The guy hologram stared forward with his eyes open wide and his jaw dropped. It took a couple of seconds for him to start rummaging around, probably trying to end the live stream.

Aya waved her hand around in my peripheral vision. I looked at her and she frantically pointed at Aki. Only then did I realize what was happening. I signaled Aki to cut the call and she immediately did. She took her glasses off and put them aside on the desk.

Meanwhile, the live stream kept going for a few more seconds. The hologram disappeared and the live stream ended not long after.

Aki and I stared at each other, speechless.

"What was that?" Aya asked.

I took a moment to answer, "Ceruty was hacked."

"I assumed that, but…"

"It might've been the same hacker."

"How?"

Was it because I had a call with Ceruty before? Or are Aki's glasses also infected? If so, that means Chiharu has even more access than I thought. This is bad.

"Kaito?" Aya worried.

"I don't know, I wish I knew."

Silence encompassed the room for a while. I didn't know what to do about the situation. At that point, our private lives were gone. I wanted to go to the police, but they didn't even notice when Chiharu threatened me beneath their noses.

Even if I decided to tell the police, Chiharu would find out long before that and leak everything. Even if I destroyed my glasses, my personal Cloud was very likely to be infected as well, probably including the personal Cloud of every contact I had on my list.

Still, I couldn't believe that I wanted to know what had happened to Chiharu after I ruined her career. The only way I could do that was to comply with her demands.

"What's done is done," Tomokazu said. "Aki told Ceruty's watchers what she needed to tell them and that was the goal, wasn't it?"

"Yeah…," I replied.

He continued, "Let's hope the backlash against Ceruty isn't too bad and that she's alright; that's all we can do for now."

We all stared at him.

"Very well said," Aya smiled. "We have our first concert coming, so let's focus on that."

And so we did.

The excitement built back up over the following days as the concert approached. Satō helped the girls practice nonstop to enhance their stamina and improve their singing while they danced at the same time. Miki received the blueprints of the venue we were going to perform at and, with feedback from everyone, designed the stage despite it not being his area of expertise. Tomokazu prepared a few more merchandise items and placed the orders with the manufacturers we had found based on the data we gathered during the fan meeting. Aya kept an eye on our social media accounts and kept them alive to promote the concert.

Our followers had been growing steadily up until Aki clarified what happened. After that, the number stagnated, which was the best outcome we could expect. Aside from that, the ticket pre-orders for the concert exceeded our expectations. More than half of the tickets had been sold within a week and almost all of them were sold by the time the big day arrived.

My alarm rang at eight o'clock. I grabbed my glasses from the nightstand next to my bed, put them on, and checked for messages or emails, hoping to hear something about Ceruty. We had heard nothing for more than two weeks and so far that had stayed the same.

I got out of bed several minutes later and went straight into the shower. After that, I cooked eggs with broccoli and avocado. I decided to leave my glasses aside as I ate alone with my thoughts.

Once finished, I washed the dishes and sat at my desk. A hologram projected out of the panel on the desk to display my computer. I opened the document for my final project and made yet another revision.

An hour flew by. I turned off the computer and took one last look inside my bag to make sure I hadn't forgotten anything before going out. I walked down the hallway to reach the elevator. The doors opened and a professor stood inside. I had seen him before but didn't even know his name. I stepped into the elevator and the doors closed a moment later. I felt weightless for a split second.

"Good morning," the professor greeted me.

A little surprised, I replied, "Good morning."

"How's life treating you?"

The story has been illicitly taken; should you find it on Amazon, report the infringement.

"Good. Somewhat stressful, but good overall."

"The usual, then. Are you about to graduate?"

"Yes, next week, but that's not why I'm stressed."

"Well, I don't blame you. I've only seen what you've gone through on the news and it's already a lot."

I glanced at him and stayed silent. A beep rang and the elevator doors slid open.

"I wish you the best of luck in everything you do," he said.

"Thanks, you too."

He stepped out of the elevator and walked away quite fast for looking as old as he did. I followed a moment later and walked towards the entrance of the building. I stepped out and headed to the sidewalk of the avenue, where I waited for Aki. She arrived a minute later.

