"Not that I have a problem with it or whatever, but isn't it a little late for shooting a promotional video? The event is only a couple of days away. Shouldn't there be more time for people to actually watch it?"

His sister was making a valid point, he believed.

They were currently in Miyako´s car, on their way to the location of the video shoot. It was a big private gym on the outskirts of Tokyo, which they had been fortunate enough to rent on a moment's notice, seeing as the complete plan had been turned upside down when their partner agency made a run for it.

"Well, technically you are right about that. However, a late video is better than no video. And the last days before an event are the most crucial anyways because they have the best chance of staying in people's memories." It was always impressive how talkative his mother could be while driving a car in the middle of downtown Tokyo. Not that he had been nervous behind the wheel in his day, but he had also lived in the countryside where there weren't nearly as many people around.

"Pieyon was adamant about doing it by the way. These shoots had always been a lot of fun in the past and a great way to bond for everybody involved. Aqua where do I have to go again?"

"You turn left on the next streetlight and then the second on the right. Somewhere in the middle of the street is where Arima´s apartment should be." The former A-lister had lowered herself to send him the address beforehand, once she had finally decided to answer his messages.

It felt a tiny bit weird that she had invited him to her home the first day they had reunited at high school, and yet he still had never gone to visit her even once.

It also felt a tiny bit weird that he had tried to contact her for hours yesterday and when she finally replied she treated it like it was no big deal.

"Say Aqua, you look a little stressed. Haven't been sleeping all that well last night, hmm? Poor you. I wonder what happened." Mem was already in the car with them. Since she lived close by anyway, she had joined them at home.

"I´m not stressed." The sleeping thing was on point though.

Seeing as he had been "ghosted", as Ruby would call it, by a certain foul-mouthed someone last evening, his mind had been a little bit distracted, to say the least.

Which in all honesty was probably a good thing, considering what else was going on with him at the moment.

As he tilted his head back, to look at the short-haired girl sitting behind him, whose all-knowing smirk was making even him shiver, he couldn't help but think that she had something to do with that.

Or maybe the universe was beginning to punish him because he had spent yesterday afternoon partly in the arms of another woman… had the director been right all along? Was he turning into a playboy?

"So, are we shooting the video today and uploading it as well? That sounds like a lot of work for one single day doesn't it?" At least Ruby didn't seem to care about his personal affairs. Most likely because she had no idea about them.

"That´s right, but we have two completely different teams involved with both. Which means that you guys for example only have to worry about shooting your own scenes and our cutters will do the rest."

"Usually, in the videos on my personal channel, I would be against that sort of approach since I like to have a final look at everything I do, but I know that the people we are working with are pros, and having faith in experts is kind of necessary in such a big project." It was interesting to see how that mink could switch on professional mode in only the blink of an eye.

"You are really wise Mem!" The successful influencer was making a smug face. "Guess all your many years of experience finally pay off!"

"Urgh!" And shot down once more.

Only moments later, they were joined in the car by Kana, who, surprisingly, was already wearing a Tokyo Spirit jersey as well as training shorts, while holding a football in her hands.

She sniffled a little because it was relatively cold outside.

Aqua was just as confused by the sight as everybody else, but he couldn't help but think she looked… adorable.

"You didn't actually have to dress already Senpai! They have everything at the location. It was a joke! As was the thing with the football, haha. Did you seriously buy one?"

The sporty-looking girl was glaring daggers into his sister's skull.

"I´m going to kill you."

As they continued on their way, Ruby repeatedly apologized, to the center of their idol group and Aqua actually offered her his jacket. She really looked like she was freezing, even in the car, so he was just being polite.

No, he wasn't a playboy! Even though the universe seemed to force him into that role.

Kana was back to being cheerful in no time at all after that. Actually, she seemed to be a little more laid back than usual. More talkative too. Especially with him.

A stark contrast to yesterday evening.

"I never asked Aqua, what kind of sportsperson are you going to pose as for the video shoot? No. Let me guess! Mhm, Chess player?"

"…I wish."

Each and every one of the talents involved in the stream was supposed to represent some sort of sports-related figure in the promotion video. It had been Pieyon´s idea, since his channel was the host of the event, and sport was kind of his thing.

