"Do whatever you want."
Asai Yu didn't really care about something like an account name.
In any case, he wouldn't be managing it in the future. He never had any intention of experiencing Togawa Sakiko's entire life from start to finish.
He was here to farm buffs and rewards—helping things go smoothly along the way was just a bonus.
Watching "Oblivionis" get typed in as the channel name by her own hands, Togawa Sakiko felt a strange surge of excitement she couldn't quite explain.
Just then, Matsugi Ririko sent another message.
Another new band from Tsukinomori had reached out to buy a song. The lyrics were already sent over, and the pay was 100,000 yen.
"Time to work, Sakiko-sensei."
Asai Yu opened the arrangement software.
"O-oh, right, let's get started."
Togawa Sakiko snapped back to her senses and immediately began giving guidance.
Asai Yu operated the software while secretly absorbing her compositional thinking.
When today's experience time finally ran out, he returned to his own body.
He checked the time—not even 7 p.m. yet.
Opening his phone, he pulled up his chat with Sumita Mana. After confirming the interview location and time, Asai Yu headed out.
After taking the train and walking for a bit, he found himself standing in front of the address he'd been given. He rang the doorbell.
Light, brisk footsteps came from inside, and the door soon opened.
What greeted him was—
Sumita Mana?
"Good evening, Asai-kun. Come on in."
Sumita Mana welcomed him with a bright smile.
Asai Yu felt puzzled, but still nodded and stepped inside.
"Good evening, Sumita-san."
The apartment was fairly spacious—definitely something only a solidly upper-middle-class household could afford.
Yet even after entering the living room and sitting down, he didn't see anyone else besides Sumita Mana.
"…Where's your friend?" he asked, confused.
Sumita Mana brought over a teapot and cups, set them on the table, then pointed at her own face with both hands, smiling.
"That friend would be me, of course!"
So this was the legendary "I have a friend" excuse.
He'd seen people joke about it online all the time—never thought he'd run into it in real life.
…Wait.
This idol wouldn't be plotting something against him, right?
He was pretty confident in his looks. At school, he'd be at least close to "campus heartthrob" level.
With that thought, Asai Yu instinctively went on guard.
"Don't look at me like that, Asai-kun. I really do want to learn the piano!"
Sumita Mana noticed his wary gaze and puffed her cheeks slightly as she explained.
"I didn't say it directly that day because I was worried Uika might overhear and it'd cause trouble."
"I'll only teach piano," Asai Yu said, nodding.
Seeing this, Sumita Mana looked a little helpless. She poured him a cup of tea and placed it in front of him.
"Here you go, Asai-kun."
Asai Yu didn't drink it right away, setting it aside instead.
"Let's talk about the details of the piano lessons first."
"Huh? You're willing to teach me piano, Asai-kun?"
Sumita Mana looked genuinely surprised.
"Sure. I don't really have a reason to refuse."
Asai Yu nodded again.
Hearing that, Sumita Mana clasped her hands together, joy flashing through her eyes.
"That's great!"
She then went into the details.
"First, about the location. This apartment is one I bought a while ago. But for the past couple of years, my work's mostly been in Tokyo. I usually only come back to Osaka to stay here during tours."
Bought?
Asai Yu was stunned.
Even if it wasn't in the city center, an apartment of around 100 square meters would cost at least 40 to 50 million yen.
Do idols really make that much money?!
"So I was hoping you could come to Tokyo to teach me piano, Asai-kun!"
After saying that, Sumita Mana quickly added,
"Of course, I know you probably still have lots of things going on in Osaka—school and all that."
"So it'd mean going back and forth between Tokyo and Osaka, and each round trip takes at least four hours."
"That's why, if you're willing to come, I'll raise the hourly pay by a lot."
She rattled all of that off in one breath, clearly afraid something might go wrong.
At first, hearing "Tokyo" made Asai Yu want to refuse.
But the moment she mentioned higher pay, his interest was instantly piqued.
"How much per hour?"
"50,000 yen an hour, two hours per session!"
Sumita Mana held up all five fingers, smiling brightly.
She added, "Sometimes my idol work gets really busy, so there'll be days I don't have time. On those days, you won't need to come."
One trip meant 100,000 yen.
Asai Yu suddenly felt like he was being kept—
No, that was wrong. This was a resource he'd earned through skill and connections!
Including teaching time, a round trip would only take about six hours total. Two of those hours were travel, which could be fully covered by switching into experience mode.
After weighing the pros and cons, Asai Yu accepted without hesitation.
"Alright. No problem at all."
"That's wonderful! Thank you so much, Asai-kun!"
Sumita Mana stood up happily and gave him a small bow.
"Oh, um—I have donuts in all kinds of flavors. Want some?"
She quickly went to the kitchen, came back with a bag of donuts, and asked with a smile.
Asai Yu shook his head. Eating too many of those just made his teeth hurt.
After discussing a few more details about the lessons, Asai Yu left the apartment.
Sumita Mana would contact him later about the exact start date.
Once he was gone, Sumita Mana returned to her bedroom, flopped onto the bed, hugged her donut-shaped pillow tight, and rubbed her round cheeks against it.
"This is great—"
Savoring the lingering sweetness of donuts in her mouth, her eyes filled with anticipation for the future.
She was absolutely sure she was just happy because she wanted to learn piano.
Definitely not because of anything else.
Back in his rented room, Asai Yu couldn't help feeling that everything involving Sumita Mana had been strangely surreal—there was an odd sense of dissonance to it all.
Still, he didn't dwell on it. As long as it didn't affect him negatively, it was fine.
Just then, he noticed a message from Misumi Hatsune on his phone.
She said that sumimi would be returning to Tokyo the day after tomorrow, so she wanted to invite him to a conveyor-belt sushi place tomorrow evening at 7.
Asai Yu replied: No problem.
To be honest, since reincarnating in Japan, he hadn't eaten sushi even once. This was a perfect chance to finally try it.
The night passed without incident.
Time quickly reached 6 a.m. the next morning.
To manage his schedule properly, Asai Yu entered Togawa Sakiko's body as soon as he woke up.
He found himself lying in bed under the covers. There was no voice in his head—Sakiko's consciousness was still asleep.
This time, he didn't deliberately wake her. Instead, he went to the computer and checked on things.
The progress on the new song had advanced quite a bit. It seemed Togawa Sakiko really had put in the effort last night.
After washing up, Asai Yu headed out and made his way to Tsukinomori Girls' Academy.