Dozens of reporters flooded the entrance to the hospital. They didn't block the door—because it would've been illegal—but people still struggled to walk in and out, especially if they were a big group who were with their families. The lower part of my chest would tighten every time I got agitated, so I stopped peeking out to take a deep breath. Mr. Mochizuki approached and asked, "So, do we have a deal?" "What's in it for me?" "Not being sued for disobeying the instructions from the authorities," he smiled. We stared at each other in silence until he laughed. "I'm joking. Your part is that we won't bother or spy on you ever again. Pretty good, huh?" "Something tells me you'll have to do it again sooner or later."<

My parents and I stayed at the bridge for another hour, looking at the ships taking off and talking about good memories. They then drove me around the city to take me to other places I used to frequent in the past, including my schools and the restaurants we used to eat at as a family. During dinner, Mom came up with the idea of giving a surprise visit to Takuya. I was up to the idea of teaching him to always be prepared for unwanted visitors, but as a fellow apartment owner who hated surprise visits, I couldn't do that to him. I also wanted to pay Aya back for what she did for me when I moved out. Dad agreed with me, so he sent him a message behind Mom's back. However, we had to be clear that he couldn't make it obvious that he knew we were coming by making everything pristine. To our surprise, he did a good job

Since we wanted to make the announcement exactly at noon, the entirety of the GIMA staff arrived an hour early—save for the accountant. As always, we met in the dance studio because it was the most spacious room. Although we had sent a draft of the announcement to the advertising company—which owned many spots on the busiest streets of the country—to be reviewed, Jun was still working on the art thirty minutes before it went live. They were small details, of course; it would've been illegal to change the entire concept. Meanwhile, Aya reviewed all of the text that was going to appear in both the advertisements and the social media posts, including a short FAQ. I kept an eye on everything that was going on. Seeing the information scattered through our social media made me realize we needed a place where we could p

Umi, Jun, Tomokazu, and Aki seemed more shocked than I had expected them to be—even Astra, Sanae, Risa, and Satō, who weren't part of the conversation. However, Aki's wide eyes promptly turned into a frown. She wouldn't even blink as she stared at me with her arms crossed. Only then did I realize the grave mistake I had made by not telling her beforehand, but I wasn't going to back up. "As you heard," I continued. "I've been planning to buy the building for a while now, but there was no money nor the need to do so. Now, there's both. Profit keeps going up, and the imminent hiring of a market analyzer will use up the little space that remains in the art and sewing office." The four stared at me intently, while Aki's glare cut my breath short. I had to clear my throat before continuing to speak. "Obviously, I've al

The five of us started carrying the boxes upstairs, except for Jun, whose room was right next to the entrance. Since the building had the same layout, it used to be Sanae's and Risa's dance studio in HQ before the remodeling. Aki's and I's room—the master bedroom—was the current dance studio in HQ, which used to be Sanae's and Risa's room. Umi's was the gym, and Tomokazu's was the recording studio. We kept bumping each other as we carried the boxes. Luckily, there were no major accidents. Eventually, only two boxes remained. I took one, while Aki took the other. I put it down on the floor of our room. Even though there were dozens of boxes in it, there still was a lot of space. "It's quite big, huh?" I said to Aki when she entered the room. "It might be big, but our apartments had a kitchen, a bathroom, and a laundry room each. Now, we have to share one kitchen, one laundry room, and two bathrooms between five people." She pushed the box she was holding onto my chest, pushing me