Versatile Superstar Rise In Hollywood

by Stayrr

"To be a star is to own the world and all the people in it." ... Two years ago, Aiden came to the United States to experience the American Dream. But after sleepless nights of struggle, just when he was on the verge of giving up, a translucent screen flashed in front of him - it was a System! A System that would make him embark on a journey to Hollywood. And today, he takes his fir

3. 65

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Green Art was one of the top 5 agencies in Hollywood since the 90s and it had produced a lot of actors and actresses that made their place in the audience's heart.

The one thing that made them stand out from the rest was that they were formerly a talent agency which specialised in singers. It was only in the 90s they started investing in artists.

Currently, one of the rookie female agents, Greta, was in discussion with a senior agent, Edward. The interesting thing about the discussion was that they were talking about Aiden.

"Edward, you really need to look at the guy. I think he's pretty good. His acting and looks aren't bad and he's a great singer. Green Art is looking for rookies these days anyway."

Greta said, trying to push the narrative. After she had watched [Shadows of War, Aiden had been on her mind since then and after doing a bit of research about it, she was surprised to find out that he was originally a singer.

Knowing that was enough for her to push his profile to her senior.

"You know, you are not the only ones who came to me asking about this guy? Aiden, if I am right," Edward then added with a remorseful expression. "Even I can see he's a great fit for our agency. With our resources, in 5 years, he could be a well known name."

"So, should I approach him?"

She asked, feeling a bit hopeful but Edward shook his head.

"No, I already looked into him. He's not without an agent."

"Did some other agency already roped him in?"

"No, he's contracted with an agent from the free market. Actually, I found out that he's already starting the shooting of his next movie. Some gangster flick by Granite films.".

Hearing that, Greta was not surprised. She had expected him to have an agent but her job was still easy if he wasn't contracted with any other big agency.

"We could just rope him in. I think I can make a good plan for him. It's very easy to sell him among tee-."

"Greta, I don't think you are understanding me."

Edward suddenly interrupted her and said. When she stared at him, he rubbed his forehead and explained.

"He's contracted with Wade Spectre. It's better to leave him alone."

"Wade Spectre? That crazy guy?"

Greta asked, in a slightly raised voice and Edward calmly nodded. Wade was pretty infamous in Hollywood, at least with the agents. Even rookie agents had at least heard rumors about him.

"Yeah, I don't really want anything to do with him. Just leave Aiden alone, at least while he has a contract with Wade."

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After that, she just gave a nod and left his office without saying anything.

…

Movie ratings are a big part of a person's decision to watch the movie or not. That's why movie ratings sites where you can just give a score and short review to the movie were very popular.

Movie studios would even sometimes try to rig the ratings on the websites to give a false sense to the audience that the movie was really good.

Fortunately, Zero International didn't really do anything like that for [War of Shadows] and let it grow naturally.

The website Rotten Apples gave the movie 82% fresh ratings while 'Do you like the movie?', an online rating site gave it a score of 7.9 out of 10 for the movie.

The score was given by the audience and not the professional critics, so an average guy trusted it a lot. There were over 20k ratings for the movie and Zero International were just hoping that the score touched 8.0 soon as there was a major difference between 7.9 and 8.0, even if it doesn't seem like much. These ratings were also the reason why Aiden had come under the radar of a few agencies.

On Zenya, an entertainment forum, a lot of people were commenting on a post with the title [Which movie should I watch this weekend with my girlfriend?]

A lot of people commented on that post.

[Chasing booties: Just watch something on Zetflix if it's with your girlfriend. At least you can have sex if the movie isn't good.]

[Double Ds: Zetflix doesn't have a lot of good shows these days. That's why, people focus more on each other than the movie.]

[I'm an orphan, give me powers: Watch [Green Light, it's a good time to watch a superhero movie. Though, it flopped but the VFX is pretty great.]

[Death by snu: Go watch [Shadows of War, that's the movie of the month for me. I freaking loved it.]

[Please read mmo: I liked that movie a lot, but it somehow exhausted me due to the overall tone. I really want to watch a movie that doesn't make me sad. Something like a feel good movie.]

[Average Forum user: I watched [A day in the life of Jonathan, it was pretty wild in a way. The main character somehow slept with the female lead's mom in the end and then the female lead's dad joined them. The shit was wild!]

[Loli police: @Average Forum user You sure you weren't watching 'A day in the life of a pornstar'.]

[Handcuffs are good for sleep: Watch [Shadows of War] if you want to get a good experience and [A day in the life of Jonathan] if you are too broke for a hotel room and want an empty place for you and your girlfriend.]

[Orange Panther: [Shadows of War] all the way! The movie was freaking good and I cried my eyes out.]

[Author of How to kill your husband: Yeah, it was super good. I loved that Indian soldier. He acted brilliantly in his death scene and Aaron Hart stood out for his performance. I heard he spent months prepping for his role.]

[Ponytails are sexy: I heard Zero International is aiming for an Oscar nomination with the movie. They have not gotten one for a while. Though, I doubt it would get anything more than a nomination.]

[Reading webnovels all day: Aaron Hart really wants an Oscar up his sleeve. Let's see if he will get one. The movies this year were pretty good.]

[Schrodinger's cat: Is it only me who didn't like [Shadows of War]? Felt bored during it and I really don't know why people make war movies when most countries are running away from having a war. I want to watch a movie of a guy with a hair transplant colonising Mars instead of this.]

[Chad Putin: @Scrodinger's cat, you sure about that, little peanut?]

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"It seems like a lot of people are liking the movie."

Aiden said, scrolling through some online forums and Sparrow. He was on a flight that was about to take off to Chicago for the shooting of [Black Saints]. As he was bored, he had started going through Sparrow.

Currently, [Shadows of War] was trending number 3 on Sparrow and everyday, word of mouth was spreading.

"Yeah, Zero International is now estimating it to gross 200-250 million dollars at the least. Combined with the OTT deal with Zetflix, they are going to be swimming in profits. They must be dancing right now as this movie was made more for Oscars than anything."

Wade, who was sitting next to him said. Thinking about something, Aiden asked.

"Do you think he will get an Oscar? Aaron Hart, I mean."

"I don't think so." Wade said, thinking of his performance. "He acted well, probably his best performance to date. But other actors were good too and in some scenes, others actually overpowered him in screen presence. Even you did in your last scene. At most he'll get a nomination. He must be fuming at himself that even a rookie outperformed him in a crucial scene."

Aiden agreed with Wade's analysis. In the reviews he had seen, a lot of people praised Aaron's performance but other actors were praised equally. He even saw some critics saying that his scene was the best in the movie.

Though, most of them haven't even mentioned his name in the review and were just referring to him as the Indian soldier in the movie.

'This is just the start.'

He thought, leaning against his seat.

As he was just one movie old, Aiden didn't care a lot if people were mentioning his name or not. After appearing in a few movies, his name would start getting more recognition from both the critics and the audience.

For now, he was already very happy with the fact that he got 3k more followers in the last few days thanks to the movie.

"By the way, I actually heard that a few agents from different agencies were asking about you, trying to find information." Wade suddenly said, attracting the attention of Aiden.

"Why?"

"Your acting skills were good in the movie and there were a lot of movie previews in which even agents were invited. Some saw the movie and liked you. With just a search, they could easily know you are a singer too and you appeared on X-Star not too long ago. That much is enough for some agents to get interested in you."

"Just because I'm not one dimensional."

"Yeah, the competition these days is so much that having talent in singing or dancing gives you an edge. Even if developing you into a bankable actor might take time, you will work well in some musicals. They will think like that."

Wade explained, giving Aiden an insight on how an agent or an entertainment agency might think about him. He suddenly thought of some musical sitcoms that he had seen in the past.

"It seems like my stocks are rising." Aiden said with a low laugh.

"They are but not by much. If you were a worm before, you are now a golden worm. But still a worm."

Wade gave a very weird analogy, making Aiden give him a confused look. Shrugging his shoulders, he continued, "Anyway, a lot will depend on [Black Saints]. If the movie works well, there would be a lot of ways to elevate your level in Hollywood."

…

/DreamNote/

Hi guys, this is an important notice in the Author note, please give it a read. I am not putting it in the chapter because it will make the chapter expensive.

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Chicago is a city in Illinois, and the third-largest metropolitan city in the United States, known for its jaw-dropping architecture, vibrant music scene, amazing food — including deep-dish pizza — and iconic neighbourhoods. When Aiden first landed in the city, he couldn't help but look forward to going sightseeing after finishing the shoot of [Black Saints].

He felt like the background of this city complimented the movie a lot.

When he had first read the script of [Black Saints, Aiden felt quite impressed by it and was excited to work on a movie like this. On the surface level, it seemed like a gangster movie with the main character going through his journey as a character.

But the movie was actually a mixture of genres with action, black comedy and drama mixed in it.

In the first place, the movie wasn't about any one character but the city itself and the crime lords who ruled it and called themselves the Saints. Hence, the name was [Black Saints].

The city in the movie will be a fictional city called Night City, trapped in the inescapable web of corruption. From the big politicians to the cops, everyone was one way or another a part of the corrupt landscape of the city.

The story mainly follows Charlie Morgan, a middle-aged cop who is always seen as a below-average cop, having blown away opportunities one after another, primarily due to bad luck.

His wife was cheating on him, his son didn't respect him, and his life literally didn't have any purpose until he decided to go after the Saints who ruled the city.

Aiden's system had given the script an overall score of 72, which seemed pretty high to him. Though sadly, it didn't guarantee the success of the movie.

The story focused on an unconventional plot line. Rather than being about Charlie, it focused more on the side of the Saints. Aiden's role, Kai, was one of these saints, the youngest of them actually, helming a powerful mafia family.

'It's a difficult job to play him.'

To play Kai, Aiden needed to express a certain aura of coldness and do his best to present a class. Kai wasn't someone who liked being dirty, though he didn't mind getting blood on his suit.

There was even one line where he said, "I don't know why but I like blood on my clothes. It makes me feel more alive.".

He had said this line to one of his subordinates, just after killing a person with a knife, as per the script. This was enough to show that he was truly a psychopath.

But Aiden still had a few questions about him.

"Rookie, what are you thinking with that serious look?"

Aiden raised his head to look at a bearded guy with sharp features and a smile on his face. He was wearing a cheap jacket which looked a little rugged.

"Just about Kai. Your scene ended, Ray?" Aiden asked as the bearded man sat down beside him, glancing at the suit he was wearing.

Aiden was sporting a suit every day after landing in Chicago to feel more like Kai.

"Yeah, it just ended. Zavier is still discussing it with the crew though, so I might have to give it another shot."

His name was Ray Hardy, the main lead of [Black Saints] who was playing the role of Charlie Morgan. He was a British actor who Aiden had met for the first time during the read-through session.

Not only him, but he had also introduced himself to the whole cast there, and fortunately, this time, Aiden felt like he was a part of the cast as Ray and the other supporting actors were pretty nice to him.

They even started calling him rookie because he was the youngest in the cast aside from the teen actor who was playing Charlie Morgan's son.

"What are you thinking about Kai, Aiden?"

Ray took a look around the set before asking. They were currently shooting inside a studio, and then there would be a few outdoor shoots tomorrow.

"Just about his character. He seems like a maniac with twisted ideals. Someone who wants to become eternal by making himself a symbol of fear for the city. Even if he dies, he wants the city to think he's still ruling over it. That's kinda psychopathic."

Ray nodded. There were other gangsters in [Black Saints, but Kai was truly the most unpredictable one of them. So much so that even the top gangsters avoided him.

"I think that's the general idea of Kai. A psychopath somehow inspired by symbols of justice from comic books, ambitioning to become a symbol of anarchy."

Aiden continued. This was where his confusion began. In one of the scenes, Kai talks about his love for comic books and how they inspired him.

"What don't you understand?"

"I think the subtle idea of Kai is not that of a psychopath." Ray raised an eyebrow at that. "More of someone who knows people will fear him more if he acts like a psychopath, but slowly his personality turned into that."

"That's very interesting."

Ray said, putting a hand on his chin. Since he had read the full script, he did know that Kai was a pretty complex character.

A character that was very hard to understand as he would say one thing and do another.

"I think you are going in the right direction. Psychopaths generally do what they want, but Kai has a structure in how he does things. It's very planned out, and he even emphasises it, so it's hard to really say if he's acting or if it's real."

As Ray said that, one of the assistant directors walked toward them and called him to do another shot. Patting Aiden's shoulder, Ray left, leaving him alone to ponder more about his character.

'What are the motives of Kai anyway?'

He thought, flipping the page of his script to read through some of its lines of Kai. There was one scene in which he talked about his childhood.

Though, it was just a bit of info on his background.

The only information Zavier had given him was that Kai was born in the city. Suddenly, he got some insight into Kai's character as his brain started working.

'If Kai was born in the city, then he must have seen the corruption of the city. Maybe even from a close distance and his love for comic books…'

Aiden tried to correlate both the things and found out that Kai's character was pretty much born due to the city in an attempt to start something big to overturn it.

He thought about one of the lines that Kai would often say, "I'm the symbolisation of what you call anarchy".

At that moment, some system notifications suddenly sprang up in front of him.

[Your understanding of the character 'Kai August' has increased. Your affinity towards him has increased.]

[There's a chance of gaining a new skill.]

Aiden just stared at the second notification in disbelief. He was happy for the first one as it just proved that he was going in the right direction in relation to Kai, but the second notification truly surprised him.

'What skill will I get now? And how?'

He thought. He didn't believe that the skill would spring up on its own. After all, he always needed to do certain actions to get skills.

During the band mission in X-Star, he had an instrumental skill after acting as the band leader. It was given to him because he proved himself as a good planner.

But here, he didn't know what he would need to do.

While Aiden was busy the shooting for [Black Saints, his fan page was bustling with new members. It had now crossed over 3500 members thanks to [Shadows of War] being a great hit at the box office.

Currently, the group was excitedly chatting because one of the members had posted a photo of Aiden in Chicago wearing a suit.

[SkyNeves: What's Aiden doing in Chicago? A music video? I've been waiting for his new song for a while. Or is it something else?]

[April on Roof: I'm betting on a new music video! He's probably trying to increase his popularity after [Shadows of War]. His role is getting appreciated a lot.]

[Yo, I'm your dad: Many critics are just calling him the Indian guy or Indian soldier. It's kinda funny because his name ain't even sound Indian.]

[herpes_free_since_03: Yeah, but I think the critics are just lazy, or it's because he's not very famous.]

[Bitchy bae: He looks terrific in a suit. I hope he plays a secret agent one day. He would look super cool in it.]

[Hollywood Insider: He would look good in any role. And I heard he's shooting for his next movie. #Aiden fan]

[Aiden's wife: I watched [Shadows of War] three times just because of him. I hope it's a bigger role this time though, and he doesn't die in the end. I cried in that scene.]

[how_you_doing: If it's a movie, let's hope he doesn't die in it.]

[Hitler was a cultivator: @Hollywood Insider, are you sure it's another movie? Are you his agent? Why do you know so much?]

—[Hollywood Insider: Yes, my sources said it is. And no, for personal reasons, I can't disclose my identity. I'm just a fan. # Aiden's fan.]

[Skyneves: If it's really a movie, I'm all up for it. Maybe it's a business drama or something. Imagine him being a CEO of a company in the movie or a stockbroker.]

[Every hole is a goal: That would be pretty cool. [Shadows of War] has grossed over 80 million dollars till now, so Aiden's value will rise significantly in the Hollywood circle.]

…

/DreamNote/

I have internet access, and things here have calmed down.

…

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"Okay, we are starting in five."

Zavier said, glancing at the crew. The camera, lighting and the sound crew all got ready when they heard his words. The actors that were going to perform in the scene took a deep breath.

It was essential to give everything to each scene to make it as effective as possible. It was a daunting task, especially for the crew.

They needed to take care of every single detail. Just one mistake, and all the hard work is wasted. Just yesterday, one of the scenes involving Ray was ruined because the sound equipment suddenly had an issue.

Although they fixed it later, Zavier and many other crew members felt it was a waste because the retake wasn't as good as the first one.

Because of accidents like this, they were being very careful.

"Aiden, you understand everything, right? Just relax and give your all."

Zavier asked in a raised voice as he looked at Aiden, who was standing in the middle, wearing a black suit and an old watch. In the distance behind him, the cinematographer was standing.

This shot will start as Aiden steps into a comic book store. The camera will follow his back before turning to a long-range shot. Just for this particular scene, the crew has rented a small comic book store.

"Yeah, leave it to me."

Aiden gestured to Zavier to not worry. This was going to be his first shot which would be divided into various parts — Kai entering the comic book store, having a short conversation with the owner of the store and then sitting down to read a comic book with a teenage boy, who he considered as a sort of a friend.

Then, the focus will shift to the conversation as it would give more insight into who Kai actually was.

'This scene is the only one where Kai actually seems a bit of a normal person.'.

Aiden thought, going over the scene again and again in his mind. He hadn't really experienced 'Immersion' in International Grade yet, so there was a bit of scepticism in his heart as to how it would pan out.

He just hoped that everything would go well and he could give a good enough shot.

'It's time to be Kai.'

He thought, closing his eyes.

[Black SaintsOctober 13-2015Act 3Scene 1Take 1]

Kai slowly walked up to the comic book store with light steps. Around the street, some people noticed him but just gave him a look before turning away their eyes.

As he entered the comic book store, he took a deep breath and saw that there weren't a lot of people there. Just some kids were talking among themselves.

Turning his eye away from them, he looked up at the store owner, Todd, who was shocked to see him there.

"Todd, the store's running well?"

"Hardly. Kids these days aren't more into comic books than they are in video games." Todd's tone carried a tinge of nervousness as he came out of the counter. "So, what can I give you today? A new issue of Sup-"

"My money," Kai said, smiling at him.

"Mr. August, the store is not running well these days. If I could skip this month-"

"The store is not running well, but you still have money to buy cigarettes. Aren't they the expensive ones?"

Kai suddenly looked at a cigarette packet on the counter. The odour of it was still in the air.

"That's just an addiction."

"You have money for your addiction, not in your life?"

Kai tilted his head and looked hard at Todd, who was already shaking due to the atmosphere building around the store. The kids around the store all stared at Kai, wondering what would happen.

They remembered a time when Kai had beat up someone on the street. The reason was still unknown, but the fight was still in everyone's minds.

"Think about where your priorities lie, Todd. I'm saying this as a friend of yours and because I don't want to go through trouble finding a good comic book store in this godforsaken city." Kai patted his shoulder. Todd was a bit taller than him, but currently, his stature seems to be way smaller than Kai's. "Now, how long do I have to stand here?"

Todd hastily nodded and ran to the counter to give the bills to Kai. He didn't even count them, and satisfied, Kai nodded.

"Cut! The scene came out good!"

Zavier's voice resounded, and the actor playing Todd wiped off the sweat from his forehead. For a while, he felt like he was truly suffocating in the presence of Aiden.

On the other hand, Aiden looked at Zavier, who was smiling while going over the scene on the camera. It seemed like he was very satisfied with the final outcome.

'It looks like I don't have to do another take.'

Thinking that Aiden sighed. In the middle of the scene, he felt like he was becoming more and more like Kai, and the feeling stayed with him even after his immersion was over.

'My immersion has truly gotten stronger.'

Although his immersion was going to be a massive tool for him during the shooting, Aiden also feared that he would be too submerged in the character of Kai at the end of the movie.

'Let's just focus on the shooting.'

He thought, pushing his worries to the back of his mind.

[Black SaintsOctober 13-2015Act 3Scene 7Take 3]

The door of the comic book store opened, and a young boy of around 13 walked in, searching for the new batch of comic books that was going to arrive today.

It was at that moment his eyes landed on Kai, who was sitting in one corner, reading a comic book.

Unlike other people, the boy didn't fear Kai a lot. Though, whenever he would see him, a sense of unease would always be in his heart.

Still, he walked over and sat beside Kai. Just then, Todd walked over and gave a comic to the young kid. It might come off as weird to someone who witnessed the scene for the first time, but the regular customers found nothing strange here. Only this kid received the preferential treatment.

Before he began reading, the kid stared at Kai and said, "My mom had an operation."

Kai paused the reading before resuming once again.

The kid was unbothered by this and continued to speak, "She's recovering, although she can't walk yet. My sister is doing all the housework."

Kai didn't say anything and continued to read the comic.

The young kid was unbothered by Kai's silence. He knew Kai was aware of his mother's operation and his family's condition. In fact, Kai seemed to know most of the family living around the street.

Maybe, this was one of the reasons Kai was called the devil of the street. At least the father in the church used to call him that until he couldn't.

"Can I ask you a question?" Archie suddenly said, and Kai looked at him like he was telling the former to go on.

"Have you ever killed anyone?"

That was a strange question for Kai, and thinking for a bit, he finally broke his silence, "Why do you want to know?"

"My mom said you are a bad person, and I should stay away from you. She said your job is to kill people for your own gains."

"I'm not a cop, Archie." Kai chuckled, then got a bit more serious before continuing. "I have killed people, and I will kill more as I go. And yes, it's for my own gains. But I'm no different than the people you see on TV, talking about how they are doing a lot for the city."

It took a while for Archie to take in his words. He was both confused and intrigued by it, but Kai had already started flipping through the pages of the comic book.

"How are you not different?"

"We both are people with power, and we do the same thing to maintain it; the ways are different. My way makes me a gangster, and their way makes them a politician. So there's a thin line separating us that may or may not be there."

Kai explained, his eyes still scanning the pages of the comic. His ideas were very different from the common people's, but they got him results. For him, the way didn't matter until he achieved what he wanted.

"Are you saying politicians are no worse than gangsters?" Archie asked, wanting to hear his viewpoint about all that.

"If anything, I don't hide anything. The way I see it, politics is the art of looking for trouble, finding it everywhere, diagnosing it incorrectly and applying the wrong remedies. Then they disguise their own problems as national concerns. I call it the fool's trick to fool clowns."

Kai was calling the common people clowns, but that's what he truly thought, and it was also the reason he never felt bad about exploiting them. In his mind, every person was exploiting someone, and the world was just becoming more and more like that as time passed.

After saying that, Kai stood up, putting down his comic book on a shelf and stretching his body a bit. Then, he stared down at Archie, who seemed to be thinking more about his words.

"Kid, don't get into either politics or gangs. Both will eat you alive. Get a job where you can rob a common man legally. That's the best job, in my view."

Kai left the comic book store after that while Archie kept thinking about his words – the ideas he presented.

"Cut!"

Zavier's voice resounded again through the set, and the scene ended.

…

/DreamNote/

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[ Black Saints October 15-2015 Act 4 Scene 6 Take 1 ]

"Please don't kill me… please… I beg you!"

A man begged as he struggled on the ground. He was held captive in an old warehouse and even if he screamed, no one was going to come help him here.

Both his hands were tied up and he could only beg with his mouth, hoping the group of people before him would spare him.

They were all led by one of the most notorious gangsters in the city.

"Give me one reason I should spare you? What is your value for the city?"

Kai asked, glaring down at the man while holding a gun that aimed at the latter.

This man was someone who had refused to pay him money. Normally, Kai would not have gone after him but the former had insulted him in his face, something that he didn't like.

"My wife and my daughter… for them, please! I don't want to die… I beg you."

The man begged, pushing his body towards the feet of Kai but he just kicked him in the gut and laughed like he was mocking the man.

"I don't think you know the reality. Your wife is a whore, has fucked a lot of people. Your daughter… well, children grow tougher if one of their parents is dead." He smiled. "I'm speaking from personal experience."

"My wife is not a whore—"

-Bang!

A gunshot was heard as the man's body went limp in the middle of his sentence. He stopped moving and blood started flowing out from his stomach..

One of the subordinates of Kai crouched to check if the man was really dead and gave a nod to Kai.

"He's dead."

"He died funny. Imagine 'My wife is not a whore' being your last words. That's the comedy in this business."

Saying that, Kai gave the gun to another subordinate as two others started cleaning the body. Sighing, Kai looked up at a broken window from where a ray of light was coming from.

"Cut!"

It was then that the scene ended. Zavier gave a thumbs up to the actors and the actor who was playing the role of the man who Kai shot, stood up, trying to get the dust off his body.

His clothes were red, as the blood bag that he was wearing under his clothes had exploded. It was generally used to show blood in the movie.

"Good job there. Sorry for the kick." Aiden said, walking up to him.

"No problem. Your acting is pretty good, rookie. Keep it up." After saying that, the actor went back to the makeup room to get changed.

His scenes were finished now, so he could leave the set.

'With this, the introductory scenes for Kai are over.'

Aiden thought, walking up to sit on one of the chairs as the crew tried to finish up everything and move on to the next scene.

The scenes he had shot till now were more or less going to come in the opening part of the movie where the character of Charles is given a brief about the blank saints in the city.

This would focus more on the kind of character Kai was.

'He's going to die halfway through the movie. Though, his impact will be most seen in the last part of the movie.'

His mind traced back to the climax of the movie. Maybe, because of that kind of a climax, the script was given a high score by the system. Though, it was a little over the top but it really served as something that the audience won't expect.

"Aiden."

As he was thinking about that, Wade suddenly walked up to him.

"Where were you?" Aiden asked as Wade sat down next to him. By the smile on his face, he felt like he had something nice for him.

"Was talking to one of the assistant directors. Anyway, have you heard of Hollywood Weekly?"

"Isn't it a magazine? It's pretty famous."

From what Aiden knew, Hollywood Weekly was a pretty famous magazine, especially in LA and New York. They would have a unique story of different actors, actresses and even filmmakers.

"Yeah, I just got a call from a reporter from that magazine. They want to interview you for one of their columns. Apparently, they are going for the theme of 'Star Rookies' and would feature your interview due to the popularity of [Shadows of War]."

Aiden looked at Wade with widened eyes. He hadn't expected to have an interview like this.

Especially from a famous newspaper.

"I thought they would get someone from a big agency? You know they always have rookies that might become the next big sensation."

Aiden asked after calming down a bit.

"It's probably because you are in a hit movie that's still running in the theatres. Your role was impactful too, so people are curious about you for a while. It will die down but they probably want to profit from it in the meantime."

In Hollywood, an actor who was trending was easily replaced with another in a couple of days. That's why, it takes years to become a dependable actor that people won't forget.

Knowing that well, Aiden already got an idea as to why he was suddenly asked to do an interview.

"Anyway, it's a good enough opportunity for us. After wrapping up, we will go to the interview. The reporter said he could meet you at the hotel we are staying at."

"Okay."

"My name is Henry Johnson. I'm a reporter from Hollywood Weekly. It's nice to meet you."

"Aiden Silvereye. Likewise, it's good to see you."

A tall man, wearing a suit and a professional smile shook his hand as they sat down in the hotel lobby. Wade had left them alone, saying he would go smoke outside.

Although it was his first official interview, Aiden wasn't too nervous as he had these kinds of interviews in X-Star a lot. That had prepared him somehow to not say weird or even slightly confusing things that could be misinterpreted.

He had learned this lesson the hard way.

"So, Aiden, the last few months seem to have gone pretty drastically for you. You have improved in both of your fields a lot. How do you feel about it?"

Henry started the interview with a pretty simple question after setting up the recording device.

The least he could do before interviewing Aiden was to study up on his background a bit, and even he, a veteran reporter, was a bit surprised to see that Aiden had made jumps in his career in a short time.

"I go to sleep every night feeling excited for the next day, so I would say things have improved a lot. I worked hard to get an opportunity for a long time and somehow, after X-Star, I got very lucky to have come across opportunities that I was fortunately able to grab."

"Do you regret getting eliminated on X-Star?"

He asked, making Aiden think of X-Star after a long time. But he didn't take long to answer the question.

"No, I don't regret anything. My loss was because Rachel was better than me and I accepted it a long time ago."

"Wasn't it nice for you when your song crossed her in the music charts not too long ago? I saw comments saying you took revenge."

Henry tried to get him to give a controversial answer by asking that. If he really said it was revenge, people would just think that he was someone who held grudges.

