Sound Changes II

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 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."

"Sure, but we can't give instructions to Umi."

"Just tell the rest of the girls when they aren't singing. I'll stand on the stairs with the microphone. Umi will see me."

"Understood."

The song continued and Miki told the girls what we were going to do when there was a chance. Luckily, Umi didn't have to sing for the rest of the song, but it was obvious the microphone wasn't working when all of the girls needed to sing.

The lights turned white when the song ended. As I expected, Umi turned toward the stairs and saw me. She jogged to approach me and took the broken microphone off to hand it to me as I handed her the new microphone. She rushed back to her position while putting the microphone on. We could breathe again when it was her time to talk and the microphone worked.

Five minutes later, the concert ended. The girls said goodbye and waved as they walked off stage. To our surprise, the crowd not only cheered, but they also chanted 'Blostars'.

I pulled the curtain open for the girls to walk into the hallway. As soon as I stepped past the curtain, Astra jumped at me and squeezed me. The rest of the girls joined soon after, including Umi.

"You were amazing," I said. "But you're sweating too much."

They tightened the hug when I said that.

"Alright, alright. Go hydrate and take a shower, you must be exhausted."

"Yes!" they replied.

They left the microphones on the table and, before walking away, Aki gave me a peck on the lips. I stared at her as she turned left into the next hallway.

"Young man," Butcher called me through Talkie before I could think of anything.

"Yes?"

"Someone from the crowd wants to talk to you, he says you know him."

"What's his name?"

"He doesn't want to tell me."

My heart sunk. Please don't tell me it's Chiharu.

"I'm coming."

I turned around and walked back through the curtain. I saw Butcher's back next to the barrier. He moved aside once I approached him and a short and skinny guy appeared behind him wearing a black face mask. He pulled it down and I recognized him right away.

"Hey," he greeted me timidly.

Ceruty?

My first reaction was to take off my glasses and leave them on the table next to me. I approached him again and stared at him. He wouldn't keep eye contact with me.

"How do I know you're the real you?" I asked.

"I… don't know. You'll have to trust me," he laughed nervously.

It wasn't enough to be completely sure, but I had no other choice. Nonetheless, it became more obvious he wasn't Chiharu the more we talked. There were too many people around to talk properly, so we decided to meet again the next day at an arcade in the middle of the city. He then left.

The concert was a success and, since the venue was in charge of gathering up the equipment to send it to HQ the next morning, we decided to celebrate at a nearby restaurant. The food wasn't worth the price and we had to sit at two different tables, but we didn't care about that.

Aya, Aki, Umi, Tomokazu, Miki, Satō, and I drank alcoholic beverages, while Butcher decided not to. The rest of the girls weren't allowed to drink alcohol yet, so they drank normal drinks.

It became obvious that it was the first time Umi had drunk alcohol after her second round. Her entire face flushed and she became incredibly talkative. She even asked Aya if she was into women. We stared at them in absolute silence until Umi asked for another round to break the ice, but we stopped her.

It was time to go home, so Aki, Tomokazu, and I accompanied Umi all the way to her apartment. Tomokazu took the elevator up since he lived in the same building and Aki and I headed to Aki's apartment to spend the night.

Our equipment arrived at HQ at noon the following day. We then made reports of the concert to see that, thanks to selling all the tickets and almost all of the merchandise, we had successfully increased the deadline for going bankrupt by three weeks. Again, a month and a half was far from enough; that added yet another problem to the pile of things I had to worry about.

Half of the day passed by and it was time to meet with Ceruty. I left my glasses on my desk and stood up.

"I'll go take a walk," I said to Aya and Tomokazu.

Because I had never done that, they stared at me in confusion. I hated lying to them like that, but I had no other choice.

I left HQ and walked to the nearby monorail station. It was practically empty since it was the middle of the afternoon. I reached the center of the city in a minute and arrived at the arcade in another two.

Again, it was practically empty since it was the middle of the afternoon. I had just stepped inside when I saw Ceruty sitting down on a sofa next to the entrance. I approached him and he jumped up. We stared at each other in silence.

"Let's play some air hockey," I said.

He nodded and we walked to the air hockey table on the other side of the arcade. Since I used to come to play with Jun and Tomokazu a lot, I knew where every game was.

We both grabbed a paddle and set in position to start playing. The table asked for us to confirm the transaction to start playing.

"I'll pay," Ceruty said and pressed a button on the panel of the table.

The transaction was completed in a split second and a puck shot out from inside the rail of the table. It moved on its own to place itself in the middle of the table. A hologram displayed a countdown from five to zero and we started playing. Of course, we weren't there to play, so we took it easy.

He wouldn't say anything, so I did.

"How are you?"

"Awful," he answered.

"Can imagine. What happened after you ended the live stream?"

He stayed silent for a while. "Aren't you going to ask why I lie to thousands of people by acting like a girl?"

"I don't want to sound rude, but I don't care about that. You're doing an amazing job and that's what matters to me."

He glanced at me and then looked down at the table. "I couldn't stop the live stream, so I took off my glasses and stepped on them."

"Are you not wearing any now?"

"No. And I don't plan to buy a new pair anytime soon."

My blood boiled. "What are you going to do?"

"Luckily, my family is very lovely, so I'll move with them until I feel safe and comfortable again."

"That's good to hear. May I ask why you came to meet me?"

The puck entered Ceruty's goal and my score increased by one. He looked at me and, for the first time since meeting him in person, his eyes stayed still.

"Was it the same hacker that leaked your stuff?" he asked.

I took a moment to answer, "Probably. This happened because you associated with us. You don't know how guilty I feel about it."

"Don't worry, I don't blame you. I actually went to the concert because I wanted to watch Blostars live. The other reason is that I wanted to ask if you could hire me."

The puck went through my goal and Ceruty's score increased by one; we were now tied.

"You want to work with us after everything that's happened?" I asked.

He nodded. "You just said that you like my work and I like Blostars. I also think we have good chemistry to work together."

I frowned and stayed silent for a while. "I would love to, but we can't right now. The company might not even exist in two months if I don't take drastic measures. I'm really sorry."

"Then I'll wait."

My frown disappeared and my eyes opened wide. "What do you mean?"

"I'm sure you'll figure something out. Blostars are special; they are here to stay for a long while."

My blood boiled even hotter than before. Why does everyone trust me like this? I don't deserve it. I don't even trust myself.

Suddenly, the table rang and congratulated me for winning the match. I had scored another goal without realizing it.

I stood still and Ceruty stared at me, waiting for my reply.

"How am I going to contact you? You don't have glasses," I said.

"Let's meet here again in… two months, you said? The company will be doing better than ever and you'll be able to hire me," he grinned.

He's now acting like the Ceruty I knew.

I walked around the table and approached him.

"I'm sorry!" he stuttered. "Did I cross the line?"

I raised my hand in front of him. He stared down at it for a moment before laughing nervously and shaking it.

Knowing he would be doing well was one thing less to worry about. The next thing I had to worry about was my graduation.