When the four of them stayed at the shrine together, they didn't do anything perverted and Haru also knew that it wasn't the time since there was one girl that he hadn't eaten among the three of them so, in the end, they spent their time, playing cards, looking at their ranks that kept increasing, before sleeping together on the same bed.
It might seem a bit too much, but that wasn't true since Haru and Maki had slept together during their childhood friend and both Nozomi and Eli had been eaten so there was nothing wrong about it.
In the morning the next day, everyone gathered once again at the shrine in the morning since Haru had told everyone that he received the result of the School Day Tour of the Otonokizaka High School from Kotori's mother last night.
However, when he saw everyone, he found out that their spirits were quite sluggish.
Even Honoka and Rin, who had always been energetic, looked very listless. When he looked at them closely, he could see a dark circle around their eyes.
"What did you do last night? Did you stay up all night?" Haru couldn't help but ask.
"Of course, I am watching our ranking, right, Honoka-chan?"
Rin who originally looked weak, but after she heard Haru's questions, she became excited and turned to look at Honoka who was lying next to her.
"Hmm!"
Honoka, who seemed to be about to die anytime, immediately became energetic, with a large smirk on her face, and nodded several times.
"Our rank keeps increasing after a few hours! I keep refreshing the website to check so I can't sleep at all!"
Although Muse's rank slowed down after they reached 8th place yesterday, it didn't mean the upward trend had stopped.
After all, the higher the ranking, the greater the gap in popularity among the teams, so they naturally needed more votes if they wanted to rise one more place and it took time for the influence of the MV to spread, so the Muse's ranking among school idol group had been increasing at a slow rate.
"So what's the ranking of Muse now?" Haru asked.
"The last time I saw it, we reached 5th place!" Umi answered directly without waiting for anyone.
"Yes, we might soon enter the top 5!" Eli was amazed.
Nico: "Moreover, there are more than 30,000 followers on our social media! The most important thing is the popularity and the fans of Yazawa Nico keep increasing!" She laughed happily.
Hanayo: "There are still many people who ask for better quality sound for this video! Haru, let's go to your home and record our song today!"
Rin: "In the future, we will also be a popular school idol group! And we might even defeat A-Rise soon!"
Maki: "At this rate, we won't have any trouble participating in Love Live at all!"
"..."
Looking at the group of girls who were very excited, chatting, and discussing the result of their concert yesterday, Haru twitched his lips and asked, "Could it be the reason why you're not energetic is that you all have been staying up late to watch your ranking on the website?"
"Ugh..."
The air on the shrine was stagnant, and the girls realized that they had accidentally leaked their mouths. They all smiled and looked at Haru.
"It can't be helped... Haru, do you know that we're very famous now? When I walked to the shrine before, someone asked me for a signature."
Looking at the girls with a smug expression on their faces, Haru wanted to say something, but in the end, he just sighed and said, "I know that you're happy with the result, but you should know that there's a chance for another school idol group to overtake you and because of yesterday's result, your existence will enter their eyes and you might be counterattacked."
"Ugh? Counterattack? What are they going to do?" Honoka asked with confused expressions.
"If it's a fair competition, then they might start to increase their publicity and do more concerts so they will defeat us," Haru said.
"Fair competition? Then is it possible for them to do an unfair competition?" Nozomi grasped the point on Haru's words.
"Yes, it might be possible." Haru nodded since he knew that some of the school idol group that joined the Love Live was part of the talent agency and of course, they didn't want their talents to lose against Muse and they might do something dirty so they could defeat Muse since the rise of Muse was too fast.
"For example?" Rin asked curiously.
"Well, they might try to give you dirty news," Haru said.
"Dirty news?!"
Everyone was dumbfounded.
Hanayo blinked her big cute eyes and asked, "What... What kind of dirty news?"
Haru raised his eyebrow and said, "Well, as an idol, you should know that you can't have a boyfriend, right?"
"....."
Maki, Nozomi, and Eli looked away with a guilty conscience, but the rest members of Muse looked at Haru intently.
"I am your producer after all, but only some people know about it. If someone happens to see us walk together then without a doubt, someone might misunderstand our relationship," Haru said.
"What... What kind of relationship?" Umi asked with a blush.
"Well..." Haru raised his eyebrow and said, "Isn't that obvious? It's a lover."
"LOVER!!!"
The seven girls blushed and felt their faces become very hot when they thought that they might date Haru.
"Then... then what should we do? Is there a way to stop it?" Nico quickly asked since she knew how dangerous it was when an idol group was known to have a relationship. She was sure that the popularity of Muse would be lost once that happened.
"You don't need to worry about that problem," Haru said.
"Oh, why?"
Everyone looked at Haru curiously.
Haru looked at them weirdly and asked, "You don't know?"
"What?"
They became confused, but then Maki realized something and said, "Well, it's true that we don't need to worry about that kind of news."
"Maki-chan?"