"I don't think it was revenge. It was pretty much a coincidence if you think about it. Her song was just released at the same time as me and Grey's, so people started talking about how it was a revenge or rematch scenario."

"Though, you did feel nice when your song crossed hers, right?"

"I was happy when the song did well on the charts and streaming platforms."

Aiden refused to say anything other than that and Henry, dejectedly moved to the next topic.

"Your movie [Shadows of War] has been doing great business at the box office and people are calling it one of the best war movies in recent times. Your role was appreciated a lot too. Do you always believe the movie would do good? What made you choose this as your first script?"

The major reason Henry was even doing an interview with Aiden was because of [Shadows of War] popularity, so he focused more on that rather than his singing career.

"I didn't choose this script. I was actually doing every audition I came across and [Shadows of War] was one of them. Someone I knew was able to help me get the audition as they were looking for someone who is from South Asia and that's how I got the role. So, it was more because of desperation to get some work than anything else."

Henry liked the last line Aiden said. Like many strugglers like him, he was an actor who was doing roles to get money to keep living in America rather than someone who could choose scripts at his leisure.

An actor born straight out of desperation to not be unemployed.

"I heard you are shooting for your next movie currently. Can you tell me a bit about it and your character?"

Henry asked and Aiden nodded before giving him a brief synopsis.

"The movie name was announced a few months back, it's called [Black Saints]. It's a gangster drama mixed with other interesting and unique elements. The story focuses on the crime bosses of the city. As for my character, I play a guy called Kai who's one of the crime bosses."

"Are you playing a major role? The main villain?" Henry asked, curious but Aiden shook his head.

"No, he's a small character who has a big impact, so it's not the major villain. Though, I'm pretty sure he will stay in the minds of people who would go watch the movie."

…

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"How can you say that he's going to stay in the mind of people? Do you have that much confidence in your acting?"

When Henry tried to peer more into Aiden's answer, the latter gave an awkward smile and tried to explain.

"No, it's not about me, but the character. I think the character of Kai would stay in people's minds. Like I said, he's someone who will create a lot of impact in the story."

"But your role is small?"

"Yes." Aiden nodded. "But just because my role isn't a lot doesn't mean the character is not good."

Henry gave a smile and just moved on to the next question. There were a lot of interesting things he could ask of Aiden. Though, most of them would be edited before the magazine would publish.

The magazine was only interested in Aiden for a small column, so not a lot of points in the interview would be published.

"I heard Tyler Reed, another rookie that people think has a lot of potential, also auditioned for the same character. But in the end, you got the role. Do you think you were better than him?"

Henry asked, trying to get a little controversy once again. He had heard from one of his connections that Tyler was pretty angry over not getting a role in [Black Saints, so if he made it like there's a rivalry between the two of them, it would get a lot of eyes.

But Aiden was prepared.

"I can't really say that. I think that's a question better left to the director."

"Don't you have anything to say as you passed and he didn't? Maybe some sort of advice?"

"I'm no one to advise him.".

Aiden stood firm on his opinion and Henry had no other way to move on to the next question. Frowning a bit, he looked at his notes and found an interesting point.

"I found out that you are not contracted with any other big agency. Is there a reason behind it?"

"Yeah, after thinking, I decided to opt for an agent from the free market. I just didn't want to put in a contract for a few years. Moreover, some offers I got only wanted me to focus on one aspect rather than both singing and acting. The free agent way was just more convenient for me."

Henry tried to get more information on the topic, finding it particularly interesting.

"I understand that but how do you feel when actors in the same age bracket like Judy Holland get roles in big movies? Judy even recently got a big part in a superhero movie which had a budget of over 200 million."

"I'm happy for their success but I don't think that I could succeed by taking a path that many others are already walking on. I know it will take time but I'm hoping I will make a name for myself in Hollywood someday."

Satisfied, Henry moved on to other questions. One by one, he asked a plethora of different questions about Aiden. From a bit on his family to the controversy with Rachel on X-Star and even, about his other future projects.

It was only after an hour that the interview ended.

"Is everything set up?"

Zavier asked his assistant director and glanced around. They were currently shooting in the middle of a street for a chase sequence. It was already a daunting task for Granite films to get permission from the authorities.

It was only when Titan studios had helped them that they had gotten the permission.

"Yes, the actors are ready too. We could begin at any second."

"Okay, we are going to take a lunch break If we don't get it right this time."

Zavier was getting impatient as it's already been half a day but the chase sequence was still not finished. It was a 3 minute chase sequence which was divided into several parts.

Even some residents that lived close to the street had gathered around the back, excited to see the shooting but after some hours, they had also left.

It was the part where Kai would be chased by Charlie Morgan. It was a pretty exciting scene starting from a chase on a foot which would then shift to cars in the middle.

The thing was that they were messing it up a lot, either because of a bad shot or the actors messing it up.

The chase sequence was already done with the help of stunt doubles but for the car scene, Zavier wanted the real actors to do it. Both of them had also agreed.

They were just very unlucky till now.

After talking with his assistant, he tapped the headset that he was wearing. It was already connected to both Aiden and Ray who were already sitting in the car.

"Aiden, Ray, try to make it work this time. It's just a one minute shot. The camera will take close ups of your face, so do it right."

"I understand!"

"Okay."

Two voices came out of the headset and satisfied, Zavier picked up his loudspeaker to inform the crew that they were going to take the shot now.

"Get ready, everyone! We are beginning!"

[Black SaintsOctober 28-2015Act 8Scene 6Take 9]

'I need to escape no matter what.'

That was the thought inside Aiden's mind as he found himself becoming one with Kai due to the effect of immersion. His mind started thinking a bit like how Kai would think. His skill gave him an edge over whichever character he played.

Without wasting any time, he stepped up on the accelerator of the car and charged forward. In the rear view mirror, he was able to see Charles' car chasing him.

"Not today, officer."

He muttered as he tried to turn around the corner. There were few people on the street but Kai didn't seem to care. He wasn't going to get caught today, especially by just a mere officer.

Somehow, someone had given enough evidence to the police department for them to get their hands on him. He knew that with his plans, nothing like that would happen.

So, there must be a rat in his gang and rats needed to be crushed.

He can't do that if he gets arrested. Though Kai was the youngest black saint, he still had a lot of powers. The previous Saint's contacts that he had received when he had killed the latter and taken his position were still available as last ditch effort.

Even if he got to jail, he would get out but the rat would escape before that.

'I needed to fucking kill him under my shoes.'

He thought and it was then, that he saw the crew standing at a point. The director's voice followed as his car crossed the point.

"Cut! Okay, That was good. It's finally done!"

Hearing that, on his earpiece, Aiden smiled. As soon as he had heard the cut, the immersion had ended and he was back to being his real self.

Though, it took a while for his aura to change that to Aiden. Whenever he would go through immersion, his aura would change a bit to Kai and it took a while for him to get it to normal.

[Your character affinity towards 'Kai' is increasing.]

As he suddenly got the message, he smiled.

"Yo rookie, you should drink when you are in a bar or go dance like Graham there."

Ray said, glancing curiously at Aiden and pointed at Graham Rude who was playing the main villain in [Black Saints]. He was a 50 year old veteran actor that had been a part of many movies and series throughout his career.

He was playing the role of the biggest mafia boss in Night City, Durham Rodrick.

At this point, the mafia boss was dancing to a pop song after having a couple of drinks. Watching him, Aiden couldn't help but think he has too much vitality for his age.

After the shooting, the cast had decided to go to a bar to celebrate the wrap of a busy day. Automatically, Aiden was invited too and from his time on set, he had gotten a good enough friendship with Ray and some other cast members.

"I was just thinking about tomorrow's shoot. The interrogation scene between Kai and Charles. I was wondering how I should be more like Kai during that as it's one of his last scenes."

Aiden addressed his worries and Ray thought for a bit before replying.

"You're already doing a good job. You play him with enough devilish aura or whatever they call it." Ray took a sip from his glass. "If you want to add more, try to think how he will behave in certain situations. Method acting is good to truly get the levels of characters to reach off the charts."

"I will try." Aiden nodded.

"Anyway, don't think of work in the bar. Just enjoy. Get a nice girl here and talk to her. You are single from what I know."

"Okay."

Aiden said with a smile and looked around the bar.

…

/DreamNote/

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"Aiden, are you listening to me?"

Miranda, the makeup artist that was working on [Black Saints, tried to attract Aiden's attention but the young man before him was too immersed in the script in his hand, thinking about something.

She had been working in the movie industry for a long time, over 10 years actually, but she had never seen someone like Aiden who would always be looking through the script on the set.

She felt like he was trying too hard.

"Aiden, I need to start your makeup!"

Finally, she tapped on his shoulders, and he looked up. A bit of confusion was in his eyes.

"What happened, Miranda?"

"I need to get your makeup done for the scene. You should get your head out of the script, especially when you are at the end of your shooting."

Miranda shook her head, feeling like Aiden was being a bit absurd. The truth was that he wasn't actually reading his script but looking at his system prompts.

"I'm sorry. I will try to sit straight as you go through applying makeup."

"Good." Miranda nodded, then feeling a bit curious, she asked. "What were you thinking about anyway in the script?"

"Just about Kai." Aiden lied, making an excuse.

"I don't think you should think too much into it. Just finish your last scenes, and your work will end. Zavier is already happy enough with your acting.".

Aiden just smiled awkwardly at that as Miranda started putting makeup on his face.

The reason he was being overly serious about his role suddenly was because of the system notifications he had gotten a few days ago.

[Your understanding of the character 'Kai August' has been increasing. Your affinity towards him has increased. A unique opportunity has been presented to you.]

[You are one step away from unlocking a new skill.]

[You need to break the barriers of acting to get the new skills. Multiple rewards await you if you could take the final step.]

These notifications immediately made him a bit greedy to get his hands on the skill. Because of that, in the last few days, Aiden was giving a lot of value to understand the character of Kai a bit more.

It had made him think of Kai even while he's not set. Even making Wade a bit worried about him.

But Aiden was very motivated to get his hands on the new skill. Knowing full well that he was behind by a lot of levels compared to other actors, he wanted to make up for it by any means.

Getting his hands on multiple skills was his only way.

"Hey, Miranda, can I ask you a question?" Aiden suddenly asked, and Miranda gave a nod, too focused on applying makeup on his face.

The next scene they were shooting was when Kai would be captured by the police and interrogated by Charlie, which would result in a back and forth between the two about the city and its corruption in it.

In this scene, Kai needed to look like someone had beaten him up before the interrogation, so Miranda was applying some dirty makeup on his face.

"Go on."

"You have seen a lot of actors, right? Have you ever experienced one of them breaking the shackles of a character and becoming the character himself?"

Miranda thought about the question for a while before replying with a positive answer.

"I have, actually. Some ten years ago, I was working on an independent movie. There, an actor actually locked himself up in an apartment for a month because, in the movie, his character had done something similar. He said he did it to go through the same things his character did, to feel his character's pain. The actor never got famous and eventually switched careers, but that was one of the best acting performances I have seen. Why are you asking though?"

"Just wanted to know if actors really do crazy things to give a better performance."

"They do, obviously. Many take acting more seriously than their life."

Aiden nodded, her words making his mind a bit clearer. In his case, he can't really go through the life of Kai in such a short time, but maybe he had one thing that no other actor has and that was immersion.

'I guess the only thing I can do here is to try to make the scene as genuine as possible.'

After Miranda did his makeup, he was in deep thought for a while before eventually coming to a decision. Then, before the start of the filming, he silently approached Ray with a bit of a request.

[ Black Saints October 30-2015 Act 10 Scene 3 Take 1 ]

"Drugs, murders, extortion, kidnapping. These are the things we have on you in the record. What else have you done?"

Charlie Morgan asked, glaring down at the young criminal before him who was just smiling, even if he was in the police custody, getting interrogated.

One of his eyes was black like someone had punched him, and bruises were all over his cheeks. Still, he looked like someone who wasn't nervous at all. No trace of fear could be seen even if he sat wearing handcuffs.

"Nothing. I'm just a simple man." He said like he was mocking the officer before him.

"Don't lie. We have proof of you killing people. You don't fear the law! You killed an officer right before my eyes!"

"The law is not strong enough to make me fear them. I don't like the code they go by. As for the officer, it was self-defence."

At those words, Charlie slammed his fist on the table. He wasn't in the mood to take words silently. Before getting captured, Kai had killed the officer working under him, one of his friends.

"Just answer honestly, and it would be less painful for you," Charlie said, trying to reason with Kai.

"As you can see by my face, I can take a lot more."

Kai smirked, and a frown appeared on his face. His plan never included getting captured by the police, especially when he was giving them a sizable sum to keep them away from his business.

But it seemed like a change was suddenly happening in the city.

"Tell me one thing, officer." He suddenly said with a calmness in his voice. "Do you trust the police force you work with?"

"What type of question is that?" Charlie asked in a stoic tone.

"You know what I'm saying. Don't act like you don't. These people you work with. How much do you think they earn? Still, they live in the city's high-end suburbs, go to the most expensive strip clubs, and get the best cars in town." He took a pause. "Why do you think it's that?"

"Don't change the topic. We are talking about you here."

Charlie frowned, not in the mood to listen to Kai's bullshit anymore. Not because it was a lie but because Charlie himself struggled with it.

But Kai continued.

"You know why the city is called Night City. It's because it's fucking black, coloured in corruption." He said before staring at him. "Tell me, officer, have you taken part in something that was not morally right?"

Charlie stood silent, but Kai noticed his eyes, the fluctuation in them as the memories of the past resurfaced. He smirked, happy to see his words having the desired effect.

"It seems like you have a pretty interesting—"

"That's enough!"

Charlie said and suddenly picked up Kai by his collar, glaring down at him like he would slam him at a wall at any second. But Kai still dared to talk more.

He had finally managed to enter the mind of Charlie. There was no way he would not try to manipulate him.

"You have, right?" Then, you and I are the same. Just the difference is that you got scared and returned to a path you thought suited you. But I kept walking. Hahaha, are you regretful of the path you chose because life… your life is fucking pile of—"

"I said, stop it!!" Charlie screamed, and the people outside the room quickly tried to get into the interrogation room, scared that an accident would happen.

"No one can stop me, officer! I'm gonna destroy the city to its core with all the filth in it! That includes you and me both—"

It was then that Charlie threw Kai on the back of the wall with furious eyes. His back stuck to the wall as raging pain swept over him.

The scene was supposed to end there, but no one on the set, not even Zavier, moved for a second as the final moment of the scene was too unexpected for them.

In the original script, there was no scene of Charlie slamming Kai to the wall, but this had suddenly happened, making everyone stunned.

"C… cut! Someone go see if Aiden is okay and call a doctor."

It was only after a while that Zavier was able to open his mouth.

On the other hand, Aiden, whose immersion had just ended, was going through a lot of pain. But the system interface in front of him was making him feel like his efforts were worth it in the end.

[You have broken the boundary between an actor and a character for the first time. Congratulations on achieving such a feat.]

[You have been awarded the skill 'Character affinity'.]

[A special reward has been given.]

[You have gained a permanent boost of 20 percent in your acting skill while playing negative roles. This boost doesn't apply to 'Anti Hero' characters.]

…

/DreamNote/

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Chapter 071.Conclusion

"What were you thinking? You could have hurt yourself!"

Wade frowned, looking down at Aiden who was sitting in a hospital bed. After the scene, he was quickly dragged off to the hospital for a checkup.

Though Aiden was mostly fine aside from the bruise that he had got on the back of his head, a checkup was the least the crew could arrange to ensure that the injury wasn't too bad.

"I just wanted the scene to be perfect. A couple of days ago, Ray told me to try to think how Kai would think in certain situations and then I wanted the scene to be a bit unexpected. I thought that Kai would try to get in the mind of Charlie to a huge extent and in anger, he would throw him off. So, I asked him to throw me to the wall at the end of the scene."

Aiden explained it a bit to try to calm Wade down.

He had just done it to make the scene better. He accepted that he was taking a huge risk as they had not rehearsed the scene at all.

Even Zavier wasn't aware of it but because of that, it had come truly unexpected, increasing the charm of it.

"Ray was irresponsible too. I will talk to him personally about it. Even if you got a crazy idea, he should not have agreed because of the risk." Wade said in an angry tone. He had truly gotten worried about Aiden after the scene.

"He didn't throw me heavily and he didn't agree to throw me off when I first proposed it. Only after I requested him to do it multiple times did he agree. We were both being careful and the doctor did say I'm fine, right?"

It was only after that Wade seemed to accept his words. After that, he left the hospital room, saying he would inform the crew that Aiden was okay and there was no need to worry.

When Aiden was finally alone, he finally opened up his system to check out his new skills.

He had not gotten the chance yet.

[You have been awarded the skill 'Character affinity'.]

[You can now access 'Character list'.]

Aiden clicked on the second notification and a bigger prompt suddenly opened up. It had all the characters he had played till now listed up in an order.

[Character list:

Nameless Indian Soldier

-65 percent affinity.

-You played the role with all the basic characteristics but failed to bring forth the soul of the character other than a few scenes.

-Affinity could be improved for the role.

Kai August

-75 percent affinity.

-Your acting gives a certain edge to the character, bringing forth a certain devilish aura. However, you fail to show a certain vulnerable nuance in the required places.

-The character affinity is the utmost you could do at the moment.

-The boost has been applied as the character is identified as a negative one.]

Reading through the whole list, Aiden felt a bit happy that he had gotten 75 percent character affinity. Even that much was a good number for him as he had expected way less.

But he also understood the places he could improve to increase the affinity with the characters he's playing on the screen.

The other thing that caught his eye was the permanent boost he had received on all negative characters.

This was certainly the best reward for him as just like a game system, as he reached a high level in his skills, it would get harder and harder to improve.

At that point, the boost would help him greatly.

'Should I just choose more negative roles from now on?'

He thought, thinking of a famous actor who had based his whole career on just grey and negative characters.

He was so good in those roles that no one could consider him for something else.

Though, it was just a case of being stereotyped in the same role which Aiden wanted to avoid If he could.

"Playing negative characters is fun but I don't always want to play them."

He muttered. No matter how distinct negative characters look, he would feel like he was just playing the same character if he overdid it.

So, he decided against it and shifted his focus on just taking one role at a time.

In front of Zavier's eyes, Aiden was sitting on the ground, his eyes covered by his hair. An extra actor that was playing his subordinate was standing beside him.

The cameraman was spinning around them, trying to take a curve shot. While another camera shot him from long range, focusing on the faces of both the actors.

"Project Anarchy must begin now."

He muttered, like he was giving an order. His subordinate looked surprised for a second before eventually nodding.

"It's the city to acknowledge its ruler."

Hearing that, the subordinate hastily left and the scene ended.

After a while, Zavier smiled and finally shouted the word that finished Aiden's shooting schedule for the movie.

"Cut!"

Everyone on the set, from the actors to the crew, clapped when they heard Zavier's shout.

With this scene, Aiden's scenes were done and it was a wrap for him. Though, the other actors would keep shooting for another 20 days.

"Thank you everyone."

Aiden said, getting up from the ground. The final scene of Kai was in a prison where he would just sit with his eyes closed before giving an order to one of his subordinates who had managed to sneak into the prison.

This would come in the first half of the movie but 'Project Anarchy' would truly be shown in the climax.

A climax that everyone who had read the script knew would make the audience shocked.

The whole shot was only 1 minutes, so the audience would even forget about it as after this, Kai would be killed off screen.

More like, his character would commit suicide, knowing that he wouldn't get out of the prison ever because the politicians and Black Saints were trying to have him killed in the prison.

So in the end, he killed himself.

"Aiden, you did a great job."

Zavier said as he hugged Aiden for completing his shooting. The other actors, including Ray and Graham, also chipped in.

"Yeah, Rookie, you were really good. You nearly scared us in the interrogation scene too."

"You are a good actor but don't pull up crazy stuff like that from now on."

"You did a good job!"

Aiden smiled, basking in the applause. He wouldn't have gotten it normally but after the interrogation scene, he had got a reputation as an actor who was willing to do anything to make a movie better.

As a result of that, he was receiving respect from actors who had already achieved a lot in their lives.

"It was great shooting with you all. Let's hope the movie breaks all the records."

Everyone cheered at those words.

[Black Saints] was a special movie for many of them and they truly hoped the audience would like it too.

Seeing their reactions, Aiden felt like all his troubles to get this role was worth it. His conflict with Tyler and how he had finally got the role - everything was on his mind.

At the same time, he also felt a bit tired. He had been working non stop for the last few months and it was almost the end of the year too.

He felt like he needed a break. At least for a while.

'I guess I can take a short break. Maybe a week.'

He thought on his last day on the set of [Black Saints].

"We aren't getting anything good. I don't think these guide tracks are going to fit the show."

A middle aged man with a ragged beard frowned as he looked at the group of people in front of them. His name was Stephen Greg.

He was looking tired, like he had been working constantly for a long time. He was one of the producers from Animeroll.

Animeroll was an animation studio and a big one at that, which frequently licensed Japanese anime to distribute in American and European markets.

"But we only got these from the singers we contacted. The Japanese title track for [Attack for Freedom] is very popular in Japan and a lot of the audience who watches subbed anime already like it, so we tried to bring the best tracks we could."

One of the people from the AR department said but Stephen clicked his tongue with a bit of annoyance.

"These are clearly not enough!" He shouted. "If we use this, people would say that they don't match the theme of the show. Anime fans are hardcore, even in America, so we need to find something better."

Stephen said and few people in the meeting room nodded while others tried to get ideas on how to go with the title track for the anime.

"What if we try to contact some famous bands? 'Dragons of Fire' would be good for the title track. They have composed songs that suit the anime in the past."

Dragons of Fire was a very famous rock band that had over 10 million subscribers on MeTube and a lot of their songs had topped the charts.

"Aren't they in the middle of a world tour?" Stephen questioned before shaking his head. "Moreover, they belong to a big record label. Those bastards would try to take most of the profits away."

If the anime did well, the title track would be streamed a lot too, so Animeroll would obviously try to get in the scheme of profits.

It was then that a timid, female employee raised her hand.

"I have an idea."

...

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After the shooting of [Black Saints] concluded, Aiden spent two more days in Chicago, touring the city. He wanted to take a small break before focusing on getting the next gig.

When he told Wade that he felt like taking a break, the latter had agreed, saying he should not get overcooked as he needed to do a lot of work to stay relevant in the industry.

Because of that, even after returning to New York, Aiden just stayed in his room, occasionally going to Uncle Sam's restaurant to eat and then spending his nights in Rabbit hole, not as a singer but as a customer.

He really felt more relaxed throughout his break and got more and more ideas for his music and acting.

All in all, it was a necessary break for him.

At the same time, [Shadows of War] was almost at the end of its theatre run, amassing more than 270 million dollars at the box office.

The movie was soon going to go on Zetflix, and there were already whispers that Zero International was pushing it hard for the Oscars.

An article by Dark Cinema, a magazine, aptly summarised the reason for the movie's success and how it could sweep the Oscars this year.

The article, which was termed 'Season of Awards and a war movie.' got many views on the magazine's website.

[War may be hell, but [Shadows of War] is having a heavenly go at the box office and might as well sweep the Oscars clean this year.

The film, a World War I tale, is already a nominee in the Producers Choice Awards for Best Picture and Aaron Hart, the lead, is contending for the Best Actor in a leading role award.

Besides that, Golden Globes nomination already awaited the movie, which is basically confirmed as the nominations are due in the first week of December..

Its director, Lincoln Bradley, dedicated the movie to all World War I veterans whose stories helped inspire the film.

And the film's producer, Franklin, drew a line directly from the movie to the current climate of global tension around the world in an interview he gave to Hollywood Times, "In these times of disunity and conflict around the world, I really hope that it's a reminder never to take for granted the peace and do everything not to go back to the times of war," he said.

The movie is already said to be one of the best earners from Zero International in recent times and has even gotten a multi-million dollar deal for the streaming rights. The company wants nothing more than to push the movie for the Oscar nominations as well.

If that happens, the movie could be a big contender to win the Academy Award.

After all, everyone in Hollywood knows that the Oscars love war dramas more than anything. The liking had only grown in recent times.

While talking to one of the executives in Zero International, we learned that they are planning to do another movie with Linchon Bradley, a director who has been nowhere to be seen for the last few years.

His career has clearly been revived with [Shadows of War].

Although the competition will be one of the toughest in the Oscars, many film critics believe that the war drama could edge over the others due to the realism and the sense of danger it presented throughout its running minutes.

Everything will most likely depend on how the movie performs in other award shows, as the Oscar jury will probably keep an eye on them.

Aaron Hart, hoping to get a nomination in the best actor category, said, "I'm just happy the movie did well as the cast performed their best. As for the awards, I'm not really thinking a lot about it, and it all depends on the Oscars jury."

The ironic thing was that 24 hours after saying this in an interview, he was recorded shouting at his agent that he wanted to win the Oscar at all costs in a cafe…]

'It seems like [Shadows of War] might get an Oscar.'

Aiden thought, scrolling down the article displayed on his phone. Though the movie was doing really well, his name had more or less been forgotten.

As his role was too short even to get a nomination and Lincoln and Aaron had more or less occupied the focus, Aiden had become a fleeting memory in people's minds.

He wasn't upset by it, already anticipating this outcome.

It had been a week since he had returned to New York, and his break had ended yesterday.

He was currently in The Rabbit hole, as Wade had called him here, saying he had something to talk to him about.

But he hadn't appeared yet.

"Kid, I didn't expect to see you here."

Suddenly, a familiar voice resounded in his surroundings. Turning around, he saw Abraham walking in.

"Boss, how are you? It's been a long time." Aiden said as Abraham sat down in front of him to talk.

As he was in Chicago for more than a month and had already stopped working in the bar, he rarely got to meet Abraham these days. However, the old man helped him a lot when he struggled, so he always felt grateful.

"You are moving up in your career, so it's hard to see you these days," Abraham said before a conflicted expression appeared on his face. "By the way, I'm sorry about Amy. I heard she was rude to you."

"Ah, it's been a long time since then. I have already forgotten about it."

Aiden said, suddenly remembering Amy. He hadn't forgotten her as their meeting was still in his mind.

He would just like it if he never met her again.

"Anyway, I heard you just finished shooting for a movie. Do you have any other projects lined up?"

Abraham asked, tilting his head. He was very interested in Aiden as he was the first singer from the bar who seemed to have been on the path to becoming a star.

"Not yet. Wade said he's looking for new acting projects, but I will mostly be making new songs for the next two months and get back to acting after the new year."

Aiden explained his plans. He had shot two projects one after another, and it was not exactly easy to find acting projects in Hollywood, so he won't be surprised if he was out of any acting job for the next two months.

At that time, he wanted to focus more on his music career and try to increase his MeTube channel numbers.

"That's a fine plan. If you want a recording studio, I can rent you mine." Aiden cocked his head at that. "I own it and rent it out to bands, so I will even give a discount to you. Recording software is good, but a studio with all the equipment will improve quality."

"That's true. It would be a huge help if I could rent your studio."

After that, they talked a bit more about just singing and the state of Hollywood and the music industry as a whole.

Abraham knew many people in Hollywood, so he had a lot of interesting stories to tell Aiden, who just listened calmly.

Suddenly, Abraham remembered something important.

"I just remembered, but the Indie Music awards will be held soon. Have you heard anything about a nomination?"

"For what?"

"There are a lot of categories. Best single of the year or Rising star of the year. I think you will at least get a nomination in the latter."

Indie Music awards is a big event that happens at the end of the year in December. It was not as prestigious as the Grammy, but it was significant for new indie musicians.

They take it very seriously, and many bands dream of starting their career by playing on the stage at the awards.

'The season of awards is truly coming.'

Aiden thought, thinking back to the article. He hadn't heard of any nomination for even one of his songs yet.

"I have not heard anything from the awards yet," Aiden said, taking a deep breath. "I think they will release the list of nominations in two weeks, so I can only hope for now."

"Yeah, keep an eye on it. These awards give an artist a certain prestige, which will be very good in the future."

Abraham said, thinking about 'Hold onto me'.

