Behind the Scenes

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Edited by RedPandaChick

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This time, I didn't forget to set the alarm.

Everyone else was still sleeping, but there was no reason to wake them up yet. I simply stood up and walked out of the room and into the bus corridor. To my surprise, Miki and Satō were sitting on one of the sofas, laughing together. It wasn't so surprising after remembering they weren't at the party the previous night.

Although I didn't want to interrupt them, I wanted to sit down to get some work done before arriving at the venue.

"Boss!" Satō gasped as soon as I entered her vision.

"You startled us," Miki laughed nervously.

"Don't mind me, I'll just work on some things before we arrive. Keep doing what you were doing."

Satō replied, "We were watching some funny videos."

"Relaxing before a stressful day is good," I said.

"It is. I hope the girls can rest enough to perform at their highest level today."

Even though the girls had already apologized for eating cake and not sleeping the day before the first concert, I apologized for them again. "We're sorry."

"No, I'm not trying to berate you about it!" worried Satō.

"I know, but I still feel guilty about it," I laughed. "Do you know how long we have until we get to the venue?"

Both Miki and Satō shook their heads.

I took a peek out the window, but all I could see were more cars and a landscape of infinite buildings. There barely were any fields left since humans had taken every corner possible, whether for useful or dumb reasons.

"We'll reach the city within six minutes," the chauffeur said from the cabin. "And we should be arriving at the venue within another thirty, taking the traffic into account."

"Thank you," I replied.

"My pleasure."

The landscape continued to absorb me for another minute before I got to work.

One of the first things I wanted to check was the ticket sales, which had multiplied the day after being on Fame Gain. Many venues sold out, including the one we were heading to. We even felt confident enough to announce a second performance date at a few of the smallest ones. We didn't do this with the biggest venues, however, because there were still several of them that hadn't sold out yet.

The rest of the work was tedious and boring, making the remaining half-hour feel like an eternity. Although I had planned to wake everyone up a few minutes before arriving, I chose to let them rest as much as possible.

Finally, the bus parked inside a tunnel exclusive to the performing artist. Even though the girls would've liked to greet the fans, they weren't presentable.

As soon as we climbed out of the bus, I saw the two trailers we had rented parked in front of us. I wanted to make sure everything was alright on their side, but I first had to make sure GIMA's crew could do their jobs.

Luckily, an assistant from the venue welcomed us as usual. He guided us through the narrow corridors and toward the green room, where everyone stayed because lunch wasn't far away and there was nothing else to do.

At the same time, I received a message from the assistant we had hired for the tour, informing me that they had just arrived on the second bus.

"Miki, did you eat on the bus?" I asked.

He nodded, "I did."

"Perfect. Please go supervise the assembly crew, they should be about to start. The lighting technician and I will join you as soon as we can."

"Yes, sir."

I stepped out and held the door open for Miki so he could leave as well. He followed the signs on the walls to go to the venue hall, while I walked back the way we had come.

A second bus identical to ours was now parked beside it, and seven people stood next to it. I approached them.

"It's great to see you all," I smiled.

The seven of them smiled and greeted me back.

One of them was the assistant that had sent me the message, whom we had hired on Aya's recommendation to alleviate work during the tour. How much there was to do was yet to be seen, but I already had things I needed to ask for her help with.

There was the makeup artist, whom we had already met before because she had come to HQ to try out the makeup on the girls.

A photographer, since it was long overdue to have proper photos taken by a professional with a professional camera. He was also going to record from time to time for a future behind-the-scenes.

A lighting technician, since Miki couldn't do two jobs forever.

And lastly, the team of three bodyguards that Butcher had chosen to protect us throughout the tour.

"You should greet the rest of the crew first, so follow me," I said to all of them. "Let's also take the suitcases to the dressing room since it's in front of the green room."

One of the suitcases had the Blostars' costumes and their accessories in it, while the other one had all the makeup supplies for the makeup artist to work with.

The reason we hadn't rented a smaller bus for seven people was that we needed extra space for those suitcases since our bus was already crammed with our personal belongings.

The assistant lifted the suitcase she was holding slightly and smiled, "We're ahead of you."

"I like the proactivity. Let me help you."

Before I could reach the suitcase with my hand, she lowered it back onto the ground.

"Please, my job is to do things like these."

"You're right," I replied. Then I asked the makeup artist, "Do you need help with the suitcase?"

She shook her head. "I prefer to handle my work supplies, thank you."

"Fair enough. Let's get going, then."

The seven of them followed me through the narrow corridors until we reached the green room. We stepped in there first so the seven of them could greet the rest of the crew, then the assistant and the makeup artist headed to the dressing room to get everything ready for later.

The three bodyguards stayed to get instructions from Butcher, while the lighting technician, the photographer, and I walked to the venue hall.

One of the two trailers had been moved inside, and the assembly crew had already unloaded many boxes.

Miki was discussing something with one of the assembly crew members when we arrived. Although we approached them quietly not to interrupt them, the crew member bowed at us as soon as he saw us and walked away.

"Did we interrupt something?" I asked Miki.

"No, he just answered a question I had."

"Alright."

I introduced him to the photographer and the lighting technician. Miki was prompt to talk with the lighting technician so he could bring him up to speed on the lighting system and the stage design.

Meanwhile, the photographer and I wandered around the hall, talking about the goals of his job. Aside from taking photos, he also set up a stationary camera on the opposite side of the hall to record a timelapse of the stage being assembled.

I also asked him to check the cameras we were going to use for the live stream once they were installed by the assembly crew.

The live stream was going to be co-streamed by Ceruty, meaning she was going to watch the concert along with her viewers. She then was going to interview the girls exclusively right after the concert.

Both the co-stream and the interview were going to be a two-time thing, once at the beginning of the tour and once at the end. In order to watch the live stream of the rest of the shows, people had to buy a digital ticket, which were selling pretty well.

An hour had flown by when Tomokazu sent me a message, asking me to come check the merchandise stalls near the entrance of the venue. Both the photographer and I headed there.

Tomokazu was instructing the employees of the venue on the available merchandise when we arrived. To my surprise, one of the new bodyguards was standing not far away from them, aside from the security guards of the venue.

I introduced Tomokazu to the photographer, then asked Tomokazu, "How's everything?"

"Aside from the fact of how annoying it is going to be to explain everything about the merchandise at every venue, wonderful."

"You could make a manual and give it to them."

His smirk remained frozen as he stayed silent.

"Tomokazu?"

"Don't you think we should've thought of that before now?"

"Yeah, we should've."

"Nevertheless, it is a great idea, my dear friend. I'll work on it during my free time."

He then proceeded to show me the stalls, which had grown in size compared to previous concerts. There were now three of them, and each of them needed three staff members.

Several minutes later, the person in charge of the assembly crew sent me a message to tell me that the foundations of the stage had been assembled, including the platform, the lights, and the sound system; barely in time for the planned soundcheck.