Aqua believed it to be a fitting theme, although he didn't particularly like the role he had been assigned.

"Aqua and his girlfriend are posing as synchronized swimmers!"

"…Huh?" The air in the van instantly became a couple of degrees colder. Miyako subconsciously turned on the heater a little bit more, he noticed.

"Yeah. Another one of Pieyon´s suggestions. Apparently, we have to say a few lines on top of a springboard, before jumping into the water together."

"…So, what you're saying is, the two of you will be wearing swimming outfits. Akane Kurokawa will be in a swimsuit while standing next to you on a tini tiny springboard. All the while we three are pretending to shoot a ball into a net somewhere far, far away, from you right?"

"Sounds amazing doesn't it senpai?" Ruby didn't seem to get Kana´s problem here. "But we won't be that far away. Miyako told us it is a multifunctional gym, so we will probably be right next door."

"…That might as well be Siberia."

"What?"

"Nothing."

They arrived at the gym a couple of minutes before most other talents. It was still pretty early, even for a workday, but Miyako was the head of their agency after all, so she wanted to be one of the first to arrive.

Most of the filming crew however were already there and pretty busy, preparing the different locations so that they looked more than just presentable on video. The area already looked almost perfect for its intended purpose in his eyes.

The three teenagers and Mem had separated from Miyako because they wanted to check out the surroundings a little while introducing themselves to the staff. The building was very impressive indeed. Football fields, a pool, a tennis court, Mini Golf, you name it, they had it.

It was near the pool when he recognized an all too familiar face.

"Akane!" Mem ran towards her former co-star on LoveNow without a second of hesitation and gave her a heartfelt bear hug once she reached her.

It had been all too obvious from the start that she would be one of the firsts on set. Her work ethic was truly one of a kind.

"I´m so glad we get to work together again! This is going to be so much fun! Oh, we definitely have to make a Reel together! Haven't done that for ages!"

The actress looked a little overwhelmed by the sudden attention, but by no means uncomfortable.

She couldn't have known that another person was possibly even more excited to see her than Mem.

Only a couple of seconds after Mem, Ruby also joined in the hug, startling the blue-haired girl in the process.

"Akane Kurokawa! I´m Ruby Hoshino, Aqua´s little sister. 16 years old, 158 centimeters tall, aspiring idol, and also very much looking forward to working with you! Or meeting you in general for that matter!"

"Ah! Oh, eh, okay. Nice to meet you too."

"As you can imagine, Aqua barely talks about… well anything really, so tell me all about you! I´m really curious about what sort of girl actually wants to go out with my gloomy older brother!"

"Ehm, sure no- no problem. I´ll happily answer your questions." While Ruby stared at the older girl with nothing but excitement in her eyes, Akane searched for Aqua, who was slowly approaching her as well.

When she gave him a sort of questioning expression, he simply shrugged in response, trying to say that this was just the way his sister was and she laughed a little as a result.

However, when her eyes wandered a bit to his right, her expression became much less friendly and her normally almost shy attitude made a 180 degree turnaround.

The living embodiments of Julius Caesar and Pompey were about to meet on the set for the first time in… well only a couple of days, they were currently working on a play together after all.

"Arima."

"Kurokawa."

"Looking sporty already I see."

"A little misunderstanding." Kana looked like she was in complete control here. "Thankfully Aqua was nice enough to lend me his jacket, otherwise I might feel a little cold."

Akane´s head snapped back towards him, and where there had been softness before, was now clear anger.

"Oh. Is that so? Well, how considerate of him."

He already wanted to leave again but didn't let it show.

This might be even more difficult than he thought.

The group made their way across each and every set afterward. With Ruby asking questions like her tongue was a machine gun, and Akane trying to answer as politely and simultaneously vague as possible while fighting a subtle duel of words with her red-haired rival the whole way through, he has seen… less stressful set visits in the past. Especially because his sister didn't really seem to care how personal the questions might get…

It almost felt like a benefit now that he himself wasn't really listening most of the time. He needed to keep an eye out.

