Blostars' first tour began for me when the clock hit midnight. Even though I went to bed as early as I could, I only got three hours of sleep.

I stood up from the bed, careful not to awaken Aki. There was no need for me to take a shower since I had taken one before going to bed, so I simply changed into casual clothes and approached the door.

At the same time I grabbed the handle, Aki's raspy voice sounded behind me.

"Don't take long."

"I won't," I smiled.

I stepped out of the room and closed the door.

Only one light illuminated the otherwise dark hallway, coming out through the gaps between the doorframe and the walls of Umi's room. She usually stayed up late and even played the guitar some nights. I had confronted her about it before, but it was useless. I merely shook my head and headed downstairs and out of the building.

I walked to the same monorail station as always and hopped on. Wandering around the city this late wasn't usual for me. It was strangely mesmerizing to observe its nightlife through the windows.

Eventually, I reached the warehouse of the company we hired to make the stage. Although they were taking care of all the logistics to transport it too, I still had to be there when they loaded everything in the trailers in case anything happened.

The reason this had to be done at midnight was that trailers weren't allowed to use the traffic airlines, meaning they were slow, and they had to travel all the way to the south of the country by noon.

The loading process took an hour and a half since they had to make sure everything was in a good state and that there were no missing parts. I'd be lying if I said I didn't doze off a couple of times.

Finally, the two trailers drove off. I said goodbye to the company crew and then headed back home, almost missing the station where I had to get off.

Combined with sleepiness and cold, walking past the university at night felt weirdly nostalgic. The emotion became so heavy that I had to stop in front of one of its entrances. I merely stared at the fountain in the middle of the garden.

So much time had passed while I was a student, yet it felt like nothing. I was struggling with my final project almost one year ago. Now, I was about to go on a tour with the first group to become galactical and my friends. And Aya, of course.

Life is weird.

When I finally came back to reality, I resumed the walk back home.

I stepped inside the building and headed upstairs. Umi's room lights were off this time, giving me some relief.

I entered Aki's and my room. Before saying I was back, I took a glance to see if she was awake, but the moonlight coming through the window wasn't bright enough to let me see. I approached the bed as I took off my jacket, but Aki wasn't there.

Is she in the bathroom? I didn't see any lights on.

Then, I noticed something lying on Aki's pillow. A note? Where did she get a sheet of paper from?

I reached for it and read the front. From Jun?

Something was written on the back. "Don't take my cans."

What?

Baffled, I scratched my head. Then, I remembered. That used to be Jun's catchphrase during our first years of university. Tomokazu and I would steal his beer since it was the tastiest brand, but also the most expensive one. He was the only one with money between the three of us thanks to the art people would commission from him.

Still doubtful, the only idea that appeared in my mind was to go to his room. I headed back downstairs and approached the door of his room. It opened on its own when I grabbed the handle. I didn't have permission to control the lights with my glasses, so I used the switch next to the door.

Even though the room was filled with Jun's belongings, it still reminded me of the first time I met Sanae and Risa at her dance studio.

I opened the minifridge next to his desk. A note stuck out from between the cans of beer, so I took it. I hadn't even read it and I could already tell it was from Tomokazu because of the fancy typewriting.

"Plead for thy unraveling."

What the…?

With nothing to lose, I headed upstairs to Tomokazu's room.

Absolute silence encompassed the room. It was especially dark due to the curtains not being transparent at all, so I had to be particularly careful with my steps as I looked for the light switch which, for some reason, wasn't next to the door.

"Boo."

"Ah!"

I snapped my head toward the sound and jumped back at the same time, making me trip over something on the floor. Once I recovered from the fall, I saw Tomokazu's guy Huma.

"You almost gave me a heart attack," I said as I stood up.

"Those were Overlord's orders."

Right, his Humas call him that.

"Can you tell me where he is?" I asked.

"By Overlord's orders, I can't do that until you meet the requirements."

"Requirements?"

It didn't take much thought for me to realize what he meant. You're going to pay for this, Tomokazu.

I kneeled in front of the Huma and pleaded, "I implore you, can you please tell me where Tomokazu is?"

The Huma stayed silent with his arms crossed.

I sighed. "Can you please tell me where Overlord is?"

He smirked, "I don't know."

You son of a—

"But a lady left a message for you," he added. "I quote: Inside the most precious belonging inside what was offered."

…Huh?

"That is all. I'm out," said the Huma and disappeared into its small platform on the floor.

I stood up. The only room left was Umi's, so I assumed it was a message from her asking me to go. I did so and turned the lights on, but I had no idea what I was looking for.

Inside the most precious belonging…. Does Umi have a precious belonging? I've never heard her talking about it before. The only thing I've seen her with multiple times is…

My eyes met with the thing I was looking for as soon as I thought about it: her guitar. It stood on a stand on the floor. I approached it, but I didn't dare put a finger on it. That was the only clue I had, however.

