Change

IBMFGI is ~30 chapters ahead on other platforms that you can find here: https://vidalhernandez.com/ibmfgi

Take a look at my Carrd to find more about me and my works: https://sosin.carrd.co/

Edited by RedPandaChick

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My parents and I stayed at the bridge for another hour, looking at the ships taking off and talking about good memories. They then drove me around the city to take me to other places I used to frequent in the past, including my schools and the restaurants we used to eat at as a family.

During dinner, Mom came up with the idea of giving a surprise visit to Takuya. I was up to the idea of teaching him to always be prepared for unwanted visitors, but as a fellow apartment owner who hated surprise visits, I couldn't do that to him. I also wanted to pay Aya back for what she did for me when I moved out.

Dad agreed with me, so he sent him a message behind Mom's back. However, we had to be clear that he couldn't make it obvious that he knew we were coming by making everything pristine.

To our surprise, he did a good job of hiding it from Mom. There were a couple piles of clothes on chairs and not everything was clean, but it wouldn't have made sense for those parts to be clean, to begin with. Mom didn't suspect a thing, so I slapped him in the back to congratulate him.

What I didn't congratulate him on was the food. Although it was good enough to survive, I couldn't complain because my cooking wasn't much better.

Since he was studying and working at the same time, we only planned to spend a couple of hours at his place not to bother him too much, but he insisted we stay a little longer every time we tried to leave. Soon enough, we found out he was delaying us so his partner had time to show up.

Our jaws dropped when he introduced him to us, but I felt happy for him once the shock subsided. My parents' smiles and gleaming eyes made it obvious they were even happier than me.

We left soon after, and as soon as we got in the car, Mom broke down. I hadn't seen her cry in years, but I understood why she did.

Time kept moving forward, forgetting about the past. Whether forgiving or punishing, it wasn't going to stop for anyone to take the time to reminisce.

One day, you would be sleeping in your parents' arms, the next day you were abandoning your childhood dreams to build new paths.

Luckily for me, I was able to relive part of my childhood on my last day at home. My parents had to leave for work for half of the day. Even though they felt bad to leave me alone without much to do, I was happy to simply lay on the sofa of the living room as I used to do when I was a teenager.

Out of nowhere, strange pressure squeezed my chest. I didn't feel like crying, yet a lump formed in my throat. I sat up and took a look around the living room, the dining room, and the kitchen, but I wasn't sure if that helped me calm down.

As much as I wanted to rest, the least I could do for my parents was to help them with the chores around the house. I quickly grew tired of it, however. Instead, I decided to cook one of the few meals I was confident I could cook thanks to Aki.

My parents grew silent when they saw the served dishes on the table. They even seemed upset for a moment, but they merely sighed and smiled before sitting down.

With the sun hiding on the horizon, Mr. Mochizuki appeared on the TV projected onto the wall of my former bedroom. The police finally revealed many details about their investigation into Chiharu: her name, the tools and vulnerabilities she used, and every attack she had made throughout the three years she had been active.

Of course, most people were interested in the ex-president controversy, but not me; I had been part of it. The most interesting stuff came from her smaller stunts, and the police said what I was thinking: the attacks seemed very specific and isolated. There weren't many, and although they could've been random, they were more likely to have more intricate reasons behind them, which Chiharu didn't reveal. The only odd case was Blostars', which they already knew she did out of revenge.

The coverage was still on TV when Aya messaged me to tell me about it. She also read my mind and stopped me from thinking about what the next steps for the company were.

I tried my hardest not to think about work, but it was impossible. Still, I managed to get a great rest, so I could return to my apartment first thing in the morning. My parents dropped me at the nearest station as they drove to work, and I took the monorail back to Saitama.

It had been almost a month since I had properly been in my apartment, and the first feeling that crossed my heart was strangeness. I was back in the place I had been living in for the past four years, but it wasn't welcoming.

It felt out of place to go back to my routine; the only thing in my mind was the need to go to work as soon as possible, but I knew Aki and Aya would kill me if I went too early.

I had wanted to plan the smaller details of Blostars' future for the three days I was gone, yet I could only think about why I didn't feel at home. The only reason I found logical was that I needed a change.

University had been over for more than a month and I still was stuck in its apartment blocks, just like Aki, Umi, Tomokazu, and Jun. We only had a few months to find a place to move into, or the rent would increase exponentially. Luckily, it seemed like earnings were about to go up, so that was the first topic I wanted to discuss at the office.

As usual, Aki and I arrived at HQ a few minutes early. I feared they had prepared a welcome-back party, but nothing happened when I entered the office, fortunately.

Aya stepped into the office a few minutes later, but there were no signs of Tomokazu even five minutes after work had started.

"Do you know where Tomokazu is?" I asked. "I'm waiting for him to ask both of you to summarize what happened over the past three days."

"I'm waiting for him too," she sighed. "He should be in the building already, but he has been spending more time with Sanae as of lately."

"Say what?"

Tomokazu opened the door and we stared at him. He stood still in confusion.

"Did something happen?" he asked.

I shook my head to clear my mind. "Nothing. We were waiting for you to give me a summary of the past three days."

"My apologies," he said as he approached his desk but didn't elaborate. "Do you want me to start with the merchandise revenue?"

"Please do."

We waited for him to sit down at his desk. Not even five seconds later, a message with a document appeared on my glasses. I opened it and started reading it from top to bottom.

At the same time, Tomokazu talked. "So, we spent…"

However, his words faded away and my heart beat faster as I neared the last row of the document. When I read the profit amount, I smashed the desk and grasped it.

"One hundred and seven thousand terras?!"

"Yes, one hundred and seven thousand terras," replied Tomokazu.

"It's not a mistake, right?"

Aya answered, "We also thought there was a mistake, so we made the accountant check it three times and the same amount came up. We also did the calculations ourselves and there were no differences."

I leaned against the backrest of the chair. "It's profit and not revenue, right?"

Both she and Tomokazu nodded.

"That means we can pay all of our expenses and there still would be money left."

"Correct," replied Aya. "Didn't I tell you this was going to be our first profitable month back in the hospital?"

"Yes. I guess my brain hadn't processed it properly."

She sighed. "Also, the report Tomokazu sent you doesn't include the rest of the earnings."

"What rest?"

"Stream earnings, which are twenty-nine thousand."

"Seriously?!"

She nodded. "I'll ask the accountant to send you all the reports now that you're back. Oh, and talking about streams, we reached one million listens in total."

"And fifty thousand followers between all of the social media accounts," added Tomokazu.

My brain stopped processing and was only hearing numbers. "Okay, stop. First of all, how?"

"How what?" wondered Aya.

"How did we make that much money with merchandise?"

Tomokazu answered, "You agreed to my proposal of increasing the prices and we haven't had problems with stock. Having the girls promote the online store during their performances definitely helped as well."

"Not as much as touring with Aeryx and the controversy," added Aya.

"That too. However, I'm no market analyzer and I'm not sure if the sales are going to increase or decrease. I could make wild guesses, but I'd suggest hiring a specialist."

"I agree," I replied. "What about the streams? How did they increase this much?"

Aya answered, "I just said it, because of touring with Aeryx and the controversy. More importantly, because the girls have shown such devotion."

"That's true," I smiled. "How are they? How is the progress with the album?"

"They'll be more than happy to see you, so why don't you go ask them?"

"Good idea."

As soon as I stood up, Aya said, "Before you go, there's one more surprise for you."