they can’t give us staff or money for things like my welcome back concert. It’s just not the time or the place.

Hajime:

Yeah… They did seem awfully apologetic about it when they gave us the bad news. It seemed like they’d just prefer to wait until everything had calmed down.

Nazuna:

Easier said than done… Like, I get where they’re coming from. But who knows when that could be?

Rhythm Link’s been around for decades, and there’s a lot of people they’ve got to prioritize since they’ve been here longer.

By postponing things over and over again, it could be years and years before they’re ready to hold my welcome back concert. I’ll be an old man by the time I’m back on stage again!

Hajime:

Haha. Speaking of old men, that reminds me. 

About Sakuma-senpai, who’s been Rhythm Link’s assistant representative all this time. He attended the summit discussing all of this.

I wonder why he approved of restructuring on this kind of scale? It feels a little odd.

Nazuna:

Ah, yeah. It’s not like Rei-chin at all. He seems more like the type to not wanna leave a single person behind.

Hajime:

Yes... But I suppose he might have predicted how all of our veteran performers would react.

Once they were told they were being let go, and left to die as idols, they had to make a choice. By chasing them into a corner, he might’ve reckoned the people at our agency would rise up and fight back.

Nazuna:

Yeah. All those veterans that were once nothing but a huge budget drain can get a second chance to shine on stage as idols. Things do seem to be heading in that direction.

“He who does not work, neither shall he eat.”, is how the saying goes.

It’s more beneficial to the agency if the veterans rev up their engines and throw themselves into work, and it’s certainly not bad news for those of us signed here.

And by all the veterans out there working the front lines, they’ll probably be able to get used to the more unique inner workings of ES’ structure.

With an agency packed to bursting with well-established and high-earning veterans, Rhythm Link’ll become so powerful no other agency can hold a candle to us.

We Rhythm Link standing on the top of ES may not just be a dream anymore.

Well... I don’t really have any interest in aiming for the very top though. And I don’t imagine Rei-chin does either… I dunno about Keito-chin, though. He seems into that sort of thing...

Hajime:

Haha, right? Hasumi-senpai seems to really come alive every time we play some kinda strategy game together.

Even though we first met under rather unfortunate circumstances, Akatsuki seem very reliable once they’ve become your allies.

Nazuna:

Yeah. Well, if it takes playing some little war game to kick the Yumenosaki crowd into action, then so be it. They can do whatever they like, for all I care. More importantly, the problem at present is:

In the middle of everything that’s happening, we Ra*bits have ended up with the short end of the stick.

It’s not like I’m personally all that bothered at the thought of not being able to go ahead with my welcome back concert.

But when we made our announcement during the second half of MDM, the fans were crazy excited.

You guys were probably looking forward to it too and, as the new Leader of Ra*bits, I know Tomo-chin put his whole heart into planning it all out.

I wanna make it a reality for all of you, somehow or another. What should we do? It’s not like our agency can give us what we don’t have…

I’m not a wizard; I can’t wave a magic wand and make stacks of cash rain down from the sky.

There’s that money we got from Leo-chin from Otsukimi; we could use some of that.

Otsukimi took less out of our funds than I thought it would, and there’s a bunch left over. If I remember right...

Hajime:

Ah, that’s right. We do have those funds…

But, if we convert that into $L, the value will decrease a lot, so I would’ve preferred to use it outside of ES, if possible. It seems like a bit of a waste otherwise...

Tomoya:

You don’t have to worry about that, Nii-chan!

Nazuna:

Woah, you scared me?! Tomo-chin!

Looks like Mitsuru-chin found you still in one piece!

Mitsuru:

Eheheh! Adochan-senpai taught me all about the skill of hunting!

He said the most important thing is to be able to read your prey’s movement! And because I love, love, love Tomo-chin, I could perfectly predict what kinda moves he’d make!

Hajime:

Haha.

Tomoya:

Don’t just stand there taking notes, Hajime; I need your help! You too, Nii-chan, if that’s okay! I thought of a super nice idea that’s gonna help us out a whole bunch!

This way, we Ra*bits are gonna be able to aim for the kind of future we want, and we’ll make sure to keep a smile on everyone’s face along the way!