That was Aiden's only song to have crossed over 60 million views on MeTube. So if he was going to get an award for any song, it would be that song.

Although the awards were known to favour popularity over anything else and in that, Aiden still lacked a bit as he hadn't performed on any big stages yet.

"I will leave you now. I have some work on the back. Need to check up on the supplies."

After a bit of talking, Abraham said and left. It was close to evening, and the bar started filling up with people.

But sitting in the corner, Aiden just waited for Wade, who was too late. Finally, when it was close to 5:40 in the evening, Wade appeared.

He was panting like he was running his whole way, and as soon as he sat down in front of Aiden, he said.

"I think I might have an amazing opportunity for you."

…

/DreamNote/

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Chapter 73

"I think Ihave an amazing opportunity for you."

When Wade said that, Aiden's mind instantly thought that it was going to be another audition. After all, the former had told him yesterday that he was going to the Actors guild to finish some work.

A lot of audition notice and information were posted in the Actors guild office, so it was natural for Aiden to think like that.

"Is it another audition? What type of movie is it this time?"

"No, you won't do an audition for a while." Wade shook his head and when Aiden looked at him in confusion, he explained. "I tried to find out about movies that are posting audition notices yesterday, but I feel like you should not do a movie for a certain amount of time."

"Is it because of [Black Saints]?"

Wade nodded at Aiden's guess. There was a lot of buzz around Granite films due to [Black Saints] and he first wanted to wait to see the reception it would get from the audience.

"You have a way better role in [Black Saints] than your first movie and everything went well, people would take notice of you as the role is something that will stay in people's mind for sure. So, at that time, your value will rise. It's better to take more roles than, probably in a movie that has a positive vibe. Otherwise, it won't be long before you get stereotyped into negative characters."

Aiden agreed with that statement. It seemed like Wade had already planned out everything for him and it wasn't much different than what he had in mind.

He wanted to play a waiting game and wait for Aiden's stock to rise before signing his next project.

Though, there was one problem..

"What if the movie flopped though?"

[Black Saints] was considered as a very risky project by Granite films, who normally won't look beyond their comfort zones of romantic comedies and dramas. It was an investment of more than 50 million dollars, so people involved with the project were pretty anxious about it.

"Even if it flops, I think people will appreciate your acting. There will be comments like 'The movie wasn't good but Kai really gave me a scare. I wonder what's the name of the actor who played him?'. That's actually the best scenario as people will remember you even if the movie doesn't work."

Aiden laughed at that. Wade was right, but he felt it was funny that his agent didn't care a lot about if the movie worked or not.

"You should enjoy your current status in Hollywood here." Wade suddenly said. "You are not the lead actor, so people won't blame you for the movie not working. I'm pretty sure Ray Hardy's agent will be pretty tense."

After Aiden started leading a project, people were going to associate the movie with his name, so success and failure will be blamed on him too.

Becoming a lead of a movie was something he was aiming for but it didn't mean it won't come with responsibilities.

"Yeah, anyway, you have not talked about the amazing opportunity yet. If it's not acting, then what?"

Aiden asked curiously. Maybe another endorsement deal or a singing gig? He was fine with anything if it was not another offer to sing at a wedding.

He was already sick of them after doing it too much.

"You watch anime, right? I saw some posters of them in your apartment."

Wade suddenly asked and Aiden nodded his head slowly, finding it a bit strange.

"Yeah, I do watch anime. But why are you suddenly talking about it?" Aiden raised an eyebrow. "Don't tell me you are suddenly interested in getting into anime?"

At those words, Wade shook his head and frowned.

"No, I actually got an email from Animeroll. Do you know the company? They normally licence Japanese anime to distribute in America. They are one of the top companies in that sector. They have even worked on some animated movies like [Fang and the Dragon King] and [Kung Fu Bear]."

Aiden knew the studio as most people who watch anime would at least hear their name. They basically ruled over the anime distribution in the US and even other parts of the world.

Now, he was pretty curious about what was in the email that Animeroll sent Wade.

"So, what do they want?"

"They have recently picked up [Attack on Freedom, a high action anime that's already very popular in Japan and all over the world. The first season was a very massive hit, increasing the sale of the manga by a lot."

"I heard the dubbed version was going to be released in March?"

Aiden asked, thinking back to the news he had read about it. He knew the anime and had watched the first season too.

"Yeah, the dubbing is already in the middle and Animeroll is pretty strict about it because a lot of people don't watch the dubbed version because many times, they aren't as good as the original. Because of that, they are trying hard to get it right this time."

"So, what exactly is the job?"

Aiden inquired, knowing full well that it was not going to be a voice acting job or anything related to that.

"I'm coming to that. Their team had recently started going through the title track for the dubbed version. The original japanese one was by a band and was at the top of the charts in Japan for a long time. But the English versions they received were not up to their standards."

As Wade said that, Aiden widened his eyes, getting a sense of what the 'amazing opportunity' was. He still waited for his agent to finish up his words.

"So, their production team got an idea to have the title track made by an indie singer or band instead of already well established ones. They think it's going to bring a freshness and they might be able to get the title track they are looking for."

"So, they didn't choose me already, right?"

Aiden asked and Wade nodded, crossing his hands in front of him and leaning on his seat.

"Yeah, they are asking for guide tracks from a lot of indie musicians." Wade let out a sigh. "Around 15-20, everyone who is popular on social media or has a hit song out in the last year. They would choose one of the guide tracks that they have received. It's easy to see that they want a healthy competition to get the best title track."

Aiden stiffly nodded. It was a great opportunity for him but the competition was also going to be tough.

It was not going to be easy to get chosen from the crowd of 15-20 musicians. Though, he wasn't one to back down even if it was going to be hard.

"So, will you do it?" Wade asked, looking up to him.

"Yeah, I will. I don't want to miss such an opportunity. If my track gets chosen, fans of the anime will surely stream it a lot."

He remembered last year a rap group had sung the title song of a very famous multiplayer game. The music video had gotten more than 300 million views and it had become a very big hit due to the fanbase of the game.

"What is the due date?"

"A month. It's better to make the best song you could even record in a studio. We have the budget to do it now. Even if we don't get chosen, we could release it on your MeTube channel."

"Okay, I will start working on it as soon as I get home."

Aiden said and planned in his mind to rewatch the entire first season of [Attack for Freedom] to get a better sense of the essence of the show.

Only after that he would be able to make an appropriate song.

"Have you emailed all the indie groups and singers we choose?"

Stephen Greg, the producer working on the dubbed version of [Attack for Freedom] asked his assistant. He was currently sitting in his office and going through the progress reports submitted to him.

"Yes, almost all of them gave back a positive response. We are very hopeful to get a good title track in a month."

His assistant replied with a smile.

"That's good. Did the band 'Ryse' also reply positively?"

Stephen asked, tilted his head. Ryse was one of the most popular indie bands around, already having two hit albums and Stephen felt like they would be the perfect band to compose the title track of the anime.

"Yes, I contacted their manager personally and they are very enthusiastic about making a good enough title track for the anime."

"If they work to the potential they have shown, they would be the ones singing the title track. But it's still better to go through every single guide track we receive. These days, there are a lot of hidden gems in the market."

"We have only contacted the best ones, so I don't think we will have a problem."

Stephen shook his head, glancing at the open window before opening his mouth.

"It's not about getting a problem. The anime just have too many hardcore fans, so we need something that pleases them. I don't want to hear things like we butchered the dubbed version."

In the last two projects he has worked on, fans have complained a lot that the quality wasn't there in the dubbed version and how the title track sounded very odd.

He wanted to avoid such comments this time at all cost.

…

/DreamNote/

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[Attack for Freedom] was a fantasy action manga series that was very popular since it was released. It has sold over a million copies in Japan and all over the world and after the release of the anime, the sales have just increased.

The manga was set in a Victorian era world and it showed the story of Eran Joseph who joins a secret society called 'Black Crown' after his brother, a freedom fighter, gets killed in front of him.

Throughout the manga, the main character and the secret society would try to topple over the empire that was ruling over all the people. To fight the empire, the main character would use 'Devices', magical weapons that could only be used by a couple of people in the whole world.

The nobles from the empire would use the same weapons, resulting in great action sequences.

The theme of the manga was taken from the revolutions in Europe and the secret societies that had formed in those times of great turmoil. The story was filled with magic powers, and a lot of character driven plot points, often ending in the growth of the main character.

Because of the characters and the scale of the story, it was very popular and almost had a fanatic fanbase.

[It doesn't matter how strong the opposition is. It doesn't matter how many soldiers they have. We are not defeated until we stop fighting!]

On his laptop screen, a man with blonde hair was giving a heroic speech to his companions as they prepared to head into a battle with the soldiers of the empire.

This was the last scene of the last episode of [Attack on Freedom].

"It's a pretty exciting series."

Aiden muttered, closing the website in which he was watching the episode. He hadn't slept since last night as he was just binge watching the whole anime again, to try to understand the essence of it more clearly.

He had watched it before too as Aiden was a fan of anime. In other words, a weeb.

He was always fascinated by how animes would show epic battle scenes, character arcs and especially how some of them would also show the backstory of the villain, to make the viewers better connect with him.

Some of the villains were even more famous than the main characters.

As for [Attack for Freedom, Aiden really loved the series for what it showed. He was truly able to connect with the fight for freedom that was shown in the anime. But the problem was how to compose a title track that was good enough for the series..

"The original Japanese song is pretty much about freedom and the fight for it."

Aiden muttered, looking up the recorded version of the Japanese title track that he had downloaded. It was simply titled 'Fight for freedom'.

When he played it, a sweet voice came out with the lyrics in Japanese.

He didn't understand the meaning of the words but the song was more like a ballad with the chorus transforming into a rock song, a mix of different genres.

'It's a pretty great song but I don't feel like something like this would turn out well in english.'

He put a hand on his chin and thought about it clearly.

If he really tried to do something similar for the title track of the dubbed version, Aiden was confident that he would be able to make a good enough song.

After all, he was pretty proficient in ballads.

But will it suit the theme of the show? That question lingered in his mind.

'I don't think it will. At least for the western audience, maybe fans of anime will like it but not the general public.'

Moreover, Aiden wanted to avoid making something similar to the Japanese title track at all cost. Otherwise, some fans could say that he had just copied.

"Then, what type of a song should I go for?"

He sighed, before muttering. Normally, the perception of people about him was more of a ballad or folk pop singer.

They have seen him sing romantic songs, wedding songs and even a pop song.

But there was no way that Aiden could do something like that here as the theme of the anime was very hard to express in these genres.

"The theme of the anime is struggle for freedom, fight for equality… The main character is literally trying to bring up a revolution. Ah, yes! Revolution!"

Something suddenly clicked in his mind.

Taking out a blank sheet of paper, Aiden quickly wrote one word on it.

'Revolution.'

That was going to be the name of the song.

Aiden was also quick to think of the genre that he wanted the song to be in – Rock.

Yes, it was going to be his first rock song!

A box of pizza was on the table and the setting sun was reflected on the glass window.

It had been a few hours since Aiden had started working on the song and he was yet to finish the first step which was to get a good enough hook.

It was a very important step in any song, especially in a rock one. He needed to base the whole song on a good hook, which is flexible enough.

At first, Aiden was going for a pretty complex hook but he soon realised it won't be harmonious that way, so he had changed it to a pretty simple one.

Even great musicians would mostly keep the foundation simple enough that the other instruments could easily be harmonious.

But it wasn't a simple thing to do for him.

"Should I just go for a simple chord like A5 but…"

He muttered, looking up at the music software in which he was making the guide version of the song.

He planned to record it later and then send it to Animeroll.

"Let's try this."

Aiden sighed, before picking up his guitar that was connected to his computer and trying out another rhythm. A white light came out of it after a while.

It was not a strong white light but a pretty weak one.

Thanks to his skills, he was able to get lights from even instruments and because of that, it was easier for him to compose as he would just change the melody if the light is too weak.

If it's strong and good enough, Aiden would go ahead with it.

The problem was that he was not really looking for a white light this time. After reaching Intermediate Grade 1, he was trying hard to increase his composing skill too.

He wanted to make a song whose melody would give out silver light.

[Composing: Level 6]

[Lyrics writing: Level 5]

These were the level of his skills and for Aiden, these were the hardest skills to increase.

Even if he had improved his singing skills a lot, his composing and lyrics writing have barely improved in the past few months.

'Ah, let's try something more like classic rock.'

He suddenly thought, wondering how it would fare well and tried to go for a more solid foundation which was kind of like a sponge that would sync well with other instruments too.

As his fingers danced on the strings, a catchy but strong melody started to flow out.

Suddenly, white light flowed out from the guitar. Aiden concentrated on it and noticed that it was a lot stronger this time.

He tried to keep up with it and the light just got stronger and stronger. His fingers on the guitar strummed with a more rapid tempo as more time passed.

It was at that moment that a tinge of silver got mixed in with the white light.

Aiden smiled at that but then, when he was trying to increase the silver light, his phone on the table suddenly rang and he got interrupted.

The light disappeared like it was never there.

He frowned and put down his guitar before picking up his phone to look at who was calling him.

It was Wade.

'He must have called to check up on the progress of the song.'

Aiden thought, but he was still feeling disappointed that he got interrupted when he was on the verge of finally making a silver rhythm.

Shaking his head a bit, he accepted the call.

"Aiden, how's the song going? Have you got an idea yet?"

Wade's husky voice came out from the other side and Aiden quickly replied.

"Yeah, I am going for a rock song. I'm currently working on the foundation of the song and I think I can finish up a guide in some days." Aiden said. "It's going to be titled 'Revolution'."

"That's a good name. Matches the show too but you have never done a rock song, right? Would you be able to sing it well?"

From what Wade knew, the only time Aiden had performed a rock song was in X-Star and he was more or less a supporting figure.

"I think I will be able to. Although, I have some other ideas too."

Aiden suddenly said, making Wade curious.

"What idea?"

"Well, as I'm going for a rock song, I feel like it would better suit a band. You do know that people associate rock with a band right?"

"Yeah, I know. Do you want me to get you a rock band to accompany you?"

Wade asked. It won't be hard to find an accompanying band as there were a lot of small bands performing in bars around New York.

But Aiden had a completely different idea.

"No, I actually want to create a band myself."

…

/DreamNote/

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"Create a band? What do you mean exactly?"

When Wade heard those words, he was perplexed. Questions flooded his head.

Aiden wanted to create a whole band just for a song? Where he was going to find the members for it.

Was he going to change his solo singing career to a group one?

"I mean that I want to create this song with a band. It would be too much for me if I did it alone. And the song I have in mind would sound much better, stronger if a band sings it. It's a song made for a band to perform."

"How are you going to find the members? Or are you going to collaborate with an existing band?"

That was the main question in Wade's mind. In the end, he was going to deal with the contract, so he needed to know what Aiden had in mind exactly.

"Well, I checked out some bands after I thought of this idea. But I didn't feel like they would be able to perform well with me. The chemistry won't be there, and I would be like an outsider."

Aiden said. After he had planned out the theme and essence of the song he was going for and how it was necessary for the song to be played by a band instead of just a solo, he had searched for existing indie bands that he might collaborate with.

He had found some good hands, but in the end, he had decided against it.

Instead, he had thought of something else.

"I have the members in mind already. Just I need you to contact them. I will send their numbers through text."

"Who? Do I know them?"

"I think you do. Actually, they are some people I met during…".

Aiden began to explain as Wade just listened on the other end. Throughout the explanation, the latter constantly sighed, thinking it was way harder to work with musicians.

A man entered an apartment with a deep frown on his face. The apartment was located in Beverly Hills, where most of the wealthy people in LA lived.

The man's height was pretty short, and he had a rough beard, making him look like a boxer. Even his vibes were a bit scary.

As he stepped into the apartment, he saw that the lights were off, like no one was at home. Not caring, the man switched on the lights and looked around the messy living room filled with boxes of pizza and unwashed dishes.

A slice of pizza that looked at least a day old was even on the sofa.

Not only that, but a pair of women's lingerie was also on the floor. Not just one but two different pieces. It seemed like the room had witnessed some raunchy action in the past few days.

Seeing the state of the house, the man couldn't help but lower his eyes, feeling slightly disappointed and worried.

He made his way towards the bedroom, where he knew the person he was looking for would be.

Opening the door of the bedroom, he shouted.

"Cameron, are you—"

His words stopped, and his eyes widened as he saw how the room looked.

If the living room was messy, the bedroom looked like it hadn't been cleaned in the past ten years.

Pieces of paper were everywhere, and a broken guitar was also sitting on the floor. Aside from that, some picture frames were also there, accompanied by bottles of alcohol.

The man turned his eyes away and looked at the bed where a man was wrapped up in the bedsheets.

"Cameron Bryce, wake up!" The man shouted, but Cameron didn't give a response. Finally, frowning, he raised his voice. "I know you are not sleeping. Get up, or I will tell your grandfather about how you are spending your life in LA."

Hearing that threat, Cameron slowly opened his eyes and pretended to wake up from sleep.

"Uncle Jeff, why are you here?" He asked, feigning innocence.

"I'm here because you are diving too deep into depression. Not picking up calls from your grandfather or me. Not focusing on anything and just living a worthless life."

"I'm just on a break."

Cameron said as Uncle Jeff walked closer to him, sighing. If he was being honest, he didn't want to meet anyone, but he hadn't expected his uncle to drop by his apartment suddenly.

"You are on a break since X-Star has ended. For fuck sake, you have completely lost sight of your goal and had just become a worthless alcoholic playboy. You don't know how worried your grandfather is these days."

Cameron lowered his head, his blonde hair falling in front of his eyes. His uncle's words reminded him how much time had passed since X-Star ended.

Since the day he lost.

"I'm sorry." He said, putting off a solemn expression.

Seeing that, Uncle Jeff lost all the mood and became angry at Cameron. Although, to an extent, he could understand what Cameron was going through.

After his loss in the X-Star grand finale, Cameron had gotten a lot of offers from reputed record labels, but he had rejected all of them and had come to LA.

His loss had impacted him a lot because of how high his expectations were. It had broken his spirit to sing, and he now felt like he had lost the sense of music.

Hence, he had chosen to become a playboy and an alcoholic to distract himself from all the thoughts constantly roaming through his mind.

"Cameron, if you want, I know a good psychologist. Maybe you should opt for therapy to come out of this slump." Uncle Jeff advised. "I'm scared you will fall more and more into it as time goes."

"I don't know. I'm not in the mood to tell how I feel to a random person every week, not knowing if he even gives a fuck as to what I'm saying."

Saying that Cameron got up from his bed and walked out of the bedroom. His throat was dry, and he needed water or maybe a beer.

Uncle Jeff followed him, trying to get Cameron to listen to him.

"You need to understand that living like this won't solve anything. You don't even have friends."

"I do have them."

"Not the ones you sleep with. They are not exactly called friends from what I know."

Cameron wasn't able to refute anything on those words. He just tried to ignore looking at Uncle Jeff and tried to search for some beer.

But it seemed like he had finished everything. Water was his only way now.

"Cameron, you are wasting your talent being like this!"

Uncle Jeff said after a bit of hesitation. Cameron just gave him a strange look after he finished drinking water.

"I don't even know if I have talent."

He said, and his uncle's face just froze, looking up at him. Cameron, who was always considered to be the one to continue his grandfather's legacy, was now saying he didn't have talent.

Just because he lost in a reality tv show.

"Cameron, do you even know what you are saying?" Uncle Jeff asked, clearly infuriated.

"I know."

Cameron said in a monotone voice, and looking at him like this, Uncle Jeff didn't know what to say at that moment. Shaking his head to clear off his thoughts, he switched the topic to why he had come to meet him.

"Anyway, I got an offer for you."

"I'm not taking any shows currently. You do know that."

"It's not a gig. It's a collaboration offer."

Cameron raised an eyebrow at that. Who wants to collaborate with him when he had just disappeared from the public eye after X-Star?

"Who is it?"

"An old friend of yours. Aiden Silvereye – You were together in X-Star and even in a group for one round."

"Aiden?"

It was not wrong to say that Cameron was very shocked. He hadn't heard from him since he was eliminated, and although he had an idea the latter was doing well, he had never expected to get an offer like this.

"Yeah, his agent contacted me as he could not reach you. It seems like Aiden is working on a song and wants to include you in it. I don't know the exact details, but I got a guide track for you. I have already sent it to your phone, so listen to it—"

"I'm not interested."

Cameron said, cutting off Uncle Jeff. But all he got in response was a frown.

"Say that after listening to it. I quite liked the guide." He took a look at Cameron's reaction. "I know you are not interested in it, but if you change your mind, contact the number I'm sending you and leave for New York. I feel like you need a trip anyway."

After saying that, his uncle left without letting him speak anything else. Now, alone in the apartment, Cameron frowned.

Curious about his uncle's words, he opened up his phone and saw two messages. One was the phone number of someone named 'Wade Spectre'.

'Sounds like a name a lawyer will have.'

He thought, shifting his eyes to the second message with an audio file attachment.

He wondered what to do with it for a moment, but in the end, his curiosity made him click on it.

A strong yet catchy tune started playing as Cameron closed his eyes.

…

/DreamNote/

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It had been a few days since Aiden had started working on 'Revolution'. After finalising a good enough hook for the song, he had started adding other instruments and sound effects on top of it.

Aside from that, he had also started writing the lyrics.

Unlike his previous songs, he wanted to give a clear meaning to this one. A powerful meaning that could shake people's souls when they listen to the song.

To better understand the concept of freedom and how once people used to fight just to not be treated as slaves, he was also reading up records of freedom fighters.

Thankfully, as he was from India, he already had a good enough Idea of freedom struggle as even to this day, freedom revolutionaries are very much respected in India and history books are filled with them.

As he was busy on the song, Wade on the other hand was busy looking up the people who Aiden wanted to be in the band and trying to convince them to be a part of it.

This was tedious work and Aiden was happy that he had Wade to handle all this.

Because of him, he could just focus on the song and not worry about anything else.

"The flight landed half an hour ago. Why is he not here?"

Aiden asked, looking at Wade who was in the driver seat. They were currently outside the airport, waiting for the arrival of someone.

"I don't know. Maybe some trouble while checking out. Airport authorities could get nosy if they notice something even a bit odd."

Wade replied, glancing at the airport. A lot of cars were parked and many people were constantly coming out of the airport. As one of the most popular cities on earth, it was a place constantly bustling with people, flying in and out of it.

"Are you sure he's even coming?" A third voice asked. Aiden looked back to see a familiar face.

Aside from Cameron, they have also called other people. The first one to accept it was Jackson who was now sitting at the back of Wade's car..

He also wanted Emily as she completed the band and she had also accepted to come, but she was not in America currently and would only be able to come in the next few days.

Aiden was seeing Jackson after a long time. Though, they would sometimes text each other as their friendship remained after X-Star.

"He texted his flight information, so he's probably coming. Not like he's the type to pull off a prank."

"Yeah, that's true." Jackson asked, then staring at Aiden, he changed the topic. "You have become a huge deal in the past few months. I never thought you would become so huge in such a short time."

"Huge? I'm pretty small currently."

Aiden said and Jackson glared at him, clicking his tongue.

"You are already in a movie and then, you have a hit song with a popular singer. You even beat Rachel who won the competition. Here, I'm still training for my debut."

"You will have your debut next year anyway. Bands are doing well these days, especially the ones with major labels."

Jackson was signed with Cyco media and was preparing for his debut with a band. He was obviously going to be the drummer as that was his best skill.

"Yeah, but there's no saying. The other guys aside from me are already waiting for two years to make their debut. Anyway, only you and Rachel are somewhere in the public eye. Most of us are just obscure for now."

Jackson sighed and his words were mostly true. Cyco media was pushing for Rachel to be their next big singer and even without any backing, Aiden was slowly making his own path.

Other than these two, no one from X-Star was much in the limelight.

"What's Cameron doing these days?" Jackson asked and Aiden shrugged his shoulders. He had not heard of him a lot.

Cameron was someone who people have thought would debut at the same time as Rachel as there was a lot of attention on him, but he has suddenly disappeared.

"I don't know. He's in LA, maybe taking a break after X-Star. He even stopped posting on MeTube."

"He's like those wannabe sigmas, trying to be the best. I doubt he will take a break—"

"Just ask him yourself."

As Jackson was speaking, Wade interrupted him and pointed at a person coming out of the airport gate.

He had blonde hair and was just wearing blue jeans with a white shirt and a jacket. He also had sunglasses on but Aiden could

clearly tell he was Cameron.

The only difference from the last time he had seen him was that now he had longer hair.

They were waiting for too long and he had finally appeared.

"Cameron!"

Aiden and Jackson came out of the car to greet him. Cameron, who noticed them, just gave a nod as he walked towards them.

"Why did you take so long?" Jackson asked as Cameron walked close to them.

"It took a bit of time as someone got caught up with some drugs. The authorities handled it and dragged the guy somewhere."

"Why will anyone do something so stupid?"

"Why would I know?"

After Cameron said that, he looked at Aiden. There was no change in the latter's looks but he felt a bit different, more confident, with charisma oozing out of him.

"It's been a long time."

Aiden said, pushing his hand towards him and Cameron shook it without a change in his expression.

"Yeah, you are doing good for yourself. Anyway, this song you are composing. Tell me more about it."

"Sit in the car, we will drive you to the hotel and we can talk about the song in the car."

Cameron nodded and they got in the car. On the way, Aiden explained about the offer from Animeroll and how he was competing against other indie musicians and bands.

Both Jackson and Cameron had never watched anime but both of them said that they would watch the series once they get to the hotel.

"So, is the song finished?"

Cameron asked. He was sitting in the backseat.

"Still working on a few things and the lyrics but it's going to be completed in two days. At that time, Emily would also come, so we could go straight to the recording."

"You have a recording studio?"

"I'm renting one. A person I know owns it and I'm getting it for cheap. We could record the song there."

"Okay."

Cameron didn't say anything after that and just looked outside the window. He hadn't been in New York for a while, but the wind seemed to give him a good feeling.

Suddenly, Jackson looked at him.

"By the way, Cameron, what are you doing these days? You didn't sign a label deal, right?"

"No, I'm just in LA. You could say I'm just enjoying life." He replied in a stoic voice.

"So, are you going to focus more on your MeTube career going forward or something else? You could even go into acting with that face of yours."

"I don't know. Currently, I don't really feel like I know what I want to do."

He replied and in the whole journey, he just focused on the view outside the window.

As Aiden was meeting up with his friends from X-Star, his fan group on Sparrow was going crazy due to a picture that someone had posted a while ago.

It was the photo of Cameron and Aiden outside an airport in New York City. If one looked closely, they could even see Jackson there.

Most of the major fans who were following Aiden since his X-Star days were very excited seeing this picture. Especially because they had never expected them to meet like this.

For them, Aiden was that cool loner who would sit back in a classroom but is super talented and focused.

It was not like they thought he didn't have friends but him meeting both Cameron and Jackson made them feel like something big was going to come soon.

[Skyneves: Someone tell me the pic ain't photoshopped! If it is, I'm going to kill the guy who did something like that.]

[Aiden's wife: Calm down, Skyneves. I don't think the pic is photoshopped. It doesn't look edited. Hey, April on Roof, you posted the photo. Explain how you got it.]

[Hollywood Insider: This time, I don't even know what's going on. #Confused.]

[April on Roof: I was coming from a trip from Brazil when I saw them standing outside the airport. I was only able to take a picture before they disappeared. I didn't even have time to get an autograph…]

At those words, the group erupted again.

[Moaning Frodo: Does that mean they are going to collaborate soon? A new song? I'm still listening to Lonely on loop.]

[Never gonna stick you up: Dude, Cameron looking like he's going to appear in Playboy magazine next with that look. I bet he would be a great model.]

[Happy Dog, Happy home: I would love it if it's another song. Been so long since the last one.]

[No wifey, happy lifey: It seems like they are going to become a band. If I remember, their band performance was the best in X-Star. Hope they get Emily and start a band called 'The Chadsons'.]

[Atheist Bale: At this point, I would be disappointed If it didn't turn out to be something big. I really hope it's something great and good.]