On their path, they were meeting many familiar faces left and right. Pieyon just arrived and was actually bowing before Akane, when he recognized the Lalalai prodigy, thanking her for helping out an outside project on such a small notice. The young girl, shocked at first by the unusual sight, couldn't help herself and bowed as well, expressing what an honor it was to be selected for the job.

Slowly, one talent after the other was arriving at the location. A girl from a reaction channel was getting dressed as an ice hockey goalie. Some gaming group was trying to fit into gigantic ludo figure outfits and even a small group of grad students were pretending to be Kendo experts. Everybody was scheduled for at least a small skit so even the most home-bound people were coming.

After a short while the whole cast was present. Aqua and Ruby knew all of the talent of course, and were looking forward to working with them, or simply just seeing them again, but it was actually Mem who was the most excited out of them all.

The energetic girl was practically jumping from one influencer to the next, making photos or shooting small videos. She actually encouraged Ruby and Kana to join her as well, so that they could get some footage for the B-Komachi channel.

The latter was a little reluctant, seeing as she was already in sportswear, but when Ruby told her she was looking cute while still wearing Aqua's jacket, she was easily convinced. In the end, they must have made like a thousand pictures in that one day. More than Aqua had made in two lifetimes.

He wasn't particularly interested in all of that though. He was searching for somebody. Somebody who was expected to show up here around the beginning of shooting, but was late apparently.

The B-Komachi scenes were scheduled around the first to be filmed. Ruby and Mem changed into their sports gear in a nearby locker room, while Kana, was getting the instructions on what the crew was aiming for.

The three of them were supposed to pretend to be a dangerous forward trio, trying to score on a keeper who was in fact a famous European football influencer with more than double the sub-count than all of their little group combined.

It was going to play out as a joke, in which the three would play him dizzy, before finally scoring the goal and celebrating, while he was just falling backward. The inspiration for that came from an old football anime back in the nineties. It was a classic.

The problem was; none of the girls had ever kicked against a ball. The camera crew assured them that they would cut the footage in a way in which it wouldn't be recognizable, the only thing they had to do themselves that involved the ball was somehow score the goal. That would be very hard to fake otherwise.

Akane and him were able to watch for a good amount of time before they themselves had to get ready and it was without a doubt one of the funniest things either of them had ever been a part of on set.

Ruby accidentally hit a staff member with a ball to the face, twice, while Mem kicked at least a dozen balls out of the entire area and Kana tried her very best to not fall down when she eventually was chosen to score the goal because apparently, she had the best coordination out of them all.

The three girls still hadn't finished up filming when the both of them eventually needed to leave.

Their own scene was going to be a little easier.

Well, at least considering that both he and Akane were fairly sporty, to begin with.

The two of them were supposed to be doing a little promo skit from atop a three-meter high jump board, before simply hopping off it into the pool, hand in hand and therefore at least sort of simultaneously.

Everything went according to plan on their part. Although Aqua couldn't deny that he felt more than a bit irritated as Akane actually got into character for the scene. They had talked about it briefly beforehand, so it wasn't a complete surprise. She believed, that since they were kind of playing the role of the couple from LoveNow, she should act accordingly, otherwise, it might confuse the audience.

Even though she had told him that she wouldn't do it if he felt conflicted about it, he had agreed without much hesitation. If he could deal with it on LoveNow for several episodes, then it shouldn't be a problem here. Especially since the scene was going to be short and most likely a one-take.

It all went down without a hitch in his point of view. Both of them were clearly prepared for their job.

As he exited the pool, he helped Akane out as well by offering her his hand. This was when he noticed that the B-Komachi girls had finally arrived to watch them. All of them back in their regular clothes. Well, with the exception of Kana of course.

That most likely wasn't the reason for her bad mood though judging by the critical look she was giving him and Akane as he was helping her out of the water.

However, he wasn't able to focus on that for very long.

A little bit behind the three was a small group of people led around the place by none other than his surrogate mother. Most of them he didn't recognize. This, together with their outfits and behavior, which definitely wasn't that of a staff member from the location, clearly identified them as sponsors of the event.

It wasn't unusual for financiers to check out the product in which they were investing beforehand and in this particular case they didn't have any other option besides this promotional shoot.

