We turned around to see Aeryx walking through the glass door. Oh, Ms. Yoshida meant her.

"I thought you had already left," Ms. Yoshida laughed nervously.

Aeryx replied with her hands on her waist, "And miss the opportunity to meet beautiful and talented girls?" The girls instantly perked up their chests and stood straight like soldiers. Aeryx chuckled and smirked, "Astra, Aki, Sanae, Risa, Umi, it's a pleasure to meet you. You only have one album, yet I'm already a fan of your work. I mean it."

The girls grinned at each other and Sanae replied, "Thank you! We also admire your work, mostly Umi, she's a fan of yours."

Everyone looked at Umi, who stared at Aeryx in shock. It took a couple of seconds for her to come back to reason. She shook her head and stammered, "Yes, I have been a fan of yours for almost three years." Her eyes kept moving up and down, barely making eye contact with Aeryx.

"Since I started, then. I'm flattered. I know you wrote the songs for Blossom Stars. You're so young and you've already made such a good album; it's hard to believe it's your first one."

Umi's jaw dropped and her eyes finally stayed still.

However, the shock turned into a frown when Aeryx added, "I have to be honest, though. There's a lot that can be improved. That's why I want to chat with you; I love sharing thoughts with other songwriters and helping each other whenever possible, so let's share our contact info, shall we?"

Umi's head lowered after responding, "Sure." She seemed more embarrassed than disappointed.

Suddenly, Aeryx looked at me. "I also know who you are. Thank you for bringing this idea to life and working hard to keep it afloat."

My eyes opened wide and a burst of nervous laughter came out. "You wouldn't say that if you knew how bad I am at managing a business, but thank you." The laughter was cut short when I felt Aki's glare disturb the atmosphere.

Aeryx continued, "I must admit I first heard about Blostars' existence when the ex-president controversy and all of that other stuff happened, but I stayed because of the music and personality they bring to the industry. What better reason to collaborate than to share a similar goal, if not the same goal?"

"Couldn't have said it better myself," Ms. Yoshida smiled.

The room remained silent for a moment until Aeryx apologized, "I'm sorry for stealing your time, I always get carried away."

"Don't worry, we're not in a rush," I replied.

"I'm glad to hear that."

"Are you done with the recording session?" Ms. Yoshida asked.

"I only need to record a couple of things more," Aeryx answered. "I should be done in ten minutes."

"Alright. Why don't we stay to watch, then?" Ms. Yoshida suggested as she glanced at the girls, Aya, and me.

The girls frantically nodded and Aya only nodded once with a smile.

"How to say no to an opportunity many would kill to have?" I answered.

"Splendid," Ms. Yoshida replied.

Aeryx laughed nervously, "This is going to be nerve-wracking, but I'll give my best."

She walked towards another glass door but stopped just before stepping through it. She glanced at Aya and suddenly bowed in front of her. "I'm very sorry, I didn't introduce myself to you."

We all observed the situation in surprise and Aya was just as shocked. "Don't worry, I'm here uninvited after all," she laughed nervously. "I'm Aya Miyahara. I'm GIMA's PR manager."

Aeryx stood straight. "Are you in charge of the social media accounts?"

"I am."

"You're doing an amazing job. I look forward to the daily post every morning," Aeryx smiled. "Ah, I'm getting carried away again. Let me finish recording quickly so we can discuss the collaboration properly."

Stolen novel; please report.

She walked through the glass door and approached the man sitting behind a desk with a dozen panels and hundreds of buttons. They talked for a minute before Aeryx entered the room in front of us, which we could see through a window as we sat on a couple of sofas.

She approached a mount that hung down from the ceiling and held a microphone twice as big as the ones we had at GIMA. Just above the microphone, a panel hologram was being projected out of the same mount, but we were too far away to make out what it displayed.

She grabbed a pair of headphones from another mount on the floor and put them on, covering her ears completely. Although a pair of glasses did an incredible job at playing audio directly into your brain, they didn't cover the outside noise. It made sense for her to use something more professional.

