"It's fine, this dance isn't very difficult. I'll teach you."
Hikigaya Hachiman smiled and shook his head. Ling immediately let go of her hands tightly hugging Hikigaya Hachiman's arm, and Tendouji Sarina followed suit, hurriedly letting go of her hands as well, allowing Hikigaya Hachiman to break away from their small chests and go to the surface of the water.
"...Then I'll give it a try. If I don't dance well, please forgive me."
Seeing that she really couldn't decline any further, with Hikigaya Hachiman himself, the Producer, coming to personally instruct her, Arima Kana could only grit her teeth and try her best.
Normally, one would need sufficient confidence to choose a character whose specialty is dancing. It was just that initially, she thought today's comic convention event was purely just about taking pictures, and that minor idols like them were just background fixtures, while the person who would truly be favored by the Producer had long been predetermined.
With a little bit of dance foundation, she should have been able to muddle through. She didn't expect that they actually had to recreate the characters and try their best to reference the character designs to shoot cosplay photos and cosplay videos.
And the only idol who currently looked like she had been predetermined was Ling, who had only recently joined their B Komachi group.
Arima Kana already regretted choosing to cosplay Nilou. There were quite a few red-haired characters, but she had opportunistically chosen this character with somewhat scarce clothing fabric yet not explicitly erotic, wanting to blend in with everyone's revealing cosplay...
However, the regretful Arima Kana quickly discovered that Hikigaya Hachiman didn't care at all about whether she could actually dance, and was instead focused on adjusting her dance movements hand-by-hand.
"Kana, raise your hands a bit higher, turn around a little slower, and remember to look at the camera around this point."
"This dance isn't very difficult, the movements don't need to be very large. The key is coordinating your movements with your expression."
"Yes! I understand!"
As Arima Kana danced the Dance of Sabzeruz on the surface of the water, taught hand-by-hand by Hikigaya Hachiman, she looked at Hikigaya Hachiman pointing the portrait camera at her, her heart feeling incomparably shocked.
In the beginning, Hikigaya Hachiman still needed to have some skin-to-skin contact with her, but later on, he only needed to say a few words or give a look, and she would intuitively understand, improving her dance movements according to the Producer's intentions.
Was their Producer actually this amazing?!
He was even better at teaching people than the dance teachers at the idol agency?!
The staff member Nanakusa Hazuki, who had been staring from outside the pond, along with the other idol group members, also once again acknowledged Hikigaya Hachiman's capabilities.
They all thought the Producer was just playing around, and that even if his attitude was very good and he didn't force them, it couldn't change the reality of relying on pillow business to rise to the top within the Service Club.
Leaving aside the supermodel mermaid songstresses, Himemiya Elisa, Satsuki Botan, and Kujou Sakura were highly likely to have risen to the top by relying on the Producer.
However, now knowing that Hikigaya Hachiman could genuinely and rapidly improve their idol standards, they instead all felt it was understandable.
They despised peers who sold their bodies to rise to the top for resources, even if those peers had higher seniority than them, but when facing a Producer who could hand-by-hand improve their idol standards, even if there really was some skin-to-skin contact, that didn't seem like such an excessive thing.
Everyone was relatively tolerant towards talented people, not to mention that the Producer was not only talented, but also so handsome.
"Kana, don't zone out. Next, I'll add a little magic to your hands, let's do it again."
"Yes! I'm very sorry!"
Arima Kana discovered that she could actually draw out streams of light with her hands. Not daring to zone out anymore, she hurriedly reined in the thoughts in her head and danced earnestly.
The water surface originally under her feet gradually submerged past her calves, giving her no small amount of resistance when dancing.
However, as her dance progressed, the water splashes occasionally kicked up coordinated with the streams of light around her, conversely creating a strong atmosphere of dancing in the water.
It was just... her body was a bit hot...
"Click!"
"Click!"
Hikigaya Hachiman nodded in satisfaction, the portrait camera capturing every movement of Arima Kana performing the Dance of Sabzeruz.
[Teaching Aura] could temporarily enhance the learning aptitude of the students he taught. Although it couldn't directly improve their strength, enhancing learning aptitude was already very powerful, especially now that there were so many young female teachers helping him increase the teaching proficiency of the [Teaching Aura].
It could be said that even if the character quest targeting Idolmaster didn't reward Idolmaster in advance, he could still train and nurture enough idols to complete the quest.
Although using [Teaching Aura] to learn magic and do scientific research was the most efficiency-maximizing approach, and using it to nurture idols was simply a waste of its potential, it was only because he had [Service Aura] that he could "waste" it like this.
However, the Idolmaster ability did indeed have its unique points; as long as they completed the training tasks he formulated, they could gain improvements, and even break through their own limits.
Beautiful girl idols who can fight and tank, based on the magical girl template, hmm... it sounds a bit like the beautiful girl idols in Senki Zesshou Symphogear who sing while fighting.
"Done! Kana, are you alright?"
"I'm, I'm fine... Thank you for your guidance, Producer. I feel like my dance standard has received a huge improvement!"
Arima Kana, with sweat breaking out on the tip of her nose and her legs trembling slightly, bent her waist, strenuously propping her hands on her knees. Seeing Hikigaya Hachiman come before her, she hurriedly forced her waist up to stand properly, shaking her head to indicate she was fine, though her unusually rosy cheeks and unusually erratic breathing simply couldn't lie.
Only having truly had cosplay photos taken of her did she understand why those seniors from before would be so weak, acting as if they had run several kilometers just from having a few photos taken.
So it turned out that coming into contact with the Producer a few times and having a few photos taken would genuinely make one's entire body feel somewhat "uncomfortable"...
If not for the fact that she still had some strength and her physical stamina was considered decent, she might have gone weak in the knees and collapsed halfway through the dance...
"Kana, go down and get a good rest. Drinking a mouthful of spring water will make you feel much better."
Hikigaya Hachiman patted Arima Kana's hair, sending Arima Kana, whose cheeks had become even rosier, back into the pond to drink water and rest. He looked towards Hoshino Ai, who was cosplaying Raiden Mei.
"Next... Ai, then. Let's keep it simple this time too; just come up, swing the tachi a few times, and strike a pose."
Although he had [Teaching Aura] that could easily instruct idols, teaching them one by one was truly somewhat time-consuming. It would be better to awaken their magical girl talents for them in the future; not only would it improve their idol standards, but it would also improve their physical fitness.
"Understood."
Hoshino Ai, who had been staring unblinkingly at Hikigaya Hachiman, nodded upon hearing this. She took a light breath, holding the tachi and standing on the water surface to strike a pose.
Hikigaya Hachiman also casually gave a couple words of advice on her sword-swinging movements from the side.
Although Hoshino Ai hadn't practiced kendo, it had to be said that Hoshino Ai, with a head of straight purple hair and slender, well-proportioned legs wrapped in black thigh-high socks, was very beautiful and had a lot of presence. Striking a pose for photos looked very good as well.
It was a pity that Hoshino Ai was on the younger side; her maiden figure wasn't that plump and mature. Cosplaying the Herrscher of Thunder, Raiden Mei, was very suitable, but cosplaying the Raiden Shogun, Raiden Ei, would lack a bit of flavor.