They had been rehearsing for several weeks for the 2.5D theatrical adaptation of Tokyo Blade. Unlike the failed live-action project of the shoujo "Sweet Today," this had a much more competent and high-caliber cast. In fact, Taiki Himekawa, the current winner of the Imperial Theater Award for Best Actor, was set to take the lead role. He also belonged to the same agency as Akane.

For a moment, Aqua felt like he was on a team made up of golden balls. But as he had already demonstrated, he was someone very chameleonic, capable of adapting to any environment, no matter how challenging. Perhaps the biggest challenges he was going to face were two, and neither were related to him: The first was the problematic combination of Kana and Akane, whose rivalry probably dated back to the times of Cain and Abel. The second was that among the actors, there was one several steps below them all, and that was Melt. Aqua and Kana had already met him in "Sweet Today" since he played the lead actor. When Kana saw him again, she swore to bury him alive. For her, he was the reason her performance suffered, and she feared it would happen again. Not only Kana thought this; everyone else felt the same. No one exactly knew what Melt was doing. The only one with the answer was Toshirou Kindaichi. However, Aqua had more urgent questions to ask this strange producer.

The first weeks of rehearsal were relatively light. Except for some specific complaints about the script, especially from Akane whose character had been considerably cut back, which put her acting style and the manga's fidelity into question. Feeling limited made her desperate, particularly in her rivalry with Kana.

Meanwhile, Aqua went with the flow and did his work. He listened to advice from both sides, from Akane and even from Kana, something that made his partner jealous. During this time, Aqua realized that everything was changing rapidly. Akane had stopped being that insecure girl, Kana seemed to be leaving behind her irritating persona, and Aqua was beginning to take things more seriously. This brought up a dilemma for him: was it really worth it in this industry?

Remember, Aqua got into this at Gotanda's request, and from there, his potential was leveraged. But since the incident with Ai, things had changed. Aqua had lost some vital interest in acting and had turned it into a tool to hunt down his father. Though he had failed that time, he was sure he would try again.

Another factor weighed on him: his "self" from his past life. More than once, in visions and dreams, it appeared to talk to him. The last time was in a dream where they were sitting in a room at opposite ends. Aqua was speaking face-to-face with Doctor Gorou Amemiya. Between them was a fruit basket composed of apples, bananas, peaches, grapefruits, watermelons, grapes, and cherries.

"Don't forget your mission," the doctor told him with a penetrating gaze.

"I haven't," Aqua replied.

"That's not what I'm seeing," he adjusted his glasses.

"Let me breathe."

"Let you breathe? What if it happens again?"

"We don't know when it will happen."

"Exactly!" He stood up and approached him. "If she dies, it'll be your fault!" He shook him.

At that exact moment, Aqua woke up in the midst of a nervous crisis. He drank some water and calmed down relatively. This was not a good way to start the day.

But returning to the play, Aqua had to prepare for a somewhat compromising scene. Both Aqua and Akane played characters who were canonically a couple in the manga. In the final part, Sayahime, the character Akane played, died, and Touki, the character Aqua portrayed, mourned her death.

Normally, actors perform such scenes as follows: to show tears, they think of something sad, making it easier. Although sometimes it can be complicated since actors tend to recreate terrible scenarios in their minds. For example, Bryan Cranston, known for his role as Walter White in the series "Breaking Bad," confessed that the most challenging scene of his career was Jane's death because at that moment, he imagined the hypothetical death of his daughter.

But for Aqua, it went much deeper; he had lived through a truly traumatic event. He had seen his mother on the brink of death. More than once, he pondered what would have happened if it had been real. He probably would have embarked on a suicidal path to end his father. But fortunately, that was not the case.

The first time Aqua and Akane had to rehearse that scene, Aqua was visited by a waking nightmare. Once again, the ghost of his past self was haunting him, prohibiting him from enjoying life. He fainted immediately. Akane, desperate, took him out of the theater. Fortunately, he regained consciousness, and he asked to be taken to Gotanda's house.