…

/DreamNote/

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64c3e69bf75c4d1715a59001

Chapter 77

'I need to add a lot of things to the song.'

Aiden thought, staring at the music software and then at the synthesizer. It was midnight already and he was still working on the song.

Most of the things were already done and he just needed to arrange the song. And then finish up the lyrics.

Throughout the composing process, Aiden had realised a lot of little details about his power. He felt like he was feeling the fluctuation of his lights way more than before.

He put in a lot of effort and was very satisfied with how the song was coming up.

The theme of revolution and freedom was resounding in it with the strong rhythm that seemed to increase the heartbeat of the listener and make them feel like they could do anything in the world.

"Let's start."

Aiden muttered and played the beginning of the song. It was starting with a strong and catchy rhythm which was gradually picking up pace.

But he felt like the best way to make people excited would be to add an instrument which can bring about a heavy sound, but he needed to be careful to not make it too annoying to the ears.

'Drums.'

He thought, adding the drums effect in the beginning. A heavy and cracking sound came out and Aiden felt like it was too over the top for the song.

Finding the right effect was never an easy thing in a song.

So, he needed to try and change a lot of things. But in the end, he got the right sound effect he wanted for it.

It was not too much to overshadow the melody and was just enough to give off a thumping feeling to the listener..

For the melody before the first verse, Aiden was going for some strings and bass. Rock was nothing without the bass as it was used to power up the song.

Though, he wondered if it was too early for that.

But for now, he was just trying what could suit the rhythm and what won't. His whole job here was to truly bring out the essence of the foundation that he had created.

As he tried up the bass lines, it didn't seem to work as the harmony was not there. So he changed it to a much simpler tune, something that is powerful but not a lot spread out.

'No, this is not good.'

'The tune could be better. It doesn't give the feeling of a rock song.'

'Yes, this is good! Finally!'

While making any song, it was a very hard process to put everything together to make it work and at the same, make it sound unique.

If he just made a similar song to others, it wouldn't work.

That's why, the whole night, Aiden kept working. He already had the whole band together to perform the song, so he needed to make sure he presented his best work as a composer.

As Aiden was finishing up on the song, another one of his competitors, the indie band Ryse, was already in the middle of recording the song.

Ryse got popular a few years ago with a hit single that had gone viral. Their song was actually one of the first indie songs to get popular due to social media and after that, there was no stopping for them.

After that, they released albums and performed on major award shows and even got tours in other countries. Especially in Europe, they were a lot popular among people who were interested in indie bands.

But the problem was that they weren't mainstream yet.

No matter what they tried, they weren't able to get the tag of an indie band off their heads. As it had already been a few years since they broke out in the public eye, it was just luck that was stopping them from becoming a mainstream sensation.

Even their most popular song 'Do It like this' which had reached number 10 on the melody top 100 singles of the month, was three years old and in these three years, they have not given a top hit.

It was not wrong to say that they were fading out bit by bit.

So, getting the chance to sing the title track for a famous anime was maybe one of their hopes of getting a smash hit. At least, it would work way better than their previous songs.

"Hey, this sounds pretty catchy."

The leader of the band, Orion Goodman, who was also the vocalist, said. He was currently listening to the track that they had recorded till now.

The melody was very catchy and on top of it, the lyrics suited something like a war song.

"We are going to fight, we are going for the kill."

"No matter if they are stronger than us, we are not gonna give up."

"Till the time we fight, we are not defeateddd!"

Orinon smiled while listening to the chorus. It wasn't a loud song but something that sounded very similar to the original Japanese title track.

"Hey, LZ, it's pretty good. I think we are going to get selected right away."

Orion turned to look at the person who was handling the recording. He was the drummer of the band who also handled the composing and arranging of songs.

The third member, Kat who handled the keyboard and the second vocal was the songwriter.

"Yeah, me and Kat tried hard to go for something like the original track. The fans loved it, so Animeroll would probably like it too." LZ said, looking up at Orion.

"Yeah, who are our competitors? Any good ones?"

Orion suddenly asked. He only knew that there were other musicians and bands competing to get the title track. But he didn't know how many there were or which prominent bands they were competing against.

"I heard we are the most experienced out of all. Other than us, others are just newer bands who have a bit of success. If Animeroll is thinking straight, they would select us just for the fanbase we bring."

LZ commented with a bit of smirk on his lips.

Ryse fanbase was one of the most hardcore out of all indie bands and it was almost like they followed them everywhere, so the band knew how to take full advantage of it.

Because of them, their songs would never lose money, even if they don't perform exceptionally.

"You two are two overconfident."

A voice made them look at a corner where Kat, the third member of the band, was seated. She had a frown on her small face.

"How are we overconfident?" Orion asked, glaring at her.

"You two are for a while now. Because of that, you take it easy and say things like it's fine as we won't lose money."

"That's not true!"

Both LZ and Orion said at the same time. But Kat was firm at her words.

"You two need to understand that an artist needs to keep up with times unless they are the type to appear once in a century. We have not kept up with time. And now, even our fandom can't get us to the mainstream."

"Shut up!" Orion shouted, not liking what Kat was saying. "We just have bad luck and we will be back on track after 'Fight' is released."

Fight was the name of the song that they were sending to Animeroll.

"Let's see."

Kat said, sighing and lowering her face to look up at the comments on her social media. In her heart, she felt like the days of Ryse were over now, not because of others but because of the members who refused to evolve.

For her, 'Fight' becoming the title track was the only way to save the band from becoming obscure.

"Yeah, so I have been in Korea since X-Star ended, spending time with my family. It was a good break for me."

Emily flashed a bright smile in front of Aiden. He was currently driving her to the recording studio from the airport.

Her flight just landed but instead of checking in on the hotel, she wanted to go straight to the recording studio.

Along the way, she and Aiden were checking up on the things they were doing in the past few months.

"Are you going to settle in Korea?"

Aiden asked, wondering. Emily's family had recently shifted there permanently, so it made sense if she was going to settle there.

"Actually, I'm still thinking about it. I got some offers from Korean entertainment companies, asking me if I'm interested in being an idol. But I don't know how to dance."

"An idol? Sounds good."

Aiden said. Korean idols were just getting more and more popular going forward, so it won't be bad for her career if she really tried to become one.

Though, he still had some reservations about the Korean industry.

"Just be careful if you decide to be. Idols are worked hard in Korea with 20 hours work sometimes if you are famous. Many companies try to exploit them. Though, Hollywood ain't that better but people are way more vocal here."

Emily nodded, looking at him gratefully. She felt happy that he was giving advice to her and trying to help out.

"Anyway, tell me a bit about the song? You completed it?"

She asked and Aiden nodded.

"Yeah, it's completed. I will show you once we reach the recording studio. I have not worked so hard on a song since a long time, so I'm very confident in it and a bit scared too."

…

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"The song is good."

Jackson smiled, listening to the rhythm that was coming through the speakers. It was the first time Aiden was showing the whole completed song.

Cameron nodded his head at his comment while Emily smiled brightly, just feeling excited by being here.

They were gathered in the recording studio owned by Abraham. Almost all the equipment required to make a good song was here.

On the wall behind Aiden, there were even some autographed albums of famous singers and bands attached to the wall in a mirror casing.

Just by that, Aiden could guess how big of a fan Abraham was of music.

"You took your time with it, but it came out good." Jackson said, looking up at Aiden.

"Yeah, it did. Probably my best song till now."

"Well, you followed the rules to make a good rock song, so it had to come out good." Cameron suddenly said as the guide track came to an end.

"There's a rule?" Aiden raised an eyebrow.

"Yeah, the rule my grandfather always talked about — K.I.S.S."

Both Emily and Aiden looked strangely at Cameron, wondering what he was talking about. It was only Jackson who dared to ask.

"Kiss who?"

"K.I.S.S — Keep it simple, stupid." Cameron said. "Rock songs don't need to be over complicated. They just need to have good strength in them and a melody that could make people excited just by listening to it. My grandfather even used to say that lyrics don't have to be anything but simple and this song has all that."

Aiden smiled hearing that. Cameron wasn't the type to compliment anyone, so a praise coming from him seemed a bit weird.

But he could clearly tell that a lot had changed with Cameron over the last few months, so he didn't think a lot about it..

After talking a bit more about the song, they started talking about the band arrangement.

The reason Aiden gathered the three of them was because of their performance in X-Star and because of the fact that he was already experienced in working with them.

At that time, he had taken the role of the leader, so he did the same this time naturally.

"For the instruments, I think everyone already knows which one they would play." Aiden said and everyone nodded.

Just like the band round in X-Star, Jackson was going to be on the drums while Emily will take care of the keyboard. Cameron was going to handle the bass and Aiden the electric guitar.

Unlike the previous time they were collaborating, none of them had the pressure to do well to pass the round. They all just wanted to make a good song.

Though, before that, there was one thing that Aiden needed to clear.

"Actually, I want to be the main vocalist this time." He said, surprising Cameron who had expected to take that position.

"I thought we were going with the same arrangements as before. From what I remember, I was the vocalist then."

"I know." Aiden said, then quickly explained himself. "Unlike the song we did in X-Star, 'Revolution' requires a lot of use of bass to give power to the song and only you among us could play it."

Aiden checked up on Cameron's status and saw that the bass level was now Level 5, just enough for the song.

"Though, I still want you to sing some parts as your voice will suit it more." He looked at Cameron who seemed to be in some sort of thought.

'Is he going to argue?'

From what he knew of Cameron's personality, he was someone who wanted to be the centre of the group. Playing more of a supporting figure wasn't something that suited him.

So, Aiden expected him to argue about it and he was even prepared for it. Even Jackson and Emily thought that he was going to argue.

That was the kind of person Cameron was.

But unlike his expectations, Cameron just nodded his head.

"Okay, I'm fine with it. Just make sure the parts that I will sing are the good ones. Otherwise—" He stopped speaking as he saw the three people in front of him giving strange looks. "What?"

"Nothing, I didn't expect you to agree so quickly." Aiden said the words that were also in Jackson and Emily's mind.

"There's no point in arguing with the composer of the song. They know the best, so I'm just following what you said. I won't mind until we have a song that beats others."

Saying that, he stood up and pointed at the recording booth.

"Let's start the recording now."

"Aiden, are you ready?"

Emily asked as she looked at Aiden in the recording booth. She was acting the part of the sound engineer in the recording, as she had experience in it.

Because of her, they didn't need to pay money for a sound engineer.

"Yeah, I'm ready. Let's start now."

He gave the signal and she nodded before starting the recording.

The strong rhythm started playing in his ears. The song started with strings of a guitar, making a sound like that makes you anticipate something big.

At that moment, Aiden closed his eyes, thinking of the soul of the song – The meaning of it that he had imagined. He wanted it to represent the cry for freedom but more than that, he wanted it to tell the struggles of a warrior.

He had gone with this because for him, [Attack for Freedom] was more of the story of a guy becoming a warrior to fight for the right thing.

The first verse started as Aiden opened his eyes.

For the first time in his life, he needed to use more of a growling and husky voice rather than his normally sweet one. So, he needed to practice hard to bring out the power and feeling he wanted.

"I am standing at the end of the line."

"Waiting for the right time."

"I have been bruised! I have been scraped! fire is burning in my veins!"

"My legs binded by chains as atrocity reigns."

As the first verse ended, he felt something shaking inside of him and in the next second, silver light burst forth, like it was just waiting for it.

This time, it was also a pretty strong silver light.

Aiden smiled seeing that and couldn't help but feel a bit excited, seeing the response. It felt like an acknowledgement like he was going in the right direction.

"Like those who came before you, your crown is going to fall."

"No matter how tall are the walls."

"No, I'm not the chosen one, I just have a dream to keep runnin'."

"I know I will fall, but I will move until I turn to nothin'."

The sound of drums started ringing in his ear as the verse finished, giving a slight shockwave to the already present silver light.

It seemed like Aiden was seeing silver bolts of energy in front of him.

Aiden's strong and husky voice made the lyrics sound very powerful and the music was just pushing it. Outside the recording booth, the three people couldn't help but feel surprised.

"Aiden has improved… a hell lot."

Jackson muttered, like he wasn't expecting this much improvement in such a short time. Emily, next to him, also nodded her head.

She had thought that Aiden was not too versatile and romantic and sweet songs suited him well but now in front of him, he was singing a rock song in a slightly husky voice, completely different than anything she had seen him done before.

Though, she didn't know that Aiden was aided by his system. As he was the composer of the song, it was easier for him to increase the proficiency of it.

Moreover, it was true that his vocal chords had changed a bit after he had reached Intermediate Grade.

'He has changed.'

Cameron thought, staring at Aiden with a fixed gaze.

He had always thought of him as a more efficient composer than a singer, especially after he had heard of him being in a movie.

He had thought that he would not focus on singing a lot but here in front of him, it was clear to see that Aiden had improved a lot.

'Like this, it won't take him a long time to surpass even me.'

Cameron thought and after a long time, a desire seemed to be in his eyes, like he wanted to compete with someone.

As a person with a lot of pride, he hated losing. That's why his loss against Rachel affected him so much but now, it seemed like he would lose against Aiden too.

"Aiden, can we do the second verse again? I feel like I could make it better."

Cameron came out of his thoughts as Emily stopped the music and asked Aiden to repeat the second verse.

"Should I sing it differently?" He asked.

"No, just continue it. I will add some effects on it to see how it turns out. I have a feeling it will sound better."

"Okay."

He said from the booth and started singing the second verse again.

In a recording, he needed to do one verse many times until the sound engineer thought it couldn't be better.

In the modern age, recording was very easy as in the 70s and 80s, singers needed to sing one verse many times until they improved it to the best level. There were no effects or autotune either.

Taking a deep breath, Aiden started the second verse.

"Like those who came before you, your crown is going to fall."

"No matter how tall are the walls…"

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"How did you improve so much?"

Jackson asked him as Aiden finished drinking water to cool down his throat. He was in the booth for over two hours, singing nonstop, so his throat needed some rest.

"I just practised." Aiden smiled, but Jackson shook his head.

"You improved that much in just a few months. You weren't even able to hit high notes properly the last time I heard you live."

That was true.

The last time Jackson had heard him was the face off round in X-Star. His voice and ability has changed a lot since then.

"It was more like I was on the verge of breaking through something back in X-Star. It was as if a wall was stopping me in my tracks. After the show, I was able to go past it and I realised my singing has improved a lot. I don't know if I'm making sense."

"Not too much, but it's alright, we get it."

Aiden just shrugged. It was hard for him to make others understand how his system worked. Other singers would gradually improve over the years while he could just grind experience and level up.

Though it was unfair for others, Aiden was glad he had the system.

'Looks like Cameron is starting.'

He thought, walking a few steps to sit besides Emily who was working on the DAW (Digital audio workstation).

Aiden was pretty curious to see how Cameron would do on the parts he had given him. Thinking about it, he tried to look at his current skill level.

[Cameron Bryce] [22 years]

[Singing level: Intermediate Grade 2]

[Special skill: Limit break].

'He hadn't improved at all.'

Aiden thought, sighing. He was pretty sure that Cameron with his anime protagonist-like skill would surely gain at least one level over the months.

But he was still the same.

'Is it because it's very hard to gain levels in Intermediate Grade? Am I going to be stuck in it for decades?'

Aiden gulped, wondering about a scenario like that. Shaking his head, he tried to calm down and think about it later.

"Okay, get ready. I'm starting!"

Emily said, starting the recording and Cameron gave a thumbs up as music hit his ears. The verse Aiden had given him to sing was just after the first chorus.

Cameron took a deep breath before starting to sing. This part needed a lot of screaming and at the same time, certain parts in the lyrics were emphasized a lot.

"I have fought this war from the day I could walk."

"Doesn't matter even if I'm forsaken."

"The blood in my mouth just makes the pain sweeter."

"Push me down! I will get up! I'm still a believer!"

Cameron started off with a loud voice, full of high notes from the start. For a moment, even Aiden was surprised by him as currently, he can't stop a verse straight with a high note.

And would need some time to make it high. But Cameron was truly a lot better than him.

'He's really good. I hope he could keep this—'

As Aiden was thinking, he suddenly noticed something strange. The silver light coming off from Cameron suddenly turned white slowly, like it was losing its strength.

Cameron's notes were still high and he seemed to be lost in his singing, but something didn't feel right.

Slowly, the white light disappeared and only faint traces of it could be seen. It was then that even Emily noticed that the recording wasn't going as she expected.

"Wait! Cameron, stop!"

She quickly stopped Cameron who looked at her with a raised eyebrow.

"What happened?"

"That part was totally off. Can we do it again?"

She asked and he nodded quickly, getting ready to sing again. But the same thing happened once again, like it was a replay.

Cameron started off well, with full confidence but his voice slowly lost any feeling. The notes, powerful voice, resonance and pronunciation was there but there were no emotions.

Even with him covering up the basics, the singing lacked a lot.

Aiden felt stranger and stranger as he listened to Cameron.

'What's going on?'

He wondered in his mind as Cameron, who was cut off several times by Emily, already came out of the booth with a hardened expression.

"Are you okay? Does your throat have any problem today?" Emily asked.

"No, it's not anything like that." He said, frowning. "Give me a while. Maybe it's because I'm singing after a long time."

After saying that, Cameron left the recording room to get some fresh air and the three people inside the room looked at each other with strange expressions.

"Do you all have any idea what's with him? His singing sounds strange."

Jackson said, getting a nod from both Emily and Aiden.

"Yeah, it's like a different version is singing. His voice was way more vibrant and alive back in X-Star. Aiden, do you know what's going on with him?" Emily asked, looking up at him.

"No, I don't." Aiden said, then stood up. "I will check up on him."

He thought before quickly leaving the recording studio. His mind was in a mess, wondering what had gone wrong with Cameron.

'Is he going through a breakup or something?'

He thought, walking towards the lounge area.

There were a lot of theories in his mind about him but all of them were just that, imaginary theories. He could only ask Cameron if he had any problem.

'Here is he.'

He discovered him in the lounge area but surprisingly, he was smoking.

"I didn't imagine you to be a smoker."

He said as he walked towards him. A puff of smoke came out of Cameron's mouth as he looked at Aiden, a bit shocked by his presence.

"I started some months ago." He said, looking like he didn't care a lot. "Why are you here?"

"To talk to you." Aiden said, then looked at the cigarette in his hand. "It's strange to see you smoking."

"Why?"

"Singers are advised not to smoke. You know that well."

Normally, smoking could easily damage the throat of a person. So, as singers' careers depend on their voices, they are advised to not even touch a cigarette.

"A lot of singers smoke."

"That's because of stress, they want relaxation so they get into smoking. After that, they struggle to come out and ruin their voices as they grow older."

There was not just one case in the industry like this. There were countless good singers who had got into a smoking addiction which has damaged their throats, eventually ending their career early.

As the grandson of a composer, Cameron obviously knew the implications of smoking.

"I don't really care about it, Aiden." He said, frowning. "Why are you here?"

"Like I said, I want to talk to you because your voice sounded strange back in the recording. But I guess, I already found the reason."

"What?"

"It seems like you are depressed. Probably lost confidence in your own voice."

Aiden was taking a wild guess but when he saw the look on Cameron's face, he was sure that he had hit the right spot. His strange behaviour was very easy to decipher for Aiden.

"I'm not depressed. You are just saying anything." Cameron raised his voice, anger clearly visible in his tone.

"It's easy to guess. When I told Wade to contact you, he found out that you were nowhere to be seen in the past few months, after X-Star ended. It was like you disappeared but you were always in LA. At first, I thought you were taking a break but your voice seems like you have not practiced in a long time. You can take a break but you won't stop practicing."

Aiden gave out his analysis and for a second, Cameron was stunned. It was mostly coming from an observant point of view.

After all, he had spent enough time with Cameron in X-Star. They weren't friends but they did talk once in a while.

A highly ambition driven person like him would never lose touch in his voice suddenly until he was too stressed or was in depression.

"So, what are you going to do about it?"

Cameron asked, throwing the cigarette on the ground in a fit of anger, then crushing it with his shoe.

"Nothing. I'm not a therapist. I am just here as the composer of the song. Tell me one thing, do you want the song to suffer because of you?"

When Aiden said that, Cameron just stared at him without saying anything. He continued with a smile.

"I got you on board with the project because I wanted your voice to be a part of the song. But it has already lost its touch, so the song will inevitably suffer, especially if you keep smoking." He sighed. "You are not the type to come here to be a part of the recording if you have entirely given up on your voice."

"I lost to… Rachel."

After a while, Cameron finally muttered with a frowning face. He clearly wasn't happy with sharing the one thing that had made him lose confidence in his voice.

"That makes the two of us. At least you lost in the finale." Aiden said with a laugh. "It's not a competition now. I just want to make a good song. You need to get over your defeat somehow."

Aiden said, then leaned on a wall.

"We have a lot of time to finish the recording, so think if you want to keep thinking of a loss that happened months ago or move on from it and try to make something that might make you proud.

"My dad once told me, it's not the failures in our life that define us, it's the moments when we decide that getting back up is all that matters.

…

/DreamNote/

Thank you for your support for the month of June! A new month begins tomorrow, and I hope to see you once again!

The privilege chapter count will be increased from tomorrow! Please be ready for binge reading session tomorrow @9:45 IST!

Today is the last day of the months, please vote this novel with all your spare golden tickets!

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After his talk with Aiden, Cameron seemed to always be in some thought.

They decided to record his parts later and just get on with the main components and the instrumentals.

Cameron looked grateful for that and started practising to perfect the song. He still smoked, but it looked like he wanted to give his best in the song.

Aiden was focused on giving his best as the main vocalist, recording one part several times until he was satisfied with it. Sometimes it would even take an hour for one verse.

But in the end, he felt like it was all worth it.

'Revolution' heavily relied on drums and bass to create a thumping feeling, so Jackson's part was crucial, and he also added some of his own tracks to the song, making it sound better.

He had learned a lot from his instructors during his time at Cyco media.

Emily also recorded her parts very quickly.

Her work on the keyboard was pretty minimal, but she was an essential part in the pre-chorus parts, which had a bit of complexity, but after a few days, she was able to master the part.

However, even if they were doing well on the recording, they still had a deadline, and Wade had told them to finish it as early as possible so that he could send it to Animeroll.

According to him, many indie musicians, including their biggest competitor, Ryse, had already submitted a song.

So, with a deadline on their head, the whole group worked harder every day.

More than a week passed, and they were finally close to finishing the recording.

"He's doing much better now."

Emily said as she played a recording of Cameron. The sound of him singing 'Revolution' came from the headphones that Aiden was wearing.

Throughout the week, Cameron improved bit by bit. He was nowhere near his previous level, as his voice had suffered from smoking and no practice, but he was still doing much better.

The silver light from his singing was weak, but it was there. Aiden felt like it was enough for the song..

"I'm starting now."

Aiden turned his head to look at Cameron as he said that. They were at the last round of recording.

'Let's hope it goes well.'

He took a deep breath as the music started. The hard beats of the drum, mixed with the guitar strings, played out. In the booth, Cameron took a deep breath before beginning to sing.

"I have fought this war from the day I could walk."

"Doesn't matter even if I'm forsaken."

"The blood in my mouth just makes the pain sweeter."

"Push me down! I will get up! I'm still a believer!"

His voice was gnarly, and the shouting at the end of the sentences added some flair to the song.

It was much better than before as the raw emotions finally came through.

The best proof was the simmering silver light that filled the booth. It was vibrant and filled with power.

Hearing it, Aiden finally felt like this was what he had expected of Cameron from the start. Emily and Jackson were all smiles.

"Finally, the recording is finished!"

She said after Cameron finished singing his part.

A few hours after the recording finished, Aiden's fan group, which now stood over 2000 people, erupted with another discussion due to a photo that Aiden had just posted on his social media.

It was a recording studio photo with the caption, 'Something new is coming'.

The group discussed many things, especially since a photo of Cameron, Jackson and Aiden had surfaced some days ago.

[Moaning Frodo: So, it's confirmed! Aiden is collaborating with Cameron. I never thought I would see Something like this.]

[JusAbaka: Yeah, normally, reality show contestants don't even talk after the show ends, and some even bitch about the other person. I never really saw them collaborating with each other.]

[TcVerse: I even saw a reality show where two people became a couple, but after the show ended, it came out that they already had someone in their real life, and it was all scripted.]

[April's wife: I'm so excited just thinking about a new song with both Cameron and Aiden.]

[Son of Coul: You all are forgetting Jackson.]

[Chad Putin: Are you all sure they are really collaborating? Maybe their meeting and the recording studio photo are two separate matters? It's still more or less speculation in this group.]

At those words, the discussion suddenly stopped as they all thought on those words. They felt very true.

What if it was just speculation on their part? The disappointment they felt was much bigger than anything due to how high their hopes were.

But at that moment, one of the users suddenly posted a screenshot taken straight from Emily's Skygram page.

[Skyneves: Look at this! I somehow came across it. So our speculations are true!!]

The screenshot showed Emily being in a bar with Aiden, Cameron and Jackson. In the caption, she had written that she had just finished a recording with some friends.

This much proof was enough for the fan group to explode again.

[Always be my maybe: It's confirmed! Get the trumpets out. It's time to celebrate.]

[April on Roof: What song do you think they are making? Like what genre? I'm guessing it's not a romantic song this time.]

[Ribbit Rabbit: The four were a part of the band arc in X-Star, so I'm guessing a song that suits a band. They might even make a band for real, considering how good they were.]

[Hollywood Insider: I don't think that will happen as Jackson is already signed with Cyco media. #Insider]

[Go read MMO: I hope they release the song next week. If they recorded it already, it should come out next week, right?]

[Please read MMO: Not really. It depends if they are shooting a music video or not. But, seeing how they are forming a band for it, I think they will go all out for it. It could even take a month.]

[Owning an Island is hard: I really hope they actually form a band. It will suit Aiden a lot. Unfortunately, though, he would need to fight for the vocalist position with Cameron. But he would be able to continue his acting career.]

[Skyneves: That depends. Bands have a pretty gruelling schedule.]

[MisterImmortal: Let's see how all this goes. I really wonder why Aiden is going for a band when he's doing well in his solo career. Of course, a solo career pays better, though bands have hardcore fans.]

[Pika Pika: I think I heard Aiden's new movie finished shooting a while back, and now, he's already recording a song. My boy is following the Sigma grindset.]

[Your eyes ain't silver: Hey, guys! See this!]

Suddenly, another member of the group posted a link. This was a link to an article; when other people clicked on it and read through it, another round of discussion began in the fan group.

"Guys, see. I posted a photo of us and instantly got over 500 likes. All the comments are asking when the song will come out?"

Emily said, showing her Skygram page to the others. Aiden smiled, seeing the number of followers she had.

They were currently sitting in The Rabbit hole, celebrating the finish of their recording.

"You seem like you have a lot of following on social media."

"Yeah, I kind of post many photos, so it's always bustling with lots of people commenting," Emily said, then glanced at Jackson, who seemed lost in thought.

"What are you thinking, Jackson?" Emily asked.

"Well, I just feel that even if we completed the song and all that, we are missing something."

"What is that?"

Aiden asked, raising an eyebrow.

"We have not given any name to our band," Jackson said, instantly piquing the interest of everyone. Even Cameron, who was just quietly drinking, seemed a bit interested.

"Do we even need one?"

Aiden asked. They were just collaborating for one song, so he wondered if a band name was even necessary.

"We do. Every good band has a name, even if it's for one song." Jackson smiled. "What should I name it?"

As he asked, everyone gave their own opinions. Cameron was the first one.

"Rock heads."

"People are going to say we are stupid," Jackson said, mocking the name as Cameron glared.

"Notes from the soul."

Emily was the next one to present her opinion, and Aiden felt the name was much better than Rock heads.

"I like it, but I have something better," Jackson said, presenting his opinion. "Jackson 4."

"Fuck off."

"No."

"Never in a million years."

They all gave different names for the next few minutes before Aiden suggested a name.

"Dreamers." They all looked at him. "For the dream to reach the top."

