CH 1468

「 This girl over here is Enjou Madoka. And this girl is Takaoji Shiori 」

Nei points at each photo and told me.

Enjou Madoka is a high-school-age girl.

While Takaoji Shiori looks like a middle-school girl.

Of course, both are extremely beautiful girls since they have a face that fits to be the talent of Death Star Pro.

Although, Enjou Madoka looks a bit cold.

Meanwhile, Takaoji Shiori is a beauty with a gentle expression on her face, but her features are different.

If you ask me…

「 Yeah, I’ve seen these two I think 」

Even if I don’t watch TV that much, I still remember their faces.

「 Well yeah, they’ve been in a lot of commercials 」

Nei said, Minaho-neesan took out a file and read the paper.

「 Just this year alone, Enjou Madoka appeared in 8 commercials and Takaoji Shiori appeared in 12 」

That much? No wonder I know them.

「 Takaoji-san is the breadwinner among the female talents of Death Star Pro. Enjou-san is the third 」

Minaho-neesan reads the documents.

「 Who’s the second? 」

I asked since I was curious.

「 The second one is an actress named Nagaoka Kyouka. She’s 27. She’s been in two dramas and three movies this year. She starred in two movies. Also, she appears in 8 commercials. But… 」

「 Right…we don’t need actresses 」

Minaho-neesan just mentioned that.

「 The fourth and fifth highest earning are also actresses, so I agree with Nei on picking these two 」

Then, Nei…

「 Let’s see, I think Enjou Madoka was the girl that Death Star Production spent a lot on trying to promote for the past year 」

Nei said.

「 Seems like it. Enjou Madoka, 17. Second year in high school. In the past year and this year, she appeared in four shows and five movies. Two of the dramas and three of the films were leading roles 」

「 And both of them were a huge flop it seemed. One of the shows had a record-time low in its time slot. As for the movies, all the movies starring her have been scheduled after their scheduled release dates have been drastically shortened. 」

That’s why she has the most drama and movie appearances but makes the third most money.

「 I mean, she’s bad at acting. Even so, it must be the company’s intention or her own wish, but she mentioned at the press conference announcing the production of a romantic film that she won’t do any kissing or sex scenes, and the film got burned down on the internet until it canceled 」

Nei tells me.

「 As for the TV shows, it’s obvious that she hasn’t read the original work, and so when in the original manga, the heroine confesses, saying “I like you,” it was a famous scene, but when she acted it out on the show, she sounded like she was questioning. Which made fans flame her. Then, when criticized, she told a columnist that her partner actor was acting poorly, then the actor was a popular celebrity from Jolly’s office. Now, Jolly’s fans were getting involved and making a huge fuss online, it became a flaming war. It even made it to the front of a sports newspaper front page, calling it the big Enjou Madoka’s flame war 」

Wow, that’s a lot of trouble.

「 Even so, Death Star’s president seems to favor her. That’s why she appeared in 8 commercials. I think the company wants to market her at all costs 」

Minaho-neesan said.

「 Either way, she’s a young celebrity whose face and name are well-known. Even though her drama and films were huge flops, her face is seen everywhere through commercials, and she’s a regular on the internet news for making disturbing remarks 」

「 As far as I’m concerned, she’s the one that Death Star Pro is trying to get to the market so she’s worth taking 」

We’re taking the female talent division of Death Star Productions as payback for the fact that they were harassing Yukino on the TV station using their talents.

If so, we’re going to take Enjou Madoka, who’s the one they’re pushing to become the most popular talent.

However.

「 Why even is the president of Death Pro pushing Enjou Madoka so hard? 」

I look at Enjou Madoka’s photo again.

Sure, she’s beautiful, but she’s a bad actress, and she’s a disturbing talent who says a lot of unnecessary things.

But the company just pushes through and gives more jobs and commercials to her.

That’s why she’s the third highest-earning talent despite being 17.

「 Well, that’s because Enjou Madoka’s the daughter of an executive in Toa Films 」

A movie company executive’s daughter

「 Rather than just going along the ride in the industry, they decided to deepen their relationship with Toa Films by accepting Enjou-san 」

Minaho-neesan said.

「 It’s also her father, the executive at the movie company, that wished to skip any love scenes with her 」

He’s letting Death Pro take care of his daughter as a talent, and yet…

He doesn’t want to see a love scene with his daughter.

