Somehow, I was back at HQ. It felt like a normal day as I walked down the sidewalk and climbed the short stairs to the entrance.
Even though the reception area was already relatively empty, it was even emptier today. The sofa and plants were gone.
As confused as I was, I still headed to the main office, just to find out it was empty too.
Now worried, I stepped back and into the art department, just to find the same emptiness.
Where is everyone?
I turned around and jogged upstairs to check every room, to no avail. There was not a single object or soul to be seen.
Finally, I entered the dance studio. Weirdly enough, everything seemed normal inside, but neither Satō nor the
The more Mr. Mochizuki explained his plan, the less I wanted to hear it. My silence made him realize I wasn't buying any of it, yet he insisted. His smile turned into a frown. "I know it doesn't sound like the smartest thing to do, but I assure you it'll give us more information than if we didn't do it, meaning you'll also get answers to the questions you have also." I glanced at Aya, who stood next to the bed and looked at me pensively. Even though I wanted to do it, it didn't seem like the best thing to do. At the same time, the window to take advantage of her fragile mental state wasn't going to last much longer. "Do you think you can do it for us?" Mr. Mochizuki asked. My mind wouldn't stop giving me reasons not to do it the more I thought about it, so I simply s
A few minutes had passed when the door opening beside me woke me up from my thoughts. One of the two nurses that had entered Chiharu's room stepped out and walked away. It didn't seem like anything serious. Mr. Mochizuki took advantage of me coming back to reality to say, "I'll give you some time to relax. There are some things I need to take care of anyway. I'll see you later." "Sure," I replied. Once he was gone, I asked Aya and the nurse from earlier to help me stand up and walk back to my room. The pain had weakened a lot by the time I lay down on the bed, yet the nurse gave me a quick check-up and glued the sensors back onto my body. The nurse asked me to relax before leaving, then Aya did the same, but worries about practically everything kept bugging my mind.
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."<
To summarize, Mom and Dad were obviously far from happy since I had hidden things from them. Despite trying my hardest to apologize, they wouldn't even let me talk. Although the rest of the team couldn't hear me being scolded like never before, my red face probably gave away my embarrassment. Fortunately, no one said anything, except for Aki, who kept chuckling at my side. It took six whole minutes of them ranting before I was able to say a word. The only way for me to calm them down was to promise them I was going to spend the next three days resting as the doctor had instructed. Once that was over, we spent the entire trip back home discussing the plans for the upcoming album. Two hours were far from enough to come up with a course of action, but the sun had already hidden behind the buildings of the city by th
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
Standing still in the middle of the room, I wondered, "Surprise?" Aya crossed her arms and nodded. "Do you want to hear it or not?" "Just spit it out already." "Three venue managers have called us so far." "Venue managers? For what?" I frowned. "What do you mean for what, you idiot? They called to ask us to perform at their venues." My mind went blank. "Huh?" She sighed and raised her voice, "They want Blostars to perform—" "I understood that!" I yelled. "Did three venues really reach out to us to perform at their venues?" "Why would I
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
With the album's release date out in public, we had to work even harder to get everything done on time. Aya became very busy with replying to messages on our social media accounts and business inquiries. Jun still had song cover art to make, as well as an animation. Miki had to work with him to design a stage for the tour while working on the songs, and Tomokazu also had to work with Jun to create new merchandise. Meanwhile, I did the necessary paperwork to register the copyright we needed while replying to business inquiries and finding more venues to perform at. Aside from not revealing that the collaboration was with Aeryx, we also didn't reveal that there was going to be a tour. There were very few shows scheduled, so I needed more time to find my way around them since it was my first time doing something like this. But that wasn't all. Although it wasn't
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