She closed her eyes and stood still in front of the microphone until the music started playing, which we could hear through a couple of speakers in the upper corners of the room we were sitting in.

A few seconds later, Aeryx started singing. I had just heard her music for the first time the previous night; it was surreal for me to be sitting there, listening to her recording a song that probably no one knew about yet.

However, the depth and softness of her voice struck me, making me stop thinking about anything else. She recorded the same part several times before going to the next one. It was unbelievable how much her voice could change and how she only needed a few seconds to convey such strong emotions.

The girls watched with their jaws dropped and shared their observations with each other—except for Umi, who was completely focused on Aeryx.

The session only lasted eleven minutes, yet everyone in the room was left speechless. Aeryx apologized for taking longer than expected as soon as she returned with us, but we were obviously delighted to have such an opportunity. We even wanted to ask for more time.

We headed to the meeting room as the girls kept praising Aeryx. The room was quite small, so we barely fit around the table. Four of the girls sat on one side, while Aeryx, Umi, Aya, and I sat in front of them.

Ms. Yoshida sat in the middle. She clapped once and grinned, "This is finally happening. Aeryx, why don't you tell them about your idea?"

Aeryx nodded. "As I said, I'm a fan of yours. The first thought that came to my head when I listened to your music and saw your performances for the first time was to work together. Our next album is almost finished, but I got so carried away by the idea of working together that I already wrote a song for us to record together."

The girls grinned at each other—except for Umi, who wouldn't take her eyes off Aeryx unless she looked back at her.

"I was as surprised by this as you are," Ms. Yoshida said. "It's the first time Aeryx has requested us to contact someone to collaborate. Obviously, we were on board as soon as we saw your work."

It was her idea?

"You can take a look at the song before we record it, of course," Aeryx added. "I'll make the necessary changes if something doesn't fit your style or you simply don't like it."

"That sounds awesome," I smiled. "I'm sure I don't even need to ask the girls if they are up for it."

They nodded frantically.

"Splendid," Ms. Yoshida smiled. "As you might remember, I mentioned there were multiple ideas last night."

I nodded and Aeryx frowned in confusion.

"As you can see, not even Aeryx knows about the other idea," Ms. Yoshida giggled. "Mr. Miyahara, how do you feel about Blostars opening Aeryx's concerts?"

My breathing stopped and the girls' smiles disappeared. "Pardon?" I stuttered.

"I know it is a big risk for the both of us, but Aeryx is already doing an experimental tour around the country to test stuff before a bigger tour; why don't we use it to collaborate as well?"

"That's an amazing idea," Aeryx smirked. "I can't believe I didn't think about it. You've only performed at small venues, so it'll be perfect for you to gain experience."

"And if everything goes well, we could work together again," Ms. Yoshida added.

My body went from not breathing to hyperventilating in a split second. I shook my head and took a deep breath before I was able to talk. "It sounds so good that I can't believe it."

"Well, we really want to work together with you," Ms. Yoshida replied. "I know you might be worried about the legal side and that stuff, but we will do our best to meet your demands. I hope you'll do the same."

"Of course. I just… can barely think right now," I laughed nervously. "I can't imagine how the girls must be feeling."

They laughed nervously as soon as I mentioned them and smiled weirdly.

"I know this will only make us even more nervous," Aki said, "but I'm too curious not to ask. What is the capacity of the smallest venue you'll perform at on this experimental tour?"

"Was it five hundred?" Aeryx wondered.

Ms. Yoshida nodded. "Yes, the smallest one has a capacity of five hundred."

The girls let out a deep breath. Even I felt a weight lift off my shoulders.

"That's not far from the biggest venue we've performed at," Sanae said.

"And what is the biggest one?" Astra asked.

"Eight thousand," Aeryx smiled.

Astra almost fell off her chair as soon as she said that. Luckily, Risa managed to hold her on time. "I'm okay, I'm okay," Astra fretted.

"So, what do you say?" Ms. Yoshida asked.