I gathered courage and picked it up. Something rattled inside so, with my heart about to explode, I shook it upside down as carefully as possible.

A note came out from inside and got stuck on the strings. I slid my fingers behind them and pulled the note out. The front was blank this time, while the back read,

"Working late is not always bad."

The typewriting was unrecognizable to me, meaning it couldn't be Aya's, Tomokazu's, or Jun's. There was no use in thinking about it so, assuming they wanted me to go to HQ, I did just that.

I headed out of the building and walked a few steps on the sidewalk to arrive at HQ. The glass door allowed me to see it was completely dark inside, so I asked my glasses to turn the lights on as I stepped inside.

"Surprise!" several people shouted.

I stood petrified next to the door.

The reception area was full of people: Aya, Tomokazu, Jun, the girls, Butcher, and even my parents' holograms.

A small table with a cake stood in the middle, while signs with letters hung from the ceiling, spelling out 'Happy Birthday!'

…Eh?

Everyone chuckled as they stared at me.

"Don't make your friends wait, young man," said Butcher as he approached. "Happy birthday."

He lifted and squeezed me so hard that the air came out of my lungs. Once he lowered me down, he added a slap to my back to finish breaking my ribs.

"Thank you…, Butcher…." I breathed.

Sanae and Risa approached next.

"Happy birthday, Kaito," said Sanae.

"Thank you," I replied. "Why is everyone here this late? The tour—"

Aya interrupted, "Don't you dare think about work right now. It's your fault for choosing the same day."

"I already told you why…." A deep breath came out of my mouth. "Alright, I won't. Did you prepare all of this?"

"That's a secret," smiled Aya.

I shook my head.

"Kaito," called Risa, "I hope you don't mind, but Sanae, Butcher, and I got you a gift together. It was already hard choosing one," she laughed nervously.

"That's okay. What is it?"

She extended her arm, revealing the small gift box she was holding behind her back. I unwrapped it carefully and opened it: a pair of glasses were inside.

"Wait, are these the latest model?"

Sanae nodded. "It was our fault that your glasses broke when we met, so we owed you a new pair. We could each afford the latest model, but it was going to be a huge blow to our wallets. So, we decided to buy them together."

About to say it wasn't necessary, I stopped myself. Instead, I took my glasses off, opened the new glasses box, and put them on.

"Thank you very much," I smiled.

Risa hugged me first, followed by a hesitant Sanae. Butcher was about to join them, but I stopped him by saying he had already hugged me. The three of them laughed.

"Kaito!" beamed Astra. "This is my gift."

She handed me an even smaller box. I didn't have to unwrap it, as it had a lid. However, what was inside confused me.

"A ring?"

She frantically nodded. "It was in my capsule. I didn't know what it was, but then I found my dad's notes about it. He said it belonged to our family for many generations and that I should only give it to someone really special. You're making my dreams come true, so I want to give it to you."

Everyone stared at her, laughing nervously.

"Astra, I think your father meant something else," I said.

"What do you mean?"

"Someone special romantically."

"Roma—?!" Her eyes opened wide and her face flushed. She frantically bowed in front of me, then turned toward Aki. "I'm so sorry, I didn't know!"

"Don't worry," I said, then I hugged her. "The fact that you're willing to give me a possession that holds such importance for you is enough already."

She took a second to return the hug.

Once we stepped away from each other, Astra said, "I'll give you something later."

"Alright."

Aki didn't waste any time and approached me. "It's my turn."

Her hands were empty.

"Where's the gift?" I wondered.

"I can't say it in public."

"Ew," everyone uttered.

Aki chuckled. "You're very dirty-minded people." She bent forward to whisper in my ear what the gift was.

"Are you serious?" I asked.

She nodded. "Can I tell them?"

"Sure."

A smile formed on her face. She then spoke louder, "The gift is a VIP tour through the first intergalactic ship."

Everyone stared at us in confusion, so I felt the need to explain why.

"I wanted to be a pilot before, and I still think ships are incredible. That's why she's giving me this."

"Ohh!" everyone uttered in awe.

"That's cheating," complained Umi. "She knows secrets about you that we can't know."

"Are you jealous?" joked Aki.

Realizing the situation she had gotten herself into, Umi merely snapped her head away.

"What's your gift?" I asked her.

"Wasn't letting you touch my guitar enough?"

"It was nerve-wracking, to be honest," I laughed nervously.

"Good," she replied. She then sighed, "I didn't know what to give you, so everyone was kind enough to let me buy the cake on my own. I don't care if you like it—"

Before she could finish her sentence, I hugged her.

"Thank you, I really appreciate it."

She didn't hug me back, yet she didn't try to break free. Her pink cheeks showed she was happy about it.

"Whatever…."

I smiled. "I guess it's a good time to blow out the candles."

"Wait!" shouted Mom. "Let us sing happy birthday first."

Embarrassment, here we come.