"Morning," she greeted me as she approached.

"Good morning," I replied and kissed her. "Are you ready?"

"Of course, I am."

She grabbed my hand and I held hers back while we walked to HQ.

We climbed the few stairs in front of the entrance and stepped inside. Butcher sat next to the door, while Astra, Sanae, Satō, and Umi stood in the middle of the reception. Aya, Risa, and Miki sat on the sofa.

"Good morning, young man and young lady," Butcher greeted us.

"Hi, Butcher," Aki replied and I nodded.

Still holding hands, we approached the girls standing in the middle of the reception area, who laughed and giggled.

"What are you watching?" Aki asked.

They looked at her and Astra opened her mouth to answer, but she stopped when she saw me.

"Something a guy doesn't need to see," Umi smirked.

I sighed. "Alright, we'll leave you alone, then."

As soon as I started to walk away, Aki let go of my hand. I stopped walking and turned around.

"I want to see what they are watching," she grinned.

I let out yet another sigh. "Sure."

She gave me a peck on the cheek and Umi uttered a sound in disgust. I walked away and approached the people sitting on the sofa.

"Hello, Kaito," Risa smiled.

"Hey. Are you all ready?"

"Yes!" Miki burst.

"We are," Aya smirked. "Are you?"

"I am," I answered. "The vans should be here in fifteen minutes, so let's relax until then."

Before I realized it, the vans had arrived. Since we already had sent the heavier equipment to the venue the previous night, it didn't take us long to carry the rest of the equipment into the vans. Once we did, we climbed in and drove to the venue.

The venue was located below a ten-floor building, which we reached after fifteen minutes. People were already queued up in front of it, although not many yet.

The vans drove down a slope to park behind the venue. I got off first and a man and a woman approached me.

"Welcome, Mr. Miyahara," the woman greeted me.

The man added, "We set up everything we could based on the stage blueprints you sent, but there were some inconsistencies and our technicians had a few questions."

"Sure. Miki," I called him. He rushed to get out of the van and approached. "There are some problems with the blueprints. Please follow him and make sure everything is in order."

"Understood," Miki replied and walked into the venue behind the man.

The woman continued, "Mr. Miyahara, we were supposed to receive a shipment an hour ago, but nothing has arrived."

"I'll handle that," Tomokazu said as he approached.

"Understood, our assistants will transfer the shipment to where you instruct us to," the woman replied. "Mr. Miyahara, our assistants will arrive shortly to carry the rest of the cargo into the building. Meanwhile, I'll guide you to the green room. Please follow me."

"Sure, thank you."

Even though there were a lot of things to think about, it was a relief to see that other people outside the company were also working hard to make everything work and that they knew what they were doing.

I signaled Aya, Butcher, Satō, and the girls to follow us. We walked through a door into a narrow corridor with light-brown walls and a couple of guards that were sitting down. We walked down the hallway and stopped in front of a door that had a panel on it that read Blostars. I smiled and the girls behind me sounded just as excited.

"Here it is," the woman said. "The meals will be here at two o'clock and seven o'clock, as you requested. Please call me if you have any questions or requests."

"I will, thanks."

The woman smiled and walked away.

I opened the door just to be received by a very nice room. A small coffee table stood between two sofas big enough for three people. A bigger table was surrounded by six chairs in the corner while, in the opposite corner, the girls' costumes hung next to a fitting room. A hologram projected onto the wall, displaying the news channel. Just beside it, there was a water dispenser, a microwave, a coffee maker, and a trash can. There also was a food printer on the wall, but most of the options were drinks and a few simple meals. However, I had decided to use the meal service the venue offered. Finally, I noticed a door with a toilet sign on it.

The girls gasped in amazement and rushed to step inside. Satō followed them, while Aya and Butcher stayed behind me.

"What should I do, young man?" Butcher wondered.

"You can stay or you could take a walk around the venue to get used to it in case anything happens."

"Good idea," he replied and walked out, closing the door.

"Kaito," Aya called me.

"Yes?"

I turned around to see her. She smiled, but I knew it wasn't a smile of happiness.