"You sure? You´re a hundred percent sure?!"

With the almost blindingly bright lights of downtown Tokyo all around them, it made it unnecessary for him to repeat his answer for a third time. Instead, he just nodded his head in stoic confirmation.

They also made it obvious, however, that the red-headed bundle of energy which was walking on his left at this moment, wasn't satisfied by that at all.

She was nearly dislocating her arm in an attempt to reach the spot on her upper back which she wanted to feel out.

"I swear I can feel it near my shoulder. Let me just check again real quick." Before she was able to do that, and he would have to leave her alone out here, because he was tired and worn out by the fifth performance of Tokyo Blade in the last two weeks alone and just wanted to get back to the office, he actually pushed her forward.

Literally.

"Yes! Right there! Next to your right hand. Do you see it?"

"For the last time Arima; There is no scratch. You have not been cut by one of the fake(!) samurai swords. I would tell you if you were."

"Ha!" She pushed herself away from him and began to quicken her pace so that he needed to pick up his own speed in order to catch up with her.

…the fact that nobody was around to ask him why he did exactly that was the only positive he could gather from the whole situation.

"You are only protecting your precious girlf- I mean Akane! Just like always. Talk about falsely placed solidarity." Either the very well-lit roadworks to their left side were extremely interesting, or Kana just wanted to look as far away from him as possible. "The way she is glaring at me sometimes… I swear, if the sword hadn't cut me already, the daggers in her eyes eventually would!"

He couldn't help but chuckle slightly at that. Criticize her all you want, but her sharp sense of humor was undeniable.

As soon as she noticed him laughing, her head turned back to look in his direction again.

Where there had been a frown just a couple of seconds earlier, now there was a big bright smile. One that was probably capable of melting even the coldest of frozen hearts. Aqua knew he liked that far better than the alternative, but it nonetheless spelled trouble for him most of the time he got to see it.

"Oooh? We find that funny, do we? Well, next time I´ll try that same look on you! See if you can survive it as long as I have. Betcha everything against it!"

"The difference is that I can't return the favor quite like you can." Now it was him that was looking in a different direction. He didn't want her to get cocky just because she could make him laugh once in a while. "The way you look at Akane is equally as dangerous, if not more so in my opinion."

"I´m dangerous indeed." She then proceeded to repeatedly poke him in his side, while they walked and he went back to simply ignoring her childish antics.

This had become a regular thing over the last couple of weeks. The two of them walked back to the agency together after both rehearsals and actual shows.

During the time after the premiere of Tokyo Blade, he stopped going to the director right after each practice. He had gotten the hang of what he needed to do to prevent himself from outright collapsing on stage, so he didn't want to bother the man more than he already did.

…He also had enough of being so openly vulnerable in front of people. Even if it was just the director.

Of course, Akane had criticized him for his behavior, saying that it was unhealthy and that each and every book she had read about the subject (of which there were a lot) would strongly advise against his handling of the matter, but he had assured her that he wasn't overdoing it. And he hadn't. Although not because he was looking out for himself all of a sudden.

No. The reason why everything felt lighter at the moment, was because his revenge was apparently over before it had truly begun. His biological father was dead. Had been dead for a long while. The man responsible for the single most horrible thing that had ever befallen him and his sister during their second chance in life was rotting somewhere underneath the earth where he belonged. The monster that had taken away their mother was rightfully burning in hell.

That wasn't everything though.

Right along with it, his sole purpose in life, and the thing he had been working towards since that fateful day of his mother's funeral, where he had pieced everything together, had turned out to be futile from the get-go.

He felt directionless as a consequence, but it would be a lie if relief hadn't been the first and most prominent emotion in his heart. Perhaps he hadn't been looking forward to ending another person's life as much as he thought he had. Or maybe he was a coward after all. His nightmares, which were still haunting him regularly, desperately tried to convince him of the latter.

What did it matter now anyways?

"Aqua?"

"Hmm?" He snapped back to reality as he felt Kana tugging at his jacket.

"Where are you going? We have to turn left here, remember? Also, the streetlights are red."

It took him a couple of seconds before her words truly registered in his mind. Then, without a single word in response, he simply turned the corner together with her.