「 That’s why we should take her in. We don’t take movie or drama talents after all 」

If she’s not in the acting business, then she could go with variety shows, there are no love scenes there.

「 Either way, if we take Enjou-san away from them, the public and the entertainment industry would be in an uproar. She’s the talent that Death Star Productions won’t let go as of now 」

Nei said.

「 Okay, then let’s put her on the keep pile 」

I looked at the other photo.

「 So, what about this Takaoji Shiori? 」

「 Takaoji-san is currently 14, and she’s in her second year in middle school. She’s the one who got her breakthrough as a child actress, in a TV drama three years ago. She was quite popular back in those days 」

Minaho-neesan read the documents.

「 I see…. 」

I replied.

「 Huh? Eeeeeeeh???! H-H-How do you not know Takaoji Shiori nyan?? 」

Izumi, who had been listening to the conversation, speaks up without thinking.

「 Three years ago, she played the father-loving girl in the drama series named Makiko-chan and won some awards for it. Takaoji Shiori dressed as Makiko-chan and danced the theme song of the drama on a national TV program on new year’s eve, and Makiko-chan’s line “Poverty dulls the wit, Father” won a grand prize for being a buzzword of the year! 」

Izumi speaks so fast.

「 Kou-kun-san doesn’t remember any of that? 」

Well…

「 If that’s three years ago, then I was in a middle school dorm, and I hardly watched any TV 」

Mother ordered me to hide in that boys’ school in the mountains.

「 I was in America three years ago 」

Nei said.

Kyouko-san, Minaho-neesan, and Margo-san rescued Nei from Cesario Viola at that time.

She wasn’t in Japan yet.

「 Me too, I was in America three years ago 」

Edie only came to Japan half a year ago.

Edie was still learning assassination techniques from her Grandmother in New Orleans three years ago.

「 Eeeeh? T-Then, what about you? You should know Takaoji Shiori, right? 」

Izumi forgot to end the sentence with nyan and asked Kurose Anju

「 I was in Switzerland three years ago, until the summer this year 」

Kurose Anju went to a boarding school in Switzerland as Ishigami Mizuki’s attendant.

「 I was in Japan, but I hardly watch TV in my life 」

Tsukiko replies before Izumi could even ask her.

Tsukiko was training to be a shrine maiden with her sisters in Kyoto.

「 I had no home three years ago so I was just camping outdoors. That’s why I haven’t watched TV. There are no lights, gas, or water either 」

That was my first time hearing about Kinoshita-san’s life before joining the Banbarubie 3.

I need to learn more about her, but I’ll let it through for now.

「 Eeeeh, what about you? 」

Lastly, Izumi asks Matsumoto Miki-san.

「 Of course, I know her. I watched her show too. Takaoji Shiori-san is in the same school year, so I thought that she was very active despite being the same age 」

Miki-san’s also 14.

「 I mean, Takaoji Shiori-san is still popular to this day. Even now, she appears in about two variety shows a week. 」

「 Yes, that’s right! That’s what I wanted to say nyan! 」

Finally hearing a conforming opinion, Izumi finally added nyan back to her sentence.

「 Takaoji Shiori-chan is still popular to this day 」

Izumi puffs her chest as she speaks.

「 Well yeah, she’s the biggest earner among the female talents of Death Pro so that’s true… 」

But I have been wondering.

「 If Takaoji Shiori got her big break as a child actress, then she must be doing some acting work, right? 」

We already decided not to accept any talents who do movie or drama work.

Takaoji Shiori’s main work is acting, so we can’t pick her.

「 Well, that’s because she’s never done any acting work ever since the big hit as a child. Even now, she only appears on 2 variety shows or a radio show based on the said commercials 」

Minaho-neesan reads another document.

「 It seems that she’s the production company’s top earner because she appears in 12 commercials. That’s a lot. Commercials pay a lot 」

Then.

「 Uhm, I heard that the first breakthrough of her role as Makiko-chan is so strong that she doesn’t want to appear in any other drama or movies 」

Matsumoto Miki-san said.

「 I heard so too. I mean, I think that’s the case nyan. Even now, even in commercials, in variety shows, Takaoji Shiori’s still called Makiko-chan 」

「 Right, it feels like the girl I saw in the drama show just grew up 」

Izumi said, Miki-san agreed.

