Chapter 8

————— I have read all the comments, and I am very grateful for everyone's suggestions. I will try my best to make improvements in the future plot development. Finally, thank you all for your votes and support. This week, I will be out for interviews and video shoots, so it will be difficult to guarantee two updates. I will do three updates over the weekend... Then, during the ten days around the New Year, there will be a bit more. —————

After Tomashina Yo walked away, Kawanaka Hane looked at Togasaki Tomonobu with a guilty expression.

"Really, I'm sorry, I couldn't control my impulse..."

Togasaki Tomonobu's face was dark; Kawanaka Hane's slap was too harsh...

Not only Tomashina Yo, but even he felt embarrassed.

"Ah... You... You're still young..." After a long while, Togasaki Tomonobu finally said softly.

"Yes... Unless I die, no one can boss me around, not Akimoto Yasushi, not you Togasaki Tomonobu, and certainly not him... that person." Even now, Kawanaka Hane didn't know Tomashina Yo's name.

Togasaki Tomonobu looked at Kawanaka Hane with a complex expression, then shook his head and said nothing.

"Really, I'm sorry for startling everyone, Yumi-chan... Let's go." Kawanaka Hane bowed slightly to the surrounding staff and members, then led Ban Yumi away.

Not long after Kawanaka Hane and Ban Yumi left, the girls began to chatter.

"Really, that was so bold... to slap that old man on their first meeting..." Watanabe Shizuhiko spoke her mind.

Standing beside her, Hoshino Mami gently tugged at her, signaling her to lower her voice.

"But I wish I had a manager like that... At least he's easy on the eyes..." Oshima Maiko had a starry-eyed look.

"I think his transformation of Yumi-chan is really good. You can see it from the fans' reactions today." Hoshino Mami observed carefully.

The others, who had been listening quietly, were moved...

Hoshino Mami was right; once Ban Yumi's popularity soared, they might find it hard to stand out...

"I'm going home... Bye-bye..." Suddenly, Maeda Atsuko said lightly.

Orui Ayumu glanced at Maeda Atsuko with a meaningful look; the girl seemed a bit nervous...

"Mari-chan, please take care of the dressing room..."

Shiota Mariko nodded lightly, saying nothing...

For Shiota Mariko now, she only wanted to establish herself firmly in AKB48;

As for the others, she didn't have the energy to think about them yet...

"If I could have a manager like that, it would be great."

Kawanaka Hane's image flashed in her mind.

On the other side, Tomashina Yo, who had been slapped by Kawanaka Hane, returned to his office with a dark face.

"I will make you pay... " Tomashina Yo's eyes were filled with intense resentment.

"Hey, is that Mii-san? Could you help me look up someone?"

.........................

Ban Yumi followed Kawanaka Hane silently.

She didn't dare to speak...

"I will set up a Facebook account for you... You can post your life and peripheral status on it in the future."

"Can that really work?" Ban Yumi was hesitant.

"Yes, because it will be registered under my name, the management won't say anything... And it will help you gather popularity in a short time..."

"What is Facebook?" Ban Yumi asked.

"I'm going to the U.S. soon, take care of yourself here..." Kawanaka Hane didn't answer Ban Yumi's question.

"What are you going to the U.S. for?"

"To seek cooperation......"

When Ban Yumi heard this, her previously low mood suddenly became high... Even she didn't understand why she felt so happy.

As the most popular social tool at the moment, blogs were also widely used in the entertainment industry. Many artists attracted a large number of netizens' attention and expanded their influence by posting articles, pictures, and food.

Of course, for artists from major companies like Johnny's, there were very strict requirements for the content they posted.

Blogs were very popular now, but Kawanaka Hane was more optimistic about the development prospects of Facebook......

The founder of Facebook was a Harvard University student named Mark Zuckerberg.

The website was initially limited to Harvard students. In the following two months, registration expanded to other colleges in the Boston area, including Boston College, Boston University, MIT, Tufts, Rochester, Stanford, NYU, Northwestern, and all the Ivy League schools. The next year, many other schools were added.

Now, Facebook was slowly becoming popular in the U.S., but the website's development faced a bottleneck: the mainstream had yet to accept it, and Mark Zuckerberg, the main person in charge, was facing a funding shortage.

After seeing this news in the reports, Kawanaka Hane decided to go to the U.S. to acquire the website.

As an independent manager, he wasn't short of money, but he lacked connections and prestige...

Once he successfully acquired Facebook, he could quickly establish enough prestige...

The only thing he was worried about was whether his actions would cause Ban Yumi to be treated unfairly by Tomashina Yo...

.........................

In Akihabara, in Akimoto Yasushi's office.

Kawanaka Hane met Akimoto Yasushi for the second time.

"I'm going to the U.S.... Please take care of her," Kawanaka Hane said straightforwardly.

Akimoto Yasushi looked at Kawanaka Hane with a deep meaning.

Now you're afraid, but you were quite bold when you slapped him...

Kawanaka Hane's face showed no embarrassment, still maintaining that half-smiling, half-serious look.

"This is a legal society, what are you worried about... If you're worried about Tomashina Yo, I can assure you... Go with peace of mind, no one will do anything to Yumi." Akimoto Yasushi didn't ask why Kawanaka Hane was going to the U.S.; he didn't want to know.

"Thank you, Mr. Akimoto." Kawanaka Hane bowed deeply to Akimoto Yasushi...

.........................

Kawanaka Hane carefully calculated all his and his sister's assets.

Converted to U.S. dollars, it was barely 5 million, which was clearly not enough to acquire Facebook.

According to his conservative estimate, Facebook's current market value was at least 80 million U.S. dollars...

Fortunately, he still had a house in Sapporo, which was estimated to be worth over 10 million U.S. dollars.

Now he could only raise funds through a mortgage loan...

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