novelraw Chapter 1607 - 1605: Are You Ready? (Beef and Daikon Stew for Dinner)
Chapter 1607 - 1605: Are You Ready? (Beef and Daikon Stew for Dinner)
This time, Yukimi didn’t even make a sound.
Because she fainted directly.
When Yukimi opened her eyes again, the unfamiliar ceiling came into view.
At the same time, Fang Zheng’s voice sounded from beside her.
"You’re awake?"
"————!"
Hearing Fang Zheng’s voice, Yukimi instantly sat up in fear, curling up against the wall. Then she saw Fang Zheng sitting in a chair beside her bed, watching her.
And then, in the next moment, Fang Zheng spoke up.
"Yukimi Hagiwara!"
"Ah... yes! Producer...?"
Hearing Fang Zheng suddenly call her name, Yukimi felt a bit nervous. She instinctively glanced around and then realized this should be a school’s infirmary, and right now, only she and Fang Zheng were in the room. This made Yukimi even more fearful and anxious... but before she could say anything else, Fang Zheng continued speaking.
"Why did you become an idol?"
"I..."
Hearing Fang Zheng’s question, Yukimi hesitated for a moment.
"I... I have no confidence in myself, and I want to change my timid personality... that’s why I became... an idol."
"I thought so."
Fang Zheng nodded. This answer did not surprise him. If it wasn’t for some special reason, it would be almost impossible for a shy girl like Yukimi Hagiwara to want to become an idol.
"Your intention is good, but..."
"But?"
"Have you done it?"
"Eh?"
Hearing Fang Zheng’s inquiry, Yukimi was taken aback, and Fang Zheng continued to speak.
"You became an idol to change your personality, to become a different self, right? So what about now? What are you doing? Have you tried to face all of this?"
"I..."
"You’re afraid of men, that’s not surprising. But since you’ve decided to be an idol, you should understand this is a hurdle you must face. Just avoiding it is useless; you have to gather your courage and face it actively."
With that, Fang Zheng stood up, staring at Yukimi, who at this moment was clenching her hands tightly, her face pale.
"But you keep avoiding it. I don’t know why you’re afraid of men, but if you want to overcome it, you need to muster up courage."
"I... I..."
Hearing Fang Zheng’s words, Yukimi opened her mouth, then lowered her head in frustration.
"I... am I just not good enough? I want to overcome my weaknesses, but I can’t do it. Is it that I’m really not capable of anything, and I only became an idol because a friend signed me up to participate? But... but I feel like I’m not suited to being an idol at all..."
"So you’re going to deny yourself?"
Fang Zheng could also see that Yukimi’s biggest problem was a lack of confidence. This is quite normal; Shinji Ikari had the same issue. He thought he couldn’t do anything, even being forced to pilot EVA. Only after Fang Zheng’s Spartan training did he gradually turn his personality around.
But for Yukimi Hagiwara, Fang Zheng naturally couldn’t use Spartan training.
"......"
This time, Yukimi didn’t speak.
"If you don’t have confidence in yourself, it doesn’t matter if others believe in you."
If it were one of those protagonists in a dating sim, they might say something like, "I believe in you, even if you don’t believe in yourself, I still will," to win Yukimi’s favor. However, Fang Zheng wasn’t in the mood for that. He was dealing with idol training, not a dating simulation, and in Fang Zheng’s view, those words would be meaningless as well.
It’s like a teacher and classmates. Among classmates, understanding and tolerance are expected. Even if the other party makes a mistake, as a classmate, a friend, or a close buddy, it’s not hard to point it out or even go along with what they say.
But a teacher can’t do that. Even if they have a good relationship with their students, they won’t be lenient in this regard because teaching and nurturing is their duty. So many times, a good talking-to is unavoidable.
Of course, at the time, many students may not understand and even resent their teacher, but once they grow up and enter society, some will understand the teacher’s good intentions.
Of course, there are those who never learn.
But none of that matters.
Fang Zheng doesn’t care, either.
"You have to understand, Xuebu, you are now an idol. You can find ten thousand reasons to escape from all this, but don’t forget, others are waiting for you, they believe in you... Well, to be honest, it doesn’t matter if they believe in you because you don’t believe in yourself. Now tell me, is your so-called desire to become an idol and change yourself just a momentary impulse?"
