Be Our Manager!

I arrived at the building of the agency... But it almost seemed abandoned somehow.

At least I can see light coming out of the window, that's encouraging. I double-checked the address they gave me and sure enough this is the place. I looked around the building and found no one else other than me. Though I do spot a minibus with a pink livery on it. As well as a few bicycles which I assumed either belongs to the other candidates or the agency members.

I walked up the small set of stairs and into the building. The insides is fortunately pretty cozy, and I can sense that this building probably used to be abandoned, but was recently renovated and cleaned to accommodate the new agency. Down the hall, I can hear some people talking so I assumed that that's probably where they held the interviews.

I made my way their but was surprised to see two girls trying to clean up the corner of a ceiling... with a duster. So one girl with a short greenish-brown hair is holding a small portable stairs with the other girl with the duster, another short hair but orange this time, is currently trying to clean the spiderwebs and dusts off.

"Nearly there..."

"Careful, Rin-chan!"

I looked down at the stairs and noticed the bolt coming a bit loose. "Excuse me, you might want to go down. The stairs are..." I tried to warn them, but my sudden appearance surprised them and the orange-haired girl lost her balance. I tried to grab her before she fell down, but to my surprise she jumped instead... right towards me.

I was caught by surprise and the girl fell on top of me.

"Ow, ow..." She muttered in pain, but I stayed silent because of even more pain. "Rin-chan, are you okay?" The other girl, which I assumed to be her friend walked closer towards us.

"I'm fine! How about-- Oh!" The girl called 'Rin', replied with a bright smile on her face. She looked at me and realized something. "Y-yes?"

"Are you our new manager?" Rin asked with a smile and brought her face closer to me. She seems awfully enthusiastic about it. "W-well, I probably will if I passed the interview-- wait, 'our'?"

The other girl came closer. "Rin-chan, you should really get off him. I think he's quite uncomfortable."

"Ah! I'm sorry!" Rin stood up. "That's right! There's an interview today! My name is Rin, Hoshizora Rin. And this girl is Koizumi Hanayo!"

"N-nice to meet you..." Hanayo shyly bowed her head.

"Oh, yes. Nice to meet you too." I stood up and cleaned some dusts off my clothes.

"I-if you're here for the interview, I'm afraid you have to wait for a while. Please take a seat." Hanayo said to me while pointing towards a small row of seats that you can usually find in waiting rooms. Based on my observations, it seems like Rin is the cheery, energetic, and friendly type. While Hanayo is a bit more reserved and shy... Perhaps she's not very good with men as well.

"Okay, thank you."

I took a seat. No one else is sitting besides me. Hanayo told me to wait, perhaps someone else is being interviewed? Just as I thought that, both Hanayo and Rin walked inside of a room that seemed to be the main office room. I can hear a bit of chatters inside.

"He's here."

"Wait, really? I'm not ready! Should I wear a suit? a dress?"

"Just you is fine, come on!"

"O-o-on second thought, I can't do this! You go, Umi-chan!"

"What? You were the one who wanted to go in the first place!"

"Can I really?!"

"Just ask him about his qualifications, skills, and his experience! That's it!"

"B-but how do we decide whether he's--"

"That comes later, now go!"

I can hear those conversations muffled by the door. I'm... actually starting to worry about these girls state...

Not long after, Rin popped her head out of the door. "You can come in, now."

I stood up and entered the room. As I thought, it is an office room. A table has been set in front of me with a chair for me to sit in front of the table, the typical interview setup. Looking around the room, there are the previous two girls standing by the sidelines. Rin is even giving me a gesture to encourage me. I gave her a smile and sat down at the chair. Another figure in the room is a dignified-looking girl with long dark blue hair standing near them.

A girl with light orange hair tied in a side ponytail came and sit facing me. She's wearing a plain white shirt as well as a plain black skirt. She hastily (and nervously) prepared a book and a pen.

Holy crap, she's cute.

That's what I thought when I saw her at least.

"I'm sorry for my... unprofessional-ism, is that the word?"

The dark blue haired girl shot her a glare. She immediately froze and cleared her throat. "M-my name is Kousaka Honoka. I am the current leader of the group µ's. I... believe you've met with Rin and Hanayo."

I nodded. "The girl besides them is Sonoda Umi, the main lyricist as well as our drill sergea--I mean our coach."

I looked at Umi and saw her pinching her nose bridge, probably both because of cringe and disappointment.

The rest of the interview went as expected. She asked me about my experiences, my skills and my competency. I have been managing a few clubs during my school days. Mostly sports club, and although they never really went International, my biggest achievement is bringing a basketball team on my High-school to the Nationals and finishing in the semi-finals. But I never really managed an entertainment group before, so I'm still quite nervous.

After a while, Honoka set down her pen and papers. She breathed in quite deeply. "Asai-san..." Honoka stood up. I tensed up.

She suddenly bowed and exclaimed, "Please, be our manager!"

"E-excuse me?"