Everyone looked at Maki curiously, wondering whether she knew something.
Maki pointed her finger at Haru and said, "This guy is a media conglomerate."
Haru nodded and said, "I also have some gossip magazine, so you don't need to worry, once someone tries to maliciously slander you, I will know instantly."
"Haru..."
They were moved, and at the same time, they forgot about his identity as a media conglomerate since they didn't care much about his wealth after all, and what they wanted was to stay with him all the time without worrying about media so they were happy when they knew that they would be alright from gossip or slander.
"Okay, I know that you're all excited, but please calm down. This is just the beginning and it is your starting point. There's still a long way to go and your achievement will be higher than now, so you must prepare yourself."
Haru might dote on the nine girls, but he also needed to be stern toward them during a critical moment since the nine girls were originally ordinary girls and an ordinary school idol group, but now, it was different since their popularity had become so high that a lot of people knew about them.
Haru was afraid that the pressure might overwhelm them and cause them to collapse so he wanted them to be calmed down so he needed to remind them at this moment.
A true friend is someone who can lend you a shoulder when you're sad and crying because of failure; and at the same time, they're someone who can remind you when you're proud and complacent because of success.
Haru had felt a connection with all of them and he was also familiar with the entertainment industry so he wanted them to be calm or showed arrogance because of their success.
After Haru finished speaking, the pride on the faces of the nine girls had completely disappeared, and they even felt a little ashamed. They looked at each other and suddenly stood up together, before bowing to Haru.
"Thank you for reminding us, Haru. We'll remember what you have said today!"
Haru nodded with satisfaction. He looked at them with a smile and said, "In fact, it is alright for you to be happy since you have achieved such success, but remember, don't be swept by that happiness or lower your guard, alright? Since the top 10 of a school idol group isn't an easy opponent and once you lower your guard, they will attack you back."
They nodded without hesitation, hearing Haru's words.
"But then again, let me tell you some other good news."
Haru coughed slightly and said, "Well, I have told this news to Eli, Maki, and Nozomi before and I am sure that everyone will be notified once you come to the school later since the School Day Tour that was held yesterday achieved great success! Many middle school students who came to visit were filling out the survey yesterday, expressing their willingness to enter Otonokizaka High School. In other words, you have saved the school!"
For a moment, everyone was silent and they were stunned, and then...
First was Honoka, then Rin, then Nico, and finally even Umi and Maki, who had always paid attention to their image also jumped up together with everyone!
"We made it! We have saved the school!"
Amidst the cheers that almost overturned the shrine, the nine girls hugged each other, crying and laughing together, then Nozomi said something to the eight of them so suddenly, they quickly blushed before they jumped directly to Haru, who was sitting on the tatami floor before hugging him so tightly.
Haru really had a hard time maintaining his composure since the power of nine girls was very destructive for him and for a moment, he was tempted to seduce them all, but he quickly threw away such thought.
"Although your original purpose of creating this school idol group has been achieved, don't be proud, because a more difficult challenge is going to come and Love Live is waiting for you!"
"Although I didn't sleep last night, I am full of energy now!"
Honoka clenched her fish and said confidently.
"But since we have such a happy event, should we celebrate?" Kotori said.
"Let's go to the hotel for a big meal!"
Honoka's enthusiastic proposal was immediately echoed by Hanayo.
However, this idea was immediately opposed by Umi.
"You two only know about eating all day long! Don't forget that the two of you need to lose weight! Kotori, in my opinion, we might as well do something that can exercise our body and cultivate our minds, such as mountaineering or something..."
"No! I don't want to climb a mountain, it's too tiring." Nico waved her hand and said, "Should we go to the beach?"
"But it's still May now, isn't it a bit too early to go to the beach to swim?" Eli asked while raising her eyebrow.
"Let's set up a time on June 12th, which happens to be the weekend!" Nozomi said with a smile.
Everyone agreed and they were excited about their holiday, but then they heard his cough which attracted their attention.
"I know that all of you are happy now, but there's other news that I want to tell all of you," Haru said with a serious expression.
"....."
Nozomi, Eli, and Maki were dumbfounded when they knew that this guy was about to tell them about their relationship, but they didn't intend to stop him since they knew that the more they hid it, the more troublesome it was in the future.
"What's wrong, Haru?" Honoka asked curiously.
"In truth, I have been dating Nozomi, Maki, and Eli," Haru said, and somehow he felt that the weight on his shoulders had disappeared since he felt quite guilty to hide this news to everyone, but then...
"..."
Honoka, Umi, Nico, Hanayo, and Rin were struck there as if lightning had hit them.
On the other hand, Kotori blushed and didn't expect that this guy was so bad that he even dated three girls from Muse.
"We're sorry for hiding this from all of you!" 4x
Haru, Eli, Maki, and Nozomi said at the same time, but they knew that it wouldn't be easy for them to accept their relationship, but then again, this trip might be a perfect chance to make up the relationship between them.