They all thought about it for a minute before nodding. This sounded like a good name. Unfortunately, though, it seemed like Cameron still wanted to go with Rock heads for a while.

It was then that Wade suddenly opened the bar door before quickly finding them.

He looked in a bit of a hurry, and there was a constant smile on his face.

"Wade, you are late."

Aiden said, but Wade didn't respond. Instead, he took a deep breath before shouting like he was announcing Something.

"Aiden, you are nominated for Indie Music awards!"

Those words resounded in the whole bar. Everyone turned silent for a moment before erupting in joy.

…

/DreamNote/

Nomination for the award show! Lesgo!!

This is a new month! Don't forget to support this novel with your power stones and golden tickets!

1 Bonus chapter for every 100 Golden Ticket!

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The Indie Music Awards (IMA) was an international awards program initiated in 2003 to recognize self-distributed recordings and releases from independent record labels.

Again, it was not the most prestigious award show, but it was a starting point for many famous singers. It came at 4th or 5th in terms of significance among the American music awards, with Grammy being the top.

Still, the awards show was pretty professional, and it would even be telecasted live on TV, and many prestigious singers and even the mainstream artists will attend the night.

The IMA honoured works in over a dozen categories that were evaluated by judges who were normally genre experts. The judges mainly were celebrity musicians and artists.

Aside from that, there was even a banquet that was held after the shows with the chance to meet many people and make connections. Record labels would even try poaching artists here since it was a big business opportunity.

Pretty much, it was like any other award show in America.

For Aiden, it was a huge thing because this was the first time he was nominated for something. And not even in one but two categories.

After getting the news, he celebrated the whole night in the bar with the rest of his band and Wade. They were all happy for Aiden.

As he had started from The Rabbit Hole, many here considered him a part of the bar, and many regular customers even said they would vote for him.

The winners were chosen by a mix of votes and the judges' verdict, so every vote was crucial for Aiden.

They would only get to know if 'Revolution' got selected as the title track or not at the end of December, so for now, Aiden had enough time to attend the award show.

As for his band members, they all decided to return to their homes for Christmas..

The next day after he got the news, Wade woke him up early in the morning even if he hadn't gotten a lot of sleep. The awards show would be held in a week, so there was not much time.

After waking him up, he dragged him to a stylist to get a suit for Aiden.

"This one is too big."

"Don't suit you at all. Feels too flashy for someone like you."

"I don't think a green suit is good. It's not a costume party to see who can dress the weirdest."

Aiden awkwardly smiled as he looked at the woman in front of him. Her name was Minerva, and she was the stylist hired to get a good suit for Aiden to wear to the party.

She had a finger on her chin, trying to wonder what would suit Aiden the best.

Currently, he was standing in one of the most expensive stores on the Upper East side part of New York, the place where a lot of stores were.

The only reason Wade knew this place was because he had worked with Minerva before. Though, even with that, buying a suit from here would surely be expensive.

But for an award show, they can't be stingy.

Standing on the side, Wade couldn't help but take some pics seeing Aiden change into suits that didn't look good on him at all.

He felt like it would be a waste not to post these on Aiden's social media.

"Minerva, can we hurry? I think I have already tried over ten suits."

Aiden said politely. Wade had told him earlier that Minerva's temper wasn't good, so he needed to be careful.

"Ten is just the start. I had a top actor come here just yesterday, and he tried over fifty suits for three hours. So if you want to look your best in the award show, just listen to me and stay silent."

Minera said, taking out a white suit and holding it in front of Aiden. He tried to smile but was already frowning inwardly.

'No one said trying to make it in Hollywood would be easy.'

He thought, and for the next two hours, he just stood there as Minerva tried more and more suits on him. Ultimately, they decided on a simple black suit that just needed him to wax his hair properly.

It was a look that won't make Aiden stand out a lot, but at the same time, it will give people a good enough impression.

Just the cost of the suit was 10k dollars. Even then, it was one of the cheaper ones in the store. Wade had said it was important to look his best, especially since he was nominated.

"I feel like I have become poor again today."

Aiden sighed after they came out of the store. The bustling street in front of him was filled with many people, most of them looking like they were wearing expensive clothes.

"You have earned enough to afford a suit like this." Wade laughed. "Moreover, you need to have your own stylist after a point in Hollywood. So, get used to trying out a lot of stuff."

In Hollywood, every prominent star has their own stylist. It was not just for events and award shows but also for personal stuff. Some celebrities would even have clothes chosen for the time when they would go out to buy something trivial like milk.

Of course, it would just so that paparazzi get some clicks, and they could be in the news.

"I'm far from that."

Aiden said, hoping he gets used to the long hours of suit selection. After a while, he suddenly asked.

"Do you think I will get any awards?"

"Hard to say. Though, I hope you get the Rising Star Of The Year award. It's the best one for you. As for Breakout Digital Single Of The Year, I don't really know if you will get it. That category has too much competition."

"I will be happy with anything."

Aiden said. Both the categories were famous as they were one of the main ones. He had heard that the criteria to be nominated in the 'Rising star of the year' category was for a single to reach the top ten on music charts.

Lonely did that for him.

As for the breakout digital song of the year, that was 'Hold onto me', which has collectively got over 130 million views till now on different platforms.

'Let's hope it goes well.'

He thought, following Wade to the car. The suit was ready, but they still needed to go over the makeup, hairstyling and a lot of other stuff.

No one said awards shows were fun to attend.

As the nominations for the Indie Music awards were announced, many articles popped up covering the topic and talking about the prospective winners from each category.

One of these articles was from Pop Zap magazine by a famous music critic Johnny Greyfield.

In the article, he talked in detail about the nominations for the IMA this year and how it was much more than a simple award show for artists that are good but not as popular as they should be.

[Last night, the nominations for Indie Music awards were announced, and after going through them, I couldn't help but wonder if it was going to be just another meet and greet for the artists.

Especially because in recent years, many artists think these awards don't really matter because they are fixed. But in my opinion, maybe that's true for popular awards like Grammys, but the reality is entirely different for Indie Music Awards.

It's easy to see that if you look at the list of winners in the last year.

4 out of 12 of the singers who won in big categories went on to sign big record labels and finally break into the mainstream. But unfortunately, some of those didn't still manage to earn huge on their albums.

I'm saying here that the Indie Music awards give a platform to people who don't have the resources to truly hit it big. Although it's hard to bet on it, it's undeniable that these awards sometimes become the first stage for an artist who would go on to do some big things worldwide.

Take Little Shawn, for instance, he was a practically unknown rapper before his performance at the Indie Music Awards. He got a record label deal and now is on the verge of breaking into 20 million subscribers on MeTube, alongside several awards.

Like that, there are several cases.

Now, let's look at the nominations for this year. The band Infinity got six nominations, the most out of any, including best album and most popular Artist of the year.

No one would be surprised if they won most of the major categories. But they are already pretty famous and have also won awards like this in previous years.

The new and exciting artists are mainly in the Rising star of the year category.

There are four nominations for this. A rapper called 'Mach', a band called 'Moth to a fire', a girl duo named 'Duology', and Aiden Silvereye, who came out of nowhere this year to produce great songs.

All these musicians are great in their own right, but it would be pretty interesting to see who would win. Each has excellent songs and a good fanbase, so the focus naturally shifts to the judges.

Whoever wins this would surely be in the eyes of a lot of people and at the same, maybe, the winner of this category would go on to be the next big artist from America…]

…

/DreamNote/

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It had been a week since Aiden had found out about his nomination, and the award ceremony was finally going to begin in two hours.

Wade and Aiden reached LA in the morning to attend the award ceremony. They had spent most of the day styling Aiden, and now, they were on the way to the ceremony, sitting in a rented Bentley.

"Don't worry about awards. Think of it as a night out, with overly good-looking strangers, surrounded by journalists and reporters trying to take your picture."

Wade said, leaning against the seat of the car.

"That's really reassuring," Aiden resisted the urge to roll his eyes, "Uncle Sam also told me something similar."

"What did that guy say?" Wade asked, a bit curious.

"Focus on food. Awards come and go. Food in these awards is delicious, but people rarely focus on that, so you can eat as much as you want."

Aiden tried to speak that in his uncle's voice, and Wade couldn't help but laugh. His old friend was always like this.

"Well, it seems like we will be on time even though our entry time is in the early slot." Wade suddenly said, looking at his watch.

In these award shows, the organisers gave artists a set time to appear on the red carpet so everyone could get a time. So if a relatively small singer came simultaneously as a popular one, no one would even focus on him.

Though, famous singers often didn't care and just came as they wished.

"Are you nervous?"

Wade looked up at Aiden, who was glancing outside the window. Then, turning to him, Aiden shook his head.

"Not really. You said to not care about the awards. I'm hopeful, but I don't think I will be a lot disappointed if I don't win."

He smiled as he said that. In the first place, Aiden had read many articles published on Indie Music awards, and most of them were not predicting him to win.

Moreover, for many people, Aiden was more or less a one-time wonder who had suddenly gotten famous but won't be in the news next year..

As he knew a lot of factors more or less influenced awards shows, he had tried hard not to have a lot of expectations.

'The more the expectations, the worse it would feel. On the other hand, though, I do want to win.'

Aiden thought, but it seemed like only time would tell if he would be the winner.

The Indie Music awards were being held at Kodak Theatre in LA. It was a place which could hold over 4000 people, making it a perfect venue for the award shows.

Outside the theatre, every spot was filled with the white light of the camera as reporters and journalists furiously tried to take photos of the people walking the red carpet.

The crowd beside the point where the reporters were standing was filled with fans of various bands and singers that would perform on the stage today. At the same time, a lot of people were also waiting to see their favourite singer walk the red carpet.

Indie Music awards had called a lot of famous singers to attract attention, and they could clearly see that they had achieved their goal by seeing the crowd.

"When will someone famous come?"

Standing among the reporters, a rather young guy muttered. He had been waiting for an hour, but no famous person had come.

His name was Julian, and he was a young paparazzi.

He could only take some photos of mediocre celebs who were still living in their past glory and some indie musicians who were lucky enough to get the pass of this event.

Then, the reporters around him suddenly buzzed with excitement as a woman wearing a low-cut dress came out of a Mercedes.

"That's Jessa Anderson!"

"Oh my god! She's so pretty."

"She's not here with anyone. I guess the rumours of her having a new boyfriend are all fake."

"Quickly take a photo!"

Many people started excitedly talking about her as she walked the red carpet and posed for the cameras.

The crowd of people shouted her name and asked for autographs, as she was one of the famous singers in America at the moment.

Julian did the same as the rest of the reporters. The better the photos, the better his paycheck.

Besides him, two reporters who were also clicking photos suddenly started to talk.

"I'm getting good photos. But, sadly, I won't get a lot because she came alone. If only she had come with a guy." A bald reporter who looked like he would be better off making cultural stuff muttered.

"She's pretty careful about all that as those magazines literally portray her as a playgirl who throws away boys all the time. That's the curse of being so famous in the age where she should have been in college."

Another reporter muttered, and the bald guy nodded.

"That's true, but who cares? She makes craploads of money. Her last two albums are all platinum."

Julian didn't comment on that conversation. That was just regular gossip he would hear as a paparazzi.

He just wanted to get some good pics.

'I hope some other big celeb—'

As Julian was thinking of something, his eyes suddenly landed on a guy who came out of a car wearing a black suit with waxed hair.

He looked a bit nervous due to the cameras but walked with confidence after a while.

None of the reporters focused on him, and only some occasionally took a few shots. Over 90 percent of reporters just focused on Jessa Anderson.

But it was different with Julian.

As soon as he saw the guy, he could not help but divert all his attention to him, and at the same time, he was shouting his name.

"Aiden! Aiden, look here!"

When Julian shouted that, Aiden quickly moved toward him and gave a smile. White light flashed as Julian took a few photos.

"Who's that guy?" The bald reporter suddenly asked.

"Aiden Silvereye," Julian replied, too busy taking photos.

"I never heard of him."

"He's nominated in two categories tonight. It seems like you came here without even researching anything."

At Julian's jibe, the bald reporter couldn't say anything. The guy beside him laughed, and rather than fighting, they started clicking Aiden's photos.

If he was nominated, it would be useful.

"I feel like he's one of those who just got a nomination because he's lucky."

A reporter who came out of nowhere and stood beside Julian muttered. He was wearing the badge of 'The Hollywood muse', a famous magazine.

Hearing that, the young paparazzi couldn't help but retort.

"You don't know that. His music is pretty good."

"Oh? You look like a fan?"

The report asked, and even the bald guy looked over. Julian cleared his throat before replying.

"Kind of. I got my first big money due to taking his photos."

Julian just replied that. Actually, he was the paparazzi who was outside the Chinese theatre during the premiere of [Shadows of War].

As he was the only one who had clicked Aiden's photos, he had earned a lot after the release because Aiden was in the buzz because of the movie.

It was his first big bucket of gold after becoming a paparazzi, so Aiden had instantly become a lucky charm for him.

Thinking this, he followed Aiden on social media and even listened to his songs, becoming a fan in the end.

'I really hope he wins today.'

Julian thought as he realised that more and more reporters were now focusing on Aiden. They had realised that he had nominations today and if accidentally he won, the photos would earn a lot of money.

'I felt my eyes would get worse if I stayed there any longer.'

Aiden thought as he found a seat in the mid-row with his name written on it. He had just escaped the swarm of reporters.

Though most of them focused on Jessa Anderson, who was now sitting in the front row, a lot of people also clicked his photos.

For the first time in his life, he felt like he was a true celebrity walking the red carpet. But, at the same time, he could also imagine Uncle Sam and people in The Rabbit hole cheering while watching the broadcast in New York.

'The show should start soon.'

He thought as people started to fill in the theatre. He was able to see many popular singers and musicians talking among themselves. At the same time, there were some comedians and news broadcasters too.

'It seems like I can get some famous people's autographs today.'

Seeing them, he couldn't help but think.

He wasn't really thinking of making friends with them as he would probably get rejected. After all, famous celebs get a lot of people daily who are trying to make connections.

Not like they would even remember every single face.

Just as he thought that a guy approached an old musician who was very respected, but the singer just politely smiled and didn't give him any time, leaving the guy very disappointed.

Stuff like this was prevalent, so Aiden wasn't rushing.

Wade had also advised him the same.

He knew that he didn't have a lot of substance to approach them. But, maybe if he won the award today? Then, he would be able to.

For now, Aiden wanted to just enjoy the award show.

…

/DreamNote/

Don't forget to vote with your power stones and golden tickets

100 GT = 1 Bonus Chapter

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Soon after that, the award show began. It was hosted by Jimmy Colbert, a famous comedian who had his own talk show.

For the show's first ten minutes, he just made jokes about the musicians gathered there. Unlike the Academy Awards, Indie Music awards didn't have a long runtime.

As it was live, the organizers tried their best not to drag it and quickly go over the awards. Anyone watching the awards would feel like it was pretty rushed and did not let people relax.

Though, most people in this age just watched the funny moments in award shows on MeTube.

But Indie Music awards also had a lot of good points. One of them was the live performances.

Every year, the organizers would give chances to obscure bands to perform on the show. This was a great chance for bands to give electrifying performances.

Some bands especially created a great atmosphere in the whole crowd. One of these bands was 'Ryse'.

When Aiden saw them on the stage, he couldn't help but think that they were a pretty good band.

'I feel like the competition will be tough.'

He thought, thinking of the title track. He obviously had an idea of the bands competing against him for the title track.

Ryse was one of them, and Aiden really wanted to beat them, especially after seeing their performance.

Aiden didn't focus much on Ryse as soon as the award announcements began. They started off with genre-specific awards like Best Rap Song and Rock Song of the year.

A middle-aged black guy won the award for the former. He was crying while on the stage as he talked about how he had struggled for years, and then a teenage band got the award for the latter..

After that, a lot of other awards were given. Indie Music awards had a lot of categories, so a lot of people were getting awards.

Most of these awards were given by celebs or big music producers and even record label owners, and Aiden was surprised even to see Andrew Maxfield, one of the judges of X-Star, giving an award.

'Maybe I should greet him later.'

He thought, seeing Andrew on the stage.

Like that, the award shows continued, and soon, one of the categories that Aiden was nominated for finally came up.

It was the category of the Breakout digital single of the year.

Like its name, the award signified whose single has the best digital numbers. Four people were nominated for it, alongside Aiden, and when a beautiful model came on the stage to announce the winner, Aiden couldn't help but get a bit tense.

'I need to calm down.'

He thought, trying to smile and not look anxious. During these times, the camera will naturally pan over to the nominees, and it was tough to look normal in this situation.

One of the nominees was biting his nails in tension, so Aiden was still acting way better. It was because Wade had told him not to have a lot of hope for this one, as he was pretty much added to this category to fill numbers.

'Hold onto me' had gotten a lot of views, but other songs in the categories have more. One of them even had over 200 million views, so the chances of Aiden winning were very low.

"So, the winner for Breakout Digital single of the year is…" The model presenting the award said, trailing off in her sentence to create suspense.

She could clearly see that the nominees were pretty tense, and it seemed like she was enjoying it. Finally, she muttered the name of the winner.

"Kylie Rodriguez!"

As she announced the name, a young woman quickly stood up, looking shocked and excited simultaneously. She was the singer whose song had gotten over 200 million views and had been on the music scene for a few years now.

On the other hand, Aiden breathed a sigh of relief, filled with bitterness and happiness for the winner. He already knew his chances of winning this award were low, so it didn't affect him much.

He just clapped for the winner like everybody else.

'So, only 'Rising Star Of The Year' is left.'

He thought as Kylie started her speech. He was pretty nervous about it, knowing full well that he actually had a chance to win in that category.

Unlike the category he just lost in, Rising Star Of The Year has pretty tough competition because the other nominees aside from him were not much ahead in terms of songs and fanbase.

Wade had especially told him that if he were going to win tonight, it would be this.

'I hope I'm not too nervous by the time the category comes.'

He thought as the night continued. But unfortunately, there was a big gap between both the categories that Aiden was nominated for, so he had to wait for quite a while.

At that time, he just enjoyed the award show, and he had to say that there were quite funny speeches tonight. One musician actually accidentally thanked both his wife and girlfriend by mistake, making people look awkwardly at him.

At the same time, it was funny. Though, the musician's marriage was probably over after tonight.

Finally, the time for the award of Rising Star Of The Year came after a while. The host, Jimmy Colbert, actually called someone Aiden knew very well on the stage.

It was Steven McDonald, one of the judges from X-Star. Aiden saw him after a few months, but he still looked the same.

He came on stage with a smile and greeted everyone before giving a short introduction to the award.

"Tonight, I'm thrilled to present the winner of this category as we all know how vital it is. At the same time, it was good to see artists who I have enjoyed listening to be nominated for the award."

The last line of his sentence was purely meant for Aiden, and Steven even looked at him. In response, Aiden just smiled, feeling more and more nervous every second.

After that, on the screen beside Steven, the names of the nominees were displayed while the audience anticipated the announcement.

Steven quickly opened up the envelope after the names of the nominees were announced. His eyes shined with a bit of anticipation and surprise as he saw the name written on the envelope.

Aiden looked nervously as he began to take the name of the winner. His heartbeat was on the rise as he finally felt the tension rise up in his chest.

It was like he was standing in a court case where the judge would give the verdict.

He was sure that he was looking hilarious on the broadcast.

Steven looked at the nominees, and everyone else also looked at them, wondering who would go home with the prestigious award.

"So, the winner is…"

As Indie Music awards were getting broadcasted. It was also trending on Sparrow at 13th position with over a 1000 tweets. The awards weren't very popular, but they were airing at a time when other award shows had only released nominations.

So, many people were keeping an eye on it, especially if their favourite musician was nominated.

Moreover, the number of fandoms of bands fighting tonight was a lot, so it gave a lot of trendiness to the awards shows.

[Tall_b_short_d: Who is watching these awards tonight? My girlfriend is making me watch them because she's a fan of some nominated guy. I thought it was supposed to be an exciting night, but here I'm watching my girlfriend simp over some guy.]

[Victimized by novels: @Tall_b_short_d That was the price you paid when you decided to betray the dao of your right hand.]

[The Momster: I'm watching the awards! My fav band performed and won an award. I'm very happy!]

[Loli ate your cat: I'm tired of these awards. Just give awards through emails or something. Where are the jokes about rappers smoking weed or influential people harassing girls? I watch these shows for that!]

[Glitching Bee: The performances are pretty good tonight. I wasn't happy with some awards, but it's all good I guess. Though glad for Kylie. Supporting her since she started out.]

[Fartin Luther King: Did you all see Jessa Anderson? I never expected her to go to awards like this.]

[Noobmaster69: Not going to lie, I'm liking this award show more. Glad to see Indie musicians getting recognized for their songs. Moreover, it doesn't seem like a drag.]

[Kiss my paw: I liked the performance of Ryse a lot. Their old songs are like fire, while the new ones seem like a drag. Like no breath of fresh air. Hard to see them becoming a generic band when they could be much more.]

[Aiden's wife: I'm crying that Aiden lost! The award was his, but somehow, someone else won the digital single award. I really thought he would be able to win. All hopes on 'Rising Star Of The Year now!']

[Skyneves: Did anyone know if it was announced? Electricity at my place went off just as the award came up! Who won?]

[Daddy Will: Yeah, it was revealed just a few seconds ago! I was not surprised to see the winner.]

[Morbified: A pretty young man won the award. I think his name is Aiden Silver something.]

[April on Roof: @Morbified: What did you say??]

[Hollywood Insider: Aiden Silvereye won the award!]

…

/DreamNote/

Don't forget to vote with your power stones and golden tickets

100 GT = 1 Bonus Chapter! Mass release on 15 July!

64c3e69bf75c4d1715a59001

"Aiden Silvereye."

As Steven said those words, there was a silence in the crowd for a second before everyone started clapping as the spotlight fell onto Aiden.

Most of the people in the audience have not heard a lot of Aiden but right now, he has won the award, so every eye was on him.

Some were curious, some were jealous while some were just happy for the young guy who had won an award today. As for the other nominees, they looked disappointed but they had no choice but to accept that they lost.

'I… really won.'

Aiden thought as the crowd of people swarmed him, trying to shake hands with him and tell him congratulations.

If he was truthful, it was an indescribable feeling. A smile was plastered on his face like it was always there and his chest felt like it was full of too many emotions, things he can't express.

One might say he was being too emotional but this was his first award. The first proof that he had talent.

Aiden wasn't delusional to think he had done it all on its own. His system had helped him a lot but it didn't mean he didn't work hard. He had sent sleepless nights to work hard on his songs and practise his skills

And now, he was finally getting an award.

Before he knew it, his steps had made their way up to the stage. He shook hands with Steven, who looked at him with a smile.

"You deserved it. You have worked very hard since the last time we met." He whispered, giving him a polite hug..

"Thank you."

"Let's catch up after the event."

After saying that, Steven gave the award to Aiden. Holding the trophy in his hand, a sculpture of a golden guitar, he faced the audience, who had now sat down in their seats.

It was the time to give his speech.

Aiden looked at them like they were blurred images. He felt a bit nervous and took a deep breath before starting his speech.

"Ah, I forgot the acceptance speech I wrote." His words made others chuckle.

He had written one just to be sure, but now, that was completely out of his memory. His mind felt a bit blank.

"Well, first of all, I'm sorry to my fellow nominees that you are not standing here." Then, he looked at the people who were nominated with him. "I would not have been disappointed if any of you had won the award because I think you all are very talented."

Some people clapped at that while Aiden continued his speech.

"I have a lot of people to thank. Wade, Uncle Sam, my Mom, Valerie, Abraham, Jackson, Cameron, Emily… Thank you for supporting me till now. I didn't really expect to win this award today, but you all felt like I would."

Before coming here, Uncle Sam had told him that he would win. His mom was also praying for him.

He was grateful for that support.

"In the end, I just want to say that I don't know if I have a lot of talent or no talent at all… but I have been trying hard for a long time."

He clenched the award in his hand while saying the last sentence.

His speech ended with that as people clapped. Then, he just smiled at them and walked off the stage.

Suddenly, some words came to his mind.

'There will be a time when people will recognise your talent but don't think your journey has been successful that day. It had just started.'

Because of these words, Aiden knew that this was just the start.

One award was never enough for his ambition, and he still needed to achieve a lot of things in his career.

This was just a mere start!

After Indie Music awards ended, a lot of articles burst forth on the screen to talk about the winners and spectacles that were witnessed in the ceremony.

Many articles talked about the ceremony as a whole while just focusing on some famous singers who won awards or showed up on the night.

Indie Music awards were pretty much an American event as most of the singers were from there, so it didn't have a lot of global appeal but some famous news outlets still wrote some articles on it.

One of these articles was by Pop Zap magazine who has also covered the awards before the ceremony. This time also, the article was written by music critic Johnny Greyfield.

What was surprising about this article was the title of it which was 'Infinity, expected winners and the emergence of Aiden Silvereye'.

[Like the article we wrote before the awards predicted, the band Infinity swept up the most number of awards.

It was always expected of them to win as they were on another level last year. This will surely be the last time we are going to see this band anywhere close to being called Indie as just after the ceremony, the record label of Infinity, Red Train media, announced a new album.

What was surprising in it was that Infinity was going to collaborate with a lot of famous artists, including Jessa Anderson, who attended the event last night. A world tour might be lurking around too after the release of the album, with the band's popularity growing in Europe.

Other than the glorious band, there were other winners too, but the most important one, at least in my eyes, is Aiden Silvereye (His eyes are black actually).

One might not have heard of him much, but anyone who had attended a wedding in America in the last few months must have heard of Hold onto me. That was his breakout single that pulled me a bit out of obscurity.

The young singer also went on to work with famous pop star Grey, and now an award for the Rising star, a category that is always vital as it tells a lot about the future of music in America.

All this in just the past few months and it's more surprising to know that aside from this, he had been coming in movies too with his next movie [Black Saints] already in post production.

Can Aiden be the next big thing in music? It's hard to say but he has shown that his music has soul. It's now up to him as to how he would use that soul.

Many young singers fail early on in their careers but if we take a look at Aiden's career, it's not wrong to say that he knows how to find a path for him to continuously move.

One of our reporters talked to Steven McDonald, the head of Cyco media and someone who had seen Aiden since he was on the third season of X-Star. He reportedly told us, "I see a lot of potential in him, especially from the point of view of a creator. Not anyone can write good music, and that's a quality he has. His music might be considered in the genre of ballads but the words touch people's souls. That's his best ability — Music with a lot of soul."

It would just take a lot of hard work and a good amount of innovation for him to become the next big singing sensation. But the question is, how many years it would take him?

Only time would tell…]

After Aiden won the award, he just lost himself in celebrations for the night. A lot of people came to talk to him and congratulated him on his win.

He even attended the banquet that was held after the ceremony and got a chance to catch up with Andrew and Steven.

They discussed X-Star and how he had made everyone stupified by his rise in the last few months. It seemed like they were going to return in the next season, too, which would start in the latter half of the next year.

Andrew even said that he felt like it was a mistake to let him be eliminated.

But those were just words. Aiden knew that, but he didn't mind.

Before he left the party, Steven asked him if he wanted to join Cyco media. It was a very lucrative offer, and Steven was even ready to negotiate, but Aiden rejected it, saying he wanted to be independent of any labels.

Though, he didn't mind cooperating with Cyco media in the future. Steven looked disappointed, but he agreed and wished him luck for the future.

After the award show, he and Wade straight left for New York, where Abraham got a party for them in The Rabbit hole. Even Uncle Sam joined in, making the atmosphere more fulfilling.

It was already mid-December till then and the whole of New York quickly got into a festive mood with Christmas and New Year coming in.

Both Wade and Aiden also decided to just enjoy the festivals as after that, the result of the title track for [Attack on Freedom] would come out.

They had already submitted it to Animeroll, and the results were going to come out right after New year.

At the same time, the release of [Black Saints] was also going to happen in the first quarter of 2016.

Wade called it the season of harvest after working hard for a long time. Aiden agreed with his words as it was finally going to be the time to reap the rewards of their hard work.

Though, the first thing was to know the result of the title track.