Okay, he needed to get a grip on himself. At least when he had company. There was no need to bother anybody else with problems that were his, and his alone. Or rather with the consequences resulting out of the loss of said problems.

This was difficult to achieve with all these people around worrying about him at every given moment.

"I know you don't like to hear this sort of question, but are you okay?" To her credit, at least she knew he didn´t want her to worry. "I kind of thought you were doing better recently… you know, compared to when you collapsed during practice?"

"You are as observant as ever."

"I´m serious. You know you can talk to me about stuff, right?" Once again he resorted to his patented strategy; saying nothing in response and hoping the topic would change soon enough.

Problem was, as a consequence, saying nothing left people to make their own conclusions, and with Kana, nine out of ten were horrendously false.

"…If you´d rather talk to Akane I underst-"

"That's not it." The resolution in his voice got her attention right away.

He needed to be more open with her at some point. He was aware of that. She would eventually get hurt otherwise. But, she would most likely suffer as well if he was too honest.

"This has nothing to do with my emotional problems. And I appreciate you being there for me. Just like I appreciate Akane as well. I just… I have a lot on my mind right now."

"Stuff you don't want to share I reckon?"

"Not yet anyway."

"Be sure to let me know when the time comes. As you are well aware, I´m an excellent listener."

"Really? All the evidence I have points more to you being an excellent talker."

"That as well!" She held one hand over her heart and another out in the open air as if she was preparing for a passionate speech. "I will listen to you at the beaches! I will listen to you at the landing grounds! I will-"

"I get it." He could prevent himself from chuckling this time, but he couldn't avoid an honest smile showing on his face. "Thank you. I mean it."

Stopping her former bravado right away, you could almost mistake her for a different person entirely. The bashful way with which she was looking at him now as if he were some kind of precious and fragile thing that she wanted to protect was so unbelievably confusing.

He didn't want her to look at him like that, but on the other hand, it felt somewhat reassuring to know that she truly cared.

"You are welcome."

There was a small pause in their conversation, in which they seemed to get lost in the eyes of the other.

The moment passed as quickly as it arrived though, when the sound of some stupid commercial blasted out of a nearby supermarket, which reminded them both that they were still in the middle of Tokyo.

"I envy you, you know that?" She started again after they had walked a couple of meters "I wish I would only have one job! Your sister is working me to the bone I tell you. She´s lucky that she´s cute, otherwise, I would have thrown her off the balcony when she told me we had to shoot another video today after the show!"

"Ruby is ambitious. Especially about something she has a passion for. Unfortunately for you, you are the key to B-Komachi´s success. Without your usual brilliant performance as both a singer and dancer in the center, the group wouldn't be able to function in any way. But please don't tell Ruby I said that. I´m afraid she might strangle me in my sleep."

When he realized that Kana was now looking straight at him with big eyes in which he could lose himself at any given second and an open mouth, he understood that he had said too much once again. In some ways, he really did feel like a stupid teenager when he was around her.

"Sometimes it's unfair how sweet you can be…"

"Come again?" The streets were pretty loud, and she was talking into her scarf so he didn't understand a word of what she had said.

"It´s nothing!"

They resumed their silent walk, but it wasn't at all uncomfortable. To him, it was the opposite. Relaxing and thinking about nothing was usually difficult for him because he always had something in the back of his mind, but with Kana, everything felt so easy. Natural even.

Maybe that was the reason he eventually felt the need to speak up again.

"You said you felt overworked before?"

"Totally! But what choice does a successful idol and actress really have in this regard? It´s a curse really. You are lucky I still find time to hang out with you." With the way she was casually swinging her purse from left to right, you could believe she was innocence personified.

The way she could switch from shy and bashful to cocky and confident in a matter of seconds made his head spin.

"Right. Anyway, I just wanted to say, if I could help you out in some way, just tell me. I still have to pay you back for the time you helped me in my preparation for the play after all."

"Oooooh. Well isn't that a discovery? You do have a heart! You should show it more often you know?"

"…I take back what I said."

"Whaat? Come on, you love it when I tease you like that. We both know it."

"I know nothing of the sort. When would I have ever given you such an impression?"

"Every second of every minute of every hour we have spent together?"

One of these days she would be the death of him. He was sure of it.

