The Day After

"Eh? So that's how it went?" the resident blonde commented, sitting with the Producer in his office space in their designated room.

As the oldest member of LiPPS, and the only college student, her schedule tended to be the most lax of the girls. That of course meant that her educational obligation tended to be far stricter compared to the others. Ever since LiPPS had been formed, she had taken to hanging out in the office if the other girls weren't around. Not that her presence was unwanted. He'd dealt with his fair share of quirky individuals, even before the Producer had moved to Japan. In essence, Frederica was a familiar taste of home.

He pushed a small cup of sweets and candy towards her, offering it to the blonde. "Do you have any ideas to give about it?"

"Have one of us handle it?" she said, tilting her head as her green eyes blinked at him.

"It would still need to be regulated, but it would be more genuine." Ushio said in agreement, standing beside his desk.

"As genuine as a regulated post could be." He said with a scoff. "And who would handle it?"

"Probably Mika-chan. She's the most up to date with the social med-game." Frederica offered as she plucked a wrapped sweet. "Do you have another date planned for our next session? We want to play it again!"

"What do you think of this Saturday?" He answered, spinning his monitor to show her their new schedule. "The weekends are your breaks, and I won't touch Sundays. But Saturdays are also your free days, and I'd rather not cut your days off short for this."

"I think Saturdays are fine." She said as she pulled her phone out. "I'll ask the girls. Besides, we all want to play again, and I can't wait to be a cute flower again!"

The Producer chuckled, while Ushio giggled at her words. "Do you not have any school work?" he asked her.

"Nah, I did them all before heading here." She said with her own giggle. "Don't have to worry about them later."

"Smart." He nodded in approval.

"Ah! They all said they're good for Saturdays! And school just ended for them." She said suddenly, showing her phone's screen to him. "They should be here soon!"

"Then you should get ready. You girls got a radio gig in an hour. I'm going to get some caffeine in me before I meet you girls there." He says, as he pushes himself away from his desk, standing back up. "Ushio-san, accompany the girls."

"Yes, Producer." Ushio responded, bowing her head.

"We'll see you there, Producer!" Frederica said with a bright smile on her face.

He nodded back as he picked up his documents. He ruffled the blonde's hair, and left before either of them. Closing the door of LiPPS' room, he checked his own phone for any messages he might have gotten. Nothing urgent that he needed to take care of, so he nodded satisfactorily, and waited for the elevator to arrive. When he heard the ding of the elevator, he walked in.

"Producer!"

He looked up, seeing the wavy haired brunette, dressed in her haphazardly worn school uniform. She smiled cheekily at him.

"Shiki. Freddie said that you girls just got out." He commented as the elevator door closed.

"Yeah, I got out early. You know how it is." She laughed in her signature cackle.

He didn't question it. The girl was a genius, and was already enrolled in an American university before she decided to come back, all because she grew bored. "You missed the floor." He said as he pressed for the floor he was heading towards.

"Its fine, we got time." She said with a wave of her hand. "Fre-chan said that our next game is Saturday."

"Since you girls are okay with it. I was waiting to ask later, when everyone else was around, along with other things that you need to know as well."

"Oh? What about?" she asked, leaning her back onto the wall.

He sighed to himself, realizing that he would have to repeat everything he had just told Frederica earlier.

It wasn't long until they arrived at the floor he was aiming, walking out with Shiki following behind him. "Eeeeh… Already trying to spin our game into a profit I see." Her usual smirk faded somewhat, a rare out-of-character sardonic version of one taking its place.

The Producer stayed his tongue, letting one of his idols air out her frustration, rare as that may be. Not even just from an idol, but even among his colleagues as well. It took time to get used to when he not only moved to the country, but also started working here. He attributed it to Shiki's time in the United States.

"Thanks, Producer." She said almost suddenly. "For, looking out for us."

"Come on, you're my girls. I'll always look out for you." He said with a nod, bumping his fist on the girl's shoulder.

"And I agree with Fre-chan. Mika-chan's the most experienced, she'll be able to handle our social media accounts." Shiki said, wrapping an arm around the Producer's. "Where are we going, anyway?"

"The breakroom. I need some caffeine." He told her as he opened the door, showing an otherwise empty room.

"Where is everybody?" she asked him.

"Not a clue. There's not much of us anyway. I think we're at over two dozen producers." He shook his head as he sighed. "Which is a ridiculous number, considering how many idols there are."