He was intensely checking each and every one of their faces. The photos he had seen of the person in question had been a couple of years old at least. Surely the man wasn't looking the exact same anymore, but the odds that he had totally changed his appearance were also fairly low.

Then he saw him.

He was standing at the edge of the group, talking casually to some talent, which was dressed like a wrestler.

A middle-aged man, around the age of forty, although he looked a bit younger from afar. His figure was relatively thin, but somewhat in shape, with long blond hair and azure blue eyes to round out a solid appearance. His casual sportswear was fitting for the event's theme, but the golden Rolex on his left wrist was giving his status away.

Akira Shiratori.

That was the person he had been searching for.

From this point forward, everything else around him became nothing but a blur.

.

.

.

Why in the blue hell was Aqua behaving so differently when he was around her? She just didn't get it.

He was practically like goo in her hands the entire time they were on that jump board. Which must have been around… a minute at least!

Admittedly, Akane´s aura had something unique around her when she decided to turn it on. There was no denying that. Even Kana could feel the effects of it. But it looked like Aqua was particularly affected by it. He seemed much more calm, satisfied, and almost peaceful around her when she was like that. Until the point she actually interacted with him. Then he became uncharacteristically nervous. Not to mention that he could barely take his eyes off of her.

It appeared like he was completely fixated on her and her alone.

That hadn't been the case when they had checked out the location together beforehand. As a matter of fact, Kana could have sworn that the boy was far more interested in spending time with her than with anybody else during at that moment!

The possibly biased perspective of a teenage girl who was currently experiencing her first-ever love might have clouded her judgment a little bit in this regard, but in the end, it was her own, so she trusted it.

"Say, Mem." The blond girl was standing next to her at the moment, only a couple of meters away from the pool from which Aqua and Akane had just emerged, and was checking her phone. Her battery must be the best on the market, otherwise, it didn't make sense anymore at this point.

"Mhm?"

The two of them together with Ruby had been able to see more or less the entire sequence with the pair. From the moment they started their short promo, through the… handholding affair… right until the jump into the pool.

Professionally speaking, it was very respectable that both of them had only needed a single take. Especially because she couldn't say the same about herself and her two… assistants. Normally, even the smallest of scenes required at least a couple of takes. But apparently, both of them had nailed it in one go.

In contrast to Mem and herself, Ruby had been distracted, however. Since she knew so many people here on a personal level, she always got dragged away from them to talk about this and that.

Right now she was having a pretty lively conversation with some enormous dude wearing a leather mask and a shirt and tie. And was that… a sock with eyes and a mouth drawn on his hand? The internet was weird.

Regardless, that presented Kana with the chance to maybe speak to Mem in semi-privacy a little though.

"Do you think there is something unusual about Akane when she´s on camera? She seems… different in a way. Even when compared to her theatrical work. I can't really put a finger on it though."

That got the influencer's attention, judging by the curious look she received from her.

"Ehm, a little perhaps. Maybe it's simply her work mode? She is a brilliant actress after all. Just like you! Hehe, why?"

"Call me crazy, but I think it has a special effect on Aqua when she behaves like that. Maybe I´m being stupid here, but… I don't know."

"Naaah. That's just… naaah!" If somebody were to google the words 'bad liar', the results would surely show a picture of Mem-cho in prison. "You´re just seeing things."

"…You´re sweating quite a bit over there. Wanna jump into that pool and rethink your answer by any chance?"

*Whistle*

Was she being serious?

"You know, you better tell me the truth. I won´t let it go until you do and we both know I can be pretty persistent about this stuff. Although it's the other way around most of the time, but still."

Stepping a little bit closer was already enough to break her.

"All right, all right! You win. See, after the whole… LoveNow fiasco, Aqua told her that she needed to create a character for herself to hide behind on television. So that possible future criticism and the like wouldn't bother her as much as before. What you have seen right now is the final form of that. He was trying to help her gain some distance from it all and it worked."

Typical Aqua. He had practiced what he preached on that show as well. Not that he would ever let anything get too close for comfort to him anyways. It had been an extremely stupid decision for somebody as serious as Akane to not do that in the first place.

It was also very much in character for the overly protective bigger brother persona that she had come to know over the past months.