…

/DreamNote/

Don't forget to vote with your power stones and golden tickets

100 GT = 1 Bonus Chapter

64c3e69bf75c4d1715a59001

3rd January 2016

It was the start of the New year, and the whole of New York City was dyed in white. Not only the city but many parts of the world were covered with snow, making people wear warm clothes on the streets.

But despite the cold atmosphere, social media was still buzzing. Especially Aiden's fan group, which has grown to 2500 members in just a short time.

His victory in Indie Music awards and appearance on TV had given him more fans.

It had just started from a couple hundred but was now in thousands. It was just growing and growing.

Early in the year, the fan group was excitedly talking about Aiden's new project and what they could expect this year from him.

[Skyneves: Did you see the promotional poster for [Black Saints]? Ray Hardy looks so cool, and in the IFDB (Internet film database), it says that Aiden is in the movie.]

[Joe is sleepy: What are you all talking about? I didn't hear of a new movie.]

[Johnny boi: Yeah, it's confirmed because Aiden posted the movie poster too. It seems like he has more than a cameo in it.]

[Kalki: So, that's why he was in Chicago. It seems like a gangster drama, by the looks of it. I hope it's something nice, and we see Aiden at least punching people. Maybe some stabby stab action.]

[April on Roof: I don't want him to play someone who just dies in the end without doing anything. That would be sad. His last movie wasted his capabilities!]

[Chad Putin: He's a small-time actor, and they rarely get meaty roles. It seems like it's time to move towards Hollywood soon…].

[Jimmy Fallen: @Chad Putin: You scare me sometimes.]

[Growing up is hard: I hope he plays some kinda supporting cop to Ray Hardy. It suits him a lot.]

[Hollywood Insider: Aiden's role is better than his previous movie. #Know it all]

Like that, they discussed the latest poster of [Black Saints]. The poster was of Ray Hardy sitting in his car with a gun with shadows lingering over his car, indicating the saints.

The movie was about to release in two months, and promotions for the movie will begin for real in February.

Granite films weren't releasing it in February straight because it was valentine's month, and a lot of rom coms were going to release. Theatres were going to be filled with a lot of couples, and in that case, no one would go to watch a gangster drama no matter how good it is.

After talking about Aiden's next movie, the focus shifted to the photos he had posted just before the Indie Music Awards. Even Emily had posted some.

[Older Female leads are the best: Does anyone know what happened to Aiden's song with other contestants in X-Star?]

[Skyneves: There's no news of it for a time now. I'm pretty sure it's just because it was Christmas, and we will get an update soon.]

[Aiden's wife: I thought it would be a Christmas song, but I guess I was wrong.]

[Can Female Robots have sex: If they are doing a band, it was never going to be a Christmas song. Probably a full-blown rock single. As it's the dreaded month of singles next month, I'm pretty sure they will release it in Jan.]

[Cats are rulers: I'm just hoping some update comes soon. There would surely be a boost no matter what song it is, as Aiden won an award just a while ago.]

[My readers are breathtaking: Yeah, he has the momentum, but I think it's something very big or he won't get a whole band for it. Maybe he collaborated with Cyco media. I saw photos of him and Steven.]

[Skyneves: Whatever it is, we need to wait and watch. Let's just hope it's even more popular than his last song and we got a lot of surprises this year.]

As Aiden's fan group was talking about his new projects, at the same moment, Animeroll was having the last round of meetings to choose the title track for [Attack for Freedom].

Stephen Greg, the executive producer for the dubbing part of the anime, was presiding over the meeting while the employees listened.

"I hope you all had fun during the holidays, but now we need to work. The anime promotions will start soon, so we need to select the title track today, give it to the AR department to polish and then release the track."

At his words, everyone nodded. Stephen gestured to his assistant, who quickly opened up the screen in the middle of the meeting room. Two tracks were displayed on it.

One was 'Fight' by the band Ryse, and the second was 'Revolution' by the band named Dreamers.

"We need to select one of these two. Both these songs have gone through a lot of rounds and have been selected, so I want all your opinions on them. Remember, we need to select one today."

As Stephen said that, people started whispering among them. They all have listened to both the tracks and felt like both of them were pretty good.

But only one will go ahead.

"I think we should go ahead with Fight." A bespectacled guy with a serious look said, instantly attracting everyone's attention.

His colleagues knew that he was speaking so soon because he was eager to impress Stephen with a promotion.

"Why?" Stephen asked simply.

"They are very popular. Their fans will help a lot in promoting the anime if we choose them. Moreover, their performance in last month's Indie Music awards was talked about a lot on the internet."

In his opinion, one of the female employees quickly retorted.

"With that logic, we should go with Dreamers as Aiden Silvereye won the award last month. He was much more talked about than anyone else. Even major articles wrote about him."

The bespectacled guy's expression froze at those words. Hurriedly thinking of his words, he replied.

"You are missing the point that it's not Ryse vs Aiden but Dreamers. The band is made just for this song, so the entire focus won't be on Aiden."

"That depends on how we promote it. We could just say how we have selected Aiden for the song, but he gathered the whole band for it because he thought the song suited a band."

The female employee said, instantly attracting admiration. Her words made a lot of sense too, making even Stephen nod. But he felt like his employees were missing the point.

"We are not talking about the bands entirely. We are talking about the song, so focus on them."

Everyone nodded at those words. Stephen's assistant quickly added seeing the chance.

"I think 'Fight' is more like the original track and original fans who watched the subbed version would enjoy it a lot while 'Revolution' is more raw, fresh and sounds like a proper song that will make you feel pumped."

"Yeah, but the problem is both are pretty good and have good musicians behind them."

The female employee sighed.

If it was before, Ryse's song was more likely to be selected due to the fandom difference but Aiden was surely in the media's eyes for now.

Even Cameron or Emily were finalists in X-Star and owned a substantial amount of fans and followers. Jackson was a part of Cyco media, so they might even be able to use their PR if they go ahead with Dreamers.

All these points easily made Ryse and Dreamers pretty equal.

"I like 'Fight' more." Suddenly, an employee from the AR team said, "We could use the fact that this is similar sounding to the original but I think the song itself is very melodious and shines in a lot of parts."

"That's true but the main factor in choosing the song for us can prove fatal."

"The fans will say we don't have innovation. There's a high chance the series will be successful anyway, but a good title track will really elevate the whole promotional campaign."

Like this, a lot of opinions were shared. A lot of employees argued with each other and even data and graphs were shared about what kind of songs were working in the market these days.

It was pretty easy to get due to social media.

Moreover, stuff like which song had a better soul and which suits the anime more. All sorts of opinions made rounds.

Finally, Stephen gave an opinion which made others stop talking among themselves.

"I'm glad you all have different opinions, but I want a song that does way better than the original Japanese title track. So, we need to think in that direction."

The original Japanese title track had gotten over 60 million views and was a song that was number one on various music charts in Japan. The Japanese band had even become top musicians there.

So, saying that Stephen wanted to exceed that was a very big deal. Almost an impossible task to do.

"Sir, that's a pretty impossible task. Don't you think so?" The bespectacled guy said.

"Nothing great will be done with that attitude. I don't want to hear you can't do this or that. We have two good songs. We all just need to select one and promote it as much as we can. I want the title track to be at the top of music charts!"

With those words, the entire meeting quickly changed in another direction, with a more serious aura taking place.

All the employees knew that no matter what, they needed to get this right.

…

/DreamNote/

Don't forget to vote with your power stones and golden tickets

100 GT = 1 Bonus Chapter

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"My Christmas went pretty well. My mom was very happy that I was able to celebrate it with my family. My brother recently got a scholarship for his college too, so it was pretty great. What about you all?"

Jackson asked as he scanned his eyes to the people in front of him. The whole band of Dreamers was sitting there along with Wade in The Rabbit hole.

All of them were meeting after holidays, so the natural topic was how they had celebrated Christmas.

"I went to meet my grandfather. My parents were busy, so I just spent time with him."

Cameron replied in a stoic tone. Emily shook his head at his short answer and tone that seemed to say that he didn't care a lot about holidays. Turning towards Aiden, she asked.

"What about you, Aiden? You were busy polishing your award during Christmas or returned home?"

"I was here in New York." Aiden replied with a smile. "Too busy to go home. I just celebrated it with my uncle and cousins."

"Busy during Christmas?" Emily raised an eyebrow.

"He had a lot of interviews scheduled. A lot of small and some big media outlets wanted to interview him after his win at Indie Music awards."

Wade answered instead of him.

After winning the award, Aiden's stocks had risen a lot for a while in the American music scene.

It was a typical effect of one being in the public eye after doing something big but it had soon died down at the end of December as more prestigious award shows were coming.

But during that time, Aiden was going from one place to another to give interviews about his win and his plans for the future.

"I think I should start calling you Mr. Famous from now on." Emily joked while Cameron gave him a glare.

The blonde guy felt a bit jealous of his success but in the end, there was not a lot he could do. Aiden had worked hard in the time when he had stopped focusing on singing..

In the end, he himself was to blame for his rival moving ahead in his career.

"Anyway, any news from Animeroll? You haven't received any calls yet. They should have come to a decision by now."

Jackson suddenly asked, looking at Wade who shook his head. The reason the whole band was back in New York was due to the title track.

Animeroll had said that they will notify them today, so they were waiting for it in the bar.

"I think the meeting will come to an end soon and they will soon notify us. Let's say half an hour more."

Wade said, taking a look at his watch. It was almost evening and they were already sitting there for some hours.

"I really hope we win." Emily muttered, suddenly looking a bit worried.

"Our opponent is a big band. It won't be easy."

"Their latest music is very average, so I don't think they will win." Cameron said. "They are past their prime."

That was his verdict as he had listened to most of the music attached with Ryse. Although he didn't show it, Cameron was equally worried as everyone else.

"It doesn't matter if they are past their prime or if they are too old." Jackson retorted. "They are one step away from becoming a mainstream band and that gives them a huge edge over us. Who had even heard of Dreamers?"

Saying that, Jackson leaned against his seat. There was a frown on his face and the atmosphere around their table was getting worse and worse.

Even Emily wasn't able to smile now that it had gotten so serious.

It was then that Aiden opened his mouth.

"I think you all are worrying too much. Just a moment ago, you were talking about holidays and now the atmosphere is so tense."

He said, taking a sip from his glass.

"Are you not feeling nervous? Or you are over confident after getting an award?"

Jackson couldn't help but ask. The last time he remembered Aiden was the composer and vocalist of the song but he was acting like he had no tension on his head.

"I'm nervous too and no, I'm not over confident." Aiden gave a light smile. "I'm just trying hard to be confident. After all, we worked damn hard to make a good song and it's a good song in my ears."

Emily chuckled at the last part and raised her small head to stare at Aiden.

"I think it's a good song too but it's just the thought of what if it isn't enough to become the title track? Maybe I should have worked harder?"

Jackson and Cameron nodded their heads. Sometimes, even their best wasn't enough. It was because of that they were restless, praying that the song would get selected and wondering what would happen if it didn't.

It was truly a strange feeling.

"We worked hard enough. Moreover, there's a lot we could do even if the song doesn't get selected."

Aiden was someone who had experienced failure and he also knew that even after failure, there's many things they could try.

One door closes and another opens — You just need to find the new door that has opened.

"What can we do?" Cameron raised an eyebrow.

"If the song didn't get selected, we will shoot a music video for it and go around college festivals to sing it. As the quality is pretty good, I'm sure it will get its own audience."

It was Wade who answered. He and Aiden had already planned out everything. Wade was someone who always liked making a lot of plans for everything, so he will never dive into something without thinking it through.

The anime title track was the same.

"That's a good plan."

Jackson said and for a moment, the atmosphere cooled a bit as the tension released a bit.

At least, they weren't pinning everything on getting selected and already had backup plans in case things go wrong.

'I really hope we get selected.'

Aiden thought, taking another sip from the glass.

It was then that Wade's phone suddenly rang.

Everyone focused on it like it was the most important thing in the world. Feeling a bit nervous, Wade took it out and his eyes shined.

"It's Animeroll." He said and Jackson gulped.

"Pick it up quickly."

Wade nodded and picked it up.

For the next few minutes, every pair of eyes dug into his skin as he finished his talk with the person on the other hand.

When he put down his phone, he had a frown on his face. Emily and Jackson both became disappointed thinking that the result was not in their favour.

"What happened?" Aiden asked.

"Ah, well we got in. Our song was selected as the title track."

Wade said, feeling all sorts of emotions for a moment.

Hearing that, Jackson, who looked like he had lost his country in a war just a second ago, jumped up in joy and looked at Wade.

"We really got in?"

"Yes, Animeroll selected our song after a lot of discussions as they felt like it's fresh. They are going to send out a press release confirming it right after we sign the contract."

After that, celebrations truly began.

Emily looked like she was overwhelmed with 10 thousand emotions and there were even tears in her eyes while Jackson just shouted excitedly. Cameron just drank but there was a smile on his face.

'We got in somehow. It was getting harder to stay calm.'

He thought, letting out a deep sigh.

As the composer and vocalist, he was doing his best to act like the wait wasn't making him tense because if he had acted like Jackson, his bandmates would have gotten more nervous.

But in the end, it had all worked out for good.

They have beaten Ryse!

"We didn't get in!"

LZ, the composer of the band Ryse, frowned as he finished talking with an employee from Animeroll. The other members of the band, Kat and the leader, Orion looked at him with a hardened face.

"What do you mean by that? Why didn't we get selected?" Kat asked and LZ wasn't able to stop himself from lashing out.

"I don't know, bitch. They just told me that the track won't work with the American audience. The other track submitted to them was better."

"I fucking told you to not make it too similar to the original. We should have gone for an innovative song instead of taking inspiration."

Kat frowned. Her opinions were always rejected in the band and it was infuriating her, for a long time. Now that they lost out on getting the title track in their name, she couldn't help but not hold anything back.

"You two are too much in your own worlds and don't focus on music. Especially you, Orion." She pointed at the leader of the band who was just silent till now. "You spend more time in hotel rooms with your female fans than actually making music."

"What the fuck you said?"

Orion shouted, not willingly to take such accusations in his face. He also had a lot of hopes with the title track but somehow, they got rejected.

His mind was a mess at the moment.

"I said what you heard."

"You are just a bitch who doesn't know anything. If it wasn't for me, you would have become a stripper."

Like that, the members of the band fought amongst themselves. It was a bit tragic but a band always required respect among the members which was not present in Ryse.

A month after that, news came out that Ryse had broken up.

…

/DreamNote/

Don't forget to vote with your power stones and golden tickets

100 GT = 1 Bonus Chapter

64c3e69bf75c4d1715a59001

After AnimeRoll selected 'Revolution' for the title track, Aiden and his whole band celebrated the night. These days, he felt like a lot of good things were happening.

From winning an award to this. So, Aiden subconsciously got on a guard, wondering how long his good luck would accompany him.

The next day, Wade gathered the whole band and told them that now that the company had selected the song, their work had just begun as busy days awaited them.

The very first thing they did was to sign the contract as a band. As Aiden was the composer and the vocalist, he got the highest percentage of profits generated from the song. Though, a lot was also taken by Animeroll.

Both Wade and Aiden knew that this is how the corporate world worked, so they weren't hung up on the profits.

In the first place, Aiden was excited about the opportunity due to it being a chance to make himself more popular by taking the help of the momentum created by the anime.

In the next few days, he and the whole band worked hard with the music director in Animeroll to make a better studio version for 'Revolution'.

Aside from that, they also needed to practise together, and as soon as the song was going to be released, they would go to many events and programs to promote the title track and the anime.

The PR team at Animeroll was mainly relying on MeTubers and anime forums to create interest in [Attack for Freedom].

"Move a bit left. Right there. Yes, now, give a smile! No, not like that!"

An Asian photographer instructed Emily as she posed in front of a green screen. She had a stiff expression on her face as she had not done this before.

It took her a while and a few scoldings from the photographer before she could give out a good smile.

"How much more time do you think it will take?"

Aiden asked, glancing at Wade. It was already two hours since they were at the cover photo shoot for 'Revolution'..

"One more hour, I guess."

Jackson, sitting on a chair on the left, frowned hearing that. They had practice after this too, so their schedule already looked packed.

"It looks like we ain't getting any free time soon." Aiden chuckled, shaking his head.

"It's all good until the song works. We will release it tomorrow, and the marketing has already begun. We are expecting good numbers as it's talked a lot about in forums and social media sites among some groups."

Hearing that, Jackson made a strange expression.

"Don't most anime fans don't want anything to do with the dubbed version?"

"That's a common perception due to how bad some dubbed anime is. Sometimes they even change a lot of meanings to suit the American audience but ruin the whole scene. But it doesn't mean that they are not people who watch anime in dub."

"Even if people don't like dubs, they still talk bad about it. Negative publicity is a thing."

Aiden added. They were going for people to see their song even if they needed to rely on things like negative publicity.

They were able to do it just because of the confidence they had in it.

"There are always people who talk bad stuff in forums, but that just makes others curious about them, and they check it out. Our song is good, so we just need to get a person to click on it."

Wade explained, and Jackson couldn't help but nod. He knew that the studio version had come out very good, and even the live practice was going great.

As Aiden refrains from using too much autotune, his voice sounds pretty much the same in live performance and studio.

"What's the estimate?" Aiden asked this time, moving his hand to take out a water bottle.

"Anything around 5 million views in a week is perfect. On the charts, we are lucky if it debuts in the top 30. The anime fans will stream it automatically if they like the songs. They are almost like those Korean idol stans — they don't care about eating or sleeping but will systematically stream songs to get it higher in the charts."

Aiden awkwardly laughed hearing that. K-pop stans were pretty scary to him as he had heard a lot about them.

"So, we can expect good numbers." Jackson took a sigh of relief.

"Yes, until something unexpected happens."

"I think we will be in trouble."

Suddenly, Cameron walked toward him with a hardened expression, like he had seen something terrible. In his hand he was holding his phone.

"What happened?" Aiden asked.

"Imagine Giants are releasing their new single next week. Sparrow is buzzing with the announcement."

Aiden and Jackson widened their eyes, hearing that, while Wade muttered, 'Fuck'. The situation was suddenly not looking too good.

They quickly took out their own phones and searched about it. It was already trending on Sparrow at 14th place.

Imagine Giants was a huge band, most popular in America, but their influence was tremendous here, with a lot of their songs being at the top of the charts for weeks, if not months.

"Why are they suddenly releasing their single?" Wade asked with a frown.

"The official press release said they have been preparing for a while now and just wanted to surprise their fans, so the announcement and promotions are starting just a week before the release."

"They must be pretty confident."

Cameron nodded gravely at Aiden's words. Things weren't looking so bright suddenly.

"We don't have to worry too much. The song could fail too."

Jackson said, but Wade quickly clicked his tongue.

"They are releasing a music video. They won't do it if they think the song will fail. Even if it did, it would easily get 20-30 million views. That's the power of their fandom and reputation. Most people in America have heard of them at least."

"It seems like hard times await us."

Aiden muttered after hearing Wade's words. Just when he thought things were going great, something like this had to happen.

'It would take something truly unexpected to overtake them now.'

He thought, frowning inwardly and feeling a headache brewing.

The next day, 'Revolution' was finally released.

Animeroll did a lot of marketing from it, but they weren't a record label but an animation studio, so it obviously lacked compared to something like Neu entertainment.

The song debuted at 46th position in Melody's top 50 new singles chart.

It wasn't an insufficient number as Animeroll marketing focused more on word of mouth and spreading the song with the help of anime forums. It was also working as the next day when the charts were updated, and the song shot up.

The same happened on the next day and the very next day.

[Revolution by Dreamers – 39th]

[Revolution by Dreamers – 33rd]

[Revolution by Dreamers – 27th]

Like that, it got more and more attention as the days went by, and the song even managed to enter the top 20 at the end of the first week.

This was not bad at all, as no one had heard about a band named Dreamers, but the views on MeTube and Melody were steadily rising with a lot of talk on online forums.

On Zenya, a famous online forum, a famous user named 'Zhanye69' released a post titled [Aiden Silvereye, Dreamers and the making of a great title track.]

The post started by asking if anyone had heard the song 'Revolution' by the band named Dreamers. Then, went on to post in a detailed manner about how the band had come to be.

For context, the post said that he frequented The Rabbit hole, where the whole band Dreamers would often be found.

There he had learned how Aiden had formed Dreamers to make a good title track for [Attack for Freedom].

It even posted about the band's previous achievements and how all the members were from X-Star, and there were a lot of possibilities that Aiden made a band just for a song.

There was even mention of Aiden's acting career, making the post look heavily researched.

In the end, it talked about how the song was one of the best title tracks for any anime to be composed in the last few years.

Zhanye69 ended the post by saying, "I have not heard of Aiden or Dreamers before hearing about the song, but I think the song he made is perfect, and as true anime fans, we need to ensure that it doesn't drown in the sea of songs and have its own identity.'

In just a day after the post was released, it got more than 40k likes and over 4k comments, making it one of the hot posts in the forum.

[Family jewels protector: I didn't know about this song or the band before this. Thanks for the post. Will check out the song for sure.]

[Anime fan: I didn't even know they were going to release an English title track for [Attack for Freedom]. They should have just gone for the original track, but I need to say, the new one is perfect too.]

[Love me like a hurricane: I love Revolution more than the original. It motivated me to punch my boss, and now, I'm free!]

[Chubby hubby: I loved Revolution a lot too. I really hope it gets its due. The song is easily one of the best I have heard in a long time.]

[I need a porn system: I never heard of this band, but it sounds cool. Will check it out!]

…

/DreamNote/

Don't forget to vote with your power stones and golden tickets

Your gift is the motivation for my creation. Give me more motivation!

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[Are you really going to be working for the Empire? Those bastards have looted us. The nobles keep getting richer and us poorer. Do you really want to abandon me in the fight for freedom?]

[Yes, I will work for them. You are not understanding. I don't want to die as a traitor. I want to be rich, get a good life and the empire can give it to me if I work for them.]

[We are not traitors. We are patriots and a true patriot should always be ready to fight the government for the land and the people!]

On the big screen that occupied the whole wall, a scene from the anime [Attack for Freedom] was being shown. Two people were arguing and subtitles were being displayed on the bottom of the screen.

The room was pretty dark and in the center of it, a fat guy was munching on a packet of chips while laying down on a sofa.

"No matter how much I see it, I don't get bored of this."

The fat guy muttered. His name was Jimmy Townley and he was an avid anime viewer. Although he was a college dropout, he had no intention of finding a job as his family was rich.

In other words, his goal was to laze around as much as he could until his family was going to pay for his expenses.

[What does the dog say? Woof! Woof! Woof!]

Suddenly, his phone rang. Lowering the volume, he picked it up and saw that it was his friend who was calling him.

His friend, Phil, was the same as him. An anime weeb.

He picked it up after a bit of hesitation and Phil's happy voice came out from the other side.

"Yo Jimmy, how are you? Girls still running away from you?"

"Fuck you." Jimmy snickered. "Why do you call me? Anything interesting came up."

"Yeah, I don't call without any reason. Did you see the press release that Animeroll released last week about [Attack for Freedom].".

Jimmy glanced at the screen where the anime was playing and replied.

"No, what happened? I have not really checked anything as I'm binge watching my favourite anime these days. Even reading some webnovels. Found one about a guy trying to make it in Hollywood. You should definitely check it out."

"I will check it out later. Anyway, Animeroll released an English title track for the dubbed version of [Attack for Freedom]. You should really hear it. Hearing it, you will feel like there's a fire burning in your soul."

Phil said, making Jimmy raise an eyebrow. He had heard English title tracks before. They were never that good.

"Are you sure it's good? They don't have a good reputation in that regard."

"I know. But check it out. It's called Revolution by Dreamers. Don't forget to recommend it in your accounts. We have a responsibility to promote good stuff."

After saying that, Phil cut off the call and Jimmy wondered why he was recommending something from Animeroll, especially something related to the dubbed version of a famous anime.

Phil had a reputation of hating dubbed anime.

Being curious, he moved to sit in front of his laptop and searched 'Revolution' on MeTube. A music video quickly popped up on Animeroll channel.

It was released a week ago and had around 6 million views till now. The music video was just the opening of [Attack for Freedom].

Jimmy clicked on it and the music instantly started playing. The strumming of the strings in a high tempo started the song and the bass lines and drums soon came out.

'This is… pretty good.'

He thought, vibing to the song automatically like it was giving him energy.

"No matter even if I'm alone."

"The blood in my mouth just makes the pain sweeter."

"Push me down, lift me up, I'm still a believer."

Hearing the lyrics, Jimmy felt like it suited the opening a lot as it told the story of the main character's conviction to keep going on no matter how many people are pushing him down.

He had a clear goal and he was fighting for it, trying his best to bring forth a revolution.

The song ended after 3 minutes and 30 seconds and Jimmy instantly replayed it. After hearing it on loop for a long time, he was finally content.

'Phil is right. I need to promote things like this. Animeroll really kicked the ball out of the park this time.'

Thinking that, he closed MeTube and opened up Sparrow.

On the screen, it could be seen that his account had more than a million followers.

Jimmy was a lazy weeb but he knew how to make money out of his hobbies.

His account was very famous in the anime community and he had a podcast in which he discussed things about anime and webnovels which was very famous.

He quickly posted the link of 'Revolution' and tweeted about it.

[Guys, you need to listen to this. This song makes me want to lose weight.]

His post quickly attracted a lot of attention and he even tagged his friends with a lot of followers to promote the song. Even the Animeroll PR team saw the opportunity and retweeted.

Over 7000 people commented on the post and the song was quickly spreading.

[Skyneves: Woahhh! 'Revolution' is getting a lot of support from the anime community. Let's get the song to the top! For Aiden and Dreamers.]

[Chubby cat dealer: Thank you Jimmy for retweeting it. I have been listening to the song on loop these days. Exercising everyday while playing it on loop.]

[Move that back: I have never really heard of this song? Why is everyone talking about it?]

[I talk funny: I hate dubbed anime and anything to do with it. Ara Ara doesn't even sound good in English.]

[Dancer Korg: Korg likes the song. Korg approves it. Go listen to it.]

[Dying every single second: Does anyone know if the band is having any shows? I really want to see them performing live. I think the atmosphere will be very electric.]

[Jetha Supremacy: I think they are going to perform at the New York Anime con. Many bands are performing there and Animeroll has their own convention there too.]

[Onee san simp: I was not going to go through the anime con this year but now I will just to see them performing live. I hope they give a good enough performance.]

[America's ass: Yeah, many bands sound very different in live than the studio album. I hope this one isn't like that.]

[Grandpa cultivator: What are these Dreamers? I have not heard of them before. They suddenly popped up like dance numbers in a Bollywood movie.]

[Why do superheroes not kill their partners in bed with all the radiation in them: The song is dope. I hope it gets the recognition it deserves.]

[Hollywood Insider: Aiden always hits it out of the park. Let's keep supporting him. #Big supporter]

"Like those who came before you, your crown is going to fall."

"No matter how tall are the walls."

"No, I'm not the chosen one, I just have a dream to keep running."

"I know I will fall, but I will move until I turn to nothing."

The loud banging of the drums was the last thing the audience heard as the song came to an end.

Aiden was taking deep breaths and his shirt was soaked. In front of him, the whole auditorium was filled with silver light as the audience cheered the end of the performance.

"That was a good song."

"One more."

"You are a great singer. I love you."

Hearing the audience response, Aiden smiled and thanked them before leaving the stage with the others.

Currently, they were going through one show after another to promote the song and it was also doing well on the charts, according to Wade. Even Animeroll was happy with the way things were going.

Though Stephen, the executive producer, wanted the song to do way better, everyone who had heard of it had mostly praised it, saying that it was a great title track.

Because of that, the word of mouth was spreading and the numbers were steadily increasing.

"That one more show ended. How many more for the night?"

Jackson muttered as they came backstage. As always, it was busy with various staff members going around.

"Two more tonight." Aiden replied with a smile.

"I have not worked this hard in years but it feels good." Jackson said and Emily nodded beside him.

