Kenji Kitagawa received the notice and soon came to Toshiryo Muramatsu's office. Pushing the door in, in addition to Toshiryo Muramatsu and Yoshio Konno in the office, even Yasu Akimoto, who rarely appears at Sony Music headquarters, was also impressively listed, and his father Naoki Kitagawa was sitting next to Yasushi Akimoto, holding a document in his hand and frowning.

Looking at the solemn atmosphere in the office, Kitagawa Kenji's heart tightened, and he didn't know what was going on, but he still said hello to the four people in the office and sat aside.

"Kenji, take a look at this." Naoki Kitagawa handed the document he had been reading in his hand to Kenji Kitagawa with no joy or anger on his face.

Kenji Kitagawa took the document handed over by his father, and was suddenly shocked at a glance, but he was a little confused. I was surprised because the letterhead of this document was impressively printed with the insignia of the Imperial Household Agency and the Imperial Family, and it was obvious that it was a document related to the Imperial Family sent directly from the Imperial Household Agency. Originally, I thought it was something related to Yoshiko, but what Kitagawa Kenji couldn't figure out was that this document was an invitation to Nogizaka 46 to participate in the imperial family's sacrifice ceremony to Emperor Chongtoku.

"What is this invitation?" Kitagawa Kenji raised his head and looked at his father and the other three with a blank look, a little confused as to what this meant.

"As you can see, this is an invitation from the Imperial Household Agency earlier today." Yoshio Konno coughed lightly, and seeing that the other three did not speak, he opened his mouth to answer Kitagawa Kenji's question: "We also felt unclear after receiving this invitation, so I asked you to discuss it together and see what this invitation from the Imperial Household Agency means." ”

After listening to Yoshio Konno's explanation, Kitagawa Kenji also frowned, and after thinking for a while, he said tentatively: "Could this invitation be related to Princess Yoshiko?" After all, Nogizaka 46 is only related to the royal family, and Princess Kako. Thinking of the identity of the royal family of Kako, Kenji Kitagawa can only think of this possibility.

Kitagawa Naoki nodded and agreed with his son's statement: "Kenji, you think the same as us, but the key question is why the Imperial Household Agency invited a girl idol group to participate in the royal family's sacrifices, even if Princess Yoshiko is a member of this group, this is not a reason for the Imperial Household Agency to issue an invitation." ”

Seeing that Naoki Kitagawa said this, Yasuya Akimoto also said with his hands on his chest: "Yes, for Nogizaka 46, except for Princess Kako being a member of the group, I really can't think of any reason why Nogizaka 46 would receive an invitation from the Imperial Household Agency. And it's such an important thing as sacrificing Emperor Chongtoku, even if Princess Yoshiko needs to participate, she only needs to inform the operation, why did you send out such an invitation to invite the whole team? ”

"Could it be that Her Royal Highness the Princess herself proposed it? Maybe Her Royal Highness Yoshiko felt a little more relieved to have her teammates accompany her to worship Emperor Shotoku, after all, she was going to the burial place of the 'No. 1 Resentful Spirit in Japan', and if someone accompanied her, maybe she would feel more at ease? Although Yoshio Konno felt that his idea was a bit ridiculous, he still brought it up, and it was the only possibility he could think of.

Toshiryo Muramatsu shook his head and denied Yoshio Konno's speculation: "It's unlikely, and even if Princess Yoshiko wants to do this, the royal family won't allow her to mess around in such a sacrificial event, there should be other reasons that we haven't thought of." ”

"Could it have something to do with Hashimoto, Shiraishi and Nishino?" Kitagawa Kenji took the document in his hand, and saw that the sacrifice was made to Emperor Chongtoku, the legendary "Japan's No. 1 resentful spirit", and suddenly had some associations: "Didn't Hashimoto, Shiraishi and Nishino get a Tokyo TV group before, and the content of the program is dedicated to dealing with supernatural events?" Could it be that the Imperial Household Agency saw this and hoped that they would be able to resolve the grievances of Emperor Shotoku? ”

"There is some truth to this idea, but it is also a little ridiculous." Muramatsu Toshiryo still shook his head and denied Kitagawa Kenji's speculation: "Even if the imperial family wants to solve the resentment of Emperor Shotoku, it should be dealt with by professionals in the current Metropolitan Police Department's countermeasures room, and let a group of little idols take action. Besides, even if the countermeasures room can't solve this kind of thing, you can still invite that Chiba-san to help, so why let us go to Nogizaka 46? ”

"...... this?" Kitagawa Kenji was also speechless, not knowing what to say, and for a while, the atmosphere in the office fell silent.

