We followed them through the streets again and, just like Risa had said, people started greeting Butcher as soon as they entered the neighborhood that had many restaurants, stalls, and food places.
Sugioka seemed confused at first, but her shyness quickly kicked in. It even looked like Sanae's and Risa's plan was about to backfire. Luckily, it didn't, but not everything went as planned.
"Oh, no," Sanae expressed as Butcher and Sugioka walked past a boxing gymnasium.
Butcher slowed his pace down and stared at the building. Sugioka said something to him, but we couldn't hear them from our hiding spot behind a delivery truck. They stopped in front of the gymnasium and exchanged words for a while. They then stepped into the building.
Sanae hit the truck and fumed, "Damn
Our glasses detected we had entered a new country a few minutes before landing, and they recommended changing some settings to improve our experience. It was done with a single instruction. The changes became evident before we even stepped out of the plane. Subtitles appeared in front of my eyes when the flight attendants welcomed us to the country, indicating they had done so in the country's language, but I could also understand them perfectly thanks to my glasses translating their voices in real time. The subtitles became annoying quite quickly, so I disabled them as we walked down the tunnel into the airport. Once inside, I had no trouble understanding the instructions to grab our luggage, nor did I reading every line of text in the announcements, signs, or whatever other words were written. This included som
Despite all of GIMA trying to come up with ideas for the next album, there was nothing we couldn't agree on. Finally, after months of nothing, something came up. It happened during the night after the second-to-last concert. We were back at the hotel, and I was about to change into my pajamas to hit the bed when, suddenly, someone knocked on the door. I was in the bathroom, so Tomokazu responded. "Come in." The door opened and Sanae asked. "Where's Kaito?" "He's taking a shower. Did something happen?" "Kind of." Somewhat worried about her answer, I stepped out of the bathroom since I had only taken off my jacket.
Silence flooded the venue with a capacity of twenty-thousand people. It was a sight to behold from the green room. Her words were still impactful even though we all knew they were coming. Aeryx didn't hesitate to continue. "I planned to tell you about my real identity tonight regardless of the news that came out a few days ago, and it's a shame you had to find out that way. Yes, I'm an android created by TOTOT as an experiment. I know it sounds awful, but I want to be honest with you. And believe me, they have treated me like any human being and let me act freely. That was part of the experiment, in fact." I couldn't even fathom how she must've felt having more than twenty thousand people listening to her reveal her deepest secret. "I'm sure you're wondering what exp
Tomokazu stood up from his desk and approached mine. "Why the long face, dear friend?" he asked. "I hadn't seen you with such an expression despite the situation we're currently in." A deep breath came out of my mouth as I leaned against the backrest of my chair. "An offer just arrived," I answered. "It's a photoshoot for a magazine." Haru snapped her head toward me. "A photoshoot? That's wonderful!" "It is," nodded Aya. "Then why are you sighing for?" "Because it's summer-themed." "Don't say any more," interrupted Tomokazu. "Bikinis?"
Both GIMA and the magazine company wanted the photoshoot to happen as soon as possible, so we only had to wait until the weekend for it. Even though we had asked for such high pay, the magazine company still sent a van to HQ to pick up Aya, Butcher, the girls, and me. And to top it off, the photoshoot wasn't going to be in a studio. Instead, it was going to be on a real beach. Unfortunately, the beach was in another city, so it took more than an hour to reach it. Despite the hot weather barely starting, it was logical that all of the private beaches in the city with the most tourists in the country were already booked. The trip went as usual. We all chatted with each other about TV dramas, new bands popping out, our third album, and any topic we could think of. On the other hand, Umi was acting more distant. The
The afternoon passed and the sun was about to hide on the horizon. It was a beautiful view, to say the least. Sadly, we needed to leave soon. I stood up from the sand to tell everyone that it was time to go, but I got distracted by the fact that Aya and Umi were nowhere to be seen. It didn't take long to find them in the distance, sitting on a rock near the woods that split the private beaches. We need to leave soon, but I don't want to meddle. Out of nowhere, Aki tapped my arm and signaled me to follow her. Sanae stood next to her. "Are you serious?" I questioned. Aki replied, "What? Are you going to tell me you aren't curious?" I sighed. "We're going to get murder
"Blostars is going to perform on Furenoora." Expecting the room to burst into excitement, I was received by the complete opposite. The room had fallen silent, though I noticed a couple of jaws dropping until Astra finally jumped up from her chair. "Are you serious?!" she burst. Although I expected most of GIMA to react the way she did, it wasn't surprising to realize that they didn't know much about other planets. "I am," I replied. Her grin couldn't get any wider as she glanced at everyone else. "Why aren't you jumping in excitement? We're going to another planet!" Sanae's eyes opened wide. Unlike on Earth, there were no proper spaceports on Furenoora, only a couple of landing platforms in the middle of its cities. We walked away from the platform our ship had landed on, carrying what little equipment we'd brought to use for the performance at the bar. Some Furenoos stared back at us. Humans were a rare sight for them, but it was even rarer to see a Furenoo on Earth because not many could afford the trip. The ones that could afford it did it mostly for business matters, so seeing a Furenoo on the street was absurdly rare. Just like Astra said before coming to the planet, they looked like teddy bears. Although their height was imposing, their fur and chubby physique still made them look cute. It was a conflicting feeling, to say the least. Fortunately, wI Became the Manager of the First Galactical Idols The New Old
We began the tour with enough energy to power the entire world, and so we did. The first half of the tour took place in the biggest venues in our country, followed by arenas, domes, forums, and stadiums around the world with a capacity of up to sixty thousand people. All of the concerts were live-streamed on the QNet, and included Furenoora, Plaraqor, and Slixam, making us the first idol group to transmit a concert to other planets. Thankfully, the tour was filled with adventures and good times. We had learned enough to be able to avoid most of the problems we had in the past, although that didn't save us from the mistakes of others. Haru accompanied us throughout the majority of the tour to get experience since she was about to become the only CEO of GIMA.
