Worth for Celebration

My latest novel Blow: a CTCT Spin-off has just ended. I'm participating with it in MAL's contest. I hope you can support me by reading it and sharing it if you like it.

Remember that IBMFGI is 40 chapters ahead on other platforms that you can find on my website.

Edited by RedPandaChick

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The girls wanted to take a shower as soon as possible, so they took turns to shower one by one. Meanwhile, there was a lot of equipment to disassemble, but the crowd was still heading out of the café.

Several minutes later, the place was empty enough for Aya, Tomokazu, Miki, Satō, and I to start disassembling everything. We walked into the café and the few people that remained inside clapped at us. I didn't know how to react until Aya hit my arm.

"Wave and smile," she whispered.

Not having time to properly process what she said, I complied and waved and smiled at the small group of people. They seemed content before walking out of the café.

"It wasn't so hard, was it?" Aya smirked.

"Yeah, but I shouldn't be the center of attention here."

"They know your face and they know you're behind the group, you'll be the center of attention in situations like these, whether you like it or not."

"But—"

"Excuse me," a guy wearing a black sweater in front of the platform called me. "You're the manager of Blostars, right?"

Where did he even come from?

Aya hit my arm again.

"Yes, I am," I hastily replied. "Wait, aren't you the same guy that asked for the girls to shake your hand?"

"I am," he giggled. "I apologize if that was too weird."

"No, that was perfectly fine. It made us realize some things we hadn't thought about before."

His eyes opened wide before he grinned. "I'm glad to hear that. I just came to tell you that the show was awesome."

Although I was confident about the result, hearing him say that boosted my confidence even further.

"Thank you, we really appreciate that."

The guy continued scratching his neck. "I… I also came to see if there was a chance to meet Blostars again. Maybe ask them to sign my backpack and notebook."

Notebook? It's not weird to see someone that prefers a notebook over glasses, but it's rare for sure.

"I'm sorry, we didn't plan anything for after the show," I replied. "The girls would gladly do it even though they are exhausted, but it will be a little while before they are ready. I'd recommend you wait for another opportunity. Believe me, there will be many."

Although his disappointment became apparent, he still smiled. "I see. I was just trying my luck, but I'll patiently wait. I won't take any more of your time."

He turned around to walk away, but I couldn't let him go like that after supporting us this much.

"Wait," I stopped him. "Could you send me your contact? It wouldn't be nice if we didn't give anything in return to our first fan."

His eyes sparkled. "Are you serious? I don't want to be an annoyance."

"Don't worry about it. We'll contact you once we have something to tell you."

"Okay. Here's my contact then."

A notification instantly appeared on my glasses, requesting to add a contact to my contact list. I accepted and the notification closed.

Weird. It says I've had one call with him before.

"Thanks again," the guy grinned. "I'll be waiting for the call."

"Sure. Have a nice evening. Thank you for supporting us."

He walked away and exited the café. Kiku, observing what had happened, stepped away from the counter and approached Aya and me.

"Look at Mr. Manager, all famous and everything," Kiku smirked. She glanced at Aya. "I don't think we've met before."

"She's Aya, the company's PR manager and my older sister. Aya, she's Kiku, the owner of the café and close friends with Sanae and Risa."

"It's nice to meet you," Aya slightly bowed.

"It's nice to meet you too," Kiku replied. "Can you believe he wouldn't introduce us to each other if we didn't ask him to?"

"I know. I can't understand how he can be this capable of running a company yet forgets about the simplest things."

Even though they smiled at me, I could sense that they weren't smiles of kindness. I don't like where this relationship is going.

"Anyway," Kiku continued. "It seems like you need help again."

"Yes, but don't you need to do other things?" I asked.

"I do, actually. The less time my stuff spends in the warehouse, the less money I'll spend on the rent. Sorry, Mr. Manager."

"Don't worry, you've already done a lot by letting us use your café."

"Well, I can't say no to my rude dames. Besides doing this is an investment into the popularity of the café. I need to take care of some things. Tell the girls they did an amazing job."