"When we get back to the agency I´ll go to bed straight away. Have fun shooting your video. I heard Ruby snuck into my room this morning to steal a couple of energy drinks, so it might take a while."

Uuh. Direct hit. At least according to the color of her face which went completely pale once he had finished.

"She didn't?"

"Oh, she definitely did."

.

.

.

After another 15-minute walk, they finally arrived at the office of Strawberry Productions.

Aqua noticed right away that something was up. There were quite a number of cars in the parking lot for the current hour and even from some distance away, they saw people walking in and out of the building far too regularly.

With little hesitancy, they stepped through the door, only to be greeted by the agency's entire staff. Everybody was busy either on the phone or on their computer. He also noticed that most of their talents were present as well, something that very rarely occurred. They normally worked from home and only stopped by when it was unavoidable.

Something was clearly wrong here.

"What the heck? I didn't know so many people actually worked here. Especially in the middle of the night."

"Exactly. Excuse me, Masuya?" He approached a middle-aged man with black hair and a bushy mustache who was walking past them right this second. There wasn't an employee he didn't know by name, since he had practically grown up in this office.

"Aqua! Nice to see you again. It´s been a while hasn't it? How did your show go?"

"Everything went fine, thank you for asking. What's going on here? Why is everybody at work at such a time?" He swiftly ignored Kana´s questioning look at his side.

Yes, even he could be sociable at times.

"Oh, you wouldn't believe it. Not only did our location for the annual charity stream bale out on us, but apparently a couple of planned acts also jumped ship last second! It´s crazy honestly. We are trying everything to get replacements ASAP, but since the whole thing should go down in little over a week from now it´s difficult, to say the least." The man visibly sighted, before seemingly recognizing the girl standing next to him.

"Miss Arima, hello to you as well! I´m sorry I didn't notice you right away, but I´m pretty much toast here."

Kana gave him a salute. "No worries! Feels good to be recognized at all, I´d say. Keep up the good work!"

"Haha, thank you, I´ll try. By the way, Miyako wanted us to tell you, she´d like to talk to you once you arrived at the office. She should be in her bureau at the moment. Pay her a visit you two, okay?"

"Will do. And good luck."

The man gave them a quick wink and was hurrying back towards his chair only a second later. Aqua didn't really want to think too much about why he had chosen this specific type of goodbye gesture.

Together, the both of them made their way across the office.

Aqua greeted each and every one of the employees they came across, and every time he had to endure a snarky remark from his sharp-tongued companion, about how she was noticing a completely different side to him.

As if he hadn't been polite right from the start. She was clearly mistaking him for herself.

Or his sister.

When they found the head of the office, she was on the phone, looking pretty stressed out. But, for people who didn't know her as well as Aqua did, that was barely noticeable.

In all his time, he had never met a person as professional and collected as the post-adoption Miyako Saitou. If being the rock for the two orphaned children she had taken into her home had been her goal, she had done everything in her power to be exactly that and so much more.

Without her, neither Ruby nor himself would be where they are today. They were more than lucky to have her in their lives, no doubt about it.

It wasn't her fault that he had chosen a… difficult path.

As soon as she noticed them both, she motioned for them to sit down on the two chairs on the opposite side of her desk and signaled that she would be with them in just a second.

From what little he was able to gather from the short conversation, she was trying to negotiate with a possible location for the charity stream.

"Hey." With a soft poke to his arm, to get his attention, Kana leaned over to him. "What kind of streaming event are we talking about here? I know Strawberry Production specialized in YouTube and the like, but to think that so much organization has to be done for only one stream. It sounds like a big deal."

"Right, I always forget that when it comes to YouTube, you seem to be living under a rock."

She flicked his head.

"It has been one of the most important dates in our calendar for as long as I can remember. It´s a charity stream, in which all of our biggest earners get together to collaborate for a good cause. They entertain the audience for around seven hours and get rewarded with donations. The exact content varies in every stream, but it was always a big-budget production, where we spared no expense. Because of the size of some games, the location is very difficult to acquire, so I can understand why everybody is so busy right now. Getting canceled at the last second is horrible."

"Oh, okay. Wow, that does sound difficult. How much money are we talking about here?"

