Since it was Aeryx's press conference, we didn't expect many, if any, questions to be asked to Blostars. Opposite that, they received a fair amount of attention.

Most of the questions were about the controversies we had gone through, but some journalists were genuinely interested in knowing about the collaboration from Blostars' side and our future. Those were the questions that made us want to go on.

The girls were doing very well on their own, meaning Aya and I didn't need to communicate with them that much through Talkie. Other people in the green room from Aeryx's team were also talking with her throughout the conference.

Thirty minutes later, the conference was over. Ms. Yoshida, Aeryx, the girls, and Butcher returned to the green room as bodyguards escorted the journalists out of the building.

Everyone clapped at the success of the conference. Ms. Yoshida even invited us to eat dinner with their team, which we did that same evening.

People knew about the collaboration now, so we didn't care about being seen together, but that didn't mean that Aeryx's and Blostars' popularity wasn't going to bring us problems.

Luckily, TOTOT was already used to it. They knew the best places to go to where we wouldn't be bothered much. Sadly, that meant it was going to be more expensive.

Ms. Yoshida wanted to pay for the food on TOTOT's behalf, but we couldn't agree. There were only three people from TOTOT and there were six of us since Aya and Butcher decided not to come with us.

We finally came to a fifty-fifty agreement, which still wasn't fair, but made us feel comfortable enough to eat at peace.

The rest of the night went perfectly, with only a couple of people stopping us to take pictures.

There wasn't much work to do with Aeryx until the first concert of the tour, so we focused on working on the second album, making sure the merchandise was going to be ready for all of the concerts, and practicing.

Finally, the day arrived. We didn't know much about the place we were going to be performing at. I didn't ask on purpose to avoid getting nervous about it, including the girls and the entirety of GIMA. If someone looked up information about it, it was their fault.

Throughout the previous day, vans had come to HQ to pick up Blostars' stuff, which wasn't much since we were going to use Aeryx's stage setup. Meanwhile, the orders of our merchandise were brought directly to the warehouse TOTOT had told us to send them to. It would've been best to give a quality check to all of it, but that would've taken too long. Regardless, we had checked many prototypes and multiple versions of the final products to make sure there weren't any problems.

For that reason, TOTOT simply sent a bus to pick us up in front of HQ. However, the bus was absurdly long and the windows were stained black, not allowing us to see anything from outside.

The chauffeur climbed out of the bus and introduced himself before helping us carry some of our suitcases into the bus.

Our jaws dropped as soon as we hopped in. There practically was a house inside; a living room with two sofas, a kitchen, two tables for twelve people, a bathroom with a shower, and twelve bunk beds—which were quite cramped, but we weren't going to use them much.

Aside from the beds and even though we were eleven people, the rest of the bus felt incredibly spacious for the entirety of the trip, which was only twenty minutes long since the first concert was in the outskirts of the city.

There were many tall buildings around the venue, making it impossible to see its size properly as the bus parked in a small parking lot behind the building.

We only grabbed some of our stuff—since we were going to be able to return to the bus anytime we wanted—and climbed out.

One of TOTOT's employees was already waiting for us. Now we were too close to the building to see it in its entirety, meaning it was fairly big.

As usual, the hallways inside were rather narrow, but we hadn't seen them that crowded before.

The woman we were following guided us into our green room, which was obviously different than Aeryx's. It was very similar to the one in the last venue we had performed at, just a little bigger.

Our meals, which we had specified to TOTOT days before, didn't take long to be brought to the room.

We ate and, before we realized it, it was time for the sound checks. The same TOTOT employee from before now guided us through a different hallway, where more and more people appeared as we walked.

We reached the light at the end of the tunnel, which blinded me as we stepped out of the hallway. My vision gradually warmed up to its intensity until a huge hall appeared in front of us.

Not only it was big, but it also had two more floors with balconies from which to see the stage. Its very antique style was also shocking.

"One thousand people?" I guessed.

"One thousand and four hundred," Sanae replied.

We all looked at her.

"You couldn't wait until today to find out, huh?" Tomokazu said.

"I'm sure I'm not the only one."

I glanced at everyone else. Only Miki and Satō snapped their heads away. Aya and Tomokazu obviously had to know for merchandise purposes.

About to walk further into the hall, a guy greeted us from behind.

"What's up."

We turned around to see two guys and a girl I didn't know. However, the girls' wide eyes and grins showed they knew who they were.

"Where are our manners?" the girl said. "We are Aeryx's band. It's nice to finally meet you all."

The three of them bowed and we did as well.

"We are fans of your work," the other guy said.

"We are even more fans of your work," Aya replied.

The three of them smiled, then they looked at Umi.

"You're the one that plays all the instruments in all of your songs, right?" the girl asked Umi.

Her eyes opened even wider. "I am."

"It's a shame you haven't been able to find a band to play such energetic pieces live on stage," one of the guys said.

Umi's cheeks reddened a little.

"That's another reason why we are here, actually," the girl added. "We'd love to play during your concert."

Everyone's expressions switched into a confused frown before looking at me. I didn't know what to think either.

"Can you be more specific?" I asked.

"We want to perform guitar, bass, drums, and piano live for you," the girl answered. "Obviously, we have to prepare to perform with Aeryx, so it would only be one song."

One of the guys added, "Since all of our instruments will be hidden behind a curtain during your concert, it would be best to play the last song. That way, they won't need to be hidden again."

"Sounds great," I smiled.

"There are a few problems, though," the other guy said.

"What is it?"

"Even though we can emulate different instruments, we are only four and all of your songs have more than four instruments."

They have listened to all of our songs?

The guy continued, "Meaning that your sound engineer would have to play the specific tracks for the remaining instruments."

"I also think it goes without saying that we won't sound exactly like the studio version, but we'll do our best," the girl smiled.

I glanced at the girls, who frantically nodded. "Alright, I think we can make that work," I replied.

"Awesome," one of the guys smirked. "Now we need to tell everyone about it and make sure that there won't be any problems."

"Don't worry, I'll take care of it. You should focus on the sound check and practicing."

I walked away from everyone back into the hallway.

The first person I had to tell was Ms. Yoshida, who wasn't even on tour with us. I called her and she even sounded excited about the idea, but she quickly became worried as she told me how many people I had to find to tell them about the new plans. She wanted to help me, but she was extremely busy back at her office.

The mission began. I ran all around the venue, asking where to find the people I was looking for. Some were easier to find, while others were impossible. I had to rely on the people I found to tell the ones I didn't.

Before I realized it, fifty minutes had passed. I wanted to keep looking around to be completely sure there wasn't going to be a problem, but I was exhausted. Then, Tomokazu called me.

"Kaito, we should give a brief quality check to the rest of the merchandise and prepare the stalls."

"Right," I panted. "Let's meet back at the green room, then we can ask where our freight is."

"Understood."

The call ended and I slowly walked through the hallways. However, I noticed two people walking out of a room, wearing security vests and carrying two big boxes. That must be the storage room.

As I called Tomokazu to tell him I had found it, I opened the door, just to see someone standing inside. It was Aeryx, who seemed like she was putting a shirt on. It took me a second to realize what was going on and panic but, right before closing the door, something caught my eye.

There was no skin on her back. Instead, there were pipes and wires.