Only one van arrived in front of HQ. The merchandise had been sent to the mall the day before, meaning we didn't need to take any extra equipment to the fan meeting.

The hacker controversy had died down a lot since it happened, so we didn't struggle to walk out of the building and get into the van. We were recurring customers for the van company, so they already knew what to expect. The driver also recognized us, which was a pleasant surprise for everyone.

Miki and Satō weren't needed for anything during the fan meeting, so I gave them the day off.

We reviewed the itinerary for the day as we drove to the mall, the same one where the restaurant we had performed at before was located. It took ten minutes to reach because of the traffic.

To avoid disturbing people not interested in the fan meeting and the businesses in the mall, we entered through a shipping arrival gate. The van parked inside between many other trucks. A suited employee of the mall was already waiting next to the parking zone and approached us once we got off.

"Welcome," she smiled. "You must be the Galactical Idols Management Agency and Blostars."

"We are. Thank you for receiving us and letting us use the mall's square today," I replied, "and for lending us all of the equipment as well."

"We are more than pleased to do so. Please don't let me take more of your time and follow me."

She guided us into a narrow hallway and we followed her through it. The ventilation and heavy machinery noise from the shipping arrival zone slowly faded out. The girls chatted behind me until we stopped in front of a door.

"This door leads into the mall's square," the employee told us. "People will be able to see you as soon as you walk through it."

"Understood," I replied. "Are there people already waiting?"

"There's a line and a crowd gathered around."

"Alright, thank you."

"You're welcome. Please don't hesitate to call me if you have any questions or if there are problems, you already have my contact information," she smiled and walked back down the hallway.

"It's time," I continued. "Butcher, go out first to make sure it's safe. Use the Talkie app to let me know."

"Understood, young man."

He walked through the door and I got a chance to peek outside. I saw the platform the girls were going to stand on from behind and a portion of the crowd on the other side.

"We should all connect to the Talkie app in case anything happens," I said.

Only a few seconds later, Butcher talked through the app and I heard him through my glasses.

"It's safe."

"Got it," I replied. "Aya, Tomokazu, let's go in first."

They nodded and walked through the door. To my surprise, some of the crowd clapped. I held the door open for the girls and the claps turned into cheers as soon as they were seen. The girls smiled and waved at the crowd as I hurried to get in front of them to guide them onto the platform, where Butcher was already waiting. Meanwhile, I stayed off the platform.

Sanae grabbed the microphone from a tiny table to speak, but the crowd kept cheering for a little more. The girls smiled and waved to return the energy until they calmed down.

"Thank you for coming and for receiving us like this," Sanae spoke and the crowd replied with claps. "We will be here for a few hours shaking your hands, taking pictures, and signing anything you ask us to sign as long as it's reasonable, of course."

That reminded me of the pens they were going to use to sign. I rushed to the small stall—a long table—that the mall employees kindly prepared for us a few steps away from the platform. Aya and Tomokazu were already unboxing and laying out the mugs, wristbands, and shirts. There wasn't much since we were trying things out and the budget was extremely limited.

"Where are the pens?" I asked them.

Tomokazu pointed at a box. I opened it to make sure the pens were inside before carrying it behind the platform.

There were ten sets of five different colors to represent each of the girls: cyan for Astra, green for Risa, yellow for Sanae, red for Aki, and purple for Umi. There were also another ten black pens in case the original pens were hard to see on the surface they were going to sign on. I couldn't believe how much money we spent on the markers when I saw the total cost. At least they worked on many surfaces, including digital.

Stolen content warning: this content belongs on Royal Road. Report any occurrences.

I took a pen of each color and climbed onto the platform to leave them on the tiny table behind the girls. Sanae kept talking as I did that.

"While the stall is being prepared, let me tell you about our next event," she spoke into the microphone. "I'm very excited to announce that we will have our first concert next week!"

The crowd replied with cheers. Meanwhile, I walked off the platform.