"I don't recall the exact numbers from last year, but I believe the final donation target they had checked together with varies sponsors was around eight million dollars."

"Eight million dollars?!"

Miyako nearly dropped the phone out of shock, while he was having a tiny tinnitus since Kana had screamed directly into his ear.

As if trying to take it back, she clasped both her hands in front of her mouth, before bowing her head in apology towards her agent.

Through her hands, she whispered again. "That's… a lot of money!"

"It´s the biggest charity event on YouTube when it comes to Japan. Strawberry Productions might be a rookie agency in terms of its idol section, but we are at the upper echelon when it comes to influencers."

"He´s right." With a click, Miyako ended her call. "Which is also why I wanted to talk to you, Kana."

Clearly not really understanding what that meant, the recently self-proclaimed idol only raised an eyebrow.

"You see, the whole thing started only a couple of hours ago. Our partner agency has been caught up in an unexpected "financial crisis" of sorts and stepped away from the project. Leaving us without a proper location and with only half the talent to fill the hole." She took a sip from her coffee before calmly continuing.

"That might have been a blessing in disguise though depending on how this scandal plays out in the long run, but still, we are short-handed at the moment and we need every help we can get."

"Yes…?" If Aqua had to bet, he would say that Kana knew exactly what was coming next.

"Not long after I started searching for replacements in the afternoon, Ruby caught wind of the situation. Energetic as she is, she immediately offered the full support of B-Komachi for the show. She was extremely excited about the prospect of getting this sort of exposure on YouTube since Pieyon is the hosting channel this year and Mem wholeheartedly agreed with her. Which is great because, with her already massive internet presence, she would be especially valuable to us. Of course, both of them couldn't actually accept before they asked for your opinion, but they were very optimistic they could convince you."

"But, Tokyo Blade? And all the other appointments for our group in the coming weeks…"

"I checked, none of them collide with each other. Hypothetically, we could work this out."

"But- but- but- …sleep?"

A heartfelt laugh from Miyako kind of eased the tension.

"Don't worry. If you are totally against it, I won't force you to do anything. That's not how we do things here. Just talk to Ruby and Mem and come to a decision together. It would definitely help to have you girls on the show, and I do believe it could be a good opportunity for B-Komachi to gather some further buzz, but if you decide against it, we will find alternatives."

The relief was clearly visible on the actress's face. Aqua knew exactly how taxing her schedule was these days. However, he also knew that Kana had a bad habit of not being able to say no to anybody. Especially to people who needed her.

"Thanks. I´ll go do that. Where can I find those two?"

"Last time I saw them they were planning something with Pieyon, so maybe try the recording room? Although honestly, they could be anywhere in the office right now."

"Figured. I´ll go look for them. You coming with Aqua? I´m afraid I might need some serious backup."

Before he could reply, Miyako interjected.

"We will join you later. There are one or two things we need to discuss first."

He nodded towards his surrogate mother and then simply shrugged when Kana nearly stared a hole in his forehead before heading for the door.

"I´m soo doomed." He heard her mumble as she closed the door behind herself.

"So, you really have something to discuss with me, or did you just want to separate us?"

The devilish smile on her face revealed that it was definitely the latter.

"We can talk about stuff! I would be very interested to know more about your blossoming relationship with our cute center girl for example. I heard you two are walking back to the office together every other day now. That´s so sweet. I would have thought, loner that you pretend to be, that you would have taken a taxi straight home since you are usually so tired after a play. Care to elaborate maybe?"

Crossing his arms in an attempt to shield himself at least a little from her sharp view wasn't really helping, but at least it kind of expressed how he felt about that sort of talk.

"No."

She was laughing again as she stood up from her chair to ruffle his hair a little. A bad habit she had developed whenever she was happy for him. He never outright stopped her, but he wasn't exactly sure if he was comfortable with it either.

"Seriously though, there is something we need to discuss, but not yet. First, the girls have to make up their minds."

"Your plan has a second stage, has it not?"

Maybe he preferred the hair ruffling after all because when she stopped and proceeded to plant a soft kiss on the top of his head, he very nearly felt like a small child again.

"You are so smart, honey!"

"Tzz."

.

.

.