"You must be so happy that you only have to deal with us." She said with her signature smirk returning.

"Oh, you have no idea." the Producer reached the coffee machine, pouring a small cup for himself. "You want some?"

"Nah, I'm fine." She replied.

He nodded. "Alright." he then began pouring as much cream, sugar, and milk he could into his single cup.

The young brunette's eye brow rose. "You don't like coffee?"

"I hate it." He admitted with a grimace. "The only way I can drink coffee is by turning it into something else. I don't even like sweet things."

A hearty cackle left Shiki's lips, as the brunette leaned herself onto the counter. Her blue eyes were looking over him, inspecting every nook and crease of the older man. Her eyes found a glint that she never noticed before.

"Are you engaged?" she asked suddenly.

"Hm?" instinctively, the Producer brought his left hand up, spreading his fingers apart, showing the simple ring. "You can say that."

Her brows furrowed at his choice of words. "What do you mean?"

"We're not officially engaged." He told her. "Neither of us are ready to get married, though we are confident that we will grow old together."

"But…?" she prodded him, sensing more to the reasoning.

"But nothing ever goes right, with people who were engaged for too long without getting married." He shrugged his shoulders. "I don't know, I guess we're superstitious. 'Cause, if you're engaged, and you're not married within two years' time max, the relationship won't last."

"Ah." She listened to his story, taking her own rare opportunity to get to know the Producer. He was a professional and accommodating man, yet he rarely ever showed much of himself. "So that's more of a promise ring, then?"

"Yeah, I guess that's right." He said, with a small smile appearing on his face.

"No wonder it always seemed like you were immune to our teasing." She noted with a grin. "Will you invite us to the wedding?" he turned to face her with a brow raised, seeing only the Cheshire grin that was signature to her.

He shrugged his shoulder lightly. "Sure." He said with a smile, his hand reaching out to ruffle her hair.

The breakroom's door opened, interrupting their conversation as he was in the middle of another sip. They both turned to see who it was that had just entered the room with them. A familiar and famous face, one that was known throughout the idol division of 346 Productions. He was the tallest person in the company, cutting an intimidating figure.

Yet Mahut couldn't help but smile. "Senpai, taking a break?" he ask as he stood just a little bit straighter.

"Zulkar-san." The older man nodded towards him in greeting, before doing the same to Shiki. "Ichinose-san."

"Hello~, Executive Producer." She greeted with a mock salute.

That's right, the older man had gotten promoted, and was now his direct superior. Though as a whole they tended to report directly to Director Mishiro, since the older woman was meticulous like that and preferred to see the reports with her own eyes. Mahut still called him Senpai, and the older man didn't seem to mind. They only directly worked together whenever there was a large event that was being organized.

"Yes, I am." He finally answered, placing his laptop on one of the many tables. "And to also, find a quiet place."

"Sounds like a perfect place then." Mahut commented, before finally taking the last sip of his highly sweetened coffee. "We'll get out of your hair, Senpai."

"Zulkar-san." The senior producer called out, stopping Mahut in his place. "I've heard, of your side project."

"I wouldn't call it that, Senpai." He responded with a grimace. "The girls wanted to do something fun, so I helped them out."

The older man shifted his eyes to the idol, who gave back a double v sign to him. "Regardless, it seems that the Director sees opportunity with it. So, good luck."

In dealing with her pushes. In venturing into uncharted territory for the company. In making sure the girls' experience wasn't sacrificed. Mahut could read between the lines, and so could Shiki. The Executive Producer knew firsthand how the Director liked to operate.

He met his superior's eyes, and nodded. "Thanks, Senpai." he said sincerely, with a hand reaching for Shiki's back, moving her along as they left him to his privacy.

"What time is it?" he asked as they closed the door behind them, mostly to himself though he knew that the brunette would answer.

"We got 20 minutes until the radio talk." She replied, looking to him with her Cheshire smirk.

"Oh god. Let's get to it then." He said as they began walking faster. "I swear, if you're late for this…"

The Producer's frustration only seemed to delight the brown haired genius, as they began rushing their way towards the other side of the campus. Their hurried steps were complimented by her endless cackling, though the growing smile on the Producer's face showed that he didn't truly find the situation all that troublesome.


AUTHOR'S NOTE

here's the 2nd of the current batch, before we dive back into another game session, just as i said.

gonna have to build up the next backlog up, preferably having the next batch ready and then some before i upload it.

see you guys then! thanks for dropping by!