"Yeah, the song also reached 11th on Melody's Top 50 new singles. I never imagined it would get so high in such a short time."

Everyone nodded at those words. The song was doing very well, especially because they were a no name band and their fans were mostly individual. But they have gotten a lot of support from the anime community.

"It's not enough. Imagine Giants are still at the top position." Cameron suddenly said. "I want to get above them."

"Cameron, they are a big band. It's hard for us to beat them." Jackson retorted, already being very happy with the reception the song was getting.

"I think 'Revolution' is way better than their song. Their fans are just streaming it nonstop. Moreover, we have a good chance to promote it a lot in the anime con tomorrow."

Aiden nodded at those words.

Anime con was a big opportunity for them to attract the attention of a large number of people at the same time. If the performance went right, a lot of people will check out the song online.

…

/DreamNote/

Don't forget to vote with your power stones and golden tickets

100 GT = 1 Bonus Chapter

64c3e69bf75c4d1715a59001

"How's everything going on? You are working nonstop these days."

Uncle Sam's words hit his ears as Aiden looked outside the window of the moving van. He could see buildings flashing by.

"Most of the things are fine. Things are always hectic after a song release. I learned it during 'Lonely' promotions. It's important to promote the song for it to do well."

Aiden said, thinking of the music charts.

"I'm playing the song in my restaurant everyday and even asking some customers to stream it on Melody. I'm pretty sure it will do better on charts soon."

"Thanks for that and it's doing well on the charts. We already crossed 10 million views on MeTube. It's in 11th on the charts too which is a big thing for an anime title track."

Aiden said. It was true that they were doing pretty well for their standard but most of the media attention was on Imagine Giants new song.

The song titled 'Natural Habits' was number one in most charts in the last one week. Both the songs were released at the same time, so the difference between them was indeed depressing.

"I don't think you are the type to be satisfied by that. You always have big ambitions even if you don't show it."

Aiden couldn't help but laugh hearing that. His uncle knew him very well.

"Yeah, I know. I'm hoping after the performance in Anime con, the song can improve its ranking and views. There will be thousands of people there and Animeroll has worked hard to get us a good stage."

"Are you on the way?"

"Yeah." Aiden glanced at Wade who was driving the car. It was still early morning and they were already on their way. "Do you want anything from there?"

There was no reply for a second and after that, Uncle Sam replied in a quirky tone..

"Ah, yeah! There will be lots of people selling vintage games. Try to buy some for me. I will add them to my collections."

"You always want video games."

"When something else interests me, I will want it too. Anyway, I will put the phone away now. Good luck with your performance and call your mom sometimes. She gets worried."

"Okay."

Aiden cut the call and sighed. It was then that Emily poked his cheeks to grab his attention.

"That was your uncle?" She asked, tilting her head.

"Yeah, he was asking about the song and other things."

"He looks cool."

"He is."

Aiden simply replied that and Emily nodded. At the same time, Jackson who was sitting ahead of him turned his head back and asked.

"Hey Aiden, what even happens in Anime conventions?"

"They are pretty much the same as video game conventions. They just focus on anime or manga with a lot of people cosplaying their favourite characters. People also install their stalls to sell stuff like old video games or fan made mangas and novels."

"Sounds pretty fun." Jackson said, then tilted his head. "Do you think we should have cosplayed too? I'm pretty sure I will look great in the getup of an anime protagonist. Cameron here can be a villain. He has the face to pull it off."

Cameron glared at Jackson's mocking words. Before Aiden could reply, Wade, who was driving the car, opened his mouth.

"We are here!"

"There's a lot of people here."

Jackson couldn't help but mutter when he entered the convention. The whole sight in front of them was filled with people of all ages and gender.

On the walls, there were posters of famous anime alongside the list of events that they could experience here. A lot of famous manga artists and voice actors from Japan were going to attend the event.

"Conventions are always like this."

Wade said, looking over to a group of cosplayers. Besides them, there was a guy with red hair and a plastic sword in his hand. On the right, there was a female blogger who was shooting her experience in the convention for views.

There were even people dressed in beastman costumes, covered in head to toe.

'I really wonder if they don't feel heat in those.'

Aiden thought as he walked towards the area that the Animeroll team had occupied. As one of the leading anime dubbing companies, they were also a part of the organising committee for the convention.

"Hey, Aiden. I thought I wouldn't enjoy it much here but it seems like I was wrong." Jackson suddenly tapped him on the shoulder and said.

"What made you change your mind?"

"Look there."

Jackson pointed at a group of calls who were taking selfies. They were wearing pretty short costumes and had attached animal ears on their heads, giving them a cute and sexy look.

"I can see why you like it here."

Aiden said while Jackson smirked while wondering if he should talk to those girls. Like that, they walked up to the Anime roll stand at the convention.

Some staff members quickly walked towards them with a guy who looked like he hadn't slept in a long time leading them. Emily even joked that he had cosplayed as a zombie.

"You all are finally here. You are pretty early." The guy said, shaking hands with everyone.

"I was told to come here first thing in the morning." Wade said, then looked besides the guy. "Is everything already set up?"

"We have gotten all the instruments required for the performance but we want to start it at 4 PM as most people will be here at that time. The stage is already set, so you all just need to start your performance by that time."

The guy explained.

Wade and he talked for a few more minutes and it seemed like they were free to roam around the convention till then.

Cameron just left saying he would try to see if there was anything that interested him here and Jackson left to hit on girls. Emily also left saying she would buy some stuff for her family.

'I have three hours. Maybe I should buy some games for Uncle Sam.'

Aiden thought that and walked towards the area where there were a lot of stalls selling games.

On the way, he countered a lot of people wearing mascot costumes and video games. There was one guy looking like the main character from 'Legend of Welda' and another guy wearing an electric mouse costume.

As he got closer to the stalls, he was able to hear people selling stuff like salesmen.

"You should try out this game for you. You can kill people without a care and it's even the premium version! You hate your boss in real life. Think of him as a zombie and kill him in the game. Hundred percent effective method!"

"I'm selling a graphic novel about superheroes for 15 dollars. You will get Pikamon Moon for free if you three."

"Old, vintage games for sale. You won't find this stuff anywhere else. Rush now. They are collector's versions."

Aiden went towards the third stall and picked up some vintage games for his uncle. Most of them had been released around the early 2000s but their plot was still very good. The only problem one could have was controls and graphics.

'With this, Uncle Sam would be happy.'

Just as he thought that, he suddenly heard a familiar voice. He looked over to see Emily surrounded by a guy who was holding her hand.

'Does she know him?'

He thought, seeing that guy had a bright smile on his face but when he looked over at Emily, she looked very uncomfortable, like she didn't like the situation she was in.

"Emily, are you okay?"

Aiden quickly ran towards her. When she saw him, she calmed down and stood beside him. He glanced at the black haired guy in front of him.

"Who are you?"

"I'm just a fan of hers. I've been following her since X-Star days. I know you too. You appeared in the competition."

The guy said, still giving out the same smile like he had done nothing wrong. But seeing Emily's face, Aiden was sure that something had happened.

"I don't think she's comfortable."

"I just want a selfie. I don't think it's a lot to ask for when I'm her fan."

The guy tried to push around his narrative. But Aiden was never a pushover. He wondered what he should do before closing his eyes and thinking of the character of Kai.

Thanks to his skills, the characters he had played were still in his mind. He was even able to access them whenever he wanted.

When he thought of Kai, his vibes suddenly changed and his voice became a bit more serious.

"Move away."

He simply said those words and the effect was self explanatory. The guy gulped seeing the scary expression on Aiden's face and quickly ran away without stopping.

Now that they were alone, Aiden turned towards Emily after returning to normal.

He felt a bit exhausted for some reason, like he was not himself for a second.

"What did he do?"

"He just came out of nowhere, saying he's a fan. I was okay at first but he seemed weird and suddenly held my hand. I was just about to scream when you came."

Emily still looked a bit uncomfortable but took a sigh of relief.

"We should tell the authorities about him. He doesn't seem good."

"No, it's fine. I have dealt with fans like these before. Let's just return to Wade and wait till our performance."

Aiden didn't say anything at that and just nodded his head. They returned to Wade but on the entire way, there was a grim, brooding feeling in his heart.

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There was a big stage that was present just outside the auditorium of the convention. A lot of people gathered there as it was announced that a band was going to perform a song called 'Revolution'.

A lot of people were unaware of Dreamers or 'Revolution' but those who have heard of it dragged their friends to hear it. Many also came due to being curious.

It had happened because the convention hadn't promoted them a lot. There were posters of their performance but most hadn't come to the convention to just listen to them.

Some were just waiting to know what type of performance was going to happen while others were just focusing on their phones.

"What's going on?"

"Some band is going to perform."

"I never heard of them."

"Dreamers? I think I listened to their song somewhere. A lot of people in the anime community are recommending it these days."

"Is this really the title track of [Attack for Freedom]?"

Like that, they also talked among themselves. Standing behind the stage, Aiden looked at the people who were gathering to watch them perform.

"How many people do you think will gather?" Jackson, who was holding a drumstick in his hand said.

"Around 2000 people could be stored here. You can expect around that. More and more people are coming every minute."

"That's good. A lot more than our other shows."

"Yeah, let's hope it goes well."

As they talked about them, a female host stood on the stage to announce the start of the performance.

"I hope you all are having fun at the New York anime con."

At her words, a huge cheer went out. She smiled at the audience and then opened her mouth again.

"Now, we have something exciting for you today. A very talented band 'Dreamers' is going to sing their single 'Revolution' here today! I'm pretty sure some of you might have heard of the song.".

Some people in the crowd nodded at her words as she continued.

"It's the official English title track for the famous anime [Attack for Freedom]. Please give a huge cheer for the band 'Dreamers'!"

As her introduction ended, Aiden and his band climbed up to the stage. Some people in the crowd recognised him while others just anticipated the performance.

Their instruments were already set up, so they started their performance without wasting any second.

"One two three… let's go!"

The whole auditorium became silent as Aiden started the song with the sound of his electric guitar. It was as if it started as a whisper but in a matter of seconds, the sound filled with the auditorium.

Drums and keyboard soon harmonised as sparks of silver light began to come out of the instruments.

Glancing at the crowd who was staring at him, he started the first verse. Loud, unrestrained and full of power, like he was singing a war song.

"I am standing at the back of the line."

"Waiting for the right time."

"I have been bruised, I have been scraped, fire is running in my veins."

"My legs binded by chains as atrocities reigns."

As soon as the first verse began, silver light left his body like a sonic wave. The people who were not focusing on the song and were talking to their friends couldn't help but focus on Aiden.

It was the same for those who were busy with their phones. Some people even started recording them.

As the song crossed the 30 second mark, Emily's keyboard part became necessary and she skillfully played out the part. The soft melody coming out of her instrument mixed with the hard ones from the guitar and drums.

Even though they were completely different, they mixed together well.

"Like those who came before you, your crown is going to fall."

"No matter how tall are the walls."

"No, I'm not the chosen one, I just have a dream to keep running."

"I know I will fall, but I will move until I turn to nothing."

This part was always difficult for Aiden as it needed him to express a lot of emotions. In his mind, he was able to picture a boy looking at the figure of a king.

What separated them were walls but the boy was ready to break down those walls to reach the king and that's what Aiden tried to express. Strong, resolute emotions of conviction.

It seemed to work too as everyone in the auditorium looked in trance. They had not expected the band to be this but now they were becoming fully immersed in their music.

Suddenly, the tempo of the guitar and bass became slow as the pre chorus approached.

The pre chorus part was almost as if it was a whisper in the ear. A warning that had been given — One would think of it like that after hearing it.

"The scent of blood is in the air."

"Animals are hiding in their lair."

"Aware of the incoming nightmare."

Aiden sang the part really slowly and weakly but there was something in his voice that made people anticipate what was coming next.

After the pre chorus ended, the tempo of the song again got picked up as all the instruments came together to make a song that could truly make your heart beat more.

The sound of Jackson's drums, Aiden's guitar, the powerful bass of Cameron and in the background, there was Emily with her keyboard.

All this created an amazing sound that was boosted by the voice of Aiden.

"I'm the warrior with a heart of steel."

"You don't know my pain, you don't know how I feel."

"But I'm coming. Oh, I'm coming."

"The drums are beating, things are heating."

"When there's no solution, there's always gonna be a revolution… a revolution."

Aiden sang the chorus with as much power as he could generate and the silver light began to crack in the air due to the vibrations it was feeling.

It was almost like he was about to break into the next level.

After the chorus, even Cameron joined him as a vocalist and at this point, the audience was way past being entranced and were already going wild.

Hooting and cheering was coming from every corner in the auditorium and many people who weren't there from the beginning were now joining in.

Seeing this, Aiden felt like this was proof that the song was good enough to make people go crazy, make them feel like their blood was boiling.

"I have fought this war since the day I was born."

"No matter even if I'm alone."

"The blood in my mouth just makes the pain sweeter."

"Push me down, lift me up, I'm still a believer."

"Oh, I'm just a believer."

As Cameron started singing with him, both of their voices mixed together and there was a sensation in the silver light as it got more powerful, making people feel more and more emotions.

From this point, Aiden felt like he had already lost himself in the music and the atmosphere. His mind had gone blank and he was feeling the music in the air and singing along to it.

"I'm the warrior with a heart of steel."

"You don't know my pain, you don't know how I feel."

"But I'm coming. Oh, I'm coming."

"The drums are beating, things are heating."

"When there's no solution, there's always gonna be a revolution… a revolution."

The audience started singing with them at this point, especially the last part of the chorus. Shouts of 'Revolution' were in the air as they thoroughly enjoyed themselves.

'Now, the end of the song.'

Aiden thought in his mind and took a deep breath. He was panting a little but as he was only at the last part of the song, he was pushing on.

Slowly, the music became a bit calmer. Like it was a youthful king before and now an old one. The core was the same but even the audience was able to feel like the song was ending.

Both Cameron and Aiden slowly held the mic and sang.

"Like those who came before you, your crown is going to fall."

"No matter how tall are the walls."

"No, I'm not the chosen one, I just have a dream to keep running."

"I know I will fall, but I will move until I turn to nothing… nothing… nothing."

The song ended like that. A weak end to a powerful song. Aiden gave a bright smile to the audience who were cheering for the whole band.

He glanced at his bandmates. They all look exhausted but happy. Their plan was to give out a performance that would make people feel excited and overwhelmed and they have achieved it.

Shouts of 'Encore' and 'Once more' suddenly filled the auditorium. Aiden was about to give the signal to start the song again when in the corner of his eye, he suddenly saw someone running up the stage.

At first, he thought that it was just an excited fan but he soon realised that it was the same guy who had tried to force his way with Emily. He also noticed something sharp in his hand.

His senses rose suddenly and he ran towards the black haired guy without thinking of anything. Cameron who was standing beside him shouted seeing him rushing suddenly but it was already too late.

It all happened in a split second as Aiden jumped on the black haired guy and both of them fell off the stage.

He felt something sharp in his chest as he lost subconsciousness.

A commotion soon rang out after that.

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Entertainment daily was an entertainment news show that would talk about every news related to celebrities and Hollywood in a humorous way.

The show would cover gossip to every major announcement that's going around in Hollywood.

Whose husband has slept with whom? Which actor had gotten into a beef with his co-star? Or which rapper was releasing a diss track on which celeb.

The show covered literally everything and had a lot of daily viewers thanks to the way the news was presented. It was also one of the highest rated shows on Comedy Cable, a TV network in America.

"So, in the latest news, famous rapper Karyo East has decided to change his name to XayaH with a capital H in the end, after going through a bad divorce, citing the reasons that he didn't like how people pronounced his name. That's why he changed his name into something that really can't be pronounced. It seems like he's very well inspired by the name a notable Mars lover gave to his kid."

The audition sitting in front of the female host laughed at the joke. Rappers and mostly celebs were known to do some weird things in their life, but this truly was the pinnacle.

"Now, on the other news. Oh, we have a lot to cover today. From a famous singer's breakup over the phone to Aaron Hart being caught in the middle of an orgy which might as well put an end to his Oscars dream…"

The female host suddenly stopped while giving the news as she suddenly got a message on her earpiece. She blinked her eyes in shock and looked at the teleprompter on the other side of the room.

Some shocking words were written on it.

"I'm sorry but we need to interrupt our daily segment in the middle as very important news is coming up." She urgently said, her face gone a bit stiff after hearing the news.

Her audience also noticed her strange behaviour and felt the atmosphere changing. Her voice didn't have a mocking tone in it and was as serious as it could be..

"Just a few hours ago, an incident happened in New York where an anime convention was going on. One member of a band named Dreamers who was performing there was attacked on the stage." Some of the audience gasped in shock hearing that. "The vocalist of the band and popular indie singer who won an award recently, Aiden Silvereye, jumped on the attacker and fell off the stage. Both of them have been dragged to the hospital. No more reports have come out but a lot of people have posted videos about it on the internet and it's currently going viral."

She took a deep breath as some people in the audience took out their phones to search for the news to confirm it.

"Incidents while singers are performing on the stage aren't rare as a lot of times fans would try to breach the security to get close to their favourite singers but something like this is happening for the first time. As soon as we get more information about the news, we will inform you."

Like the entertainment program, a lot of other media outlets and even news channels were getting the news of the incident as videos and photos posted by people who were there in the audience were spreading like fire on social media.

Some of the videos and photos were even getting thousands of retweets.

Even some celebrities got to know about it and tweeted about it. Notably on Sparrow, hashtags like #Anime con, #Aiden Silvereye and #Attack had started trending. A lot of people were tweeting about it.

[Pop me like a popcorn: What am I hearing this about some sort of attack on a singer?]

[Anonymouse: Did anyone else see the video? I really hope that guy is safe and nothing happens to him. There are all sorts of crazy people roaming around these days.]

[Google was my idea: I really hope Aiden is safe. Someone posted a video on MeTube and it already got over a million views in a few hours. Aiden pretty much saved his bandmate. Otherwise who knows what would have happened.]

[Asura Dev: Does anyone have any idea what happened after that? I heard Aiden is in hospital but is there any news on his injuries or if his consciousness returned?]

[Rejected bachelor contestant: Who was that fucking guy? Bastard really tried to murder someone with cameras everywhere. Is he just crazy or there's any background?]

[Bored Uncle: I never heard of Dreamers but it's very unfortunate that someone tried to attack them. In these types of events, the security is very loose, making the chances of having an accident very high.]

[Aiden's wife: No, no, no! Please someone tell me the video is fake. Is he okay? Oh god! I'm so worried.]

[Ass smasher: I was at the event and trust me, the performance was going great but then that crazy fucking bastard rushed out of nowhere. The vocalist quickly tackled him or he was going to stab someone in bright daylight in front of thousands.]

[Gravy lover: @Ass smasher what happened after that? Is Aiden okay?]

[Ass smasher: I can't really say. A commotion started after that and both the attacker and Aiden were found unconscious. One of his bandmates was crying as ambulances came and police were called. It was a pretty scary scene as people were running here and there.]

[Skyneves: I really hope Aiden is okay. I'm really so worried currently. One of the photos showed blood on his clothes…]

[Young fruit smiley: We could just wait and watch… Let's hope some official report about his condition is soon released.]

"Dad, quickly come outside! See the news!"

Lisa Silvereye, Aiden's cousin, opened the door to Uncle Sam's office and shouted. A trace of worry and fear was evident in her eyes.

"What happened, Lisa? You look like you found your husband in a strip—"

"Dad, it's about Aiden! Come see the news!"

As Lisa interrupted her father, he quickly understood that something serious was going on. It's been a long time since he had seen her daughter like this.

Her whole face was stone cold and she looked like she would cry any second.

Uncle Sam quickly walked outside with her and saw that a lot of customers were looking at the TV screen. Evening news was going on and a news anchor was describing an incident.

[Just a while ago, we got to know that an indie singer Aiden Silvereye was attacked at one of his shows. He and his assailant both fell off the stage and had concurred a lot of injuries. Both had been rushed to the hospital and police had been called too. They are currently investigating the scene.]

The news anchor said and Uncle Sam gasped in shock. On the TV screen, a video that was going viral on the internet was played.

One of the audience who was shooting the performance had shot it. The video started with Aiden finishing his performance and in just the next moment, he turned his head and saw someone rushing up the stage with a pocket knife in his hand.

In the blink of an eye, he tackled the person and both fell off the stage. The video ended as people started to scream and run away.

"Aiden…"

When the video came to an end, Uncle Sam had worry written all over his face. His hands were shaking as he thought about Aiden's condition.

He had talked to him just a few hours ago and now, he was in the hospital.

"Dad, we should rush to the hospital." Lisa turned towards him and shook him out of his trance.

"Yeah, let's go quickly."

"How the fuck someone came on the stage? Was the security sleeping?"

Wade shouted as he glared at the person who had organised their show in the animecon. He was the employee from Animeroll who Emily had called a zombie cosplayer.

They were currently in the hospital that Aiden was admitted in. A lot of people were glancing at Wade and the employee as they were standing in the lobby but the former didn't care about people's gazes.

"I, I was not the person in charge of security… And even they don't know how that guy was able to breach security to come up on the stage. I'm sorry."

"Sorry? You are saying that when someone is on the hospital bed. Are you or your company going to take responsibility if something happened to him?"

Wade grabbed the collar of the employee in anger. The artist under him was in grave danger because the security was lazy. How will he just accept that?

"I can… just apologise. Harming me won't change anything. The police are trying to look at the background of the attacker."

The employee muttered, his face stricken with fear. Seeing the angry expression on Wade's face, he was sure that the guy wouldn't hesitate to punch him.

"That is still not going to change anything, you dumb fucker. Listen carefully and I'm not mincing my words — This is a warning! If anything happens to Aiden, I'm coming after you and your company legally and illegally."

The employee gulped after hearing those words and nodded his head frantically. Wade loosened his grip on his collar and the employee quickly sprinted away.

Standing alone, Wade took out a cigarette and leaned on the wall. Lighting up the cigarette, he blew out a smoke as he frowned, completely ignoring the No smoking warning just on his right.

"Fuck."

He muttered under his breath.

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'Where am I?'

Aiden thought as he found himself in a very dark space. As he blinked his eyes, the world changed to one of black and white.

He was not able to see anything concretely as his vision was blurry. It was like he was in some sort of foggy world.

A lot of voices were in his head but he was not able to hear them clearly. It was a sensation like his body was falling through a cliff continuously.

It was like he was in the middle of a nightmare.

There was no concept of time and he didn't know if he was alive or not. It was all a very strange and indescribable experience.

'Am I dreaming? I want to wake up but I can't seem to.'

Aiden thought and tried to remember the last thing in his memory but it felt very blurry and he was not able to focus.

The only thing he remembered was performing at the anime con and rushing towards a person. There was no memory after that and he felt like he was trapped somewhere.

Suddenly, the black and white world in front of him changed and he found himself in an apartment. It was his apartment that he still lived in.

But the scene in front of him was from months ago.

'This is the day I got my system.'

Somehow, he was seeing himself in the past, like his brain was replaying a memory. He saw himself trying to fix a bulb that was not working and get an electric shock out of nowhere, knocking him down.

When he had woken up, his system was in front of him.

That was what Aiden had remembered..

But the scene didn't end.

He noticed a golden light suddenly appearing out of nowhere as he was knocked down. The light hovered around his body for a minute before entering it.

Somehow, he knew that it was his system.

'Wait, I didn't get my system due to an electric shock.'

As soon as Aiden thought, his vision again changed but it was faster this time.

For the next five minutes, he saw the scenes of him over the next few months, worrying about his system and whether there were really superpowers in the world.

In those days, Aiden would think a lot of conspiracy theories and think that a black guy with an eye patch would soon appear out of nowhere and tell him that the world lives in is a lie and things like superhumans and wizards were real.

Then, X-Star came and he passed the auditions, getting better in his skills everyday. Got eliminated and then made his debut in his first movie.

All of it looked very special watching it from the sidelines.

It was like his memory was replaying every single thing that happened to him in the last year.

'When will it end?'

As soon as he thought that, he found himself back in the black and white world. The voices in his head returned and this time he was able to hear them clearly.

'You will never be able to do anything in Hollywood no matter what. You can't even get a lead role in theatre. They will laugh at you if you go to America.'

That was the voice of one of his friends who was against him going to America.

'Aiden, not everyone has the talent to become a star. You are good enough for a common person but you should not waste time in this and just get into a good college. Time runs out and before you know it, your friends will be driving in cars.'

That was the voice of his high school teacher.

'You are the worst actor I have seen in my life. Trust me, kid. Leave Hollywood and get a job as a waiter somewhere. That suits you very well.'

That was the voice of a director who had rejected him during his early days of struggle.

Aiden heard all those voices constantly ringing in his head and he wasn't able to help himself from shouting. After a long time, the voices finally stopped and he took deep breaths to calm himself down.

'Ah, fuck, where the hell am I? If it's a nightmare, I really want to wake up right now.'

He thought and it was then, he heard a familiar voice in front of him.

"Aiden."

Aiden raised his head to look at the person that had suddenly appeared out of nowhere. He was almost as tall as Aiden and had a bearded face with long, unkempt hair.

His vision was still blurry but he was able to make out a smile on the person's face.

"Don't forget your goal. Now go, you have slept enough."

Before Aiden was able to say anything, the man said before putting a hand on his shoulder. It was then that the world went blank.

When he opened his eyes again, he was in a hospital room.

"You were out for almost three days. Your injuries weren't a lot, so we were all very tense. The doctors said that you have hit your head hard and that might be the reason you have not gained consciousness but there was no major injury on your head when they checked."

Uncle Sam explained, looking at Aiden who was sitting on the bed. Wade was standing next to him, just staring at Aiden.

After he had woken up, a doctor had quickly checked up on him and found out that he looked completely fine.

His friends and family had rushed in quickly after knowing that he had woken up. The doctor had left after that, saying he would give them some time alone.

"How are you feeling now?" Jackson asked. Besides him, Emily and Cameron were also standing.

"A bit dizzy. But better. It's hard to move my shoulder."

Aiden glanced at his shoulder that was bandaged. It seems like he had been stabbed there while falling on the ground and had lost quite a bit of blood before he reached the hospital.

"The doctor said it would take some weeks before it got normal. You need to be in the hospital for a few days more."

Uncle Sam sighed with a light smile. He was happy that Aiden had finally woken up.

"Aiden, I'm sorry. It all happened because of me."

Suddenly, Emily walked towards him.

Aiden noticed that there were dark circles under her eyes, like she had not slept for some days.

After Aiden had rushed to the hospital, Emily had blamed herself as the black haired guy was originally trying to harm her. Aiden had protected her but had gotten injured himself.

"It's not your fault. My legs were already moving before I could think of anything and something worse would have happened if I had not tackled him."

"But what if you have…"

Emily didn't finish her sentence and he could see tears forming in her eyes. She was truly scared that she might have become the reason for someone's death.

"I'm still alive, right? Don't think a lot about it when I'm still fine." Aiden said and then suddenly remembered something. "What happened to the guy who tried to attack you? The black haired guy?"

It was Cameron who answered this time. There was a trace of anger and rage on his face when he thought about the black haired guy.

"His name is Rick Morbius and his injuries were far less than yours. He was already fine yesterday and police took him into custody. From what we got to know from them, he has a history of harming Skygram models who he follows. He was actually out on bail and there were already court cases against him. Looks like he's done for good this time."

Although Cameron didn't say it, Rick was getting a lot of hate online and people were already labelling him as a psychopath.

Even the police have said that he might have some mental problems and they will take help from a psychologist in this case.

"I'm just glad I'm alive"

Aiden muttered and for the next few minutes, they just talked about other things like how his mom was even thinking of coming to America and how they were constantly in the hospital for the last three days.

Wade even tried to punch Rick Morbius when he was brought to the hospital but he was quickly detained.

After a while, Aiden suddenly remembered about their schedule. Even after animecon, they had a couple of shows here and there. They were even increasing with time as 'Revolution' got more and more famous.

"The schedule got cancelled as I was in the hospital right?" Aiden asked, looking at his bandmates.

