Half of the workday had passed. I sat at my desk, doing my daily work and chatting with Aya and Tomokazu to come up with new ideas, when Aki knocked on the glass door of the office.

"Come in," I said.

She entered the room.

"It's not common for someone to come here," I continued. "Did something happen?"

"Can't I just come to see my Galactical Prince?"

"Bleh," Aya uttered in disgust.

I sighed. "I'd prefer if you called me by my name while we're at work."

"That's not what you say when we…. Nevermind. Alright, Boss. I'm here to ask you if you're available tonight."

The question caught me off guard. "I am, after my lecture. Why?"

"My parents want to have dinner with us."

I opened my mouth to reply, but the words vanished from my mind. The three of them stared at me with a smirk, while Aya chuckled.

"What's so funny?" I frowned.

"Your reaction," she smiled. "Don't worry, I've been in your shoes before. If you need them, your big sister can give you some tips."

"No, thanks. Why do they want to have dinner with us?" I asked Aki.

"It's not that weird," she answered. "You've met them before, but they didn't have the chance to get to know you."

"That's true."

That reminds me I haven't introduced Aki to my parents either. They haven't asked, but they're probably waiting for me to do so.

"I have an idea," I said. "Why don't both our families meet to have dinner at the same place?"

"I doubt that's what my parents had in mind."

"Yes, but it's unfair that I am the only one being judged, so let's both be judged at the same time."

She sighed. "My parents won't like it, but they can't say no either."

"Great. I'll tell my parents so we can decide on a day. Is that everything you wanted to tell me?"

"There's another thing," she replied. "The girls and I noticed that people are asking for us to have our own social media accounts. You know I have a profile and the girls have one as well, but they are personal and we don't use them much. Should we make new profiles?"

I rested my head on my hand to think. "It's a good thing you reminded me of your personal profiles. You should make them private. I'll ask the girls to do the same as well. As for the new profiles, I've had already thought about that, but I'm not sure it's the best time to do it."

"The sooner the better, dear friend," Tomokazu said. "It's going to be worse if you're late."

I sighed. "I need to think about it."

"Are you worried about us not being able to handle the hate?" Aki asked.

"A little. It can take a toll after a while."

"Don't worry, we know what we're getting into."

"That doesn't make me less worried. Also, all of your posts would need to be reviewed before being published."

"I can do that," Aya said.

I glanced at her and sighed again. "Alright, let's do it then. We'll make them before the coming shows so you can announce it there."

"Wonderful," Aki smiled. "I'll tell the girls about it. That was all." She blew a kiss at me before walking out of the office.

Aya broke the silence a moment later. "Coward."

"Shut up."

The workday came to an end in the blink of an eye. Aki came to the office while we waited for everyone to leave. We exited the office once that happened but, to our surprise, Umi was standing next to the main entrance.

"Umi? What are you doing here?" I asked as we approached her.

She stood in silence for a while until she sighed. "Can I walk home with you?"

Aki and I glanced at each other, not knowing how to react.

"Forget it, I don't want to be a third wheel," Umi said and started walking away, but Aki held her by the arm.

"Yes, you can come with us," Aki replied.

"We were just surprised that you waited for us and asked this," I added. "Let's go."

We stepped out of HQ and walked down the sidewalk towards the university's apartment blocks. Umi followed us a little behind until Aki slowed down so we could walk next to her.

"What are your hobbies?" Aki asked her.

"That's…. I like learning how to play my favorite songs."

"Not too surprising. Who's your favorite band?"

"Aeryx."

"I know her. She's a singer, right? But she always has the same band playing for her."

Umi nodded. "I love watching videos of her concerts."

Aki and I stared at her in silence.

"What?" Umi grumbled.

"Nothing," Aki smirked. "I thought you were going to answer with some heavy metal band or something like that."

"I don't like heavy metal."

"Talking about heavy metal," I said, "what about your goth friends?"

"They are not goths, they…. Whatever," Umi sighed. "And they are not my friends. I hung out with them only because they also like Aeryx and I had nothing better to do. I've barely talked with them since I started working."

"Why don't you hang out with us, then?" Aki smiled. "You can message me or any of the girls whenever you want."

"Or even me," I added.

Umi lowered her head and stayed silent.

"Did we say something bad?" Aki worried.

"No. We don't have anything in common, so we won't be able to talk much."

"That doesn't matter, we'll always try to keep the conversation alive. And I'm sure we'll find something in common sooner than you think."

"Alright. Why don't you message me first? In fact, no one ever messages me first."

"That's because you're scary," I replied. "We don't know if we're going to bother you, so we prefer to avoid that."

"You won't. I'd tell you if you did."

Aki and I smiled at each other.

"It's settled, then," Aki said. "Let's walk home together every day."

We chatted a little more as we walked to Umi's apartment. We dropped her off at the entrance of the building and headed to Aki's.

"I must confess something," Aki said as we walked between apartment blocks. "I got a little jealous when you went to the park with Umi."

"Really?"

She nodded. "I didn't at first, but then you hugged her so tightly. I know why you did it, but it still made me jealous."

Without warning, I wrapped my arm around her shoulders and squeezed her.

"Should I hug you all the time, then?" I smirked.

"Stop, you're going to make us fall!" she smiled and pushed me away.

We both laughed and the conversation came to a halt.

"Kaito, are you attracted to Umi?" Aki suddenly asked.

"No," I replied.

She smirked. "You didn't hesitate at all."

"Because I'm not attracted to her, she's far from being my type."

"Yeah, I can see that. Now I wonder if she's attracted to you."

"I'm sure she isn't."

"I think so too, but you can never tell."

We arrived at the entrance of Aki's apartment building and kissed.

"Talk to you later," she said. "We need to choose a day to have dinner with our parents."

"We can decide tonight."

And so we did. We chose to have dinner at a restaurant relatively far from the center of the city to avoid big crowds and exorbitant prices. The restaurant's food wasn't cheap but it wasn't expensive either and there were tables for groups of six people.

That evening arrived quickly. I waited for my parents just outside the monorail station and walked with them to the restaurant, where Aki and her parents were already waiting at the table. Aki and I introduced our parents and everyone ordered food. Finally, the long-coming awkward silence came.

"Why don't you tell us about yourself, kid?" Aki's father asked.

I hate that question. What am I supposed to say?

Mom tapped my arm to make me answer.

"I don't have much to say, I'm a very ordinary guy," I nervously laughed. "I focused on studying until I founded GIMA, the company managing Blostars, although I'm still studying."

"You chose to keep studying?" Aki's mother wondered.

"I'm in the Business Administration degree, so starting a business is required to graduate. It also means that I still need to attend the lectures."

"That's interesting," she smiled.

"Is that all?" Aki's father questioned. "Haven't you done more?"

"Darling," Aki's mother worried.

"I just can't trust a person that doesn't admit to having done bad things or making mistakes."

"Dad," Aki frowned.

"It's alright, I agree with him," I smiled. "There's something, actually. My first business went bankrupt because of me."