Mirage and their videographer and Nezumi boarded the last train together. People grumbled about the amount of stuff they carried. Every member was heavily laden, they had Hatsuharu's drum set split up between them as well as various lighting equipment that Seoshi needed. Even Nezumi struggled with half a dozen cases and bags of electronics.

They apologized profusely and crowded as closely together as they could. When they reached the coast, a van from the hotel picked them up at the station. Somehow they managed to cram themselves and everything aboard.

"I'm really surprised you came," Hikaru said to Nezumi as he cringed beside her and tried not to let their arms touch.

"Had to," he replied.

Ryuske explained from his seat in the front, "Nezumi is going to put in all the heat shimmers and stuff. So he had to come to make sure he has enough base footage to work with."

Seoshi said grumpily, "I would have gotten enough. I'm planning to keep one camera on the horizon the whole time."

Nezumi shrugged and said, "You'll see."

"OK," Hikaru replied agreeably.

Seoshi told her, "You're going to have to strip from one outfit to the other in under a minute."

Hikaru stared at him.

"The sun will be moving, a minute is really too long, but do your best," he told her.

Rin said, "Maybe you better give us the outline of your plan."

And so until they arrived, Seoshi described how he envisioned the filming in the morning.

"We'll get up and head to the beach at 4am," he told them as they checked in.

"Why so early?" Hikaru asked.

"We have to get the drums set up before the light comes up for one thing," Hatsuharu said.

But there was a problem with their check in. "We only have two rooms," explained the clerk nervously. "And one is a queen, not a double as you say you requested."

Ryuske frowned and said, "I asked for three doubles."

"Yes, well, I'm sorry, but it seems to have been put in as a reservation for three, with one room as a double, and we're full," explained the clerk.

Ryuske looked at them all and asked, "What should we do?"

Rin said calmly, "We're only grabbing a few hours of sleep on either side of the filming, let's just cram in."

"I can't cram in," Nezumi said anxiously.

Ryuske looked at him and asked, "If we put you and Seoshi-san in the double, can you manage?"

Nezumi nodded reluctantly.

Seoshi blinked and asked, "Shouldn't Hikaru have the other?"

Ryuske shrugged and said, "You'll need room to prep your equipment won't you?"

He nodded.

"We'll need extra pillows," Rin told the clerk.

Mirage crowded into the single queen room. It had a couch. They played rock paper scissors to determine who slept where. Ryuske and Hikaru on the bed, Hatsuharu on the couch, and Rin on the floor squeezed in beside the drum set.

They all felt like they'd barely laid down when someone knocked on the door. But it was Seoshi, it was already 3:45am and he was there with the makeup for Hikaru's arms and torso.

He had her put on the dress first and marked lines on her skin. Then he had her take it off and applied the makeup. He powdered her thoroughly, but warned that the makeup was going to rub on her clothes so not to move around too much outside of the actual shooting.

They all staggered out to the beach with their piles of equipment. Seoshi picked out one dune for them to climb and warned everyone away from making footprints on it early. He chose another to set up the drums and instruments on.

Hikaru was to climb the dune alone in the dress, then turn back and sing the last line, then change clothes quickly. Each of the other Mirage members would make the same climb on a slightly different trail in their black and silver. Seoshi would use a laser pointer to guide them so that they all reached certain key spots in time to the song. Then Hikaru would make the climb again in her black outfit.

This content has been misappropriated from Royal Road; report any instances of this story if found elsewhere.

Then they would all change to their white outfits and rush to the other dune where the instruments waited and play through the song, hopefully before the sunrise ended.

Nezumi and Seoshi had a dozen cameras set up between them. Nezumi said, "Don't stop, whatever you do, just keep going."

Seoshi glared at him, but then turned to the band and agreed, "We're racing the sun here, so yeah, what he said."

Hikaru shivered in the white dress as it fluttered around her. She couldn't rub her arms though because they were covered in makeup.

"Try to look like you're hot?" Seoshi asked plaintively.

Hikaru messaged Kiri while they waited for the sun, 'How am I supposed to look hot when I'm freezing?'

She didn't expect a reply since she figured he'd be sleeping, but he messaged back immediately. 'If you're so scantily dressed that you're freezing, I bet you look really hot. Good morning Hikaru. I love you, send me a picture later!'

Hikaru blushed and the sun glimmered over the horizon.

"Now!" yelled Seoshi.

"Go, go, go," Nezumi murmured nearly inaudibly.