It didn't take her long to find the other two members of her group.

Standing next to a gigantic guy, who wasn't wearing anything from the waist up with the exception of a gigantic chick-shaped helmet obviously helped.

Now it was time for her to figure out how she felt about the whole thing. Was she angry? Annoyed? Maybe even happy that her friends had shown so much initiative for a charitable cause?

Nah definitely not that last part.

Ruby was the first to notice her and although she had been in the middle of a conversation with Pieyon, she cut that off right away and ran towards her instead.

"Senpaaai!"

Before she could crush her in one of the hugs she liked to throw away like it was the easiest thing in the world, Kana simply held out her hand against her forehead and kept her at an arm's distance.

"Oh no you don't. And you neither!"

"Ouch!"

She proceeded to do the same thing to the third member of B-Komachi who had also tried to sneak-hug her right after Ruby. Pushing them both away slightly so that they landed with their butts on the floor.

"You two! I can't believe you! I leave you alone for just a couple of hours and you have nothing better to do than to volunteer us for a possible eight-million-dollar project?! What in god's name were you thinking?!"

Surprisingly Ruby seemed completely shocked by that. "Eight million dollars?! What the heck?!"

"She is talking about the stream… Your cluelessness isn't helping us here Ruby!"

"You don't even know how big of a deal that is! How much responsibility probably falls on our shoulders if we accept? How many people would depend on us to not screw it up?!"

It was bad enough for her to be responsible for two other people, a couple of dozen seemed downright ludicrous.

"I do! I´ve seen all of these streams! Plus; I have worked with most of the talent before, so I know them relatively well. We can handle it, I tell you, and not only that, I´m convinced it will be lots of fun! Does that ease your mind?" Mem folded her hands before her as if she was trying to appease an angry goddess.

"No. It doesn't because it´s not about that! I´m this close to a burnout you guys. I can feel it in my bones!" That was a little overdramatic, but she needed to get her point across. "There is no way I can handle a third project, even if it is only for a week! If I collapse during a play or something like that I´m done for!"

"We already thought about that!" Ruby stood up again from the floor, radiating the same positive energy as she had before. "Mem and I will handle the regular B-Komachi stuff for you for the week!"

"Our channel will survive with just us for a short while, guaranteed. And Miyako promised she would be able to postpone every other important appointment we had for next week as well. That way, you will have enough time to continue focusing on Tokyo Blade without overworking yourself. See? We care for you!"

"Exactly. Nothing will change, just switch out our regular stuff for the charity stream!"

Well, that did sound like it would minimize her potential stress…

However,

"But with the exception of Mem, we don't know the first thing about such a stream. Even if we only participate in a small role, the risk that we could negatively affect the whole project is far too great don't you think? I mean think about all the money that's at risk here."

"I beg to differ Kana Arima!" Pieyon had stepped between her and the other two girls and was striking a very impressive, although slightly too revealing, pose. "The face reveal video with you girls did very well on my channel and the reactions were impressively positive. Add Memcho to that, and you will make an even better impression on the fans this time! The donations will reach an all-time high I´m sure of it! Three cute and talented girls have never hurt any stream that I know of. Plus; you three have a work ethic I truly admire and with that, you have already earned my complete trust! I would go so far as to say I need you to be on board!"

Together, the three of them were now doing a coordinated pose, with the mountain of a man holding both Ruby and Mem on his brought shoulders. It looked ridiculous really, but to Kana´s shame… it kinda worked.

She wanted to say no, she wanted to say that the risk was still too high, but… if they really needed her help… Pieyon and Mem were professionals after all… surely they knew what they were talking about…

"I don't knoooow."

Why was it always so easy to sway her? One of these days someone would really take advantage of that she just knew it!

Mem effortlessly jumped from Pieyon´s shoulder and took her by the hand.

"Let me show you some of the highlights of the stream from last year, hmm? The games are really exciting. And you will be able to meet the biggest stars of our agency! You will see how much fun it was!"

"…Okay."

With that, she was more or less dragged away towards the other side of the agency, where the unused PCs were located, leaving Ruby and Pieyon as the only ones left in the room.

"Got to give it to you, it was just as you said. The both of you are extremely convincing."

