The First Final Stretch

I'm currently publishing my latest novel Blow: a CTCT Spin-off for MAL's contest. I hope you can support me by reading it and sharing it if you like it.

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Edited by RedPandaChick

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"So, what conclusions have you come to?" I asked. "Satō, go first."

"Yes," she replied. "The choreographies are cute and energetic enough. They tell the story of the songs nicely and the energy is well distributed between the sections of each song. The energy is also balanced among all the other songs overall and they aim at the same audience. However, they lack fundamental things like more dynamic movements, character, and collaboration."

I stared at her. This is why we needed a professional.

"And what are your suggestions?" I asked.

"To revise them. As I said, they are good enough already, they just need some details."

"How long will that take?"

"It depends. The revisions should be done within a week, but the girls must unlearn what they practiced and learn again. That could take another week or two."

"I trust in the girls, they will do it faster than you think. What are your thoughts about Astra?"

"Astra? She makes a few more mistakes than the other girls and her movements are a bit stiff, but nothing that can't be worked with."

"I see. Her dancing skills weren't very sharp when the group was formed, so the rest of the girls helped her to improve a lot. I hope you will help her as well."

"That's amazing! Yes, I'll teach her."

"Great. Miki, what conclusions have you come to?"

Miki's posture stiffened. "The story, lyrics, composition, and production of the songs are wonderful. As I said, I can't help much with that but, on the technical side, there's a lot to be improved. The recording of the instruments is good enough if you want to stay with that, but the voice tracks need to be recorded again; the quality is all over the place."

"How long will that take? Do you need new equipment?" I asked.

"Around two weeks, depending on when the girls are available to record. The current recording equipment is fine; it can be improved, but there's no need to. I didn't see any equipment for live performances, though."

"Ah, I had forgotten about that, thanks for reminding me. Please make a list of what we'll need for that."

"Understood. The instruments won't be played live, right?"

"There are no plans for that, no. Maybe in the future."

"Will the vocals be playback?"

"No, the girls will sing live."

"Understood. I'll have the list ready by tomorrow."

"Alright. It'll be better if I make a schedule and send it to everyone to avoid time issues with the girls. Does that sound good?"

"Yes," they both answered.

"Great. You can start working. Also, you don't need to wait for me to arrive before you can go to your workplaces; you can go in as soon as you arrive."

They nodded before walking out of the office. I took a deep breath but cut it short when I remembered Aya making fun of me the previous day.

I sat at my new, empty desk, and rested my arms on it.

Everything's progressing well. They said work will be done in two or three weeks; should I set the announcement date for three weeks from now? By that time, we'd already have a release date to announce. That means I need to commission Jun to make the art now. I also need to register the copyright by then.

A notification popped up on my glasses and interrupted my thoughts. Sanae and Risa entered the building, accompanied by Butcher. They arrived at the office not long later and knocked on the glass door.

"Come in," I replied.

They stepped in. Butcher followed Sanae and Risa. He wore an unbuttoned gray suit jacket and a white buttoned shirt beneath. He slightly frowned and his eyes wouldn't stop moving. Even Aya and Tomokazu seemed surprised for a second.

"Good morning," Sanae smirked.

"Good morning, young man," Butcher smiled. He looked at Aya and Tomokazu and bowed at them. "Good morning, Aya and Tomokazu. I hope you had a productive moving week."

"We should be the ones saying that to you," Aya replied. "Did you have any problems? How's the new place?"

"No, it was just a bit stressful to have such a short amount of time."

"Sorry for that," I giggled.

"It wasn't your fault, young man. The place is tiny, but it's more than enough for us. It is more in the center of the district, so everything's closer, but there's also more noise."

"Worry not," Tomokazu said. "You'll be able to move into a palace within the coming months."

Sanae and Risa giggled, while Aya and I sighed.

"Butcher, are you here for what I think you're here for?" I wondered.

He nodded. "I'm ready to become the girls' bodyguard."

"Please take a seat," I smiled, referring to the new chair I had bought for occasions like these. "Sanae, Risa, please head to the dance studio. You don't want to give a bad impression this soon."

They nodded and walked out.

Butcher sat down in front of me and I explained the duties he would have. I sent him the contract and answered his questions for the next ten minutes until he signed it.

"That's it, welcome to GIMA," I said. "As the contract stipulated, you'll start working tomorrow."

His smile couldn't get any broader. "Thank you. What should I wear?"

"Your current outfit is good."

"Alright."

He stood up and bowed at the three of us before walking out of the office. Seeing him that happy made me feel better.

"Kaito," Aya called me, sitting at her desk. "I don't want to be a spoilsport but, how long will the company survive with the current income?"

"Two months."

She sighed. "We need an accountant as soon as possible."

"Aren't you complaining about me hiring too many people?"

"Just hire one with the first paycheck we get."

"I will. And don't worry, we'll know our future soon; we're in the final stretch now."

Although the days felt slow, they seemed to fly by when I thought back. Everything progressed as planned and, as I had expected, the girls far surpassed Satō's expectations. The re-recording went well too, with not many problems that slowed us down.

Nonetheless, I wanted to see the process with my own eyes, so I set out to visit both of the studios to observe.

Aya, Tomokazu, and I arrived at the dancing studio a few minutes after the workday had begun. The girls stopped dancing and stared at us in confusion as we stepped in.

"Sorry for interrupting," I apologized as we sat down on the chairs. "Please don't mind us and continue dancing."

"We can't just ignore the fact that our boss is here," Satō giggled. "May I ask the reason?"

"We want to observe the process of practicing and recording. In my case, I want to see how everything's going. In Aya's and Tomokazu's case, they'll get ideas for the marketing."

"Alright," Satō grinned. "Girls, let's get back to it."

They resumed their dancing. Specifically, they practiced the choreography of Blossom Stars. Thanks to its cheerfulness and emotion, it was perfect for it to be the introductory song of the album and the shows we were going to perform.

Compared to the original choreography, this one was more polished. As Satō had said, the movements were energetic enough already, but they lacked small details to make them explosive. It was incredible to see how the song now had personality with such small changes, like where the girls looked and the transition between each step.

Although I knew barely anything about choreography to build a proper review, the revisions were significant enough for me to notice that they had improved. The girls had also improved a lot.

The first break of the day arrived an hour later. We ordered food with the girls in mind to avoid affecting their voices. Even though we followed the instructions from multiple articles and avoided general things like soda and fried food, they all reacted differently to the food. It was a good idea for us to experiment with that now that we had the chance.

After eating, Aki was the first one to go into the recording booth. Since the girls didn't always have to be there at the same time, they recorded in turns.

Miki and I sat on the other side of the window, listening to Aki sing and both giving her instructions or asking her to sing differently. As Miki had explained, the quality of the voice tracks needed to improve. It became obvious when I compared the new recordings with the old ones.

I stayed to listen to all of the girls' recording sessions, each one taking between thirty minutes and an hour. Listening to them and watching them dance gave me the last push of inspiration I needed. It really was the final stretch.