Initially, when he arrived at Gotanda's house after getting out of the taxi, Akane was taken aback to see an elderly woman greeting them at the door. In the background, Director Gotanda appeared. He explained that he lived with his mother to save costs, though this explanation didn't seem convincing to Akane, who raised an eyebrow.

They left Aqua in a guest room that was rarely used. Meanwhile, Akane, in the kitchen with a pink apron borrowed from Mrs. Gotanda and her hair tied up to keep it out of the way, started cooking. She had always been a helpful girl, willing to do everything for her guardian angel. Despite their relationship being staged for the sake of the show, she wanted it to be real. And here she was, striving to win his heart.

"Do you need help?" asked Mrs. Gotanda.

"No, thanks," Akane responded while chopping an onion. "I know what I have to do."

"Well, then I'll leave you to it."

After finishing, she took her tray and went to Aqua's room to check if he was awake or not. Fortunately, he was.

With half-open eyes, Aqua began to see Akane approaching with her hair tied back and wearing an apron.

"I hope you're feeling better now," Akane said while placing the tray on the bed. "I made you rice porridge."

"Thank you," Aqua said, slightly leaning back on the bed

For a moment, he was surprised to see Akane looking like that. It gave him the impression she looked like a traditional housewife or a mother, something Ai had never been or would ever resemble. To some extent, this scene made him feel conflicted. He didn't know if it was love or discomfort.

"When we got here, Gotanda explained the situation a bit," Akane continued.

"I hope he didn't spill anything," Aqua responded, somewhat annoyed.

"No, he just gave me the bare facts."

"Which are?"

"About how you once had a traumatic experience seeing someone almost killed." Aqua started to tremble, dropping his chopsticks.

"Has something happened?" Akane asked, approaching worriedly.

"Could you leave me alone for a moment?" Aqua asked, closing his eyes and breathing deeply.

"Of course," Akane responded, getting up and moving towards the door.

"I promise to eat all the food you've prepared."

"Okay," Akane left and closed the door.

Aqua was somewhat irritated. He didn't appreciate Gotanda telling a third party about his problem, especially without permission. He feared that if word got out, Ai's secret would be exposed. Although the director didn't know clearly, he suspected it. Aqua decided he would talk to him later to give him a piece of his mind.

After these brief thoughts, Aqua calmed down and started to eat.

Half an hour later, Aqua came out of his room and left the tray in the kitchen.

Akane was in the living room, lost in thought.

"I'm completely fine now," Aqua told her.

"I'm glad," Akane responded with a smile.

"Where are Gotanda and his mother?"

"They said they had to go out for a bit and left you in my care."

"Since we're alone, could we go chat on the balcony? I need some air."

"I have no problem with that," Akane agreed, getting up from the couch.

Once on the balcony, an uncomfortable silence ensued.

"There's a question that's eating away at me," Akane said to break the ice. "What is your real motivation for acting?"

"And what brings up that sudden question?" Aqua asked incredulously.

"Well, since we've known each other, I've felt that your acting isn't vocational but more like a means to an end. Am I wrong?"

"No."

"Then will you tell me?"

"Well," Aqua tried to find an answer. "If I told you I'm looking for someone to stop and it might even mean killing them, what would you say?"

"That I'd be willing to help you, even do it for you," Akane's gaze had turned dark, which scared Aqua.

He hadn't expected such a reaction at all. Internally, Aqua wondered what he was to Akane: boyfriend? prince? savior? or god?

This last thought reminded him of one of the many film forums Gotanda held, specifically about the 1994 movie "Abraham." In that final scene where Abraham was about to sacrifice his son Isaac, if Akane had played the part, she wouldn't just have been willing to kill him; she would have done it even if they told her to stop at the last moment.

He realized she was potentially dangerous and it was definitely preferable to keep her out of it.

"Well, it's not entirely true," Aqua tried to evade the question. "It's more metaphorical. To be honest, I'd like to change the subject."

Akane agreed.

After three-quarters of an hour of conversation about trivialities, Gotanda and his mother returned. They said goodbye and went for a walk.

