The next morning, after Ai arrived at the dance practice room, all the other members were there, but Hiko was still nowhere to be seen.
'Is Hiko-kun not planning to come today?'
Ai saw the president arrive, but not Hiko.
"Is that guy ditching us on the second day?" Arisa grumbled as the training time approached.
"Saito-sensei told me yesterday during training that he had something to do this morning and couldn't make it," Ai replied, having heard Arisa's words.
"Ai, do you really need to be so respectful to that guy?" Arisa, still resentful from being lectured by Hiko, didn't understand why Ai used an honorific for him.
Ai heard this and felt that Arisa was very hostile toward Hiko. If Arisa's resentment was left unchecked, bad things would happen, and she also didn't want anyone whispering discriminatory remarks about Hiko in her ear.
How could she make Arisa respect Hiko and not talk about him behind his back?
Ai thought of Hiko's actions yesterday, pondered for a moment, and said, "Ari, you don't want to be shelved, do you?"
"Ai, why are you saying that?" Arisa heard Ai's words and worried she might complain.
But then she thought that she hadn't made any serious mistakes. 'She wouldn't be tattling, would she? But even if she did, that guy wouldn't fire me just because of that, would he?'
The more she spoke, the more she felt justified, and her voice gradually rose. "Although I'm grateful for your help yesterday, you're leaning too much towards that guy!"
Ai was confused by Arisa's reaction.
'Yesterday, when Hiko-kun said that, Ari immediately softened and fell silent. But why, when I say something similar, does she become even more arrogant?' Ai couldn't help but ponder.
'Not enough deterrence? Is it because she doesn't respect my status?'
"Ari, it's not that I'm siding with Saito-sensei, but if you talk about people behind their backs like this, and he finds out, you might get into trouble."
Ai thought for a while, then adopted a concerned attitude and said, "You think he wouldn't shelve or fire you just because of a title. But you don't know how narrow-minded he is. Before, I saw him retaliate against the president just because the president said something negative about him."
"So, Ari, if what you just said about Saito-sensei behind his back reaches his ears, with his small-mindedness, he will definitely retaliate against you."
Ai looked at Arisa with a worried expression and continued, "Perhaps he won't know about your sarcasm this time, but if you don't control your mouth, in the future you might even be fired for stepping into the company with your left foot first."
"It's just getting fired! I'm not afraid at all." Arisa put her hands on her hips. She wasn't worried about being fired at all, even thinking that with her qualifications, other agencies would surely be eager to sign her.
Ai heard Arisa's words and looked at her with pity. Hiko had once told her that tormenting subordinates was incredibly simple, and he could even make them resign voluntarily without spending an extra penny.
"Ari, 'fired' was just me simplifying it for you to understand. Didn't I just tell you that you would be shelved? If you keep this up, the outcome won't be a simple firing. They'll shelve you, not give you any performance opportunities, and if you want to terminate your contract, you'll have to pay a hefty breach-of-contract fee."
"I know your family might be well-off and you might scoff at the penalty fee."
Ai knew that none of the members of B-Komachi were hidden rich second-generation; their family backgrounds were at most upper-middle class.
"But if you really pay a large sum of cash to Ichigo-Pro, wouldn't Saito-sensei, who drove you away, be overjoyed?"
Ai continued to persuade, "You wouldn't want him to be so happy after driving you away, would you?"
Arisa's heart trembled when she heard Ai reveal that terminating the contract would require paying a hefty fee.
Then she heard Ai's voice persuading her again, "So, Ari, it's still better not to talk about him behind his back."
"Hmph!" Arisa felt that Ai's words made a lot of sense, but she was unwilling to just give in to Hiko like that, so she snorted coldly and turned her head away.
"Ari?" Ai, seeing that her goal was achieved, tried to confirm the outcome with Arisa.
"I'll listen to you, it's all that guy's fault… What a jerk!" Arisa said through gritted teeth.
"You just said you'd listen to me, and in the next sentence you're talking bad about Saito-sensei." Ai shook her head and sighed, giving Arisa a hopeless expression.
"..." Arisa could only grumble about Hiko in her mind.
"Just be careful. After all, you're the victim, not me." Ai saw that Arisa didn't refute and fell silent, feeling her goal had been achieved.
She smiled with satisfaction and said, "Actually, Saito-sensei already told me yesterday that he had something to do today and might not be able to come."
"What?" Arisa felt upset.
That guy wasn't coming today, yet the leader lectured her so much.
How outrageous!
Her resentment toward Hiko deepened, but remembering Ai's conversation with her just now, she could only hide her anger.
Niino, hearing Ai's announcement, felt confused about what they were supposed to do today and asked, "Without a coach, can we only do basic training today?"
"No, Saito-sensei told me yesterday that if he didn't come today, I should go find the president. The president will take us to customize our stage outfits."
Ai took out the bank card Hiko had given her last night, held it in her hand, showed it off for a moment, and continued, "This is the funding he sponsored for the B Komachi group."
Although Hiko hadn't said much when he handed her the bank card yesterday, she felt she shouldn't take all the credit for this matter.
"No wonder you're siding with him so much…" Arisa muttered softly.
However, as the recipient of the aid, she didn't voice any refusal this time.
"Custom stage outfits? Yay!" Niino was happy to hear about today's schedule.
She had long been looking forward to wearing beautiful and cute stage outfits.
She had asked people in the company about this before, but they had all just said that the time wasn't right yet.
"Ai, you didn't make any sacrifices, did you?" Watanabe looked at Ai with a worried expression.
The president's nephew was the same age as Ai, and he had kept her for individual training before...
"What are you thinking! I didn't make any sacrifices!" Ai immediately replied upon hearing this.
Takamine looked at Ai with a meaningful gaze.
Arisa and Niino, hearing Watanabe's words, both looked at her.
"What kind of looks are those!"
Ai felt everyone's strange gazes and emphasized again, "He's sponsoring us as a coach! It's not because I made sacrifices! If you keep looking at me like that! I'll!…"