"So, what she was showing at the later half of the series and what she did just now… that was her character?"

"Pretty much… yes."

Okay. That explained why she suddenly acted so different than her usual self. Still, that alone wasn't enough to explain why Aqua seemed so infatuated with her. There had to be something special about that performance.

"And?"

Mem was still very much nervous, which only confirmed Kana´s suspicion. It looked like that last part wasn't the one she was trying to keep a secret about this story.

"And what?"

"You of all people should know that this wasn't really the interesting side of the story for me."

"I- I really don't know if I should tell you the rest of it to be honest. I can't see anybody benefiting from it."

Well, if that was truly how she felt, she shouldn't have said anything in the first place to pique her curiosity. Sure she had asked first, but Mem should have just lied better!

"Okay, now I definitely have to know!"

"Kana…"

"Just tell me. Come on. We are a team right?"

"Of course we are." Mem actually looked conflicted now. This was no joke to her. "But Akane is my friend too. I really don't want you guys to get at each other's throats more than you already do because of this. It´s all just a sucky situation if you ask me."

"I promise I won´t hate her any more than I already do afterward. You have my word as an actress who has always been upstaged by that girl a long time before Aqua ever even met her."

Seemingly thinking it over, Mem looked around a little, before nodding once and coming closer to her.

"Promise me you won't be mad at me too okay? I didn't even know you when all of that began! And I had no idea that it was actually going to work!"

"What are you even talking about?"

"Yuki and I, we sort of suggested that… that she play the role of Aqua´s ideal woman." Kana´s eyes went wide as saucers. "To spice things up a little you know. He said he liked someone who resembled a certain person and Akane just… nailed the part apparently. Aqua has been behaving weirdly in front of her ever since she started with it."

So that was it. Now it all made sense to an extent. Aqua did start to act differently around her when she rejoined the show, culminating in that damn kiss. Judging by the first episodes, neither himself nor his character would have ever done such a thing, but after the last half, it sort of… made sense in a way.

At first, she had believed that he had been simply trying to protect a fellow coworker, which she could sympathize with of course. Or he had just been a jerk who got swept away by the special atmosphere of the final episode like many actors do at some point or another. But apparently, there was much more to it than that.

Although she had promised to not get mad. Something about that was rubbing her the completely wrong way.

"So, what you are saying is she is manipulating him."

"Wha- no!" Mem needed to hold her hand before her own mouth to stop her from screaming. "No that's not it! She never does it when the cameras are off! She is just protecting herself with all this. I´m sure of it. She isn't that kind of person. I bet she even asked Aqua beforehand if he was still cool with it."

Yeah. That sounded about right.

That wasn't Akane´s style. Letting oneself get blinded by his own feelings wasn't the way to go here. In her eyes, she was annoying, yes, but she was undeniably a good person who wouldn't be this deceiving.

…at least that's what Kana chose to believe.

That said, it also came as a surprise to her that Aqua was so easy to play.

Letting go of most of the tension that had been building inside her, she playfully raised an eyebrow at her friend.

"Fine. I trust you on that one, so I will hold off on tearing her beautiful face to shreds for now." Mem visibly took a breather. She had been genuinely worried about her reaction apparently. "But I still don't like the look of it. Not. One. Bit."

"Sure. I get that. She is trying to steal the heart of your crush after all."

"Oh just shut up!" She wasn't blushing! No definitely not! "You owe me something now okay?! It is partly your fault that it has come to this."

Mem was hanging her head in defeat. She grabbed both of Kana´s hands and bowed a couple of times, trying to apologize.

"By the way… not that it really matters…" She tried to play it cool, but couldn't stop playing with her hair just a little, which gave everything away. "…but on whom is this character of hers based on?" It couldn't hurt knowing what type of girl Aqua felt attracted to this extent… "You said it was a real person correct?"

"Yeah. Although I doubt that you know her that well. She was an idol that died quite some time ago. I only figured it out because, as you well know by now, I´m a total idol Otaku."

So Aqua´s ideal woman was already dead? That was kind of typical for him in a way… god her thoughts were dark sometimes

"Actually, scratch that. She was in the original B-Komachi and her face is everywhere on the old DVDs and stuff so you must have at least seen her face too. Her name was-"

"Ai."