Later, they decided to part ways to head back to their respective homes. At Akane's request, they said goodbye with a hug.

That afternoon, Ai was alone at home. She wasn't expecting anyone until late. Aqua was at rehearsals, Ruby was with her friends, and both Ichigo and Miyako were involved in other things they had mentioned but Ai had forgotten.

Since she stopped being an idol, Ai's life had been going downhill. Progressively, her popularity was being overshadowed by new young talents. Her last albums had been commercial failures, she barely had any roles to play, and the same with advertisements. The star was dimming. Did it mean people had stopped believing in the lie? It was a question Ai asked herself, one she was afraid to answer. If she did, that star could turn into a black hole in the blink of an eye, symbolizing despair in some way.

Those twelve years were beginning to weigh on her. Since that attempted assassination, nothing had been the same. She felt disgusted by her fans, yet paradoxically needed them to feel accepted. She denied her true self, an empty shell whose emptiness was desperation. She sought to love and be loved. She tried it in various ways, whether through Hikaru, B-Komachi, her fans, or her twin children, Aqua and Ruby. But nothing satisfied her.

Ai had gone from being that implacable girl in front of the public to someone who hid her fragility. From being surrounded by lights and cameras every day, she now spent most of her time at home. It seemed like she had married and turned into a housewife who had sacrificed everything for her husband, the breadwinner. But that wasn't the case.

The reason was that she was hardly getting any work. The cause, though Ai didn't want to admit it, was her age. The famous idol felt this like a heavy burden. She had reached her thirties, and things were starting to fall apart. This distressed her. She needed her fans to feel loved, but unfortunately, they were disappearing day by day, as if they were forgetting her.

In these days of solitude, Ai took advantage to do anything from watching TV, cooking, to masturbating. Anything to kill time during those monotonous days.

She felt that the torch had been passed to her children; she always thought about them, especially her daughter Ruby, who was following in her footsteps. From backstage, she watched her evolve, but Ichigo and Miyako didn't allow her to get too close to avoid raising suspicions. It was the same policy for protection in public, another reason she didn't go out much.

She needed to get closer to Ruby to give advice. She wanted to but couldn't. It wasn't that she was distancing herself; rather, she was incapable of expressing her words sincerely, leading to certain irrational actions, as happened during that call with Miyako. The lie was beginning to crumble.

At that precise moment, Ai was in the shower, taking a bath. Submerged in the bathtub, she was thinking about all this. She assumed Aqua would be back soon, though she was surprised he was taking longer than usual. Meanwhile, Ruby had already told her the exact time she would be back, so Ai didn't have to worry.

She got out of the shower. While covering her body with a large towel and drying her hair with a smaller one, she began to look at herself in the mirror. In fact, it had been a while since she last did this, perhaps out of disinterest or even fear. She fixed her gaze exclusively on her own eyes, as if they were the light symbolizing hope, illusion, desire, all supported by a lie which, depending on the perspective, could be compassionate or not. But that glow had disappeared years ago. Now her eyes had turned as black as coal. This was a bad sign.

"I just hope Ruby doesn't end up like me," Ai told herself. She wanted and needed to be closer to her daughter. Indeed, when Ruby returned home that day after her first concert, Ai hugged her as tightly as she could, something Ruby didn't understand because she had never felt such effusiveness from her famous mother.

"What are you doing, Mommy?" Ruby asked.

"Congratulating you on the good work you've done," Ai replied. "I'm aware you'll follow in my footsteps. So I'd like to advise you as much as possible for your success and to not make the same mistakes I did."

"I understand..."

"Will you let me?"

"Of course," Ruby was thrilled.

"Perfect," Ai released Ruby. "Whenever you want, we can talk."

"Okay, Mom," Ruby showed her radiant smile.

Despite her willingness, Ai was still waiting for Ruby to talk to her to help her on her path as an idol. Maybe she had to wait.

