Two hours until the Organization XII concert was supposed to start. The Goshimas decided to leave their hotel room right then and head on down to the Red Rock Amphitheatre in order to get everything ready. While down there, they met up with Fingerbang and their manager Goldie Diamond.

"Oh, I take it you four boys are supposed to be Fingerbang?" Mrs. Goshima asked.

"We sure are," Kyle replied. "It's so nice to see you guys again. I remember when you and your husband helped to chaperone the spring formal a couple months back."

Mrs. Goshima nodded. "Yes, your mother and I watched over you like hawks." She then gave a light chuckle.

"Yeah, thanks for making the best school dance of the year so boring, guys," Eric sarcastically grumbled.

"Yeah, no kidding," Kenny chimed in.

Kenny McCormick had fair skin, messy blond hair, and light gray eyes. In the winter, he would wear an orange parka, orange pants, and brown gloves; with his hood on so that only his eyes were visible. Here, just like the other boys in Fingerbang, he was wearing a loose white T-shirt with dark jeans and white tennis shoes, only his seemed to be tearing around the soles.

"Aw man, I'm so glad you guys could make it," Stan said. "So girls, you ready to dance along with us on stage?"

"Oh yeah!" the Goshima triplets all exclaimed at once.

Kyle gave a thumbs up. "Alright, that's all I needed to hear. Let's just go ahead and go into our dressing rooms and get ready, alright?"

"Yeah, I'm down with that," Nyoko replied.

With that, Fingerbang and the Goshima sisters headed out to their dressing rooms to get ready, but not before making sure they brought the outfits they were going to wear on stage with them. While the thirteen-year-olds were off to prepare for the performance of their lives, the adults decided to start talking amongst themselves.

"So is there anything Sadako and I need to know before the concert starts?" Mr. Goshima asked Goldie.

"The only thing you need to know right now is that I plan to sign Fingerbang to a contract after this is over," Goldie replied. "Sure, they may be only slightly younger than my kid sister Petunia, but I think they can handle a little bit of fame that goes their way."

"Well, what about our girls? My wife and I have done everything we could to give them a normal childhood, and I want to make sure we keep it that way."

Goldie pursed her lips. "If that's what you want... but I have to warn you. Just like with Fingerbang, I plan to sign your daughters to a contract as well and possibly even form a musical group for them to be in. You may never get an opportunity like this again if you pass it up. Think about it carefully, Mr. Goshima."

Mr. Goshima started to at least entertain the idea of getting his daughters into the music business. Sure, he and his wife may not have exactly been hurting for money, what with him working in construction and her being a successful important-as-all-get-out architect; but at the same time, he wanted to make sure that the triplets would at least be well off by the time they had to go to Harvard. Did he owe it to his little girls to risk damaging their mental health and how they would perceive themselves for the sake of their reputations?


Thirty minutes until the Organization XII concert was supposed to start. Fingerbang and the Goshima sisters were now heading out to the stage, ready to face thousands upon thousands of screaming fans who ran the gamut from preteens all the way to older adults. Out into the crowd, Nyoko could see a bunch of girls who were around the same age as her and her sisters, all dressed up in black and screaming for joy and holding large paper signs proclaiming their love for the seventeen-year-old lead singer Xemnas St. Peter. Nyoko couldn't help but think that "Xemnas" must have been a stage name or something. No parent in their right mind would want to name a child Xemnas, especially with how it seemed to reek of edginess.

Eric decided to actually start things up by grabbing a microphone off its stand in order to address the audience.

"What's up, guys?" Eric yelled out to the crowd.

The crowd went wild, especially the thirteen-year-old fangirls.

"Yeah, yeah, I get it," Eric continued while trying to suppress a chuckle. "My band and I are so honored to be opening for Organization XII right here for you ladies and gents. You guys freaking rock!"

The crowd went wild again, and Eric seemed to revel in all the cheering and screaming that came his way. Meanwhile, the Goshima sisters and the rest of Fingerbang just waited for him to finish so they could start performing already.

"I know, I know," Eric finished. "The feeling's mutual. Now, with that out of the way, it's time to play the first song of the set. Ladies and gentlemen... Fingerbang!"

The crowd went wild yet again, and that was when Fingerbang started performing.

Fingerbang!
Bang bang!
Fingerbang bang!
Bang-bang-bang!
I'm gonna Fingerbang-bang you into my life,
Girl you like to fingerbang and it's all right!
Cause I'm the king of Fingerbang, let's not fight,
I'll just Fingerbang-bang you every night!

As much as Nyoko didn't want to admit it, she thought that the song was kinda catchy. She and her sisters just danced along to the music with smiles on their faces.

Fingerbang!
Bang bang!
Fingerbang bang!
Bang-bang-bang!
I'm gonna Fingerbang-bang you into my life,
Girl you like to fingerbang and it's all right!
Cause I'm the king of Fingerbang, let's not fight,
I'll just Fingerbang-bang you every night!

