The concert continued without issues until the second to last song: Starry Sunrise. Umi's microphone suddenly stopped working during her section of the song. Fortunately, Aki quickly realized what was happening and sang for her since they both had a similar vocal range.
I approached Miki again. "What happened?"
"I'm not sure, her microphone just stopped working. She probably doesn't hear us either."
"There are more microphones, right?"
"Yes, in that box," he answered and pointed at a box on the desk.
I opened it and grabbed one of the three microphones. "The song will finish in two minutes, then the girls are going to give a short speech to introduce the last song. We'll swap at that moment."
As always, the lecture room was empty when I stepped in. Only Professor Fuku sat at her desk in front of the whiteboard. She stared down at the hologram projecting out of the desk, yet her eyes stayed still. I stood next to her and called her, "Professor Fuku?" She jumped on her chair. "Miyahara! You shouldn't do that, you could've given me a heart attack." It had been a while since I had seen her eyes open that wide. "I'm sorry," I smiled. "Don't worry," she chuckled and stared at me. "You seem happier than usual." "Well, it's finally presentation day after almost four years." "Yeah…," she sighed and looked down at the desk, yet her smile remained.
I sat up in a jump and stammered, "Good evening. No, it's no problem at all." "I'm glad to hear that," the man replied. "I was in the Business Administration project presentation of Saitama University a couple of days ago, the reason being that I was already interested in your company. I wanted to make sure you had a proper vision for it before recommending it to the CEO. It took me these last few days to convince him, that's why I'm calling at this time." No words came to my mind. I didn't even know what to think. I hadn't heard about Archilands Records before. What if it was a scam? Or maybe they just wanted to use us to get more popular. Maybe it was a mistake. The man laughed nervously, "I apologize, I always talk too much before asking: are you interested in this proposal?" I was in the middle of taking a shower when my glasses rang with a call. I walked out of the bathroom only wearing a towel and put my glasses on to see that the lawyer was calling. He had already worked extra without asking for more money, so I didn't want to make him wait. I answered the call and a hologram of him projected out of my glasses onto the floor. Luckily, he wasn't able to see me. "Good evening, Mr. Miyahara," he greeted me. "I just reviewed the contract, so everything's fresh in my head." "Great. What do you think?" "There's nothing wrong with it. Some of the terms might be a little harsh or ambiguous, but everything makes sense from the point of view of a company." "That's what I thought." "Why did you ask I Became the Manager of the First Galactical Idols Sound Changes V
Destroyed, I walked back to Aki's apartment. Thirty minutes remained before we needed to go to work, so I wanted to be alone with her until then. However, I stopped when I raised my hand to ring the bell. I wanted to be comforted, but not in the way Aki did. Instead, I walked to the neighboring apartment and rang the bell. Haru opened the door a few seconds later. "Kaito? I'm glad to see you, but what are you doing here? Don't you have work in half an hour?" she smiled. Her smile disappeared as soon as I said, "Can I come in for a bit?" She turned around to look inside her apartment before looking at me again and nodding. She held the door open for me to enter and closed it behind me. Her apartment was a little messy wit
Everyone sat in silence until the door opened and Haru appeared behind it. She waved and smiled. Aki stood up in a jump and shouted, "Aunt?!" "Hi, Aki," Haru giggled. "Why do you seem so shocked?" "I just… didn't expect it." Haru chuckled. I signaled her with my head to step in and so did she. She stood next to me in the middle of the studio. "She's your aunt?" Risa wondered. "I see the resemblance, now that I know it," Astra added. "I didn't see her face properly that time in the car," Umi said. "I'm sure I've seen her at Saitama University before." Haru replied, "Yes, I am… was a
As I talked with Jun in his apartment, my glasses started ringing and a name appeared on the screen. Talents Of The Old Tomorrow? Another company. Should I answer? "A call?" Jun wondered as he drank more of his beer. I nodded and sighed. "Looks like it's another company. I should answer, but it's late and I'm tired of dealing with this—" "Just answer." The glasses kept ringing as I sat in silence. Why am I even thinking of avoiding it? My glasses recognized my command and the call started. "Hello?" I said. "Good evening, Mr. Miyahara," a woman replied. "I'm very sorry to bother you this late, but we haven't found the time to call you until now." She sounded truly embarrassed. "Don't worry, I'm used to it," I joked, but I realized it didn't sound as I had expected it to sound; it even sounded cocky. I cleared my throat and asked, "What do you need?" "Yes. I'm calling on behalf of Talents Of The Old Tomorrow. We are a company with the goal of bringing classical music to the prese
We turned around to see Aeryx walking through the glass door. Oh, Ms. Yoshida meant her. "I thought you had already left," Ms. Yoshida laughed nervously. Aeryx replied with her hands on her waist, "And miss the opportunity to meet beautiful and talented girls?" The girls instantly perked up their chests and stood straight like soldiers. Aeryx chuckled and smirked, "Astra, Aki, Sanae, Risa, Umi, it's a pleasure to meet you. You only have one album, yet I'm already a fan of your work. I mean it." The girls grinned at each other and Sanae replied, "Thank you! We also admire your work, mostly Umi, she's a fan of yours." Everyone looked at Umi, who stared at Aeryx in shock. It took a couple of seconds for her to come back to reason. She shook her head and stammered, "Yes, I have been a fan of yours for almost three years." Her eyes kept moving up and down, barely making eye contact with Aeryx. "Since I started, then. I'm flattered. I know you wrote the songs for Blossom Stars. You're s
The meeting ended after several minutes of exchanging ideas and talking about their details. Both Aeryx and Ms. Yoshida walked with us to the entrance and we said goodbye as we stepped out. I called Butcher to tell him we were done and we stood in silence while we waited for him. No one could believe what had just happened. "What are we going to do until the first concert?" Risa wondered. "Nothing is officially established yet," I answered. "There's a lot of paperwork to do, but you will be working with Aeryx soon." Out of nowhere, Astra jumped at Risa and squeezed her while grinning. Risa's face grew red as the hug lasted for a few seconds. Astra eventually stepped back and apologized, "Sorry, I'm just very happy. I can't believe this is happening." "We all are very