After recalling this, Ai changed and went to the music room, a place she had created as a kind of private studio for playing and composing. Located next to the living room, it had walls painted in a grayish-blue. In the center was a Yamaha grand piano. To the left were all kinds of guitars, mainly acoustic but some electric too. And to the right, there was a shelf full of both CDs and vinyl records. Whimsically, she had built up an entire music collection to seek inspiration. Since she started her solo career, she began composing with help at first, but later on her own. However, this leap forward was probably the initial cause of her career's decline. This made her unwilling to compose anymore, at least for a relatively long time.

She picked up a vinyl of Disney song versions, and the song "When You Wish Upon a Star," also known as Pinocchio's song, started to play. The song's theme is about the moment when you wish upon a shooting star, and your wish comes true.

But what was Ai Hoshino's real dream? With time, it was becoming increasingly vague. But love had always been a recurring element. However, its abstraction made it difficult for her to explain. The whirlwind of emotions in her home prevented her from reasoning out the answer. At first, she sought it in Hikaru, but his descent into madness forced her to distance herself. Then in her fans, but after being the victim of an assassination attempt and gradually being sidelined, that wasn't possible either. Finally, her last card was the two creatures she brought into the world: Aqua and Ruby. However, the circumstances under which she became a mother, whether due to immaturity or the demands of discretion, made her feel she was being too distant with them. Faced with this, if she could see a shooting star, she would wish for the ability to love and be loved in every possible way. Sitting and staring at the wall, she reflected on this, sometimes more than she should.

Ruby spent the afternoon with her two friends at the mall. They had gone for a walk, although there wasn't anything special to buy. The only thing they spent their money on was at a tapioca stand near the escalator on the intermediate floor. While Ruby, with her face uncovered, savored her grape-flavored tapioca, Minami, wearing a cap, did the same with a strawberry one, and Frill, with her face completely covered by a cap, mask, and sunglasses, had melon.

"Don't you think you're going overboard?" Ruby asked Frill, feeling uncomfortable seeing her hide her sips with her hand.

"Not at all," Frill responded firmly. "Even the most obsessive fans know how their favorite stars eat and drink." Both Ruby and Minami were astonished at such paranoia.

"I think Ruby is right..." Minami tried to say.

"Of course not," Frill affirmed, banging her glass on the table. "If fans are paranoid, I have to be too. How do you think they know all the dirty secrets of idols? Those people could easily be detectives. So this is a warning, Ruby."

"Don't you think you're making up a story?" Ruby asked, incredulous.

"Not in the slightest!" Frill shouted.

"Lower your voice," Minami requested, making slight gestures.

"In this country, reporters are almost as crazy as in the U.S.," Frill stated.

"Okay," Ruby agreed, humoring her. "Changing the subject, do you want to come with Minami and me to visit my brother at his rehearsals?"

"Thanks for the invitation, but I can't, sorry. I have to dash because I have another date."

"Who are you meeting this time?" Ruby asked, fearfully.

"Well, with Takuma Nishimura, the one who's the lead in the current season of Kamen Rider," Frill answered. "He seems like a good person, though knowing me, I might tell him to get lost." Ruby and Minami exchanged looks, wondering what was going on in their friend's head.

"I think since your dinner with Doyama, your perception of men has gone down," Minami said.

"And how," Frill responded between laughs. "Though from what I've heard, he doesn't have anything suspicious about him, but I don't trust it. Remember, Minami, never trust a man. They all pretend to be good to take advantage of you as a woman." Minami didn't know how to respond to such impertinent words.

After ten minutes of chatting, they said goodbye and went their separate ways.

Ruby and Minami arrived at the theater where Aqua was rehearsing within three-quarters of an hour using the subway. There, they found a young man with green hair who, by his posture, seemed to be resting.

"Hello," Ruby greeted the boy, who returned the greeting. "Do you know Aqua?"

"Of course," he responded with a smile. "I'm actually his co-star in the Tokyo Blade play."

"Oh, that's great. Could you tell him to come out?"

"Sorry, but it seems he had to leave because he wasn't feeling well."

"Oh, do you happen to know where he went?"

"I don't know, but if you want, I can give him a message for you."

"No need, but thank you anyway."