「 Even now, I think that people still want the Makiko-chan from the TV drama three years ago. That’s the reason why she’s not appearing in dramas or movies 」

I don’t know much about TV dramas from three years ago so I can’t compare.

But…

「 Either way, she’s still popular, and if she doesn’t want acting work, then we should take her from Death Pro 」

I looked at Minaho-neesan.

Takaoji Shiori is the biggest earner among the female talents of Death Pro so we’ll definitely take her away.

「 Indeed. We’re taking Takaoji Shiori-san for sure 」

And so, the female talents we’re taking from Death Pro for sure are…

Enjou Madoka, 17.

Takaoji Shiori, 14.

「 Apart from the two, you can pick the girls you like that you want 」

Minaho-neesan told me.

「 We want to keep only a select few in our agency, but we can accept as many girls as you want 」

「 I’ll think about it this afternoon after meeting the talents themselves 」

I can’t figure them out until I meet them

「 Also, we need to make sure we take away this one from Death Pro 」

There’s another one?

「 The female talent department at Death Pro also has something they call Miracle Academy 」

Minaho-neesan took out photos from the file and showed them to me.

There are 50 girls, ranging from high school to elementary, standing on stage, wearing the same costume.

「 Simply put, it’s their idol training engine 」

「 Oh, and since Death Pro is a major entertainment company, their talent school isn’t exactly normal either 」

Nei said.

「 Yes. They have much more rigorous screening and their lesson fees are higher than other firms. In exchange, they get more attention than the other training firms, and in addition to lessons, they do live shows five or six times a year, and they also stream 」

「 They also appear on TV with some of the Death Pro talents a few times a year, right? 」

Nei looks at the documents from the side.

「 And so, Kou might not be able to understand this but… 」

Minaho-neesan looked at me.

「 Some of the wealthy, those who make more money and have more money than normal people, send their children to these talent schools, or child theaters as one of their lessons 」

Lessons?

「 People who want to see their daughter in a beautiful costume, sing like an idol on stage…or if their child says that they want to become an idol, so they let her do it. It’s those people. They’re not serious about wanting their daughters to become entertainers. Although, they just want to have the taste of show business with their kids 」

Minaho-neesan said.

「 And so, the majority of the daughters quit the training school before enrolling in middle or high school, because it would be hard for them to study. As far as I’ve researched, no more than 10 celebrities in ten years have become talents after going through Death Pro’s miracle academy. 」

Well, Miracle Academy, or whatever they call it is a training school, a learning experience for the rich.

「 But, I want this Miracle Academy. If we get hold of this, we can make connections with wealthy people to that we never had access before 」

Minaho-neesan’s reopening the new brothel.

「 But, Death Pro won’t want their Miracle Academy taken away from them, would they? 」

Nei asks.

「 Of course. That’s why we’re taking it by all means. Also… 」

Minaho-neesan took out a photo of a girl.

It’s a thirty-year-old calm-looking woman.

「 This woman is Komatsuzaki Midori-san. She’s an employee of Death Pro, and the head of Miracle Academy 」

「 So the person in charge is a woman 」

「 Because if it was a man, the parents would be very wary. Adults today know that show business is a scary place 」

That’s why they use a female manager.

「 Not only that, I heard that Komatsuzaki-san is a very capable woman. Since she took charge, Miracle Academy’s reputation has improved and its applicants have doubled. 」

「 Even if they double the number, there’s still a fixed number of girls who can get in, right? 」

Nei said, but…

「 They charge a substantial screening fee for their admission so their profits have doubled along with their applicants. Besides, they have more people to pick so now they can select the best among all those 」

「 In short, we also need to take away this Komatsuzaki Midori along with the Miracle Academy from Death Pro? 」

I asked Minaho-neesan.

「 Yes, don’t forget that 」

Let’s sort out the ideas.

We have some women we want to take away from the Death Star Pro for sure.

Two talents, Enjou Madoka, 17, and Takaoji Shiori, 14.

Their talent training agency, Miracle Academy.

Staff, Komatsuzaki Midori, the head of Miracle Academy.

Apart from that, we can take those we think are good.

「 Is there anything else? 」

「 That’s all for now 」

Minaho-neesan is also going to Death Pro with us.

We can just proceed flexibly with the rest.

「 Got it, Minaho-neesan 」