The fan meeting ended without any more problems and the merchandise sold out long before that. Had it not been for the Chiharu and Aki's ex-classmate situations, it would've been a perfect day. They kept giving me headaches throughout the day and I was sure it was the same with Aki, who did an incredible job hiding any discomfort, despite the situation.

We returned to HQ with less than an hour left of the shift, so I decided to call it an early day. Tomokazu went home first as usual, while the girls changed back into their regular clothes before leaving. Aya went home with Astra, and Butcher went home with Sanae and Risa.

Aki, Umi, and I walked home together. We dropped Umi off at her apartment, and Aki and I headed to mine. She jumped onto the bed as soon as we entered.

"Do you want to eat dinner?" I asked.

"Yes, please," her muffled voice came through the blankets.

I stepped into the kitchen and cooked with the little knowledge I had gained when Aki insisted on teaching me. Thankfully, she came to the kitchen to help me halfway through.

We served our plates and sat on the floor to eat at the table. Only a few bites into it, the conversation began.

"So, what happened?" she wondered.

I swallowed what was in my mouth before answering, "She was quite aggressive and said she wants to destroy your career."

She frowned. "Seriously? That's not like her at all."

"At least she apologized for dragging the rest of us into it."

She chuckled. "That sounds more like her. Well, I didn't see her again after that happened, I guess it's only normal. Did she tell you who she was?"

I nodded. "She was your classmate and the… other girl's best friend. I knew her name only after I added her to my contact list."

"You added her?"

"Yes. I promised her that you would talk with her one-on-one when you were ready if she stopped making a fuss. It worked, but I'm worried I meddled too much."

"That's perfectly fine," she smiled faintly. "The only problem is that I don't know when I'll be ready."

I stared down at my plate. "I'd like to tell you there's no rush, but there is. Even though we managed to control it fast, the situation is out in the public now. It wouldn't surprise me to see something about it tomorrow."

"I know, the sooner I speak about it, the less damage it'll cause. Why did it have to happen right before our first concert?" she grunted and hit the table with her fist. She glanced at me right after. "I'm sorry, I…"

"It's alright, you need to release your pent-up emotions. I actually did the same during the fan meeting."

Her eyes opened wide. "You did?"

"It wasn't my decision. It happened when your ex-classmate left. I was about to punch the wall, but I stopped myself. Then I started feeling weird. I could barely breathe and my vision kept darkening with every second. My chest felt awfully tight as well. I thought I was having a heart attack or something," I laughed nervously.

Aki was the opposite of amused, however. "Did that happen because of my friend? Was it a panic attack?"

"As I said, they were pent-up emotions, not only because of your friend. Luckily, the woman that received us at the mall arrived and helped me calm down. She said she knew it was a panic attack because she had gone through many of them in the past, so she recommended that I see a doctor."

"I'm glad she was there."

"Me too. I don't know if it was a panic attack, though. Something similar happened some weeks ago, but it was far less intense than this time."

"Why didn't you tell me?"

"Because I didn't even know what had happened and I didn't think it was going to happen again."

She looked down at her plate. "We both should see a doctor and a therapist."

"I agree. Not only us but all of GIMA. Health care will be a priority as soon as we have a steady income."

"That's good to hear," she smiled, but the smile didn't last long. "You said the attack you had wasn't only because of my friend. Did something else happen?"

I took a moment to answer, "I—"

My glasses started ringing on top of a counter in the kitchen. I glanced at Aki before standing up and picking up my glasses. I put them on to see Mr. Mochizuki's name on the screen. Speaking of Chiharu.

"Who is it?" Aki wondered.

"It's the agent I've been talking to about the hacker."

"Answer, then."

Somewhat hesitant, I did so and turned the speakers on.

"Hello?"

"Good evening, Mr. Miyahara," he greeted me. "I hope I'm not bothering you too much after such a long day."

"No, it's alright."

"Wonderful. Do you have a moment to speak? It'll be brief."

"Sure, what is it?"

"I'm sure you saw one of my agents at your fan meeting, he recently came back to the station and gave me a brief report of what happened today."

Please tell me he noticed something weird when I was talking with Chiharu.

"As far as I can tell, it was an uneventful day," he continued. "Regarding our case, that is. I'm sure it was a productive day for your company."

"It was, don't worry," I laughed nervously. Damn it.

"However, there was the incident with a woman shouting murderer at one of the members of Blostars."

I glanced at Aki, who merely stared at the wall.

"Yeah, I guess I should explain what that was about," I replied.

"There's no need for that, it didn't take me long to find the report files of that case. Anyway, I must say that you handled the situation remarkably well, thank you for not making the problem bigger."

"No problem. We also didn't want to attract too much attention to it."

"Alright. That's everything on my part. Is there anything you want to tell me?"

I opened my mouth to reply, but I stayed silent for a moment. "No, nothing else happened."

"That's a shame, but it's also good that you weren't in any danger. That'd be everything, thank you for taking the time to talk with me. I'll call you when there are updates on the case. Have a good night."

"Sure, good night."

The call promptly ended. Aki turned to look at me.

"What else happened?" she asked.

"Nothing, as I said."

I approached her as I raised my finger in front of my mouth to signal her to not say anything. She frowned at me in silence. I took the glasses off her and headed to the bathroom, where I left both of our glasses. I returned to the room.

"What's happening?" she asked.

I sat down in front of her again. "We might be being spied on by the hacker through our glasses."

"How do you know?"

"That's the problem, I don't know. I'm paranoid because I met him again today, or her, I should say."

"Her?"

"She's using HoloForm and other technologies I don't know to look and sound like a guy. She wasn't disguised as the black sweater fan as usual, she was a completely different guy this time."

"How did you recognize her, then?"

"I recognized the tone of her voice. I can't believe I didn't before."

"Before? You know her?"

I looked down at my half-full plate. "Remember that girl I told you about? The one whose curriculum I ruined."

Her jaw dropped. "Are you serious?"

"I am."

"So, she's doing this to get revenge?"

"I don't know, she didn't tell me much. She said she would tell me more if I behaved well, that's why I'm paranoid that she might be spying on us. If that's the case, it's probably my glasses only, but I also took yours away to be safe."

"Why didn't you tell the agent just now?"

"For the same reason. And, this is going to sound crazy, but I'm actually curious about what she might tell me."

Aki looked away from me and stayed silent.

"She also told me that, even if I told the police, they would be useless. I guess she left her real identity behind, maybe faking her death or something."

"Would she have done something extreme like that? What about her family?"

"I didn't know her that well, but yes, I'd believe she would do something extreme like that."

She stared at me. "I… don't know what to say."

"Me neither."

"Now I understand why you had an attack. We should make an appointment to see the doctor and go together."

"Sure, we can do that."

"But what are we going to do about the hacker and my friend? It's funny that they were our friends before and our mistakes made them want revenge."

"It is. We can only wait for the police to find out more about it. As for your friend, I have an idea."