Chapter 180: Kotone Mikami

"Then we shall leave first, Kotone-chan. See you tomorrow!"

"Haven't I told you not to call me Kotone-chan?" Kotone Mikami looked at her female colleagues helplessly, "I'm 25 already; not that young anymore."

"But Kotone-chan is so pretty... it is as if you are only 16. However, Kotone-chan you seem too sleep-deprived lately; your eyes look bloodshot and you even have dark circles. You need to take care of yourself."

Kotone Mikami pouted. She then waved goodbye to her colleagues with a cute yet resigned smile.

Once her colleagues disappeared from her sight, her smile gradually faded. Her gaze turned cold; she even muttered the "B-word" under her breath.

She knew that her colleagues wanted to get close to her just because of Ikioi Ito.

Hiryoku was a talent agency, which also meant that it was an entertainment company. Meanwhile, Kotone Mikami was part of it. As the manager of Hiryoku, although she had brought up an idol, Zeni Kitaoka... or actually, she could not even be labeled as an idol but a mere cover model. Zeni Kitaoka was a high schooler who was discovered by her. Evidently, she would usually not be able to get in touch with just a mere high schooler as studies were their main priority.

Yet, Zeni Kitaoka was the one who approached her directly. Clearly, she would not reject the offer. In fact, she could use it as a chance to build up her professionalism.

However, Zeni Kitaoka merely took several months to be completely immersed in the torrents of fame and attention which she had received upon entering the entertainment circle. Hence, she had long given up on her... Evidently, she had yet to terminate the contract with Zeni Kitaoka as she did not have any talented person at hand.

As for Ikioi Ito, he was a student she met at Aoe High School. Back then, when Zeni Kitaoka wreaked havoc in school to the point that the school had contacted her parents,

Zeni Kitaoka called her over to handle the issue. It was at that moment when she had stumbled upon Ikioi Ito.

The moment they met each other, Kotone Mikami was wholly smitten by Ikioi Ito's looks and elegance.

Meanwhile, Ikioi Ito obviously had a crush on her and naturally started talking to one another. However, Kotone Mikami was a more realistic person. She had long passed the age where she would fall in love with a person just because of their looks. Ikioi Ito was just a high schooler. Despite being aware of his feelings toward her, she did not do anything about it. Instead, she chose to stay in a flirtationship with him. Her main focus was to make Ikioi Ito famous.

If he became famous, she did not mind dating Ikioi Ito. However, if he failed to do so, she would evidently give up on him.

The recent Jade Dragon Flag Competition was a brand-new opportunity. If Ikioi Ito can emerge as the champion for the Tokyo District Qualifiers, his popularity would be significantly boosted. Besides, she had even told Ikioi Ito to look for Kimura Kazuki.

This was because Kimura Kazuki was a hot topic on the internet. Coupled with the recent discussion about Sakura Kyu High School, his fame was unparalleled. Even netizens who were unaware of the happenings of the Kendo competition knew about Kimura Kazuki. After all, school bullying was a societal issue that had garnered the attention of citizens countrywide.

Hence, Kotone Mikami thought out of the box. She felt that if Ikioi Ito was able to contact Kimura Kazuki, perhaps they could collaborate for a boy group. However, she did not have the knowledge in Kendo; thus, she did not contact Kimura Kazuki personally and told Ikioi Ito to do the job instead.

Hence, defeating Kimura Kazuki became Ikioi Ito's present duty.

Kotone Mikami was not aware of Ikioi Ito's prowess in Kendo. Ikioi Ito did not speak much about it. He just told her to pay attention to the upcoming Jade Dragon Flag tournament.

Furthermore, since Aoe High School had also garnered online attention, her colleagues were naturally aware of the fact that Ikioi Ito was the star of Aoe High School... If he could win the championship, with a little bit of packaging, he would be perfect as a rising idol.

Hence, Kotone Mikami knew that her colleagues were trying to get into her good books so that they could sign Ikioi Ito away from her. How could she allow them to snatch this opportunity away from her?

However, all that had happened during the tournament in the afternoon had left Kotone Mikami in shock. Ikioi Ito's skills had exceeded that of the average human's limit... yet he still lost?

When Kimura Kazuki came up to explain, Kotone Mikami was unconvinced.

She agreed on the fact that when one's speed had achieved a certain limit, an afterimage will appear. However, when five Ikioi Itos appeared, were they all caused by speed? Would that not mean a person has exceeded the limits of the human body if they were to be able to achieve such speed?

However, as she was watching the live stream, she realized that the audience agreed with Kimura Kazuki's rationale and gradually started to leave the venue.

She was dispirited. She even voiced her doubts on online threads. However, her post was deleted in just a few seconds.

This had enlightened her... It seemed like the government was regulating the messages. Coupled with the few incidents that had happened lately, she was even more convinced that there was still another side to the world which had yet been revealed to the general public.

Meanwhile, although Ikioi Ito was much discussed online, most of the discussion still revolved around Kimura Kazuki.

It was explainable as although Ikioi Ito was a strong player, he still lost to Kimura Kazuki, hadn't he?

Kotone Mikami felt wronged... Due to the speech by Ikioi Ito in the morning, she had spent quite a sum of money to hire netizens to make him viral online. On top of that, the Jade Dragon Flag Competition itself was a hot topic of late, hence the immense discussion online.

In the end... Ikioi Ito still lost?

Kimura Kazuki rode on the coat-tail of her efforts. It was tough for her to accept it.

When Kotone Mikami returned home at night, she held her key in her hands... and looked at her door. She hesitated.

Although she maintained her composure in the company, she had been experiencing weird issues back at home. All these issues had caused her not to pay as much attention to Ikioi Ito as she did before. If it was not due to the incidents happening on her recently, she would have downgraded Ikioi Ito to become one of her fall-back guys due to the results of the live-streamed tournament.

However, at the thought of Ikioi Ito's prowess in the competition, perhaps she could ask him for help?

As she lingered in her thoughts, Kotone Mikami entered her home.

Soon enough, she sat in front of her computer after taking a bath. She no longer cared about the Jade Dragon Flag Competition. At the looks of it, the officials must have intercepted the tournament when her post got deleted. Hence, no matter how resentful she was, she had no choice but to accept that fact.

As of now, she turned on her computer and logged onto an online forum.

This forum was called the 'Final Forum,' a supernatural forum she found when she was working. The recent events had stressed her up so much that she had to put her faith into metaphysics.

In reality, no matter what kind of demons or ghosts you meet, many would think that it was all in their heads. However... Kotone Mikami truly believed that ghosts might exist in this world.

In the quiet room, Kotone Mikami still felt restless despite turning on all the lights. She put on the headphones which were on the table and turned the music on.

When the music resonated in her ears, a sense of security flowed into her heart. She heaved a sigh of relief.

Her computer displayed the home page of the 'Final Forum.' Before she even scrolled through the thread, she noticed a post pinned to the top of the page.

"If you have met with any supernatural incidents, do click into the website to look for help."

This kind of post would usually be assumed by many as a straightforward scam.

Of course, if Kotone Mikami saw such a post, she would never click on it. Even if it was advertised by the main website, she would still assume that the owner of the site had taken on some scam advertisements.

Yet, she clicked into it unexpectedly.