Nyoko looked out into the crowd while dancing to the song. She saw people dancing along to the song, even the preteens who either didn't know or didn't care what the term "fingerbang" actually meant.

"And girl, you know that you're the only girl for me," Eric started to sing solo. "Girl, girl, you're the girl of my fantasy..."

"Eric, I want you!" a fifteen-year-old girl yelled out to him while he sang.

Eric continued to sing solo. "You know you're my girl, my girl..."

Nyoko couldn't believe how well the crowd seemed to be admiring her as well as everyone else. They seemed to... love her and all she was doing right there on the stage. Now she understood how *NSYNC, Jennifer Lopez, and Britney Spears must have all felt while they were out there performing for the audience.

Fingerbang!
Bang bang!
Fingerbang-bang!
Bang-bang-bang!
I'm gonna Fingerbang-bang you into my life,
Girl you like to fingerbang and it's all right!
Cause I'm the king of Fingerbang, let's not fight,
I'll just Fingerbang-bang you every night...

Once Fingerbang had finished performing their self-titled hit, the crowd erupted with praise and admiration. Nyoko could tell from the gleam in Eric's eyes that he was relishing in all this laudation and admiration just like her.

"Thank you, thank you," Eric finally started to speak again. "You seemed to really like that song. Now how's about we get to performing the next song, huh?"

The crowd went wild yet again. Eric turned his head to look at his bandmates and then prompted them to start performing the next song, a cover of "Larger Than Life" by Backstreet Boys.

I may run and hide
When you're screamin' my name, alright.
But let me tell you now:
There are prices to fame, alright?
All of our time spent in flashes of light.

Just like before, the crowd went wild and screamed out declarations of love for Eric and the other members of Fingerbang, not even seeming to acknowledge the backup dancers accompanying them.

All you people can't you see, can't you see
How your love's affecting our reality?
Every time we're down,
You can make it right,
And that makes you larger than life!

Some of the members in the audience flocked to the edge of the stage. They seemed eager to hear what else Fingerbang had to say. So they gave them what they wanted.

Looking at the crowd
And I see your body sway, c'mon!
Wishin' I could thank you in a different way, c'mon,
'Cause all of your time spent keeps us alive.

Even more members in the audience flocked to the edge of the stage. Nyoko could tell that this song was affecting them in a way that was eerily and whimsically indescribable at best and vaguely nostalgic at worst. (For her part, she was willing to bet it was both.)

All you people can't you see, can't you see
How your love's affecting our reality?
Every time we're down,
You can make it right,
And that makes you larger than life!

"All of your time spent keeps us alive..." Eric started to sing solo while drawing out the last vowel in the world "alive."

During the lyrical break in the song, Nyoko and her sisters started swaying their hips for the crowd, seemingly convinced that that was what the older fans had wanted them to do even though they weren't all that comfortable with doing it themselves. Almost a minute later, Fingerbang started singing again.

All you people can't you see, can't you see
How your love's affecting our reality?
Every time we're down,
You can make it right,
And that makes you larger than life!

Yeah, every time we're down.
Yeah, you can make it right.
Yeah, and that's what makes you larger than life!

Soon, about half of the audience had flocked to the edge of the stage.

All you people can't you see, can't you see
How your love's affecting our reality?
Every time we're down,
You can make it right,
And that makes you larger...
That makes you larger...
That makes you larger than life!

As soon as Fingerbang had uttered the last lines, the crowd erupted with cheer and wild applause. Nyoko couldn't help but look out into the crowd and see how ecstatic everyone was to see them up on stage. They seemed to love her as much as they did with Britney Spears and a whole slew of artists like her. Was this how it really felt to be in those girls' shoes?


After Fingerbang had finished performing their last song on stage, they decided to go back to their dressing rooms and try to talk amongst themselves for a moment. The Goshima sisters decided to join them as well, still feeling hyped from that last performance.

"Man, I can't believe how much work goes into performing on stage," Momoko said while panting. "I had no idea it would be this hard."

"Me neither," Miyako conceded. "It was fun, though."

Nyoko's attention was elsewhere. "Hey, Kyle, what's going on with Eric? I noticed he's been frantically texting Heidi the whole time we've been in here."

"Oh, I guess Heidi hasn't been responding to his calls because someone told her that Eric was seeing someone else," Kyle replied.

Nyoko bit her lip, fearful of the wrath Miyako would send her way. "Oh man, that must have been terrible. Assuming it's true, do you think Heidi will be okay?"

Kyle shook his head. "Honestly, I don't know. If Eric really has been cheating on her, then I can't imagine how long it would take before she trusted someone enough to get into another relationship."

Nyoko continued to stare at Eric, who was sweating to the point that his chestnut brown hair was starting to get damp. He really didn't seem to be taking Heidi's silence well. He was texting her every minute or so, which was enough to make Nyoko cringe. Maybe if she kept quiet about what she knew, things would be alright.