After Hiko finished listening to Ai's description, he realized that Miyako was deliberately sending Ichigo away to get alone time with Ai.
He felt that what Miyako had said in front of the office was exaggerated, using his concern to confuse him, thereby deceiving him and making him obey her.
She wouldn't allow him to act with her and Ai.
Because Miyako knew that once he came along, she would become a mere backdrop.
'I knew it! How could Ai become a yandere so easily?'
"Ai, thank you for telling me these things. You need to be careful; don't believe everything people tell you," Hiko intentionally advised Ai.
"What do you mean by that? You should be clear; don't be a riddle!" Ai's tone was annoyed as she heard Hiko's reply.
"I'll tell you next time we meet; let's leave it at that for today," Hiko postponed the matter.
He knew that if he told Ai now not to believe Miyako, she would certainly not escape Miyako's observation later.
Because after she finished talking to him on the phone, her attitude toward Miyako would change. Miyako would then know from Ai's reaction time that he had spoken ill of her to Ai.
"You're really annoying~" Ai pouted playfully.
"Don't rush, see you tomorrow, I'll tell you then," Hiko said to Ai.
"Bye bye," Ai nodded in response.
Hiko waited for a moment. The phone line was silent, but the call hadn't ended, so he said again, "Okay, you hang up."
"Why aren't you hanging up?" Ai was also waiting for Hiko to hang up.
"I'm waiting for you to hang up first," Hiko replied.
"How long are you two going to talk? You can't even hang up a phone call properly." Ichigo watched Ai say goodbye but still not hang up.
Hiko heard Ai end the call and softly said, "Then I'll hang up, see you tomorrow."
After speaking, he waited for Ai's reply.
"Mmm~ See you tomorrow~" Ai also bid farewell to Hiko.
After receiving the reply, Hiko manually ended the call.
A busy signal came from the phone, and Ai put down her mobile phone.
"You two finally finished your call," Miyako teased.
Hoshino Ai nodded.
"Since we're done with the call, let's go watch the performance." Miyako took Ai's hand and led her toward the entertainment district.
Ichigo watched the two women walk into the distance and quickly followed them.
'Will the trial card be able to stay in the end?'
After Hiko hung up the phone, he stared blankly at the document on his computer.
He hadn't acted with Ai today, and after returning home, he had been thinking.
He wondered if he could retain all the knowledge from the temporary trial card using his photographic memory.
Hiko didn't know if it would be successful, but he still wanted to try. If he could freeload Master-level skills with his photographic memory, that would be fantastic.
Recording the knowledge in his mind within a month, the time was still a bit tight.
Saito Hiko was unsure what knowledge the remaining proficiency-level skills would retain, so he decided to record all the knowledge in his memory at once.
Otherwise, he felt that for knowledge he hadn't used, the system would definitely only retain proficiency-level knowledge.
Therefore, Hiko was currently using his computer to plan his schedule for the month and the priority of knowledge.
Time passed imperceptibly.
Hiko's phone, placed in front of the monitor, suddenly lit up, then the screen quickly dimmed again.
This was his 1:00 AM automatic shutdown being triggered.
He had originally set this shutdown time as a final limit for his late-night habits, but unfortunately, it usually didn't work.
'It's gotten so late again.'
Hiko remembered that Ai had told him just yesterday to rest well, so he saved all the document information on his computer, then shut down the computer and went to bed.
The next day.
Hiko woke up and fumbled for his phone in bed. After finding it, he saw the time displayed: 8:37.
His phone would automatically turn on at 5:00 AM.
There was also a 6:00 AM alarm, but since it was a holiday, he had already turned it off.
Regarding the B-Komachi group's training, he had already given them the training plan, so there was no need to go there early in the morning.
Looks like another day of being late.
Hiko realized he would be late again today as soon as he saw the time.
By the time he had washed up, eaten breakfast, and arrived at the company,
the seven members of B-Komachi had already finished their training and were resting on the sofas in the lounge.
"Why are you so late? It's almost ten o'clock already." Arisa saw Hiko arrive late and questioned him, "You're already an hour late!"
"I'm the coach. I don't need morning practice. You guys need morning practice, understand?" Hiko replied righteously.
The other team members had various expressions upon hearing Hiko's words.
Ai looked at Hiko's righteous demeanor and felt that he must have been delayed by something important, and had probably stayed up late, which was why he arrived so late.
If only she had sent a text or called him before going to bed last night.
"You're not pretending anymore?" Arisa asked, looking at the self-righteous Hiko. "Your true colors are finally showing!"
"I've never pretended," Hiko replied with a calm expression. He remembered how Arisa had rudely questioned him right from the start.
Seeing Arisa still looking energetic after her workout, Hiko said to her, "I see you're still full of energy. Go do another round of extra practice for me."
"I don't want extra practice!" Arisa refused, saying, "You're definitely holding a grudge and deliberately suppressing me."
"You rude fellow, go do your extra practice!" Hiko threatened, "The sky has cleared, the rain has stopped, do you think you're all good again?"
"You really don't learn. Do you want to be demoted from an idol to a backup dancer? Or do you want to be shelved? If you want that, then just be disobedient."
"You hateful bastard!" Arisa said through gritted teeth, but her body honestly walked outside, preparing to do extra practice.
"Such a disrespectful expression will make fans lose their affection for you, so when you do your extra practice, you must maintain a smile throughout. If you don't, then continue with more extra practice!" Hiko said to Arisa with a smile. "Maintain a smile from now on. If your smile disappears, you won't participate in today's training camp. You'll keep doing extra practice until you can maintain a smile through the entire run, then come back to the training camp."
Arisa felt that Hiko's demands were too excessive after hearing him.
But as his words fell, Arisa, who had been gritting her teeth, forced a smile onto her face.
This stiff transition made her facial expression distorted.
"What a lame smile." Hiko stepped forward, extended both hands, pinched both sides of Arisa's cheeks, and gently curved them upward.
He forcibly pulled a smiling expression onto Arisa's face.