"Perfect. Though it was rude not to introduce ourselves. I'm Sakuya Kamoshida, and who are the beauties I'm talking to?"

"Ruby Sakurai, nice to meet you."

"I'm Minami Kotobuki."

"Wow," Sakuya exclaimed, approaching Minami. "I'm surprised to see a girl as beautiful as you." Minami blushed at such words.

"Well..." Minami tried to say something. "I can say I'm a model."

"Wow, that doesn't surprise me," Sakuya said, taking her hands.

"Sorry to interrupt," Ruby was usually innocent about these matters, but the boy's blatant attitude made her catch on quickly to his intentions. "But since there's no chance to see Aqua, it's better if we leave."

"Oh, that's a shame!" Sakuya said, somewhat bewildered as he let go of Minami's hands.

They said goodbye and went to the subway station.

"I appreciate you cutting him off," Minami thanked Ruby with a sigh.

"Don't worry, that's what friends are for," Ruby responded with her radiant smile. "Though you shouldn't let guys approach you like that."

Minami began to recall Frill's words from the shopping mall. As he gazed at the sights of Tokyo, he wondered what his relationship with the boys would bring. Did they like him for his body, or for who he was? It was a question that increasingly haunted him, and one whose answer he feared.

In half an hour, their paths diverged, and they each returned to their respective homes.

Upon arriving home, Ruby was greeted by music blaring from the music room. There sat her mother, watching the vinyl record spin.

They exchanged greetings, and Ruby shared what she had done. They inquired about Aqua, but neither knew where he was. Ai started to worry.

Half an hour later, the door rang again.

"I'm here!" Ai, recognizing Aqua's voice, breathed a sigh of relief. "Sorry for being late," Aqua said, peering through the doorway into the music room where Ai was, following the sound of the music. "I had a low energy moment and went to Gotanda's place to rest. I was with Akane, so I didn't tell you to avoid worrying you or raising suspicions."

"I understand."

"Is Ruby here?"

"Yes, she's in her room. She said she was tired."

"Doesn't surprise me, knowing it's past ten. I see you've put on some music."

"Yes, I needed to kill some time." Ai stood up to switch the jazz record for the Disney songs album, resuming the tune of "When You Wish Upon a Star." "May I have this dance?" Ai extended her hand, and Aqua, somewhat puzzled, agreed.

"Is it inappropriate to ask why you wanted to dance with me?"

"I just wanted to feel close to my son. Are you okay, regarding what happened?"

"Yes, better."

"It must be exhausting, rehearsing so much, isn't it?"

"Yes," Aqua replied, though not for that reason.

"Why are you so cold? You always answer in monosyllables. I always feel you're distant with me."

"Circumstances have forced us to live like this."

"But Ruby isn't like that. She shows affection. She even calls me 'Mom.' Why don't you do the same?" Aqua couldn't tell the truth.

"You see..." Aqua tried to concoct an excuse. "Sometimes, the fact that I'm the son of a superstar feels strange to me." Unknowingly, these words hurt Ai.

"Don't worry, I'm far from being the superstar I once was," Ai said, but her words worried Aqua.

"Please!" Aqua shouted, stopping the dance. "Don't say such things."

"Why do you react like that?"

"Because pessimism is the last thing I want to see from you. You're Ai Hoshino, the idol who challenged everything by choosing to be both an idol and a mother."

"Wow..." Ai said, surprised. "For some reason, you've reminded me of the doctor who treated me during my pregnancy." Aqua knew exactly whom she was referring to but couldn't respond. "It's a pity he disappeared. I wonder what happened to him." Aqua swallowed hard.

"Well, I think I'll go to bed," Aqua said, pulling away from Ai.

"Okay, do you want me to turn off the music?" Ai asked, pressing the off button on the record player.

"Perfect, thanks."

They said goodnight. As Aqua prepared for bed, Ai continued to reflect. That interaction with Aqua hadn't been very normal. What had she been thinking? Perhaps she was seeking a closer connection with her son because, in the end, her wish upon a shooting star was to love and be loved in any way possible.