Out of practically nowhere, Ruby appeared behind them, looking like innocence personified, but simultaneously scaring the living bejesus out of them both.

"Holy… Please don't ever do that again!" How the heck could she be so stealthy?!

Her responding chuckle was as heartfelt and welcoming like usual.

"Sorry. You guys were totally ignoring me for quite some time now so I just wanted a little payback!" The cocky expression on her face gave her away before she even explained. "Ai was the former star of the old B-Komachi. Her face is front and center on every merch. She is the woman with long purple hair and… captivating eyes. Senpai should be able to recognize her face no problem I think."

Kana remembered of course. She had even worked together with that A-class celebrity on a filming set the first time she had met Aqua and Ruby. There undoubtedly had been an aura around her, even at this time, quite a while before she truly rose into superstardom. Had he met her there too? Now that she thought about it… the two siblings had been pretty big fans of Ai even back then, hadn't they?

Was it some sort of a childhood crush that still affected him to this day, more than ten years later then? Kind of creepy. Although, who was she to judge somebody on being hung up on the past?

Anyways, by the looks of it, both twins still thought very highly of her. The name of their idol group was proof enough of that. She couldn't help but wonder where the connection between them might come from.

Didn't matter now. Far more important was how much of their conversation Ruby had been able to overhear.

"It´s rude to spy on your elders you know? And don't jump us like that!"

"I didn't! I just heard you talking about the classic B-Komachi and thought I´d chime in. I´m always up for idol talk, you know that." So… she only got the very last part of their conversation? Not the Aqua bits… that would be a big relief. "Next time we practice our dancing routine we could play some of the old tapes if you´re interested senpai! They are truly inspiring!"

It looked like she really didn't know what the actual topic of their conversation had been. Unlike her brother and herself, Ruby was honest almost to a fault. The way she was talking didn't make the impression that she was faking something.

Well, you never know for sure, but since she didn't choose to bring it up, even if she did listen, Kana decided to let it go for now.

"Yeah. Why not. She was a special talent after all wasn't she?"

For a second, Ruby looked like she spaced out of their conversation entirely. Completely lost in thought. A fairly unusual sight. Normally, she was the most 'living in the moment' sort of girl she had ever met, but it looked like even she could be put off balance by some things.

Mem seemed to notice it too and the both of them exchanged a quick glance.

There wasn't much time to understand what might have caused it, however, because the youngest member of their group caught herself equally as fast and just smiled at them as easily as she had always had.

Although she couldn't shake the feeling that this time, there was a slight hint of sadness behind her normally bright and shining grin.

"Yes. She definitely was."

.

.

.

"It really is a pleasure to meet up with you again Aqua. Ten years is nothing to sneeze at, especially at your age! You were still a kid when I last saw you after all."

A quick nod was enough for confirmation.

It had been incredibly easy to get into contact with his target. Not even an introduction by a third party had been necessary. The guy actually remembered Aqua.

Although to be fair, a lot of people tend to remember him. Both Hoshino twins regularly stood out from the crowd ever since a very young age. Mostly because of their hair color, but also because they had a tendency to talk a lot more than other children around their age.

Seeing as Shiratori was also blond and seemingly quite the talker, surely he knew that better than most.

"Ah, it brings back a lot of memories to be on such a filming station again, I have to admit. I missed it a little. Working in a bureau doesn't get any more fun with age I can tell you that much."

His research had shown him that Akira Shiratori wasn't as active as he had been only a decade ago. He was much more of a behind-the-scenes guy nowadays. Letting the younger people at his agency handle the required fieldwork. It was a rare enough occasion for him to get out of his bureau and check an event out himself.

"I´m by no means an expert of course, but your filming seemed to go quite well. The lovely lady that stood beside you is your girlfriend I reckon? Akane was it?"

The amount of mental restraint that it took out of Aqua to not outright scream at the man was much more difficult than starting the conversation. Especially when he was talking so casually to him.

That was a new feeling.

He had been collecting DNA samples of countless people since before his new self ever stepped foot into grade school, however, he was always capable of keeping his cool around even the most ominous of characters.