"Right back at you. I don't think this would have worked without you at our side Pieyon!" He let her off his shoulder and gently placed her on the ground before him. "Fingers crossed that the more difficult task will show the same result."

"Speaking of, he must have arrived back with Kana. Don't you want to just ask him straight up? When has he ever refused you if you really needed his help?"

"You´re not wrong, but in this case, I would like to be on the safe side. He will need a little extra motivation probably and I´m still waiting for said motivation to call me back. Should be any minute now though."

"I really hope he accepts. Moderation is a very difficult task, but if your brother does it, I don't think it could be in better hands."

"That's right!" They tried to high-five, but Ruby couldn't even reach his elbow without jumping.

.

.

.

When they walked past the PCs into a quieter part of the office, she knew that the video thing had just been an excuse to get the both of them away from Ruby and Pieyon.

What she didn't know was why? What could be so important that Mem wanted to talk to her in private?

"We are not going to watch some highlight tapes are we?"

Mem´s movements came to a complete standstill then. She let go of her hand, before suddenly jumping around a hundred and eighty degrees, landing eye-to-eye with her.

She looked untypically serious, but Kana nearly punched her out of pure shock.

"Jesus Christ! Don't scare me like that! What do you want?!"

Seemingly without moving a single muscle on her face, Mem calmly stated "Aqua will be working on the stream as well."

The heat already began spreading through her face. Why couldn't she just stay calm even once?!

"IF you want him to."

"Wha- what's that supposed to mean?"

"It means everybody here wants him on board. As the moderator even. But nobody has asked him yet, because I knew you would like to do that personally." It was during moments like this in which the normally so innocent Mem looked like a combination between a cat and the devil himself.

"And because I know that nobody has a better chance of convincing him than you do."

"W- what would make you think that? His own sister clearly… no?"

"I don't think so and you would looove to not think so as well."

God damn her!

"Stop that!" She wasn't wrong though.

This seemed like exactly the opportunity she had been waiting for. Finally another project together with Aqua without any outside interferences! They could work together much more closely than on Tokyo Blade, where a certain blue-haired girl always called dips on him because she was publicly his girlfriend or whatever.

If she was completely honest with herself, that alone convinced her much more to take part in the event than any other argument that she had heard before.

However, she was never going to admit to that!

Unfortunately, Mem seemed to already know it.

"Soo? Will you ask him? He came here with you right, so he should still be around somewhere. It´s the perfect chance!"

"Do you really think he´ll say yes? He is just as busy as I´m after all…" Then she remembered their last conversation on their way home. "Although he did say that he would like to do me a favor before. So maybe…"

"That's perfect! He´ll say yes! I have no doubts about that! Go ask him!"

In her mind, Mem was apologizing over and over again to Akane for doing this, but it was her only choice to guarantee that the whole B-Komachi as well as Aqua would take part in this stream. Which was an unbelievably big chance for nationwide exposure! She couldn't let that opportunity pass by without fighting for it.

Kana was still nervously fidgeting and mumbling something about not knowing what to do, so Mem just grabbed her hand again and led her back to the crowd.

They would find Aqua soon enough. And when they did, Kana would regain her composure eventually.

.

.

.

Egosurfing wasn't something he did often, but after each play of Tokyo Blade, he found himself doing it increasingly more regularly.

At first, he simply wanted to know if his performance lived up to the other actor's standards, which had turned out to be incredibly important to him, seeing as he really suffered for the play to be as good as it could possibly be.

However, after a while, he started to search for the opinions on other actors as well. They were all extremely talented and he was simply interested in seeing how they were publicly received.

He especially searched for Kana´s, Akane´s, and Himekawa´s results, since they were the most impressive to him. Unsurprisingly the feedback was overwhelmingly positive most of the time.

Just like today.

It was difficult to admit it, but it did make him proud to have the privilege of working together with them. On equal ground nonetheless.

He was still on his phone, when Mem called out for him, with one of his research subjects in tow.

This must be why Miyako had asked him not to go home right away. Hopefully, there wasn't any trouble coming his way. However, judging by the look on the former child star's face, it very well could be.

"There you are Aqua, my dear friend!"