In the end, it was Akimoto Yasu who clapped his hands and said to the other four: "I think let's do it first, no matter what the purpose of this invitation from the Imperial Household Agency is, this level of invitation is a once-in-a-lifetime event for Nogizaka 46, so we must accept this event invitation." As for the rest, let's take it one step at a time, and now we can't guess a reasonable result by guessing like this. ”

Seeing that Akimoto Yasushi said this, after Kitagawa Naoki and Muramatsu Toshiliang looked at each other, although they were still frowning, they still nodded, agreed with Akimoto Yasu's opinion, and settled the matter like this.

"It's a terrible feeling of being confused!" Toshiyo Muramatsu sighed, looking at the invitation letter printed with the Imperial Household Agency and the imperial family emblem in Kitagawa Kenji's hand, the look on his face was a little unwilling.

Kitagawa Naoki sighed, and he also deeply sympathized with Muramatsu Toshiliang's unwillingness: "I can't even figure out the purpose of the other party, this feeling is terrible, I haven't encountered a passive situation like this." ”

"Don't worry about that for now, since you've decided to accept this invitation, let's do it well!" Toshiryo Muramatsu finally took a deep breath and said to Kenji Kitagawa and Yoshio Konno: "Yoshio, Kenji, this matter will be handed over to the two of you to be responsible, no matter what the purpose of the Imperial Household Agency and the imperial family is, this invitation is very important to Nogizaka 46, please be sure to take it seriously and do it well!" ”

"Yes, Muramatsu-san!" Yoshio Konno and Kenji Kitagawa both nodded seriously.

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"Your Royal Highness Kako, please stay!" Kenji Kitagawa found Yoshiko, who was coming out of the practice room and was going to change her clothes, and stopped her from leaving.

Yoshiko turned her head and saw that it was Kenji Kitagawa who stopped her, so she hurriedly stopped and greeted him: "Kitagawa San, hello!" Is there anything please? In addition, it's okay to call me Jiazi, you don't need to call me Your Highness so polite. ”

"Then it's better to be respectful, Yoshiko." Kitagawa Kenji saw Yoshiko say this, so he was not polite, and said to her: "That's right, I received an invitation letter from the Imperial Household Agency before the operation, inviting us Nogizaka 46 to participate in the imperial family's sacrifice ceremony to Emperor Shotoku. I have some doubts about this invitation, so I would like to ask you for some information. ”

Hearing that Kenji Kitagawa came to him because of the invitation of the Imperial Household Agency, Yoshiko didn't quite understand what Kenji Kitagawa meant: "An invitation from the Imperial Household Agency? Is there anything wrong with this invitation? About the Imperial Household Agency, in fact, Kitagawa San, you can ask Yuka, her father is an official of the Imperial Household Agency, and you may know more about related things than me. ”

"Thank you Yoshiko for your advice, and if necessary, I'll go find Miss Sugai." Kitagawa Kenji smiled slightly, thanked Yoshiko for her guidance, and then continued to ask: "Of course, there is nothing wrong with this invitation, but the operation is a little unclear about the intention of the Imperial Household Agency, after all, such a sacrificial event, there is no need to invite an idol group like Nogizaka 46, so I want to find Yoshiko You understand the intentions of the Imperial Household Agency and the Imperial Family, after all, it is such an important sacrificial event, and it will not be good if something goes wrong." ”

Seeing Kitagawa Kenji say this, Kako understood, so she nodded and explained to Kitagawa Kenji: "I proposed this matter to my father, because I was the main priest for the imperial family's sacrifice to Emperor Shotoku, so I proposed that the members of Nogizaka 46 participate in this sacrifice together, hoping that with everyone's help, Emperor Shotoku's resentment can be eliminated." ”

"But is there any necessary connection between the people of Nogizaka 46 and the worship of Emperor Shotoku? After all, if you want to dispel Emperor Chongtoku's resentment, wouldn't it be more appropriate to let the countermeasure room or that onmyoji, Mr. Chiba, take action? Although he learned from Yoshiko the reason why the Imperial Household Agency had invited Nogizaka 46, Kitagawa Kenji's doubts were not solved, and he still didn't understand why Yoshiko felt that these girl idols of Nogizaka 46 would be more suitable to participate in the festival than the strategy room and Senya.