"Please follow our social media to get all the details and stay up to date."

I stood next to the platform as she continued to talk. I looked around the place to see how many people had come. The line was significantly long, around fifty people, with more still queuing up. The crowd gathered around was nothing crazy, yet it reassured me that doing the fan meeting wasn't a mistake.

I also noticed three more cops guarding the square apart from the one taking care of the queue, which made me feel at ease. However, one of them caught my attention. I stared at him for a moment before he glanced and winked at me; he was one of the two people that were in Mr. Mochizuki's office. It was comforting seeing that they still were thinking of us.

"It seems like it's time," Sanae spoke into the microphone.

About to rush to tell the cop to let the queue advance, he had already done so. The line approached the platform and I guided them to climb the two steps onto it. At the same time, I stayed alert in case the black sweater guy appeared again.

The next hour passed by without problems. Everyone seemed happy once they got a handshake, a picture, and a signature, as well as getting to speak a few words to the girls.

The girls hadn't told me anything since they started, so I talked to them through the Talkie app instead.

"How are you? Do you need anything?"

Most of the girls answered they were fine, except for Umi.

"I need to use the bathroom," she said.

"We can take a break if it's urgent."

"No, I can wait for another hour."

"Alright, just don't force yourselves. Call me if you need anything."

I stopped bothering them to let them continue working. Then I decided it was time to go check on Aya and Tomokazu. I had noticed the queue at the stall was only a fraction of the queue to meet the girls, but I hadn't asked Aya and Tomokazu how they were doing.

I walked out from behind the platform towards the stall, but someone called for my attention mid-way.

"Excuse me," a guy said behind me.

I turned around to see him. "Yes?"

"You are the manager of Blostars, right?"

"I am."

He grinned. "I already thanked the girls, but I want to thank everyone behind Blostars for their hard work. I love the entire album and how the girls dance and sing at the shows."

"I'm glad to hear that," I smiled. "I'll make sure to pass the message to everyone that works with Blostars."

"Awesome."

My mind suddenly emptied. I stared at him for a moment. His tone sounds familiar.

"You realized, didn't you?" he smirked. "You're smarter than I remembered."

I hastily requested my glasses to start recording, but a warning appeared, telling me that recording was prohibited in the area I was currently in. I tried to start transmitting on the Talkie app, just to receive a similar warning.

"Your glasses are not going to help you," the guy continued.

"What do you want?"

"First, you should fix that gloomy look of yours; we don't want to seem suspicious."

"What is to stop me from calling for help?"

"Well, I'm not doing anything to you, am I? And you're in front of dozens of your fans; I doubt you'd like them to see you acting crazy. I also doubt you'd like to see more of your secrets revealed."

"You admit you're the hacker."

"Let's keep our volume down. What I'll admit is that I made a mistake giving you my contact info. I know you already told the useless cops about it, so there's no reason for me to delete it from your list. In fact, I'm going to use it to my advantage."

"What do you mean?"

"I'm Blostars' number one fan, remember? We need to stay in touch so that everyone still believes that. That, also, means you're going to remain silent about this conversation."

I stared at him without saying a word.

"Your gaze looks menacing," he smirked.

"I don't have to listen to your threats," I said. "There's nothing more to reveal about us; we don't have any more secrets."

"Don't be naive, Kaito. We both know that secrets keep piling up. We also both know that there's one more secret to reveal."

My frown became more prominent as soon as I realized what secret he was talking about.

"Don't look at me like that," he continued. "In fact, you should smile because we're about to take a selfie."

He suddenly placed his hand on my shoulder and squeezed it. A hologram projected out of my own glasses to function as a mirror for the camera. A countdown started from three and the hacker raised his arm to make a peace sign. A sudden memory attacked my mind when the picture was taken. I didn't even try to smile.

"Perfect," he grinned. "Do I look good?"

What?

I opened the picture on my glasses to see a completely different face on him, the face of a girl; my ex-colleague.

Chiharu?!