rubestie

Season: Spring of ES! timeline

Location: Yumenosaki Staff Room

Characters: Hokuto, Anzu, Jin

hokuto

Hokuto: Project-Saga?

Jin: Yeah, that’s what they’re calling this new project that’s underway. It sure packs a punch, doesn’t it?

Hokuto: It’s more that the name doesn’t give any hints as to what the project is about. Is this supposed to be some land development plan for Saga Prefecture?

Jin: What are you talking about.

Hokuto: …As to be expected of Jin Sagami, the super idol. Even your straight-man comments are sharp.

Jin: Why are you complimenting me… Either way, I’ve been placed in the dead center of this project. At the behest of the higher-ups, as I explained earlier.

Hokuto: Hm. Specifically what kind of project is this?

Jin: Well, it’s nothing as grandiose as the name suggests; it’s basically just a low-budget project which is to be published in collaboration with some magazine brands.

The big-shot I’m acquainted with still holds vast influence in a bunch of places, but he’s been retired for so long now. Seems he didn’t want to intrude too much and risk disturbing the current status quo.

Which is why this project will be more lowkey. It would be embarrassing if we went all out and ended up failing miserably, after all. I’m also more comfortable like this.

The basis of this project is to take old retired idols and revive them.

Hokuto: Like Sagami-sensei, for example. Hm, that must be where the name Project-Saga comes from. Sagami Jin… it must be derived from your name.

Jin: There’s also the literal meaning of Saga… a story about a heroic achievement. Who’s the hero here exactly~? I don’t know if I should feel flattered or insulted.

Hokuto: No, I feel like Sagami-sensei more than qualifies to be called a hero within the entertainment industry.

You helped the entertainment industry regain some momentum after a long slump, didn’t you? Even if it was only temporarily.

Jin: Hm~, just for like a second, but yeah. Well, young people nowadays seem like they’re not as energetic as they used to be, so maybe the plan is to make me bring some life back to the entertainment industry again?

You guys’ generation is very promising, but it’s not like you’re standing at the center of the entertainment world yet after all.

Someone needs to buy some time for the industry until you guys can grow up properly.

It’s like an interlude act in more ways than one.

My acquaintance keeps saying energetic stuff like “Let’s bring back the old legends”, or “it’s time to revive the monarchy”, though.

But I don’t think the people currently active within the industry are expecting us to do all that.

If the project goes well, they earn a profit, and if it flops, it won't particularly bother anyone. At this point, what’s one extra scandal or rumor gonna do to my reputation?

It’s that kind of laidback project.

Hokuto: Hm… I was wondering what this could be about since you wanted to talk to us about it, but it seems it really isn’t that big of a deal.

Personally, I would’ve hoped for something more grandiose if Sagami-sensei is finally gonna be making a comeback.

Jin: No way, no way. I’m too old for all that now.

If we’re gonna spend money, I’d prefer all of it go towards you youngsters who still have room to grow. At this point, investing into someone like me won’t yield any results anyhow.

Either way. With me at the center of the project, they’ll be temporarily reviving many different retired idols from all over the country.

I looked over their list, and everyone on it is someone really famous.

Well, they haven’t actually reached out to anyone except me yet, so it’s not like they’ll be able to get absolutely everyone on board.

Everyone retired ages ago and are living regular lives by now, after all.

Telling all those old men to get off their asses and up on stage is impossible. I don’t even want to do it, I feel like I’ll just end up disappointing all of my old fans.

Which is why, even though the project is advertised as a revolving around “Legendary Idols”, each retired idol will have two or three young idols form a unit with them.

In the worst-case scenario, even if us old legends aren’t worth the investment, those youngsters will be able to work hard and reap some benefits…

Or at least that seems to be the aim for the people planning all this.

The framework seems to be that us “Legendary Idols” will teach and train the promising idols of the future.

They probably wanna pull off something like a “sensei and student” setting from a shonen manga.

Hokuto: Hm. I don’t read much manga, so I wouldn’t know, but is that a cliché?

If that’s the case, then this should fit you perfectly, Sagami-sensei. Even if you’re rotten, you’re still an active teacher after all.

According to your job description, you’re a proper educator.

Jin: Yup. They probably got the idea from my situation. It’s almost exhausting how much they want me to be the center of this project.

It’s annoying. The client is probably misunderstanding something…

When he heard I’d become a teacher, he started ugly crying and told me “You’ve matured so much, Jin-kun!”.