"......"
"Answer me!"
"No!"
Faced with Fang Zheng’s demand, Xuebu was so startled that she shouted out, then clenched her fists.
"I, I really want to change myself, but, I don’t know......"
"You don’t need to know, no one knows what their future will be like; maybe you’ll get hit by a car one day when you step out. Does that mean you won’t eat today?"
Fang Zheng stared at Xuebu, making her unable to lift her head.
"To be honest, I can’t tell you that you will definitely overcome, or that you absolutely won’t. No one knows what the final result will be, you don’t know, I don’t know, no one else knows either. But that’s life, we do what we can, and leave the rest to fate. So now, I’ll ask you again, are you ready to take this step?"
"........."
Upon hearing this, Xuebu was silent for a moment, then she nervously lifted her head for the first time to directly meet Fang Zheng’s gaze.
"Producer... Can I really take this step?"
"It’s your choice, if you just stand there, you’ll never know whether success or failure awaits you after you take this step. Indeed, standing still is the safest; although you won’t succeed, you at least won’t fail either. But do you think others will always stay with you if you decide to stand still?"
"......"
This time, Xuebu did not answer, and Fang Zheng’s tone softened a bit.
"But don’t worry, I’ll be behind you, pushing you forward, whether you fall or keep going, I’ll be watching from behind."
As he said this, Fang Zheng extended his hand.
"Now, it is your own decision, this path is yours to choose, you must walk it yourself."
This time, Xuebu remained silent for a long time. Then, she closed her eyes, took a deep breath, and opened them again.
"I... I am not reconciled, I want to try, Producer... I... I think I can do it!"
As she said this, Xuebu looked at Fang Zheng’s outstretched hand, hesitating for a moment, as if it was not a hand in front of her, but a piece of red-hot iron. Fang Zheng’s hand remained steady, and even when Xuebu did not respond, he just extended it, gazing at her.
After a few minutes, Xuebu gritted her teeth, as if making up her mind, suddenly stretched out her hand, grasped Fang Zheng’s hand, and stood up.
"How does it feel? It’s not so scary, is it?"
"Ah... Hmm..."
Feeling the warm touch from the hand, Xuebu’s cheeks flushed slightly. Initially, she was a bit nervous, but soon, Xuebu felt a warm aura, and the feeling of holding hands made her heart, which was beating wildly due to fear, calm down involuntarily.
"Since you’ve made your choice, get ready; we have a lot of troublesome things to deal with next."
As he spoke, Fang Zheng let go of her hand and walked toward the door. Xuebu felt a bit empty inside when he let go, but she only hesitated for two seconds before following Fang Zheng out of the medical room.
Then, Xuebu understood why Fang Zheng said "there are a lot of troublesome things to handle."
Because it was a complete mess.
The mini LIVE performance venue for the celebration was at the elementary school playground in Koushomura. A simple stage was set up at the end of the playground, and that was about it. The rest, including sound equipment, even though present, were very old, and might even be from when the elementary school was built. It’s fortunate that they’re barely usable.
Moreover, there were not even lighting and sound engineers here, meaning everything had to be done by themselves.
So Chihaya and Takane were busy adjusting the audio and mixing, and Yayoi and others climbed onto the wooden tower nearby to operate the lighting, while others tidied up backstage... It could be said that the idols from 765 were not only waiting to perform on stage, but were also responsible for backstage work.
Oh, and due to a lack of people, even lunch and dinner had to be prepared by themselves.
By this time, the initial Fantasy that the girls had about the mini LIVE had completely shattered, and they were all busy beyond measure. Fortunately, the youth group from the village was there to help, or it would have been troublesome for just these girls to manage everything.
And even so, it left the group utterly exhausted.
But things didn’t stop there. With Fang Zheng’s help, they finally managed to set up the stage before lunch. But it wasn’t over; after eating, they had only an hour of rest before having to get up to rehearse the program...
"This is quite rough."
Looking at the girls rehearsing on stage, Sora wiped the sweat off his forehead.
"Frankly, I didn’t think it would be this troublesome, it’s downright exhausting."
"But no one’s complaining, which is quite remarkable."
Watching Xuebu singing, Fang Zheng nodded.
"Next, we’ll see the formal performance."