A Late Bloomer's Powerful Restart ~My Second Life Starts at a Prestigious School Where the Gender Ratio Is Totally Off, and for Some Reason, All These Talented Girls Get Attached to Me...!?~

Chapter 26: CM Appearance Request!?

……A request for me to appear in Rimona’s teaser CM.

If it was just appearing as a cast member, there would be no need to belong to an agency, and this proposal clearly took into account that I had turned it down before.

Normally there should be talents prepared specifically for occasions like this… so why me?

Anyway, my answer was———

“Thank you very much for the generous offer. However, I’m quite busy with schoolwork—”

“It won’t take any of your time! The preparations for filming are already completely ready, and the studio isn’t very far from here either.”

……I got completely played. It’s going to be finished in just one day!?

Worrying about detailed contract adjustments would seem childish, and I was troubled.

I had thought it was awfully early in the morning, but I never saw this coming.

From the very beginning, they had intended to leave me no room to refuse.

The possibility even emerged that choosing such a faraway traditional restaurant hadn’t been a coincidence either.

When someone shows this much planning just to deal with me alone, it inevitably makes me suspicious of some ulterior motive behind Mitsuyama-san… but this time Grandpa is involved. If he is one of the people who planned this, then surely he wouldn’t use me in a bad way… I wanted to believe that, at least.

I knew he was a capable man, but I had underestimated him. This round goes to him.

Still, I have no intention of falling for free.

“What do you think…?”

“I understand. Since you went to the trouble of coming all this way, I’ll do it. But I have one condition.”

“Go ahead and say it.”

The one who reacted quickest to my reply was Grandpa.

This is a Rimona advertisement… naturally, the sponsor holds the most power.

This wasn’t just a negotiation with Mitsuyama-san anymore. It was a game of wits with the chairman who holds the ultimate authority.

“Please let me have a co-star.”

“T-Taiki-kun? The filming is already scheduled for later today. If we try to find someone now—”

“I’m not asking to specify who I want to appear with. It’s fine if it’s a talent who is already waiting at the studio.”

This condition was extremely important to me.

If an unknown like me who’s completely alone gets broadcast on nationwide television——“Who is this guy?” would become huge news, and my peaceful life would be over.

“W-why… do you assume there’s already a talent waiting?”

“If the schedule is so tight, you must have prepared a substitute in case I refused, right?”

“Hm. Indeed that’s true. A man like Mitsuyama would never do such sloppy work as to not prepare a backup for the key role in an important project that I myself am pushing forward.”

If the filming is happening later today, then no matter how carefully they prepared, there’s no way they didn’t consider the possibility that I might refuse. You really got me good earlier… so now I’ll make use of that same situation.

Grandpa seemed satisfied with my reasoning and decided to take my side on this matter.

“Yashima-sensei!? Of course that is true, but—”

“Looking at your face… could it be that the co-star would be a difficult person to work with? For example… someone like Juri Omi?”

At that instant, Mitsuyama-san’s body jerked with a start. Seeing Grandpa’s eyes widen in surprise too, it appeared I had hit the bullseye.

I had figured that if it was someone even a man in Mitsuyama-san’s position found difficult, it must be a talent who already had solid achievements.

It was already a well-known fact even in the future that Juri Omi had high pride and refused collaborations with men.

That was exactly why she had established herself as the number-one actress in female popularity.

However——in this era, there was still one truth about her that the public didn’t know yet.

“Could you talk to her once?”

“What do you say? Why not hear Taiki’s suggestion? You’ve already noticed the true worth of this child, haven’t you?”

“…If she refuses, you’ll appear solo, okay!?”

Having said that, he took out his smartphone and left the private room.

Surely Juri Omi won’t refuse.

Because right now… I’m a high school boy.

In the first loop, I didn’t know much about her… but at some point Sanika Amane showed me a certain interview.

‘Actually, I still can’t forget the heartbreak I experienced when I was in high school, so that’s why I aimed to become an actress. Apparently I have strong popularity among women, but the truth is I originally wanted to target boys in their teens.’

That frank confession was treated as a funny story, but according to Sanika, she was convinced it was Juri’s true feeling.

She said it was precisely that hardworking side of hers that gathered such strong admiration from teenage girls.

“…We got the okay.”

The sliding door opened and Mitsuyama-san came back in, apparently having finished the phone call.

From my perspective, it was actually better that it was Juri Omi. Thanks to her, all the attention would be focused on her instead.

With one source of anxiety gone, I picked up the last piece of dashimaki tamago with my chopsticks.

◇◆◇＜Third-person perspective＞◇◆◇

“Thank you for the meal.”

After finishing breakfast, Taiki left the room temporarily to use the restroom.

During that time, only Mitsuyama and Chairman Yashima remained in the room.

“Thanks for playing the fool for me, Mitsuyama-san.”

“Haha… When he pointed out Juri, my heart really skipped a beat. However, Yashima-sensei… if I may be so bold, was it really necessary to go this far?”

Mitsuyama asked cautiously. Since it was the sponsor’s instruction, he himself had no choice… but in the end, all final rights regarding this matter had been given to Taiki.

The true purpose was to keep their real objective from being noticed.

“Even the young masters of those two major groups didn’t try to confirm his value themselves and once abandoned the position of successor. And that child… somehow I get the feeling he’s doubting his own qualities…”

“…In other words, officially making him a successor candidate? As I recall, Sensei, you never liked family conflicts.”

“There are paths that cannot be avoided. In any case, I won’t let him go through hardships like Mitsu did.”

A firm determination dwelt within his heart.

Whether that feeling came from past regrets, expectations for the future… or perhaps something else entirely———

Whether this matter would turn out to be good fortune or misfortune for Taiki… realizing that might not actually be very far away.