Although work on the fourth album had already begun before the conference, it accelerated after that. Half of the team focused on it, while the other half focused on the rest of the projects. Two developers were hired to start working with the people in charge of the QTubers project—Aya and Tomokazu—and with Jun, who was the designer. The developers could also work on other projects related to the QNet or even Humas, if GIMA ever decided to make them. Prior to opening our studios to other artists, GIMA invested a considerable amount of money in renovating the buildings on the street where HQ was located, while keeping their antique architecture. However, we didn't expect the government to acknowledge our actions and even commit to allocating more resources to the Trading District over the following years.
After revealing Blostars' future to the girls, everything was discussed in several meetings with the entire company. No one expected it to happen so soon. More importantly, it was going to be a huge blow despite the decision feeling like the right thing to do.Even though it took multiple weeks to come up with a plan, we were all able to come to an agreement.The first part of the plan was to schedule a press conference, for which GIMA's HQ didn't have space. We asked TOTOT to lend us theirs, and they accepted without asking any questions. However, I had another request.The longer we waited, the more likely it was for the announcements to get leaked. So, the day of the press conference arrived in the blink of an eye.Walking out of the green room and seeing dozens of ca
Even though we were in a proper venue on Plaraqor, it only had a capacity for five hundred Plaqories, who were similar in size to Humans. Still, the space backstage was very limited. The entire team couldn't fit in the green room at once. Luckily, that was a rare occurrence as most of them were working elsewhere. Sanae finally stepped out of the bathroom after fifteen minutes. I walked in and washed my hands and my face to freshen up, then I approached the toilet to use it. However, I hadn't even unzipped my pants when Sanae's yell made me jolt. "Who ate my sour candies?!" I sighed. Now what? All of GIMA's team in the room glanced at each other in silence when I stepped out. I Became the Manager of the First Galactical Idols
Ms. Yoshida and I agreed on the time later in the day, and the next morning arrived before I realized it. There was no need to wear something too formal since we had known each other for a while, but that decision backfired as soon as I stood in front of the glass door of the meeting room at TOTOT Studios. A suited man was sitting at the same table as Ms. Yoshida, not too far away from her, which caused me to freeze in place. Could that be…? My eyes met with Ms. Yoshida's, so I had no choice but to step in. "It's great to see you, Mr. Miyahara," greeted Ms. Yoshida. "Thank you for coming." "Good morning, Ms. Yoshida," I replied as I approached the table. The Third Final Stretch
Work accelerated despite the uncertainty of the tour, and before we realized it, all of the songs had been written. Life Is Life, the title track, was the perfect introduction to the album. It described what life was and what it meant for any living being in an uplifting manner. Umi had done an incredible job using concepts that were easy to understand. Shapes & Colors, the second song of the album, talked about how life is life, no matter the shape or the color, the body or the culture. It had an uplifting tone just like the title track. Barriers was the third song of the album, making it clear that every species had its own challenges and problems to deal with. More than uplifting, it was a reminder that we really couldn't meddle in another species' life. We Ar
An hour passed. I watched Aki sew Blostars' costume with the new ideas she had for the third album. Aside from small details that made reference to the album, she wanted to add a new layer of fabric to the skirt to give it more depth. I instantly agreed when I saw it. Then, the invitation qmail arrived. The location was the most important conference hall in the city, where the government always announced important stuff. That was where the ex-president, Sanae's and Risa's father, confessed his actions and revealed that he was stepping down as the president. Regardless, it was a beautiful place, surrounded by the most elegant garden I had ever seen. The invitation also included the time, which was the next day before noon, and the dress code, which was strictly formal. It made Aki happy because I was going to wear
Time froze as I stared at the Furenoo aiming at us. It was obvious they were a Furenoo, yet I had to be truly confident they were a bad person. Regardless, there was no time to think. Even though every movement I made was processed by my brain in an instant, my body moved at the speed of a snail. Everything around me had slowed down. Finally, my arm had been lifted high enough so that my stun gun aimed at the Furenoo. I just needed to pull the trigger, but before being able to do so, a distant shot made my eyes shut. After an eternity of silence, a loud thud made my eyes open again. The Furenoo that was aiming at us was now convulsing on the floor. They had been shot by another security guard that had appeared from the other corridor. The security guard next to me wa
We hugged as a team after that, then we let the girls rest. That didn't last for long, however. The owner of the bar only knocked on the door once and opened it before we could even answer. He stood in front of me and looked me in the eye. "Please perform again tomorrow." A sigh of relief came out of my mouth. There were no plans for the following day, so I eagerly accepted. "Sure." He smiled and stepped out of the room without saying anything. The girls laughed and continued to rest for several minutes. Once they felt rested enough, it was time to proceed with the second part of the plan. We grabbed as much as we could of the merchandise we had been able to bring with us an