Midnight Zero

Sunday arrived and it was time to go to Kiku's café. We prepared everything just as we had last time and the girls performed in front of even more people. The tables were all occupied and some people even had to stand. Jun and Tomokazu were there again too.

The performance went great. People seemed to like the latest song—Forever Gravity—and we added an intermission so the girls could chat more with their audience. There were no accidents and I didn't notice any details that needed to be addressed.

The girls and I chatted in the storage room afterward, delighted with the results. We also talked about how the mysterious guy from the previous week hadn't appeared again. They felt a bit sad about it, thinking he didn't like them anymore, but I told them that there could be many reasons for his lack of presence. Still, they seemed sad.

We didn't have anything to do until the next day, so I went home and rested. About to sleep for the night, I got a call exactly at midnight. I put my glasses on.

Unknown? Since when do unknown contacts exist?

Curious, I answered. "Hello?"

"Good morning, Mr. Miyahara."

His voice is absurdly deep, even deeper than Butcher's. And it's midnight…

"Wait, who are you? How do you know my name?"

"That doesn't matter. I'm calling you to talk business."

"Oh. Do you want to do business with Blostars?"

"Indeed."

"Great! But isn't it a weird time to call?"

"I prefer to do it like this. It's peaceful."

"Sure…. Do you have a proposal?"

"I do."

"I'm all ears."

"Give me one million terras and I won't spill your secrets," he replied. Terra was Earth's global currency.

"Eh?"

"I won't repeat myself, Mr. Miyahara. That's my business proposal. If you don't send me the money this week, I will—"

I hung up and immediately called the police. However, when they asked for my call logs, there was no trace of the call. Still, I allowed the police to continuously monitor my future calls until the problem was solved.

Right after hanging up, a message from a nameless sender arrived. It was a bank account number. I decided to get out of bed and go to the nearest police station. However, they couldn't track the account number. It was as if it didn't exist. They told me they had seen cases like this throughout the past years and they were never solved.

As disheartening as it was, they told me they were getting close to solving it thanks to the reports of so many people over the years. There was nothing I could do other than to wait.

I felt anxious the entire morning. I decided not to tell anyone about it since it was only going to make them concerned.

It was time to go to the studio and continue the day as an ordinary workday. Even though it was Tomokazu's first day, he already had dozens of ideas for merchandising: clothes, caps, mugs, wristbands, glasses cases, and even figurines. He also proposed selling Humas, but I thought it was too soon for that. Not to mention expensive.

It was hard to concentrate with the music and the girls dancing next to us. I knew we needed to get an office as soon as possible, but that had to wait.

As Tomokazu and I chatted about the details of his ideas, someone knocked on the door. I opened it and it was Aya, who had come for the PR interview. I stepped out and stood in front of her. She wore a very formal outfit, fitting for an interview.

"Hi, Aya. Are you sure about this?"

"I applied for the job, didn't I? Also, this doesn't seem very professional."

"I don't have the money to make it seem professional yet. That's why the salary is so low. And that's why I wondered how you found my offer and why you applied for it."

She sighed. "This isn't going to be about my PR skills, is it?"

"I've already seen them in action for years."

"Very well. I've been looking for a job ever since the company closed. Having that on my resume has destroyed all of my opportunities. At first, I tried applying to the big companies, with no luck. Then I tried at the small companies and even startups; that didn't work either. The only option left was to check the public job listing. Most of them were from well-known companies, so I knew they wouldn't accept me. Then I saw your offer. It was far from attractive, but I can't stay jobless any longer."

"So, you had no other choice than to apply for your little brother's new, small, business with the lowest salary possible."

"Basically. But I would be lying if I said I wasn't interested in it."

"At least that's something," I said. "Since I already know your skills and experience, I'll just tell you what you're going to do as the PR manager. You'll handle the social media accounts and their posts; you'll negotiate business proposals like photoshoots, interviews, appearances, etc.; you'll look for opportunities for performances and schedule them; and you'll be the company's spokesperson."

"That's quite the list of duties. I was already going to be underpaid, but this is straight-up abuse."

"I'm really sorry. Those jobs need to be fulfilled and I can't hire anyone else until we start earning money. When that happens, I'll increase everyone's salaries."

"As if you didn't know me. I was kidding. Kind of. I'll do it. But, since there isn't much info about your company online, I need some answers before signing the contract."

"Sure. What is it?"

"At the dinner we had weeks ago, you told us that you started an idol group. But now you're saying that it is a company. Am I going to work for the group or for the company?"

"The company. It's an agency. Didn't you see the name in the post?"

"I did: Galactical Idols Management Agency. So, your company is a management agency for idol groups that will travel around the galaxy."

"Exactly."

"Are you the CEO of the company or the group's manager?"

"Both."

She squinted her eyes at me, thoughtful. "You know that's going to be impossible in the future, right? Once the group becomes famous and the company is well established, you'll have to choose between handling the paperwork or managing the group. You can't do both."

"Don't worry, I've thought about that."

"I'll take your word for it," she smirked. "Okay, I'll sign the contract."

