Hearing this, Ichigo nodded, then stepped forward, picked up the phone, and tried it out, finding no issues.
"Time to pay," Ichigo said to the store clerk, pulling out his wallet from his clothes.
"Go get two more phone numbers for Ai," Miyako told Ichigo. After she finished speaking, she turned to Ai and said, "Let's go, let's check out the house."
"Perhaps you don't need two phones right now, but it's okay. I think you'll need them very soon. One phone is for contacting people you work with in the entertainment industry, or assistants, in short, it's a work-specific phone. The other phone should be for private relationships, like me, Hiko, and Ichigo.
If you want to be extra cautious, you can use a few more; don't be constrained by the number of phones. They can also be used for information backup," Miyako said to Ai in a casual tone.
"Do I really need that many phones?" Ai felt that Miyako was suggesting she buy several phones. Although she could afford the phone bills now, it still felt a bit wasteful.
"Speaking of which, I don't think I've ever prepared a gift for you," Miyako suddenly said.
Before, because Ichigo hadn't told her in advance, she hadn't thought much about it. If it hadn't been for Hiko's reminder, she wouldn't have even considered preparing an extra gift for Ai.
"Hmm... then I'll buy you another phone," Miyako said to Ai. "As for the phone bill, you don't need to worry; I'll pay it for you until university."
Until university... that's five more years.
It felt a bit distant.
This thought popped into Ai's head when she heard Miyako's words.
Miyako continued to take Ai around the area to choose phones. Ai quickly picked out another black phone, and Miyako chose a different style of pink phone for her.
At this time, Ichigo had also finished the procedures and found them.
"Here are your phones and cards."
Ichigo handed the gift box and two phone cards to Ai. A small note was attached to each phone card, and one of the chips in the middle had already been cut out.
"Thank you, President~"
Ai took the phone and cards, showing a sweet smile as she thanked Ichigo.
"Are you still planning to give Ai a phone?" Ichigo asked, looking at the phone in Miyako's hand.
He had just given Miyako a brand new, latest model phone not long ago, so he knew Miyako wouldn't be changing her phone today.
"Yes, but why did you only buy two phone cards? Couldn't you have bought two more?" Miyako complained to Ichigo when she saw that he had indeed only bought two phone cards.
"Didn't you just tell me to get two numbers? How come you have an opinion after I bought them? I clearly did exactly what you told me to do."
Ichigo looked at Miyako in confusion.
"Better safe than sorry, better safe than sorry. Do you understand?"
Miyako felt helpless at Ichigo's lack of flexibility.
"You weren't like this before."
Miyako looked disappointed and said to Ichigo, "You're a company boss, after all. Can't you use your brain a bit more? I've suddenly lost confidence in the company's future."
"Ai, let's go. Let's go watch other people's performances in Kabukicho, it'll broaden your horizons," Miyako said to Ai.
She handed all the newly bought phone boxes to Ichigo. "Hold these."
"Okay," Ai replied, glancing at Ichigo, who was acting as a porter, carrying the bags.
After she replied, she took out the first silver phone and looked at Ichigo. "Is the phone card already installed?"
Ichigo nodded.
Ai tapped the phone icon on the interface. It was blank. She thought for a moment, then entered a familiar number and pressed call.
Tut... tut... tut...
After parting ways with Ai, Hiko went straight home. Upon arriving, he walked directly to his computer desk and turned on his computer.
He browsed through the documents he hadn't had time to look at these past few days because he had been too busy.
He had only been looking at the information for a short while when his phone rang.
Hiko picked up his phone and looked at the caller ID; it was an unfamiliar number.
However, he still pressed the answer button.
"Hello, who is this?" Hiko asked.
There was no immediate reply from the other end of the line. Instead, there was a second of silence before a girl's voice, her tone suppressed, came through the phone. "Guess who I am?"
"Guess who you are?" Hiko repeated her question, then coaxed, "Do we know each other?"
"Of course we do~" The female voice on the other end was coaxed by Hiko to say a few more words, but she seemed to realize something was off. She then lowered her voice again, making it sound more alluring. "Don't ask too many questions~ Just guess quickly~"
Hiko heard the coquettish tone and thought for a while, comparing it to voices he had heard in his memory.
He quickly had a candidate in mind.
"It's Ai, isn't it?" Hiko said with certainty.
Besides her, he hadn't given his phone number to any other girls. And Ai happened to be buying a phone today.
It wouldn't matter even if he guessed wrong. If he guessed correctly, it would make her happy.
"Eh? Is it that obvious?" The girl no longer suppressed her voice and replied, puzzled.
She had thought that by changing her tone, Hiko wouldn't easily recognize it, but she didn't expect him to guess correctly on his first try.
She felt a little surprised and a little delighted.
"This is your phone number, right?" Hiko heard the familiar voice and confirmed that the person calling was Ai.
"Yes, it is. This is my new phone number," Ai replied, her voice filled with joy.
"So you already memorized my phone number a long time ago, huh?" Hiko said to Ai in a teasing tone.
"I haven't memorized your phone number at all~" Ai argued.
Hiko didn't dwell on the matter but instead asked again, "You got your phone so quickly. Was the first call after you bought it to me? Am I your first?"
Ai glanced at Miyako beside her and Ichigo behind her, then shook her head and replied, "What did you say? The signal isn't good here, I can't hear you..."
"That's too fake. So I guessed correctly, right?" Hiko's lips curled into a smile as he listened to the voice coming from the phone.
"Why do you have so many questions? You can get an answer, but you have to guess one more question," Ai didn't give Hiko any extra time and asked directly, "How many phones did I buy today?"
"How many phones?" Hiko repeated.
"That's right, just guess that," Ai confirmed.
Her asking this probably meant she bought more than two phones.
But Hiko, based on his understanding of Ai, knew that if she went to buy a phone alone, she would only buy one.
She was very happy just now and wasn't dejected or disappointed when he guessed it right away.
Although his correct guess might have made her happy, she didn't sound the least bit dejected, as if there was still a chance. So she must have at least one additional phone number.
Perhaps she planned to use the new number to trick him one day in the future.
And two numbers meant at least two phones...