I Joined the Agency as a Manager to Support a Vtuber, but Somehow I Ended up Becoming the Face of the Company as an Official Staff Member? - 10

Chapter 10: Long Story Short, My Assigned Talent Got Affected

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They had officially denied the rumors within the company, and things seemed to have quieted down on the surface… Or so we thought.

“…Who the hell did this?!”

Ōno-senpai raised his voice angrily as he held up his smartphone screen.

“It says Kurama-san’s manager was involved in a violent incident. This is about Ren, right? Who did it?”

XY posted something on Vitter and that post had, as expected, gone viral for all the wrong reasons. Though the post didn’t name anyone explicitly, it claimed that the manager of Kohaku Toudou had a history of violence.

Worse still, the post had gone up right before Kurama-san’s stream, which caused absolute chaos. Half the comment section was filled with “Message deleted” notifications. That was why Senpai was so furious.

“…No one’s going to speak up, huh.”

“Come on now, Ōno, trying to figure out who did it here is just a waste of time. Let’s get back to work.”

“Gomi…”

“Hey now, I’m just worried about my fellow newbie. Why are you glaring at me?”

In contrast to Ōno-senpai’s tense, sharp demeanor, Gomi-senpai’s tone was breezy—borderline frivolous. Ōno-senpai was probably suspecting Gomi-senpai, the most likely person to have leaked the rumor in the first place. But there was no evidence.

“Ōno-senpai. Just like Gomi-senpai said, there’s no point in a pointless witch hunt. Let’s prioritize taking care of Kurama-san’s mental health instead.”

“Ren…”

“See? Even the person in the hot seat agrees. Let’s wrap this up.”

“…Tch…”

Please don’t bite your lip like that. You’ll draw blood.

“…Sorry.”

“It’s fine. I’m not really bothered… Let’s go. We’ve got a meeting with Kurama-san.”

“…Yeah.”

“Senpai, when a tall person like you looks downcast, it reminds me of a rice plant during harvest season.”

Someone let out a pfft! and burst out laughing.

“So cruel… At least compare me to a palm tree swaying in the wind! I’m a big guy, after all!”

“You probably don’t do well in the cold. Oh. Maybe that’s why you’re doing pretty good in the hot seat like this?”

“Ha! This kind of adversity? Ren and I can handle it no problem! Let’s go!”

Having somewhat regained his usual energy through our conversation, Senpai strode confidently out of the room.

“Senpai, you forgot a bunch of stuff… Oh well.”

Smiling to myself, I grabbed my things and followed after Ōno-senpai.

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He went too far.

That guy usually didn’t care about himself. But the second someone else got hurt, he would go after the culprit relentlessly—with cold, ruthless precision.

Because of this incident, Kurama-san’s stream had turned into complete chaos. Worried fans, die-hard stans, haters, and random commenters flooded the chat with speculations and “concern.” Multiple moderators had to jump in to try and manage it all.

The look on that guy’s face at the time—it looked like he was about to die. His usual composure was nowhere to be found, and the paleness of his skin and the sweat pouring down his face were not normal.

The only other time I’d seen him like that was back in university. And what happened after that… I didn’t even want to remember.

The problem was, Gomi hadn’t just targeted Ren—he’d hurt Kurama-san too. Ren, who had been quietly watching from the sidelines until now, was about to make his move.

And for that guy… It would be like a death sentence.

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“What are you muttering about?”

“Wha—WAAAH!?”

“Ahaha! You’re so easy to scare, Ōno-san!”

“R-Ren, Kurama-san… When did you—”

“We’ve been watching you muttering to yourself for a few minutes now.”

“You okay? Maybe you should take some paid leave or something?”

On our way to the meeting room, we ran into Kurama-san by chance and decided to go together. When we entered the room, we saw Ōno-senpai sitting there, murmuring to himself.

“Nah, I finally got a new junior—I’m not about to take paid leave and leave him hanging. At least not until Ren can handle things on his own.”

“That’s true. I’ve got to become fully independent soon.”

“Alright then, let’s start the meeting!”

Somehow Kurama-san had taken over as the meeting leader. 

I wonder if it’s okay for her to take the lead like this…?

“Today’s topic is yesterday’s stream, right?”

“Yeah, specifically whether Kurama-san is mentally okay, and how to handle the situation.”

“Yup yup! Then first, I have a question for Hiori-kun!”

Cheerfully, Kurama-san raised her hand and turned toward me.

“You really didn’t do anything wrong, right?”

Despite the upbeat tone, the pressure in her voice screamed, ”If you’re lying, you’re not walking away unscathed.”

She’s so scary!!

If I hadn’t just watched the clip titled “Kohaku-chan Intimidates Her Senpai” the other day, I’d have had trouble believing this was the same person.

“…Yes. I have never, at any point in my life, committed any of the crimes being rumored.”

I answered while looking at the top of Kurama-san’s head.

“…Alright then. We need to move quickly with our response.”

“Yeah. Ren, do you have any ideas?”

“Well… First of all, we need to prevent any further spread of misinformation by releasing an official statement. And I think we should avoid bringing up any stories about me—Kohaku Toudou’s manager—on stream for now.”

“Yeah, that sounds right. The official statement should be going out sometime today. After that, we just need to enforce a gag order.”

“That shouldn’t be a problem. The only people who’ve met me in person are Toudou-san and Amairo-san.”

“Agh!”

As I said that, Kurama-san let out a ridiculous squeal. Her face went pale as she looked at me.

“…Is something wrong?”

“T-Today… Aoi-chan has a stream…”

“Uh, yeah. A casual chat stream, right?”

I knew because I’d checked the talent schedules before work.

“That girl looks composed, but she’s actually pretty clumsy. She might let something slip…”

“…No way.”

“D-Don’t scare me like that. There’s no way Aihara-san would make a mistake like—”

“…Yeah, you’re right. Even Aoi-chan wouldn’t…”

BUZZZZ! BUZZZZ!

At that moment, Ōno-senpai’s phone started vibrating. The timing was so perfect, the two of us instinctively looked at each other. With a grim expression, Ōno-senpai pulled out his phone.

“…Ren. It’s the worst-case scenario.”

“…You’re kidding me?”

Ōno-senpai showed me his screen. It was an email from Aihara-san’s manager—Gomi-senpai. The message read:

『Aoi got caught up in Ren’s scandal. You need to fix this.』

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