I put my glasses on and sent her the contract. She only read it for a few minutes before signing it. Even though she had experience, it was very fast. She probably trusted in me enough to be comfortable accepting it without reading it letter by letter.

"Done. I start today, huh?"

I nodded. "Follow me."

We stepped back into the dance studio. The girls and Tomokazu stared at us as we walked to the center of the room.

"Everyone, I want to present to you the new PR manager: Aya Miyahara."

They clapped and Aya bowed with a smile.

"Thank you. It's nice to meet you. I look forward to working together."

"Wait, Miyahara? Are you related to Kaito?" Sanae wondered.

"I am. He's my brother."

"You're Kaito's sister?!" Astra shouted.

"Yes—"

The girls—except Umi—suddenly approached Aya and surrounded her.

"You look so mature!" Astra continued.

"T-Thanks…"

"And you're so pretty," Risa added.

"Your skin looks so well taken care of and your hair so smooth," Aki said. "Has Kaito told you about me?"

I let out a long and deep breath. Really?

"He hasn't," Aya answered, confused.

"He should've," Aki glared at me. "I'm Aki Akane, one of Blostars' members. And I'm Kaito's girlfriend," she smirked.

The whole room was encompassed in silence. Everyone stared at me, shocked. Sanae seemed to be the most affected, looking at the floor with a frown.

This is going to need clarification later…

"N-Nice to meet you," Aya replied.

"I'm Astra Celeste," she beamed.

"I'm Sanae."

"And I'm Risa, Sanae's sister."

"It's nice to meet you all," Aya smiled. She then glanced at Umi, who was sitting at the other side of the room.

Umi's cheeks got pink for a split second before she approached them.

Huh?

"I'm Umi Adachi."

"Nice to meet you, Adachi," Aya smiled.

Umi's cheeks flushed again before she turned away to sit again.

Did she…? No, it can't be.

They stayed silent for a moment, so I continued the conversation.

"Apart from being members, they have done a lot of work behind the scenes. Aki made the costumes from scratch, Umi makes the songs and records them, and they all work together to come up with the choreography."

"Amazing," Aya replied. "You're all so talented."

They giggled, while Umi seemed embarrassed.

"And the other worker here is Tomokazu. He's the merchandising manager. He just started today as well."

He stood up and approached us.

"Good afternoon, Aya. Long time no see."

"Hello, Tomokazu. I see you dyed your hair and grew quite tall."

"I'm a changed man."

They had met many times in the past since I invited Tomokazu to the house. They always seemed to get along well, probably because Tomokazu was quite courteous. Opposite of Jun, whom Aya didn't like in the slightest. He always tried to impress her and she quickly grew tired of it.

"Jun also works with us from time to time, but only under commissions," I continued.

"Good," Aya replied. "If Tomokazu works here, does that mean that he stopped studying?"

"In effect," Tomokazu answered. "I was hired last week but was unable to start working officially until today."

"I see. Kaito, you have a wonderful team. I'm eager to start working with everyone."

"I'm glad to hear that. Girls, Aya will be working with you closely, just like Tomokazu. They need to get a good understanding of the group and yourselves so that they can bring about the best results."

"Understood!" they replied.

"Any questions?"

Sanae raised her hand. She seemed serious. "Can you explain your situation with Aki?"

"I meant questions about Aya or Tomokazu…," I said. I let out a long sigh. "I guess it's better if I tell you now. Yes, Aki and I are together. That's it. Let's not treat it like a secret, but try your best not to tell anybody. Understood?"

"Yes!" they replied.

Sanae's serious expression had switched to a slight frown of disappointment.

I think I should talk to her. Maybe go somewhere with Risa and her next weekend.

"If there are no more questions, please go back to work," I said. The girls walked away to resume dancing. "Aya, let's start by watching the recordings of the two performances so far."

"Sure."

The rest of the day went smoothly and so did the week. Another song was finished—called Cherryish Life—and a social media account was made. Everything was ready for Sunday's performance.

It was Saturday, the day Sanae, Risa, and I had planned to meet to eat outside. However, I got woken up by someone repeatedly knocking on my apartment's door early in the morning. There was no sunlight coming through the window yet.

I put my glasses on to see a suited man standing outside of the apartment. Confused, I stood up to open the door.

"Hello?"

"Good morning!" the man vigorously smiled. "Are you Mr. Kaito Miyahara?"

"Yes…"

"Magnificent! I'm here to offer my services as a lawyer."

"Wait, what? Isn't this kind of advertising forbidden?"

"Well, contemplating your situation, I believe it's quite a reasonable offer."

"My situation?"

"Hm? Have you not seen the news? It happened a few hours ago. Maybe you were asleep."

As he talked, I looked at the news on my glasses and a picture of Sanae and Risa immediately appeared.

The president's affair with his maid: his secret daughters are idols…? Oh shit.

—

Thank you for reading up to this chapter. The rest of the novel is currently being published exclusively on other platforms with locked chapters. I hope you can keep supporting me, but I understand if you don't. I'll publish the rest of the chapters here in the future.