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We returned to our room. We had to figure out how to handle Toka’s SNS right away. We’d gotten ahead of ourselves and just set up the account already.
“Waaaaaah…”
For some reason, Toka was crying. She’d been so poised and cool in front of the Kagurazaka family!
“Why are you crying, Toka?”
“Because you said you’d be my manager.”
“Managing a retired celebrity seems kinda weird to me, though.”
“No, I’m just happy that you’ll be carrying the name Asahina Toka with me.”
She says it like it’s not even her own name… They called her the Nation’s Beloved Young Actress, but maybe that just meant the pressure was immense.
“But eventually I’ll become Kuga Toka, so maybe I’ll be the one carrying Ryo-kun’s name?”
“Right now, we’re talking about SNS!”
When it’s just the two of us, she lets her guard down and the conversation immediately goes off track. Maybe Toka just needs other people around to keep her grounded.
“Anyway, let’s carefully select the photos where you look cute. Absolutely no goofy faces.”
“Why?”
“Because people will get the wrong idea. The real you is this cute!”
“I was just told I’m cute normally…”
“That’s not important right now!”
I’m sick of people saying the training failed the moment they see a photo cutout. I’m sending out photos of Toka at her absolute best to the world. Oh, this photo with the weird face? That one’s getting permanently saved.
“Also, we gotta maintain net literacy…”
“Net literacy?”
“Like not making inappropriate comments that could cause a backlash. Not swallowing misinformation whole.”
“That’s fine. I plan to just post the photo and leave it alone.”
“Well, honestly, that’s a valid point. We don’t know if it’ll be as successful as we think.”
“What do you mean?”
“There’s a chance nobody will even see it, right?”
I check social media occasionally too, and honestly, there are all kinds of people out there, and all kinds of opinions constantly swirling around. It could be some big corporation’s CEO, or some politician. Frankly, I have no clue how much influence a former child star can really have on social media.
“Mmm-hmm~”
“What’s with that weird laugh?”
“I just started feeling a little happy.”
“Stop being so insensitive.”
“Sorry. But doing something like this together with you, Ryo kun, is actually fun.”
Toka suddenly links her arm through mine. Seriously, she’s the one who suggested this.
“Let’s just post a two-shot photo with Kaede on SNS.”
“Yeah, yeah.”
“The caption should be kept to an absolute minimum too. For people who know you, just seeing a photo of the two of you will be pretty impactful.”
“Oh~”
While explaining my thoughts, we decided on the content for our first post. Toka didn’t argue with my ideas, just listened with sparkling eyes.
“Ryo-kun, you really do seem like a manager.”
“I was a club manager back in middle school.”
“Oh, right.”
“Even if we leave the account inactive later, we should still set some ground rules, right?”
“Ground rules?”
“Like not responding to comments. Not reaching out to anyone ourselves.”
“You think I’d do something like that?”
“I don’t think so, but let’s make it clear just in case.”
Opening the training notebook, I wrote down the rules for managing Toka’s SNS account.
・Consult me before posting anything
・Don’t forget to get my approval before uploading photos
・Don’t initiate contact with anyone
・Don’t respond to comments
・Don’t react to trending news topics
・Ignore all DMs
What else… Hmm. We need to eliminate anything that could spark controversy.
“You don’t need to make so many rules. I don’t plan on using it that much anyway.”
“Just in case.”
Knowing Toka wouldn’t get hooked on SNS, I still couldn’t slack off. I absolutely had to avoid anything that might hurt her.
“Ryo-kun, you’re tensing up too much~”
Toka suddenly started massaging my shoulders.
“Even if you say that, I can’t slack off.”
“As long as you’re here, Ryo kun, I’ll be fine no matter what happens.”
Then she hugged me from behind!
“I’m so glad I met you, Ryo kun.”
“You’re exaggerating again…”
“No, I really mean it. If I hadn’t met you, I’d probably still be locked up in that room forever.”
Toka said it with such heartfelt sincerity. What… This is throwing me off.
“Thank you for giving me light. The entertainment world was dazzling, but I’m happiest right now.”
Her words were so direct they made my chest tighten. I was so glad I spoke to Toka that day.
“I feel the same way. When you smile, it saves me too. It makes me want to keep pushing forward.”
Toka looked puzzled for a moment, then chuckled softly.
“That’s supposed to be my line.”
“Then we’re even.”
“Hehe, yeah.”
A little more strength crept into Toka’s arms. Her warmth spread through my back, filling my chest with warmth too.
“…Alright, let’s try our first post then.”
“Yeah!”
We leaned over the phone together, seriously discussing which photo to choose and what caption to add. We had no idea what kind of reactions awaited us on the other side of the screen.
But together, we’d be fine—I had a feeling about it.
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