"I already did."

She smirked at me before walking away.

"See? We need merchandise ASAP," Tomokazu said as he approached me.

"I know, but we can't afford that now."

"There are other things we can afford that will have a similar effect."

"You've got my attention. I'm all ears."

We discussed a few plans to gain more popularity and satisfy fans' needs as we disassembled the stage. We didn't agree on everything, but we made good progress in our next steps for the near future.

By the time we disassembled everything and carried the boxes into the vans, the girls had finished showering. We all climbed into the vans and headed back to HQ. Since it was Sunday, we just carried the boxes into the tiny storage room next to the reception area. Everyone should've gone home, but I had other plans.

"Do you have plans this evening?" I asked in general. We stood in the reception area, about to head out. "I want to treat everyone to dinner to celebrate an amazing performance and the album's release."

"How can we say no to free food?" Butcher smiled.

"I wouldn't put it that way, but I agree," Satō added.

"Indeed," Tomokazu nodded.

"Let's go, then," I said.

I waited for everyone to exit the building. Only Aya and I remained inside. About to step out, she grasped my shoulder.

"Little brother, aren't we a little tight on money?"

It had been a while since I had seen her murderous stare; a smile that could kill anyone.

"Yes, but we're going to a cheap restaurant."

"You're going to take us to a cheap place to celebrate something this important?"

"It doesn't sound good if you say it like that…."

She sighed. "I'm just testing you. I wanted to see a little of your thought process behind your decisions."

"What? Why would you want to do that with such a simple decision?"

"It's not that simple if you're going to spend quite a bit of money on food for everyone, but I agree with it. This might be one of the last times we can have a normal outing before the group becomes too famous for the girls to be able to even walk on the street."

"Yeah, I've thought about that. It sounds presumptuous, but that's the goal."

Aya smiled. "Come on, let's not keep them waiting."

We stepped out of the building and joined everyone else on the sidewalk. As a group, we walked to the restaurant Sanae, Risa, and I had gone to a few weeks back. As usual, we received judgmental gazes from the people around us, but they had lowered to a tolerable level in the past week.

We arrived a few minutes later and sat at two separate tables close to each other since we were a big group. We ordered food and, soon enough, we started eating. Like last time, the food wasn't exceptional, but it was more than worth it for the price.

The outing came to an end once we finished eating. Butcher, Sanae, and Risa headed home together; Satō and Miki went their separate ways; and Aya accompanied Astra to her home.

Aki, Umi, Tomokazu, and I walked together to the university's apartment blocks. I hadn't realized that Umi and Tomokazu lived in the same building. We dropped them off and headed to Aki's apartment since we had decided to spend the night there.

When we arrived at the door of her apartment, Professor Fuku surprised us from behind.

"Good evening, lovebirds," she smirked. "How did the show go?"

"We couldn't have asked for a better outcome," I replied.

Aki hadn't even stopped to look at Professor Fuku. She merely entered the apartment and dropped dead on the bed.

"Sorry, she's been a bit off for the last thirty minutes," I giggled. "She hardly said a word while we walked here, which is very strange for her."

"No need to apologize, I've known her since she was a baby. Well, I'd better leave you to it. Don't do anything irresponsible."

She walked away and entered her apartment. I don't think we could even if we wanted to today.

I stepped into the apartment and locked the door. I approached Aki on the bed and she was already asleep, so I didn't bother her.

Since Aki and I had visited each other's apartments quite often, we both had clothes dispersed between the two. I quickly found an outfit good enough for sleeping and took a shower. Aki was still asleep when I returned. There wasn't much else to do, so I lay down next to her. Not even a minute later, her arm wrapped around my chest.

I used my glasses to search for reactions to the album. I found several of them but struggled to formulate any proper conclusions within my sleepiness. Before I realized it, I started drifting away into sleep, but a sudden thought attacked my mind and made me sit up in a jump.

The black sweater guy…. Could he be the hacker?