After chatting with the girls for a couple of minutes, I had to leave because my next class was about to begin. I told them I would come back later in the evening. Not only was I lucky to find an opportunity like that, but the university was only five minutes away on foot. Transport and time were not going to be a problem. However, wandering through the Trading District didn't give me much confidence. It was known for being one of the most dangerous districts, if not the most. Police were rarely seen around, giving street merchants—or colloquially called Dreamers—a chance to sell their creations even though it was illegal to sell stuff on the street without a permit. No one knew why the district had been forgotten by the local government. Many theories floated around. The one I heard the most suggested that the government took fees from the sales made inside

The only thing I had heard about idols was their astonishing popularity a thousand years ago. I didn't know what happened to them, nor was I curious about it. But, since I was going to be the manager of an idol group, it was essential to know about it. I skipped the first result explaining what an idol was and tapped on the article beneath. The website loaded instantly and I began reading. As I had heard, their popularity hastily declined over the span of a century. There wasn't one exact reason why it happened. Instead, many factors played a role. Morals, climate change, pandemics, and political conflicts between countries impeded their international growth. However, the drop that spilled the glass was the creation of humanoid holograms. Humanoid holograms had become incredibly realistic and cheap enough by the

The girls queueing up looked at me as I climbed the stairs. A few of them seemed eager and nervous. Others were accompanied by older people, probably their parents. And some even were deadpan. They must be one of those people that show no expression when they are nervous. I walked into the building, where a few more girls stood in line before the door of Sanae's and Risa's room. Butcher stood still with his arms crossed next to the stairs leading to the second floor. "Hey, Butcher. How's it going?" "Good morning, young man. I'm keeping an eye on the queue in case someone tries something." "Did anything happen?" "No." "G

The weekend arrived. Sanae, Risa, and I were nervous and excited to see the girls. Soon, the first one arrived: Celeste. She knocked on the front door and I received her. We walked into Sanae's and Risa's room—which was about to turn into a dance studio. "Thank you for coming," I said. "Thank you for choosing me! I don't have the words to thank you enough," she bowed. "It's fine, you don't need to." Sanae and Risa approached us, but someone knocked on the front door again. Akane and Adachi stood together outside. I thought Adachi was going to be late. "Please come in," I said. "Thank you, gentleman," Akane replied as she steppe

Monday afternoon arrived. Half of my lectures had finished; it was time to eat lunch. I walked out of the Accounting lecture, held in one of the biggest buildings on campus, and headed to the cafeteria, also one of the biggest buildings. As I walked through the campus' artificial gardens, I kept complaining about any subject related to math. Sadly, they were needed to manage a business. I arrived at the cafeteria and bought an apple from the food printer, which printed food almost instantly. It obviously wasn't natural, but it had the exact same properties as a real one. Luckily, scientists invented the printer just before Midnight Zero arrived, the day the Doomsday Clock was marked to have zero seconds remaining until midnight. A lot of people didn't—or didn't want to—believe it, but scientists were right. The climate drastically changed over the span of a f