"Obviously, they did. And it doesn't look like we would be able to do any more shows as you would be in the hospital for a while."

"Yeah, it's kind of a pity as 'Revolution' is getting more and more popular everyday. Animeroll is being flooded with calls currently."

Hearing Emily's words, Aiden raised his eyebrows. Animeroll was flooded with calls? What does that mean?

"Why are they flooded with calls?"

A sense of realisation hit everyone's face as they realised that Aiden didn't know what was going on social media.

Jackson quickly tried to explain.

"Aiden, the video of our performance and you pushing Rick off the stage went viral. Most of the major news media covered it and that just made it spread more, so Revolution has already crossed 80 million views on MeTube. A lot of people are calling Animeroll to ask about your condition."

"What?"

Aiden made a shocked expression.

"Yeah, and we are number one on the music charts. We beat Imagine Giants' song 'Natural habits'."

As he heard that, he unconsciously opened up his system and was swarmed by notifications.

…

/DreamNote/

Don't forget to vote with your power stones and golden tickets

100 GT = 1 Bonus Chapter

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[Your song 'Revolution' has gone viral. It's the second song of yours which has gone viral. Congratulations! You are a certified viral sensation now.]

['Revolution' is the second song of yours which has gotten more than 100 million views on social media platforms. You have achieved a great feat.]

[It's the first time your song has reached the top of music charts.]

[A lot of experience has been awarded.]

[You have advanced to Intermediate Grade 2 from Intermediate Grade 1. You are close to breaking into Intermediate Grade 3 thanks to the huge amount of experience.]

[Rewards have been given.]

[Your skill 'Composing' has increased to Level 7 from Level 6.]

[Your skill 'Lyrical writing' has increased to Level 6 from Level 5]

[Your instrumental mastery of 'Guitar' has increased to Level 6 from Level 5.]

[You can now make better songs with your increased skills. A huge amount of experience would be required to level up the skills again.]

[You are on the path to make your name in the American music industry.]

As he read all the system notifications, Aiden barely managed to stop himself from grinning. His skills had improved all round and he had never expected 'Revolution' to get so many views suddenly..

In the first place, he didn't know it would go viral suddenly.

"You said it got viral due to videos?"

Aiden asked after closing off his system. He hadn't forgotten that he was still in the hospital room and a lot of people were here.

"Yeah." Wade replied, thinking back to the social media response in the last three days. "Many people are calling you a hero for trying to save Emily's life. Your reputation can't get any better than this. Because of you, a lot of people are getting to know about 'Revolution' and streaming it. It might even go over 200 million views by the end of the year just on MeTube."

"It's kinda ironic I needed to get stabbed to get a great reputation."

Aiden chuckled at that. At least something good had come out of this.

He had never expected that this sudden incident would bring him this much attention. It was truly unexpected but Aiden very well knew that life was very random at times and now that the attention was on him and 'Revolution', it would be the best to use it.

"If so many people are listening to 'Revolution', then there must be a lot of offers coming for shows and events?"

He asked Wade who nodded his head.

"Yeah, a lot of offers are there. I went through some of them and they are very good, both in money and to increase popularity. But Animeroll is rejecting them at the moment for obvious reasons."

"Yeah, but a lot of them said that they are fine with waiting until you are out of the hospital."

Uncle Sam added. Aiden nodded and thought about it for a moment. He would still be in the hospital for a while and in his eyes, it was not good for them to not take up on shows.

People were interested in the song because the incident was still fresh but after a few days, they would move on. Nothing stays trending on the internet for too long.

"I think we should still get some shows."

He suddenly said, getting glares from everyone present in the room. Wade even looked ready to tie him up to bed if he tried to say that he was going to sing in this condition.

"You can't sing in this condition, Aiden. Don't be ridiculous."

Uncle Sam frowned and muttered but Aiden quickly shook his head.

"I'm not saying I will go sing. I just said the band should take up on shows. They are fine without me."

"What?" Jackson raised his voice and tilted his head in confusion.

"You are all good enough to perform on your song. They will be playing the recording in the background anyway."

"Who will be the vocalist?"

"Cameron."

Aiden glanced at Cameron who suddenly felt all the attention on him.

"It's not my song, Aiden. It's yours."

"It's the band's song. You are a part of it and only you can do it. Emily could be the sub vocal. Think about it. We are trending right now. No guarantee we would be trending in a week. In the end, I will join the band as soon as I get out of this place."

Aiden's words definitely made Cameron think as he went silent. Even Wade and his uncle felt like his words weren't wrong.

Both of them knew how the social media and entertainment industry worked.

If tomorrow, some famous celebrity gets pregnant, she was bound to be on the news, kicking any talk about 'Revolution' or Dreamers as most people would only talk about a trending or viral topic.

"Okay, I will do it."

That was Cameron's final answer and Aiden smiled hearing it.

A lot of media outlets covered the topic of Aiden and how he had gotten injured to save one of his bandmates from an attack. One of the magazines which covered it was Record, a popular music magazine.

They have earlier covered Aiden during one of their issues last year when 'Lonely' was released. Though, they mostly focused on Grey throughout the article.

But this time, they have written an exclusive on Aiden.

Aiden Silvereye — A hero, a bonafide star or just another lucky viral sensation?

In one of last year issues, we covered Aiden Silvereye, a singer who had gone from being a contestant in a reality tv show to feature in a song with Grey and now, after ending the last year with an award, he had started the next one by getting stabbed and bringing his band and his single a lot of attention that they thoroughly deserved.

It's very hard to think that a rookie band, one which had been created for just one song, would overtake a song from Imagine Giants in the charts.

Maybe it's the first and the last time this has happened.

Now, the question is how does that even happen?

If one is on social media, there's no way they have not seen the video of Aiden tackling a psychopath to save his friend. The video had given him a lot of fans and many people are still calling him a hero.

But is that enough to overtake one of the most famous bands in the world? No, it's not until the song itself is very good.

There's no way 'Revolution' would have stayed on top of the Top 50 New single charts for more than a day if it was just a viral sensation. The thing is the song was already being promoted a lot by anime viewers as it's the English title track of one of the most famous anime currently going around.

But the incident Aiden was involved in gave the song the required push that made it such a sensation.

It can't be argued that Aiden himself is a great singer and songwriter but like many others, his influence is only in a limited space with not a lot of people knowing him. At most, they would have seen him here and there but won't follow his music a lot.

That's actually the fate of an indie musician but time after time, Aiden had proven that he's someone who would intentionally or unintentionally find a way to make his music reach the audience.

That's what had happened with 'Revolution'.

No one would have imagined that because of such an incident, the song would become such a huge hit. It's already the best rated and most viewed English anime title track and with this, Animeroll surely has answered back to their critics.

This makes one wonder. Would he be able to do things like this again and again and eventually break the door to mainstream? It's hard to say as he can't just get stabbed every time to get his song to go viral but he had enough talent and a lot of innovation.

After all, no one had ever made a band just for one song.

When we talked to Stephen Greg, the executive producer for [Attack for Freedom, he told us, "We were very surprised when we were informed that Aiden had made a band because he thought that the song suited a band more. It was a very strange decision financially as it would mean less income for him but he was just focused on getting the best out of his song."

That sentence is enough to understand that Aiden Silvereye is at least not a singer who's after the riches but someone who just wants to make good songs and present it the best way.

This is a rare quality in this age and maybe it just stems from the fact that he himself is the composer for all of his songs, but it gives a music lover hope that his songs won't disappoint them.

Now, for the conclusion of the article. It's very safe to say that Aiden isn't just another viral sensation. He's surely much more than that but only time would tell if he's going to prove himself as a star or someone who was just lucky.

As luck eventually runs out, we will know the answer sooner or later.

But at this moment, it's very safe to say that until now, Aiden hadn't put a wrong foot in his short career and had truly made a name for himself, no matter how small it seemed currently.

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For the next week, Aiden just stayed in the hospital, occasionally strolling around and just checking up on the internet or reading novels most of the time.

Normally, it would have been pretty boring to be in the hospital but everyday, he felt nothing less than a star during his stay.

Mostly everyone in the hospital had watched his viral video. They treated him like a star and he signed many autographs.

Many nurses even tried to hit on him and Aiden wasn't lying if he said that he enjoyed his small vacation a lot. But as soon as it ended and he was healthy enough to stand up on the stage again, he joined Dreamers on the last round of shows they had.

Cameron was doing good as the vocalist but when people saw Aiden on the stage, they went wild and they ended most of their shows housefull.

'Revolution' had broken all records and done great publicity for the anime and Animeroll was anticipating it to break all ratings as soon as it started airing.

"'Revolution' crossed 110 million views on MeTube. What's the streaming number?"

A female employee from the PR department of Animeroll said. She was one of those working on [Attack for Freedom].

She looked a bit haggard due to working too much but there was a thin smile on her face.

Stephen had promised everyone working on [Attack for Freedom] a big bonus if the anime is a big hit. By all estimates, it was going to be more than a big hit.

"102 million streams just on Melody. Other streaming services have a lot of views too." A male employee replied, not looking up from the screen of his computer.

"Like this, Dreamers are probably the best rookie band in all of America or maybe the world. It's kind of a pity that they are not a real band.".

"You are just saying that because they are breaking up." Another guy with brown hair said. "Actually, a lot of people online don't want them to break up and want a full album."

Before they know it, the employees have started a discussion around Dreamers and 'Revolution'. They have been monitoring and controlling the views about them online for over a month so, they were naturally invested in them.

Some employees in Animeroll had even become big fans of the band.

"If they release an album currently, I'm pretty sure it would be a big hit. They are kind of stupid to not go for it."

One of the employees voiced his opinion while clicking his tongue.

"They just have different ambitions. Actually, I heard their agent saying that a lot of record labels have shown interest in them. Some big ones too but the members don't want to work in a band."

"Is there any rift in the band?" A girl asked, turning around to look at the guy who had spoken before her.

"No. Jackson is already with Cyco media. They just let him work this time but he's going to debut in one of their bands sooner or later. They actually got lucky with him getting a lot of attention with 'Revolution'. As for Emily, she's going back to Korea and Cameron… I don't have any idea about him but he may sign up with a record label or make independent music."

"What about Aiden? He's the most famous of them all."

The girl asked the question that was on everyone's mind. Aiden was the center of Dreamers and people had come to know about the band just because of him.

"He already has an acting career aside from singing. I'm pretty sure singing is just secondary for him as his agent primarily focuses on actors."

"Wasn't he going to be in the movie that would be released in March? I forgot the name of it."

"[Black Saints, right?"

An employee said and others nodded. It was rumoured that the trailer was going to come soon and the movie would release at the end of March.

"Was he signing some more projects after that?"

"I have not heard about it. These days, he's just doing shows, do I doubt he has any time for auditions?"

"He's famous now. He might get some offers without searching for them."

"Only if it's an offer for a musical. He's nothing in Hollywood currently."

Like that, the employees discussed the prospect of Aiden's next project after 'Revolution'. They had no idea of it and could just speculate that he might be in a new movie or work or another song.

"I thoroughly enjoyed my time performing with all of you. Thanks for everything." Emily said, looking at her bandmates with a bit of tears in her eyes. Then, she glanced at Aiden. "Especially you Aiden. I will miss Dreamers a lot."

They were currently outside the airport to say goodbye to Emily who was going to fly to Korea. Both Jackson and Cameron were also going to leave in a few hours. Jackson was returning to the Cyco media office in Los Angeles and Cameron was going to meet his grandfather who lives in San Francisco.

Their band activists have finally ended and it was time to part ways.

"Not like we are never going to perform together again. You can call me anytime to work on a song."

Aiden said, giving Emily a hug. They have decided to not disband the band for good as Dreamers have gotten a lot of fans for itself. Jackson had created a MeTube channel for it and it already has 258k subs.

It was significant considering the official music video of 'Revolution' was posted on Animeroll MeTube channel and this account only had some background snippets and videos from their shows.

The final outcome was to make music together once in a while or collaborate in some projects in the future.

That way, all of them would be able to focus on their individual careers and Dreamers would stay in the background.

"I hope to see you all again. Take care."

Emily said and entered the airport. After a while, Jackson also left as his flight was just after Emily.

"Call me if you all are in Los Angeles. All the best in your careers and don't hesitate to call me if you need any help."

Saying that, Jackson left and now, only Cameron and Aiden were left standing besides each other. Wade was in the car, messaging someone who he didn't really like. At least that's what Aiden got from his expression.

"So, will you be in San Francisco for a while?" Aiden asked, trying to not let the atmosphere become awkward. Normally, Cameron wasn't the one to talk a lot.

"Yeah, I will stay with him for a while, trying to work on a song. My uncle has a small record label and he asked me if I want to work with him. I'm thinking of agreeing to it."

"That's some news. I thought you don't like being chained."

That's what Cameron had told him when he had asked why he didn't sign off with a record label like Rachel.

"I still don't but my thoughts have changed a bit. I realised I will fall behind a lot if I keep thinking that I can do everything on my own. I need to use the connections that I have."

"That's true. It seems like you will go mainstream soon too. Just stop smoking and I'm pretty sure you will be a bit hit."

Cameron didn't say anything on that and Aiden secretly looked at his system and found out that he had already broken into Intermediate Grade 3.

He couldn't help but frown inwardly, feeling a bit jealous of Cameron's limit break skill.

'Why are there so many main characters around me? Jackson has too much luck and Cameron has an anime protagonist like skill.'

As he thought that, Cameron suddenly opened his mouth.

"Actually, I wanted to say thank you." Aiden raised an eyebrow at that.

"Why?"

"You gave me a chance to work on 'Revolution'. In Los Angeles, I was just wasting everything I have daily due to a loss in a competition. When I saw you working harder after losing, I really felt like I had stayed behind. Thanks to that, I feel like I would be a better musician now."

Cameron said with a smile which Aiden knew was a very rare thing. He pushed his hand forward and Aiden shook it with a smile.

"I called you because I thought you would be perfect for it. You handled the whole band in my absence too."

"Good luck on whatever you are going to do next. Knowing you, it won't be something simple."

Cameron and he talked a bit more after that about their future plans and career before it was time for his flight. While leaving, Cameron told him to call him whenever he needed something as his family still has a lot of influence in Hollywood.

Aiden felt like due to working together, he had become better friends with everyone, especially Cameron.

Though he didn't know how his friendships were going to help him out in the future.

"It looks like I'm finally a bit free now." Wade said as Aiden sat down in the car. "I thoroughly understand the pain of managers who handle singers and bands. It's way more exhausting than an actor. One of my friends used to be the manager of a teenage boy band and he rightfully said that it's like getting four kids out of nowhere and looking after them."

"You still need to handle my singing schedules, so you won't be completely free of it."

Aiden said and Wade dejectedly nodded his head.

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As Aiden was going around doing shows to promote 'Revolution', a lot of people were busy.

These people were his fanclub who were promoting the song on all social media platforms and discussing every bit of information on them.

In the last one month, his fanclub had grown too much. They were just around 2500 at the start of the year but at the start of March, they have gotten more than 10k members.

This has obviously happened due to Aiden's videos that had gone viral. Normally, only few people would follow a singer due to a viral song as one song doesn't mean a lot.

It was because the singer's other songs could be bad or completely different from the one which had gone viral. People would focus on the song more than the singer.

Because of that, even with Hold onto me going viral, Aiden only got a few hundred fans. But now, he suddenly got a few thousand.

It was because of how many people thought he was a hero. One video has definitely done a lot for his fanbase. It was an instant boost.

But as his fan base has grown a lot, it also needed to be handled, so the leader of the fanbase, Skyneves, gave perks to certain members who were in the fanbase for a long time and made them moderators to control the group.

Accounts like Aiden's wife, Moaning Frodo, April on Roof, Chad Putin and Hollywood Insider became these moderators.

[April on Roof: Did anyone go to the Dreamers show last night? Animeroll hadn't released any schedule of next shows, so people are saying that it might be their last show and with that, the band will disband. I'm so sad because I wasn't able to go due to exams.]

[Captain Barney: Me and my ship were at the show last night. It was legen-wait for it-dary!].

[Stan the man: What do you mean they are disbanding? I thought Aiden belonged to a band and they finally had their first hit.]

[Hermione Stranger: @Stan the man Aiden got the band together for just one song. They are not a band from the get go and I don't think they would disband just like that. Even if they did, they would surely return. A lot of anime fans want them to sing more English title tracks.]

[Parker's puberty: So, what's next for Aiden? He's going to go solo again.]

As soon as the question was asked in the group, people started discussing what might be his next plan. The people of the fangroup knew well how much of a fan Aiden was of 'Sigma male grindset'.

He would go from one thing to another without stopping.

[Skyneves: I think [Black Saints] would release next. So, we might see him during some promotions. The trailer will be released tomorrow, so I'm excited to get a glimpse of him.]

[Who's your fav author: I don't think we will get a glimpse. There's a lot of prominent actors in the movie and his name is written pretty low on the cast. I'm trying to keep my expectations low, so I'm very sure that he will be that random guy who one of the villains will kill for fun.]

[Tudum: I think he's reputation at this point is too good, so I'm pretty sure he's that one nice guy in the movie who's soft spoken and helps the main character.]

[Hollywood Insider: What if he's a villain? #Curious]

As that question fell, some people who were chatting couldn't help but laugh. It was an absurd question in their eyes as Aiden's image was as clean as it could be. At this point, people can't even imagine him being anything other than that nice person in the movie.

Even in his interviews, he had come across as a good, confident guy, trying to make it in Hollywood with his skills. And as he never had any scandals, his image was really good.

Though, the reason he never had any scandals was because he was single for a long time now and no paparazzi had even roamed around him till now.

[Aiden's wife: I can't really imagine him as a villain. He doesn't have that presence or anything. He's more likely to just be nice to everyone he meets.]

[JK Fowling: Even if Aiden acts like a villain, he might be one who's just acting like a villain and protecting the hero all this while. Oh, wait… That's a nice idea for my book.]

[Darth Fader: I will go bald if Aiden comes out as a villain in the movie. Makers won't risk it with how image is currently, especially if he has a meaty role in the movie. People won't be scared of him even if he acts as a villain.]

[Hollywood Insider: @Darth Fader Let's see about it. #Bet]

"These are fan letters for me."

Aiden muttered in shock and wonder as he looked at the pile of letters in front of him. There were at least 15 letters on the table.

"Yeah, a lot of people sent you letters as you were in the hospital. I collected all of them. Just forgot to give it to you before."

Wade said, sitting down in front of him. They were currently sitting down in Aiden's apartment, talking about work and other things.

"I thought these days people send emails or just a message on Sparrow or Skygram." Aiden asked, picking up a letter from the pile. It was written by someone named 'Aisha Hughes'.

It seems like she was a teenage fan of his.

"Most do but there's a lot who still likes the traditional way of sending fan letters. They are most likely to be ready. Though, most celebs don't even bother to read them these days. The previous guy I worked with was like that."

Wade clicked his tongue at the end of the sentence and Aiden just focused on the fan letter, like he was entranced.

It was a very big thing for him as a fan was writing to him. He even decided to write back to them. That was the least he could do.

"Anyway, Aiden. I wanted to go over the schedule and work we need to do in the next month. I was thinking that it's important for you to move houses and maybe get a car as you have earned pretty good till now, especially with 'Revolution' doing so well on the…"

Wade stopped talking as he realised that Aiden wasn't focusing on him but his fan letter. Frowning, he took the letter from his hand and Aiden glared at him.

"Let me read."

"Listen to me first, kid. I'm talking about something important." Wade sighed, then glanced around the apartment. "You need to change houses. This place is getting unsafe as you are getting popular. It's better to change before [Black Saints] release as I'm very sure paparazzis would swarm your place after that movie."

Aiden got serious hearing that and nodded his head.

"Actually, I was thinking about it too as Valerie told me that some reporters were asking about me from the neighbours."

"Yeah, and not like you don't earn good. You earned a good enough income just from the two roles you did. And you earned way more from your songs. You even have the endorsement deal from ZXO. Pretty sure they will try to give you more deals seeing your image."

"I know." Aiden simply said. In the past half year or so, his income had really grown a lot and now, he could afford a lot of things that he was not able to before. "Do you know any real estate agents?"

"Yeah, I do. I will get you a good deal. It's better to live in a place which is protected. Some paparazzi are crazy enough to trespass into people's homes. Oh, yeah, get a car and some good clothes too. We need to be extremely careful of how you look."

"I have clothes that I got from ZXO."

"That won't do. You need more clothes and better ones. Even if you get papped, we need to make sure that you are not giving a weird pose or looking bad. No matter how much people say looks don't matter, they expect celebs to be good looking. Half the girls follow male celebs for that. So, make sure you look good even if you are falling down the stairs."

Aiden agreed with what Wade was saying as many celebs have whole teams for all these things. As he didn't have that, he himself needed to be careful.

'I never thought all this would come so quickly.'

He silently thought.

If not for the stabbing incident, he was sure that it would take a long time for paparazzi and reporters to become interested enough to follow him around.

"Okay, I will get all that done. Though, I have a lot of things here, so we might need some help."

"I will arrange that. Don't worry." Wade said before adding. "And I talked to some people in Granite films. They are not going to take you on promotions or anything."

Aiden solemnly nodded hearing that. He had thought that Granite films would try to use his current popularity to promote the movie.

"Did they say any reason?"

"Yeah, it's actually because they want your character to be under wraps before the film releases, so they don't want you to do any interviews. They want to shock viewers as those who know you won't expect you to come off as one of the negative characters."

When Wade said that, Aiden stopped feeling disappointed as that was a genuine reason and a good marketing tactic due to how important Kai's character was in the plot.

Suddenly, Wade smirked and added.

"But I did get you something good."

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"There's nothing interesting going on in Sparrow currently."

Sheldon Price lifted his head from his phone and looked at the people sitting in front of him. He was currently on a bus going towards his college.

In the bus, he was able to see all sorts of people. From couples to friends talking about something while waiting for their destination. As for Sheldon, he liked to use his time lurking around in social media sites, during the bus journey.

Sparrow was his favourite as he was able to see people cancelling others for random things and political parties using it for propaganda.

Sheldon didn't like to engage in these things but he loved to lurk around and just check on people's reaction. Seeing teenagers thinking that tweeting about something would solve the problem was very funny for him.

But these days, Sparrow was pretty peaceful with no one cancelling someone or any fighting going on, So Sheldon was usually very bored in his bus rides.

He would scroll random things until his college came.

'Let's hope there's something good in the trending section.'

He thought and opened up the trending section. As he was scrolling, his fingers stopped at the tag #Black Saints. He opened it thinking that another priest or godman had done a scam or was flying around in jets.

But he soon realised that it was the trailer of a movie which was released.

A lot of people were apparently going crazy over it as the tweets about it were just increasing every second. Curious and with nothing better to do, he clicked on the link and started watching the trailer..

The trailer started with a man who Sheldon recognised as Ray Hardy sitting in a car and talking about the city he lived in. Night city, he called it and how it was as black as it could be.

Then the trailer moves to show him getting a suicidal mission to go after the gangsters that rule the city as the common people have started to protest about them more and more as the crime rates have began to go above the roof.

After that, there were several shots of Ray chasing someone, punching people and just driving his car, trying to chase gangsters. The trailer then shows Ray call the big gangsters in the city 'Black Saints' as they were treated as such.

One of the saints which Sheldon assumed to be the main villain was introduced next.

An old man with a moustache and in just the first scene he appeared, he kills a man by smashing his head into the table in a room filled with people who were shocked to see the gruesome sight in front of them.

Then, there was a background voice of Ray Hardy talking about how humans want power even if it's corrupt them and how black saints are humans who want power just to feel corrupted and powerful.

A fight scene comes straight after that with Ray Hardy smashing a pole in a guy's head. The trailer was at the end there and then it shows the title and release date.

But as soon as Sheldon thought that the trailer was going to end, the background score suddenly changed and someone's whistling sound came out. A guy was shown walking a corridor with just the view of his back visible.

There were dead bodies on the ground but the guy was just casually whistling and walking. The trailer ended there and Sheldon only had one question in his mind.

'Who was that guy?'

Like him, a lot of people were thinking the same question. Who was the guy that they saw in the last scene of the trailer? His face wasn't shown, so people were only left to speculate.

Many even searched the cast list to see if they knew the actor but there's no definite answer. Many critics who watched it even called the last scene the defining moment as without it, the whole movie looked like another cop vs gangster drama.

But now, it seemed like the movie had a lot more to offer to the audience.

"The trailer response is very good."

"We got 1.5 million views in just a day and the trailer got a lot of traction slowly. People are really curious about it and many are saying that finally an interesting cop movie is coming but I also find people saying that they have watched enough of this."

"We deliberately focused less on the saints in the trailer, so people like that. They don't know that half the screen time is about the black saints."

"Most comments are highly positive too and people are extremely curious about Kai's look that we showed."

In the marketing room of Granite films, a lot of employees were actively discussing [Black Saints] and it's trailer that was released yesterday.

Many people online were praising the trailer. Though, there were also people who had gotten bored of cop movies and wanted something else. The marketing team could only smirk at them as the trailer was designed to make people misunderstand.

It was then that the door to the room opened and Anthony McCarthy, the CEO of Granite films walked in.

"How's the response? A lot of investors are very tense at the moment." Anthony asked and one of the employees quickly replied.

"Most of it is going according to our estimates. We could get a good amount of people to watch the movie on the first day but after that, it's all word of mouth."

Their marketing strategy for [Black Saints] depended a lot on word of mouth. The marketing team was practically taking a gamble as it could backfire very easily, but they were very confident on the finished product.

"Okay. Good word of mouth is not easy to get." Anthony mumbled as he sat down on a chair. He was in a very bad shape these days because of the investors.

If an investor was worried, they would call him and then make him more worried. It can't be helped as it was Granite films most expensive movie till now.

"What about Ray and Kai's looks? They are the most important character for us if we want a positive word of mouth." Anthony said and a female employee replied.

"Ray's fans are going crazy over his middle aged cop look. He suits that type of character a lot, so people are very excited about it. I'm pretty sure a lot of his fans would turn up. As for Kai, he's the most talked about."

"The last scene we showed in the movie made a lot of people speculate about who he is and there are even people who say that his one scene was better than any other scene as he gives a very mysterious vibe."

Another employee added. Having watched the final version of the movie already, the employee was a fan of Kai and there were a lot of others like him too.

The climax of the movie really made Kai a fan favourite in his eyes and he felt like others will more or less think the same.

"We want Kai to be exactly like that. Cold and mysterious, someone who makes people remember what an unexpected character is."

"Sir, a lot of people are asking for a reveal of him or a poster of Kai. Even some media reporters called to ask about him. What should we do?"

Another employee asked suddenly and Anthony frantically shook his head.

"No, don't reveal anything to anyone. Let people experience it in theatre itself. I want people to know that you can make a great action and gangster flick without using superheroes in it."

Everyone in the room knew that Anthony wasn't a fan of how most people would only go watch a superhero flick in theatres and won't give a lot of chances to other mid budget movies because they don't have a lot of cgi or people flying around or jumping through the buildings.

It was a very sad state that the movie industry has reached that only certain types of movies would work.

Hopefully, [Black Saints] would be able to change it.

"I would miss you a lot. I'm really glad that you have achieved so much in your career."

Valerie said as she looked at him with tender eyes. When she had first met Aiden, he was just a guy from another country, having a weird accent and now, he was finally successful enough to get a better place for himself.

He had a successful music career and even won an award and now, was coming in movies. Valerie could only wish that he could just continue like this.

"I'm very grateful to you too. Without you, I would have to sleep in the streets."

Aiden smiled and Valerie shook her head.

"I just thought that you looked like the type that would succeed in Hollywood and you are succeeding too."

"I don't know how to thank you for that."

"Just get famous enough that people would pay a lot of money to just live in the room that Aiden Silvereye lived in at the start of his career."

Both of them chuckled at that and after a final hug, Aiden was on its way to reach his new apartment. He had spent a lot of good moments in this one and it was also the place where he had gotten his system, so it would always be special for him.

Though, in his heart, he prayed that his new apartment would become special for him in the future too.

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