Work accelerated despite the uncertainty of the tour, and before we realized it, all of the songs had been written.

Life Is Life, the title track, was the perfect introduction to the album. It described what life was and what it meant for any living being in an uplifting manner. Umi had done an incredible job using concepts that were easy to understand.

Shapes & Colors, the second song of the album, talked about how life is life, no matter the shape or the color, the body or the culture. It had an uplifting tone just like the title track.

Barriers was the third song of the album, making it clear that every species had its own challenges and problems to deal with. More than uplifting, it was a reminder that we really couldn't meddle in another species' life.

We Are Alone Together connected to the previous song and completed its message. Having their own challenges and problems unified all species with an agreement that they were together in being alone.

The fifth song, Sonder, split the album into two as it didn't give as positive a message. Instead, the song made you reflect on the fact that every living being was the protagonist of their own life, and they were just as interesting as you were.

String Of Destiny built upon the previous song, complementing the feeling that all lives had a beginning and an ending. Sometimes they were cut short, but they still produced beautiful sounds regardless of the length.

Never Forget was the saddest song in the album. It dwelled upon the fact that time never stops; moments may have passed, but memories weren't forgotten.

What Matters?, the eighth and last song of the main tracks, returned to the uplifting tone. Happiness? Evil? Intelligence? Simplicity? It didn't matter. We were alive, and that was what mattered.

Lastly, the bonus track Space-Time Wanderers was more of a space odyssey. Even though it had its own story, it still complemented the rest of the album by remarking that all living beings were wanderers of space and time.

Sadly, Day After Night, the song that was named by the kid, couldn't make it onto the album. We discussed adding it as a second bonus track but it didn't fit the tone at all. We didn't want to disappoint the kid, so we agreed to add it to the tour setlist as a single and as a potential preview of the fourth album.

I was a bit worried about there being too few songs in the album, but this was one of those things where quality was more important than quantity, and we were delighted with the results.

We were in the middle of a recording session when the assistant pushed the door open and stepped into the studio.

"Mr. Miyahara," she panted.

"Yes? Did you run upstairs?"

Even Miki and the producer were shocked. They decided to interrupt Sanae's take, who wasn't very happy about it.

Once the assistant recovered her breath, she answered.

"I did. I'm very sorry for interrupting, but Ms. Fuku said there's something you need to see as soon as possible."

It wasn't typical of her to say something like that, so it had to be something important. Luckily, I wasn't needed for the recording.

"Alright," I replied as I stood up from the couch. "Good luck with the rest of the recording."

Miki nodded.

I walked down the stairs along with the assistant, where Haru was already standing next to the door of the meeting room. Although she wasn't smiling all of the time while working, the lack of her distinctive smirk worried me.

The assistant walked away, while Haru and I stepped into the room. She stood at the front.

"Did something happen?" I asked.

"Please take a seat."

Confused, I complied. I had just sat down on the chair closest to the front when a hologram was projected onto the wall. It was an article, and reading its title made my blood run cold.

"Archilands Records… mafia?"

Haru spoke as she scrolled down the article.

"A massive leak occurred an hour ago. Among other things, they show hundreds of calls and documents, in which Archilands Records had extorted and even threatened smaller agencies and venues, with the goal of creating a monopoly."

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My jaw dropped. I couldn't do anything aside from lean back in my chair.

"Kaito, wasn't Archilands Records the company that wanted to acquire GIMA?"

"Yes, it was…."

"So it wouldn't be too crazy to assume that they were the ones behind the venues not wanting to make deals with us."

"But that would be absurd," I replied. "We never attacked them, I just rejected their contract."

"If they can't have GIMA, then they might as well get rid of it. That would also explain the attack against TOTOT."

"Did they try to acquire them too?"

"Not to my knowledge, but it was an easy two competitors with one stone."

"That makes sense. How did they get so much power in the first place?"

"They aren't alone. As the title of the article implies, there are several companies involved, of which you'll recognize one: Fame Gain's parent company."

I straightened on the chair.

"They are involved too?!"

She nodded.

"Although they are claiming that it's only some of the higher-ups. They haven't given any names yet."

My mind remained blank.

"Still, who could be dumb enough to go against the mafia by leaking all of their stuff?"

I didn't need an answer for someone to pop up in my head.

"Chiharu Bise," said Haru.

"But she's in prison. It's impossible she was able to do something from there."

"You can never be sure. Who else could've done something like this?"

"Probably someone we don't know. Or maybe… TOTOT?"

"They crossed my mind as well, but it wouldn't have been wise to risk their company and their lives."

"That's true."

"Anyway. What I wanted to say is that we should be able to contact venues again, but let's wait a couple of days for the situation to calm down a little."

I spun the chair toward the table and rested my face on it. Too many emotions rushed through my body at once. It took me a moment before I could let them out with a deep breath.

"Are you okay, Kaito?" worried Haru.

"Yes. I'm just relieved that the stress is finally over."

I sat straight in the chair and spun it toward Haru.

"It was also nice to remember your lectures back in university."

Her smirk finally returned.

"I'd be lying if I said I didn't miss them too."

Suddenly, I received a call on my glasses.

"Ms. Yoshida is calling me," I said to Haru.

"I'll leave you to it," she replied. "I'm going to schedule a meeting with the rest of the team to discuss the situation properly."

"Alright."

She stepped out of the room, then I answered the call.

"Ms. Yoshida, long time no see," I said.

"It's great to talk with you again, Mr. Miyahara. How is the business going?"

"It was going well, but it'll go even better now that we'll be able to schedule shows in several venues."

"You weren't able to?" she asked.

"No. We're sure Archilands Records was the one behind it, so everything should go back to normal soon."

"I'm glad to hear that. We were shocked when we found out that Archilands Records was behind such an awful scheme. We also assumed they were behind the attack against Aeryx and TOTOT."

I asked, "You didn't know about the leaks before they became public?"

"We didn't. Did you?"

"No. We assumed that you might've been behind them since you said you were going to investigate the attack."

"We did, but we stopped as soon as the waters became too muddy. It wasn't worth risking the company and even our lives for it."

"Understandable."

She wondered, "So, you have no idea who's behind the leaks?"

"No, but there's another person we thought of. Chiharu Bise, the hacker that was arrested, but I doubt she's able to do anything from prison."

"I guess we'll have to wait to find out," she replied.

The conversation came to a halt. Luckily, Ms. Yoshida spoke again before it became awkward.

"Mr. Miyahara, there's another reason why I called you."

"Yes?"

"I'd like to meet with you at our studio."

The unexpected request made me take a couple of seconds to reply.

"Ah…, sure. Can I ask why?"

"I prefer to keep the surprise. Is tomorrow okay for you?"

"It is."

"Splendid. I'll see you tomorrow, then."

"Yes, have a good day," I faltered.

The call ended.

…What could it be?