I approached the door and opened it.

"Aki? Weren't you having dinner out?"

"I never said that," she answered. "May I come in?"

"Sure," I stuttered. "Sorry for the mess, you didn't tell me you were coming."

"Because I wanted to see the real you. This is nothing compared to my apartment."

"True."

She slapped my shoulder. "Don't get too cocky. I might find your secret stash."

"I don't have one."

"Sure. I'll believe you."

I shook my head with a smile. "Do you have plans for tonight?"

"I do, actually."

Slowly, she rested her body on my chest while staring at me with a devious smirk. She placed her hands on my shoulders and moved her face closer to mine before shouting.

"Cook for me!"

I let out a long sigh. "You always do this to me."

"And it's always funny."

"Do you really want me to cook for you? It's been a while since I’ve cooked and I only know basic recipes. I'd like to give you something better."

"Aww," she uttered. "You cooking for me is already fantastic. But I'll help you so it doesn't taste awful."

"Thank you for trusting in me."

With the little ingredients I had at home, we cooked a simple yet fulfilling dinner: chicken, rice, and vegetables. We were done in less than half an hour and we ate it in ten minutes.

We remained sitting on the pillows on the floor, chatting about any topic we could think of. At some point, we shared funny videos with each other, but the app wouldn't stop recommending videos about people giving their opinions on Sanae's and Risa's situation to me. It was my fault since I looked for them in the first place.

"Are you okay?" Aki asked me.

"Yes, it's just…"

"Videos about Sanae and Risa? I told you to stop watching them."

"I did, but the app keeps recommending them. In fact, there's a new video. It was uploaded two hours ago and it already has thousands of views."

"Do you want to watch it?"

I took a pause before nodding.

She sighed. "Go ahead. Actually, I haven't watched anything about it. Can you share it with me? I'm curious."

I opened the video and synchronized it with Aki's glasses. The video remained black for a few seconds when a Huma suddenly appeared.

"Hello, my lovely Watchers!" she exulted.

Unlike typical Humas, the Huma in the video looked like a drawing instead of a hologram. Her hair and clothes were extremely colorful and lively, just like the drawing in the background, decorated with hundreds of smaller drawings referencing pop-culture characters. Maybe Blostars is lacking in colors.

"Sorry for starting late, I had to take care of some business. But here I am now!"

Starting late? Oh, she was live and this is the recording.

"Today's topic is quite spicy. Yeah, it's been a week, but you know that I like to wait until there's more information about the situation when it's something as big as this. Maybe that's why I don't have many Watchers…. Anyway. Sadly, nothing new has come out, so I'll work with what I have."

It's true that we haven't said anything, but it's for the best.

"Some people in the chat already guessed it. Today's topic is about the ex-president and his bastard daughters!"

Not the nicest way to say it.

"First things first: aren't they cute as hell?! I don't know if you realized but they are twins!" She remained silent for a second. "Of course, they don't look anything alike; twins don't have to look identical. They were born on the same day. Did you not go to school or what?"

She's a bit aggressive.

"Also, the rest of the girls are beautiful too. The manager looks dull."

A sudden chuckle came out from Aki.

"Hey," I scowled. "Why are you laughing?"

"I'm… not," she stuttered between giggles. "I'm sorry, but you do look dull in the picture the hacker showed. Don't worry, I love you as you are. Although more work on your image wouldn't be bad."

"Very funny."

The Huma in the video continued, "Let's get to the point. For those who haven't watched the video where the hacker revealed everything: are you living under a rock? Go watch it and then come back. I'm going to talk about the aftermath."

Here we go.

"The morning following the revelations, the now ex-president admitted everything. A few hours later, Blostars gave a short speech in a shady café in the Trading District. However, they didn't say anything about the ex-president's affairs. Instead, Sanae and Risa merely asked for privacy, which I respect."

She can sound like a proper presenter if she wants.

"But that's so boring. They make themselves seem more suspicious. If you ask for my opinion, which I guess is the reason why you're here, I'd tell you that they are the ones that leaked the information on purpose to get attention. And they accomplished it. There's just not enough information to know for sure and there probably never will be."

I can't blame her for thinking that, but saying it out loud in front of thousands is far from ideal.

"Why don't I ask them to come for an interview? Because they have no reason to accept. I don't have many Watchers and they should know that I don't have brakes; I'll ask everything the chat and I can think of."

It's weird hearing someone I don't know talk about me.

"Do it," Aki said.

"What?"

"Accept the interview."

"Are you serious? It won't be good for our image."

"Why not? It's free advertising and you're going to tell everyone the truth."

"I don't know…."

"It'll be worse if we don't say anything for a month and suddenly appear with an album. Yes, it's a double-edged sword, but I'm sure you'll do great."

I hid the video in the glasses to look at Aki better. After staring at each other for a moment, I closed my eyes and let out a deep breath.

"Fine, I'll do it."

She clapped once. "Wonderful. Send her a message."

"Now?"

"The sooner the better."

"Fine, fine."

I reopened the video and went into the private-messaging section. With my personal account, I wrote a short yet direct message. "Greetings, Ceruty. I'm Kaito Miyahara, Blostars' manager. I've watched your latest video talking about our situation and it came to my attention that you'd like to hold an interview. I'm willing to grant you one in the following days to answer any questions you and your viewers may have. I look forward to your response. Regards."

Once the glasses transcribed the words from my mind into text, I sent the message.

"Done."

"Now we just have to wait," Aki said. "Let's train for the interview. What do you think about the whole situation?"

Taken by surprise, I looked down at the table. "I… I think the whole situation sucks. For everyone in Blostars and GIMA, not only for me. I already knew there was something strange about Sanae and Risa, but I never expected it to be this big."

"Wrong," Aki replied with a thumbs down. "You shouldn't say that you already knew there was something strange."

"Why not? I want to tell the truth."

"Because people don't need to know that to know the truth. Saying it will only make them more suspicious of you and they won't believe the real reason."

"You're right."

Aki smiled. "The rest of the answer was fine. Except for the stutter at the beginning. It's not too bad, just try to avoid it."

"Got it."

"Next question. It seems that the pasts of three of the members have brought some problems: Sanae's, Risa's, and Astra's. Were you aware of them?"

I looked down for a second and promptly replied, "I'm aware of their talent and their motivation to become idols. As far as I'm concerned, every member of Blostars is looking ahead and that's what matters for me, not the past."

I waited for Aki's follow-up, but she stared down at the floor.

"Aki?"

"Sorry. That was a great answer: authentic and straightforward without giving too much information. Worthy of an honorable manager," she smiled.

"Thanks. Are you okay? You didn't say anything for a moment there."

"I am, don't worry. It's just…." She sighed. "Can I talk to you about something?"

"Please go ahead."

She took a pause before continuing, "I haven't told you—"

A notification appeared in my glasses. I said nothing, but Aki still noticed that I got distracted for a second.

"What is it?" she wondered.

"Ceruty just replied to my message, but I'll check it later. Please go on."

"Reply to her first; I won't go anywhere."

"…Okay."

I opened the conversation and read Ceruty's reply. "That would be amazing! My number is annexed in the message. Please call me anytime you want. Now would be awesome."

I can feel the energy from her video just by reading this.

"What did she say?" Aki asked.

"She sent me her number to call her anytime I want. She said I could call her even now."

"What are you waiting for?"

"You were about to tell me something."

"That can wait, it's nothing important."

I stared at her for a moment. "If you say so."

The glasses detected the number in the message and dialed it automatically. Ceruty answered within a second.

"Hey-hey!"