Everybody was innocent until proven otherwise after all.

That had always been his motto, no matter how close their ties to Ai had been or how suspicious they behaved. He needed to keep a safe distance from them to be rational.

Right now though, Aqua was anything but. He was furious. Ready to jump this man at a moment's notice if need be. Especially if he mentioned Akane or his sister again.

Rationally speaking there was no reason for it. He wasn't behaving any more unusual than anybody else he had talked to over the years. Most likely even less so. Ergo; the reason had to lie within himself.

He needed to calm down and focus on his objective here.

"Yes. Akane Kurokawa. She´s an actress currently working with Lalalai. Have you heard of them? They say only the greatest talents get recruited by them and it's no joke. You should check them out someday."

With the way Shiratori´s eyes lit up as he heard her name, Aqua was sort of happy that she was still changing at the moment.

"Of course, I have heard of them! And of her as well. I would have never guessed that she would moderate such an event though. That might have just doubled my sponsorship! But don't tell your mother I said that. She might actually take my word for it."

"I´m afraid I can't promise that. I share a home with her after all and if I were responsible for her missing out on such a deal, she might just let me starve."

The man who could rightly be called a media Moghul, laughed loudly after that.

"She wouldn't do such a thing. Not our Miyako." He winked at him. "Speaking of your family, isn't your sister around as well? I would very much like to talk to her. And to the other girls of the reformed B-Komachi!"

If it were up to him, this man would never even get so much as a peak of his sister or her friends. Not until he was absolutely certain that he wasn't a potential danger.

Thankfully, all of them had already left the area to watch the filming of another sequence with Pieyon. Given Ruby´s limitless idealism, she might have actually put herself in danger talking to this person.

"They must have left already. I took a little too long to change back into my regular clothes I believe, so they headed out without me."

"Women eh? Haha. Just a joke my boy." He was never so glad that he at least had a certain talent for acting. Otherwise, his misgivings about this person would have been plain as day for everybody to see

"Well. My bad I guess. I´ll still be around for a while so maybe the chance isn't completely gone yet. But I think I should rejoin Miyako and the others now. Don't wanna get left behind like you did."

"Sure. I understand. Don't want to keep you. By the way, didn't my mum tell you that we have a wardrobe? It´s pretty warm here in the swimming pool area and yet you are still wearing your coat."

"Oh no she did, but to be completely frank, I didn't expect a pool. Guess I just have to tough it out for now. Not a big deal."

"If you say so. But if you want, I´m going in that direction anyways so I could quickly give it up for you. They register everything by name so it wouldn't be an issue for you to get it back later." A simple yes and Aqua was as good as done with this person.

For now at least.

"I´ll have to compliment Miyako on her parenting skills! That would be very kind of you." Satisfaction filled his entire body once he was holding Shiratoris cloak in his hands. The blond hair of the man stood out like a light in the darkness on the collar of the piece of cloth. "I´ll see if I can stop by to your next Tokyo Blade performance as a return. Would be a shame if it would take another ten years to meet again after all. Till next time Aqua."

"All the best."

As he walked away from the man, his pulse slowly calmed down to normal and he began to think clearly again.

Subconsciously his mouth formed into a grin, but as soon as he noticed, he pushed it away.

He recapitulated the whole conversation again in his head.

…Had this man given him the slightest reason to be so hostile towards him during their talk?

Any at all?

He couldn't remember.

The only reason why he felt disgusted talking to him was because of his suspicions and the fact that he had known Ai. Nothing else. He had been open, friendly, and very approachable for a man of his stature.

The line between what could be justified by rightful anger and his search for justice and random accusations and hate for people who most likely had nothing to do with his past trauma was becoming more and more blurred.

If he hadn't lost sight of it already seeing as his father was more or less confirmed dead and he was still testing people.

Rejoining his sister and their friends was the only thing he wanted to do at this moment, but what he wanted didn't matter.

He needed to do his duty first, he clearly couldn't live with himself if he didn't, otherwise, he would have stopped well before today, but afterward, when there was nothing more he was possibly able to do, he just wanted to get back to his life.

If that was even an option for him.

Somehow, he doubted that it was.