The match ended on a high note after several minutes, despite there not being many goals. Sadly, as much as I wanted to spend more time playing, I had to return to HQ.

It would've been better to have prepared Ceruty's contract sooner, so as not to make her wait any longer, but it was Sunday and I didn't want to be a hypocrite by working out of working hours after pestering everyone not to do so. There also was someone more important who I couldn't make wait any longer.

I stepped into the building and headed upstairs. Just like Jun's and Tomokazu's rooms, Aki's and I's was open. I entered quietly not to disturb Aki, who was kneeling on the floor, still unpacking more boxes. There were already a couple of small tables assembled since they were needed to place more stuff on so we could unpack quicker.

As soon as I closed the door behind me, Aki glanced at me for a second before turning around again.

"How was it?" she asked.

"Couldn't have asked for a better outcome," I answered. "We'll hire Ceruty. I had been planning to for a while, but now we can finally afford to."

"Is there space for him in the office?"

"No, but she doesn't really need one since she can stream from home, and she'll be more comfortable doing so."

"Wonderful. Are you going to help me unpack now?"

"Ah, yes."

We spent the next hour unpacking both our belongings and assembling furniture. The biggest downside of moving this soon was that we weren't going to have a proper bed for several days, and neither would the others. We were all going to use futons for the time being.

Despite my attempts to strike up a conversation, Aki didn't even try to keep them going. Although she didn't sound angry, she definitely wasn't happy either. I wasn't getting upset, but the frustration kept growing.

Unable to hold it in any longer, I said to her, "We should take some time to talk."

Not even turning around to look at me, she answered, "We have tried to talk many times already, and I don't think it worked."

Her words made something click in my brain instead of making my blood boil. Aki didn't say she didn't want to talk, her words merely implied that there was something that had to be done, aside from talking. The question was, what could that be?

The first idea that came to my head was to buy her a gift, but I quickly threw it out the window. Although she might've liked it, a gift wasn't going to fix the problems we had.

The second idea was a huge gamble. It could've been what Aki was expecting me to do, or it would make the situation even worse and probably destroy our relationship in the process. I didn't discard the idea, but I kept looking for safer ones.

It was to no avail, however. No other idea sounded better than the second one, as crazy as it was, and waiting was going to cause more harm than good after having waited for weeks already.

Am I really doing this?

Shaking my head, I stood up and approached Aki, who was also kneeling on the floor.

"Can you stand up for a second?" I asked her.

Although her brows furrowed in confusion when she looked up at me, she still complied.

We stared at each other in silence for a long while, as I still was wrapping my head around what I was about to do. The point of retraction was getting close, so I had to do it before it was too late.

"What—"

Unauthorized duplication: this tale has been taken without consent. Report sightings.

I grabbed her shoulders to pull her closer and kiss her. I continued to do so for a while, but she didn't do anything. I moved back and saw her face with no expression whatsoever. Not knowing what else to do, I leaned forward to kiss her again. This time, she responded by wrapping her arms around me and kissing me back.

"It took you long enough," she said.

We ended up getting distracted for a while before we got back to unpacking our boxes. Although it was a step in the right direction, it was going to take some time before our relationship returned to normal. We started by agreeing to communicate better to avoid misunderstandings and situations like this in the future.

Several days passed before our bed frame and mattress were assembled in our room. In the meantime, Ceruty was hired and she started streaming again.

Not all of her viewers welcomed her back, and they made sure to make that clear on every social media site possible, yet the vast majority supported her. As I had told her before, her numbers had increased slightly. Regardless, she seemed delighted to be back, and even a little shy the first few days.

Perhaps the most asked question about her return was: what did it mean for her to work as a streamer for GIMA? In short, it meant that she was going to have exclusive news about us before anyone else, and we were going to promote her as an official collaborator with Blostars.

However, this was only the beginning. Aya, Tomokazu, and Ceruty herself had made me see how important QTubers were for commercialization, but the project was barely in the early stages, and Aya and Tomokazu were in charge of it.

Finally, the moment that all of us had been waiting for—especially the girls—arrived.

A black car parked in front of HQ then flew away as soon as the two people in the back seat climbed out. One of them wore a red cap, covered with a hood that was part of her black hoodie, while the other person wore a rather casual outfit with sunglasses.

Although they didn't run, they still rushed to climb the stairs leading to the entrance and step inside. The sunglasses became invisible to reveal Ms. Yoshida's face. At the same time, Aeryx pulled the hood of her hoodie back so she could remove the cap and reveal her silver hair, which she swung to spread across her back.

Ms. Yoshida let out a deep breath. "I know they don't allow it for security purposes, but I still wish they gave permission to use HoloForm in the street, even if it's almost impossible to get. It's embarrassing visiting other professionals in such casual attire."

"Agreed," added Aeryx, with her hand placed on her waist.

"Yes, we're here to work, but that doesn't mean it has to be formal," I said. "As long as you're okay with being recorded for our behind-the-scenes content with your current outfit, that is."

"Well, I already agreed to it," Ms. Yoshida replied.

"Don't worry, remember that you can ask us to cut specific parts of the video."

Aeryx noticed that the girls were standing behind me, so she approached them and greeted them, "How are you, girls?"

Their eyes instantly glimmered. It was impossible not to smile at their excitement.

Meanwhile, Aya, who was recording our conversation with her glasses, Ms. Yoshida, and I continued to talk about business. Although I didn't expect her to, I was anxious about Ms. Yoshida bringing up the incident between Aeryx and me, since she had never done so. Fortunately, she didn't.

Eventually, we all headed upstairs. I guided Ms. Yoshida and Aeryx into the recording studio, where I introduced them to Miki.

The girls and Aeryx didn't waste any time to start talking about Auras, the song Aeryx was about to record. They did so for several minutes as Aeryx listened to what the girls had already recorded and asked many questions about it. Some were technical, yet the majority were about the story behind the song and the emotion it tried to portray.

Soon enough, the recording began. The girls, Ms. Yoshida, Aya, and I stood behind the wall with a wide window that Umi had brought from her old studio, as it was easily foldable, while Miki sat in front of a desk with hundreds of buttons and sliders, the same one Umi had in her old studio.

As always, it was incredible to see and hear Aeryx in action. Even though she had admitted it was her first time recording someone else's song, she was killing it.

Out of nowhere, Ms. Yoshida called me. "Mr. Miyahara."

"Yes?"

"Can we talk outside for a minute?"

My stomach instantly dropped to the floor. Again, I didn't expect her to bring up my incident with Aeryx, yet I couldn't help but be anxious about it.

"Mr. Miyahara, are you alright? You suddenly became pale."

"Yes, it's nothing," I stuttered. "Let's go outside."

We stepped out of the room without telling anyone. However, Ms. Yoshida didn't stand next to the door. Instead, she walked further down the hallway, making my heart beat even faster.

"I apologize for being this secretive, but it'd be best if no one hears us," she smiled.