Hikaru climbed the dune, turned and sang the last line as the wind whipped her loose hair around her face, then she turned and ran down the back side of the dune.

They'd set up a flimsy enclosure to change in, and she pulled off the dress and padded bra, pulled on her stage black and silver and tied her hair. When she ran out, Ryuske was coming off the dune.

"Your headset!" he yelled.

Hikaru shrugged helplessly.

He pulled his off and put it on her, and cried, "Go!"

She made it around to the front of the dune just in time to follow after Hatsuharu. She started to follow the same path but Seoshi's cry stopped her and she followed the pointer.

Everyone turned to run towards the changing room when she made it to the top, but Seoshi yelled, "No, Mirage, line up along the top of the dune and jump! Fast!" He beckoned demandingly.

They turned back and climbed quickly to the ridge.

"Jump, all together now, jump!" he yelled.

They jumped, and jumped again, and then Nezumi said quietly over the internal line, "Change to white and get to the instruments now, run."

Seoshi jumped as he heard the voice, they'd explained the system, but hadn't practiced with it. Hikaru looked at Ryuske as they ran towards the makeshift changing room and saw that he'd found her headset.

They stripped down and pulled on their white clothes as fast as they could. Then they ran for the second dune. They played through the song, somewhat breathlessly. By the time they finished, the sun was fully up.

Seoshi wasn't done with them though, he had them play parts of the song solo, standing on a rock above the waves. He was thrilled when one wave swept up and over Ryuske as he played. Ryuske wasn't thrilled and cradled his violin apologetically.

Hatsuharu provided a bottle of purified water and a towel. They cleansed it gently, totally ignoring Ryuske's soaked state, while Seoshi looked on in confusion.

Nezumi looked at him. "Imagine it was your favorite camera."

Comprehension finally dawned.

They straggled back to their rooms completely exhausted. Boxes of hot take out foods awaited them at the front desk.

"Wow," Hikaru said, and grabbed one.

"Thank you," Rin said and grabbed another.

"Who ordered this?" Hatsuharu asked, seeing Ryuske looked as surprised as everyone else.

Everyone denied it, but they carried the food away to the larger of their rooms.

Nezumi asked uncertainly, a partly devoured shrimp held in his chopsticks, "Do you think it's safe to eat it if we don't know where it came from?"

"As safe as take out food ever is," mumbled Hikaru.

Ryuske checked his phone and looked at her thoughtfully and asked, "Have you checked your phone recently?"

She shook her head, and searched for it. Finally she had them call it. Pulling it out from under a tangle of discarded clothes, she turned to Ryuske and asked, "How did you know?"

"It seemed obvious when none of us did it, and I thought about who else knew our filming schedule," he replied.

Hikaru had several messages from Kiri, the latest of which read, 'I figured you'd all be starving.'

Hikaru sent back, 'We were, thank you, a million times.'

Ryuske said quietly, "This is the kind of thing a good manager thinks of."

Rin asked, "Then wouldn't it have been better if our manager had thought of it?"

Ryuske said, "I didn't give him that detailed of a schedule, but he did think of it." He held up his own phone to display the message from Takeda that recommended they eat before they slept, and again before they showed up to record.

When they finished, the band took turns showering, while the waiting members helped get Nezumi and Seoshi settled in their room with all their equipment packed. They stuffed all their stage clothes into bags, before they stretched out to sleep in the other room.

Hikaru's phone rang sometime during the afternoon. When it rang again Ryuske sat up and answered it. "She's sleeping," he said sleepily.

"With you?" Kiri asked.

Ryuske came more awake and replied, "Yes, but not like that, we're all crammed into one room."

"I see," Kiri replied. After a moment of silence he asked, "Why did you answer her phone?"

"Because you kept calling," Ryuske replied.

"Sorry," Kiri said after a moment.

"I'll have her call you on our way to the studio," Ryuske suggested.

"I'll be at the next concert by then," Kiri said.

"Oh." Ryuske asked, "Do you want me to wake her up?"

"It's OK, let her sleep," Kiri replied.

"Thank you for the food," Ryuske said after a moment.

"No problem, see you," Kiri responded.

"See you," Ryuske agreed.

He fell back into the pillows and turned his head to watch Hikaru sleeping. He sighed.

Rin said from the floor, "Go back to sleep you idiot."

Ryuske laughed quietly. "Yeah, sorry." He shut his eyes.