Prologue
A tense silence permeated the conference room as the president read the incriminating magazine and tabloid articles about a scandal a talent in his own company got involved in. With each passing second, his face became flushed with rage especially when a nameless journalist implied that he's incompetent and there's mismanagement in his company.
"What's the meaning of this?!" he roared as he threw the papers on the table and slammed his palm against it. Some of the staff in the room flinched at the sound.
"We've put a lot of investments into these boys and this is how they repay us? With a scandal?!" he raged.
"Haruki neither claims nor denies anything?" someone asked the band's manager quietly.
"What about that foreign kid? He's spending more time on his TV projects!" a member of the board accused.
"Also, they haven't had a new single for three months!" another voiced out in discontent.
The band manager assumed a calm façade. "I can assure you, Elliot is doing just fine. And Takumi is working on a new song." he explained.
"What about Nishikino?" The president ranted. "I heard he drove away half of the staff members again!"
"..."
A girl with purple hair tied in two low twintails stood nearby and watched the scene unfold before her eyes. The conference room was wide enough but the tension in the air made her feel nauseated. Her boss sat among the board members and got bombarded with multiple questions in light of the latest scandal of the band he's managing. He still had a serene smile on his face but the slight crinkling of his brows tells her otherwise. She knew he was getting quite annoyed dealing with the old timers who act all arrogant and think they're holier than thou. If this keeps up, he'll get an ulcer, she thought idly.
"Well, why don't we look through someone else's eyes for a fresher view." Her boss turned to her. There was a gleam on his eyes for a second that she couldn't decipher. Suddenly, all eyes were on her.
"What do you think, Nozomi?" her boss asked again.
She felt like she's slowly being surrounded by a pack of wolves. Taunting her with looks of disapproval and hatred. She gets it; she's young, terribly inexperience, and has a pretty laid back work ethics. But if there was one thing she's good at, it's manipulating the situation to her advantage. She sighed, cleared her head and said the first thing that came to her mind.
"What about an audition?"
BETA & Co-writer: Keirajoy