When Yoshiko heard Kitagawa Kenji ask, she immediately covered her mouth and laughed: "Kitagawa San, you misunderstood, although we Nogizaka 46 were invited to participate in this festival, there are actually still police officers in the countermeasure room who are in charge of security affairs. As for Chiya-san's words, he refused the invitation of the royal family because he had other important matters. And this is one of the reasons why I proposed to my father to invite Nogizaka 46, because Shiraishi-san and Hashimoto-san are both disciples of Senya-san, and although they are not as powerful as Senya-san in dealing with resentful spirits, they are also much stronger than ordinary people. ”

"I see, then I understand, thank you for your explanation." Kitagawa Kenji realized at this time, and thanked Yoshiko seriously.

"Don't be so polite, Kitagawa San, please don't treat me as a princess in the team, I hope you can all treat me like an ordinary member. The preferential treatment given to me by the operation because of the status of the princess actually bothered me a little, after all, I came to be an idol in the hope of gaining recognition through my own efforts, rather than relying on the preferential treatment of the operation. "Yoshiko seems to have accumulated a lot of troubles because of the special treatment given to her by the operation, so after finishing the business, she raised her troubles to Kenji Kitagawa.

"This ......" Faced with Yoshiko's troubles, Kitagawa Kenji didn't know how to answer, he hesitated for a moment and said to Yoshiko: "Yoshiko, I already understand your troubles, and I will react with the operation." It's just that please also understand the difficulties of operation, after all, your identity is a princess, even if you let us treat you as an ordinary member, the operation still needs to take into account the face of the royal family. For example, the selection lineup, if you are outside the selection, or even outside the god of fortune, you will be criticized for the operation, so please be considerate of our difficulties, please. After saying that, Kitagawa Kenji bowed to Yoshiko and asked her.

Yoshiko looked at Kenji Kitagawa who was bowing, and finally bit her lip and said to him, "I understand, Kitagawa San, thank you for your honesty." I still have something to do, so I'll take my leave. After saying that, he hurriedly saluted Kenji Kitagawa and walked towards the locker room.

Looking at Yoshiko who left in a hurry, Kitagawa Kenji sighed helplessly, and he also felt helpless about Kako's affairs. However, Kitagawa Kenji soon picked himself up and walked towards Yoshio Konno's office, and since he already knew why the Imperial Household Agency had sent out the invitation, he had to make arrangements accordingly. Such an important festival is also the first time for Nogizaka 46 to participate, and there are many things that need to be coordinated and arranged, and Kitagawa Kenji must discuss it with Yoshio Konno.

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“…… The above is the arrangement of the new single prayer event this time, this is a rare opportunity, and please be sure to take this event seriously for all members of the selection team and non-members of the selection team. Kenji Kitagawa took the document in his hand and said to the members of the selection team and the non-members of the selection team of Nogizaka 46 who were summoned.

"Yes!" Seeing that Kitagawa Kenji said seriously, all the members also put away their careful thoughts and answered seriously.

After announcing the arrangements for the event, Kitagawa Kenji closed the folder, nodded slightly to the members, and left the lounge.

When Kenji Kitagawa left the lounge, the members who had been standing together neatly dispersed in twos and threes, each forming a small group to discuss this unusual single prayer event.

"Nanamin, why are we going to the royal family's festival to worship Emperor Sotoku this time? This invitation is so strange, have you heard Yoshiko talk about it? Mai Shiraishi was very puzzled about Nogizaka 46's invitation to participate in the royal family sacrifice this time, so she asked Nanami Hashimoto, hoping that she could know some specific details.

Nana Hashimoto nodded, and seeing that no member around could hear her conversation with Mai Shiraishi, she explained to Mai Shiraishi in a low voice: "This time to worship Emperor Shotoku, Kako told me that it was because there was something important in the thousand nights that she couldn't get out of, so she hoped that in case of an accident during the sacrifice, we could help suppress Emperor Shotoku's resentful spirit." ”

"But Emperor Chongtoku's words are the Great Tengu Hakumine Sagami Workshop, right? Are we really capable of suppressing existence of this magnitude? Mai Shiraishi looked worried, obviously unsure of whether she and Nana Hashimoto would be able to fight against Emperor Shotoku's resentful spirits.

"Now that the matter has been decided, we can only depend on the situation. If something really happens, with the strength of the two of us, it should be no problem to block a big tengu, right? Although Nanami Hashimoto said this, there was still no confidence on her face.