"Hello, Mem. I heard you volunteered to help out on the stream. And by the looks of it, you managed to convince Arima at last. Congratulations." That wasn't really surprising. Kana had difficulties saying no to people. He himself had exploited this in the past as well although he felt increasingly bad about it.

"Funny you should mention that! You see Kana has a question for you in regards to the stream! Right, Kana?"

"I do?" What the hell had they done to her? She looked completely out of it.

"Kana!"

"Oh yes right I do!"

Taking a couple of small steps closer to him, he put his smartphone away and decided to stand up, so that he could meet her face-to-face. Apparently whatever this was could be important.

"I guess it´s not surprising that I caved huh?"

"Not really no. But that's not necessarily a bad thing. The potential benefits are undisputable."

"Yeah… well seeing as I´m part of the team now, I would very much like to see the event succeed."

He just nodded.

"Mem told me that… that they are still searching for a competent moderator for the event. You know, sort of like a host that leads the audience threw the show?"

"Yes, I know what a moderator is." He was expecting an angry reply after his cocky remark, but none came. Instead, Kana seemed to get increasingly nervous.

"Of course. Yeah. Well, ehm, we sort of, kind of thought about, ehm, asking you to do the honors."

Oh?

Oooh. Now it made sense.

"We think you are the best option for the job Aqua! All of us, not only our precious child star. We have already cleared up the schedule for Kana, so yours shouldn't be much of an issue either."

"What do you think? I mean… you did say you would like to help me out sometime and well, that would definitely be of help. A-and it could be really enjoyable." She was still fidgeting with her fingers, which kind of annoyed him.

There was no need for her to worry after all.

"Sure. I´ll do it."

"You don't have to think of it as a personal favor to m- wait what?"

"If everybody is okay with it and trusts me enough to do this adequately then yes. I´ll help."

Mem had the biggest grin on her face, while Kana seemed almost stunned.

"Why are you always so surprised? I can be a decent guy sometimes believe it or not. And you asked me nicely. Not to mention that I have indeed promised to help you out, so yes. Not a problem."

His decision immediately got rewarded when the girl in front of him for the lack of a better phrasing, lighted up like the sun itself.

"You big softy! Of course, you couldn't say no to me when I ask you so nicely! I have you in the palm of my hands now don't I, haha. Maybe I should ask to be the co-moderator. The two of us together would surely equal big donations, right?"

"I don't know about that, but If you want to sure. We know each other well, so we would be able to work together effortlessly."

Maybe he was similar to Kana in more aspects than he initially thought. He also couldn't refuse someone when they really needed him.

"Right? Right?!"

Both girls were still nearly jumping for joy when they got approached by Miyako and Ruby.

The latter was also jumping around and looked like she had just discovered the One Piece, while the former looked… kind of stressed out?

"Mem! Kana! Aqua! She said yes!"

"Yeah, we know. We just asked hi- wait who´s she?"

"Akane Kurokawa! I just got off the phone with her and she agreed to be the co-moderator for our charity stream! Can you believe it? Without any pay no less! Said something about the privilege to do this for a good cause. How lucky are we?!"

Everybody's jaw just dropped all the way to the ground.

Kana looked like she had seen a ghost. All the energy she had exerted before practically left her body in the blink of an eye.

"Ruby, you can't be serious." Mem had also seen better moments.

"Of course I am! Now you have no choice but to be our moderator dear brother! You wouldn't want to disappoint your lovely girlfriend now would you?"

"Well no. But I already agreed a couple of seconds ago when Kana asked me, so that wouldn't have been necessary."

"Oh." That turn of events seemed to surprise her.

"Well, that´s good too! Then just look at it as a bonus for being so nice, that you can spend more time with your girlfriend while at work." She showed them a big thumbs up, totally oblivious to all the chaos she had just created.

Kana, who just a second ago had been over the moon, had crashed back down to earth like the asteroid that killed the dinosaurs 65 million years ago. Hard.

"God, why me? How do I deserve this?" Mumbling to herself, Aqua didn't quite get what she was saying.

Mem tried her best to comfort her, while Ruby didn't understand why she wasn't celebrated more.

He himself wasn't sure about how to feel about the situation as well.

Getting someone as talented as Akane on board was great for the project.

However, for him personally, this… this could spell trouble.