Akari Honne’s words naturally referred to Kaguya.

Before she arrived, Alan had been by Akari Hojo’s side since her debut.

He wasn’t just a manager, he also composed and wrote lyrics for her, with each song becoming more famous than the last, and he only wrote for her to sing.

She had previously heard that the company even pressured Hojo to get Alan to write songs for other artists.

However, Alan showed no intention of compromising and directly fell out with the management.

’You can try to freeze Hojo, but don’t forget we signed a short-term contract, which expires in a year and a half. But after that, you won’t get a single song from me. You don’t think your company is the only one in Tokyo, in Japan, in the entire world, do you?’

No one expected this usually cheerful and easygoing young man to be so assertive when it came to Hojo.

No one wanted to offend a composer who was very likely to become famous in the future. Moreover, the commercial value of Alan’s songs was not low.

While not every song was a hit, each one performed better than the last, making him a walking goldmine.

Unfortunately, for some unknown reason, the two later separated. Especially when Alan stopped writing for a while, besides the buzz from ’Friend’s Swan Song,’ some skeptical voices also appeared online.

The sentiment was similar to what Akari Honne had just expressed.

’Will Hojo still be popular without Friend A writing songs for her?’

Although Kaguya could feel Akari Hojo continuously growing during the past six months as her manager, she couldn’t help but feel a little worried deep down.

However, after thinking it over carefully, Kaguya felt she was overthinking things.

After all, Friend A isn’t the only composer in the world, and the company, seeing Akari Hojo’s potential, would certainly be willing to allocate resources.

Akari Hojo’s contract was nearing its end, but she hadn’t renewed it.

The company, on one hand, wanted to retain her, and on the other hand, wanted to profit greatly from Friend A’s two new songs and the popularity of the two, which is why they invested in helping her hold this concert...

Although Kaguya didn’t mention Alan at all, saying that her sister would definitely fly higher and further in the future without mentioning him...

In Akari Honne’s eyes, this was no different from directly ignoring Alan’s contributions.

Although she knew Kaguya meant no harm and probably just forgot to mention him, Akari Honne still felt annoyed.

As a witness to their journey, she knew that Alan’s efforts were absolutely no less than her sister’s, in fact, he worked even harder.

You don’t even need to see what he did daily, just seeing that he was tone-deaf yet learned so much music theory and wrote so many beautiful songs was enough to know.

Akari Honne felt wronged on his behalf.

The young woman walked into the venue with a somber face. Fortunately, the venue was currently rehearsing and didn’t have all the lights on, so others couldn’t clearly see her expression.

After telling Kaguya she was fine, Honne found a front-row seat.

At this moment, Akari Hojo stood in the center of the stage, with melodies from various instruments rising around her. She was singing the climax:

...Listening to the lyrics and the beautiful melody, Akari Honne’s lips moved, her soft fingers unconsciously tapping on the seat, and a look of jealousy appeared in her eyes.

After a while, this was probably the last song. Akari Hojo on stage bowed to the staff one by one, then went backstage to the dressing room before walking towards Honne.

Since it wasn’t a formal performance, Akari Hojo was still wearing casual clothes today.

She stood in front of her sister, a gentle smile on her face.

"Thank you for your hard work, Honne. I’m very happy that you came alone to support your sister."

Hearing this, Honne pouted and said.

"Tomorrow, I won’t be the only one supporting you. And, you’ll probably be even happier when you see Alan, right?"

Standing on such a stage in front of him, adored by thousands, you must be incredibly proud, right?

Honne wanted to say this, but remembering that she would be working hard tomorrow, she swallowed her harsh words.

"Hehe, Alan isn’t as important as my sister. I love Honne the most."

Saying this, Akari Hojo reached out and stroked her sister’s head.

However, Honne ’tsk’ed, pushed her arm away, and couldn’t help but say.

"I told you I wouldn’t grow any taller, so why do you keep touching my head?"

She paused, then continued.

"You’re done with rehearsal now, right? Can I go back? I’ve been traveling for half the day and I’m tired, I want to go back and rest early."

Hearing this, Akari Honne narrowed her elongated eyes and looked deeply at her sister, saying.

"You say you want to go back, but you actually want to go see Alan, don’t you?"

With her thoughts exposed, Honne pursed her lips and remained silent.

Seeing this, Akari Hojo put away her smile, bent down in front of her, and looked into her eyes seriously, saying.

"Honne, tomorrow is my concert. Before that, I have a very important request. Can you grant it?"

Even though she used the concert and her request as a shield, Akari Honne didn’t fall for it, glancing at her and saying

"What?"

"You have to promise me not to look for Alan before tomorrow."

"Huh?"

Gasping dryly, Honne frowned and glanced at her, an expression of ’Are you okay?’ on her face.

Do you really think I came all the way from Kyoto just to see your concert? Even our parents aren’t here, do you mean I’m closer to you than Mom and Dad?

Seeing her expression, Akari Hojo wasn’t annoyed and explained patiently.

"Alan is here with Nozomi this time. You know that, right?"

"And?"

Seeing her indifferent look, Akari Honne continued patiently. 𝕗𝕣𝐞𝐞𝘄𝐞𝚋𝚗𝗼𝘃𝗲𝗹.𝚌𝕠𝚖

"If you go to Alan, you’ll definitely argue with her if you meet her, right? And after an argument? Do you think Alan will still stay in Kanagawa?"

"I know you might not like Nozomi and think she’s nothing special, but she’s Alan’s girlfriend now. You should know Alan’s personality, right? Do you think he would ignore his girlfriend?"

She paused, then added.

"Now, we are just his friends."

The words ’girlfriend’ and ’friends’ pierced Akari Honne’s heart with a pang of pain.

A surge of hatred suddenly welled up in Honne’s heart.

It was hatred for Akari Hojo, and also a bit of hatred for herself.

If she had been a little older...

born a year earlier, things might have been completely different.

"So, Honne, please promise your sister, okay? Don’t go looking for Alan today. Trust me, you’ll have plenty of time together in the future..."

Looking at the hopeful expression in her sister’s eyes, Honne silently nodded.

But in her heart, she couldn’t help but grumble.

If you really had a way, would it even be my turn? When it comes to hogging things, who can beat you?

Honne agreed.

Although her sister painted an unrealistic picture for her, what she said also made some sense.

If she really ran into that vixen, they might actually argue, and if the other party caused a scene, it wouldn’t be pretty.

Not wanting to make Alan uncomfortable, she decided to endure it a little longer. They could meet tomorrow.

Akari Honne initially thought this way.

But once she returned to the hotel, she looked at the GPS on her phone and found that Alan was just two streets away, and her heart began to ’thump’ again.

Her desire to see him became uncontrollable.

Gritting her teeth, she secretly found an unnoticed moment and slipped out.

As long as he didn’t see her, just a distant, secret glance would be enough...